Recaps

Li Ang reflected on the danger of being caught between Duke Alma and Count Oden, then returned to find the battle won and the camp being looted. The discovery that Kloze’s stolen helmet had somehow made its way across the continent left Li Ang wondering whose head it had been on before.

• Li Ang decided he wanted to avoid Duke Alma and Count Oden’s political struggle and focus on raising the money and strength needed to build his own territory.
• Li Ang returned to the camp after the battle and found Kloze overseeing the prisoners and the collection of loot while the Meitengheim Infantry ate.
• Ansen treated the wounded, and Li Ang watched the injured Meitengheim soldiers endure their pain without crying out.
• Kloze showed Li Ang a helmet engraved with his own name, and Li Ang realized it had likely been sold by the pirates who captured Kloze after his shipwreck.
• Li Ang asked whose head the helmet had been on before, amazed that it had traveled from the western coast to the remote eastern mountains.

Li Ang learned that Foucher had armed the Crimson Brotherhood and that the prisoners knew about Duke Alma’s collusion with the Gatu people, so he saw a chance to sell them to Earl Oden. After counting the battle’s casualties, he arranged a proper burial for a dead crossbowman and promised compensation for future deaths and disabling injuries.

• Li Ang questioned a wounded prisoner, who said Foucher had supplied the Crimson Brotherhood with armor and weapons and that a Horton Family knight had led Gatu people to the village.
• Li Ang ordered Ansen to treat the prisoners and Kloze to guard them, then realized Earl Oden might pay well for their testimony against Grand Duke Alma.
• Li Ang’s men finished clearing the battlefield, and he counted eighteen prisoners and learned that one Mercenary Crossbowman had died from an enemy arrow.
• Li Ang observed a moment of silence, arranged for the dead crossbowman’s belongings to be sent home, and promised burial costs and family compensation for future casualties, along with support for disabled mercenaries.

Li Ang counted the spoils from the battle and planned how to profit from the remaining deals with Oden and Ralph. He sent Sarah to negotiate with Ralph over the camp, but their discussion ended with disagreement over Ralph’s status.

• Li Ang counted the captured equipment and five horses, and decided to sell some loot through Lesley while waiting for Ralph.
• Li Ang considered reporting the traitorous patrol captain to Oden, while planning to fulfill his separate agreement with Ralph.
• Li Ang asked Sarah to return to Long River Town and negotiate another deal with Ralph, prompting her to complain that his demands were too frequent.
• Li Ang told Sarah that he intended to sell the camp to Ralph, and she questioned why Ralph would want it and whether Li Ang had finished their earlier deal.
• Li Ang guessed that Ralph was a commoner who had claimed the title of Knight Commander, but Sarah doubted his conclusion.

Li Ang explained why Ralph was probably a commoner leading the Horn Summon Ranger Corps and considered how to use his strengths to secure the camp. The chapter ended with Sarah realizing Li Ang feared the Gatu army might launch a large-scale invasion through the passage.

• Li Ang pointed out that Ralph’s lack of a personal banner and his title of Knight Commander suggested he was not a noble.
• Sarah connected Ralph’s position to the Horn Summon Ranger Corps, whose members defended Long River Town’s frontier against Gatu raids.
• Li Ang reasoned that Ralph was a skilled warrior unsuited to noble politics and proposed that Sarah persuade him to buy the camp and station his elite sentries there.
• Sarah understood that Li Ang suspected the Gatu army would invade the Lionheart Kingdom through the passage.

Li Ang deduced that Duke Alma was conspiring with the Gatu people to invade Long River Town and potentially seize the throne, then framed his warning as a prophecy for Sarah to pass to Ralph. Sarah departed to secure the Horn Summon Ranger Corps’ friendship by arranging to buy the river camp, while Li Ang discovered his Coach skill had improved.

• Li Ang explained that the camp at Fletcher Village guarded the only easy crossing on the lower Tongtian River and that Foucher’s bridge would give the Gatu people a route into Long River Town.
• Li Ang told Sarah that Duke Alma’s actions resembled Alfred’s old betrayal and predicted that Alma would use the Gatu people to overthrow the kingdom and take the throne.
• Sarah understood that Li Ang’s prophecy warned Ralph and the Horn Summon Ranger Corps to prepare, and promised to convey his deduction and buy the camp.
• Li Ang reminded Sarah to secure a good price, and she left for Long River Town with bodyguards and some spoils.
• Li Ang received a system notification that his Coach skill had increased and wondered whether guiding Sarah had caused it.

