Chapter Summaries

Duncan, Lichta, and Laufen investigated Team Two’s mana-contaminated water sources and discovered corpse-luring traps, while Rabiñe, Kanne, and Frieren prepared a hidden ambush at the basin’s only clean water source. The chapter ended with a smaller bird monster drinking from the pond without noticing Frieren, as the group waited for a Stille.

• Duncan explained that Team Two had rendered the lake and nearby water sources unusable to the Stille, and he led Lichta and Laufen away to investigate their plan.
• Duncan identified hanging examinees’ corpses as a Corpse-Luring Birds trap and refused to risk freeing them while monsters circled overhead.
• Duncan and his companions found that the basin’s water sources had been subtly infused with mana, and Laufen realized Team Two was clearing the field to lure the Stille to an uncontaminated source.
• Duncan decided to conserve his team’s strength and wait for Team Two to reveal its position.
• Rabiñe and Kanne reported that they had marked most water sources, while Frieren concealed her mana beside a small pond.
• A smaller bird monster drank from the pond and flew away without recognizing Frieren, leaving the group waiting for a Stille.

Frieren captured a Stille, but Duncan's team tracked the mana fluctuation and confronted her group. Duncan prepared to fight Frieren while Lichta was ordered to subdue Rabiñe and Kanne.

• Frieren captured a Stille with prepared magic, but she warned Rabiñe and Kanne that another team had sensed them.
• Laufen rushed to seize the birdcage, but Frieren caught and bound her to a tree using High-Speed Movement.
• Duncan and Lichta arrived, and Duncan recognized Frieren as the Elven Mage and a member of the three Great Mages remaining in the world.
• Lichta explained the privilege of becoming a First-Class Mage and threatened to kill one of Frieren's teammates, but Duncan ordered him to keep the girls occupied without killing them.
• Duncan removed his robe, gathered mana, and declared that he would defeat Frieren.

Lichta separated Rabiñe and Kanne from Frieren and Duncan, then overpowered the two girls with earth magic while explaining the limits of their defensive spells. He stopped short of defeating them and waited for Duncan’s fight to end, while Duncan prepared to face Frieren.

• Lichta raised a massive earthen wall that split the battlefield and trapped Rabiñe and Kanne on his side.
• Rabiñe attacked with ice arrows, but Lichta blocked them with stone and mocked the girls’ fighting style.
• Lichta struck Rabiñe and Kanne with earth pillars, shattering Kanne’s defensive barrier and knocking them to the ground.
• Rabiñe tried to bluff Lichta with Kanne’s potential water magic, then suggested he had chosen dry terrain because he feared her abilities.
• Lichta stopped attacking and waited for Duncan, while Rabiñe and Kanne warned him they still had a trump card.
• Duncan took a fighting stance before Frieren, who asked if they were going to fight.

Frieren defeated Duncan after enduring his powerful spells with ease, and Duncan revealed that he wanted to become a First-Class Mage to reach his wife in the demon-infested Northern Plateau. As Richter prepared to continue the fight, Rabiñe shielded herself and Kanne inside an ice wall.

• Duncan unleashed a combined wind-and-fire tornado attack, but Frieren blocked it with an all-around defensive barrier.
• Duncan attacked Frieren with Light of Judgment, but she closed the distance and struck him with Ordinary Attack Magic, exhausting his mana.
• Duncan admitted defeat and explained that he needed First-Class Mage status to pass through a checkpoint and save his wife in the Northern Plateau.
• Frieren refused to leave Rabiñe and Kanne, saying they would win, while Duncan confirmed that he was no longer a threat.
• Richter noticed Duncan's defeat and saw that Rabiñe had enclosed herself and Kanne in an ice wall.

Rabiñe and Kanne defeated Lichta with a water-magic ambush, while Frieren broke Serie’s barrier and the rain flooded the examination grounds. With the candidates exhausted and only two hours left, Duncan urged Lichta and Laufen to keep struggling until the end.

