Chapter Summaries

Viscount Autumn explained that his family’s secret magic crystal mine had brought a curse that shortened their lives and weakened their numbers, prompting the nobles to investigate. Hudson led a heavily guarded expedition into the abandoned mine and found that its crystals seemed unnaturally infused with energy, leaving the source of the curse unresolved.

• Viscount Autumn said his ancestors had discovered the mine three hundred years earlier, but his family had suffered shortened lifespans and stopped mining it over a decade ago.
• Governor Pierce questioned how the curse worked, and Viscount Autumn said mining caused the affliction while miasma made Blood Moon County City unhealthy.
• Governor Pierce stayed behind to oversee cleanup, while Hudson gathered the province’s experts and led Viscount Autumn toward the mine.
• Viscount Autumn revealed a hidden passage beneath a rockery, and the group explored the long-abandoned tunnels.
• Sorcerer Yuri found no sign of evil power, but Hudson noticed that the crystals’ energy fluctuations suggested they had been artificially infused.
• Hudson ordered the experts to split up and investigate carefully to avoid causing a collapse.

Hudson and his companions discovered that the curse affecting Viscount Autumn's family came from a weakened, sealed evil presence beneath their Magic Crystal Stone mine. At a meeting in Blood Moon County, Hudson persuaded the nobles to secretly mine the valuable deposit despite the Kingdom's laws, and they began discussing investment and how to divide the spoils.

• Beldens sensed an evil aura sealed beneath the mine and explained that it had slowly shortened the lives of Viscount Autumn's family, while Hudson learned it could not cast curses directly.
• Hudson and the other nobles gathered outside Blood Moon County to debate the mine, which could yield up to a million Magic Crystal Stones each year.
• Governor Pierce warned that Kingdom law required the mine's nationalization, while Hudson proposed concealing it and mining it secretly.
• Viscount Autumn offered a plan to use closed management and slave labor to hide the operation, persuading the nobles that the mine's output was vital for future magical beast cavalry.
• Hudson urged the nobles to stand together and blame the Blood Moon Cult if the secret emerged, then moved the discussion to mining investments and the division of Magic Crystal Stones.

The Alpha Kingdom’s investigation into a concealed magic crystal mine stalled after the Southeast Province declared the case closed, while Hudson returned home with captured magical beasts and concerns about Maxim’s growth and the province’s corruption. News then reached Hudson that the Human Alliance Council had declared war on the Alien Race Alliance, and the Continental War had fully erupted.

• Caesar IV grew furious when the Southeast Province denied the existence of the magic crystal mine, while Grand Duke Afiello urged patience and a careful investigation.
• The Southeast Province blamed the Skull Society and the Black Forest Kingdom for the crisis, and Hudson weighed the risks of exposing the province’s nobles and the evil energy contaminating people.
• Hudson traveled home with 114 captured magical beasts, worried about Maxim’s frequent sleep and the delays in receiving news, and resolved to build a communication Magic Array.
• A soldier informed Hudson that the Human Alliance Council had declared war on the Alien Race Alliance, prompting him to wake Maxim and hurry toward his territory.

As the Continental War began, the Elf Queens debated how to protect their people and support their allies without exhausting the Elves in battle. In Mountain Territory, Hudson ordered rapid war preparations, food stockpiling, and a family-wide push to have children, while the Orc emperors resolved to reclaim the Beastfolk Great Plains.

• The three Elf Queens gathered and discussed humanity’s growing threat, the Elves’ limited capacity for war, and whether to support the Alien Race Alliance.
• The Elf Queens agreed to prepare for war, send magical equipment and secret arts to their allies, and wait for a better moment before directly attacking human forces.
• The Orc emperors argued over the alliance’s failures and the weakened Orc Empire, then agreed to reclaim the Beastfolk Great Plains before deciding whether to strike the Alpha Kingdom.
• Hudson gathered Mountain Territory’s senior officials and Coslo Family members and warned them that peaceful days were ending.
• Hudson ordered universal reserve training, faster development, expanded fishing and grain storage, and large-scale food purchases.
• Hudson directed the Coslo Family to prioritize marriage and childbirth as Mountain Territory prepared for the Continental War.

