Chapter Summaries

Ang and his companions escaped the Cave Lizardmen’s underground settlement through a rune-powered spatial passage, then traveled south toward Amnath. They reached the thriving city, where Ade greeted Ang after becoming a formal mage.

• Two Cave Lizardmen escorted Ang, Natiya, Dana, and Linya to a pool that led to the surface, while Keso discussed Therese’s research with an elder.
• Dana tested the pool, and the group passed through its spatial runes to emerge aboveground; Ang copied the runes for later study.
• Ang guided the group south, and they passed the scorched ground left by the Flame Lizard Dragon before continuing through the forest toward Amnath.
• The four reached a mountain ridge and saw Amnath’s vast walls and prosperous fields below.
• Ade met Ang outside the city, welcomed him back, and revealed that he had become a formal mage.

Ang returned to Amnath City, reunited with his companions and territory leaders, and ordered stronger defenses after warning that a legendary Lizardman expert might soon attack. News of his return reached the Military Department, which sent an envoy carrying an order for a new investiture ceremony for Viscount Ange.

• Ang met Ade and Olivia outside the city and learned that Olivia had joined the North Wind Territory after advancing to Rank 1 Mage.
• Quintina and Aisha arrived to welcome Ang, and he reunited with his companions and introduced them to Natiya and Linya.
• Ang ordered Quintina to double the city-wall patrols, explaining that he had provoked a legendary expert from the Lizardman race and expected a major move soon.
• Ang walked through the city with his companions, learned that most of the Minotaur arrivals had been settled, and received a formal welcome from Slock, Puri, and their troops and mages.
• News of Ang’s return spread through the Amna Region, and the Military Department dispatched an envoy with orders for a new investiture ceremony for Viscount Ange.

Ang returned to Amnath, received reports from his officers, and reunited with Quintina. He welcomed Natiya and Linya, showed them the city, and hosted a ball celebrating his return.

• Ang gathered nearly two hundred officers in the council chamber and listened to their reports until evening.
• Ang sent Dana to meet the Minotaurs, then told Quintina about his perilous journey and spent the night with her.
• Aisha asked Ang about his relationship with Quintina, and Ang explained that they had been involved before he left.
• Ang showed Natiya and Linya around Amnath and asked whether they had considered staying, then invited them to the ball.
• Ang welcomed the nobles, merchants, and military officers at the ball, reassuring the merchants and deflecting questions about his plans.
• Natiya arrived in a striking green gown, and Ang praised her and Linya as the celebration continued.

At the ball, Ang handled the attention of Quintina and Natiya before leaving to brew more Gift of the World potions in Amnath City's Mage Tower. Natiya told him she would leave for the Elf Forest the next day, while Ang gave potions to her and Aisha, who would pass one along to help Toford advance.

• Quintina and Natiya kissed Ang at the ball, and he kissed them in return before inviting both to dance.
• Aisha and Linya took over dancing with Quintina and Natiya, allowing Ang to escape to Dana and ask about the settlement and its sulfur ore.
• Ang went to a Mage Tower, encouraged Toford to join the ball, then brewed more than one hundred and twenty bottles of Gift of the World by dawn.
• Natiya told Ang she had decided to leave the next day, and he gave her a bottle of Gift of the World.
• Ang gave Aisha two bottles of Gift of the World and Purple-winged Bee honey, asking her to give one potion and the honey to Toford to help him advance.

Ang returned to Amnath City after seeing Natiya and Linya off, received his formal promotion to viscount, and inspected the territory’s farmland with Aisha and Quintina. After meeting a pioneering family, he promised to establish a Basic Warrior Academy and reflected on his responsibility to Amnath’s residents.

• Natiya visited Ang before their departure, and the next morning she and Linya left with him for Fortress of Will.
• Ang returned to Amnath City, completed his viscount investiture ceremony, and learned that the dwarves were building their Living Quarters while the centaurs had been sent to deal with attacks on merchant caravans.
• Ang inspected the farmland with Aisha and Quintina, who explained how refugees reclaimed fields and how Amnath planned to expand wheat production.
• Ang stayed with Heimi’s family, learned that their children lacked a nearby Basic Warrior Academy, and promised to establish one in Amnath.
• Heimi’s family recognized Ang as their lord, and Ang asked about their isolation, shopping, and trade before considering his duties to the residents.

Ang and Aisha toured Amnath, saw how its people’s hardships shaped their responsibilities, and planned schools for the territory’s children. Ang entrusted dwarf Barn with designing academies for all races, and Barn pledged his clan’s support.

