Chapter Summaries

The Five Nations Alliance changed the balance of power, easing pressure on the Moxi Duchy as it negotiated its debts and prepared to face the Elves. Hudson used the crisis to expand the Near East Development Bank, then defended its finances at a shareholder meeting while concealing the risks behind its enormous Moxi loan.

• The five nations formally announced their joint defense alliance, and Delis ordered the Elves to send the news to their people immediately.
• George chose to keep the Moxi Duchy's strategy of showing weakness to the Elves and agreed to route tax revenue through the Near East Development Bank to guarantee debt payments.
• Hudson used the bank to collect and transfer the Moxi Duchy's annual four-million-gold-coin repayment, while seeking deposits to address the bank's cash shortage.
• Shareholders confronted Rudolf over the bank's undisclosed finances and its eighty-million-gold-coin loan to the Moxi Duchy.
• Hudson reassured the shareholders by citing the bank's growth and promising further expansion, while privately planning to use the loan funds and hide their cash-flow problems.

Hudson persuaded the Near East Development Bank’s shareholders to approve a ten-million-gold-coin capital injection, strengthening the bank while keeping its finances secret. In the Orc Empire, Prince Butzwig prepared the Behemoth Clan’s young talents for the Sacred Land of Inheritance, where the clan’s future depended on securing an inheritance.

• Hudson defended the bank’s need for more capital, citing its tied-up cash flow and promising to contribute in proportion to his shares.
• Count Powell questioned the proposed twenty-million-gold-coin financing and asked for the bank’s operating details, but Hudson refused to disclose its accounts.
• Hudson used the bank’s promised future dividends to persuade the shareholders to approve a reduced financing amount of ten million gold coins.
• The chapter explained that the Behemoth Clan faced the loss of its royal status if it failed to obtain an inheritance from the Sacred Land of Inheritance.
• Prince Butzwig addressed the gathered Behemoth talents and ordered them to begin training for the trials.

Hudson assembled eight Holy Domain experts to strike at the Beastfolk’s Sacred Land of Inheritance, but the Beastfolk spread three possible locations to confuse them. As both sides prepared to bait and counter the other, the chapter left the coming clash unresolved.

• Hudson gathered eight Holy Domain experts from the Alpha Kingdom and its allies, intending to strike before the Alien Race Alliance could intervene.
• Hudson told Archbishop Tyron and the other experts that the Beastfolk had offered three possible inheritance-site locations and that their participants might not all be geniuses.
• Hudson proposed watching for where the Beastfolk concentrated their leaders and forces, while also considering attacks on groups of young Beastfolk.
• The Bearman Emperor revealed that the Beastfolk had spread false information and moved up the opening date to lure human Holy Domain experts into an ambush.
• The Silver Moon Wolf Emperor warned that the Alpha Kingdom likely had another hidden Holy Domain expert, while the Eagle Emperor and Lion Emperor urged the Beastfolk to rely on their own strength.

Hudson changed the raid’s target from the Beastfolk Sacred Land of Inheritance to the Eaglemen Imperial Court and led a surprise attack that devastated the Eaglemen. As the battle raged, a mysterious man awakened in an Eagleman body, learned that ten thousand years had passed, and killed his informant before preparing to flee.

• Hudson told his team that they would destroy the Eaglemen Imperial Court and cripple the Beastfolk’s aerial forces instead of pursuing the Sacred Land of Inheritance.
• Hudson’s group landed near the Eaglemen Imperial Court and waited until night, while the Bear Emperor and other Beastfolk leaders worried about the delay in the human attack.
• Hudson ordered the mages to bombard the Eaglemen Imperial Court, and the surrounding assault teams attacked as the Eaglemen camp caught fire.
• Beldens used his Gravity Domain to drag flying Eaglemen down, while Holy Domain experts and mages killed Eaglemen officers and soldiers across the battlefield.
• A strange man questioned a middle-aged Eagleman, learned that the year was Sacred Calendar Year 99996 and that humans were attacking, then killed him and resolved to abandon his identity.

Hudson’s force destroyed the Eaglemen Imperial Court and continued raiding Eagleman tribes across the Great Plains, using Maxim’s dragons and Hudson’s recovery potions to sustain their attacks. The Eagle Emperor’s allies refused to intervene directly, leaving the shattered Eaglemen to scatter and appeal to the Anti-Human Alliance.

