It's been a while since I read this portion of the manga and had completely forgotten about Fern's recounting of her first experience fighting a monster. This explains the comments Frieren made last episode to Fern about it that I had misinterpreted.

I love that they are keeping a slow pace and incorporating montages like when Stark and Fern are looking for a way through the checkpoint. It helps show the passage of time and how Stark/Fern deal with that differently than Frieren does.

As always, the ED is great, probably my favorite of any of the series I am watching this season.