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

Page 120

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As night deepened.

Ash didn't stay to eat Zanze's bento, but instead left the safe zone temporarily while the girl watched him go... After all, if he ate the bento, Zanze would go hungry.

He, of course, went to eat other people's food, and had already chosen his target, because...

Although the Magic Association does not mandate that registered mages write down their spells, quite a few people still reveal their spells during various level assessments, and these revelations are recorded by the Magic Association... even though normally they would not leak members' information.

Of course, the current situation is not quite normal. Ash, who is also a candidate, knows everything about their special magic.

However, he did not intend to use this illegally obtained item to pass the exam or anything. Instead, he approached the magician he liked and, just like he had done with Connie and Labinne, began to promote his method of capturing meteorite birds.

The story uses the allure of a shortcut through exams to further explain the temptation of becoming a Level 1 Mage, promising coveted "privileges" and a decent spell in exchange after the competition.

After this enticement, coupled with a demonstration of power, he successfully obtained their self-developed magic manuscript.

Then... Ash taught them the method and quickly left amidst their bewildered expressions.

Those who suffer the consequences of greed and the promise of receiving a corresponding magic book after the competition leave the chosen ones with no choice but to accept their misfortune for the time being.

.......

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(PS: There's still some more to write, so I'll stop here for now and continue tomorrow morning...)

The Burial of Frilian: The Officially Beginning Journey: Chapter Twenty-Eight - Peacekeeper and Animal Lover?

In an attempt to exchange magic for peace through bribery, Ash would always follow the sounds of magicians fighting each other in the night.

Every time he "passes by," the conflict is paused and temporarily calmed down, the pressure of gravity allowing everyone to have a "friendly" conversation for a while.

However, before he even leaves, one side, realizing they are no match, will seize the moment when they finally have a free moment to surrender by firing a signal flare to avoid being killed by another squad later. They will then negotiate with the other side to make the trip worthwhile, exchanging their self-developed magic for corresponding magic to prepare for the coming year.

Suddenly, Ash, who originally wanted to exchange for the magic he desired, became the peacemaker in this examination hall... causing the survival rate of the examination hall to increase dramatically.

After all, this is an examination hall, but also a battlefield of fierce fighting. The allure of the "privilege" of becoming a first-level mage is enough to make them risk their lives... unless they are truly outmatched and have no choice but to surrender.

But in a battle where both sides are highly skilled and life or death can be decided in an instant, there is rarely a chance to pull out a flare gun... If Ash doesn't appear, he will only be killed.

The examiners clearly didn't care about any of this, or rather, Ash had them add the flare gun settings, since these were valuable talents and he didn't want them to die easily.

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

As a court magician, the elderly Duncan already had trouble sleeping at night, and in this tense examination room, he unfortunately suffered from insomnia. At the same time... the occasional rumbling in the forest and the sounds of battle made it even more tense—making it impossible for almost everyone to sleep.

Even in that sigh, he unconsciously saw someone he wasn't very familiar with appear before him.

"..." Duncan gripped his wand tightly, staring at him silently for a long time before finally unable to hold back and asking, "...What do you want to do?"

"Don't misunderstand, I just want to make a deal with this child." Ash smiled and pointed to the girl with the bun hairstyle who had also woken up from her sleep and was staring at him warily.

"Me? What? What happened?" Laofen pointed at herself blankly.

"You come from a mountain tribe in the southern countries, and you are skilled in using the 'high-speed movement' magic passed down through generations of your tribe, right?"

"How did you know? Did you investigate beforehand?" Laofen's face was full of vigilance, but he nodded without hesitation: "That's right. After all, for the sake of the exam, of course we have to be careful. Investigating the situation of all the competitors, isn't that common sense?"

"...It seems so?" Although Raofen was a little surprised that he could find out these things, he wasn't too surprised.

But Duncan frowned and retorted, "With your power, you don't need to investigate these things at all. In the end... as far as I know, you have a close relationship with the legendary Archmage Celia, and also with many other first-level mages."

"What do you want to say?"

"...Your initial goal wasn't to pass the test, but rather the candidates' magic, wasn't it?"

"As expected of the cunning and treacherous court magician, he really enjoys framing people~" He had no intention of admitting it at all, and just shook his head in feigned frustration: "Don't assume that just because you are that kind of person, everyone else is the same, okay? Eliminating corruption, maintaining order, and promoting world peace are my consistent principles."

"...Is that really the case?"

"Compared to this..." He didn't intend to get entangled with the superfluous old man, and smiled at the girl beside him, asking, "I can teach you how to capture the meteorite bird, and you teach me the magic of your race, and I can give you a magic that you like... How about it?"

"No, no, no, I don't need it. We saw exactly how you caught me. Your method is completely unusable by any magician."

As one of the parties involved at the scene, Laoffen shook her head repeatedly without hesitation.

This surprised Ash a bit, after all... he really hadn't noticed that.

This gave him a moment to think before he looked at Duncan, who was clearly the captain, and suggested, "How about I just give you the bird? What do you think?"

"this....."

