Chapter 6: The Fallen Frieren

"The Fallen Frieren," also known as "The Fallen Warrior of Fuyin," tells the story of the hero Himel and his companions after defeating the Demon King.

The protagonist is Frieren, the elf mage of the hero’s party.

She defeated the Demon King alongside the hero and others, returning home in triumph just as a meteor shower appeared once every fifty years; after watching it with her three teammates, she suggested they meet again fifty years later to view a better meteor shower.

But when fifty years passed, the human hero Himel was already ancient, while Frieren had not changed at all.

In this world, humans, no matter how powerful, live at most a century, while elves possess nearly eternal lifespans, truly a long-lived race.

Because of this, elves are generally slow in matters of emotion and have a completely different sense of time from humans.

To Frieren, fifty years is but the blink of an eye, but to the hero Himel, those fifty years burned away the remainder of his life.

Only after the hero’s death did the slow-witted elf finally realize what had happened.

She belatedly felt sorrow, regretting she had never truly understood him while he was alive.

After the funeral, spurred by the hero’s death, Frieren for the first time developed the desire to understand humans—and thus began a new journey…

Lin Yu had also watched this anime in his past life, so upon recognizing the Vlam before him as that Vlam, he immediately realized his timeline had shifted slightly earlier.

As Frieren’s teacher and the legendary great mage of later ages, Vlam bears the title "Origin of Human Magic."

She trained many human mages and played an extremely vital role in spreading and popularizing magic among humans.

In short, she is a foundational figure who typically appears only in Frieren’s memories in the original work.

Lin Yu encountering her here means the main plot is still roughly a thousand years away…

But it doesn’t matter; in terms of lifespan, Lin Yu is confident he can outlive the elves, so he doesn’t care about the timeline.

Yet after living together for half a month, he never once suspected this Vlam was the same Vlam.

This isn’t really his fault—the gap between the anime’s portrayal and the real person is simply too great.

Aside from hair color and golden accessories, this Vlam bears no resemblance to the Vlam in Lin Yu’s memory.

Especially her facial features: they aren’t even remotely similar to the classic 2D face from the anime—they’re worlds apart.

Moreover, the pronunciation of the Common Tongue differs somewhat from Japanese-style English.

Judging solely by the name’s pronunciation, it’s merely similar—not certainly the same name.

Had it not been for the archetypal roles of an elf teacher who had lived for ages and a human prodigy disciple, he might not have realized until Vlam took Frieren as her student.

No, it’s still too early to conclude.

Lin Yu snapped back to himself and feigned curiosity: “Vlam, what’s your favorite spell?”

Vlam blinked slightly, hesitating: “T… turning a field into flowers.”

It really is her!

Lin Yu’s expression turned strange.

Vlam misinterpreted Lin Yu’s reaction and, for the first time, showed a hint of shyness.

But this posture lasted only a moment.

Soon, she returned to her usual self and sighed:

“Go ahead and laugh—I know this answer might sound childish, but I…”

Lin Yu didn’t hear the rest; he had now fully confirmed her identity.

Because in the anime, Vlam’s favorite spell was precisely “turning a field into flowers,” and combined with her teacher Seriel and the similar hair color and accessories, she was undoubtedly the real one!

Damn, he’d thought this was a serious high fantasy world—turns out it’s "The Fallen Frieren"...

By the way, in this anime’s world, there’s supposedly a mysterious goddess worshipped everywhere—why hasn’t she shown up to say hello after all this time?

…Rude!

Lin Yu muttered inwardly.

Meanwhile, Vlam seemed to take Lin Yu’s silence as an opening, and smoothly changed the subject.

“Lin Yu, you truly come from another world?”

“Yes.”

Lin Yu nodded calmly.

When explaining his origins, he called himself a traveler from another world and described to Vlam the civilization of Earth in his past life, and what a world without magic was like.

He was so straightforward because his starting point was simply too high.

Other transmigrators hide their origins either to monopolize knowledge for profit or because they fear the truth might harm them.

But Lin Yu was different—he hoped more people would come to him because of it.

He wished for more geniuses like Vlam to help solve his own problems with their wisdom.

Looking at Lin Yu’s calm expression, Vlam’s eyes flickered, and she softly asked: “So, this ‘science’ you mentioned—does it exist in this world too?”

“Of course!”

Lin Yu rolled his eyes and said: “First, let me correct you—science isn’t some isolated system; it’s a body of knowledge that understands the world’s essence and laws through empirical methods.”

“In other words, in a world where magic is an objective fact, magic itself is a branch of science.”

“The ‘science’ you mentioned is more accurately natural science—physics, chemistry, biology, and so on…”

“I see.” Vlam’s expression turned serious. “I’ve learned something.”

Immediately after, she adopted the posture of a true seeker, her eyes bright: “Can this so-called natural science allow humans without talent to wield power equal to that of mages?”

“Absolutely!”

Lin Yu smiled: “Didn’t you already see the power of black powder yesterday?”

Vlam nodded softly: “That substance certainly holds immense potential, but turning potential into power requires long years and the wisdom of countless people.”

“If I simply take it away, it won’t make any impact.”

“You may not realize—because of magic, the average physical condition here is extremely high; even gifted warriors can fight dragons with their bare bodies. Natural science of this level can’t even scratch them, let alone spark interest in human civilization.”

Lin Yu laughed: “But you’re interested, aren’t you?”

Vlam shook her head: “I can see the potential hidden behind this simple chemical reaction—but that doesn’t mean others in this world can.”

She sighed: “Forget natural science—even today, humans refuse to accept magic itself…”

Lin Yu laughed: “Then why ask?”

Vlam said calmly: “It must be accepted eventually. To be honest, my former ideal was to spread magic so everyone in the world could benefit from its convenience.”

“Former?” Lin Yu caught the keyword. “What about now?”

Vlam didn’t answer directly, only murmured: “The natural science you speak of is even more necessary to spread than magic.”

Lin Yu shook his head: “No, don’t rush—step too far, and you’ll risk falling—ahem, tripping!”

“Since humans here won’t even accept magic, I advise you to proceed more cautiously.”

“After all, magic still has limits—bloodline, talent, aptitude—which can easily be integrated into the ruling structure.”

“But natural science—if it develops—will awaken a dragon capable of destroying the noble class’s foundation and dragging them from the clouds straight into the mud!”

(End of Chapter)