• Hudson’s group finished looting the Imperial Court, buried their fallen comrades, accepted Hudson’s potions, and set out for another Eagleman target.
• Chieftain Palmer’s tribe was attacked before it could reinforce the Imperial Court; Palmer was defeated, and his son fled with the tribe’s inheritance.
• The Elder Eagleman escaped as Alpha Kingdom forces routed Palmer’s tribe, while the attacks spread across the Great Plains and struck eight tribes.
• The Eagle Emperor asked the other Orc rulers to stop the enemy, but the Tiger King urged him to seek Anti-Human Alliance support instead.
• The Bearman Emperor advised the Eagle Emperor to disperse the remaining tribes, and the Eagle Emperor agreed.

Hudson paused his raiding party for five days to let the men recover from murderous aura and curses, while the Beastfolk rulers debated how to counter his attacks. Hudson then struck the Bearman Imperial Court with a Forbidden Spell and set off toward the Lionmen Imperial Court.

• Hudson asked Archbishop Tyron about the raiders’ murderous aura and learned that curses from dying Eaglemen were affecting them; he ordered a five-day rest and made purification optional.
• The Eaglemen’s defeat spread panic across the Great Plains as the Beastfolk rulers gathered at the Bearman Imperial Court to discuss Hudson’s raids.
• The Silver Moon Wolf Emperor warned that Hudson’s group could target any race, while the Eagle Emperor argued that the Beastfolk could not catch a Giant Dragon and the Bear Emperor proposed retaliatory teams.
• The Lion Emperor rejected the retaliation plan as too slow, but a guard shouted that a Forbidden Spell was incoming before the rulers fled the tent.
• Hudson and his mages cast a Forbidden Spell over the Bearman Imperial Court, killing many soldiers and setting much of the camp ablaze as the rulers escaped.
• Hudson ordered his group to leave for the Lionmen Imperial Court, while the Bear Emperor vowed revenge.

The Elf Queens discussed humanity’s growing power and the coming calamity before sending Holy Domain experts to mediate the conflict between the Alpha Kingdom and the Beastfolk. As Hudson’s expedition continued its attacks across the Orc Empire, the Elves confronted his force, leaving both sides facing an imminent clash.

• The Elf Queens recognized that humanity’s rise and Hudson’s Dragon Knight raids threatened the balance, but they agreed to aid the Beastfolk and sent five Elven Holy Domain experts alongside allies to warn the Alpha Kingdom.
• Hudson’s expedition unleashed Forbidden Spells across the Orc Empire, spreading fear among the Beastfolk until the mage corps paused to recover.
• Robert warned Hudson that the Beastfolk’s lack of a counterattack seemed suspicious, but Hudson expected the Alien Race Alliance to negotiate rather than risk a costly battle.
• Maxim alerted Hudson that a group of experts was approaching, and Hudson ordered the expedition to retreat before he recognized Delis among the arrivals.
• Delis challenged Hudson and pointed to her side’s numbers, while Hudson counted the opposing Holy Domain experts and prepared for a possible fight.

Hudson’s forces fought off the Alien Race Alliance’s Holy Domain experts, with Beldens’s emerging Gravity Domain and Archbishop Tyron’s divine artifact turning the battle in their favor. After Delis called a halt and warned Hudson about the rules governing Holy Domain experts, Hudson decided to withdraw while still having Forbidden Spells cast against the Beastfolk.

• Beldens’s Gravity Domain overwhelmed Delis, her unicorn, and the Three-eyed Giant, shifting the battle and encouraging the human Holy Domain experts to fight seriously.
• Archbishop Tyron revealed the Church’s Inheritance Divine Artifact, blessing the human forces and turning the tide against the Alien Race Alliance.
• Delis called for the fighting to stop, and Hudson showed her the Beastfolk’s invitation to argue that the Alpha Kingdom’s intervention had been requested.
• Delis warned Hudson not to attack ordinary people through Holy Domain experts again, then left after Hudson insisted the Beastfolk were responsible.
• Hudson ordered his forces to withdraw and abandon the attempt to reach the Beastfolk’s Sacred Land of Inheritance, but instructed them to throw Forbidden Spells along the way.

After Hudson’s victorious campaign against the Beastfolk, Caesar IV tried to rally the Five Nations Alliance to establish a new Church and keep the Scepter of Glory. Hudson proposed dividing authority among five national patriarchs, leaving the royal family without a pope and Archbishop Tyron’s ambition in jeopardy.

