Chapter Summaries

Hudson withdrew the Expeditionary Corps from the Orc Empire rather than risk a costly decisive battle, then arranged rest and honorable retirement for its exhausted and wounded soldiers. As the Central Continent crisis worsened, Charles III’s advisers debated the Church’s failures and the Alien Race Alliance’s long-term weaknesses, leaving the kingdom to prepare for an uncertain continental order.

• Hudson rejected Kane’s proposed chance to engage the Beastfolk and ordered the Expeditionary Corps to break through enemy weak points and return to the kingdom.
• The Five Great Emperors argued over the failed plan to trap Hudson’s army, and the Bearman Emperor demanded either a major assault or a retreat.
• Hudson welcomed the returning troops, postponed their victory banquet, and ordered wine and meat distributed so they could recover.
• Hudson learned that four thousand soldiers had died and two thousand more could no longer serve, then chose to speak with them and arrange their retirement and resettlement.
• Charles III blamed the Church for allowing the Dwarf Kingdom to split its forces, while Marquis Hesius warned that the Central Continent kingdoms might compromise with the Alien Race Alliance.
• Duke Bergson argued that the Church and the Alien Race Alliance would face growing trouble after the war, and that the Frankish Kingdom could benefit from the changed continental balance.

The Church faced public condemnation after the Dwarf Kingdom’s surprise invasion of the Central Continent, and Pope Pius VII ordered Gurei to make amends while repairing relations with the threatened nations. In the Northern Continent, the Orc emperors debated withdrawing from their stalled war against the Alpha Kingdom, with the Wolf Emperor arguing that the empire should end the costly campaign.

• Pope Pius VII confronted Gurei over failing to detect the Dwarf Kingdom’s second-line legions and blamed him for the crisis in the Central Continent.
• Blake urged the Church to stabilize the Central Continent and repair relations with its nations before the Elves pursued peace negotiations.
• Pope Pius VII ordered Gurei to achieve a breakthrough against the Dwarf Kingdom and instructed Bishop Solon to offer compensation and promises to the Central Continent’s nations.
• Hudson kept the expeditionary army in its position, while Behemoth Emperor Alex comforted Daniel over his losses in the grassland campaign.
• The Silver Moon Wolf Emperor proposed withdrawing from the war against the Alpha Kingdom, and the Lion Emperor supported ending the campaign to restore the Orc Empire.
• The Bearman Emperor objected that withdrawing would abandon the Alien Race Alliance, but the Wolf Emperor argued that the Orc Empire should not keep sacrificing itself for allies that offered it no support.

Hudson learned that the Orc Empire wanted ceasefire talks and referred the decision to Caesar IV, who weighed the kingdom’s military, diplomatic, and political interests before authorizing secret contact. Meanwhile, representatives of the Three Central Continent Kingdoms and the Alien Race Alliance returned to negotiations, with the kingdoms’ delegates shaken by recent battlefield setbacks.

• Hudson received confirmation that the Orc Empire had sent envoys seeking ceasefire negotiations, then sent the news to the capital and told the delegation to wait in its own camp.
• Caesar IV and his advisers debated whether the Alpha Kingdom should negotiate independently, weighing the Human Alliance, territorial demands, and the kingdom’s political interests.
• Count Francis argued that other Central Continent kingdoms were already negotiating secretly with the Alien Race Alliance and that the kingdom should first seek the return of its lost lands.
• Caesar IV ordered a secret meeting with the beastfolk representatives, while leaving open the option of continuing the war if talks failed.
• The Three Central Continent Kingdoms and the Alien Race Alliance resumed negotiations, and Delis welcomed the delegates as they took their seats.

Delis pushed the Three Central Continent Kingdoms to accept a binding peace contract, presenting the Elves’ support for continental peace as a shared strategic interest. As the representatives prepared to report the terms to their kingdoms, Hudson accepted the kingdom’s decision to negotiate and considered the West a better prospect than continuing the war against the Beastfolk.

