Chapter Summaries

After conquering eighteen small factions and two medium-sized factions, Roland’s forces seized their territories and gathered spoils worth about 1.43 million gold coins. Roland ordered the new islands and resources developed while warning his officials that a powerful enemy still awaited them.

• Roland gave the defeated faction leaders the choice of becoming slaves or paying ransom, and O'Neal killed one leader who cursed him before taking the captives away for interrogation.
• Roland stationed his forces on Giant Stone Island, where they spent nearly a month occupying the defeated factions’ territories and counting the spoils.
• Leslie reported that Roland’s territory had expanded to twenty-two habitable islands covering more than 1,100 square kilometers, and that the spoils were worth approximately 1.43 million gold coins.
• Roland ordered the Administrative Department to develop the most valuable islands and offer less promising ones to Pioneer Knights in exchange for protection payments.
• O'Neal reported that the territory had accepted about six hundred prisoners of war, including Pavel, a level-ten Earth Warrior from the Iron Hook Pirates, whom Roland ordered watched closely.
• Roland told his officials that the expansion was not finished and that they still had to face a powerful enemy, and they pledged to help him win.

Kairu Owen learned that Roland’s forces had grown powerful and ordered reinforcements sent to protect the Owen Family while refusing to abandon the family’s foothold on Double Gate Island. Roland seized the opportunity to launch an invasion, and his army marched toward the Owen Family’s Frost Island territory.

• Kairu Owen received delayed intelligence about Roland’s victory over Iron Hook and the Scarlet Pirates, including his more than one hundred Earth Giants and growing mage forces.
• Edis warned Kairu that Roland might attack the Owen Family and urged him to withdraw from Double Gate Island, but Kairu ordered Edis to return with one thousand soldiers to reinforce the family territory.
• Roland received news of the Owen Family’s troop deployment, gathered Leslie, O'Neal, Artur, and other officers, and announced that the Owen Family would be his final enemy in the region.
• Roland ordered his army, now more than two thousand five hundred strong, to march against the Owen Family.
• Frost Island was revealed as the Owen Family’s base, where Ice Element magic supported profitable herb gardens and an army of more than three thousand troops.

Roland attacked Edis Owen’s fleet near Frost Island, using his naval, aerial, and magical forces to overwhelm the Owen Family defenders. Edis’s forces surrendered after hours of fighting, while Dario escaped toward Double Gate Island to alert the patriarch.

• Edis Owen confronted Roland and accused him of invading Owen Family territory, but Roland ordered his forces to attack.
• Artur led three hundred Green-Haired Turtle Knights underwater as Roland’s mage-assisted warships pursued Edis’s fleet.
• Edis’s Magic Crystal Cannons failed to stop the turtles, and forty Thunderbird Knights destroyed the cannons and their crews.
• Edis ordered Dario to retreat with two warships and several hundred heavy-armored warriors to warn the patriarch, while he stayed behind.
• Roland chose to pursue Edis and occupy Frost Island rather than chase Dario’s retreating force.
• After resisting for several hours and losing more than half his soldiers, Edis surrendered to Roland’s army.

Roland captured Frost Island and renamed the Owen Family’s castle Dawnlight Fortress, making it his new core territory. As he prepared to secure the island and face retaliation, Kairu learned of its fall and resolved to seek help from the Skull King Pirates.

• Roland inspected Frost Island’s formidable castle and renamed it Dawnlight Fortress, declaring it his new core territory.
• Leslie reported that Edis had evacuated the Owen Family’s relatives, wealth, and treasures, leaving Roland’s forces with supplies and spoils worth just over one million gold coins.
• Roland ordered the Administrative Department to stabilize Frost Island and directed his senior officers to plan an army expansion and prepare for the Owen Family’s retaliation.
• Kairu learned from a flying Magical Beast Knight that Roland had taken Frost Island, then blamed Edis despite recognizing that his own decision to reject stronger defenses had contributed to the defeat.
• Mage Balen advised Kairu to seek help from allied forces, and Kairu ordered the family to return to Double Gate Island and bring its evacuated treasures there.

After the Frost Island battle, Roland reviewed the territory’s gains and approved a plan to develop its newly controlled islands. The chapter ended with him furious at the military leaders’ costly proposals to expand their forces.

• Roland questioned Artur about the Owen Family, learned they remained on Double Gate Island, and ordered stronger surveillance.
• Leslie reported the territory’s finances, population, supplies, weapons, ships, prisoners, and other gains from the expansion.
• Leslie outlined plans to develop Frost Island as the core, assign other islands to defense, food production, and resource collection, and relocate workshops.
• Roland approved the Administrative Department’s island and industry plans after O'Neal and the other military leaders raised no objections.
• Artur, O'Neal, Alredo, Luke, Chopper, and Alice presented plans to expand their military units, prompting Roland to angrily slam the table and rebuke them.