• Delis dismissed the Beastfolk leaders’ complaints, ruled that the humans’ campaign was a conventional conflict, and urged them to train their own Holy Domain experts.
• Hudson returned to the Royal Capital, where Caesar IV welcomed the victors and hosted a banquet that Hudson and six Holy Domain experts turned into an extended exchange of cultivation insights.
• Caesar IV summoned the nobles to discuss the Scepter of Glory and a new Church, while Hudson argued that the four allied nations would need religious benefits to support it.
• Grand Duke Newfoundland, Duke Xilo, and Marquis Joel challenged the royal family’s plan by suggesting the kingdom sell the Scepter of Glory and focus on its finances and war against the Orc Empire.
• Caesar IV denounced selling the artifact as blasphemy, and Hudson proposed establishing five equal national dioceses led by patriarchs from each nation.
• Hudson argued that the patriarchs need not be clergy, frustrating Archbishop Tyron’s hopes of becoming pope and offering a compromise between the royal family and the great nobles.

Caesar IV approved Hudson's Five Patriarchs proposal, opening the way for the Five Nations to share control over religious authority. Afterward, Hudson tried to draw Beldens and Maxim's hoarded wealth into the Near East Development Bank through long-term deposits, while reflecting on how his financial scheme had helped militarize the kingdom and how he had to keep the bank from collapsing.

• The noble faction backed Hudson's Five Patriarchs system, and Caesar IV approved it and ordered the Foreign Affairs Department to negotiate with the four other nations.
• Hudson watched Beldens and Maxim show off their battle spoils and decided to persuade them to deposit their gold in the Near East Development Bank.
• Hudson offered Beldens a long-term deposit, but Beldens rejected the thousand-year term and bargained for annual interest instead.
• Maxim demanded higher interest for himself, so Hudson offered both dragons a choice between three percent paid annually or doubled interest paid at maturity.
• Hudson reflected that the Near East Development Bank and the Five Nations Alliance had helped fund the kingdom's development and military preparations, but he still had to keep the bank's financial bubble from bursting.

The Five Nations Alliance established the Northern Church, and Hudson became one of its Holy Knights as the Coslo Family celebrated its new prestige. After the Dawn Holy See ordered a strategic retreat from threatened regions, Hudson halted his expansion into the Cursed Land and left its mysteries unexplored for now.

• The Five Nations Alliance founded the Northern Church with the Inheritance Divine Artifact, and Hudson received the title of Holy Knight.
• The Coslo Family celebrated Hudson's title and began using the honorific "Saint" before its family name.
• Archbishop Solon and Legion Commander Blake urged Pope Pius VII to withdraw from the Five Nations Alliance's territories, and Pius ordered a strategic contraction while transferring cleared personnel to the Ruthenia Kingdom.
• The Grassland War fueled investment in the Near East Region, and New Moon Port expanded as the Alpha Kingdom prepared for further counteroffensives.
• Jacob warned Hudson that the Cursed Land had a dangerous history despite its fertile soil, and Hudson ordered his forces to stop advancing east and consolidate their territory.

Hudson hired a team of heretical experts to investigate the Cursed Land and the sunken Prehistoric Ruins beneath Snow Moon Lake. As the team exposed the underground palace, Niemeyer realized its murals could overturn accepted history.

• Hudson led the specialists to the Cursed Land and told them about the sunken underground palace beneath Snow Moon Lake.
• Niemeyer argued that the curse was connected to the lake and its ancient ruins, while Robert urged the group to investigate the Cursed Land first.
• Hudson left the experts to work, and they prepared to reach the submerged palace despite Niemeyer and Robert's bickering.
• The specialists parted the lake water with magic and revealed the underground palace, whose diminished aura no longer seemed as threatening.
• Niemeyer recognized the structure and its murals of demons, elves, and angels as evidence of Prehistoric Ruins that could rewrite the continent's history.

Robert and the other experts uncovered ancient records revealing that the Calamity of Ten Thousand Years involved a deliberate harvest tied to gods, prompting Hudson to order them to conceal everything except the calamity itself. The chapter left the Alpha Kingdom preparing for a possible invasion from other planes while Hudson acknowledged that gods might not be invincible.

• Robert warned the experts that the ruins’ revelations were dangerous, then directed them to investigate a failing seal connected to the Calamity of Ten Thousand Years.
• The experts finished excavating the underground palace and realized its records described a threat far more serious than they had expected.
• Hudson appeared and ordered the experts to keep the discoveries secret, allowing only information about the Calamity of Ten Thousand Years to spread.
• Hudson concluded that ancient races had faced a deliberate harvest and ordered the experts to reinforce the seal and report similar sites to the kingdom.
• Hudson identified an invasion from other planes as the Alpha Kingdom’s main coming threat and instructed the experts to fabricate a plausible public account.

