Chapter 14

Articulate Monsters (をす) is the fourteenth chapter of Yamada Kanehito & Abe Tsukasa's Sousou no Frieren.

Summary
Twenty-eight years after the Hero Himmel’s passing, Frieren, Fern, and Stark are in Graf Granat’s Domain. As the trio walks into town, Frieren senses some demons and tries to kill them, but she is stopped by sentinels. The demons, led by Lord Lügner, are supposedly messengers of peace, however, Frieren calls them incomprehensible wild beasts that mimic human voices. She is then thrown into the mansion dungeon. Fern and Stark investigate and find out Aura the Guillotine, a great demon who served the Demon King as one of the Seven Sages of Destruction, has requested peace after being long at war with the town. Frieren states that it is futile to negotiate with demons, as they only use words as a means of deception rather than communication. She decides to break out of the dungeon once the disorder starts. Meanwhile, Lügner wonders where he has seen Frieren before and smiles as she is the only one in town who knows the true nature of demons.

Plot Details
Twenty-eight years after the Hero Himmel’s passing, Frieren, Fern, and Stark are in the Northern Lands, specifically Graf Granat’s Domain. As the trio walks into town, Frieren notices that there are many sentinels around and senses some demons. She tries to kill them but is stopped by the sentinels. The one leading the demons, Lord Lügner, asks Graf Granat if he is trying to instigate something. He denies it saying he is not foolish enough to harm messengers of peace, and Lügner lets the matter go. He remarks how Frieren looks at him as if she is looking at a wild beast, unlike the townspeople. She concurs with his remark, saying that demons are simply incomprehensible wild beasts that mimic human voices, making Lügner smile. Frieren is then thrown into the mansion dungeon to serve a two to three-year sentence. When Fern and Stark visit her, they tell her that they investigated and found out that Aura the Guillotine, a great demon who served the Demon King as one of the Seven Sages of Destruction, has been regaining power since over 28 years ago. The town has been long at war with her army but it seems she has requested peace after being growing tired of the war. Frieren calls allowing the messengers inside a bad move, as it is futile to negotiate with demons. Stark disagrees, saying it will be ideal for the matter to be resolved through negotiation. Frieren refutes him, saying it’s futile because it won’t be resolved. She calls demons man-eating monsters and recalls an old memory of when she was travelling with the Hero Party.

The Hero Party chases and stops an injured, childlike demon who ate the daughter of a villager. As Himmel is about to kill her, she starts saying “It hurts.. It really hurts… Mother”, causing Himmel to hesitate. Frieren steps up to do the deed, but the village chief starts to sympathize with her and gives her a chance to atone by helping him in the fields. Frieren tells Himmel he will regret it if he doesn’t kill her now, but Himmel denies it, stating that she is able to talk to them. They stay in the village to see how things turn out.

Some time passes, with the demon girl living with the village chief and playing with his daughter. Then one night, she burns the chief’s house and kills him. She states that she prepared the daughter of the chief as a replacement for the daughter of the villager she ate, saying the chief isn’t alive anymore. As Himmel unsheathes his sword, he cuts the demon’s hand before she can take the chief’s daughter hostage. Frieren blasts the demon, right after she says “Mother” once again. Frieren states that like monsters, demons have no custom of raising children, so they are mostly alone. The concept of “family” does not exist. She asks the demon why she uses the word “mother” then. The demon replies that saying it prevented her from being killed and calls it a magical word, before dying and disintegrating to black dust.

The flashback ends, and Frieren tells Fern and Stark that words to demons are a means of deceiving humans. She decides to break out of the dungeon once the disorder starts. Meanwhile, as Lügner waits for Graf Granat in his mansion, he wonders where he has seen Frieren before and smiles as she is the only one in town who knows the true nature of demons.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Frieren
 * Fern
 * Stark
 * Lügner
 * Graf Granat

Locations

 * Graf Granat's Domain

Events

 * Frieren gets arrested

Spells

 * Unnamed magic that shoots a high concentration of mana (possibly Zoltraak) (Used in a flashback)

New Tools

 * Himmel's Sword (in a flashback)

Chapter Notes

 * Graf Granat and the townspeople despise demons
 * Frieren called two to three years "fleeting"
 * Frieren asked for a grimoire from Fern and Stark to read while she is imprisoned
 * The demon girl wanted to give the village chief's daughter to the bereaved mother so that she would stop acting hostile towards her
 * Lügner is accompanied by 2 other unnamed young demons