Chapter Summaries

Li Ang pieced together the Three Prophets’ long campaign to establish Erebus’s Divine Kingdom and their separate ambitions from the Dusk Knight Order. He decided to exploit the factions’ rivalry and began considering the identity of the Dusk Knight Order’s hidden commander.

• Li Ang reasoned that the Three Prophets had spent decades spreading Erebus’s faith, first by manipulating the Mad King and later by building the Prophet Legion and gaining the loyalty of minor nobles.
• Li Ang concluded that the Three Prophets had used Dragon Tear to make King Ulrich dependent on their medicine and planned to place a fabricated heir on the throne through a queen they controlled.
• Li Ang inferred that the Dusk Knight Order wanted to capture him and use his army and territories for its own gain, rather than hand him over to the Three Prophets.
• Li Ang decided to exploit the Dusk Knight Order’s private ambitions to sow distrust between it and the Three Prophets.
• Li Ang considered whether the Dusk Knight Order’s unknown Grand Commander was a young noble whose acting skills had impressed him.

Li Ang arranged for Brigi and Emil Xixis to establish a new Divine Kingdom in Toba City, using the plan to stir conflict between the Dusk Knight Order and the Three Prophets while securing his withdrawal and rewarding Ryman. The chapter ended with Malbert learning that Alistair had become lord of Toba City and struggling to explain the supposed Divine Kingdom to the Three Prophets, while the pregnant queen’s ally confronted him.

• Li Ang suspected Malbert was connected to the Dusk Knight Order and arranged for Brigi to meet Emil Xixis so they could establish a Divine Kingdom in Toba City.
• Li Ang told Ryman he would withdraw from Toba City, give Kadan’s captured relatives to him as a gift for King Ulrich, and report that Brigi and the Dusk Knight Order had founded the fictional Desert Twilight.
• Li Ang sent Eric to dress Alistair as Toba City’s new lord, while Ryman returned to Lion City with Kadan’s relatives and earned a barony and command of the Royal City Guard.
• Malbert announced Ryman’s promotion and new duties to rebuild Seven Forks Fortress and restore the Royal City Guard, while King Ulrich stayed with his newly pregnant queen.
• A woman confronted Malbert at the Adventurer’s Inn over Desert Twilight and Alistair’s rule of Toba City, and Malbert admitted he had no explanation for the Three Prophets.

King Ulrich and Anna plotted against Malbert, who accepted a dangerous frontier appointment while conspiring with Brennus to use Amy against the royal heirs and draw Li Ang under his control. Meanwhile, Ramon began the lawful auction to choose a husband for Ruha and transfer Aishikeman, attracting powerful bidders from Dexia and the Bacchus Empire.

• Anna warned Ulrich that Malbert had looked at her strangely, and Ulrich appointed Malbert Lord of Sava Fortress to remove him from Lion City.
• Malbert told Brennus he feared being blamed if anything happened to Anna’s unborn child, and urged his father to leave Lion City and secure their position elsewhere.
• Malbert and Brennus discussed Alistair’s apparent betrayal and Li Ang’s capture of him, then Malbert asked Brennus to make the child in Anna’s womb and Prince Alanric die at Amy’s or Godric’s hands so Li Ang would serve him.
• Ramon opened the Lordship Auction in Xingar, presenting it as a lawful bidding contest to select a husband for Ruha, whose dowry was Aishikeman.
• Tahir attended on Kadan’s behalf, Hamid bid for his son, and Bacchus princes Gaius and Yunes and Alina also appeared among the auction’s distinguished guests.

Ramon’s auction offered Aishikeman’s rule, Ruha’s marriage, and the Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood’s recognition, drawing bids from powerful guests. The bidding turned into a confrontation when Ikram challenged Tahir over Xingar’s value and held a knife to his throat.

• Ramon presented Aishikeman’s seal and a scorpion-marked dagger as the final auction lot, with a starting bid of eight hundred thousand denars.
• Alina opened the bidding at eight hundred thousand denars, and other guests raised the price while some offered land and other assets.
• A guest in Private Room Five repeatedly asked how much Xingar was worth, provoking Tahir, who warned the speaker to stop.
• When Ramon declined to intervene, Tahir left Private Room Three and went to confront the guest in Private Room Five.
• Ikram seized Tahir and pressed a small knife to his throat, then asked him how much Xingar was worth.