• Marquis Krasna and Count Bruno proposed jointly administered buffer zones as the Three Central Continent Kingdoms faced mounting military losses.
• Delis offered to drop the kingdoms’ territorial cessions but demanded that their rulers, major nobles, and experts of the eighth rank and above sign a peace contract.
• Marquis Pierluigi and the other representatives recognized that the contract would bind their kingdoms to the peace faction, then requested time to consult their rulers.
• Delis allowed the representatives to report the terms while warning that the war would continue in the meantime.
• Hudson received word that the kingdom had begun negotiations and told the Royal Capital that he respected its decision.

The Northern nobles learned that secret negotiations with the beastfolk were underway and feared their declining military influence would leave them politically powerless. After rumors exposed the talks, Hudson agreed to contain unrest in the army while urging the delegation to finish quickly, suspecting its proposed land settlement would leave dangerous problems for future frontier lords.

• Duke Rodriguez, Duke Anhel, Duke Thorsten, and Duke Xilo discussed Hudson’s refusal to send troops and concluded that their faction’s influence had fallen as the Kingdom’s Standing Army grew stronger.
• Duke Anhel urged the Northern nobles to restore smuggling trade and avoid provoking Hudson, while Count Oran told Count Albert that a Royal Capital official’s arrival had coincided with the order halting attacks.
• Count Francis confronted Hudson after rumors exposed the negotiations, then shifted from demanding an explanation to asking him to prevent the army from disrupting the talks.
• Hudson promised to stabilize the army and pressed Count Francis to conclude negotiations quickly before the Human Alliance could interfere.
• Count Francis revealed that the talks had advanced to disputes over war compensation, and Hudson suspected the delegation was seeking land to redeem the Kingdom’s land bonds despite the dangers awaiting future settlers.

Hudson learned that the Central Continent kingdoms had ceased hostilities and weighed how the Human Alliance would respond. At the alliance council, the major powers refused to punish the three kingdoms, while the Warhammer Kingdom lost its Presidium seat.

• Hudson quelled the army’s calls for an offensive by showing that the kingdom’s supplies could barely meet its daily needs, while Marquis James became the target of impeachment from both factions.
• Hudson received news that the Central Continent had been at a ceasefire for half a month and summoned Count Francis to discuss the Human Alliance’s response.
• At the council in Lutetia, representatives condemned the absent Black Forest Kingdom, Dante Kingdom, and South Bank Kingdom for secretly agreeing to a ceasefire, while Duke Bergson ordered the meeting to proceed.
• Count Georgievich said the divided Warhammer Kingdom’s Presidium seat would abstain, and Count Derrick recognized that losing the seat would make restoring his country harder.
• Duke Bergson called a vote on punishing the three kingdoms, but the Frankish Kingdom, Illyria, the Alpha Kingdom, and the Church opposed it, while Ruthenia, Avarat, and Oprius supported it.

Hudson and the kingdom’s generals discussed the Human Alliance’s retreat from the war and the threats facing the kingdom, while Count Francis reported the Beastfolk’s withdrawal from the Northern Frontier. As the kingdom prepared to claim and rebuild the evacuated borderlands, Duke Daniel left the region reflecting on the Orc Empire’s mounting internal troubles.

• Hudson convened senior generals and Count Francis to discuss the Human Alliance’s refusal to sanction the Central Continent kingdoms or resume fighting the Alien Race Alliance.
• Count Francis said the alliance would downplay the destruction of thirty-one human nations and leave the kingdom to face Northern Continent unrest largely on its own.
• Hudson urged the kingdom to end the war, rebuild, and prepare for a future Eastern Expedition before the Beastfolk recovered.
• Count Francis reported that the Beastfolk had agreed to return the kingdom’s territory and retreat five hundred li, ending the Northern Frontier war and opening the Near East Region to the kingdom.
• The generals accepted that the kingdom would need to reclaim the Near East Region to honor land bonds and reward service, despite uncertainty about holding it.
• Duke Daniel watched the Beastfolk army dismantle its camp as the Silver Moon Wolf Emperor encouraged him to endure the setback and wait while the empire’s domestic problems unfolded.

After the beastfolk withdrew, Hudson assessed the kingdom’s need to claim the Near East despite its dangers and discussed the region’s future with Count Oran. The army returned triumphantly to Canglan City, where Hudson avoided Caesar IV’s attempt to shape the victory’s public credit.

