Chapter 80: Holy Snow Crystals

Thirty years after Himmel's death, Frieren, Fern, and Stark trek across the Northern Plateau's Schmal Snowfield with their purse near empty, a shortfall Fern lays at Frieren's spending. Catching sight of an opening, Frieren detours into an adventurers' camp grown up around the search for Holy Snow Crystals, scarce minerals that form only here and feed the making of magical potions. Stark proposes simply digging them out, but Frieren notes their worth rests on rarity. At the market, prices run roughly ten times the norm, and she explains the stalls cater to adventurers made rich by the crystals, and that the very danger lifting the mineral's value, the monsters prowling nearby, also swells the bounty on subjugation work, a point Fern grasps to Frieren's praise.

They accept a job with two halves: clear the monsters denning in a hidden lode known only to locals, then raise a barrier to keep trespassers out, a guard meant to protect the unmined ore until workers and money can be gathered. Pushing through blizzards, they reach the spot and meet a huge wolf-like beast; Frieren warns that any quarry the camp's adventurers could not handle calls for full caution, and they fell it before camping the night.

At dawn the lode blazes under the sun, and the sight carries Frieren back to her travels with the Hero Party, when she, Himmel, Eisen, and Heiter once paused before a like vein. Himmel, who had only meant to scrape together travel money, said such wonders made toppling the Demon King worthwhile, dreaming of a calm age when anyone might behold them. Frieren reflects that not all can, yet an era has arrived in which many do, a strange feeling for her, and she rues that this vein will be carved away. After raising the anti-personnel barrier they head back, and the questgiver admits he wanted it not for mining but to shield the homeland scenery that first made him an adventurer. Before leaving, Frieren splurges on a pricey magic item, to Fern's dismay and Stark's worry over their funds.

Short on money, Frieren's party takes a Schmal Snowfield quest: kill the monsters guarding a Holy Snow Crystal vein, then put up an anti-personnel barrier. They bring down a giant wolf-like monster and raise the shield. The questgiver reveals he wanted the barrier to preserve his homeland's scenery rather than to mine the ore.

Set thirty years after Himmel's death, the chapter centers on Holy Snow Crystals, minerals prized as ingredients for magical potions. In flashback, the Hero Party gathers before a glowing vein during their old journey.