Roland rejected the Military Affairs Department’s unrealistic expansion plans while the territory mobilized to consolidate its new holdings. Meanwhile, Cyril plotted to have other pirate forces attack Roland, and a noblewoman in the Solomon Family considered sending her son to replace him.

• Roland ordered O'Neal and the other Military Affairs Department officers to redraw their expansion plans, withholding their rewards until they did so.
• Leslie’s expansion work kept the territory busy, with Roland helping oversee the growing administrative demands.
• Cyril learned that Roland had taken Frost Island and sent an agent to persuade the Owen Family and four pirate groups to attack him.
• Gerson suggested that the Solomon Family’s young master replace Roland in the Azure Sea Region, and the mature noblewoman dismissed Gerson without revealing her decision.

Roland and Leslie discussed the threat of five allied powers, the territory’s food shortage, and its military preparations. The alliance remained a looming danger as Roland went to inspect the barracks on Frost Island.

• Leslie told Roland that the Skeleton King, Deep Sea Phantom, Bloodstained, and Dark One crews had rejected his offers and demanded that he surrender Frost Island to the Owen Family.
• Roland and Leslie worried that Cyril and the Oroko Family had arranged the alliance, while Double Gate Island was expected to delay the forces for at least three months.
• Leslie reported that the territory had 150,000 mu of farmland and expected a modest harvest, leaving Roland’s expanded population dependent on grain purchases after autumn.
• Roland and Leslie went to inspect the former Owen Family barracks, where Roland asked Hammerstone about his cultivation and told him to report any problems to Chopper.

Roland inspected the territory’s expanding army and announced that he could engrave Intermediate Magic Patterns, setting new priorities for strengthening its forces. He left the camp after ordering commanders to prepare their troops for battle, with the new cavalry brigade still needing time to become combat-ready.

• Roland told Leslie that his agents around Cyril had defected because he had failed to win their loyalty.
• Roland announced that soldiers who became Intermediate Warriors within three months would be first to receive Intermediate Magic Patterns, and confirmed he had become an Intermediate Magic Pattern Master.
• Roland refused to prioritize Magic Pattern engraving for the Loyal Lion Brigade but promised its high-level Magic Patterns would receive priority after he became an Advanced Magic Pattern Master.
• Chopper reported that the Loyal Lion Brigade had expanded into a second brigade, and Roland ordered it to recover its former strength within three months.
• Artur reported recruiting prisoners of war into the Green-Haired Turtle Knight Brigade, while Alredo said thunderbirds were arriving to expand the Thunderbird Squadron; Roland ordered both commanders to screen for loyalty.
• Luke reported that five hundred warhorses were on their way and that training cavalrymen would take at least a year; Roland ordered the other brigades and squadrons to reach peak combat strength within three months.

Roland learned that a Church of Dawn ship was approaching Frost Island and suspected its people had come to investigate the Forbidden Potion. He met Cecilia and her powerful companions at the harbor, including a Saint Domain expert, and answered her formal questions.

• Roland calculated the cost of the Mental Power Potions he needed to advance to Great Mage and decided not to brew them himself.
• O'Neal told Roland that a warship flying the Church of Dawn's flag was heading toward his territory, and Leslie suggested the visitors were investigating the Forbidden Potion.
• Roland, Leslie, and O'Neal went to Frost Island's harbor as the Church of Dawn ship docked.
• Roland saw Cecilia and was struck by her beauty, but a cough from her companions drew his attention to two Sky Warriors and a dangerous Saint Domain elder.
• Cecilia asked Roland to confirm that he was Frost Island's lord, Elizabeth's fiancé, and Dylan Fikernando's son-in-law, and Roland acknowledged that he was.

Cecilia and the Church of Dawn questioned Roland about Dylan Fikernando and used Dawn Spirit Identification to test his answers. The spell revealed Roland’s real plan to keep Cecilia in his territory and make her his slave.

• Cecilia asked Roland about his relationship with Dylan Fikernando and proposed using a Lie Detection Spell.
• Roland agreed to cooperate if the Church of Dawn built a church in his territory, then asked Cecilia to serve as its bishop.
• Cecilia refused to become bishop but promised to send a bishop-ranked priest, and Roland agreed to the spell.
• Nuwa warned Roland that the spell was invading his spiritual sea, but he told her to hide and let it proceed.
• Cecilia asked Roland about the potion and heretical organizations, and he denied knowing their source.
• Cecilia asked whether Roland truly wanted a church in his territory, and the spell made him reveal his plan to keep her there and make her his female slave.

