Chapter 42

Reason for Fighting (う) is the forty-second chapter of Yamada Kanehito & Abe Tsukasa's Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.

Summary
Right after the events of the previous chapter, Wirbel asks what happened to Ehre. Fern, expressionless, tells Wirbel that she killed Ehre. Since one of the conditions to pass is for all party members to be present, Wirbel concedes defeat and leaves. Removed from the rest of their parties, Land is still fighting Scharf, who controls flower petals to slice and disable Land's dominant arm. As he prepares to behead Land, Land notes that Scharf is bad at mana sensing. Another figure of Land appears behind Scharf, paralyzing him, and Land reveals that he has been using a clone of himself since the beginning of the exam. Wirbel comes across Ehre lying in the middle of a clearing and realizes Fern's deception, but Ehre and Scharf are out of mana and paralyzed respectively. Believing they will fail for sure, Wirbel carries them both around the basin and reminisces on his motivation to fight. By chance, they happen across a Stille perched in a tree which Wirbel summarily paralyzes with Sollganie. Meanwhile, the Thirteenth Party has found the Second Party, with Laufen confronting the three mages in the Second Party alone. Laufen disappears and uses magic to steal the Stille away from Frieren in the blink of an eye, leaving the Second Party to figure out where Laufen has gone.

Plot Details
Right after the events of the previous chapter, Wirbel expresses his surprise that Fern can completely mask her mana. He then assumes that she was the one who had captured the stille. Fern does not respond. Ubel, who is still restrained by Wirbel's Sollganie spell, tells him that they were just lucky. She reveals to him that they stumbled upon a stille's nest, and with Fern's bird capturing magic, they were able to capture it. Ubel then mockingly tells Wirbel that even though he can capture anything, the odds are not in his favor. Wirbel agrees. He then asks Fern, who fought Ehre, what happened to her. She tells him that Ehre has ceased to be. Wirbel recites the conditions to pass, which are to secure a stille before sunset today with all party members present. He then tells them that the 8th party has lost, and he will now depart. Ubel asks him why she hasn't killed her, since he was about to. He tells her that's unnecessary now and bids his farewell. He also frees Ubel from his spell. Ubel then directs her staff at Wirbel, who has turned his back on them. He stops in his tracks and tells them that an unnecessary kill would only turn into a necessary one.

Fern then tells Ubel that they should assist Land. Ubel tells her that there is no need since Land, whom she calls four eyes, is quite the devious fox. It then cuts to Land and Scharf fighting. His defensive spell has just been broken, severely injuring him. Scharf then tells him that they have reached a verdict. Land compliments what Scharf did, calling it impressive. He then describes what Scharf did and asks if it was self-taught. He then says that the self-taught tend to neglect the fundamentals. Land then tells him his way, saying that he always makes sure to wait and see how an opponent fights. He tells Scharf that he has figured out his weakness, so he will be the likely victor. Scharf calls him rather chatty, asking him how he plans to beat him, especially in the state that he is in. He then tells Land that if he does not surrender, he will cut off his head next. Land is rather dismissive of this and asks if detecting mana is not his forte. Suddenly another land appears from behind, while the other fades. Caught off-guard, Land knocks out Scharf.

Wirbel is looking at an unconscious Ehre. Wirbel recalls what Fern said to him, claiming that she had killed Ehre. He can’t believe that Fern lied to him. He then wakes up Ehre. Wirbel asks her if she is out of mana and calls her lame. Ehre tells him that Fern won with the sheer force of ordinary offensive spells and that she could not handle all of them. Ehre asks if Wirbel believes any of this, which he does not. Wirbel then tells her that he doesn’t understand why she fought Fern head-on like an idiot, since he knew that it was a match she could have won. Wirbel thinks to himself that the fact that Fern can pull that off with just ordinary offensive magic makes her quite the monster. He then tells Ehre that they’ll regroup with Scharf. Ehre tells him that she is unable to walk. He calls her a pain. Wirbel then uses a levitation spell to transport Ehre. Ehre tells him to stop and to just give her a piggyback ride.

With Ehre on his back, Wirbel makes his way to Scharf. Wirbel asks Ehre why he has to babysit him. Ehre doesn't answer back, instead asking if he senses Scharf nearby. He tells her that he is near. When they arrive, Wirbel asks Scharf to help carry Ehre. To his dismay, Scharf can’t move and also asks to be carried. Wirbel then carries him using levitation magic. Ehre hears a sound and wonders out loud what that sound is. Wirbel tells her that it sounds like rain and calls it a melody to represent his current mental state. Ehre tells them that they only have 2-3 hours until sunset, which signals the end of the exam. Wirbel laments the state they are in, with two of them being unable to fight, and tells them that they’ve blown it. Ehre tells him that even because of that, he still chose to help them and calls him kind. Wirbel jokingly tells her that he could ditch both of them right now. Scharf asks Wirbel to not abandon them, and Wirbel tells him to stop crying and man up. Ehre asks Wirbel if that kindness is why he fights demons, since he also saved Ehre’s village. Wirbel tells her to stop being ridiculous. He tells her that people fight to satisfy their desires, and that in his case, he did it for a girl that he liked in his hometown.

It then cuts to a flashback. Wirbel tells them that exactly 29 years ago, there was a lot of demon activity in the Northern Lands. This led to the girl he liked fleeing to the Central Lands with her family. He calls himself a dumb kid, wanting to look cool in front of her. He tells the girl that he will kill every last one of those crappy demons and come back here after he is done. This makes the girl smile.

It cuts back to the present. Wirbel tells them that he was around 4–5 years old and that he doesn't even remember her face or name anymore. Ehre calls him a fool. Wirbel then adds that he will have to go home by boat again and that he gets horrible seasickness. Ehre asks if he’d like to be introduced to her grandfather, who is a first-class mage, and if he can take him by land. Ehre asks him to wait, and Wirbel asks why. Ehre tells him to look. Stille was perched on a tree. Wirbel then proceeded to capture the bird with a sollganie. Wirbel calls this a joke and asks what the point of all the effort was. He then adds that it took way too long to be lucky.

Laufen is having a face-off with Frieren’s party. Denken watches from afar. He notices Frieren. Since she is an elf, he assumes that she is a distinguished mage. He also thinks that Laufen’s magic won’t work on her again. However, that one time is enough since this is not a fight to the death. Laufen then disappears. Kanne is shocked and shouts to Frieren that the stille is gone. Frieren tells them that it looks like Laufen has taken it. Frieren calls her magic interesting.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Fern
 * Wirbel
 * Übel
 * Land
 * Scharf
 * Ehre
 * Laufen
 * Frieren
 * Kanne
 * Lawine
 * Denken

Locations

 * Grube Basin

Battles

 * Fern, Übel, & Land vs. Wirbel, Ehre, & Scharf (continues)
 * Frieren, Kanne, & Lawine vs. Laufen (continues)

Events

 * The Fourth Party defends their Stille
 * The Eighth Party obtains a Stille
 * The Thirteenth Party steals the Second Party's Stille

Spells

 * Defensive magic
 * Jubelade
 * Unnamed magic that creates clones of the caster
 * Unnamed magic used to paralyze another person
 * Unnamed magic used to levitate another person
 * Sollganie
 * Unnamed magic that allows the user to move faster than perception

Chapter Notes

 * Übel is shown to be good at reading others and was immediately able to tell Fern was lying to Wirbel