As the Continental War spread, Hudson urged the Alpha Kingdom to seek aid for its allies and delay the Elves by negotiating over Elven slavery. The kingdom agreed to send reinforcements to eleven nations, while George’s council in the Moxi Duchy confronted the danger of a combined Elven and Ancient Remnant advance.

• Melissa worried about Hudson going to war, and he reassured her that he was unlikely to be sent to the front soon.
• Caesar IV told the Alpha Kingdom’s ministers that eleven nations had urgently requested aid as the Northern Continent faced attacks from multiple races.
• Hudson proposed seeking help from the Human Alliance Council, mediating the Warhammer Kingdom’s civil war, and offering to end the trade in Elven slaves to delay the Elves.
• Duke Newfoundland pressed the nobles to give up their Elven slaves, and the kingdom decided to send one legion of reinforcements to each of the eleven nations.
• At a military conference, Moxi Duchy officials warned George that the Warhammer Kingdom and nearby duchies might fall quickly and that the Moxi Duchy could be next.
• Chancellor Herczeg urged George to await the Alpha Kingdom’s decision and warned that Beastfolk attacks could distract it from helping the Moxi Duchy.

Hudson explained to Duke Newfoundland why the Alpha Kingdom should prepare to trade territory for time against the Elves and Ancient Remnants while focusing on the Beastfolk. As the Northern Continent’s nations began expanding their armies, Oden XIX ordered the Duchy of Orton to seek military training help from the Alpha Kingdom and its neighbors.

• Hudson organized local reserve legions across Laite County and discussed the difficulties of gathering the Coslo Family forces once war began.
• Duke Newfoundland questioned Hudson’s pessimistic military proposal, and Hudson argued that the kingdom should disrupt enemy supply lines and avoid direct battles with the Elves and Ancient Remnants.
• Duke Newfoundland accepted Hudson’s reasoning and said the kingdom would prepare for the worst, including relying on Hudson if the Orc Empire became a threat.
• The Moxi Duchy copied the Alpha Kingdom’s mobilization system and reinforced its border defenses.
• Oden XIX berated the Duchy of Orton’s officials over their disorderly reserve training and ordered them to seek instructors and advice from the Alpha Kingdom and neighboring countries.

Hudson returned to Mountain Territory and accelerated plans to build a magical beast legion, researching contract scrolls and considering ways to raise and capture more beasts. He agreed to take Melissa to seek advice from Great Sorcerers, while the chapter ended with Joseph II facing representatives of Warhammer Kingdom’s divided noble factions at the negotiating table.

• Hudson learned that ordinary people had little chance of contracting magical beasts, so he ordered his subordinates to challenge the low-ranking beasts and planned for Beldens to negotiate with the eight mid-ranking ones.
• Hudson returned to his laboratory to research magical beast contract scrolls and considered capturing and rapidly raising more beasts for the legion.
• Hudson let Melissa take over his failed contract experiment, and she accidentally set a beast hide on fire before asking to accompany him to the Arcane Academy.
• Hudson teased Melissa about never meeting a Great Sorcerer at the Magic Academy, then agreed to take her to seek their guidance.
• Joseph II sat as representatives of Warhammer Kingdom’s eastern and western noble factions finally began negotiations, with the kingdom close to division.

The Warhammer Kingdom’s eastern and western factions agreed to split the kingdom and install its two princes as separate kings after rejecting Joseph II. Hudson welcomed the division as a chance for the factions to fight more effectively against the Ancient Remnants, then planned a beast arena in Dadir City to attract knights and profit from challenges.

• Count Renato and Count Gustavo urged Marshal Borg and Chancellor Gaiyin to unite against the foreign races, but both factions insisted on splitting the kingdom and disputed which side would keep Joseph II.
• Marshal Borg and Chancellor Gaiyin agreed to divide the royal lands and let the eldest prince and second prince rule separate kingdoms, prompting Joseph II to faint before priests revived him.
• News spread that the Warhammer Kingdom had become the East Warhammer Kingdom and West Warhammer Kingdom, and Hudson judged the split could reduce infighting against the Ancient Remnants.
• Hudson asked Jose about beast arenas, and Jose explained that ticket sales alone would barely cover costs while wagers and other services generated most of the profit.
• Hudson decided to establish the beast arena in Dadir City, charge knights fifty gold coins to challenge magical beasts, and give any beast they subdued to them.
• Hudson told Jose to choose someone to run the arena and said he would address any objections from the territory’s knights.

