Recaps

Velin and Kyle visited a tavern in Fire Leaf City’s Lower District, where Kyle told Velin about Iyetah, the tavern owner’s shrewd and wealthy daughter whom he had chosen for Belder. Velin tentatively approved the match, and after they left, a maid went upstairs to report to a young woman.

• Velin and Kyle explored the ruined Upper District, then went to a tavern in the Lower District.
• Velin watched as the tavern owner stopped an argument between two adventurers before it turned into a fight.
• Kyle told Velin that the tavern owner’s daughter, Iyetah, was known as the Daughter of Wealth and had protected her family’s fortune through careful dealings.
• Velin tentatively agreed that Iyetah would suit Belder, though he planned to consider other candidates before deciding.
• After Velin and Kyle left, a maid went upstairs and quietly reported to a young woman.

Velin tested Iyetah, Angel, and Odalis Schepel by confronting them with threats to their families, then sent them and their families to his territory. More than a month after Fire Leaf City's fall, a military order assigned Born Villish to defend the city and directed Velin to lead Earl Fireleaf Ikalon Horens's forces against North Yi City.

• Velin chose Iyetah, Angel, and Odalis Schepel as candidates and had Kyle bring them to the City Lord's Mansion.
• Iyetah, Angel, and Odalis agreed to submit in hopes of protecting their families, passing Velin's test.
• Kyle reunited the women with their families, and a convoy later transported them and other useful people toward South Stone Main Camp.
• A messenger delivered a military order to Velin after most of Chris Province had been occupied by the Southern Army.
• Velin read the order assigning Born Villish to defend Fire Leaf City and placing Earl Fireleaf Ikalon Horens's troops under Velin's command to attack North Yi City.

Velin learned through the Guidance of Fate that Pirate King Borne Moonst’s treasure vault lay beneath North Yi City, so he ordered Draide to strengthen the march and asked his father for reinforcements. Angus recognized the pirate’s legend and redirected troops to support Velin before going to tell Sirid about the discovery.

• Draide and Velin agreed to gather forty thousand additional troops and march on North Yi City, where their main objective was to tie down the defenders.
• As the army advanced, Velin received detailed information about the treasure vault beneath the North Yi Palace Complex and wrote to his father for support.
• Velin ordered Draide to gather more troops and stressed that North Yi City had to be captured, while the army slowed to reorganize and train.
• Angus read Velin’s letter, identified Borne Moonst as a legendary pirate, and ordered the Second Battalion, Sixth Battalion, Migos, and Endek to join Velin at North Yi City.
• Angus went to the Command Department and began telling Sirid about the important discovery.

Velin's forces besieged North Yi City while its defenders awaited reinforcements led by Sinos. Draide intercepted Sinos's army north of the city, and both sides formed up for battle.

• Angus asked Sirid to transfer the Second Battalion and Sixth Battalion to North Yi City, and Sirid agreed after Angus promised him a valuable gift.
• Velin's eighty thousand troops encircled North Yi City, where Heloise ordered the city prepared for an attack and its White Wind Ravens conserved.
• The Akes Legion's Second Battalion and Sixth Battalion arrived, and Draide set out with them and twenty thousand Southern Army troops to intercept the reinforcements.
• Draide deployed his forces thirty kilometers behind North Yi City and waited for Sinos's approaching fifty thousand troops.
• Sinos spotted Draide's army, ordered his troops into formation, and advanced toward the enemy.

Draide and Sinos clashed near North Yi City, using infantry and artillery to wear down each other’s forces while Sinos tried to destroy Draide’s Magic Energy Cannons. The battle left Sinos’s Knight Orders attacking Draide’s flanks, where one order was nearly wiped out by the Second Battalion’s troops.