Ikram disrupted Ramon's auction and tried to kill Tahir, but Ramon stopped him with a throwing knife and handed him over to Tahir. Li Ang secretly arrived in Xingar to sell the title of Bahad Khan and confronted Ikram backstage, explaining that Bahaman had made a calculated deal over Aishikeman and that Ramon was connected to the Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood.

• Ikram held Tahir at knifepoint and demanded that Ramon end the auction, but Ramon threw an assassin's knife into Ikram's left eye and his men subdued him.
• Ramon refused to take Ikram as a slave and arranged for Tahir to own him at a value of fifty thousand denars while the auction continued.
• Alina bid one million three hundred thousand denars, and Li Ang slipped backstage from Private Room Twenty-Eight without drawing attention.
• Li Ang explained that he had come to sell the title of Bahad Khan and described how the proceeds from Aishikeman's auction would benefit him, Ramon, and Bahaman.
• Li Ang confronted Ikram about their earlier conflict and challenged him to understand why Bahaman had offered Aishikeman as Ruha's dowry and entrusted its fate to Li Ang.
• Li Ang pointed out that Ikram had failed to recognize Ramon's connection to the Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood, which Tahir and Alina had already understood.

Li Ang redeemed Ikram from the auction and bound him to serve as a retainer through a debt contract. He promised Ikram rule over Aishikeman if he pledged loyalty to Alina, and Ikram agreed to follow his plan to protect Ruha.

• Li Ang explained that Bahaman had intended Ikram to inherit Aishikeman and warned that Ikram would be in danger after the auction.
• Ikram revealed that Gaius had made him an agent, and Li Ang said Ramon had monitored him since he entered Toba City.
• Li Ang bought Ikram for fifty thousand denars, then secured his fealty with a separate debt contract.
• Li Ang took Ikram to the hotel’s top floor and offered to make him governor of Aishikeman if he served the Bacchus Empire.
• Li Ang told Ikram that Alina would obtain Aishikeman and that Ikram should pledge loyalty to her to rule the city and protect Ruha.
• Ikram objected that he would not let Ruha become a sacrifice, and Li Ang urged him to follow the plan.

Li Ang deduced Emperor Marius’s plan behind the auction of Aishikeman, then celebrated the sale with Ramon and discovered Ramon’s Akarab lineage and connection to the Scorpion Assassins. The chapter ended with Li Ang confronting Emil Xixis and Brigi, who were unaware of his arrangements in Toba City.

• Li Ang reasoned that Gaius and Alina were acting on Emperor Marius’s behalf, using abandoned farmland to bid for Aishikeman and create a buffer against the Lionheart Kingdom.
• News spread through Xingar that Alina had won Aishikeman with a bid of two million denars, and the crowd gossiped about her prospective marriage to Miss Ruha.
• Ramon confirmed he had once been a Scorpion Assassin, and Li Ang guessed that he was the former Grand Commander who had faked his death.
• Ramon gave Li Ang an Akarab family token that could command the Scorpion Assassins to a limited extent, then explained that he had renounced his surname after killing someone he should not have.
• Risadiran overheard Emil Xixis and Brigi worrying that they could not obtain a base to oppose Kadan, while discussing how Ramon’s warning made kidnapping Alina dangerous.
• Li Ang learned that Emil Xixis and Brigi did not know about his arrangements in Toba City, then went with his bodyguards to knock on their door.

Li Ang negotiated a deal to give Emil Xixis Toba City in exchange for goods worth four million denars and promised to secure his recognition as Bahad Khan. He also helped Alina gain Ikram’s allegiance for the Bacchus Empire and arranged to take Ruha away from Dexia, leaving Alina with the horses Emil would provide.

