Chapter 6

New Year Anniversary is the sixth chapter of Yamada Kanehito & Abe Tsukasa's Sousou no Frieren.

Summary
Twenty-eight years after the Hero Himmel’s passing, Frieren and Fern are in the Granz Channel. A village requests them to clean up the coast from washed-up debris, rewarding them with a book by the Great Mage Flamme, albeit only a counterfeit. Frieren still accepts the request, and the duo is able to clean up the coast in time for the New Year Anniversary, and the duo witnesses the beautiful sunrise reflecting off of the untainted sea.

Plot Details
Twenty-eight years after the Hero Himmel’s passing, Frieren and Fern are in the Central Lands, specifically the Granz Channel. A village requests them to clean up the coast from washed-up debris, rewarding them a book by the Great Mage Flamme. Frieren accepts the request, even though the grimoire is a counterfeit, as Fern was able to tell. Frieren still accepted the request because the village head looked concerned, and also for herself.

Three months pass, and winter arrives. Fern always has to take care of Frieren like a mother; waking her up, brushing her hair, feeding her, and clothing her.

She asks if the hero party was never angered by Frieren oversleeping, and she replies that they were once. Fern remarks that they must have been rather tolerant and Frieren strongly agrees.

The village head visits them one night to ask about the progress of the clean-up and comments that it would be delightful if they could witness the sunrise in the New Year Anniversary.

The next day, Fern asks how cleaning the coast is related to the New Year Anniversary. Frieren replies that the village has a custom of watching the sunrise on the New Year Anniversary and that it is truly picturesque when the sunlight reflects off of the untainted sea, although she herself has never seen it as she could never wake up for it. They hurry with their clean-up and finish in time for the eve of the event. The village head thanks them, and welcomes them with open arms for the New Year Anniversary. Frieren states that she will pull an all-nighter to be able to see it.

At night, she recalls a memory of when the Himmel was cross when she didn’t attend the New Year Anniversary. Even Heiter drank too much alcohol and fell asleep. Frieren asks if it wasn’t enough when the others managed to go. Himmel replies that they wanted her to have fun as well. Frieren doubts that she would have had fun, but Himmel disagrees because that is who she is.

Frieren ended up sleeping anyway and was quickly woken up by Fern. They head for the New Year Anniversary, and Frieren thanks Fern on the way. They reach the port and witness the sunrise reflecting off of the sparkling sea.

Frieren thinks it is beautiful, but not worth waking up for. As she is about to head back to sleep some more, she sees Fern smiling, captivated by the sunrise. Fern notices how it seems to be invoking joy in Frieren, and she replies that it is because Fern was smiling. This suddenly makes Frieren realize what Himmel meant many years ago, and she smiles.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Frieren
 * Fern
 * The village head
 * Himmel
 * Eisen
 * Heiter

Locations

 * Granz Channel

Events

 * New Year Anniversary

Spells

 * Unnamed magic that makes objects float

Chapter Notes

 * All the debris is from washed-up ships, as the Granz Channel is a perilous passage for cruises
 * The etymology for Granz Channel is based off the German word glanz, meaning "gloss" or "shine"; Granz is the official English localization
 * In the past, all the villages nearby would maintain the coast but they gave up due to the lack of manpower
 * If Fern would not wake Frieren up herself, she would sleep until noon
 * The duo recycled the wood they cleaned up from the debris by giving it to the village
 * A skeleton of a dead captain was present in one of the washed-up ships