• The kingdom’s nobles avoided taking fiefs in the Near East, but Hudson concluded that the kingdom still had to claim the region to prove victory and reassure its people.
• Count Oran visited Hudson to seek support for the weakened Hollisir Family and the proposed Near East Defense Line.
• Hudson warned Count Oran that the defense plan lacked people, funding, and noble support, then refused to lead a Northern Frontier political or military bloc.
• Count Oran accepted Hudson’s refusal and said the Hollisir Family would distance itself from the five northern dukes rather than place Hudson in a difficult position.
• Caesar IV welcomed the returning army outside Canglan City, and Hudson ordered the soldiers to dismount and enter on foot.
• Caesar IV praised the victory and prompted Hudson to credit the king, but Hudson attributed the achievement to the soldiers, citizens, and court ministers.

Caesar IV’s council debated who would take responsibility for developing and defending the Near East, while Hudson avoided being named as its commander. Hudson and Caesar IV also secured the Kingdom’s neutrality in the Warhammer restoration dispute, and the chapter ended with lesser nobles seeking Hudson’s favor as they feared being sent east.

• Prime Minister Grand Duke Newfoundland promoted the Near East’s potential, but Marquis Joel and other nobles resisted taking on its costs and risks.
• Duke Rodriguez argued that the Kingdom needed to seize the Near East, while Governor Pierce implied that Hudson should command the frontier forces.
• Hudson stayed silent as the council turned to the international situation, and he urged the Kingdom not to support the East and West Warhammer Kingdoms’ restoration.
• Caesar IV backed Hudson’s position and ended the meeting by declaring that the Kingdom would remain neutral in the dispute with the Moxi Duchy.
• At the victory banquet, northern nobles courted Hudson while middle and lesser nobles worried that they would be assigned fiefs, labor, or military duties in the Near East.

Hudson negotiated with Caesar IV over compensation for helping secure the division of the Warhammer Kingdom, proposing a large fief and defenses in the Near East. The chapter ended with Caesar IV agreeing to the land and infrastructure plan but postponing Hudson’s proposal to establish a Near East Protectorate.

• Caesar IV and the queen met Hudson privately and confirmed that the royal family would honor his share of the Warhammer Kingdom’s gains.
• Hudson offered materials on countering the Elves and discussed the compensation the royal family owed him.
• Caesar IV invited Hudson to choose Northern Frontier lands, but Hudson instead requested territory near Snow Moon Lake, a port, and a network of fortifications funded by the kingdom.
• Caesar IV accepted Hudson’s proposed fief and promised to complete the infrastructure within five years.
• Hudson proposed governing the Near East as a protectorate before dividing it into provinces, but Caesar IV deferred the decision until the next council meeting.

Hudson attended the court conference on the Near East and helped secure support for a kingdom-wide defensive project. Caesar IV committed the kingdom to building the Near East Defense Line, leaving southern governors uneasy about the Northern Frontier’s growing influence.

• Princess Madelena danced with Hudson, whose clumsy moves made their encounter look flirtatious to the watching nobles.
• Charles III agreed to have the Frankish Kingdom’s church break away from the Church and told his ministers not to expect the Iberian Kingdom to join them.
• At the Emerald Palace, Hudson and the royal-aligned ministers helped move the Near East land settlements forward while the provinces disputed how to fund the defense line.
• Duke Affierro proposed requisitioning materials and labor through a wartime quota system to build the fortifications, roads, and walls.
• Caesar IV pledged the kingdom’s resources to the Near East Defense Line and ordered the royal family and nobles to cut spending.
• The Northern Frontier governors backed Caesar IV, while the southern governors grew wary of the political influence that new Near East provinces could bring.

Hudson and the Kingdom’s nobles prepared to settle the Near East under a demanding defense plan, while Hudson opposed a proposal to establish a rival Church before the Kingdom was ready. The council decided to honor its treaty with the Franks through verbal support for now, delaying any actual move until it could judge the Church’s response.

