The episode opens with demons slaughtering an entire village and its inhabitants. A man cowers in hiding. A child probably cries his or her last cry. A woman attaches a message to a carrier pigeon, but it isn’t for help. It’s too late for that. All she can do is seek vengeance for the fallen, hence the episode’s title: “A Demon-Slaying Request.” Seeing all of this, I can’t help but wonder about the nature of this world and where demons even come from. I don’t like how demons are portrayed in this series, but fine, let’s grant that they are absolute evil, no questions asked. Why are they surging in power again? And why now? Why did humans sit idly by and allow this to happen to themselves again? After Himmel defeated the Demon Lord, why wasn’t there a campaign to expand northward and completely annihilate demonkind? They, the demons, were presumably at their weakest point, no? Unless, of course, demons just spawn in like a video game. There’s so little that we know about this world and how it works.
Eventually, we see nothing left but the village in complete ruins. Two mages are sorting through the remains, looking for but not expecting survivors. I recognize Methode, but not the man with her. I had to go back to the first season to jog my memory: his name is Genau and he proctored the first stage of the mage exams. Sorry, buddy. I guess you weren’t that memorable to me. To make matters worse for him, this is, or rather was, his hometown. The sole survivor is the man who cowered in hiding in the cold opening, but he’s not long for this world either. Of course, he did what most of us would’ve done, so I’m not really judging him. In any case, Methode and Genau are here at Serie’s behest to slay some demons. The leader, however, is long gone. All that’s left are chumps that our duo has no problem taking out.
Afterwards, Genau rhetorically asks, “Why does it have to be them instead of us? Unlike us, the people of this village didn’t choose to fight.” At least, I hope he’s being rhetorical. I don’t care if this sounds harsh, but they — the “them” he’s referring to — decided to live up north closer to where the demons are. All this “but this is our home” nonsense from a couple of episodes ago — remember the guy with kids who asked Frieren’s party to slay a demon? — is just sentimental pap. It means nothing when the hordes come knockin’. “We can’t leave! We grew up here! Our ancestors settled here!” Great, you can’t let go of your home, so now your entire family is dead. We’ve seen Frieren’s party pass through multiple border cities with huge, towering walls. Clearly, some parts of humanity are cautious enough — smart enough — to properly secure themselves. The deceased could’ve migrated at any point in their lives, because it’s been thirty whole years since the death of Himmel. You think I would’ve stayed behind just because the great hero slayed the Demon Lord? Hell no. I still would’ve left my hometown long ago for greener pastures. Yes, what we have here is a tragedy, but it wasn’t an unpreventable tragedy.
Methode and Genau don’t really have enough charisma to carry a story on their own, so Frieren’s party quickly shows up. Apparently, Fern had also received a request from Serie. She, Frieren, and Stark then hurried across an entire mountain just to reach the village. Talk about dedication. I wonder if any of the other first class mages would’ve been able to carry this arc on their own. Certainly Wirbel. Denken? Maybe. Probably Ubel as well. Land? Eh. He would need Ubel with him. In any case, our elf mage actually had to sneak up on the church, because she apparently sensed bloodlust in one of Genau’s spells. I guess his calm demeanor belies the rage simmering within him. This is his hometown, after all. In any case, the party of now five will take the night to assess the situation and come up with a strategy. Then once morning comes, it’s time to strike back against demonkind.
In the meantime, Frieren looks at the dead captain and remarks that he was “far stronger” than Stark. How can she tell? Or does she actually know and remember this guy? In any case, this clues everyone in on the sobering fact that the leader is still out there. And even though this demon easily killed a man who was “far stronger” than Stark, our small party of now five will attempt to put the beast out to pasture. The difference must presumably lie in the four mages. Plus, y’know, there’s the whole Frieren the Slayer thing. I guess this just goes to show that this world sorely lacks mages. The village had men from the trading company stationed here, but it was all for naught. What the village really needed were perhaps a few well-trained, battle-oriented mages. As a result, we should be able to now understand Serie’s disdain for Frieren’s approach to magic just a little. Humanity can barely defend itself; it needs all the mages it can get. But Frieren the Slayer is just waltzing around, collecting spells to turn apples from one color to another. Methode explains that she’s here as Serie’s student. Her job as a first class mage is to slay demons. In response, Frieren calls it an unreasonable demand, but I mean… just look at the ruined village around us. Is it really all that unreasonable?
Speaking of Methode, it’s hard to take her seriously sometimes. Nevertheless, she’s still a first class mage, so she should know what she’s talking about. And after some discussion with Stark, she has come to the conclusion that the leader must have four arms in order to inflict the damage that they see to the bodies and the surrounding buildings. In that case, are we good to go with only one front liner? I guess Frieren and company will just have to make do with Stark unless there’s something I don’t know about Methode and Genau’s combat capabilities.
Stray thoughts & observations:
— Whoa, what’s with that lizard thing? Are they also a part of the demons’ forces?
— We don’t get a real good look at the demon leader in the cold opening. Not yet, anyways. The best we get is a reflection in some lady’s pupil. You can tell that it’s a big one.
— Genau is obviously lying to the man. I guess it’s too late to save him as well.
— Sure enough, Genau lays the man to rest along with the rest of the bodies in the church. I’m kinda surprised there were this many bodies at all. Demons love eating humans, right? Why go to all this effort just to leave your food behind?
— Hey, Stark is asking the same question I’m asking! At this point, with the information we have, all we can really conclude is that the demons have a senseless appetite for slaughter.
— God, they still have those bricks they call bread.
— Are Fern’s teeth made out of diamonds?
— Dude, they’re just rawdogging those bricks. My teeth ache just at the thought of biting into that bread. Make a stew or something. Maybe break the bread into little pieces, and put them into a soup. Don’t just eat it plain like that. Do they seriously carry nothing but bread on them for this long journey? No cured meats? No dried fruits?
— Remember that schmuck who tried to kill Frieren just so he could make a name of himself? All because (boohoo) he became a top tier mage after the demon lord had already been slain. Well, it looks like the rest of demonkind simply went into hiding, and complacent whiners like Mr. Top Tier Mage were content to sit on their collective asses for the past hundred years doing jack shit. The demons are now getting their groove back, and humans are scrambling all over the place to put out fires of their own making. It’s ludicrous.
— Genau explains to Stark that it isn’t common practice to bury the dead here. They usually transport the bodies down south. Well, they’re all dead, so they literally can’t decide what should now be done to their bodies. I’m sorry, but there’s no time to respect norms and tradition during a crisis. That same attachment to norms and tradition is probably got them killed since they insisted on staying and living here.
