Chapter 41

Moment for Resolve (のための) is the forty-first chapter of Yamada Kanehito & Abe Tsukasa's Sousou no Frieren.

Summary
Right after the events of the previous chapter, Fern and Wirbel's teams continue to fight. Fern faces off against Ehre, who declares that if Fern were facing off against Wirbel, she would be dead. Fern finds this curious, as she feels Ehre is the strongest among her party. Ehre refutes this and says that Wirbel's experience is on an entirely different level and as such, Übel is likely to be killed. Fern appears unconcerned and fires a swarm of offensive magic that overwhelms Ehre's defenses. Meanwhile, Übel fights against Wirbel using her cleaving magic. Though both manage to figure out the weaknesses of their opponents' magic, after a brief fight where Übel is able to slash Wirbel's face, Wirbel is able to immobilize Übel using Sollganie, the Target Binding Magic. Wirbel notes that Übel had aimed for his eyes instead of his neck and in his experience, this marked her as a degenerate who enjoyed killing. He muses that it would be better to kill Übel on the spot. Übel buys time by asking about Wirbel's history. Wirbel reveals that his magic allows him time to build up the resolve to kill, but in the end he has never shirked from a necessary kill; as he speaks, he raises his staff to Übel's head. However, he is stopped short by Fern, who sneaks up behind him and holds Wirbel at staff's point. As the three of them are now at an impasse, Fern proposes that they strike a deal.

Plot Details
Right after the events of the previous chapter, the fight between Fern and Wirbel’s parties continue. Land faces off against Scharf, a third-class mage. The pair are fighting in a field of flowers and Scharf casts the Steel Petal Conversion Magic: Jubelade which converts the petals in the air into steel blades. Land receives a shallow cut on his cheek and prepares to face the rest of the spell. Meanwhile, Fern faces off against Ehre, a second-class mage. Ehre uses Flight magic to get above Fern and casts the Rock Pellet Conversion Magic: Dorgatte which sends a multitude of rocks meteoring down on Fern. Fern backs away from the spell’s range and casts basic offensive magic which Ehre blocks with defensive magic. Ehre then retaliates with basic offensive magic of her own, which Fern blocks with basic defensive magic. Ehre notices that Fern has only used basic offensive and defensive magic and that her leave-no-openings fighting style is reminiscent of an older generation of mages like Ehre’s own grandfather. She questions whether Fern is incapable of other magics or if she is hiding a trump card, to which Fern replies that her master taught her to strictly use basic magic in fights as it is enough for the mages of this era.

Ehre casts Dorgatte again and Fern continues to dodge and retaliate with basic spells, but as the pair fight on, Ehre begins to get a bad feeling about their battle as she feels like she is facing off against a seasoned mage. She lands and questions if Fern is having a hard time as well and tells Fern that if she were facing off against Wirbel, she would already be dead. Fern questions this as she feels that Ehre is the strongest amongst the Eighth and Fourth parties, but Ehre looks askance.

The scene shifts to Wirbel and Übel’s fight. Übel cuts all the trees bordering the clearing they are fighting in clean in half. Wirbel blocks her attacks with defensive magic and deduces that Übel is using cleaving magic. As Übel continues to cast her cleaving magic, progressively taking out the trees as she goes, shallow cuts start accruing on Wirbel’s skin, first across his cheek and then his shoulder. Despite how simple Übel’s magic is, Wirbel is unable to follow its trajectory whatsoever and as a result cannot block all of her magic. However, Wirbel has picked up on a weakness of Übel’s magic. He backs away from her and taunts her by asking why she isn’t chasing. Übel deflects by saying that she may have been too violent, but Wirbel states that the range of her magic is around five meters. Übel confirms Wirbel’s deduction and wonders if they will continue fighting with such basic magic, but full of confidence, Wirbel dismissively tells her that there is no need.

Back to Ehre and Fern, Ehre explains to Fern that Wirbel is the Captain of the Northern Magic Corps. He has long been fighting the remnants of the Demon King’s Army; as a result, his experience eclipses everyone else’s. Due to his profession, Wirbel’s magic is inelegant, cowardly, and used only for the sake of winning, but because of that, Ehre states that the child fighting Wirbel is likely going to be killed. Hearing this, Fern casts a swarm of offensive magic that targets Ehre from all angles. Ehre is able to block the spells using defensive magic, but Fern’s onslaught continues to pressure her, and her defensive barriers are forced inwards as she struggles to maintain them. Ehre questions why Fern is exerting herself so much, before becoming overwhelmed by Fern’s magic. Her barriers collapse inwards, and a big blast of mana lights up the forest.