• The Kingdom approved the Near East Defense Line, granted Hudson the Snow Moon Duchy, and offered nobles vast territories and refugee populations, but most provinces remained without governors because of the military requirements.
• Hudson objected when he heard that the Kingdom might establish another Church, and Archbishop Tyron clarified that the Franks had proposed the plan.
• Duke Newfoundland opposed creating further complications while the Kingdom focused on the Near East, and Duke Xilo demanded to inspect the secret treaty with the Franks.
• Caesar IV produced the treaty, and the ministers confirmed it required support if the Franks established another Church but did not require the Kingdom to act immediately.
• Count Francis proposed that the Kingdom question the Church’s legitimacy and make verbal appeals while postponing the creation of a rival Church until it saw how the Church responded to the Franks.

Hudson returned to his territory after the Near East settlement and reassured Melissa that he would lead its development despite the risks. He began organizing the campaign and using the Coslo Family’s growing influence, while the nobles prepared to compete for power in the Near East.

• Caesar IV sent the nobles home after completing their ennoblements, while Hudson resigned his military post and returned to his territory to oversee the Near East provinces temporarily.
• Melissa pleaded with Hudson to give up the Snow Moon Duke title, but he explained why developing the Near East was necessary and assured her that he had prepared contingencies.
• Beldens and Maxim appeared to offer protection for Hudson’s family, easing Melissa’s fears, while Hudson worried that his own strength remained below the Holy Domain.
• Hudson reviewed the territory’s accumulated affairs, praised his administrators, ordered them to plan for the Near East, and told Jacob to receive a royal estate he claimed to have purchased in Southeast Province.
• The kingdom’s nobles committed descendants and resources to the Near East strategy, hoping to gain influence, while Redman told Hudson that old friends had come seeking information, weapons on credit, loans, and grain.

Hudson told Redman that the kingdom’s Near East strategy had only a thirty-percent chance of success, then reassured him that he would proceed cautiously. Meanwhile, the Franks declared the Church illegitimate and called for a separate Church, leaving Pope Pius VII’s leadership scrambling to contain the rebellion as major powers withheld their support.

• Hudson advised Redman to let their acquaintances decide for themselves whether to risk joining the Near East strategy, then estimated its chance of success at thirty percent.
• Redman urged Hudson to value his life over reputation and territory, while Hudson said he could not retreat if the Near East campaign failed.
• On October 10, Holy Calendar 99993, the Frankish Church rejected the Dawn Holy See’s legitimacy and invited religious branches to meet in Lutetia about establishing a separate Church.
• Hudson concluded that the Alpha Kingdom could not influence the conflict or switch sides, so it would continue focusing on its own affairs.
• Pope Pius VII demanded a response to the Franks, while Blake and Gure argued over how to act and acknowledged the Church’s weakened position.
• Ulise reported that nearly all branches beyond the Church’s control had accepted the Franks’ invitation, while major powers remained ambiguous and the Three Central Continent Kingdoms would be difficult to persuade.

Hudson assessed the political and trade tensions dividing humanity and the Alien Race Alliance, then expanded Snow Moon Territory’s development plan to accelerate settlement along the Near East coast. He sought cooperation with the Dalton Family to secure the shipping capacity needed for the ambitious project.

• Pope Pius VII found no major human power willing to support the Church, while conflict over a separate Church continued and the Alien Race Alliance’s internal trade disputes deepened.
• Hudson reviewed the Church’s reluctance to attack the Frankish Kingdom and returned to planning Snow Moon Territory’s development with his staff.
• Jacob proposed sending three thousand fishermen to New Moon Port and gradually settling twenty thousand people by Holy Calendar 99994, then over one hundred thousand three years later.
• Hudson raised the target to at least fifty thousand immigrants next year and three hundred thousand within three years, directing that early settlements be built along the coast and that immigrants serve as soldiers in wartime.
• Hudson said he would ask the Kingdom’s Mage Corps to clear coastal reefs, and Kane warned that the enlarged plan required more transport ships amid lingering fears of the Ghost Ship disaster.
• Hudson agreed to meet Count Pierce, recognizing that the Coslo Family’s eastward expansion made cooperation with the Dalton Family more valuable than their rivalry in Southeast Province.

Caesar IV dealt with noble resistance to the annexation of six Warhammer provinces and urged his ministers to prioritize the Near East strategy. In Mountain Territory, Hudson reviewed aptitude tests and assigned young residents to training paths, while the story left their future prospects dependent on their ability to cultivate.