• Li Ang brought Emil Xixis and Brigi to meet Alina, then proposed that Emil receive Toba City in return for goods worth at least two million denars and promised to make him a true Bahad Khan.
• Emil Xixis accepted Li Ang’s deal, agreeing to provide goods worth four million denars in exchange for Toba City and Li Ang’s help securing the title.
• Li Ang and Alina discussed the Bacchus Empire’s ambitions and Ruha’s future, and Li Ang suggested that Ikram swear allegiance to the empire and become lord of Aishikeman.
• Ikram swore allegiance to Alina and the Bacchus Empire, and Alina accepted him as a lord under Emperor Marius.
• Li Ang agreed to take Ruha to Long River Town so she could avoid political control, and promised Alina the horses he received from Emil Xixis.

Eric and Granlon uncovered Ailian as a sleeper agent of the Three Prophets and suspected that Forster might also have been compromised. Li Ang delivered Toba City to Emil Xixis, then demanded the remaining payment before discussing how to help him claim the Bahad Khan title.

• Eric dismissed Ailian and his cavalry from Toba City, but privately asked Granlon whether Ailian was connected to the Three Prophets.
• Granlon confirmed that Ailian was the supposedly dead Baron of Trublen, and Eric and Granlon suspected Forster might have been replaced or controlled.
• Eric sent Granlon to find Amy and report their discovery while he waited for Li Ang.
• Li Ang brought Emil Xixis and Brigi to Toba City, where they confirmed the city was intact and accepted its handover beneath the Dusk Knight Order's banner.
• Emil Xixis's Crescent Flag was raised over Toba City, and his rebel troops entered as Eric's sergeants withdrew.
• Li Ang demanded Emil Xixis pay the remaining one million denars before they proceeded with their next transaction.

Li Ang refused Emil Xixis’s request to keep his troops at Toba City, but offered to help him secure the title of Bahad Khan by turning the tribes and temple at Gazi Mountain against Kadan. After Emil raised the required payment through a night of brutal looting in Toba City, Li Ang prepared to march on Gazi Mountain and sent Eric to handle the spoils.

• Li Ang told Emil Xixis he could not keep his army outside Toba City, then proposed helping Emil become Bahad Khan by rescuing Gazi Mountain and winning the tribes’ support.
• Emil agreed to Li Ang’s plan and promised to deliver two million denars the next morning.
• Emil’s soldiers spent the night looting Toba City, killing resisters and stripping residents of valuables and supplies.
• Emil brought carriages full of valuables to Li Ang’s camp and agreed to go to Gazi Mountain, while Li Ang said his troops had already departed.
• Li Ang ordered Eric to sort and distribute the spoils, including arranging for a convoy to be robbed near Sava Fortress, then sounded the horn to prepare his troops to march.

Li Ang’s forces arrived at Gazi Mountain as Sarah and Sigismund staged a supposed divine miracle, making the Dexian herdsmen believe Goddess Eunomia had destroyed God Vata. The herdsmen lost their will to fight, leaving Li Ang free to seize their horses and end Agason’s siege.

• Agason worried that Bahad Khan Kadan’s army would arrive before Li Ang’s troops relieved him, while Sigismund and Sarah urged him to keep defending Gazi Mountain.
• Sarah proposed staging a miracle on the sacred mountain, where she had been born, to destroy the Dexian people’s faith in God Vata.
• Li Ang arrived with his army and saw Sarah, dressed as a goddess, appear above the burned temple beside a black horse with glowing red eyes.
• Sarah used an explosive blast to destroy the horse, and an avalanche followed as she remained apparently suspended above the snow.
• The Dexian herdsmen believed Eunomia had defeated Vata, abandoned their weapons, and began weeping as Li Ang ordered his men to advance and take the horses.
• Sigismund warmed the shivering Sarah with quilts and hot soup after the staged miracle.

Li Ang’s forces used a staged divine spectacle to break the Dexian people’s faith in Vata, scatter them, and seize their horses, while Emil Xixis became Bahad Khan and paid Li Ang for his support. As Li Ang warned that Dexia would grow more dangerous, Alina admitted she was afraid to return home.

• Sarah’s staged performance made it appear that Eunomia had defeated Vata, and Li Ang’s troops scattered the grieving Dexian crowd, taking their horses and capturing fleeing nobles and monks.
• Agason received nearly two thousand horses, thanked Li Ang for the successful operation, and departed for Aishikeman still worried about the debt he owed.
• Emil Xixis staged a charge that let him rescue the prisoners, then became Bahad Khan through a selection assembly and coronation beneath the Sacred Mountain.
• Emil brought Li Ang horses, wagons, and crates of goods as payment, and Li Ang warned him that Kadan’s army was marching on Toba City.
• Li Ang revealed that Ramon supplied information to the Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood, then told Alina she could keep the horses and urged her to return home as Dexia grew more dangerous.
• Alina refused to leave, admitting that she was afraid to go back.