• Kanne released a scroll’s Rainstorm Pear Blossom Magic, and Rabiñe froze Lichta’s ankles so Kanne could crush him beneath a massive sphere of water.
• Frieren broke Serie’s barrier with a beam of light, and Sense told Genau that Frieren was Ruby’s master and the third Great Mage.
• Frieren praised Rabiñe and Kanne for winning, then told the exhausted girls to hide before the sunset gathering.
• The barrier’s destruction brought down rain, and the flood swept Lichta away before Duncan caught him; Laufen cut down the tree to free them from Frieren’s mana ropes.
• Duncan asked Lichta and Laufen what a Court Mage would do when cornered, then declared that they would struggle until the very last moment.

Lanto fought Scharf and used hidden clones to outmaneuver him despite being badly wounded. After finally knocking Scharf unconscious, Lanto treated his wound and watched Fern and Ubel's battles while a distant observer commented on his tactics.

• Scharf attacked Lanto with steel petals, wounded him, and demanded that he surrender.
• Lanto revealed that he had prepared a hidden clone, which shocked Scharf from behind, but Scharf's Flower Substitute Magic tricked the clone.
• Lanto used another clone to catch Scharf off guard and electrocute him until he lost consciousness.
• Lanto reflected on Scharf's skill, treated his wound, and turned toward Fern and Ubel's fight.
• A distant observer praised Lanto's sneaky tactics and then looked toward Fern.

Fern defeated Ehre by bombarding her with a dense barrage of basic attack magic until Ehre’s defensive shield collapsed. She then turned to watch Ubel and Wirbel’s fight as it reached a critical moment.

• Ehre attacked Fern with hardened stone projectiles, but Fern dodged and countered with Ordinary Attack Magic.
• Ehre questioned why Fern used only basic spells, and Fern explained that Frieren had forbidden her from using anything else until she passed the First-Class Mage exam.
• Fern controlled seven magic circles at once and launched a simultaneous saturation attack that forced Ehre to raise a spherical shield.
• Fern’s relentless barrage exhausted Ehre’s mana and shattered her shield, leaving Ehre unable to move as the final beams passed by.
• Fern looked toward Ubel and Wirbel’s battle, while someone in the distance remarked that speed was unbeatable and enjoyed a snack.

Ubel fought Wirbel and discovered the limits of his Gaze Restraint Magic before Fern caught him from behind. With Ehre already disqualified and Lanto returning unharmed, the team regrouped after winning their fights.

• Ubel and Wirbel exchanged close-range attacks until Wirbel restrained her with Gaze Restraint Magic and demanded the Stille.
• Ubel deduced that Wirbel's magic required his full field of vision and exploited the opening to wound his nose, but he restrained her again.
• Wirbel explained that his battlefield experiences had shaped his restraint magic and urged Ubel to surrender.
• Fern sneaked up behind Wirbel and revealed that Frieren had destroyed the barrier and that she had thrown Ehre outside the basin, so Wirbel conceded.
• Ubel declined to attack Wirbel as he left, and Fern and Ubel agreed that Lanto had likely already won his fight.
• Lanto emerged unharmed, and Fern confirmed that their fights were finished.

Wirbel rescued Ehre and Scharf, then found a Stille just as the team was about to give up on the exam. Meanwhile, Fern, Ubel, and Lanto sheltered from the rain and discussed their magic and the possibility of facing one another in the next round.

• Wirbel found Ehre exhausted after her fight with Fern, believed her account of Fern's powerful Ordinary Attack Magic, and carried her toward Scharf.
• Wirbel found Scharf paralyzed and carried Ehre on his back while magically floating Scharf behind him as they headed to shelter.
• Ehre recalled Wirbel protecting her village from Demons, and Wirbel said he fought to grow stronger and improve his skills rather than out of kindness.
• Ehre spotted a Stille sheltering on a tree branch, and Wirbel immobilized it and put it in his birdcage.
• Fern, Ubel, and Lanto sheltered in a cave, where they discussed Fern's magic and how their fighting styles might fare against one another in the next round.

Duncan’s party fought two exhausted mages and took their Stille after Duncan decided not to negotiate. With an hour left in the exam, Duncan was wounded but recovering, while the others continued their own pursuits and squabbles.

