Recaps

Rienta, Frieren, Fern, and Stark completed their commission at the Holy Snow Crystal vein, where Frieren recalled Himmel’s hopes for people to enjoy the scenery. They learned Xiu De wanted to protect his hometown’s view rather than mine the vein, then shopped at the Adventurer Market, where Fern caught Frieren and Rienta buying overpriced Magic Tools.

• Frieren admired the Holy Snow Crystal vein and remembered Himmel saying its beauty made defeating the Demon King worthwhile.
• Rienta mined one large Holy Snow Crystal and left the rest of the vein untouched before the group set up the Anti-Person Barrier.
• Xiu De gave Frieren the warming-spell Grimoire as payment and explained that he had commissioned the Barrier to preserve his hometown’s scenery.
• Fern and Stark talked by the bonfire about protecting their hometowns and preserving precious memories, and Fern said she encouraged Stark because Frieren would do the same.
• Frieren and Rienta went shopping at the Adventurer Market, where Fern confronted them for buying expensive Magic Tools.

Rienta and his companions accepted Lernen’s personal commission after Frieren learned it came with a Grimoire, then traveled to the Barrier around the Golden Land. There, Frieren discovered that the new Barrier administrator was Dunkel, whose hometown lay within the golden region.

• A squirrel familiar delivered Lernen’s letter and a Grimoire to Rienta, and Frieren initially refused the commission because she hated Lernen.
• Fern mentioned the Grimoire offered as payment, prompting Frieren to agree to take the commission despite Rienta, Stark, and Fern’s reluctance.
• At the Barrier, the party saw the golden city of Weise and Frieren explained that Macht had turned it to gold fifty years earlier.
• Frieren revealed that the commission was to help the Barrier administrator, Dunkel, who had taken the post because his hometown was inside the Golden Land.

Dunkel explained how the [Golden Land] had swallowed his hometown, and Frieren refused his commission, revealing that Macht had defeated her before. As Dunkel reflected on his long absence from his wife’s grave, he began to explain why he had never returned until now.

• Dunkel told Frieren and the others that the [Golden Land] was still expanding and had swallowed his northern hometown a few years earlier.
• Dunkel said he had visited his wife’s grave, and Frieren asked whether that had satisfied him; he remained silent because returning had not felt like enough.
• Frieren declined the commission, gave the Grimoire to Rienta to return, and said they would not interfere in Dunkel’s battle with Macht.
• Frieren revealed that Macht had defeated her before and said the safest plan was to keep him confined until his lifespan ran out.
• Dunkel agreed that Frieren was right and explained that, after his wife died, he kept postponing a return until his duties and position prevented him from leaving.

Dunkel explained that he had become the barrier’s administrator to escape memories of his wife, but finding their hometown unchanged made him face how precious their shared past remained. His story moved Frieren, Fern, and Stark to support helping him, while Frieren recalled how Himmel encouraged her to cherish happy memories of her master.

• Dunkel told Rienta that he had returned to his hometown hoping its transformation would help him forget his wife and their life together.
• Dunkel revealed that the Golden Land had preserved the places tied to his memories, leaving him alone with the unchanged past.
• Frieren, Fern, and Stark were moved by Dunkel’s story, making Rienta feel unable to refuse the commission.
• Frieren remembered creating a field of flowers with Himmel, Heiter, and Eisen, and explained that the magic reminded her of her deceased master.
• Himmel told Frieren that she was remembering happy times and urged her to cherish those memories.

Rienta brought the group into the cabin for tea after noticing Fern was distressed by the Golden Land, and they discussed how its absence of detectable mana affected mages. When Frieren asked why Rienta seemed unaffected, he demonstrated Projection Magic and created weapons for Fern and Frieren.

• Rienta invited everyone into Dunkel's cabin and used Hot Tea Magic to serve them tea.
• Fern explained that Mana Detection perceived the Golden Land as a vast lump of gold with no mana signature, which made mages uncomfortable.
• Stark guessed that Rienta was unaffected because he was a cook and priest, so Rienta hit him on the head.
• Frieren asked Rienta why he was unaffected by the Golden Land, and he demonstrated Projection Magic by creating a saber for Fern and the Green Duckweed Sword for Frieren.