This left Duncan somewhat confused. Was he cheating, or was he genuinely willing to give up the meteorite bird? He could only turn his attention to Laofen and let her make the decision herself.

Kora Offen hesitated for a moment, but still turned to Duncan for help: "Grandpa, what should we do?"

"...It's up to you. That's your magic, and this guy definitely has a lot of magic. It shouldn't be too bad to trade it for."

"Really? I want magic to conceal my presence. Do you have any? Something comparable to high-speed movement?"

"A magic that conceals one's presence? It requires long-term, arduous practice, but it's possible to briefly conceal one's presence when launching an attack." Ash thought for a moment and offered an option.

"That....."

Laofen hesitated for a moment, then took out the family's heirloom spellbook from her bag, and then... Ash, quite pleased with himself, handed over the cage to them, much to their surprise.

"Oh! Grandpa! We got it..." Laofen took the cage, her face lighting up with joy as she lifted it up. She hadn't even had a moment to feel happy before she finally did.

boom--! !

The bird in the cage flew out of the cage in an instant, turning into a streak of light and disappearing from everyone's sight.

For a moment, the three of them were completely dumbfounded, and even Ash seemed quite surprised, forgetting to stop the bird.

"Why is that..." Duncan was puzzled for a moment, and only then did he seem to realize something. He frowned and pointed at his birdcage: "Why didn't the meteorite bird escape from your cage, even though the door wasn't closed?"

"what?"

It was only then that he glanced at the birdcage he had already given to the other party and realized... he had actually forgotten to close the door.

However, the bird remained huddled in the corner, showing no sign of wanting to escape or even leave.

In other words, the bird's overly docile appearance caused everyone present to fail to notice anything amiss, or rather, to subconsciously assume that the half-open door was actually closed, which is why the bird remained obediently inside... completely unaware that the bird was not going out at all.

Ash himself was quite bewildered by the suspicious looks from everyone.

It should be a fair trade, so why are they looking at me like... I'm the one lying?

"Uh... well, actually I've developed a bond with this bird." After a brief brainstorming session, Ash simply used the bird's characteristic of not escaping even when its cage was opened to promote it again:

“If Duncan, you’re willing to teach me magic, I can tell you how to develop a bond with this bird.”

"Although I think it's unlikely, you didn't mistreat that bird, did you? Otherwise, why wouldn't it run away from you, but run away as soon as it got to Laofen's hands?" Duncan couldn't help but suspect that the bird was afraid of him.

"Don't think of anything strange. You all saw it yourself, wasn't it perfectly fine back then? After all, I'm also a loving person who likes small animals (Zanze, Connie, Linne, etc.)!"

Although the meteorite bird was slammed to the ground multiple times, its sturdy body meant that it was mostly in a dazed state from those blows, simply not wanting to leave its cage and get beaten up.

His seemingly uninjured appearance left everyone puzzled. Before they could even ask what was going on, Ash had already given up on the deal with the team. He took the magic book he had acquired and the transaction completed, and quickly left the scene.

...After all, it's a cash-on-delivery transaction; once he hands over the goods, the deal is done, right? To avoid any after-sales disputes, I hesitated for a moment and then left.

But this situation caused the expressions of the three people present to become increasingly strange.

"Grandpa...we were tricked?" Laofen looked at Duncan with tears in her eyes. Duncan sighed softly, "Not really, just bad luck. That guy's situation was too special, and he accidentally forgot something important."

"...The shortcut failed. Let's try to find one ourselves, or steal one from someone else." The older man in the team shook his head and silently closed his eyes. "But for now, let's get some sleep and recharge before we take any action."

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On the other side of the forest, Ash looked at the empty birdcage he had retrieved, feeling somewhat troubled.

After all, without the meteorite bird, it would be quite difficult to make any more deals, so he had no choice but to temporarily abandon his plans to push forward with the deal. Instead, he strolled around the forest while flipping through the rapidly moving magic book.

It's unlikely that he could learn it so quickly, but that doesn't stop him from using this time to learn about the magic he really likes.

But in the midst of this, as he leisurely turned the pages atop a tree, he suddenly noticed a corpse-luring bird flying down from the sky. This made him instinctively move towards it, hoping to see if there was a chance to save someone, and incidentally... to repay a debt of gratitude.

After all, between self-developed magic and life, shouldn't life be more important? It doesn't seem like a forced transaction at all.

Just as they were getting close to their destination, Connie's exclamation came from that direction.

This left him slightly dumbfounded, but he still pushed off with his foot, instantly shattering the earth and disappearing from the spot amidst a roar.

Meanwhile, on the other side...

Pressed to the ground by a giant bird as tall as a two-story building, the girl, lacking combat experience, was so terrified that she dropped her wand. Without her wand, Connie forgot how to use magic, only staring wide-eyed in horror, and cried out for help under the unbearable pressure: "Ra...Rabine...!"

"Does it have to be Rabinha?

The imagined best friend did not appear, but a strangely familiar voice, accompanied by a strong wind, appeared in the girl's ear in an instant, as if teleported.

The Burial of Frilian: The Official Start of the Trip: Leave of Absence!

I can't finish writing, so I'll just adjust my schedule and update around midnight!

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