What if you are reborn as a demon after a funeral?

Page 147

The excessively long timeframe caused Philon's initial interest to vanish instantly.

"As I've said before, human lifespan has a limit."

"In the end, I'll be dying soon anyway, won't I? Is there some kind of magic that grants immortality? Or some kind of magic that prolongs life?"

"How could that be? If such magic really existed, the emperors of ancient unified empires wouldn't have died. Even if it was just about prolonging life, it would have been snapped up and widely circulated long ago, right?"

Celia seemed somewhat displeased that a talented person would ask such a foolish question.

Completely oblivious, Philon seized this rare opportunity with a frown, asking the great mage who was closest to God and possessed almost all human magic:

"Isn't that strange? With current magical technology, we can create things that don't exist, even life (special golems and plants, etc.). But with dwarves, elves, and demons as references, we should be able to replicate them, right? Why isn't there any magic that can make people live longer?"

"The world has its own rules, and to break these limits, one needs to surpass the goddess."

"...Is there an opportunity to learn from you?"

"Given the limits of human capability, that's impossible." Upon hearing this answer, Philon already had his own conclusion and stated without hesitation:

"...I'm sorry, Lady Celie, I am Lady Freyland's disciple."

"Speaking of which, Ash... you know her too, right?"

Knowing she wasn't good at persuasion, Celia turned to Ash, clearly wanting him to do the talking.

Ash, of course, understood the deeper meaning behind her unspoken words and smiled:

“Selie, you’ve probably forgotten—back then, the child I hoped you would adopt was Philon, but you yourself refused, right?”

"...It's this child?" This unexpected situation left Celia stunned once again.

Seeing this, Ash naturally showed no mercy in mocking:

"Regretful now? Serves you right~ The child's all grown up now, I won't be giving him to you anymore~ Seriously, you have no taste! This really is what you meant by 'the student surpasses the master,' right? At least when it comes to judging people, I'm much better than you~"

"Shut up! Didn't I tell you and Frilian to get out of here already? Why are you still here—get out of here!"

Seria, who showed no signs of being a strong person, became enraged the moment he mocked her, and a strange ball of light instantly formed as she raised her hand.

Before Philon could see anything clearly, a beam of light shot out, accompanied by a sonic boom.

Half a day later, a loud "BANG!!!!!" rang out, followed by a deafening explosion that sent light scattering throughout the Sky Garden.

The glass dome at the top of the tower shattered with a deafening roar. Fragments of glass, reflecting the light of the setting sun, fell like raindrops. The surrounding flower buds and feelings of inferiority were all reduced to dust in the shockwave of the explosion.

Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Philon paused briefly before instinctively drawing her wand, assuming an attack stance, and nervously exclaimed:

"—Lady Celie?! What are you doing?!"

"It's just a greeting, why are you so nervous?" Despite being the culprit, Celia had a sullen and unhappy expression, as if she didn't want to talk to her anymore.

A sudden gust of wind dispersed the dust, revealing Ash's figure in front of the two.

Although his clothes were slightly torn, he was generally unharmed. He casually patted them off and said nonchalantly:

"It's okay. This guy's personality is unpredictable. I'm pretty used to it. It's just a bit sudden that my clothes were lost."

"Hmph... as expected, nothing's wrong. It's really annoying!"

Seeing that he was completely unharmed, Philon was relieved, but Celia was so angry that she gave him a cold look.

He didn't care about Celia's feelings; he was just looking up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, worrying about the cost of repairing the greenhouse.

..............................

..............................

Although Celia was unhappy about Philon's situation, Ash was happy to see her humiliated, which indirectly led to a greater accumulation of Celia's dissatisfaction.

However... even so, she still chose to let Philon pass.

Although this made her feel like she had lost, she also had her own principles and didn't want to miss out on this talent, so she still made him a first-level mage, and thus he was still her disciple in name only.

Only after Philon was persuaded to leave by Ash, leaving only the two of them and the dilapidated courtyard, did Ash suddenly say:

"Seria, do you remember what I said at the beginning?"

"Philan's matter? I've lost interest."

"No, I mean the thing you're sure you'll let me pass."

“Dream on,” Celia said firmly.

“Now that you’ve let Rabine and Philon pass, if you hadn’t let me pass… I would have gone out and ruined your reputation, saying that you’ve been manipulating things behind the scenes to settle personal scores.”

"You really dare to say that, especially in front of me?"

“It’s important to retaliate occasionally. After all, I’ve helped you over the years and done a lot to fulfill Vlame’s last wishes, haven’t I? Even if I haven’t done anything meritorious, I’ve certainly put in the effort, right?”

Although the other party was cold and sarcastic, Ash tried to reason with them and appeal to their emotions.