Rienta explained that his [Projection Magic] created ordinary objects without mana, while Macht’s [Magic That Turns All Things to Gold] was an unusually powerful [curse]. After Frieren said they likely could not defeat Macht, Rienta wondered whether [Magic That Heals Everything] and the Noble Horse could remove the curse as an external force.

• Rienta let Dunkel examine the Candle-Clasping Blade, then showed that it cut a piece from the table despite having no mana response.
• Frieren explained that Rienta used composite magic and that his [Projection Magic] and Macht’s [Golden Land] could both create real objects without mana.
• Frieren described Macht’s [Magic That Turns All Things to Gold] as a curse that even Goddess magic had never undone, and said Defensive Magic could not block or dodge it.
• Frieren told Dunkel she did not think they could defeat Macht without bringing Serie along.
• Rienta considered whether [Magic That Heals Everything], perhaps combined with the [Goddess's Blessing], could counter the curse, since the Noble Horse could remove external forces.

On the carriage back to Äußerst, Lernen told Aetilu why he was determined to help Dunkel return to the hometown swallowed by the Golden Land. He planned to rely on Frieren and her disciples to save the region, despite his uneasy history with Rienta’s group.

• Aetilu complained that investigating the Golden Land had been exhausting, and Lernen thanked her for helping gather information that could save Dunkel’s hometown.
• Lernen explained that he and Dunkel had worked together at the imperial court, where Dunkel stood up for him after he lost his position.
• Lernen recalled Dunkel’s love for his late wife Qiqi and said Dunkel had avoided returning home for fifty years until the Golden Land swallowed it.
• Lernen admitted he had delayed repaying Dunkel for decades and resolved to help him now, while time remained.
• Lernen said he had asked Frieren and her disciples to help Dunkel, and Aetilu questioned whether the reward he had offered Rienta’s group was sufficient.

After Dunkel concluded that Macht could not be defeated, Rienta left the group and entered the Golden Land to test his theory about Macht’s curse. He restored a golden plant with healing magic, but it turned gold again when he stopped the spell.

• Dunkel said that Macht could not be defeated, though their side would not lose either.
• Rienta left the cabin and flew to the Barrier to investigate the Golden Land himself.
• Rienta found that his intangibility let him pass through the Barrier and examined a golden plant.
• Rienta confirmed that the plant resisted intense flames despite appearing to be gold.
• Rienta restored the plant with Magic That Heals Everything and Goddess's Blessing, but it turned gold again after he ended the spell.

Rienta dispelled Macht’s Golden Transformation curse and joined the others for dinner while Dunkel left to negotiate with Macht. Rienta and Fern grilled skewers for the group, who gathered to eat as Dunkel’s return remained uncertain.

• Rienta used [Magic That Heals Everything] to turn the golden flowers and grass green again.
• Frieren explained that Aetilu had read Macht’s memories, despite the immense difficulty and pain involved.
• Rienta invited everyone to eat, but Dunkel left to negotiate with Macht as he did every day.
• Rienta and Fern prepared and grilled a large assortment of meat and vegetable skewers.
• Frieren, Stark, Fern, and Rienta gathered around the table and began eating the skewers.

During a skewer feast, Rienta revealed that he had lifted the Golden Land’s curse from several plants, though they withered soon after. Dunkel thanked him and promised him his lifetime collection of Grimoires, while Frieren looked forward to studying them.

• Rienta asked Dunkel whether he still intended to negotiate with the Demons, then offered to lift the curse on the Golden Land.
• Rienta explained that he had entered the Barrier and restored several cursed plants, but they quickly withered.
• Frieren asked how long lifting the curse took and what it cost, and Rienta said about a second and almost nothing.
• Dunkel thanked Rienta and promised to send him all the Grimoires he had collected throughout his life.
• Frieren praised Rienta and happily anticipated studying the Grimoires during their upcoming rest.

Rienta, Frieren, and Dunkel analyzed Aetilu’s memories of Macht and discussed the danger of facing him, while Frieren became temporarily immobile from her work. After Rienta healed her, the group prepared lunch as Solitär avoided the cabin after sensing danger nearby.

