Chapter 71

Thirty years past Himmel's death, Genau walks the wreckage of his old hometown in the Rufen Region. A freckled demon grovels at his feet, begging mercy and invoking a young son, but Genau cuts him down before any attack can land, scorning the dishonesty he expects from such creatures. He reflects that Serie herself assigned him this purge, never guessing it would lead to the place of his birth, and though he holds no fondness for it, the desolation leaves him lonely.

Inside, he comes upon a gravely wounded man who recognizes him and reports the village's slaughter. Genau assures him every demon is already dead and promises the survivors are safe, mentioning a new first-class mage who can heal through the Goddess's Magic. He carries the man to a church where Methode waits, only to reveal in anger that the villager had been dead for some time, his stomach wound long past saving.

Genau identifies the dead man as a baker's son who played with him in childhood and inherited the shop despite making poor bread, a loss he quietly mourns. He lays the body among the other villagers before a carved image of the Goddess of Creation so the man will not be alone, and questions why people who never chose to fight had to die, unlike the mages who knowingly risk their lives. Methode urges him not to blame himself, since the village was already lost by the time the Continental Magic Association's northern branch received word from the Chivalric Order of Norm.

When Genau senses one of his birds struck down and detects two hidden mages, the window bursts inward as Frieren attacks. He braces, then recognizes her and stops, deducing Fern is the second presence. Frieren admits his aura was so saturated with killing intent that she took him for a demon, earning him a glare from Methode and a sheepish apology.

Frieren reveals that Fern received the identical subjugation request while they were already in the plateau. As Stark prays over the dead, he tells Genau that demons razed his own village too, and asks why they leave human corpses behind even after feeding, a riddle neither can answer. Examining the fallen soldiers of the Chivalric Order, Genau notes they were a small but elite garrison, their captain stronger than Stark, yet all were felled instantly by blade strikes according to Methode's autopsy spell. Since every demon found was a weakling, Genau concludes the true killer still lives, and Frieren smiles at the chance to show that demon what humanity can do.