Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End vol. 14

Land and Ubel may be First Class Mages, but they’ve been tasked with doing some regular old spycraft in order to get information on an assassination plot to take out the leader of the Continental Mage Association’s leader, Serie.  That doesn’t mean they won’t have to rely on their magic-using skills, especially once the Empire’s Magic Special Forces get involved and they start duking it out with each other in the street.  Meanwhile, Frieren, Fern, and Stark are just killing time at the markets before their abilities are needed.  Because this is a small world everyone lives in, their paths wind up crossing with the Shadow Warriors that have actually been tasked with assassinating Serie.  That eventually leads to a desperate battle that they all might not walk away from – at least, not without the help of a friend they haven’t seen in a while.

I was looking forward to this volume after the start of this arc at the end of vol. 13 portended much more interesting things than what had come before it.  That’s mostly true here as what we get sees the usual benefits that most extended storylines do in “Frieren:”  A general raising of the stakes, narrative momentum that carries over from chapter-to-chapter, extended battles that are resolved through strategic planning, less pontificating about the impermanent nature of all things.  All of those are present here, along with an extra twist or two, and seeing them play out makes for a reading experience that’s a cut above what we got previously.

It’s still not enough to make me think this series is back on the right track.  That’s mainly due to how some key information is being kept from the reader for reasons that have no good reason for not being explained yet.  Specifically, why are people trying to assassinate Serie in the first place and just what are the Magic Special Forces up to in all of this?  While I can get behind having our protagonists work to prevent the assassination, it’s hard to get involved in all of the plotting and scheming when the motivations for the other parties haven’t been made clear at all.  Let’s hope that these things get explained in vol. 15, and in a satisfying way as well.