• Duncan, Lichta and Laufen found two disqualified mages still guarding their Stille, and Duncan decided they would take it by force.
• Duncan and Lichta confronted the pair without mana, while Laufen waited to seize the birdcage; Duncan began the fight with a punch.
• Rabiñe and Kanne grappled over their earlier battle as Frieren watched, and Edel used Mental Suggestion Magic to lure a Stille into her cage.
• In a cave, Ubel teased Fern by pinching her cheeks, while Lanto watched; Wirbel, Ehre and Scharf sat around a campfire elsewhere.
• Duncan’s party won the fight and took the Stille, then Laufen treated Duncan’s injuries as sunlight broke through with about an hour left in the exam.

Methode battled Elder while Ton struggled against Adonis, as Länge and Falsh played cards in a nearby cave. Elder briefly interrupted their game before returning to his fight, and both battles remained unresolved.

• Elder used earth magic to attack Methode, who defended herself and countered while refusing to trust him despite his offer to share the three Stille.
• Ton fought Adonis's vines and pollen with fire magic, but the elf's attacks slowed him and threatened to trap him.
• Länge built a strong Spellcaster field during her card duel with Falsh, though her cards prevented her from attacking for three turns.
• Elder surfaced inside the cave and asked Falsh to switch places, but Falsh explained that the exam rules did not allow it.
• Methode's mana beam struck the cave wall beside Elder, who ducked back underground, while Länge and Falsh continued their card game and Ton and Adonis kept fighting.

After passing the first exam, Frieren hurried back to the inn because she could no longer sense Lowell’s mana. She found him overwhelmed by a severe separation response, and his crying eased once she comforted him.

• Genau announced that seven teams, including Frieren’s, had passed the first exam and that the second exam would take place in three days.
• Frieren told Fern that she could no longer sense Lowell’s mana and hurried with her back to the inn.
• Frieren and Fern found Lowell in their room, where he burst into tears and cried while moving around the room in increasingly strange ways.
• Frieren explained that Lowell’s distress came from being apart from her for more than twenty-four hours and called it “Severe Frieren dependency.”
• Frieren comforted Lowell by patting his back and stroking his hair, and his sobs gradually subsided.

Lichta agreed to guide Duncan and Laufen to a restaurant tied to Duncan’s memories of his wife. Elsewhere, Ubel tested Lanto’s resistance to her magic and left him walking away while she followed, intrigued by him.

• Lichta repaired an old woman’s lamp, accepted her candy, and then met Duncan and Laufen outside his shop.
• Duncan asked Lichta to join him and Laufen for a meal, and Lichta agreed after Duncan explained he was searching for a restaurant he had visited with his wife.
• Ubel restrained Lanto with magic and explained that she could use magic by resonating with people and understanding their thoughts.
• Lanto refused to reveal his past, and Ubel released him, saying she had learned a little more about him.
• Lanto told Ubel not to follow him, but she walked after him and said she liked him.

Duncan, Lichta, and Laufen joined Frieren, Lowell, and Fern for a meal at a restaurant Duncan remembered from fifty years earlier, while the other examiners ate nearby. After the group returned to the inn, they rested peacefully, leaving the story on the first night after the first exam.

• Lichta led Duncan and Laufen into the restaurant, where Duncan recognized its unchanged atmosphere from a visit with his wife fifty years earlier.
• Duncan saw Frieren, Lowell, and Fern sharing a meal, and Frieren explained that Himmel had once helped the restaurant preserve its traditional flavors.
• Duncan ordered familiar dishes, and Laufen eagerly ate while Duncan reminded her to have some vegetables.
• The group finished their meal and walked back to the inn, where Fern and Frieren washed up and Lowell said he hoped to join them for the second exam.
• Fern, Frieren, and Lowell went to sleep, and the first night after the first exam passed quietly.

Frieren bought a book on Transformation Magic and practiced changing her appearance with Lowell’s help. After experimenting with several exaggerated changes, she asked Lowell to make her look the way he liked best, and he restored her to her usual appearance, which she understood was what he preferred.

• Fern let Frieren and Lowell sleep in, then woke them with breakfast by promising Frieren a trip to the magic bookshop.
• Frieren bought a book on Transformation Magic after explaining that she could not learn Lowell’s Demon magic.
• Lowell helped Frieren adjust the spell’s mana circuit, and she first transformed herself into a mix of animal features.
• Lowell demonstrated a perfect transformation into Frieren, then altered Frieren’s height, hair, and figure at her request.
• Fern suggested Frieren ask Lowell to make her look the way he liked best, and Lowell restored her to her usual appearance.
• Frieren looked at her reflection and seemed to understand what Lowell’s choice meant.