• Draide and Sinos ordered their armies to advance, and Sinos’s priests cast War Encouragement on his frontline troops.
• Draide’s archers and Magic Energy Cannons devastated Sinos’s formations as the armies collided in a fierce infantry battle.
• After more than a hundred cannon shots killed over five hundred Expeditionary Army soldiers, Sinos ordered both Knight Orders to attack the flanks and destroy the cannons.
• Draide ordered the cannons to retreat and sent brigades from the Second and Sixth Battalions to engage the charging Knight Orders.
• Four Earth Elemental Mages slowed the left-wing Knight Order with earth walls, and the Third Brigade fought it until only a little over three hundred of its thousand knights remained alive.

Sinos considered retreating after suffering heavy losses, while Velin received intelligence about North Yi City and chose to delay the siege until enemy reinforcements were less of a threat. The chapter ended with Velin learning that Heloise Shirek commanded the city and had limited elite defenses.

• Draide sent two Sixth Battalion battalions into the battle, and Sinos committed his Direct Lineage troops as the fighting intensified.
• As night fell, both armies withdrew to gather the dead, while Sinos's camp struggled with heavy casualties and low morale.
• Sinos waited for the White Wind Raven's reply and considered retreating to preserve his forces, while secretly hoping Heloise's capture or death would weaken her claim to succession.
• A Golden Bowman recovered the Raven's letter and delivered it to Velin, who learned that Sinos wanted reinforcements to tie down the enemy and seek support.
• Velin decided to postpone the siege until allied advances isolated North Yi City, then heard that Heloise Shirek commanded it with only a small elite guard.

Draide’s army cut North Yi City off from reinforcements and besieged it while the Isian Kingdom Expeditionary Army advanced through Boghan Province. By mid-December, Heloise was struggling to keep the city’s demoralized defenders under control as Draide’s commanders discussed its increasingly dire position.

• Sinos received orders to withdraw to White Fish City, and Draide avoided pursuing his army until it had left Chris Province.
• Draide returned to North Yi City with more than twenty thousand soldiers, while Velin rewarded troops and raised the morale of the besieging forces.
• The Isian Kingdom Expeditionary Army captured territory as it advanced, while Draide drilled his troops and the besieged city remained cut off for more than two and a half months.
• Heloise had three Barons imprisoned after they were suspected of plotting with the enemy, while Novia warned that she could only guarantee Heloise’s escape.
• Draide told Velin that Chris Province had fallen and parts of South Deshaling Province were occupied, leaving North Yi City exposed.

Velin and Draide set a three-sided assault on North Yi City for New Year’s Day, while three besieged earls secretly agreed to buy their lives by offering wealth to the attackers. Heloise prepared to defend the city, and the siege began with heavy casualties.

• Draide told Velin the army would attack North Yi City from the east, west, and south on the first day of the new year, and Velin ordered Endek to secure the North Yi Palace Complex after the city fell.
• Three earls secretly discussed the besieging army’s message and decided to offer their hidden wealth in exchange for their lives and territories.
• On January 1st, 9727, Heloise took command of the city’s defenses and warned that anyone who disobeyed orders or caused disorder would be killed.
• Draide, Migos, and Endek ordered their forces to assault the east, west, and south walls, where the Magic Energy Cannons killed many attackers.

Velin's Southern Army broke through North Yi City's defenses, while Heloise escaped north and the remaining defenders were defeated. After taking control of the city, Velin received three counts who offered their wealth in exchange for help reclaiming their territories and swearing loyalty to Allen.

• The Southern Army's siege engines reached North Yi City's East Wall, where Novia was ordered to destroy them as Draide joined the battle.
• Draide overpowered Novia, and Heloise retreated while nobles surrendered and General Qien stayed behind to cover her escape.
• Heloise left North Yi City with three hundred guards, while Novia escaped Draide and crossed the North City Wall.
• Endek captured the Mage Tower and North Yi Palace Complex, and Qien died defending the city.
• Velin met three counts who offered their wealth and asked him to help redeem their territories and pledge loyalty to Allen.

