Chapter 69

Twenty-nine years after Himmel is gone, the party reaches a brewing town in the Bier Region, home to the plateau's only granary. Over a meal they overhear locals gossip about a man on the verge of locating Boshaft, a feat doubted by anyone old enough to have heard the claim since childhood. Fern relays what Heiter once taught her, that the drink is reputed to be the world's most magnificent liquor, gifted long ago by a great emperor, and that Heiter blamed Frieren for robbing him of the chance to taste it.

Outside the tavern a dwarf hails Frieren as an old acquaintance. She names him Fass and corrects his exaggeration of how long it has been. When he asks after Heiter, she gently reports that the priest died at peace, leaving Fass to lament that he arrived too late. He announces he has finally pinned down Boshaft's resting place and needs her spellcraft, then leads the group into a mine he dug entirely by hand, having taught himself the craft despite growing up far from it.

Frieren explains that the dwarf's love of drink is so total he has hunted this single spirit for over two hundred years, a request the old Hero Party once had to refuse mid-journey to Heiter's dismay. Deep in the mine, an ancient stone monument praises Boshaft as the world's finest, inscribed by an elf named Milliarde. Fern reads the old Elvish aloud, a skill Frieren drilled into her since half of all grimoires use the language. Beyond the monument waits a door sealed by a formidable barrier. Frieren calls it impossible at first, but the lure of twenty gold coins convinces Fern and Stark to commit the group, and she warns that lifting the spell will take months.

On the eve of breaking through, Fern notices Frieren's gloom. The elf confesses that Boshaft tastes terrible and is unworthy of a lifetime, then recalls why she knows. Long ago she found Milliarde drinking alone, and the despondent elf described the dread of chasing a goal for an entire life only to learn it was worthless. She revealed she was speaking of herself, named the swill as Boshaft, a coronation drink that was actually the cheapest of liquors, and admitted she had carved its false praise into stone for no reason at all.

When the seal finally falls, the chamber stands packed with preserved bottles, and Fass hands one to each of them for a toast. As Frieren sips, she remembers Himmel once pressing her on why she refused the search. Her answer had been to ask the priest how he would react if his life's drink proved revolting, and Heiter swore he would laugh and share it with everyone. In the present, Frieren flatly pronounces Boshaft the worst she has ever tasted and forces a reluctant Stark to drink, sparking laughter all around. Rather than despair, Fass roars with delight that there is enough to treat the whole village, declaring the evening one of the finest he has known and the drink worth savoring to the last drop. Both Fass and Milliarde make their debut here.