• Caesar IV complained that nobles were refusing to support the defense of the six provinces and ordered that no one sabotage the Near East strategy.
• Caesar IV warned that the Calamity of Ten Thousand Years might be approaching, though his ministers doubted the legend could be verified.
• Hudson’s officials screened young residents of Mountain Territory for clean backgrounds, conduct, and cultivation aptitude.
• Kane reported that 926 youths had magical talent and 24,867 had knight cultivation talent, figures that disappointed Hudson.
• Hudson sent youths with inferior aptitude home to cultivate, assigned those with magical talent to the mage corps, and directed the others toward reserve, warrior, or knight training.

Hudson established the Mountain Territory Soldier Academy to screen and train a large pool of recruits cheaply, despite Jose and Kane’s concerns about its size, reputation, faculty, and female students. He then turned his attention to Franz’s upbringing and discussed creating a more coherent training system for the Coslo Family’s next generation.

• Hudson organized more than twenty-five thousand recruits into the reserve Knight Order and explained that only the strongest would remain for service.
• Jose and Kane questioned the academy’s scale, female enrollment, and weak instructors, while Hudson defended its low-cost, practical training model.
• Hudson set the academy’s annual budget at two million gold coins and prioritized fast, inexpensive construction and operations.
• Hudson tried to teach Franz to stand, but the child remained distracted by Beldens and Maxim as Melissa watched.
• Hudson asked Melissa to help plan Franz’s education, and she offered to share her family’s heir-training materials and convene a family meeting.

Hudson oversaw the Soldier Academy’s first assessments, using the results to recruit students into the Snow Moon Knights while setting harsh elimination rules. The chapter ended with eliminated students facing an uncertain future as Instructor Felix urged them to keep training and seek opportunities in the army.

• Hudson announced that students aged at least fifteen who ranked in the top 20% and had completed basic knight training could exchange for Life Essence by joining the Snow Moon Knights for twenty years.
• Hudson ordered the academy to ease its first elimination round by excluding students who received Life Essence before eliminating another 10%.
• After Hudson left, students celebrated their rankings or wept over being eliminated, while those who barely remained resolved to work harder.
• Instructor Felix told the eliminated students to leave with dignity and explained that military service could still offer them a path forward.
• When a young student asked whether they could succeed, Felix said he did not know, but urged him to join the army and noted that some elite soldiers awakened their Life Seeds without knight training.

Governor Pierce and Gadley considered whether the Dalton Family should copy Hudson’s Soldier Academy or invest more heavily in the Near East, while the academy’s students struggled to earn Life Essence and advance. The chapter left Hudson’s influence growing across the Kingdom as nobles watched the Near East strategy and students competed for a future in his service.

• Governor Pierce asked Gadley about Hudson’s recent activities and the Soldier Academy, and Gadley explained that the academy’s graduates would be difficult for the Dalton Family to support without new positions.
• Governor Pierce and Gadley discussed the Near East strategy, with Gadley advising the family to wait for other nobles to test whether it would succeed.
• Students at the Soldier Academy entered seclusion after receiving Life Essence, while Jamie worried with Dicks about their rankings and chances of becoming knights.
• Jamie and Dicks noted that talented noble students were advancing quickly, while the academy’s strict rules continued to eliminate those at the bottom.
• The students worked hard at training and studied Hudson’s Record of Troop Training, hoping to improve their prospects and learn military command.

Hudson opened New Moon Port and announced a one-copper-coin transit tax to encourage nobles to develop the Near East Region. The Behemoth Clan's impending migration threatened the region, but Hudson left the banquet projecting confidence and won broad support for his plans.

• Hudson ended New Moon Port's opening ceremony after a brief speech, while Grand Duke Newfoundland recognized his claim of authority over the port.
• Grand Duke Newfoundland warned Hudson that the Behemoth Clan was moving to the Near East, and Hudson said building cities quickly would help defend the region.
• Hudson told the assembled nobles that caravans would pay only one copper coin to cross Snow Moon Territory for the next thirty years, matching the kingdom's tax exemption period.
• Viscount Cayou asked how long the low transit tax would last, and Hudson explained that it would continue if the kingdom extended its tax exemption.
• The noble lords cheered Hudson's tax concession, while Grand Duke Newfoundland worried that Hudson's growing influence could become difficult for the kingdom to manage.