Caesar IV approved sending Alpha Kingdom officers to help the Northern Continent’s nations train their armies, while ordering Hudson to report to the Royal Capital to oversee military integration. In the Mountain Territory, Hudson inspected his developing Magical Beast Legion and encouraged its knights as they prepared for the Continental War.

• Caesar IV and Grand Duke Newfoundland agreed that the Alpha Kingdom should help the Northern Continent’s nations train their armies and build influence among them.
• Duke Affierro warned that noble resistance and the threat of war would limit military reforms, but said the kingdom could supply officers without seriously weakening its forces.
• Caesar IV approved Affierro’s plan and ordered someone to urge Count Hudson to report to the Royal Capital.
• Hudson inspected his Magical Beast Legion and learned from Knight Adrian how the knights were training to coordinate their varied mounts and attacks.
• Hudson urged the young Magical Beast Knights to keep training for the racial battlefield, raising their spirits with promises of a future earned through service.

Hudson accepted the burden of the repayment tax while secretly planning how to protect the Coslo Family’s position, and Count Pierce plotted to exploit the resulting financial pressure. Hudson then negotiated with Crown Prince Caesar to buy Berkshire Shipyard, leaving the payment terms to be settled in goods.

• Hudson reflected that Count Pierce’s intervention had helped him politically, then went to meet Crown Prince Caesar at the prince’s request.
• Count Pierce worried about the repayment tax’s burden on the Southeast Province and ordered Gadley to watch the Coslo Family for evidence of concealed war spoils.
• Gadley reported that Hudson had substantial war spoils and proposed targeting the Coslo Family’s lesser-noble relatives with financial traps.
• Hudson complained to Crown Prince Caesar about his losses and asked the royal family to sell him experienced shipyard craftsmen.
• Crown Prince Caesar offered Berkshire Shipyard, including its workers, sailors, and their families, for eight hundred thousand gold coins.
• Hudson agreed to the price but asked to pay with goods, and Crown Prince Caesar said the royal family would accept needed items in kind.

Hudson discovered a large pirate fleet on the southeast coast and secretly arranged for the Dalton Family to engage it. The clash exposed the Church’s hidden involvement and its mission to reach Poison Dragon Island, while Barbarian Beard began considering how to escape his role as their disposable pawn.

• Hudson spotted a skull-flagged fleet near the fisheries and ordered Maxim to mark the ships discreetly.
• Hudson recorded the fleet’s movements, charmed an officer at Hansen Port into attacking it, and left him to call for reinforcements.
• Hudson refused the Royal Capital’s repeated summons, saying he would go once his territorial work was finished.
• The officer’s warship opened fire on Barbarian Beard’s fleet, prompting the pirates to counterattack and send a distress signal.
• An old Church agent rebuked Barbarian Beard and insisted that the fleet continue its mission to Poison Dragon Island.
• Barbarian Beard resented being treated as expendable and considered stealing the Church’s gains before abandoning the Pirate Group.

Count Pierce ordered a search for the mysterious pirates and sent Viscount Cayou to seek Count Hudson’s help, while explaining the political value of befriending the powerful Dragon Knight. In the besieged Omega Duchy, Baird I faced dwindling food and delayed reinforcements, then ordered renewed diplomatic appeals as he prepared for a possible breakout.

• Count Pierce ordered naval forces and Griffon Cavalry to search for the pirate fleet, then decided Viscount Cayou should personally ask Count Hudson for help.
• Count Pierce explained to Cayou that the Dalton Family needed to cultivate Hudson’s goodwill and share the risk if a major power backed the pirates.
• Baird I inspected the Royal Capital’s defenses and asked when reinforcements would arrive as ministers reported the slow response and the city’s limited food reserves.
• Minister Yeferson condemned the Alpha Kingdom’s delay, while Chancellor Cameron argued that its money, supplies, and competing threats limited its ability to intervene.
• Foreign Minister Batori said the Human Alliance Council had approved an orderly withdrawal in theory, but Baird I’s ministers agreed they had to keep defending the city for now.
• Baird I ordered the Foreign Affairs Department to press the Alpha Kingdom and the Seven Grassland Nations for aid, then left as he feared losing his throne.

