Phantoms of the Dead ｢
Summary
Twenty-eight years after the Hero Himmel's passing, Frieren and Fern are in the Wille Region. They reach a village whose people are disappearing after going over the mountain pass, supposedly taken by ghosts. The next day, the duo investigates and finds out the Einsam, Phantom Demons,[note 1] are causing the disappearances. Frieren and Fern find and defeat him, and continue their voyage towards Aureole.
Plot Details
Fern has a flashback of Heiter telling her to be a good girl and abide by everything Frieren says, jokingly saying that otherwise, he will materialize after his death. Fern then asks if he would materialize if she became a bad girl. Heiter notes her having grown cunning, wondering who she takes after. He states that if Fern remained good, he could materialize to see her for a bit. Fern then wakes up from her dream.
Twenty-eight years after the Hero Himmel's passing, Frieren and Fern are in the Central Lands, specifically the Wille Region. Frieren and Fern reach a village where a marketeer lady warns them not to attempt the path on the mountain pass, saying people have gone missing, supposedly taken by ghosts. The duo asks around and finds out that the villagers saw ghosts of their deceased relatives, just as if they were alive. Frieren states that this couldn't have been done by the undead, as they would look like corpses, and says this was done by a completely different monster, calling it a vulgar being and showing that she has some knowledge about the truth of the matter. Frieren and Fern decide to leave town first thing in the morning, going over the mountain pass.
Frieren and Fern enter the fog.
When they reach the location where the disappearances were occurring, Fern notices traces of phantom magic, stating that she read about monsters that lure prey in through the use of illusions. As the duo continues through, Frieren affirms that the monster they face is an Einsam, a Phantom Demon,[note 1] which lures people in by showing them a ghostly apparition of people beloved to them. She states that the phantoms are no threat to mages, as they readily disperse when hit with a high concentration of mana. Frieren asks Fern if she will be able to fire at them, to which Fern replies in the affirmative since she knows they are imposters. Frieren then states that she had to fire upon the phantom of her master who was begging for her life, which astonishes Fern. Frieren states that she had gotten used to her master's begging so she did not feel particularly guilty. However, it was still unpleasant.
Himmel appears behind Frieren.
As they get closer, the duo enters a fog. Frieren tells Fern to fire without hesitation if a phantom appears. Suddenly, Fern hears Heiter call her name from behind her. As she prepares to shoot him, Heiter tells her that she has become more of a mage now and that he has chosen to materialize for her as she has been a good girl. Fern is stunned, thinking of how these are her own beloved memories, and she is unable to hear Frieren. Suddenly, the apparition of Himmel appears behind Frieren.
She thought her master would appear again, noticing how she might have also changed a little. As Frieren prepares to blast the counterfeit of Himmel away, the hero tells her only to "shoot me," causing Frieren to state that this is certainly something Himmel would say. The blast wakes up Fern from her daze, and she also fires at Heiter and the Einsam (which had appeared behind Heiter), disintegrating it into black dust.
As Frieren and Fern continue onwards, Frieren tells Fern that they will meet Heiter for real the next time, as they are heading for Aureole, the land where souls rest.
Characters in Order of Appearance
Locations
Battles and Events
Battles
- Frieren & Fern vs. Einsam
Objects of Interest
Spells
- Unnamed magic that shoots a high concentration of mana (possibly Zoltraak)
Chapter Note
- "Undead: is a general term that is used to describe corpses controlled by magic, like zombies or skeletons.
- Fern felt concerned for the villagers because, according to her, she is a good girl.
- Fern read about the Einsam in a book about magic ecology.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 While the Einsam are referred to as "Phantom Demons," they are considered monsters and do not fall under the category of the human-like demons evolved from monsters. The kanji of "demon" in "Phantom Demon" is "鬼" (oni), while the kanji for the evolved-from-monsters demons is "
魔 族 " (mazoku).