• With Frieren’s help, Dunkel finished analyzing Aetilu’s memories concerning Macht, and Frieren became stiff while processing the deeper memories.
• A powerful mana reaction appeared briefly nearby, and Rienta suspected a demon had entered the rarely visited area.
• Rienta prepared lunch while Fern cared for Frieren, then used Magic That Heals Everything to restore Frieren’s ability to move.
• Frieren hurried outside with Fern when Rienta announced the meal, which included tempura and pork cutlet rice.
• Solitär sensed extraordinary danger near the cliffside cabin and chose another direction to analyze the Barrier.

Dunkel led Frieren, Fern, Rienta, and Stark into the Golden Land to meet Macht at the Gluck Estate and discuss the region. Frieren provoked Macht to test his strength, and the chapter ended with Macht asking Dunkel who Rienta was.

• Dunkel led the group to the Gluck Estate, where Macht welcomed them as guests.
• Frieren reminded Macht that they had fought six hundred years earlier, then challenged him to remember by fighting again.
• Macht and Rienta clashed with their mana until Dunkel stopped them and insisted they had come to talk.
• Macht served tea in Lord Gluck's preserved tea set while Dunkel began gathering information.
• Frieren told Macht she could not beat him one-on-one but did not consider him unbeatable.
• Macht looked at Dunkel and asked who Rienta was.

Frieren, Rienta, and their companions questioned Macht about his intentions and his treatment of humans. They left after realizing that Macht’s idea of coexistence was incompatible with theirs, but learned that his ring still restricted him and that he was a formidable mage.

• Dunkel introduced Frieren to Macht, and Rienta gave an extravagant introduction before accusing Macht of arrogance.
• Macht said he wanted to live peacefully with humans and had sought coexistence, while denying that he had lied.
• Rienta challenged Macht over the Golden Land, its expanding borders, and the humans transformed to gold in Weise.
• Macht treated killing humans as unrelated to coexistence, so Rienta ended the conversation and the group left.
• Frieren and the others concluded that the Dominion Stone Ring still restricted Macht and noted his exceptional mana and skill with Zoltraak.

Macht recalled how his desire to understand human emotions began and how it led him to seek a close bond with humans in Weise. Schlacht recruited him to fight the Hero of the South, then revealed that Grausam would erase Macht’s memory because Frieren and Lord Rienta had been peering into it.

• Macht remembered killing a village priest who called him pitiful, which first made him wonder what Malice and Guilt meant.
• Macht recalled a boy who killed his childhood friend and then displayed Guilt, inspiring Macht to seek a closer relationship with humans so he could experience it himself.
• Macht chose Weise, the largest human settlement on the Northern Plateau, as the place to pursue that goal.
• Schlacht asked Macht to fight the Hero of the South, and Macht agreed after recognizing he could not safely refuse.
• Schlacht told Macht that Grausam would erase his memory because Frieren and Lord Rienta had been peering into it, then departed after hinting at futures he had seen.

After finishing her analysis of Macht’s memories, Frieren pulled Rienta into her bedroom to discuss the effects of undoing Golden Transformation. Her deductions about the spell did not match Rienta’s experience with the Golden Land, leaving them with a mystery to resolve.

• Rienta, Stark, and Dunkel spent time in the new cliffside cabin while Fern cared for Frieren, who remained immobile as she analyzed Macht’s memories.
• Frieren finished her analysis, then unexpectedly took Rienta into her bedroom and cast Soundproofing Magic.
• Fern and Dunkel worried about the private meeting, while Stark asked Fern to make him large pieces of roast meat.
• Frieren asked Rienta about the plants and grass that had withered soon after he undid Golden Transformation in the Golden Land.
• Frieren explained that her deductions predicted things freed from the curse would remain as they had been when turned to gold, contradicting Rienta’s account.

Rienta questioned Frieren about the logic behind her magic for dispelling Golden Transformation, then accepted her decision to conceal his ability and help dispel the Golden Land. Later, he completed a Grimoire of the spell while Stark exercised and cooked a meal for everyone; elsewhere, Macht met Solitär, who showed him unusual creature skeletons and explained convergent evolution.