• Heimi told Ang about his family’s poverty, the death of his eldest son, and their flight from home; Ang carried him to bed and secretly healed his old injuries.
• Ang and Aisha discussed the refugees who had settled in Amnath, and Ang reassured her that she could help give them a future.
• The next morning, Heimi’s family found five Gold Wacks Ang had left behind, and Heimi hoped his children would attend the future Basic Warrior Academy.
• After half a month patrolling the territory, Ang and Aisha reviewed its fields, including the magic rice and Fine Cassava crops, and discussed food production and soil care.
• Ang announced plans for two Warrior Academies and a Magic Academy, then asked Barn to lead their construction and incorporate every race’s culture and skills.
• Barn pledged that the Black Lock Barn Dwarf clan would honor Ang’s trust and help make the academies a home for all the people of Amnath.

Ang oversaw the plans and construction for Amnath’s academies, welcomed new developments among the mages, and prepared to expand rail transport. After attending a Military Department meeting that offered little progress, he returned to Amnath, leaving Kodo Roland to consider North Wind Territory’s growing independence.

• Barn consulted nearby races and completed detailed academy plans, which Ang, Quintina, Aisha, and others approved before construction began in Amnath.
• Ang invited Minotaur children to attend the free Basic Warrior Academy and arranged for Dana to travel to 47th City to welcome his arriving chieftain.
• Quintina reported that Toford had become an official mage, and Ang assigned the available mages to prepare teaching for the new Magic Academy.
• Ade explained rune inscription to Olivia, Temple, and Posey, who showed interest in learning it, while Ang told Aisha that he planned to build railways in Amnath.
• Ang attended a Military Department meeting at Fortress of Will, left immediately afterward, and prompted Kodo Roland to reconsider how the department viewed North Wind Territory.

Ang advanced railway construction between Amnath City and 47th City while preparing to establish a fortified base in Valagajudi. Back in North Wind Territory, he brought Aida to Amnath and prepared to transfer the Defense Officer of the Beastlands position to him.

• Ang assigned Isi to oversee rail production at 47th City, Yas to handle rail laying in Amnath City, and asked Dusha to manage materials.
• Ang decided to build a city in Valagajudi and explained that the Empire's war with the lizardmen could create an opportunity to establish a foothold.
• Ang returned to North Wind Territory with Aisha and showed her a Queen Bee Larva of the Purple-winged Bees.
• Ang visited his family, learned that Aida had seven children, and advised him to keep Northern Savage Town from bordering Beast Mouth Fortress.
• Aisha secretly took Aida through the underground teleportation array to Amnath and told him Ang planned to hand him the Defense Officer of the Beastlands position.

Ang established a concealed Purple-winged Bee sanctuary, advanced Aida's appointment, and strengthened the North Wind Territory before shifting troops to Amnath. He then led an army into Valagajudi, cleared out lizardmen and magical beasts, and began reshaping the region's waterways.

• Ang created a hidden herb garden in a mountain hollow, raised the Purple-winged Bee Queen, and secured the growing colony with magical barriers and arrays.
• Ang arranged for Aida to become Defense Officer of the Beastlands, inspected Northern Savage Town and Beast Mouth Fortress, and rewarded Bruno with Gift of the World.
• After receiving border intelligence from Quintina and the centaur leaders, Ang transferred sixty thousand soldiers to Amnath and ordered the military to prepare for expansion.
• Ang led the army toward Valagajudi, where Walder's Infantry Regiment cut a road through the wetlands and soldiers began clearing lizardmen egg nests.
• Ang redirected the campaign to hunt magical beasts, then began joining Valagajudi's tributaries into a large water system as the region stabilized.

Ang named the newly formed Valagajudi River and turned its western bank into farmland while preparing the 47th Regiment to defend it from a huge Lizardmen force. The river’s magical beasts devastated the first attack, but Ang recognized that the Mountain Ridge Tribe had joined the enemy.

• Ang ordered the western territory reclaimed as farmland, offered settlers three years without taxes, and prohibited hunting the river’s magical beasts.
• Demon Hunters protested Ang’s restrictions and accused him of violating Imperial regulations, but the Military Department’s messenger withdrew without taking action.
• Ang invited newly elevated nobles to claim fiefs in Valagajudi, even as officials and nobles mocked the offer.
• Temple and Posey reported that more than 150,000 Lizardmen had assembled east of the river, and Ang ordered the 47th Regiment to hold the river rather than fight a frontal battle.
• The river’s magical beasts killed many Lizardmen as they crossed, and Walder led the soldiers in striking down those who reached shore.
• Ang spotted stronger Lizardmen driving magical beasts toward the river and concluded that the Mountain Ridge Tribe had intervened.

Ang weakened the Lizardmen army at Valagajudi with aerial bombings while developing magical rice cultivation and attracting settlers. After Aisha arrived, he ordered the railway to Valagajudi built and planned to conceal the land’s value from rival nobles.