Velin negotiated with three counts to help them recover their territories and pledge loyalty to Third Prince Allen, then waited for Angus before exploring a buried entrance beneath Palace No. 66. Angus identified it as a Treasure Vault entrance and explained how Pirate King Borne Moonst scattered nine vaults across the Sinapsis Subcontinent.

• Velin agreed to help each of the three families recover their territories and switch sides for thirteen million Gold Coins apiece.
• Velin halted excavation at Palace No. 66 after receiving Angus's order to wait, and spent the next few days recruiting talented people around North Yi City.
• Angus arrived with thirty thousand troops after being appointed Acting Governor of the Chris Province region.
• Velin led Angus and his companions into the thirty-meter pit, where they found a passageway beneath the palace.
• Angus identified the entrance as being built in the style of the Land of Chaos and described how Pirate King Borne Moonst scattered nine Treasure Vaults across the Sinapsis Subcontinent.

Angus explained that the Pirate King's nine Treasure Vaults were owner-bound Demiplanes and described how such realms could be formed. Velin used the Guidance of Fate to lead his group through a hidden passage to the vault's guardian gate, where he supplied the password and opened the way forward.

• Angus told Velin, Draide, and Migos that the Treasure Vaults were Demiplanes and explained three ways Demiplanes could be created.
• Velin could not move the hidden stone block, so Angus, Draide, and Migos pushed it together and revealed an Elevator Passage.
• The group rode through the shifting passage and emerged in a great hall before two Gargoyles guarding a giant Stone Gate.
• The Gargoyles awakened and demanded a password, and Velin answered, "The glory of the Seven Kings."
• The Gargoyles accepted the password, returned to stone, and sent two pearls into the Stone Gate.

Angus and Draide explored the Demiplane and discovered a thriving store of rare plants sustained by a Life Mother Tree, while Velin left his father to establish its connection. The next day, Velin traveled to Hundred Leaf Territory with Kyle, Endek, and the three earls to meet its Rodenert garrison.

• Angus and Draide surveyed the Demiplane and found more than two hundred kinds of living precious plants and a Life Mother Tree at its center.
• Velin joked with Angus about finding him a princess, and Angus promised to seek him a capable fiancée like his mother.
• Angus stayed behind to connect with the Demiplane, tasked Migos and Draide with provincial defense and helping Velin recruit talent, and decided to give Sirid Silvis three Golden Apples.
• Velin returned to the surface with Migos and Draide, then agreed to travel while they reorganized the Noble Army and coordinated forces in Chris Province.
• The next day, Velin left North Yi City for Hundred Leaf Territory with a battalion, the Flag Guard Squadron, Kyle, Endek, and the three earls.
• Kyle told Velin that Hundred Leaf Territory was garrisoned by the Third Camp of the Rodenert Legion, commanded by Krik Rodenert, who served Sigrid Rodenert.

Velin visited Krik Rodenert in Hundred Leaf City and persuaded him to help arrange the return of nearby territories in exchange for a share of the ransom. Velin then used his influence to pressure the three counts, while Krik negotiated with his relatives and fellow officers for profit.

• Krik welcomed Velin to Hundred Leaf City and hosted a banquet where Velin won favor among the Southern Army’s young nobles.
• After the banquet, Velin offered Krik a share of the payments from three counts seeking to reclaim their territories, and Krik agreed to negotiate with two of them himself.
• Velin told Kyle to warn the counts that they would be sent to the front lines if they spoke recklessly.
• Velin reflected on the Ex Family’s pioneering rules and its longstanding revenge against the Hax Family.
• Krik’s two bald cousins thanked him for the opportunity to get rich, and one offered to reduce his share to five hundred thousand Gold Coins.

Velin completed deals that strengthened his position and rewarded his allies and soldiers before returning to North Yi City. As the siege of the Bohan capital began, Heloise gained command of a battalion from her resentful brother Sinos and quickly took control of it.

