Chapter 134

Dripping after a tumble into a river, Wehrlos reports to Clematis that the Unified Empire's old escape tunnel remains passable, contradicting an earlier account from Iris and Routine that flooding had blocked it. He clarifies that he waded through himself to be certain, a crossing Clematis admits only the aging dwarf could manage in mere minutes. Settling in to dry off with Lore's help, Clematis resolves to build his plan around Wehrlos as their finest asset.

When Lore brushes him off to fetch ceremonial wine, leaving him to hunt for tea on his own, Clematis muses on how plainly she dislikes him. Wehrlos guides him straight to the cupboard, casually confessing he sometimes sneaks in to borrow tea, and when Clematis jokes that such thieving could damn him, the dwarf coolly asks how many lives he imagines he has already taken.

Outside a bar where Schritt has drunk herself senseless, Lore inquires after wine for the ceremony while Gazelle nurses a drink. Wolf, stocking only cheap vintages, presses her to reconsider, then turns to Gazelle, who bitterly wonders how anyone can carry on normally when death may be two days off. Wolf counters that honoring ordinary moments matters precisely because they might survive, and he refuses to keep Gazelle's settled tab if it amounts to a dying man's savings.

Gazelle dismisses the coins as easy profit from a sale, but when Lore studies the silver up close she detects mana threaded through it, the mark of a skilled tracking spell hidden by the metal itself. She orders the pair to brace for combat, and far away Frieren senses that her own enchantment has been followed back to its source. The cover pairs Wolf and Gazelle.