However, Celia just glared at him unhappily: "...You were just laughing at me a moment ago?"

"One thing at a time, I'm just asking for proper compensation."

"At this point, let's keep things separate... even though they clearly don't intend to manage this branch."

"That's one thing at a time."

........

Although she felt that what he said made sense and didn't make sense, she was probably annoyed by him and realized that if she didn't agree, this guy would keep bothering her for a long time.

In order to get rid of this guy, Celia waved her hand impatiently and reluctantly agreed.

The exam continued after that, although... all the later examinees, after being surprised by Ash's existence and fearful of Celie's magic, were now also amazed by the battle-damaged Sky Garden at the top.

However, the entire examination process ended quickly, and Ash received a privilege in advance, obtaining the magic of decomposition and reconstruction from Seria through the transfer of magic.

Actually, there should have been two spells, but he kept emphasizing that two could be one, which annoyed Celia, who then gave him both spells while grumbling.

It allowed him to experience the joys of sponging off his parents. The two types of magic, simply put, are either to decompose an object from the inside out at the moment of a light touch, or to reassemble it upon touching it, either restoring it to its original state or forming it into a different form.

He then placed his hand on the ground, causing the glass shards scattered on the top of the tower to fly back to the roof and recombine as if time had reversed, restoring it to its original appearance... even the garden and ground tiles were restored to their original state.

"...But the flower is still dead." He squatted down beside the flower, reaching out to try and sense it, but he could no longer see any signs of life.

It's like being completely frozen and then rapidly thawed without damaging the surface; the exterior remains the same, however...

"It's just a facade. It won't absorb any more moisture, and its trunk will completely dry up in a couple of days. If you try to use this to treat your wounds, you'll only get the same result. The flesh in the healing area won't survive; it will just rot away over time." Celia glanced at it uninterestedly and directly stated the condition of the vegetation, while also giving him a heads-up.

"...This is clearly a life form you created with magic, so why can't magic revive it?"

Although it was a very simple spell, the magic that created a flower field out of nothing could indeed be considered a spell that created life, so Ash couldn't help but feel puzzled by the situation.

"The creation of life is simple, but have you ever seen the dead brought back to life? If so, would there still be any powerful and wealthy people who have died in this world?"

Life can be created, and it can be twisted into the dead, but resurrection is impossible; at least there is no precedent for it in this world, and Celia has never heard of it.

But normal magical techniques should have been sufficient to achieve that long ago.

"...Technological blockade."

"In a way, it's good for humanity. Otherwise, this technology would be too widespread, and humanity would have already filled the world."

"That seems to make some sense?" Ash casually picked the flower, placed it in front of him, and nodded thoughtfully as he examined it.

Selene didn't look at him, but said to herself, "Volamey became the progenitor of human magic in just a hundred years, which is almost nothing to me. You have also completed the basic layout in these eighty years and will soon go to destroy the empire, right?"

"what happened?"

"...Let me give you two pieces of advice, my most greedy and foolish disciple." Celia sat by the restored pool, staring at the goldfish at the bottom of the water, whose bodies had been reconstructed but who still showed no signs of life:

"You live too hastily. You're rushing to solve things that could have been left unattended for hundreds or even thousands of years."

"What's wrong with that?"

"...How does your sense of distance from others differ from mine?" Celia asked abruptly.

Ash was quite blunt: "Sometimes you are too aloof and your words are too sharp, so even your disciples feel somewhat distant from you and are troubled about how to get along with you."

"...The right distance is the proper distance between humans. Why can't you learn it? You're not that stupid."

“You have a point, but sometimes it’s a bit too late to regret not being nicer to someone after they’ve died.”

“…Never mind.” Faced with such drastically different viewpoints, Celia didn't intend to persuade her further, but simply said meaningfully:

"My second piece of advice is, why do you think the empire can last for a thousand years and wasn't destroyed by the Demon King even 80 years ago?"

"Because the empire has many trump cards."

"Then you should be careful. If you can't quickly eliminate the empire, the world's situation will become even more chaotic, which will be contrary to your expected goal... Well, I don't really care anyway."

.........

After giving the two pieces of advice, the two chatted briefly before Ash left.

Celia glanced at the newly closed door, her gaze seemingly passing through it to see the guy behind it stroking Zanze's head, but she quickly turned her attention back to the dead goldfish at the bottom of the pond, muttering to herself:

"...You may not regret it now, and they won't be upset; but in the future that will arrive in the blink of an eye, when all those humans are dead, won't you regret it even more?...You don't even understand your own situation, yet you pretend to be human and act like a good person. In the end, none of these stupid disciples are smart—they are truly utterly foolish."

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