Li Ang searched Lion Lake City’s abandoned frontier for a site to build a Gatu nomad camp, intending to fulfill his deal with Ralph. Two farmers from the ruined Horton Village revealed that they had witnessed a Gatu camp years earlier and could help him construct a convincing one.

• Li Ang ordered carpenters to make technical adjustments to the nearly finished bridge, then left Kloze and the Charge Squad to guard the prisoners while he traveled west with crossbowmen and carpenters.
• Li Ang found an abandoned village in Lion Lake City’s territory and ordered a Gatu nomad camp built among its ruins.
• The carpenters admitted they had never seen a Gatu camp, and the mercenaries could not describe one either.
• Two farmers told Li Ang that the ruins were their former home, Horton Village, which the Gatu had raided more than ten years earlier.
• The farmers explained that they had spotted the Gatu camp while hunting and escaped into the mountains, then helped the carpenters by describing what they remembered.
• Li Ang realized that the two men’s party entries changed from Farmers to Refugees when they removed their equipment.

Li Ang’s men prepared a Gatu-style camp while he read a suggestive manuscript until a group of farmers approached. Their leader, Liwa Fletcher, claimed to be an earl’s daughter fleeing rebels, and Li Ang agreed to take her and the villagers toward Long River Town.

• Li Ang watched his men build a mobile Gatu camp, then settled down to read Memoirs of a Pendor Officer.
• Mercenaries interrupted Li Ang’s reading to report that a group armed with farming tools had arrived.
• Liwa told Li Ang that she and the villagers were fleeing pursuing knights and offered to guide and cook for his party.
• Li Ang recognized Liwa’s Fletcher name and believed she was Count Oden’s daughter, then invited her to join the convoy bound for Long River Town.
• Liwa estimated that about a dozen pursuers were nearby, so Li Ang sent mercenaries to scout the area.

Li Ang’s camp was robbed after Liwa used sedative mushrooms to put everyone to sleep, exposing his arrogance and greed. He restored the mercenaries’ morale with promises of shared spoils and advancement, then led them toward Fletcher Village grieving the loss of his father’s sword.

• Li Ang woke to find that Liwa and her companions had stolen the camp’s money and valuables while the sedative mushrooms kept everyone asleep.
• Li Ang realized that his greed had blinded him to Liwa’s deception and recalled that she was a bandit character from the game he had known.
• Li Ang apologized to the mercenaries and promised compensation, shares of future spoils, and the chance to become apprentice knights.
• The mercenaries rallied behind Li Ang, who led them back toward Fletcher Village while mourning the loss of his father’s griffin-crested sword.

Sarah persuaded Ralph to buy Li Ang’s camp, but news of the Gatu army’s advance sent her racing back to ask Li Ang to hold the Tongtian River. As Sarah arrived with a mounted ranger, Li Ang went to meet them, unaware of the full emergency.

• Sarah convinced Ralph to purchase the camp, and Ralph asked Li Ang to stop the Gatu from crossing the Tongtian River until the Rangers could reinforce him.
• A mounted ranger reported that Brave Shield Fortress had lit three beacons, signaling that the Gatu army had assembled.
• Sarah took the ranger and rode north at speed to deliver Ralph’s request to Li Ang.
• At camp, Li Ang had Kloze train Ansen, while the mercenaries watched and Ansen struggled to touch his opponent.
• Sammer spotted Sarah approaching with a man in green ranger armor, and Li Ang put away his book and hurried to meet them.

Li Ang prepared to defend the Tongtian River bridgehead until Ralph's reinforcements arrived, while Sarah reacted angrily to his request to borrow money. The Gatu cavalry reached the river, and the defenders braced for battle.

• Li Ang agreed to hold the line, then asked Sarah to lend him money; she chased him with a sword, and his Command skill increased.
• Li Ang inspected the repaired bridge and its makeshift rampart, then assigned his subordinates defensive tasks.
• When Ansen asked about the prisoners, Li Ang planned to incapacitate them, but Sarah took his mace and went to deal with them herself.
• The bridge began to shake, and Sammer spotted the approaching enemy and called out an attack warning.
• Around three hundred Gatu cavalry arrived at the northern bank of the Tongtian River and gathered at the far end of the bridge.

