Episode 29: Shall We Go, Then?

Twenty-nine years past Himmel's death, the party rolls north toward Ende by carriage, short enough on coin that Fern resolves to find work in the next town. While camping, Frieren turns up a blue magic-nullifying crystal, an uncommon stone that smothers all magic within a few meters and would fetch the price of a mansion. Since carrying it would leave both mages defenseless, she reluctantly abandons it, but not before pumping mana into the stone to make it blaze with blinding light.

The road soon gives way beneath them, dropping the trio into a hidden cavern veined with enormous deposits of the same crystal. The treasure is worthless to them, being too hard to cut or carry, and worse, the cave is the lair of a Venomous Apex Dragon. When it lunges, Frieren reveals she slept soundly only because she trusts Stark completely, the same faith Himmel once placed in Eisen. Rather than fight the poisonous beast, she chooses to flee alongside her comrades, and Stark carries both mages out into the open air.

Reaching the vast Great Sanft Forest, the group falls into an awkward stretch after Stark accidentally stumbles on Frieren and Fern bathing. At a crossroads they spot buildings and step into an inn, where they unexpectedly meet Wirbel, Ehre, and Scharf. Wirbel warns that demons have grown bold in the Far North and that he means to reach it quickly by sea, then tries once more to hire Stark as a frontline warrior for a few years.

Stark turns him down, telling Fern on the balcony that night that her encouragement, as much as Frieren, was what pulled him back from his breaking point, and that he is staying put. Alone later, Fern sets out her treasured keepsakes, the bracelet from Stark, Kraft's wooden necklace, and Frieren's butterfly clip, recalling how tightly she clutched the bracelet during their escape. The next morning the two parties trade farewells, and Frieren's group resumes its march north.

The season-two premiere pads the manga with several additions, opening on a wagon ride that lays out the party's money troubles and the long haul to Ende. Stark's fish is shrunk for a quick gag, his axe fails comically against a crystal vein, and the dragon flashback is widened to show Frieren wounded and Eisen knocked out before the heroes carry them clear. Fern's quiet moment with her keepsakes is likewise new to the episode.