Chapter 132

Drifting among the Foundation Festival's packed stalls with Fern and Stark, Frieren is lured toward a peddler pushing a vase he swears dates to the Unified Empire era, paperwork included. She talks him down from six coins to four and, just before paying, lays an enchantment over the silver. Her pride caves when Falsch inspects the prize and declares it a forgery.

At a library, Denken hands a borrowed book back to Routine far sooner than she expects, citing an urgent trip to where he was born. When she lets slip that she knows his home is Weise, he notes he never told her, then flips it around by reciting what he has dug up about her Lorbeer roots, her record in the northern war, and her taste for fortune telling. Her forecast of a humdrum day, she concedes, is already undone.

Before leaving Eiseberg, Denken speaks with Sense, who asks what he knows about the plot against Serie. He answers that his footing between the imperial side and the Continental Magic Association leaves neither willing to confide such schemes, yet he regrets nothing about the first-class rank that won back what he had lost. Back with her party, Frieren rounds on Sense in the throes of a rare once-a-decade tantrum, charging that her hair stinks of blood, though Fern vows the fit will pass within minutes.

Her temper spent, Frieren says she wants to return to the peddler and check on something en route. Deep among the trees, the Shadow Warriors meet; their number this time gathers Wolf and Schritt, Iris beside Wehrlos, and also Routine, Gazelle, Lore, and Clematis. Quizzed about a missing member, Schritt notes that Löwe has gone off on a separate task, while another absentee is named as her brother, the local blacksmith, whom she pledges to contact later. The cover features Frieren, Fern, and Stark.