• Crick accepted a share of the counts’ wealth, and Velin later gave the three counts official appointments in the Southern Army in exchange for their treasure.
• Velin ordered wealth sent to Crick, his father, and the soldiers who had fought with him, giving extra shares to those killed in battle.
• Velin returned to North Yi City, and on February 3rd the battle to besiege the Duchy of Bohan’s royal capital began as Bashio forces assembled near the city.
• Heloise asked Shank Shirek for troops to attack North Yi City, and he ordered Sinos to give her a battalion despite Sinos’s anger.
• Heloise dismissed the battalion’s officers, selected one hundred guards, and took command of the force.

After establishing a connection with the Demiplane, Angus reviewed the war and ordered the Southern Army reorganized while continuing the plan to secure Simon a count’s title in the Duke of Bohan Nation. As the border remained quiet and Velin recruited talent across Klis Province, Velin returned to the front lines in early April to prepare for the counteroffensive.

• Angus emerged from the Underground Treasury after two months, then tested Velin’s training by sparring with him and his clone.
• Draide and Migos reported heavy casualties at the Royal Capital of the Duchy of Bohan, and Angus ordered Migos to continue the plan to secure Simon a count’s title.
• Angus learned that the Southern Army in Klis Province was poorly trained and ordered its best troops formed into twelve battalions while the rest were sent to farm in the rear.
• Angus’s forces and Shank Shirek’s detachments cautiously probed the border between Klis Province and South Desalin Province as Draide reorganized the Southern Army.
• Velin and Kyle searched Klis Province for talent, and Velin gathered more than twenty young women willing to help their families.
• Velin returned to North Yi City in early April, put on his armor, and headed to the front lines for the counteroffensive against South Desalin Province.

Velin led the Third Camp through South Desalin, destroying enemy garrisons and taking their supplies as the war ravaged the border. After a clash shook the countryside, Velin and Draide recognized Migos fighting a three-soul-ring powerhouse.

• Angus ordered a counteroffensive to weaken the Bashio Kingdom Expeditionary Force and personally lead a frontal assault.
• Velin led the Third Camp into South Desalin and destroyed a Northern Army post, then took six thousand gold coins from the defeated nobles, leaving Beck to inherit the damaged Maisun barony.
• Over half a month, Velin’s camp destroyed thirteen Northern Army posts and three expeditionary force posts, killing many troops and collecting spoils.
• Velin and Kyle watched soldiers wash in a blood-red river while Draide reported the camp’s recovered wealth and described the devastation across the border.
• A distant clash flattened a hill, and Draide identified Migos as one of the fighters and judged his opponent to be a Soul Intent grade powerhouse with three soul rings.

Velin joined Angus’s forces as they gathered against Shank’s army at White Fish Plain, where the long-awaited decisive battle began. As both sides committed their Middle Armies, Velin led his troops into the bloody fighting.

• Draide received orders for Velin to proceed to White Fish Plain, where the armies of the Duchy of Bohan and Bashio Kingdom had assembled.
• Sinos accepted three heart fruits as payment for leaking information, then killed Norn to conceal his betrayal and later cremated him.
• Maid Enko returned alone, injured and missing an arm, after Shank’s ambush squad was destroyed.
• Angus’s 130,000 troops and Shank’s 180,000 troops clashed at White Fish Plain, and Velin commanded four formations on the left wing.
• Velin ordered deserters killed, then led 30,000 Middle Army soldiers into battle as Shank committed 50,000 of his own.

After a bloody battle, Angus’s forces counted their casualties and held White Fish Plain as Shank’s troops withdrew from southern South Desalin Province. Angus spent two months training Velin, who later received a dangerous Guidance of Fate about an underwater Teleportation Array leading to a Mysterious Cave and chose to ignore it.

