Chapter 59

With the exam over, the candidates linger in Ausserst. Denken stands Fern, Stark, and Laufen to a tray of sweets, explaining that he has no family left to spend on, and asks Fern to tell Frieren how she rekindled his lost delight in magic. Nearby, after Wirbel quietly uses magic to gather an old woman's spilled fruit, he falls into conversation with Frieren about why he keeps helping strangers when it does nothing for his goals.

Wirbel admits that the powerful magic promised to first-class mages is what drove him, all to slay more demons, yet he will still lend a hand wherever he can. He traces this to his frontier hometown, where the elderly spoke not of Himmel's famous exploits but of his plain, everyday help, the kind that kept their village alive when demons later struck after the hero's death. Frieren recognizes the same conviction Himmel once voiced to her, and watching the young mages leave, she feels quietly glad, for Himmel's sake, that the world really is changing after all.

Denken treats Fern, Stark, and Laufen to pastries and requests that Fern pass word to Frieren that he has rediscovered the joy in magic. Wirbel shares with Frieren how Himmel's ordinary kindnesses, not his legends, set him on his path. Fern invites Stark and Frieren to that night's ceremony granting the new first-class mages their special privileges.

Denken reveals he never had children and lost his wife while in his mid-twenties; once desperate for the power to save her, he now wields authority enough to direct a whole nation and once stood beside the Emperor. Wirbel recounts the grand legends of Himmel told on the Northern Frontier, among them how the hero cleared the Thousand Mirror Tower, crossed blades with the immortal Bose, ranked among the Seven Sages of Destruction, before facing the Hell Emperor Dragon. He came to value the hero's smaller deeds only after demons struck his hometown following Himmel's death. As he leaves, he urges Frieren to cherish the people she meets, since partings are not always caused by death, and a flashback shows Himmel telling Eisen he would never forsake anyone in need, however trivial the help.