Chapter 77: A Thunder of Dragons

Thirty years on from the hero Himmel's passing, Frieren's group reaches a Drachen Region village wrecked by dragons. Frieren first assumes a single beast did the damage and almost envies the villagers, recalling that the old Hero Party once faced a whole thunder of dragons on the Northern Plateau, but the chief corrects her: an entire flock struck here too. She bluntly calls the place doomed and refuses to help, until the chief insists it is their home, swaying Stark and Fern. Once a reward enters the picture, a spell for rattling off tongue twisters without stumbling, Frieren agrees.

She traces the dragons' mana to their nest through forest and rough country, drawing admiration from Stark, whom Fern scolds for praising their teacher too readily and spoiling her. The brood turns out smaller and weaker than the Solar Dragons, and the party clears them out. While Stark recovers at the village church, Fern asks why Frieren always insists on payment for her aid, and Frieren remembers posing the same question to Himmel, who accepted modest rewards so that no one would owe him anything.

In another place, Denken meets the first-class mage Lernen and the second-class mage Edel, a specialist in mental magic. With a handshake Edel transfers a set of memories holding the survey of the Golden Land. Lernen cautions Denken against any rash move and Edel urges him to give up on visiting his wife's grave, both of which he accepts. As the pair walk off, Edel observes that Denken has no intention of backing down, and Lernen likens him to a storybook hero marching against Macht, the mightiest Sage of Destruction, to rescue his hometown.

Frieren's party agrees to exterminate a thunder of dragons in exchange for a tongue-twister spell and wipes out the nest. Fern learns that Frieren accepts rewards to honor Himmel's wish never to leave others in his debt. Edel transfers the Golden Land survey to Denken, who is assigned to maintain the barrier sealing the region.

This chapter marks the start of The Golden Land arc and introduces Macht in an imagined appearance. It is set thirty years after Himmel's death, and the village chief of the Drachen Region debuts here.