Pope Pius VII weighed how to aid the threatened Seven Grassland Nations as the Human Alliance hesitated, while Northern Continent nations looked to Alpha Kingdom for leadership. Hudson stayed out of the kingdom’s decision and agreed to help Viscount Cayou investigate pirates he had secretly orchestrated, leaving their campaign near Poison Dragon Island unresolved.

• Pope Pius VII approved sending fifty thousand reinforcements to the Bright Kingdom and shipping supplies while the Church considered how to defend its port and stronghold.
• Nations across the continent debated aid, and neighboring Northern Continent states turned to Alpha Kingdom after the Human Alliance failed to act decisively.
• Hudson received firsthand news of the crisis but avoided taking responsibility for changing the kingdom’s earlier policy.
• Viscount Cayou asked Hudson to help find pirates who had fought the Dalton Family navy near the southeastern coast.
• Hudson recognized that Cayou’s appeal was a bid to build ties with him and agreed to assist, while keeping his role in creating the pirate incident secret.

Hudson joined Cayou and the Dalton fleet to search for pirates near the Misty Sea, where the pirates and Church party were already hunting for Poison Dragon Island. As the fleet waited outside the fog, three Ghost Ships appeared, and Hudson was asked to destroy them.

• Hudson flew with Cayou to Hansen Port, where Cayou ordered Uncle Byron to set the Dalton fleet sailing.
• Barbarian Beard guided Yelachich, Bishop Josip, and the Church party through the Misty Sea in search of Poison Dragon Island, while secretly hoping the Dalton fleet would arrive.
• Hudson’s group stopped outside the Misty Sea as Byron explained the dangers of the waters and the uncertainty of the pirates’ destination.
• Three Ghost Ships emerged and sailed toward the fleet, prompting Byron to order the warships to prepare their Magic Crystal Cannons.
• Byron asked Hudson to destroy the Ghost Ships, and Hudson calmly agreed to look for an opportunity to act.

Hudson’s fleet fought three powerful Ghost Ships, whose Ghost Kings raised their strength to the ninth tier beneath a curtain of black mist. Maxim’s Forbidden Spell shattered the mist and drove the Ghost Ships to flee, leaving Hudson’s fleet to count its losses.

• Hudson recognized that the Ghost Ships carried an eighth-tier Ghost King each and fought them alongside Maxim and Beldens.
• Hudson and his companions considered enslaving the ghosts and capturing the Ghost Ships, while the fleet below struggled against the drifting attackers.
• The Ghost Kings unleashed Nether Sky Curtain, which raised their strength to the ninth tier and enveloped the fleet in black mist.
• Byron ordered the fleet to fire blindly and hoped Hudson could defeat the Ghost Kings.
• Maxim cast Doomsday Judgment, destroyed the black mist, and forced the Ghost Kings to retreat aboard their ships.
• Hudson chose not to pursue, and Byron ordered the fleet to count casualties and losses.

Yelachich and Bishop Josip worried that Hudson might be near as they pursued the Church’s lost divine artifacts, while Hudson enslaved captured ghosts and learned they could locate the Ghost Ship. A storm scattered the fleets and carried Barbarian Beard’s pirates to Poison Dragon Island, forcing him to order a landing despite fearing the Church would kill them.

• Yelachich and Bishop Josip suspected Hudson might be involved in the powerful fire magic and resolved to recover the Holy Sword of Light and the Scepter of Glory while avoiding him.
• Barbarian Beard overheard the Church agents discuss their secret mission and realized they intended to eliminate anyone who learned about the divine artifacts.
• Hudson compelled captured ghosts to sign soul contracts, then learned they could sense the Ghost Ship’s location but knew little about its origins.
• Hudson considered having Beldens and Maxim control the Ghost Ship, but a violent sea storm struck and scattered the fleet, overturning two warships.
• Hudson chose to continue toward Poison Dragon Island, while Barbarian Beard’s fleet was swept toward it and he ordered his pirates to land.

