So courtesy of a 2.5 hour plane ride, I’ve now finished this volume… and volume 2. And would probably be decently into volume 3 had I remembered to download it first.
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p.114
I was quite confused about it myself but after thinking about it, I realized this panel is providing all the context for the sentence:
- あの人 is doing a lot of heavy lifting here I think. The person she is talking about is none other than puffy hair Frieren from Fern’s memories right in the same panel. That person (the person who wakes up with messy hair, Freieren) couldn’t possibly have an interest in things like fashion.
- おしゃれとかに such a thing as fashion
- 興味あったんだ… had an interest…
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p. 114
I believe that you are missing a couple things:
In your translation you are using “somewhat” (I am guessing as the translation for とか?). That doesn’t quite feel right to me. A noun followed+とか implies that there are other similar things of the same category implied but not mentioned. So a more accurate translation would be “things like fashion” or “fashion and stuff”.
The reason Deepl is translating the sentence in the negative is because of the んだ at the end of the sentence. This is a grammar construct is often called “explication-tone” のだ (abbreviated as んだ). It doesn’t really have a direct equivalent in English, but implies that there’s some level of reasoning or emphasis of facts. In this particular case, the emphasis is showing Fern’s surprise at the fact that Frieren is showing interest in おしゃれ.
It can be roughly translated as " and to think that person had interest in fashion and stuff ". Deepl went with a negative sentence that results in a very similar meaning.
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p.114
Ah, thank you so much! I wasn’t properly understanding either of the things to mentioned.
I read over the Tofugu article for んだ and this section about using んだ for realizations lines up perfectly with your explanation.
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This is just my comments throughout the chapter, nothing Japanese related 
Also I accidentally read the next chapter
pg. 113
Fern: This is the face she makes when she’s hiding something
The face:
pg. 116
IS SHE BUYING STUFF FOR FERN
pg. 124
YESSSSSSSS
pg. 127
Fern looks older in that last panel
pg. 128
She’s only 16 alright lmao
That was a sweet chapter overall, Fern’s warmth to Frieren is cute
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Not so much questions as commentary / notes I made to myself while reading.
Page 113
こういうときは碌なことがない。
this sort of time, satisfactory thing not occured.
Page 114
ないと = Fern saying she HAS TO keep an eye on Frieren to make sure she doens’t make another superfluous purchase.
すごい悩んでる。
very being worried (herself or Frieren?)
I think she meant Frieren, considering she next page says that she’s never seen Frieren make surch a worried face.
Page 116
流石にそれはずるすぎるでしょ。
Just as I’d expect (of Frieren), she’s extremely too sly.
I think this is kind of tongue in cheek? Like, of course she gets up to something just as I was about to leave.
Ah, Fern hasn’t eaten anything sweet in months, makes a bit of sense then. Though now that I think of it, perhaps Frieren is buying something sweet and going to surprise Fern with it? The accessory too, perhaps, is a secret gift.
Page 118
If I’m understanding correctly, these guys look like thugs, and the context looks bad, but the actual words they are saying are helpful and about the sweets.
I think Frieren says, “Violent mannerisms, (but) knowledgable”
Read up to page 119, I think that’s good progress for today. Halfway through.
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p. 113
I think you’re a bit off here. こういうとき「は」is just a time marker, and 碌なことがない is referring back to her hiding something, so it’s not so much a general statement of “a satisfactory thing does not occur” as it is “[the thing Frieren is hiding] is not a satisfactory/decent thing”. I think “decent” is probably the better translation for 碌 too.
Fern is saying at a time like this (when they’re about to go shopping for necessities), whatever Frieren is hiding can’t be anything normal. As in, she’s a weirdo, so whatever it is she’s not telling Fern about has to be some kind of trouble, like what you see in the following panels.
Basically, she’s worried Frieren is gonna end up buying another expensive, useless, possibly dangerous or highly inconvenient magical thing for no reason at all other than Frieren being Frieren.
p. 114
She’s referring to Frieren, yes - 悩む here refers to being troubled by indecisiveness, basically. The Japanese definition in question:
結論や解決策が見いだせなくて、あれこれと思い苦しむ。
p. 116
ずるい here is something more along the lines of stingy or unfair - she’s under the impression Frieren’s leaving her out of going to eat something sweet when Fern hasn’t had any sweets in months.
p. 118
You’ve got the general gist but I think you missed some grammar.
くせ can refer to bad habits and tendencies, but [noun]のくせに means “despite being [noun]”. 荒くれ is a noun referring to a rough person. So she’s saying “even though you’re rough sorts, you’re well-informed”.