• Velin and the surviving Flag Guard Squadron soldiers retreated after a day of fighting, and both sides observed a truce.
• Migos reported heavy casualties among Angus’s forces and even greater losses among the Bashio Kingdom Expeditionary Force.
• Velin calculated that he had earned fifteen Battle Merit from killing Gold professionals, half the amount needed for promotion to Viscount.
• Five days later, Shank withdrew from White Fish Plain, and Angus’s forces held the position while the southern nobles waited to see who would win at the royal capital.
• Angus trained Velin for two months, helping him improve Two Blooms and begin learning One Thousand Voices and Restore as Before.
• Velin received Guidance of Fate about an underwater Teleportation Array and a perilous Mysterious Cave, but decided to ignore it.

After the Royal Capital of the Duchy of Bohan was retaken, Angus received orders to pacify South Desalin Province and Chris Province. Velin led the Third Camp to confiscate rebel nobles’ estates, while Countess Cloai learned that the Bashio Kingdom Expeditionary Force had withdrawn from her province.

• Velin gave up investigating the dangerous Mysterious Cave and fell asleep after exhausting special training; Kyle had meanwhile advanced to High-Silver Knight and received a Red Phosphorus Horse from Angus.
• Migos announced that Sirid Silvis had retaken the Royal Capital of the Duchy of Bohan, capturing more than 180,000 enemy troops, and that Angus had been appointed Acting Governor of South Desalin Province and Chris Province.
• Angus ordered most of his troops to garrison northern South Desalin Province and assigned Velin to arrest rebel nobles and confiscate their estates.
• Velin led more than 3,800 soldiers of the Third Camp into South Desalin Province to begin confiscating estates.
• Countess Cloai Songshih read a letter and learned that the Bashio Kingdom Expeditionary Force had suddenly withdrawn from South Desalin Province.

Keloai prepared to defend Songshi Territory and secretly arrange an escape route after her titles were threatened. Meanwhile, Velin and Kyle profited from surrendered nobles in South Desalin Province, and investigators took possession of much of the confiscated wealth before returning to the Royal Capital.

• Keloai ordered Linna to mobilize the territory’s troops, recruit adventurers, and alert her vassals, then trusted her Rose Guard to secure her wealth and prepare an escape route.
• Velin let nobles who surrendered keep one-tenth of their family property and travel to the coast, while those who resisted were imprisoned and sent to North Yi City.
• Kyle sold guards, weapons, food, and transportation to surrendered nobles, turning their property into Gold Coins as the group passed through more than twenty territories.
• Count Deyue bribed Velin to retrieve wealth from his secret vaults, then let Kyle take most of his visible wealth in a business deal.
• Velin summoned two battalions of the Southern Army to prepare for an attack on Songshi Territory, where Keloai was gathering forces to resist.
• In early December, investigators from the Command Department took possession of sixty percent of the wealth and departed for the Royal Capital.

Velin led Born Villish’s ten thousand Southern Army troops toward Songshi Territory, where Countess Keloai had ordered a massacre to prepare for a Blood Sacrifice. The chapter ended with Keloai mortally wounded and her daughter Kexia revealed as the High Priest who had manipulated her into destroying the territory.

• Born Villish arrived in Deyue City with ten thousand Southern Army troops, greeted Velin and General Draide, and accepted Velin’s promise to visit Count Silico.
• After two days of rest, Born Villish’s troops followed Velin toward Songshi Territory as Keloai’s forces grew to sixty thousand through conscription.
• Keloai’s head maid Linna challenged her plans, and a Black Robe revealed that the Blood Sacrifice would supposedly create thirty blood demons; Keloai then had Linna taken away unconscious.
• Keloai ordered thirty thousand soldiers to slaughter civilians across Songshi Territory, leaving more than a hundred thousand dead in three days.
• At the valley, the Black Robe betrayed Keloai with crimson tentacles and revealed herself as Kexia, who admitted she had deceived her mother about the blood demons and the reasons for the massacre.
• Kexia confirmed that the Blood Sacrifice was real and ordered the surviving Cultists to take their positions.