Li Ang lured a Gatu warlord and his attendants onto the narrow bridge, then trapped them under fire from his archers and crossbowmen. The Gatu warriors pressed forward to rescue their leader, and the bridge began to crack beneath them.

• Li Ang put on a Gatu-style mail coif, stood above the barricade, and beckoned the Gatu warlord to cross the river.
• The warlord rode onto the bridge with two attendants, where Li Ang ordered his men to shoot and wounded the three Gatu riders.
• Li Ang killed the warlord’s horse and repeatedly shot the warlord to keep him from stopping his men’s charge.
• Crossbowmen killed and wounded Gatu riders on the narrow bridge, while Li Ang picked off shield-bearing warriors as they advanced on foot.
• The Gatu warriors reached the middle of the bridge, and its piers began to crack as Li Ang shouted for Kloze to cut.

Li Ang’s forces collapsed the bridge, drowning many Gatu soldiers and capturing their warlord from the river. With the enemy divided and hesitant across the water, Li Ang killed a cavalryman with a long-range bow shot, driving the Gatu farther back.

• Kloze and the carpenters cut the bridge supports, sending dozens of Gatu soldiers, including their warlord, into the Tongtian River.
• Two Long River Town mercenaries swam downstream, rescued the unconscious warlord, and brought him safely into Li Ang’s camp.
• Li Ang had the warlord tied upright on the embankment, and the sight of their captured leader threw the Gatu force into disorder.
• The Mercenary Crossbowmen shot at Gatu cavalry across the river as the enemy groups searched for a crossing or began to retreat.
• Li Ang shot a distant Gatu cavalryman through the helmet, frightening the nearby Gatu soldiers away from the riverbank.

Li Ang drove the Gatu advance force away from the riverbank with precise archery, while realizing the larger army could still attack after crossing the river. Back at camp, he inspected Ansen’s skills and discovered that his companion’s improvements could not be controlled.

• Li Ang shot Gatu cavalrymen who approached the riverbank, preventing them from reaching their captured leader.
• The Gatu groups withdrew into the forest to fell trees, while Li Ang estimated that they would soon try to cross the river.
• Li Ang returned to camp and reviewed the system notification that Ansen’s skills had improved.
• Li Ang saw Ansen’s medical skills and proficiencies, but found no way to assign him skill points.
• Li Ang discovered that Ansen had gained Level 1 Strong Bow, possibly after praising Li Ang’s archery.

Li Ang recovered his stolen sword and learned that the Gatu force had withdrawn, but Lesley arrived with news that at least two hundred Gatu were attacking her brother and Karn’s group. As Li Ang prepared to rescue them, he realized the Gatu cavalry was likely approaching his camp and that the caravan had already suffered two deaths.

• Li Ang assigned Ansen to train either his medical skills or swordsmanship, and Ansen chose to tend to the prisoners.
• A mercenary recovered Li Ang’s stolen sword from the river, and Li Ang rewarded him with a warhorse.
• The Gatu people abandoned their riverbank camp and retreated, leaving their unconscious warlord behind.
• Lesley reached Li Ang’s camp and reported that at least two hundred Gatu were attacking her brother and Karn’s group nearby.
• Li Ang ordered the Charge Squad to assemble for a rescue, then realized two Meitengheim Infantry had died and the Gatu cavalry was likely headed toward his camp.

Li Ang learned that fighting had broken out in Long River Town as more than two hundred Gatu cavalry approached the riverside camp. With no safe way to escape, he hid his men and faced the enemy with a captured Gatu warlord as a hostage, buying time while the cavalry scouted the area.

• Lesley arrived at the camp in grief and told Li Ang and Sarah that fighting had broken out in Long River Town.
• Li Ang realized that the Horn Summon Rangers were stretched thin and that someone had attacked Long River Town while its defenses were depleted.
• Li Ang ordered his men to retreat into the camp and hide rather than attempt a hopeless breakout, then refused Kloze's offer to stay with him.
• More than two hundred Gatu cavalry surrounded the camp but held back because of the rain, muddy ground, and poor terrain for horses.
• Li Ang stood in the open with a captured Gatu warlord as a hostage while the Gatu cavalry sent two squads to scout nearby.

