Chapter 67

Picking up the moment the previous chapter left off, Fern and Stark begin their outing through Heiss. He notes her unfamiliar outfit, and she reminds him that dressing up is rather the point of a date, leaving him privately wondering when she became so charming. Their first stop is a market, prompting talk of Frieren's obsession with rare magical wares and the strange piles of trinkets she hoards back at the inn. A jewelry vendor dangles a sweetheart discount on a pendant, which leads Stark to bluntly observe that dating turns out to be rather economical.

The pair drifts through more of the city, sampling snacks and a meal, pausing at one of Himmel's many statues, and finally climbing to the same overlook Frieren had shown him. Gazing across the rooftops, Fern remarks on how every city seems crowded with Hero statues, and Stark relays Frieren's claim that more than a hundred distinct poses exist.

Taking in the calm view, Stark worries that Fern has not smiled once all day. She insists she is enjoying herself, then admits that while each stop suited her tastes, none of it felt like something he would have chosen on his own. He apologizes and confesses that he asked Frieren to plan the route, simply because he wanted her first date to be a happy one. Touched by the effort behind the borrowed itinerary, Fern lets her disappointment give way to gratitude.

Resting on a bench, she admits that a child left orphaned by the war would never have dreamed of a moment this peaceful, and Stark feels the same. The two trace their newfound calm back to the people who raised them, Heiter and Eisen. A brief memory shows a young Stark asking why Eisen took him in, and the dwarf answering only that it was what Himmel would have done.

Later, Fern and Frieren share the bathhouse, and Frieren notes the girl's cheerful mood while Fern keeps the reason to herself. When the party departs the city the following day, Stark notices her hair worked into braids once more. She explains these are good-mood braids, a distinction he cannot tell apart from any other. The chapter sits entirely within this gentle interlude, with Himmel and Heiter present only in mention and memory.