Löwe

Löwe is tall, and he draws his long brown hair into a tidy ponytail swept fully off the forehead, the sideburns kept a darker tone than the rest and shaped, at his own insistence, in a deliberately odd way. The right of his face carries heavy scarring from cheek up to the hairline, with a patch over that eye. He dresses formally: a gray waistcoat above a white collared shirt, dark slacks, a long gray jacket, and a gemstone-pinned white cravat at the collar. Heading out on a job, he belts a sword at the hip and pulls on a dark cloak, having freshened up beforehand.

Despite his lofty post, Löwe carries himself humbly, talking openly with those under him and keeping an easy, genial smile even when a plan threatens to slip. He insists a Shadow Warrior has no need of virtue and will cast off pride and honor whenever victory calls for it, which paints him as ruthless beneath the warmth. Even so, he takes real pride in the work and tidies himself before a kill, knowing his is the final face each target will look upon and wanting to meet them with courtesy. With the mercenary Schritt he drops the warmth, lecturing her that drink will blunt the skill her blade depends on.

Held came into the world in the Southern Lands, brought up on his parents' stories of Himmel and the Demon King's defeat. A stray light arrow killed his older brother during a street brawl as the boy shielded him, and soon a burst of magic destroyed his hometown; his parents died with it, and he alone of his family lived. A man named Lehrer took the orphan in as guardian and mentor. Roughly eleven years after Himmel the Hero died, an unnamed fighter out of some far-off territory, thought to be Held himself, is said to have struck down the elven Great Mage Minus the Witch, whose sorcery had steeped the Southern Lands in ceaseless war; the duel took his right eye and burned half his face, and he came away with Minus's Holy Emblem. Held later took the name Löwe and climbed to Governor-General over Lorbeer, his post reportedly won through covert service in the south.

During the Foundation Festival he reaches the capital, Eiseberg, with his butler Lehrer to run the plot against Serie. When Frieren catches Lehrer watching the party through binoculars, Löwe judges her dangerous and his servant careless. Outside Wolf's tavern he passes the assassination orders to Schritt, has her alert the other Shadow Warriors, and gives only his governor's title when she asks who he is. As their commander he is a fearsome swordsman; even the mighty warrior Wehrlos confesses to dreading him. Lehrer, butler and adviser both, who once watched the night sky with him as a boy, stays fiercely loyal, though he privately feels he failed as a teacher.