Li Ang and his men lured the Gatu into attacking the cluttered camp, where the Charge Squad ambushed them. As the fighting continued, Lesley charged into battle and Ansen put himself between her and danger.

• Two Gatu centurions recognized the camp’s connection to Juan, then split their force to cautiously surround it.
• After scouts found no nearby ambush, the Gatu sent a company charging into the camp while the others watched with bows.
• Kloze burst from a haystack and cut down the leading centurion and his horse, while the Charge Squad attacked the other riders from hiding.
• Li Ang killed a Gatu fighter with his sword as crossbowmen opened fire, and Sarah took charge of the captive warlord.
• Lesley stabbed a Gatu man in the back, and Ansen killed the attacker charging her before dragging her beneath the barricade and standing guard.

Li Ang and his battered defenders fought off repeated Gatu attacks at the riverside camp, but the Gatu launched another charge after a ritual of self-mutilation. As the defenders became locked in desperate close combat, horns and approaching hooves sounded in the distance.

• Li Ang, Kloze, and the Charge Squad killed many Gatu attackers until the enemy retreated and regrouped outside the camp.
• A Gatu centurion and his men cut their own faces, then renewed the attack with volleys of arrows despite the captured warlord being held inside the camp.
• Li Ang and the defenders took cover from the arrows as the Gatu barrage wounded and killed several crossbowmen.
• Li Ang urged the crossbowmen not to flee, and the defenders met a fresh Gatu charge in close combat.
• While Li Ang fought with arrows lodged in his shoulder and thigh, distant horns and the thunder of approaching hooves sounded.

Li Ang survived the Gatu attack after Ralph and the Horn Summon Ranger Corps arrived and defeated the fleeing cavalry. Ralph then told him that Duke Alma had taken over Duke Elfwan’s household after rebels killed Elfwan, claiming he would raise Elfwan’s unborn child.

• The Gatu cavalry charged the Horn Summon Ranger Corps but were wiped out by Ralph and the mounted rangers.
• Li Ang discussed the brutal battle with Kloze while his wounded subordinates treated the survivors.
• Ralph arrived and apologized to Li Ang for failing to prevent the Gatu from escaping.
• Li Ang learned that rebels had killed Duke Elfwan and that Duke Alma had taken control of the household.
• Ralph revealed that Alma claimed Elfwan’s roughly fifty-year-old wife, Madam Bella, was pregnant with Elfwan’s child.

After Grand Duke Alma took control of Long River Town, Li Ang struck a deal with Ralph and sent disguised Rangers toward Lion Lake City. He questioned a captured Gatu warlord about a sword, but the man cared more about protecting the surviving horses.

• Ralph told Li Ang that Madam Bella had dismissed the Rangers from Long River Town and replaced the garrison with Duke Alma's men.
• Ralph traded Li Ang twenty sets of Horn Caller Ranger equipment and enough food for fifty men to last through winter in exchange for the captives.
• Raphael led about a hundred Rangers disguised as Gatu raiders toward Lion Lake City, and Li Ang gave him the blood-soaked helmet of the Gatu warlord.
• Li Ang and Ralph questioned the captured warlord about where he had obtained his sword, but he refused to answer until they threatened the horses.
• The warlord insisted that the horses must not be eaten, and Li Ang promised to care for them while warning him that horse-meat stew was still an option.

Li Ang spared the Gatu warlord Drash and recruited him to care for the captured horses, then gathered his wounded party and honored his promises to the fallen mercenaries. He recruited Lesley as quartermaster and led the survivors south toward a raided, unclaimed village to establish a territory.

• Li Ang learned that factions secretly sold weapons and equipment to the Gatu people, then asked the captured warlord about his name and recruited Drash as a groom by threatening to feed the horses to his men.
• Li Ang regrouped his battered party, recovered the belongings of fallen mercenaries, and recorded their losses before preparing to depart.
• Li Ang offered Lesley a quartermaster position, but she challenged him to drink; she outdrank him and joined the party.
• After Li Ang woke from his drunken stupor, Ansen warned him that Sarah was beating the prisoners, while Kloze asked about someone called Little Sister Number 88.
• Li Ang led his wounded party south toward a masterless village that Ralph had identified as a promising place to establish a territory.