Hudson’s fleet pursued the pirates to Poison Dragon Island, where the Church party uncovered two divine artifacts amid deadly tomb guardians. As the Church turned on its pirate guides, Hudson and Beldens struck, seized artifacts, and forced the survivors to flee under attack.

• Hudson learned the pirate fleet had run aground on Poison Dragon Island and ordered the army to wait while the pirates explored the dangerous island.
• Bishop Josip’s party drove the pirates through poisonous terrain until they found an ancient palace guarded by deadly serpent spirit guards and other tomb defenses.
• The Church party discovered two divine artifacts, then Yelachich ordered the pirates slaughtered to eliminate witnesses.
• Hudson arrived during the massacre, and Young Bear grabbed the Holy Sword of Light while Hudson seized and concealed the other divine artifact.
• The Church forces attacked Hudson, but he and Beldens evaded them and ambushed their mages as the fleet’s cannons destroyed the pirates’ ships.
• After Bishop Josip was killed, Yelachich took command and led the Church survivors toward a remaining warship while Hudson and the others continued attacking.

Hudson and Beldens hunted down the Church party on Poison Dragon Island, and Hudson recovered the Scepter of Glory and kept the Holy Sword of Light. He planned to send the scepter to the Royal Capital, while the surviving pirates and the Dalton Family fleet prepared to leave as the mist returned.

• Yelachich ordered the Church party to scatter after repeated ambushes, and Beldens hunted down the fleeing members.
• Hudson recovered the Scepter of Glory from the white-haired elder and decided to conceal that he also possessed the Holy Sword of Light.
• Hudson questioned Barbarian Beard, learned that the Church had searched Poison Dragon Island for a divine artifact, and ordered Byron to destroy every vessel on the island.
• Hudson offered the Scepter of Glory to Viscount Cayou, who returned it and refused to involve the Dalton Family in its fate.
• Viscount Cayou accepted half the pirate captives for the Dalton Family, while Hudson resolved to send the scepter to the Royal Capital.
• As the mist thickened, the fleet began its return voyage and Hudson departed ahead of it on Maxim.

The Alpha Kingdom debated what to do with the Scepter of Glory as Caesar IV weighed the risk of confronting the Church, while Hudson avoided taking sides and was pressed to assume military command. The Omega Duchy’s leaders began their planned breakout as the Beastfolk breached the capital’s walls.

• Archbishop Tyron urged Caesar IV to use the Scepter of Glory to establish an independent Church, while Prime Minister Grand Duke Newfoundland advised delaying any decision until after the Continental War.
• Hudson told Caesar IV that the artifact’s capture could not be kept secret, but declined to advise the royal family on what to do with it.
• Count Pierce learned from Kayor that Hudson had obtained the Scepter of Glory and concluded that the Dalton Family should avoid provoking him.
• Baird I ordered the Omega Duchy’s leaders to hold the capital until nightfall, then commanded a breakout after the Beastfolk brought down the city wall.
• Hudson submitted his resignation to Caesar IV, but Duke Affierro stopped him and said the king’s formal appointment order was being prepared.

Pope Pius VII’s court debated how to find the missing divine-artifact expedition, while Hudson assessed Alpha Kingdom’s war preparations and ordered the kingdom to raise strategic supplies. The chapter ended with the kingdom facing a severe shortage of provisions and little time to prepare for war.

• Ulise reported that Cardinal Josip, Holy Knight Yelachich, and their expedition had disappeared after entering the Misty Sea, and Blake and Gure debated how to locate them and negotiate with the Alpha Kingdom.
• Hudson reviewed the kingdom’s depleted reserves and the worsening Continental War, while Duke Affierro and Grand Duke Newfoundland discussed the threats posed by the Beastfolk, Elves, and other alien races.
• Hudson told Duke Newfoundland to gather strategic supplies before spring, including hundreds of thousands of tons of dried fish to supplement the kingdom’s grain.
• Hudson rejected Newfoundland’s objections and ordered coastal nobles to meet fishing quotas, offering to make their serf soldiers the last recruitment targets in return.