After Cecilia beat Roland following the Church of Dawn’s interrogation, the red-robed elder arranged for Yulia to oversee the chapel in Roland’s territory. Two months later, Yulia arrived with armed guards and challenged Roland, who left the chapel negotiations to someone else.

• Roland learned that Cecilia had beaten him after his spell-bound confession, while Leslie and O'Neal explained why they had not intervened.
• Cecilia demanded that her teacher let her kill Roland, so he promised to send her senior Yulia to oversee Roland’s chapel and seek justice for her.
• Two months later, Roland found Church of Dawn guardian warriors controlling the docks and ordered Chopper and the Loyal Lion Brigade to disarm them.
• Yulia introduced herself as the new Level 12 bishop and said she had brought the warriors for protection because Cecilia had called Roland lecherous.
• Roland told Yulia to leave, but she had her guards put away their weapons; when she asked to discuss the chapel’s location, he left and said someone else would handle it.

Roland prepared for war after the Five Great Powers demanded he abandon Frost Island, then learned that the Solomon and Hock Families were also sending an army against him. Leslie suspected they intended to replace Roland with his legitimate brother and claim his territory, leaving Roland determined to fight back.

• Roland rejected the Five Great Powers' demand for Frost Island and ordered O'Neal to prepare for battle.
• Leslie reported that the territory had enough strategic supplies for a major battle, but Roland's search for Elizabeth and Reff had found no trace of them.
• Leslie told Roland that 2,000 warriors from the Solomon and Hock Families were sailing toward his territory aboard twenty warships.
• Leslie noted that the declining Hock Family was unusually leading the allied army and suspected Roland's legitimate brother wanted to take his territory and noble title.
• Roland realized the families might be trying to seize the fruits of his labor and vowed they would not leave the Azure Sea Region alive.

Cassio and Ariel discussed the Solomon and Hock Families’ mission to bring Roland back, while Cassio feared force could turn him into an enemy. As Roland and Leslie debated how to face the allied fleet, Monk arrived, knocked Leslie unconscious, and delivered a letter from Junot to Roland.

• Mattia complained about seasickness aboard the fleet, and Cassio ordered him to endure the voyage for the chance to become a landed viscount.
• Cassio and Ariel discussed bringing Roland back to serve the Solomon Family, and Cassio warned that attacking him could provoke a dangerous conflict.
• Roland and Leslie argued over whether to attack the approaching forces, with Leslie rejecting Roland’s plans and urging caution.
• Monk burst into the meeting room, knocked Leslie unconscious, and revealed that Junot had sent him to protect Roland.
• Monk gave Roland a letter from Junot, saying Roland would understand after reading it.

Roland read Junot Solomon’s letter and learned that Monk, a Level 15 Sky Warrior, had been sent to aid him against the Solomon and Hock families’ allied forces. Monk also revealed that Junot had kept spies in Roland’s territory, prompting Roland to plan a purge and begin discussing a counterplan with Leslie.

• Roland read Junot Solomon’s letter, which urged him to defend himself against the allied forces and introduced Monk as a secret protector.
• Monk revealed that he was a Level 15 Sky Warrior, and Roland agreed to let him stay on the sixth floor of Dawnlight Fortress.
• Monk warned Roland that Junot had maintained spies in his territory to monitor and protect him, and Roland decided to remove the other people there.
• Monk left, and Roland woke Leslie, who was angry that Monk had knocked him unconscious but accepted the explanation after reading Junot’s letter.
• Roland told Leslie he had devised a plan against their enemies, and Leslie called him the most shameless person he had ever seen.

After the Solomon and Hock Families' allied army reached Frost Island, Roland welcomed Ariel and Cassio and pretended to accept their claim over his territory. He agreed to leave for the Solomon Family after Ariel threatened him, while the allied forces prepared to take control of Frost Island.

• The Ghost Pirates collapsed, and the other four great overlords retreated to defend their core domains as rival forces expanded.
• Roland sent Fili to negotiate with the Five Great Powers, then secretly ordered him to declare war when negotiations failed.
• The Solomon and Hock Families' army arrived at Frost Island, where Roland greeted Ariel and Cassio with an elaborate welcome.
• Roland encouraged Ariel to believe that he had built his estate using the Solomon Family's reputation.
• Ariel ordered Roland to return to the family and surrender his territory, threatening him with death if he disobeyed.
• Roland agreed to leave after the handover, concealing his true intentions.