After the battle, Li Ang’s party traveled south slowly while recovering and organizing their supplies. As the group prepared to camp, Li Ang heard a mysterious woman’s voice in his mind warning him to watch his back.

• Lesley coordinated the wagons and supplies as the injured party traveled south, while Li Ang let the carpenters share in the spoils.
• Li Ang encouraged Ansen to keep practicing archery by drawing his bow until his arms hurt, and Ansen obediently followed his advice.
• Eric led Alice at the front of the convoy, wearing Drash’s equipment, while Drash traveled with the Gatu Horses as a Gatu Wanderer Rider.
• Eric scouted ahead and stopped the party beside a grove, where Li Ang agreed to camp for the day.
• Li Ang suddenly heard a woman’s voice in his mind telling him to watch his back, though he could see no one nearby.

Li Ang’s caravan was attacked by a hidden archer, and Eric was struck by a powerful silver arrow. After Ansen failed to stop the crisis, Li Ang performed artificial respiration and revived Eric, while Sarah watched and murmured about a “Goddess’s Kiss.”

• Li Ang heard a mysterious warning, then an unseen archer shot Eric through the chest with a silver arrow.
• Li Ang chased the camouflaged assassin into the woods, but the attacker escaped before Kloze reached him.
• Li Ang identified the arrow as a Noldo Elf weapon and ordered the caravan to camp and prepare for another attack.
• Ansen treated Eric, but when he believed Eric was dead, Li Ang found a faint pulse and began artificial respiration.
• Eric resumed breathing, Ansen’s skill improved, and Sarah murmured about the “Goddess’s Kiss.”

Li Ang and his men captured an assassin who attacked their camp at night, using prepared traps to stop him. The Noldo Elf was left injured and humiliated, and Li Ang began questioning him about who had sent him.

• Li Ang kept watch at the camp and used Alice and a fake silhouette in his tent as part of a trap.
• When an archer attacked, Li Ang dodged the shot and pursued him toward the woods.
• The assassin fell into a concealed pit and was hauled up in a canvas sack by Kloze and the other men.
• Li Ang’s men beat the captive before lowering him and unwrapping the bundle, revealing a handsome Noldo Elf with a bleeding injury.
• Li Ang asked who had sent the assassin and threatened to have Kloze stab him again if he refused to answer.

Li Ang questioned the Noldo Elf Risadiran, who offered a Dragon Tear and promised to serve him as compensation for killing a subordinate. Risadiran used the supposed treasure to poison the camp and escape, leaving Li Ang mildly poisoned and Alice eager to pursue him.

• Li Ang threatened to cripple Risadiran and sell him, prompting the elf to admit he had taken a job from the Crimson Brotherhood but did not know the employer.
• Risadiran gave his name and offered the contents of his waterskin, claiming the glowing stone inside was a Dragon Tear and offering to serve Li Ang in repayment for his victim’s life.
• Alice reacted to the stone, and Li Ang recognized that it was poisonous just as the burly men collapsed and Risadiran broke free.
• Risadiran threw a small knife at Ansen and fled into the woods, but Li Ang blocked the attack and could not catch him before he disappeared.
• Ansen returned the stone to the sealed waterskin, and Alice tugged at her reins and pawed the ground as if asking to be released.

Li Ang and his companions recovered from the Snake Heart Stone’s effects with Alice’s help, and Ansen explained the stone’s connection to the Snake Worship Cult. Li Ang kept the stone and investigated who had hired Risadiran, leaving the camp determined to improve his defenses and capture the assassin.

• Alice found pungent crosswort, and Li Ang and Ansen used it to wake Kloze and the others from their unconsciousness.
• Ansen identified the stone as Snake Heart Stone and explained that it could induce sleep, while crosswort could counter its effects.
• Li Ang learned that Snake Heart Stones were often found at Snake Worship Cult altars and wrapped the stone carefully for storage.
• Kloze showed Li Ang the arrow hole in his heavy armor, and Li Ang reasoned that Risadiran’s employer likely knew his route and appearance.
• Li Ang considered his mysterious warning and possible enemies, then resolved to strengthen his defenses and capture Risadiran before settling beside Alice.