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Page 120
たまには甘い物でも食べに行こうか。
translating でも as “but” made no sense, I think this is the “or something” meaning.
Let’s go eat sweets or something for a change?
Not that much of a surprise asking like that, but there’s still the possiblity the accessory (necklace?) is a gift.
お勧めなだけはある。
This grammar is confusing me. From looking around, I found this on HiNative, and while I don’t fully understand it, it feels kinda like Xなだけはある is ___ is not only X / has not only X. However, I’m not sure how to apply that to お勧め, “[this restaurant] has not only recommendations [for their food???], but also a good view” perhaps?
… I see this has already been discussed and it’s actually an abbrieviated だけのことはある… So more of a “The view here is great, no wonder it was recommened”
Page 124
It’s Fern’s birthday and her first thought wasn’t that Frieren was getting her a birthday present? 
Page 125
Fern’s saying a lot of kana here. I think the gist is that she appreciates that Frieren put in the effort for her because she knows how hard it is for Frieren to consider other people.
Page 128
Frieren’s reaction to Fern calling herself お姉さん is intriguing, I’m guessing she has/had a sister of her own? Or is the sister to a younger sibling? Reads conversation about this upthread. Oh. It’s just boobs.
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p. 124
Given what you’ve seen of Frieren so far, does she seem the type to remember someone’s birthday? 
p. 125
That’s the gist, yes - with a side of calling Frieren thick-headed to a fault 
Anything in particular that’s tripping you up?
p. 128
Keep in mind that お姉さん can also mean “young woman”, and often will mean that when not explicitly used to refer to someone’s older sister. You’ll also see people addressing others they have no relation to as お姉さん, for instance.
Frieren is referencing boobs later, but Fern calling herself that has nothing to do with that. She’s saying she’s no longer a child.
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Page 120
たまに can be translated as “for a change” - here’s a similar example sentence l came across on the Shirabe dictionary app.
たまには外で食事をしよう。
Let’s dine out for a change.
You are correct that this “でも” means “or something”. This one comes up now and again and is a bit confusing when you first come across it because you are used to it meaning “but”.
Here’s the bunpro link for this grammar point: https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/でも
So this sentence is: Shall we go and eat some sweet food or something for a change?
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Page 124
… Very good point 
Page 125
Honestly I just saw all the kana and my brain decided trying to figure out how to parse it was not happening. I got it was about Frieren, and guess that end bit was something being clearly transmitted. I did at first assume this was like “the present you gave me clearly tells me you care” or something, but it is not that. ほど is confusing, よう things are confusing, the heck even is ぶい?
Page 128
I understood that much at least, I thought it was like a play on the double meaning. Like, Fern talks about how she’s a young woman now, but because she uses the word お姉さん, I thought it made Frieren think of an actual sister.
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p. 125
So for a quick breakdown of what Fern says:
フリーレン様は - Frieren-sama (as topic)
どうしようもないほど - to the degree of hopelessness
にぶい方 - a thick-headed person
のようなので - because you seem to be
はっきりと - clearly
伝えます - I will convey
So basically, “Because you’re hopelessly thick-headed, I’ll say it clearly”
And then she says she’s very happy with Frieren deciding to pay attention to her (or deciding to get to know her, rather).
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Finally got around to reading the chapter.
German lesson of the week! The town’s name ヴァルム is the German word “Warm”. Which means, uh… warm.
Haven’t been able to figure out if メルクーアプリン is a thing in reality - pretty much all the results I get from Google are “inspired by Frieren”, so possibly it’s a “no” there.
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I was thinking メルクーア could be Merkur, the German name for Mercury (the planet, not the metal)?
Might be a place name in-universe I guess, like how we have Baked Alaska
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The website that was linked on the home thread for this book club also translated that as Mercury: 京都産業大学／不正なリクエストがありました。.
Maybe it’s a custard with a shiny and liquid consistency?
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I don’t think it has anything to do with texture or appearance. Note that it’s very specifically the planet, not the metal. The metal is called Quecksilber in German. The Wiki also lists 水星 rather than 水銀.
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The dish in the anime looks like this:
which looks to me like the usual crème caramel プリン but with berry sauce instead of caramel. And yes, when I google メルクーアプリン I get a whole bunch of recipes (both regular websites and on YouTube) for プリン with berry sauce, but pretty much all of them also reference Frieren.
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on that delicious note… it’s time for Ch 5. Week 9 is live!
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