Chapter 2

The Priest's Lie is the second chapter of Yamada Kanehito & Abe Tsukasa's Sousou no Frieren.

Summary
Twenty years after Himmel’s passing, Frieren gets lost in a forest in the Holy City of Strahl trying to find Heiter. A young girl finds Frieren and takes her to her house, where she meets Heiter, who is now very elderly. The young girl, named Fern, turns out to be a war orphan from the Southern Provinces adopted by Heiter. Frieren states that she came to repay Heiter before he died. Heiter requests Frieren to adopt Fern as her disciple, but she refuses, saying she will only be a burden. Instead of that, Heiter then asks Frieren to decipher a grimoire that supposedly contains records of lost resurrection and immortality spells. Frieren states that it might take five or six years. Heiter also asks Frieren to teach Fern some magic. Four years pass, in which Frieren deciphers most of the grimoire and trains Fern to a point where it would take an average person ten years to reach. One day, Heiter collapses. Frieren tells Fern, who is training in the forest, to take a break and go stay by his side. But Fern refuses, saying she yet to take down the high rock, which would prove that she is capable of surviving on her own. It is revealed that when Fern was younger, she was about to commit suicide after losing her parents in a war. Heiter stops her, telling her it would be a waste for her to die, as all the beautiful memories she made her with parents would disappear from the world as well. Fern is determined to repay him by learning how to survive on her own, and so Frieren lets her be. Some more time passes, and Fern finally manages to strike the high rock. Frieren finishes deciphering the grimoire, finding that neither resurrection nor immortality were recorded within. It is revealed that Heiter was aware of this, and that he only asked Frieren to decipher it to buy enough time for Fern to reach a level where she could be Frieren’s disciple. Frieren asks Heiter why he saved Fern, and he answers that the Hero Himmel would have done the same. In his final days, Heiter makes a few more memories with Fern, before passing away. After his burial, Frieren pours alcohol over Heiter’s grave, and together with Fern, she continues her voyage to acquire more magic.

Plot Details
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Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Frieren
 * Fern
 * Heiter

Locations

 * Heiter's House

Events

 * Heiter's death
 * Frieren's new party is formed (with Fern)