Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Vol. 3: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 3
- ISBN
- 9781974727247
- Publisher
- VIZ Media
- English release
- Pages
- 200
The confrontation with Aura continues in this standard Frieren paperback. A reader following the manga should reach it through the preceding books; the licensed opening scene assumes the conflict is already underway. The Crunchyroll box containing Vols. 1–5 includes this book as well as the beginning of the series. The discussion below stays with the opening chapter's treatment of the undead soldiers and does not assess the whole volume.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
Aura remembers Frieren destroying an undead army with much less trouble. Now Frieren spends mana to undo the control over its soldiers instead. The explanation is Himmel's earlier anger at her treatment of the dead. Aura responds that he is long gone, as though his objection must have expired with him. Our reading of this exchange is that remembering a person can mean preserving a constraint on one's own behavior. Himmel cannot witness the more careful method or reward it. Yet the scene gives that care a harsh boundary: Frieren takes Aura's response as confirmation that demons are monsters and permission to kill without mercy. Respect for the soldiers and refusal of mercy toward their controller develop together. Calling the passage simply an example of growing compassion would leave out the judgment that closes it.
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Lines from this volume
“You demons are monsters, just as I remembered.”
Aura's undead soldiers were once people, and Frieren is not hacking through them. She spends mana on a negation spell that lifts Aura's control, which the demon calls a complicated thing to do. The last time they fought, Aura remembers, Frieren blew the same kind of army away like it was nothing, and Frieren answers that Himmel got mad at her afterwards. Aura's reply is that Himmel is long gone. Frieren says she is glad to hear it. The demon has treated a dead man's objection as expired, and Frieren takes that as proof of what demons are; in her next balloon the verdict becomes permission to kill without mercy. So the line commits her twice. It closes off any negotiation with Aura, and it shows Himmel's scolding turned into a rule she keeps with nobody left to enforce it. The chapter 1 funeral was about attention she failed to pay him. Here she pays it to a standard set by someone who can no longer see her keep it.