Chapter Summaries

Li Ang hired Lesley to serve as his party’s temporary quartermaster and discovered that appointing Kloze as Assault Captain changed his men’s roles in the party roster. After Ralph delivered the requested equipment and carpenters, Li Ang set out for Fletcher Village to suppress bandits.

• At Long River Town’s market, Li Ang found Kloze and the Meitengheim mercenaries drunk on Coconut Wine and met caravan leader Lesley.
• Lesley offered to manage Li Ang’s supplies, provisions, transport, and spoils for a commission, and Li Ang accepted.
• Li Ang appointed Kloze Assault Captain, and the party roster updated to list Kloze as well as the Meitengheim Infantry.
• Lesley charged Li Ang 300 denars for supplies, leaving him with enough money for about twenty days.
• Ralph delivered the bows, crossbows, construction materials, and twenty temporarily loaned carpenters.
• At dawn on the third day, Li Ang and his party departed for Fletcher Village at the kingdom’s border.

Li Ang investigated Fletcher Village after hearing reports of Gatu raiders, but the villagers claimed they knew nothing. When Sarah recognized the riverside camp as belonging to the Crimson Brotherhood, Li Ang launched an immediate attack and spotted a familiar noble trying to escape.

• Li Ang and Sarah found Fletcher Village strangely quiet, and the village chief and militia captain denied seeing Gatu people or receiving a warning from Long River Town.
• Li Ang led his mercenaries toward the camp across the river after deciding to question its occupants himself.
• Sarah recognized the camp's men as members of the Crimson Brotherhood, prompting Li Ang to attack without warning.
• Kloze led the charge squad into the camp while Li Ang's crossbowmen fired on its lightly armored fighters.
• Li Ang rode after fleeing enemies and spotted the familiar pretty boy mounting a horse to escape.

Li Ang pursued and captured Juan, a rogue knight working for Foucher’s Crimson Brotherhood, hoping to learn why the gang had hunted Lyon Griffin. After Juan endured two blows to his fingers before realizing Li Ang wanted answers, the chapter ended with Li Ang preparing to question him properly.

• Sarah identified Juan as a trusted subordinate of Foucher, who sponsored Lion City’s Crimson Brotherhood and handled Duke Alma’s unsavory business.
• Li Ang rode after Juan to capture him and question him about the Crimson Brotherhood’s pursuit of Lyon Griffin.
• Juan fled up the nearby hills, but Sarah caught up and threw knives that knocked him from his horse.
• Li Ang confronted Juan and demanded answers, but Juan threatened him and Sarah instead.
• Li Ang crushed two of Juan’s fingers with his hammer, and Juan finally begged him to ask a question.

Li Ang questioned Juan about the camp, Foucher, and the bounty on black-haired, black-eyed foreigners, then learned the bounty might be tied to Madigan’s Prophecy and the Bloody Plague. The chapter ended with Li Ang considering the prophecy’s history and the many notorious frauds who had claimed to be its foretold hero.

• Li Ang forced Juan to explain that Foucher owned the camp, that Juan had only recently taken charge, and that Foucher sought control of Count Oden’s territory with help from the Gatu people.
• Juan said one of Foucher’s men had been the militia patrol captain in Fletcher Village, explaining how Foucher’s group operated there without the village chief’s knowledge.
• Juan revealed that the Crimson Brotherhood had maintained a two-thousand-denar bounty for nearly a year on a foreigner with black hair and black eyes, though he did not know who had ordered it.
• Juan claimed the bounty might relate to Madigan’s Prophecy and the Bloody Plague, while explaining that Foucher sponsored the Brotherhood but was not a member.
• Li Ang recalled Madigan’s prophecy and the disgraced or mysteriously killed claimants who had presented themselves as its foretold hero.

Li Ang learned that the bounty on him might be tied to the Old Pendor royal family, the Child of Prophecy, and the Red Death, leaving him facing a dangerous pursuit rooted in superstition. After Sarah killed Juan, Li Ang realized that selling him to a Crimson Brotherhood slave trader would have exposed them to danger, and Sarah questioned his plan to leave the camp.

• Juan explained that the bounty might target descendants of the Old Pendor royal family, whose black-haired, black-eyed members were rumored to be immune to the Red Death.
• Li Ang considered how the prophecy and disease might explain why his body was being hunted, and worried that the resulting beliefs could not be easily changed.
• Sarah killed Juan, explaining that he had abused girls and that the Crimson Brotherhood would show Li Ang no mercy.
• Li Ang complained that Sarah had wasted a valuable captive, then realized that Crimson Brotherhood slave traders would not safely buy one of their own leaders.
• Sarah challenged Li Ang's claim that he had planned brilliant schemes and asked whether he intended to face Grand Duke Alma or challenge the Jatu army.

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.