• Ang waited as the Mountain Ridge Tribe imitated his tactic of driving magical beasts into the river, while Temple and Posey patrolled the area.
• Puri and Ellis arrived, and Ang joined them in bombing the Lizardmen, killing tens of thousands and forcing their army to retreat.
• Soldiers in the 47th Regiment began reclaiming farmland to grow magical rice, which Ang viewed as a way to strengthen his forces.
• News of Ang’s defense and the railcars drew settlers to Valagajudi and prompted nobles to consider taking fiefs there.
• Aisha visited Ang, and he told her to spread word that Valagajudi was dangerous while ordering construction of a railway from Amnath City.

Ang’s diversion at Valagajudi helped Kodo open a land route between Amnath and Fortress of Will, but the Military Department then ordered Ang transferred and replaced. Ang rejected the move and began recruiting independently as Quintina and Aisha pledged to support him.

• Aisha delivered Ang’s instructions to Quintina, who spread an embellished account of Ang’s defense of Valagajudi to discourage nobles from applying for nearby fiefs.
• Kodo began a costly offensive against the lizardmen and opened the route to Fortress of Will after three months, earning recognition for securing the passage.
• Ang explained to Aisha that his position at Valagajudi had drawn lizardmen forces eastward and helped Kodo’s advance, while the Empire planned to steadily squeeze the lizardmen’s territory.
• At a Military Department meeting, Marion announced that Ang would be transferred to Fortress of Will and Viscount Woraston would replace him; Ang objected to the procedure and left.
• After returning to Valagajudi, Ang told Quintina and Aisha what had happened and announced that he would use his authority to recruit troops independently.
• Quintina and Aisha promised to stand by Ang as he prepared for the possibility of a conflict with the Military Department.

Ang refused the Military Department’s orders, lost his command and troops, and established the Amnath City Defense Force in his territory. After Lizardmen overran Viscount Woraston’s defenses, Ang held his own land, while the Empire abandoned Valagajudi and news of Woraston’s death spread.

• Ang refused his transfer order, handed the west-bank defenses to Woraston, and withdrew the 47th Regiment to protect his farmland.
• The Military Department stripped Ang of his command and reassigned his troops to Woraston, so Ang formed the independent Amnath City Defense Force.
• Ang built point fortresses around his farmland as clashes with the Lizardmen escalated along the Valagajudi River.
• After Lizardmen crossed the river in force, Woraston’s line collapsed, and Ang refused to send aid.
• The Lizardmen killed Woraston and besieged Ang’s territory, but Ang and the mages repelled their attacks with magical bombs.
• Military Department reinforcements reported Woraston’s death and Ang’s continued resistance, and the Empire declared Valagajudi abandoned.

After Woraston’s death, his family accused Viscount Ange of abandoning him and spreading rumors that Ange had colluded with the Lizardmen. The Mage Association found no evidence against Ange, while Workston’s efforts to reclaim his family’s lands failed and he lost power.

• Woraston’s family mourned him in Valagajudi, and Workston reported Viscount Ange to the Military Department for failing to send reinforcements.
• The Mage Association’s Enforcement Team questioned Hubery and Marion, then investigated the accusation against Ange at his territory.
• Ange told the Enforcement Team that his forces had been fighting to defend their own land when Woraston requested aid, and he denied responsibility for Woraston’s defeat.
• The Mage Association announced that it had found no evidence that Ange colluded with the Lizardmen, causing the rumors to fade.
• Workston failed to obtain military support or recruit nobles to retake the lands west of the Valagajudi River, and opposition within his family grew.
• Woraston’s eldest son inherited the title at a lower rank, leaving Workston without power as the western lands remained desolate.

Ang drove the lizardmen from the western bank of the Valagajudi River, expanded his control, and negotiated terms allowing the Pioneer Alliance to develop the eastern bank. The alliance began its expedition under Ang’s oversight, while Ang continued excavating a tunnel through the mountains.

• Ang decided to begin tunneling through the mountain after his forces cleared the lizardmen from the western bank of the Valagajudi River.
• Georgie and four others returned as magical nobles, and Ang led sixteen mages and infantry in a three-day campaign that drove the lizardmen from the western bank.
• Ang secured the western bank, built a bridge across the river, and welcomed immigrants and settlers as his influence spread.
• Elma Bird led the Pioneer Alliance of Lesser Nobles to negotiate passage across Ang’s territory so they could develop the eastern bank and destroy lizardman breeding nests.
• Ang agreed to let the alliance cross in exchange for a share of its gains and required it to buy supplies from his territory; both sides finalized their agreement in a Magic Contract.