Roland pretended to surrender Frost Island to Mattia, Ariel, and Cassio while concealing his hostility toward them. After touring the territory, he agreed to begin the handover, and Leslie started reporting its assets and income.

• Ariel arranged for the twenty warships to dock, and Cassio questioned Roland about his apothecary talent and hopes for a hereditary title.
• Mattia arrived with Gerson, mocked Roland, and claimed he would take over Roland’s territory.
• Roland hid his anger and asked Leslie to show Ariel and Cassio around Frost Island.
• Ariel and Cassio urged Roland to complete the handover immediately, and he agreed.
• Roland summoned Leslie and the senior officials, and Leslie began listing the territory’s islands, population, farmland, and income.

Ariel and Cassio inspected Roland’s territory and troops while preparing to transfer his holdings to Mattia. Roland concealed his true strength and refused to surrender his forces, then told his officials to follow the plan after the visitors left.

• Leslie reported Roland’s wealth and resources, prompting Ariel and Cassio to praise his achievements and consider the gains Mattia could claim.
• Roland led Ariel and Cassio to the camp, where they saw the poorly equipped Loyal Lion Brigade and demanded to know what happened to his other forces.
• Roland claimed the Magical Beast Knights, Earth Giants, and Mage Regiment had been lost in battle, but Ariel and Cassio suspected he was hiding troops.
• Cassio asked Roland to hand over his remaining subordinates, and Roland refused while pretending that his forces had died or were all at the camp.
• Ariel ordered Roland to vacate the castle for Mattia and threatened him before leaving with Cassio.
• Roland’s officials urged him to attack Ariel and Cassio, but Roland told them to follow the plan.

Ariel and Cassio took control of Dawnlight Fortress and Frost Island’s territory while Roland secretly prepared to leave and the Church of Dawn’s Bishop Yulia was prevented from interfering. After Roland departed, several thousand unidentified elite warriors landed on Frost Island, leaving Ariel and Cassio scrambling to defend the city.

• Ariel and Cassio secured Dawnlight Fortress with their elite troops, while Bishop Yulia learned of their takeover and considered warning them about the approaching allied forces.
• Monk stopped Yulia from leaving the church, enforcing Roland’s order that Church of Dawn members remain inside for three days.
• Over the next three days, Ariel and Cassio took over the territory’s affairs and workshops, but Roland refused to surrender his army and claimed only the two-thousand-man Loyal Lion Brigade remained.
• Roland secretly sailed from Frost Island with Leslie, while James, Fili, and other officials had already disappeared from their residences.
• After several thousand unidentified elite warriors landed at Frost Island’s dock, Cassio and Ariel realized Roland had used them to face the threat and moved to reinforce the city’s defenses.

Ariel and Cassio faced a large army outside Frost Island after taking over Roland’s territory, while Kairu’s allied forces discovered that the city was defended by two Sky Warriors. The pirate captains demanded greater compensation from Kairu, who agreed despite the cost to his family.

• Mattia asked whether Roland’s men had surrounded the city, and Gerson explained that Roland had handed over the territory to make the newcomers face his enemies.
• Cassio urged Ariel to avoid battle and retreat, but Ariel insisted that the Solomon Family’s reputation might deter the attackers; Mattia returned to the castle.
• Kairu asked the four pirate captains to attack, but Barton pointed out that two Sky Warriors defended the city walls, contrary to Kairu’s intelligence.
• Tross demanded that the Owen Family surrender its share of the postwar compensation and half its slaves, and Barton supported his demands.
• Kairu regretted ignoring Edis’s advice but accepted the captains’ conditions because he feared the Owen Family would lose its status if it failed to reclaim its territory.

Ariel confronted the allied forces at Dawnlight Fortress, only to discover that Kairu had hidden the Solomon Family’s identity and that Roland had misled him about its reputation. As Cassio tried to negotiate a withdrawal, someone inside the city fired the Magic Crystal Cannons at the Five Great Powers’ army.

• Barton and the other pirate leaders prepared to attack while Ariel demanded to know why they were invading Solomon Family territory.
• The leaders mocked the Solomon Family, and Ariel realized Roland had deceived him about its standing in the Sea of Ten Thousand Islands.
• Kairu told Barton that the Solomon Family came from the Terra Kingdom, concealing that he had already learned Roland belonged to it.
• Ariel said Roland had left Frost Island in the Solomon Family’s hands, but Barton demanded one million gold coins and their withdrawal.
• As the allied forces aimed their cannons at Dawnlight Fortress, Cassio offered to withdraw and renegotiate the compensation.
• An angry voice inside the city urged a fight, and the defenders fired more than a dozen Magic Cannonballs at the allied forces.