• Rienta challenged Frieren’s explanation of how Golden Transformation affected living creatures, and Frieren told him that this was a world of magic.
• Rienta affirmed that he was Frieren’s disciple and Fern’s older brother, and Frieren agreed to handle dispelling the Golden Land while telling others that Rienta lacked enough mana to do it all.
• Rienta wrote Frieren’s spell into a Grimoire he called Dispel Magic while Stark continued his strenuous workout.
• Rienta prepared fried pork cutlet with omurice and soup, and Frieren, Fern, Dunkel, and Stark gathered to eat.
• Macht met Solitär on the coast, and she took him to her specimen-filled house and explained how convergent evolution could make different creatures look alike.

Solitär studied the Barrier trapping Macht and decided to use Dark Aura, the power fused with her mana, to speed up her efforts to break it. After merging with Dark Aura, she gained immense power and declared she could deal with the Barrier in a week.

• Solitär told Macht she had come to help him and probed the Barrier, but found its composite human magic too complex to break quickly.
• Macht watched Solitär's attempt, then returned to the Gluck Family estate, trusting she would eventually succeed.
• Solitär recalled that Dark Aura had influenced her will and given her mana the ability to conceal its aura from Detection Magic.
• Solitär allowed Dark Aura to merge with her will, transforming her into an armored form with greater mana and mental power.
• Solitär faced the Barrier and said that in her new state, she could deal with it in a week.

Solitär destroyed the Large-Scale Composite Barrier and helped the Golden Land begin spreading again, prompting Rienta’s group to split up and confront the emerging threats. As Macht headed toward the approaching mages, Solitär revealed that embracing the darkness had given her human emotions.

• Solitär used her understanding of the Barrier’s magic to crack and destroy the Large-Scale Composite Barrier.
• Rienta, Fern, Frieren, Dunkel, and Stark sensed the Barrier’s destruction and the arrival of a powerful mana signature, while the Golden Land began expanding.
• Rienta split the group, sending himself, Fern, and Stark after the newly appeared Demon while Frieren and Dunkel went to face Macht.
• Solitär met Macht in Weise and urged him to continue experimenting on whether Demons and humans could coexist.
• Macht walked toward the approaching group, and Solitär told him that embracing the darkness had given her human emotions.

Rienta, Fern, and Stark encountered the great Demon Solitär, whose overwhelming mana and interest in human magic made her a formidable threat. After Rienta and Fern attacked her, Solitär turned her attention to them, and a sword she launched at Fern forced Rienta to intervene.

• Solitär approached Rienta, Fern, and Stark and claimed she wanted to talk, but Fern and Rienta recognized her as an unknown great Demon with immense mana.
• Fern explained Frieren’s warnings about great Demons, while Stark worried that they would not escape and Rienta judged Solitär stronger than any Demon he had faced.
• Solitär falsely claimed she had never killed anyone, but the trio sensed the stench of corpses on her.
• Rienta and Fern attacked Solitär, who survived behind shattered Defensive Magic and praised their abilities.
• Solitär questioned Rienta and Fern about their magic and personal lives, then launched a tapered longsword at Fern as she shifted to attack.
• Rienta summoned the Green Duckweed Sword and struck Solitär’s incoming blade.

Rienta and Stark fought Solitär while she questioned them, and Rienta’s blunt insult only made her more intrigued. Meanwhile, Dunkel confronted Macht over his plan to leave and kill those who knew him, and the chapter ended as Frieren attacked Macht while the Golden Land continued to spread.

• Solitär surrounded Rienta and his companions with conical longswords and threatened them, but Stark charged her with his Poleaxe.
• Rienta used his summoned weapons to fend off Solitär’s swords and cast Rho Aias on Stark as Solitär kept asking about him and his magic.
• Macht told Dunkel he planned to leave and kill everyone in the area who knew him before restarting his experiment elsewhere.
• Dunkel challenged Macht, saying he had prepared for their fight, and summoned Katosvia as Macht released a torrent of mana.
• Frieren attacked Macht with Demon-Slaying Magic as the Golden Land spread and the two demons finished speaking.

Dunkel chose Curse-Reversing Magic to face Macht, and Serie gave him a Grimoire containing the spell despite having to relearn it herself. Later, Dunkel insisted on fighting Macht alone, and their battle began with both recalling their years of training.

