Norm Company

Built up by the nobleman known as Lord Norm, the company turned barren plateau land into a sprawling trade operation, hauling goods, above all the wheat grown in the Bier Region, across the whole Northern Plateau and growing immensely influential in the process. It runs everything from a fortified estate at the heart of Norm Company Territory. Frieren regards the firm as the de facto authority over the plateau, beyond the grasp of any kingdom. In recent years the region slid into decline, dragging the company's fortunes down with it.

As a merchant house the company keeps meticulous records, which is how a receptionist recognizes Frieren from an old likeness the moment she walks in. The current president, Norm, holds her to a contract signed eight decades earlier when the company funded the hero's party, and accrued interest has ballooned the debt into hundreds of gold coins. Rather than take coin, Norm steers Frieren to a developing mine, where she locates a rich silver vein that more than clears the obligation, after which he asks her aid in rebuilding the ruined trade routes so the plateau's people will not starve. The Chivalric Order of Norm serves as the military arm, keeping order, escorting caravans, hunting monsters and demons, and moving the dead to a southern cemetery, though the plateau's collapse cost it a third of its caravans and fighters.

Lord Norm founded the enterprise, and his descendant Norm now presides over it. Staff include a receptionist who screens visitors and the miners Frieren guides to the silver strike, while the Chivalric Order fields garrison captains and escort commanders posted through the plateau's regions. Over the years the company has hosted the entire hero's party, Frieren, Himmel, Eisen, and Heiter among them, and later Fern and Stark.