By Mei Hachimoku and Tsukasa Abe, based on the manga by Kanehito Yamada. Released in Japan as “Sousou no Frieren: Zensou” by Shogakukan. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jenny McKeon.

I wasn’t expecting a second volume of these short stories, and it’s interesting to see what we get. Frieren is the obvious one who gets a story devoted to her in both books – it’s her series, after all – but Fern and Stark only appear briefly at the end of that story, and are not otherwise in this book. And while I’d love to get more of Methode, she too only has a small supporting role here. Still, there are a few things the author can do. The stories involving Ubel and Serie are clearly heavy hitters, ones that will automatically get in readers who just like them – especially Ubel. But the other thing the author can do is pick out a very minor character and flesh them out as they know the manga creators won’t be doing that. We get that here as well, and the results are heartwarming and horrific, respectively. Horrific in the horror way, not in the bad way. Frieren still has demons.

As with the first volume, we get five stories. 1) The receptionist for the Magic Exams, whose name apparently is Uhu, is asked to deliver something to Serie, and along the way asks everyone else connected with the exams why the world needs strong mages, and what that even means; 2) Ubel, after killing her exam proctor, leaves the city for a bit until they cool off, and comes across a kidnapped young boy who wants to be a mage; 3) That really upbeat demon girl we saw in the Divine Revolte arc doesn’t get a name, but they get a backstory, and this is it. It involves impersonating humans and killing humans; 4) We see Frieren, before she left her village, bored and at a loss for what to do with her life. She gets advice from other elves around her, who all have hyperfixations of some kind; 5) Serie trains a young Flamme, but the two of them, get in a fight over who should be learning magic.

There aren’t really any bad stories in this book, though the demon girl one was so grim I didn’t really enjoy it. The first one plays with Uhu’s role as “faceless minor character”, with the running gag that almost no one can remember her name – except, notably, Serie. Ubel’s story was fun, and reminds us that while she’s amoral and quick to kill, she’s not evil or psychopathic – and she also knows mages need to be able to kill in this world. Frieren’s story is sweet and touching until it gets tragic and we are reminded why Frieren bothered to start traveling in the first place… till it rolls around to heartwarming again at the end. The best story is the final one, as Serie gradually realizes she’s become a mom, and is not really sure how to deal with it. Flamme breaking off with her is handled well, and leads to my favorite bit of the book. “Attacking me out of nowhere, eh? How barbaric. Don’t you even know how to have a conversation?” “I’m afraid you only taught me how to use magic.”

As with the first book, don’t read this if you’re not caught up on the manga. But if you are, this is well worth the buy.