• Dunkel requested Curse-Reversing Magic as his Privilege, and Serie created a Grimoire containing the spell for him.
• Sense warned Serie that transferring the magic would cost her a way to counter curses, but Serie said she could relearn it and explained the spell's limitations to Dunkel.
• Dunkel told Frieren he wanted to deal with Macht himself, and Frieren agreed to respect his decision.
• Macht dodged Dunkel's arrows of light, struck at him with his blade, and fired Zoltraak, damaging Dunkel's Defensive Magic.
• Dunkel and Macht recalled their combat training as Dunkel unleashed a torrent of Ordinary Offensive Magic.

Macht’s fight with Dunkel and Frieren turned against him when they used Curse-Reversing Magic to counter his gold-transmutation spell. On the other battlefield, Rienta, Fern, and Stark kept Solitär occupied, but her flirtatious questions left the fight at a stalemate.

• Dunkel trapped Macht in a flaming tornado, then struck him from behind with a mana beam that forced Macht to block with his cloak.
• Macht cast the Magic That Turns All Things to Gold at Dunkel and Frieren, but their Curse-Reversing Magic left them unaffected and turned Macht’s lower body to gold.
• Dunkel told Macht he knew the transformation could be reversed and asked him to continue fighting.
• Rienta, Fern, and Stark battled Solitär with blades, mana beams, and axe strikes, but neither side gained the advantage.
• Solitär questioned and flirted with Rienta throughout the fight while learning the names and abilities of her opponents.

Rienta fought Solitär while trying to resist her mind-influencing ability, and he pierced her heart with the Green Duckweed Sword before her mana blast sent him flying. Solitär transformed into light armor and approached him, leaving Rienta stunned that she could match his dramatic magic effects.

• Rienta told Stark and Fern to retreat after realizing Solitär's influence was affecting them, and they withdrew from the battlefield.
• Rienta resisted thoughts about Serie, used [Intangibility], and pierced Solitär's heart with the Green Duckweed Sword.
• Solitär's mana burst knocked Rienta back, and her wound began to heal as she demanded to know how his magic worked.
• Rienta guessed Solitär had concentrated her mana, recreated his weapons with [Projection Magic] and [Special Effects Magic], and began compressing his mana.
• Solitär transformed her dress into light armor and approached Rienta, who asked, "You can transform too?"

Himmel, Eisen, and Heiter helped Frieren find a way to survive and break Beze’s Barrier, while Dunkel’s attempt to fight Macht alone ended with him being turned to gold. Macht was left confused about the backup plan he had assumed Dunkel possessed.

• Frieren told Himmel that Beze’s Barrier was beyond her ability to break, but Himmel’s sword strike created a small crack and Eisen joined in to attack it.
• Frieren began analyzing the Barrier, while Heiter revealed that his spell could sustain the party without air or supplies for about two months.
• Macht continued casting Magic That Turns All Things to Gold as Dunkel maintained Curse-Reversing Magic, and Dunkel mistook Frieren’s retreat for a deliberate backup plan.
• Dunkel’s mana dwindled, and he flew toward Frieren asking for help just before Macht’s magic turned him into a golden statue.
• Macht watched Dunkel crash into the ground and wondered why he had run instead of using the backup plan Macht had expected.

Dunkel dreamed of speaking with Lecktirei, who urged him to keep fighting after he admitted he had lost to Macht. Meanwhile, Rienta, Fern, and Stark battled Solitär, and Rienta grew worried that Fern’s mana and Stark’s stamina would run out before they could defeat her.

• Dunkel realized his reunion with Lecktirei was a dream and recalled learning of her death on the night he received his medal.
• Dunkel told Lecktirei that he had lost to Macht, but she reminded him that he had never given up after losing to him before.
• Fern wounded Solitär with a compressed mana beam, and Rienta healed his mind before attacking her at close range.
• Stark arrived and joined the fight, while Rienta attacked Solitär and watched over Stark as Fern continued firing from a distance.
• Solitär defended herself against the three attackers and rapidly healed her minor injuries, leaving Rienta concerned that Fern and Stark could not keep fighting much longer.