As the fight between Tetsuzou & Sugimoto ventures off, we end up having Tanigaki holding Asirpa hostage, which is the point where he has Sugimoto beat. Though it is Tanigaki’s lack of experience in the wilderness that has him needing Asirpa to save him. Though this still leads Tetsuzou to face off against Retar. Which it looks like he is going to kill Retar, but Tetsuzou gets blindsided by another wolf. As Tetsuzou mentions him being the last wolf, it didn’t matter if they killed him because his kind is extinct. Of course, him having a family changes things. It’s where you can tell that Tetsuzou is satisfied with the outcome. While he and Asirpa couldn’t be more different, you can tell they each have a love of the wilderness.
As they head back into the Ainu camp, we see that Tanigaki mentions there is much more gold than what is common knowledge. Of course this is due to Tsurumi being an intelligence officer. It’s clear that Tsurumi has a real motivation in finding the gold; as his squad returned after the war, they only suffered more with shame and their losses. It’s fair for Tanigaki to question if they have the same drive as Tsurumi. At the same time, Sugimoto knows more about Tsurumi than we know. His intentions aren’t just purely good, and teaming with him isn’t an option. As he is staying on Asirpa’s side.
This episode adapted chapters 28-31 and chapter 33. Unsurprisingly, they cut chapter 32. It’s more a world building chapter, and clearly the anime is trying to cover a lot of ground in this season.