Ang completed the rail connection to Valagaju, used his territory as a gateway for the Pioneer Alliance’s east-bank expedition, and strengthened west-bank development. He also corrected the airship project’s flawed runes, and Ben agreed that Puri’s team would handle rune work while the dwarves focused on forging.

• Ang and Yas broke through the tunnel between Valagaju and Amnath, and the railcar began carrying passengers into the territory.
• Ang explained to Quintina that the Pioneer Alliance’s passage through his territory would bring toll and supply revenue, then welcomed Elma Bird and the alliance’s advance force.
• The Pioneer Alliance and thousands of adventurers and mercenaries set out for the east bank, where resources began flowing across the bridge to west-bank markets and Fortress of Will.
• Ang established the Valagaju Defense Force and encouraged settlement, then received a request to meet Earl Dominic Austin.
• At the airship workshop, Ang demonstrated that the dwarven craftsmen’s rune design was faulty, and their prototype nearly exploded during testing.
• Ben assigned rune work to Puri’s team and pledged that the dwarves would focus on reliable airship components.

Ang combined dwarven rune technology with human designs to build and successfully test an agile airship, while Count Austin approached him about serving Duke Donnie Serik and developing land along the Valagajudi River. The airship completed its first round trip between Amnath and the west bank, as Ang prepared to accelerate recruitment before political pressure arrived.

• Ang and his rune apprentices devised detachable, rune-covered buoys that improved the airship’s lift and maneuverability, and their first experimental vessel took flight successfully.
• Count Austin invited Ang to join Duke Donnie Serik’s service and proposed cooperating on development east of the Valagajudi River; Ang suspected the land deal was Austin’s true aim.
• Ang warned Quintina that Duke Serik could use recruitment overseers to pressure him, so she agreed to speed up recruiting and establish the size of their forces.
• Over the next month, Ang and the dwarven craftsmen completed a thirty-five-meter airship using eight double-layer rune buoys and mithril filling.
• During its test flight, Ang maneuvered the airship around a Green Wind Falcon and killed it with a wind arrow after four evasions.
• Ang’s airship reached the west bank of the Valagajudi River, loaded and unloaded cargo at the completed port, and returned safely to Amnath the next morning.

Ang’s airship, the Dwarf, completed its early voyages as officials investigated its design, while the Pioneer Alliance secured territory on the east bank and bought weapons and enchanted equipment from him. The chapter ended with Ang preparing to welcome Norma and Yus to dinner before they began school.

• Puri reported that the Dwarf’s systems had worked properly on its maiden voyage, and Ang named it and ordered its hull painted white.
• The Mage Association and then the Military Department investigated the Dwarf, but neither found evidence of stolen technology or grounds to seize it.
• The Pioneer Alliance gained official recognition for four square kilometers on the east bank and began recruiting technicians, adventurers, and soldiers.
• Elma Bird bought four thousand sets of Ang’s standard equipment and purchased a Flame Armament set and enchanted longsword.
• Aisha told Ang that Norma and Yus were ready to enroll in Amnath’s Basic Warrior Academy, and Ang invited them to dinner at the Lord’s Mansion.

Ang faced the Military Department’s efforts to restrict his recruitment and pressure him into rejoining the legion, while finding ways to sell Amnath’s surplus grain and keep his territories stable. The chapter ended with Ang helping Count Austin’s son Hard seek entry into the Pioneer Alliance.

• Ang learned that the Military Department planned to reclaim northern recruitment rights, but refused to negotiate or lead his troops against the lizardmen on the Litchfield Plains.
• After Fortress of Will banned food and resources from Amnath, Ang transported the territory’s wheat to North Wind Territory and sold three hundred thousand pounds of flour to nobles across Tan'anster.
• Ang promoted wheat cultivation in Amnath, and the three thousand delayed recruits were eventually delivered to him and put into training.
• Ang offered to recommend Count Austin’s family to the Pioneer Alliance, then gave Fed and Hard Austin a sealed letter for Elma.

Hard joined the Pioneer Alliance, whose expansion stalled when a territorial Unicorn Ice Demon Ox blocked its route. A lone Level 2 Great Warrior challenged the beast, cracked its Ice Armor, and braced for its counterattack.

• Hard toured the Pioneer Alliance camp with Fed, then won acceptance into the Alliance despite opposition from Elma and his supporters.
• Hard's five thousand soldiers arrived, accelerating the Alliance's expansion until the Unicorn Ice Demon Ox blocked the main route.
• The Alliance announced the beast's presence, and adventurers gathered to watch after seeing it freeze and kill a Water Crocodile Turtle that entered its territory.
• A lone Level 2 Great Warrior arrived and rejected Hard's offer to recruit him.
• The warrior entered the swamp, struck the Unicorn Ice Demon Ox with his greatsword, and cracked its Ice Armor before the beast unleashed a counterattack.