Alina asked Li Ang to kidnap her to prevent her father from forcing her into a politically useful marriage with Malbert, and Li Ang used the plan to help provoke war between the Bacchus Empire and the Lionheart Kingdom. After his army returned to Lionheart territory, Li Ang counted the campaign’s substantial spoils and profits.

• Alina explained that Justus planned to accept Malbert’s marriage proposal and asked Li Ang to take her away so the alliance would fail.
• Alina deduced that Malbert had stolen Li Ang’s tribute convoy and that the marriage proposal was meant to shield Malbert from King Ulrich’s anger.
• Eric accused Malbert before Ulrich of robbing most of the tribute convoy, and Ulrich ordered Malbert to return to Lion City.
• In April 356, the Bacchus Empire declared war on the Lionheart Kingdom over Alina’s supposed kidnapping, while Li Ang reported that he had taken her in response to the seizure of Aishikeman.
• Li Ang’s army returned to Lionheart territory and disbanded, and Li Ang calculated his share of the auction proceeds, Emil Xixis’s goods, and more than 2,300 horses.

Li Ang used the profits from the Dexia campaign to stimulate arms sales and plan major infrastructure projects across his territories, hoping to attract permanent settlers and grow the population. Amy began a continent-wide purchasing campaign, but recruiting craftsmen proved difficult and drew the attention of people with ulterior motives.

• Li Ang distributed more than six hundred thousand denars in war profits to his soldiers and allied knights, encouraging them to invest in elite troops and equipment.
• Knights sent retainers to Long River Town to buy armor, clearing the merchants’ stocks and reviving workshops, smithies, and nearby suppliers.
• Li Ang summoned Amy to procure grain, cloth, construction materials, and craftsmen for rebuilding settlements, repairing roads, and expanding his territories.
• Li Ang planned infrastructure spending to create jobs and attract migrants because his lands had far more territory than population.
• Li Ang relied on the bank and enchanted Silver Deer and Golden Griffin coins to finance the projects while keeping reserves.
• Amy began the procurement campaign, but finding craftsmen proved troublesome, as did dealing with people who had ulterior motives.

Amy tried to buy and lease craftsmen for Li Ang’s construction projects, but a group of nobles from around Lion Lake City stole her deposits and fled. After her soldiers tracked them to nearby villages, Amy led four hundred female adventurers into the region to demand the promised craftsmen or collect the debt by force.

• The chapter explained that craftsmen were registered through contracts tied to local lords, making their skills and labor transferable or leasable.
• Li Ang lacked enough carpenters and masons for his construction projects, so Amy offered high prices to acquire craftsmen in Long River Town.
• Several nobles claiming to come from around Lion Lake City accepted deposits from Amy and promised to deliver craftsmen, then vanished the next day.
• Amy concealed the scam because Li Ang was away and she did not want Wendilf or Alina to learn of her embarrassment.
• The Griffin Claws tracked the swindlers to villages and towns in Lion Lake City's jurisdiction and confirmed that they were minor nobles with genuine craftsmen's contracts.
• Amy assembled most of her forces and led four hundred female adventurers into the region to collect the promised craftsmen or recover her debt.

Amy went to Talboa to collect the debt for 150 stonemasons and learned that the agreement had been used by Lyons, a fugitive working for Prince Alanric. She confronted Lyons at a tavern and ordered his arrest, while Baron Leovann watched with a strange smile.

• Amy arrived in Talboa with female soldiers and found that its stonemasons and quarry workers had been drawn into Lyons's transfer agreement.
• Baron Leovann told Amy that Lyons was not his subordinate and offered to take her to him.
• Leovann led Amy to the Vulpine Inn, where she recognized Lyons working behind the bar.
• Leovann revealed that Lyons was Prince Alanric's intelligence officer and that Alanric had appointed him Talboa's administrator before Leovann drove him away.
• Amy said that Alanric's rank did not matter and ordered everyone out of the tavern so her soldiers could tie up Lyons.

