Chapter 56

The candidates recover in Ausserst, where Fern admits to Stark that Frieren has wounded her: when her staff broke during the dungeon trial, her master coolly proposed buying a new one, never grasping that the ruined staff was Heiter's gift and a piece of Fern's childhood. Stark, caught between them, keeps insisting Frieren means no harm and is only doing her best. Unseen by Fern, Frieren gathers the shattered pieces and brings them to Richter, pressing the sullen shopkeeper to make it whole again before the next stage.

Goaded into the work, Richter restores the staff and ends up apologizing for calling it junk, realizing how lovingly it had been kept. That night Fern returns to find the repaired staff resting on her pillow while Frieren sleeps nearby. The morning after, the twelve who cleared the second stage assemble before Falsch as the third exam opens.

Frieren hands Fern's shattered staff to Richter, who restores it within a single day. Fern discovers the mended staff on her bed. The exam's third and final stage gets underway under the proctor Falsch.

A flashback recalls a frail, aging Heiter telling a young Fern that although Frieren can seem cold and detached enough to trouble those around her, her saving grace is that she notices and worries over exactly that failing. The memory softens Fern toward the mended staff. Among the eliminated candidates, a glum Lawine lets Kanne console her with a rare head pat, while Denken needles Richter over his defeat and predicts he will only grow stronger before the next attempt three years on.