we did lose a week, apologies! I remember an earlier message from Jintor that this arc ends in Vol 11, so hopefully that will bring a welcome change for you 
Yeah I agree. I think I might have said before but I feel like Frieren is at its best with short light hearted story arcs focussed on the main characters. I was catching up on season one of the anime this week and it reminded me how fun this story can be.
BUT! The conclusion of the Aura arc was one of the highlights of the series so far. So I’m hoping the time invested in all the backstory for this arc will pay dividends. Certainly felt like things were becoming more enjoyable towards the end of this volume.
I feel the same about this (very long) story arc, though I’ve been attributing some of that to how complicated the dialogue has been, and how the story arc relates to a very long period of time (e.g., I keep having to remind myself that Macht had his memory wiped and then decided to do his whole “experiment with being nice to humans” thing). I figured if my Japanese were better, I’d be enjoying this story arc a bit more …
Ah no, it goes on a bit in English too, though not quite so much as that out-of-nowhere tournament arc.
Volume 10 catch-up comments
Trunkie’s comments and impressions on this volume start here - very interesting, especially the more extended comment for Ch 89.
Ch 91
this is when マハト is serving グリユック and his loyalty is questioned by the other nobles. グリユック realises this is senseless and as far as I understand commands マハト to defend the city not to earn the trust of the nobles, but rather because he doesn’t have any loyalty (to his own kind, so why not).
I’m curious then at what point グリユック forgets or ignores this when he later gives マハト the bracelet. I can only imagine that he somehow comes to believe later that マハト came to understand malice etc.
And… what is behind マハト going along with グリユック’s orders to this extent? When Schlacht wanted him to fight then he needed Grausam as a backup to source him into it since マハト seems to really not want to battle. I don’t really see any scenes where he’s getting any closer to understanding the emotions he is seeking, this seems like a lot of patience and work for little benefit.
Ch 92
I enjoyed this resolution to my questions, how both acknowledge the futility of the bracelet’s power, how Macht built up this life and connections to ruin it in the hope of feeling and understanding malice and guilt.
The last scene with グリユック turning to gold was oddly poignant.
Ch 93
That would be an interesting way to handle it.
So helpful, thank you! Hmmm.. interesting distinction between remorse and malice
Serie cheating:
I what magic allows her to avoid damage - and why something that game changing wouldn’t be taught as a matter of course to her apprentices 
(end of chapter spoiler: I think we see Denken using the same spell to avoid damage from Solitär’s swords even after he’s turned to gold. So since we now know she can only impart that to one mage every 100 years it takes her to train it, that’s why)
Ch 94
This is where Fern has to feed Frieren while she analyses Macht’s memories. I’m guessing she means it will take 2 months to get through the flashback we just read.
What I don’t understand is how Solitär knows that Frieren started the analysis, did I miss something?
Ch 96
I like that Denken got the mirroring spell from Serie when he passed the first class mage exam on purpose for fighting Macht, and Macht was so sure he could end the battle by turning Denken to gold.
Then I was wondering, if he still had enough awareness to notice it happened can he reverse it? … and yes that is the case, so this is not the resolution I thought it would be. but I wonder if there could have been a moment where Denken could have attacked Macht while he was still half gold or something.
Ch 97
I had been wondering why Frieren didn’t exit her analysis of Macht’s memories but instead intensified it such that she became nonresponsive. This makes more sense now that we see she was in fact finding a way to dispel the gold curse.
Overall, I enjoyed where this arc ultimately led, but the first half of the arc was rough going (for my Japanese and interest).
On to vol 11!