Lowell took Frieren and Fern to a luxurious hot spring inn, where they enjoyed dinner and split up for the baths. In the men's bath, Lowell met Elder, while Frieren amused herself by boasting to Fern about her thousand years of hot-spring experience.

• Lowell brought Frieren and Fern to Oysast's most luxurious hot spring inn and revealed that he had booked a month in advance.
• Lowell and Elder met in the men's bath, where Elder reminded Lowell that he served Yūren, who served Solitär, and admitted he had secretly entered using earth magic.
• Frieren and Fern relaxed in the women's bath while Fern praised Frieren's enjoyment of the hot springs.
• Frieren used bluffing magic to stage a dramatic entrance and declared that she was a mage who had soaked in hot springs for over a thousand years.
• Fern indulgently called Frieren the most amazing, and Frieren happily sank back into the water.

On Lowell’s birthday, Fern asked Frieren for ideas for a present and learned about the gifts Lowell had given her over the centuries. Frieren suggested a Clothes-Dissolving Potion, which Fern used on Frieren before leaving to find a different present.

• Lowell charged the hot spring bill to the North Country Bank under Himmel the Hero’s name, and Frieren told Fern it was his birthday.
• Fern sent Lowell out so she and Frieren could discuss a birthday present, then asked what he liked and what Frieren usually gave him.
• Frieren described her tradition of making Lowell hamburger steak and showed Fern many keepsakes from his past birthday gifts.
• Frieren proposed giving Lowell a Clothes-Dissolving Potion, so Fern poured it over Frieren and dissolved her clothes.
• Fern left to find Lowell a different present while Frieren wrapped herself in a blanket and lamented her ruined clothes.

Lowell and Frieren got dressed at the inn and talked about his birthday while Fern went out to find him a present. Frieren gave him a playful kick and a kiss, then she and Lowell set out to find Fern and buy ingredients for hamburger steak.

• Lowell gave Frieren clothes, and she dressed in a simple white dress she had worn long ago in the village.
• Frieren told Lowell that Fern had gone out to find him a birthday present, delighting him.
• Frieren offered Lowell a different birthday present, then kicked him as a playful reward and kissed him.
• Lowell told Frieren he liked the kiss, and they left to find Fern and buy hamburger steak ingredients.

Kanne, Rabiñe, Frieren, Fern, and Lowell spent a day together in Oysast before receiving notice that Sense would examine them in the next round. The chapter ended with the friends celebrating Lowell’s birthday as night fell over the city.

• Kanne and Rabiñe wandered through Oysast, met Frieren, Fern, and Lowell, and later joined them at the inn, where Kanne gave Frieren cookies as thanks for helping them catch a Stille.
• Fern received the next-exam notice naming Sense, and Rabiñe explained that none of the candidates had passed Sense’s previous four exams.
• Letters announcing the next exam reached the other examinees, while Sense told Genau she would not let candidates die and criticized his approach to the first exam.
• Wirbel and Scharf left Stoltz to fight a Lion Boar after receiving their letters, but Stoltz defeated it, and the three later shared its roasted meat.
• Kanne and Rabiñe traded embarrassing childhood stories and wrestled while Frieren and Fern ate cookies, and Lowell treasured the wooden pendant Fern had given him for his birthday.

Sense explained that the second exam required the examinees to reach the deepest part of the Ruined King's Tomb, an unconquered labyrinth. She gave each examinee a golem bottle for emergencies and declared the exam underway.

• Sense told the examinees that anyone who reached the tomb's deepest part would pass, and that she would make the journey too without helping them.
• Bly questioned whether the exam would fail everyone, but Dunster stopped him from continuing.
• Sense gave each examinee a bottle containing a golem that could carry them out of the labyrinth if they broke it.
• Sense explained that using a golem meant failing and that the bottles would break automatically at dawn to end the exam and rescue anyone incapacitated.
• Sense stepped aside and announced the start of the second exam.