Chapter 27

The Priest of the Ordinary Village is the twenty-seventh chapter of Yamada Kanehito & Abe Tsukasa's Sousou no Frieren.

Summary
Twenty-nine years after the Hero Himmel's passing, Frieren, Fern and Stark are in the Alt Woods. A man is stuck in a bottomless quagmire, and is recounting the story of his childhood friend to Frieren in order to gain sympathy and ask for her help. Frieren uses magic to pull him out. The man walks with the party to his village and he invites them there, but they refuse as they wish to reach a major town, and they go on their way. On the way to the town, Stark gets bitten by a snake and the party heads back to the previous village to get him treated. The village's priest states that he is unable to cure Stark. However, his younger brother Sein, who is the man from before, enters upon them and recognizes Frieren's party, and immediately treats Stark with ease.The priest asks Frieren to take Sein away from the village, because he believes that Sein has always been searching for someone to support him to go on an adventure. Fern and Stark are in favour of having a priest in the party, but Frieren is unsure. Stark goes to invite Sein to join on his own. He finds Sein gambling, and Sein tells him that if Stark manages to beat him he will join them. When Fern and Frieren go to check on Stark, they find out that both he and Sein lost badly. Frieren tries to ask Sein to join them, but he refuses, saying he is too old and that it is too late now. This reminds her of how she used to be in the past and how Himmel managed to persuade her to join the Hero Party. She tries to convince Sein in the same way, and he seems to be inspired, but refuses again after contemplating a little. Frieren concludes that she truly does despise him, and that is why she chose to invite him to be a comrade regardless, a logic Sein fails to understand.

Plot Details
Twenty-nine years after the Hero Himmel's passing, Frieren, Fern and Stark are in the Northern Countries, specifically the Alt Woods. Frieren is with a man who is recounting a story of his childhood friend and his dream. A long time ago, he and his friend had a silly dream of becoming adventurers, and they would to go on many little adventures together. Yet after the he became an adult, he began to forget about the dream, and declined his friend's hand when he proposed for the two of them to travel together to become adventurers. Although a decade old story, the man still has regrets about it, and thinks how things would have been different if he had taken his friend's hand. Frieren asks him why he is sharing his story with her. He tells her that per his older brother’s request, he went to harvest wildflowers in the forest to use for cooking, in preparation for his village's harvest festival. However, he fell into a bottomless quagmire. He states that it's over for him, but things may be different if Frieren takes his hand. Frieren refuses as his hand was dirty, and instead uses magic to pull him out, at the same time that Fern find her.

Fern apologises to Sein for the trouble Frieren caused and states that she will scold her. As an expression of gratitude, Sein invites Frieren, Fern, and Stark to his village, but they decline as they need to replenish their supplies and prefer to reach a major town by the end of the day. He understands and warns them of dangerously poisonous creatures around the area before they leave. On the way to new town, Stark gets bitten by a snake and his nose also starts bleeding. Frieren is unable to analyze the poison since she is not a priest, and they decide to get him diagnosed in the church of the previous village. Stark initially refuses since he thinks he can tough it out like his master, but Fern refuses so they head back flying.

They meet the village's priest, and he states that it is too late. He states that originally, it would only be treatable during the initial stage, but perhaps his younger brother might be able to. At that moment, the man from before, named Sein, enters the church to talk to his elder brother, the village's priest, and recognizes Frieren's party. He promptly and effortlessly treats Stark by just putting a hand on his shoulder, before heading out to help at the plaza. Frieren notes that Sein is an healing expert that has natural talent for Goddess's magic, as he could instantly cure a poison that even the superior priest of the region deemed incurable. Sein’s brother tells Frieren, who he knew about from Heiter, that even though he has the holy badge which Heiter granted him, Sein's talent cannot be compared to his. He tells her that their parents passed away early and that he took care of Sein like a single father. Although Sein used to tell his brother about how he wanted to become an adventurer, he changed when he became an adult. Sein's elder brother asks Frieren to take him away from the village, as he believes Sein has been searching for someone to support him.

Back at the inn, both Stark and Fern are in favor of the proposal, as it would be beneficial to have a priest in the party. Frieren is uneasy, stating that perhaps she just hates people who come from the same background. Stark doesn't understand her, and sets out to recruit Sein. He finds Sein gambling at a tavern, and joins the game in the hopes of beating him so that he would join the party.

Frieren and Fern come looking for Stark as he is late and find both Stark and Sein stripped bare down to their boxers outside the tavern. Sein asks the party to not judge him, as all adults are dirty. He tells Frieren to find someone else, as he thinks he is a ruined middle-aged man and that it’s too late for him to pursue an adventure. His remarks remind Frieren of an old memory of when Himmel first came to recruit her.

Himmel invites Frieren to defeat the Demon King together. She states that she hasn't fought a demon in at least five hundred years, so she has forgotten how to fight. She believes that she must have been afraid of fighting the Demon King, and that enough years have passed that it is already too late. Himmel tells Frieren something, which she repeats to Sein. Frieren tells Sein that she is talking about the story you will have now. Sein is briefly reminded of his childhood friend, but he still doesn’t budge, and tells Frieren that she wouldn't understand his feelings. Frieren concludes that she truly does despise him, and that is why she chose to invite him to be a comrade regardless, a logic Sein fails to understand.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Sein
 * Frieren
 * Fern
 * Stark
 * Sein's elder brother - the Village's Priest
 * Himmel
 * Heiter
 * Eisen

Locations

 * Alt Woods

Spells and New Tools Used

 * Unnamed magic used to pull someone out of a bottomless quagmire
 * Unnamed flying magic
 * Unnamed healing magic used by Sein

Chapter Notes

 * The village's church contains the same symbol that Kraft's neclace had, so it must be a symbol for the Goddess of Creation
 * The holy badge is only granted by the Holy City to the most superior priest of a region
 * It was the village's chief who won everything from Sein and Stark in their poker game