Kexia completed a Blood Sacrifice that raised her power to High-Gold, then spared Linna after Keloai hinted that Linna might be her daughter. Six days later, Velin’s army arrived in Songshi Territory to take control and hunt down Blood God Cultists.

• Kexia sustained Keloai with blood magic, then sacrificed thirty thousand people and rose from Low-Gold to High-Gold.
• Keloai died after telling Kexia to kill Linna, whom she claimed might be Kexia’s daughter, and Kexia crushed a Cultist who questioned her orders.
• Kexia spared the sleeping Linna, left the Golden Rose with her, and ordered the Rose Swordsmen to sail to the Bashio Kingdom under Linna’s command.
• Draide reported that Keloai and her thirty thousand troops had died, and Velin ordered his army to hasten its march to Songshi Territory.
• Velin’s army reached Songshi City, where he took charge of its defenses and ordered Draide to search for Blood God Cultists while Kyle recovered the Expeditionary Army’s wealth.

Velin imposed harsh order in Songshi City while Kyle sold ships, supplies, soldiers, and confiscated assets to nobles and merchants trapped by the Expeditionary Army’s travel restrictions. After two months, Kyle’s accounts showed enormous profits, and Velin reviewed the wealth they had collected.

• Velin ordered thieves and worse offenders in Songshi City beheaded, and the executions quickly restored public order.
• Kyle forced nobles in the dungeon to buy ships, provisions, guards, and officers, selling them former troops and other Expeditionary Army stockpiles.
• Velin had his father close other ports and block land routes, while Silide suppressed opposition and allowed Songshi City to remain the only route overseas.
• In mid-February 9728, Velin reviewed thirteen account books showing profits of 330 million Gold Coins from Songshi Port and over 1.1 billion Gold Coins from confiscated assets, businesses, and property.

After the Bashio and Ilia Kingdoms ended the war by signing a treaty to partition rule of the Duchy of Bohan, Velin handed Songshi Territory over to Heloise Shirek and returned to Chris Province. He earned enough Battle Merit to qualify for promotion to Viscount, but still had to attend the victory banquet in the duchy's capital before returning to Qixing Territory.

• Kyle reported that Velin's gains from selling assets in Songshi Territory totaled 1.544 billion Gold Coins, and Velin ordered the Command Department to take them over.
• On March 15, the Bashio and Ilia Kingdoms signed the partition treaty, naming Allen Bohan Grand Duke and assigning provinces to each kingdom's sphere of influence.
• On March 20, Velin received orders to hand Songshi City over to the Bashio Expeditionary Force, and three days later Heloise Shirek accepted the territory's seal from him.
• Velin led his army south to Chris Province and, three days later, returned to Angus at the Governor's Mansion.
• Angus gave Velin his Battle Merit tally, bringing his total to forty-one and a half points and making him eligible for promotion to Viscount.
• Velin looked forward to returning to Qixing Territory, but he still had to attend the victory banquet in the Royal Capital of the Duchy of Bohan.

Velin traveled with Angus to the Duchy of Bohan’s royal capital, where he met Commander Sirid and learned of his close ties to Angus. After Angus gave Sirid three Golden Apples, Sirid and his father Kaisamiller decided to remember the favor and keep certain matters concerning North Yi City secret.

• Velin wondered why Kyle was destined to inherit a mysterious old man’s legacy and decided to take him to the Kingdom of Bohan.
• Angus brought Velin and thirteen other generals to the royal capital to attend Sirid’s victory banquet, then took Velin to visit Sirid at Silver Stream Palace.
• Angus gave Sirid three Golden Apples, explaining that the gift repaid Sirid’s help with his children.
• Sirid welcomed Velin as his grandson, asked about his future wife, and offered to introduce him to his own grandson when Velin next visited the capital.
• After Angus and Velin left, Sirid showed the Golden Apples to his father, Kaisamiller Silvis, and resolved to keep investigations concerning North Yi City from exposing certain secrets.