Meanwhile, Wirbel has restrained Übel using the Target Binding Magic: Sollganie, which manifests as two loose rings of mana that encircle the target. Übel notes that she can’t move at all nor can she control her mana, and concludes, with such a powerful magic at his disposal, that for Wirbel to not have just caught a Stille on his own means his party never encountered one. Wirbel explains to her that his magic seals the movement of anyone he keeps in his line of sight. The requirement for his magic to work is that he doesn’t take his eyes off the target, but as long as his magic is active, the target may well be a sitting duck. Übel realizes that despite stating he had shot to kill, Wirbel had actually taken it easy on the Fourth party during their earlier skirmish, as he could have easily sealed their movement before shooting them with offensive magic.

Wirbel dissipates the spell restraining Übel and tells her that it is her last chance to leave the Stille and escape. Übel thinks this is boring, as she had thought she finally had an opponent to fight to the death, but really Wirbel’s goal was just to extort her for the Stille. However, as she unclips the Stille’s cage from her belt, Übel realizes something strange about Wirbel’s request – the fact he needs to make it at all. She points out that as she was totally immobilized, Wirbel should have easily been able to take the Stille from her. Übel throws the caged Stille up in the air, which distracts Wirbel and causes his gaze to shift to the Stille for a fraction of a second – all the time that Übel needs to get right up in Wirbel’s face. His gaze snaps back to Übel, but she remains able to move; Übel correctly guesses that Wirbel needs to keep his target’s entire body in view to use his magic, meaning he is unable to use his magic against many people. Recognizing the bad position he is in, Wirbel immediately leaps backwards; at the same time, Übel casts her cleaving magic. Wirbel is able to leap back far enough to restrain Übel with Sollganie again, but not before Übel scores a deep cut across the bridge of his nose.

The position of his injury shows Wirbel that Übel had aimed for his eyes; when he accuses her of such, Übel points out that it is rational to try to take away the vision of someone who requires sight to cast their magic. Wirbel counters that to settle the fight, Übel could have simply cut off his head, to which Übel’s smile grows. Wirbel speaks of other opponents he has met on the field of battle that also tried to go for his eyes and recollects one commonality between them all: they were degenerates who enjoyed killing. He then approaches Übel and, having branded her someone who enjoys killing, states that he should kill her on the spot. Wirbel raises his staff as if to do so, but Übel asks him if he has ever even killed a girl before and, when Wirbel replies that of course he has, what sort of Hell he went through.

Wirbel calls Übel out on trying to buy time, but decides to bite nonetheless. He tells Übel that the Northern Magic Corps he captains mostly consists of mercenaries that specialize in fighting demons, but in times of emergency they are also mobilized for international warfare. He states that hunting down women and children are demonic acts that are not at all unusual; rather than Hell, it is simply the way of life in the north.

Übel states that she has heard enough, and for a moment, Wirbel stands motionless with his staff to her head, prompting Übel to ask if he is going to kill her or not. Wirbel continues to hesitate, and Übel tells him that she believes the type of magic a person specializes in speaks greatly of their life and their character. Übel points out that Wirbel’s magic, which restrains rather than kills, seems like it was designed to delay death rather than cause it. Wirbel’s expression shifts into a grimace, and Übel realizes that in answering her questions and joining her in buying time, Wirbel is fulfilling the same purpose of delaying death. She expresses surprise that despite his hands being stained with blood for so long, Wirbel still wishes to be human. Hearing this, Wirbel grins. He confirms Übel’s analysis and tells her that his magic gives him time to build the resolve to kill, but also reveals that despite faltering and hesitating, he has never avoided an inevitable kill. With that being said, Wirbel begins to charge offensive magic point blank and tells Übel goodbye.

However, before he can kill Übel, he is interrupted by Fern, who holds him at staff point and asks him to halt. Wirbel pauses, outwardly expressing his surprise that Ehre was defeated and inwardly shocked that he didn’t sense Fern’s approach at all. He then tells Fern that they should make a deal.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Scharf
 * Land
 * Ehre
 * Fern
 * Frieren
 * Wirbel
 * Übel

Locations

 * Grube Basin

Battles

 * Fern, Übel, & Land vs. Wirbel, Ehre, & Scharf (continues)

Events

 * The members of the Eighth Party are introduced as Wirbel, Ehre, and Scharf

Spells

 * Steel Petal Conversion Magic: Jubelade
 * Rock Pellet Conversion Magic: Dorgatte
 * Flight magic
 * Zoltraak
 * Defensive magic
 * Cleaving magic
 * Target Binding Magic: Sollganie

Chapter Notes

 * Wirbel's Staff is smaller than most other mages' and more closely resembles a wand
 * The Northern Magic Corps that Wirbel is part of has been mobilized for international warfare, meaning that the Northern Lands likely border other countries
 * This also implies that the Lands that Frieren and co travel through are part of one country