Chapter 135

Searching Eiseberg for the man he calls Gorilla, Sein comes upon Wehrlos cradling a mortally hurt cat and restores the animal to health. Grateful, the dwarf offers drink, but Sein asks instead about his quest, sharing the boyhood dream he and his lost friend held of adventuring together. Wehrlos is amused to learn that Sein cannot even recall Gorilla's true name, yet he agrees to guide him toward a bar where answers might wait.

At that very tavern, Lore locks onto Frieren through the marked silver while Wolf, Gazelle, and a waiting Schritt ready themselves. Frieren feels the trace an instant before an arrow flies, and Stark shoves her clear, taking the shaft himself. The distant marksman, perched on a far steeple, admires the warrior's reflexes even as he mourns such talent going to waste.

Recognizing that mana detection cannot reach across so vast a gap, Frieren rules out a counterattack and judges that the ambush, sprung the moment her spell was traced, must have been arranged in advance. She orders a retreat beyond detection range while deliberately leaking a thread of her own mana. When Wehrlos brings Sein to the bar, Schritt blocks the door with a silent signal that trouble is afoot, and moments later Sein catches Frieren's mana and slips away to find her.

Realizing the party has fled out of his line of sight, Wolf frets over the warrior shielding them, though Lore assures him the man is already dealt with. Frieren, meanwhile, identifies the tracking magic as the work of someone wielding the Goddess's power rather than ordinary human spellcraft. The escape unravels when Stark suddenly buckles mid-run, and Frieren grasps that the arrow carried poison. The cover features Frieren, Fern, Stark, and Sein.