Amy was framed for Prince Alanric’s death as Fallen Ones massacred Vulpine Town, drawing Godric’s family into a wider crisis. After learning that Andrew’s village had also been destroyed and that Godric was accused of treason, Li Ang prepared to investigate Baron Leovann’s family.

• Amy killed Lyons after he hailed her as the Dark Goddess, but hidden worshippers summoned obedient Fallen Ones that killed Alanric and began slaughtering the tavern’s patrons.
• Lion Knights blocked Amy and her female knights from escaping Vulpine Town, and Amy ordered them to fight their way out.
• Godric ordered his forces to rescue Amy, while Philina rode to warn Andrew; she arrived at Crow's Perch Village and found its people massacred, Andrew missing, and most of his troops gone.
• Philina decided to seek Ulrich in Lion City, while Li Ang received Granlon’s report that Fallen Ones had devastated Vulpine Town and that Amy and Godric had been accused of heresy and treason.
• Li Ang asked where Baron Leovann’s family was so he could investigate the accusations.

Amy and Godric were trapped in Vulpine Town as rebels, while Li Ang realized the royal decree was designed to force him into a trap involving Malbert. After accepting the decree in public, Li Ang staged an assassination attempt and had Malbert seized.

• Amy found Baron Leofwan's slaughtered estate and was accused of massacring his family and summoning Fallen Ones when Leofwan arrived with the Lion Knight Order.
• Amy and the Griffin Claws fought the Lion Knight Order, then Amy and Godric became trapped in Vulpine Town after the Lion Lake City garrison arrived.
• Malbert delivered the King's decree ordering Li Ang to suppress Godric and Amy, leaving Li Ang unable to rescue them without appearing to endorse their charges or rebel against the King.
• Li Ang deduced that Malbert planned to frame him for killing the King and staged an attack in public, accepting the decree before collapsing with a bloodstained dagger planted in Malbert's hand.
• Risadiran backed Li Ang's accusation and ordered the guards to bind Malbert.

Li Ang responded to King Ulrich’s order against Amy by arranging to protect her and portray Malbert as a defector to the Bacchus Empire. The chapter revealed that Ulrich knew the accusations against Amy and Godric were false but intended to sacrifice them, and it ended with news of Malbert’s supposed betrayal driving him into another furious outburst.

• Li Ang and his subordinates concluded that Ulrich’s order was genuine, and Kloze questioned whether the king was acting out of grief for Prince Alanric.
• Li Ang sent Alina back to the Bacchus Empire with Malbert, planning to present him as a defector and thereby spare Alina from marrying him.
• Li Ang ordered Sarah to muddy the waters, Risadiran to infiltrate Lion City, Kloze to protect Amy in Vulpine Town, and his other forces to prepare for war.
• Montwo informed Ulrich that Prince Alanric had been murdered, and Ulrich attacked the garden before confessing to the queen that Alanric was his half-brother and that he knew Amy and Godric were being framed.
• Days later, Montwo reported that Malbert had betrayed the kingdom, and Ulrich flew into another rage, attacking the garden and killing a maid.

Ulrich explained to Philina why he had branded her family heretics and ordered her confined, while the kingdom faced threats on several fronts. As Li Ang’s forces advanced toward Vulpine Town, Kloze’s attack on a formation of Fallen Ones ended in a crushing setback.

• Ulrich admitted he knew Andrew and Amy had been framed but said he feared the nobles and Lion Knight Order would turn against him and his unborn child.
• Philina condemned Ulrich for the slaughter of Crow's Perch Village and walked to the Noble Council's tower, telling him his loneliness was self-inflicted.
• Sarah reported threats from the Bacchus Empire, the Gatu people, and the Raven Kingdom, and Ulrich evaded her questions by ordering Li Ang to decide military matters himself.
• Li Ang’s troops split into several groups, and Kloze led the Silver Hand and Free Legion toward Vulpine Town.
• Kloze found about three hundred disciplined Fallen Ones blocking his route and ordered his larger force to surround them.
• The Fallen Ones repelled Kloze’s first assault, inflicting a crushing setback on the Silver Hand.