Hudson concluded that the damaged energy arrays beneath the Land of Ruins might conceal an entrance to another world, then spread news of the Calamity of Ten Thousand Years to the major powers. As nations weighed the threat and its political uses, Avalart’s new king began preparing reforms and considering which political model to adopt.

• Hudson ordered that the seal beneath the Land of Ruins remain closed, and he shared news of the possible calamity after Robert and Niemeyer discussed the evidence.
• Caesar IV sent the Human Alliance a warning about the Calamity of Ten Thousand Years, while presenting its eruption as imminent despite not knowing when it would occur.
• Pope Pius VII revealed that the Church had long known about the calamity but lacked the truth, and he ordered the Church to watch the Alpha Kingdom for signs of military preparations.
• Elton VIII ascended the Avalart throne, appointed Duke Grenafan as prime minister, and began pursuing reforms.
• Duke Grenafan proposed sending delegations to the Frankish, Ilibia, and Alpha Kingdoms so Avalart could study their political systems before choosing its reform path.

Hudson and Caesar IV discussed the Avalart Kingdom’s reform plans, the risks of political upheaval, and the Alpha Kingdom’s own resistance to tax reform. The reform movement spread across the continent, while the Iberian Kingdom decided to watch for a chance to undermine Avalart.

• Caesar IV told Hudson that the Alpha Kingdom would cooperate with the Avalart Kingdom’s inspection delegation and explained why its reforms might affect the Southern Continent.
• Grand Duke Newfoundland warned that Avalart’s reforms could fail and accelerate its decline, while Marquis Delgado argued that reform could help it survive.
• Hudson urged the court to stay out of Avalart’s affairs and remained neutral on the Alpha Kingdom’s domestic tax reforms.
• Hudson briefed the court on the Calamity of Ten Thousand Years, but the Kingdom’s leaders chose to watch how the Elves responded.
• Reform calls spread across the continent, prompting Bordeaux VIII to ask why the newly enthroned Elton VIII was pursuing reform.
• Count Midford explained that Avalart’s internal troubles had forced reform, and Marquis Olmos advised Bordeaux VIII to wait for an opportunity to sabotage it.

Hudson returned to Snow Moon Territory and found its farmland, mage workforce, and industries growing rapidly, though development left the territory deeply in debt. He approved building a new central city and additional ports, leaving his officials worried about the finances while he remained confident in the territory’s long-term growth.

• Hudson surveyed Snow Moon Territory’s expanding farmland and saw mages working alongside settlers, drawn by the cultivation potions and pay he offered.
• Jacob proposed moving the administrative center from crowded New Moon Port and building three more medium-sized cargo ports.
• Hudson chose to build a new city in the middle of the territory, saying he wanted to avoid provoking the Beastfolk with further eastern expansion.
• Jacob warned Hudson that the territory had accumulated nearly thirty million gold coins in debt while running large annual deficits.
• Hudson authorized another two million gold coins in borrowing from Near East Development Bank and urged his officials to speed up construction of the city and ports.

The chapter explored the Alpha Kingdom’s labor shortage and the costly effort to develop Snow Moon Territory, then revealed a phantom creature ordering its agents to spark a war. As border clashes intensified in the Near East, Hudson’s military conference heard warnings that the kingdom’s stretched forces could not protect every frontier territory.

• The chapter explained how war losses and scarce labor left the Alpha Kingdom struggling to increase its population, while Hudson employed mages to improve Snow Moon Territory’s prairie soil despite the expense.
• A shadow reported that the Beastfolk’s Sacred Land of Inheritance was a trap, and the phantom creature ordered its agents to ignore it and start a war instead.
• The phantom creature punished Phantom Two by eating his arm, then restored it and demanded that all the shadows kindle conflict wherever they could.
• The phantom creature lamented that the Alpha Kingdom and Beastfolk lacked the resources for another major war, even as hidden troublemakers reached the Near East front line.
• Baron Jose reported thirty-three border clashes that month, including attacks that destroyed three knight territories and one baronial territory and killed nearly ten thousand people.
• Count Ebert dismissed the clashes as routine, but Jose warned that escalating violence and the kingdom’s long border could lead to greater losses unless more troops were deployed.

Hudson warned the border nobles that the Kingdom would not cover the costs of their reckless expansion, then agreed to attend the Avalart Kingdom’s welcoming banquet. Meanwhile, the Beastfolk Sacred Land of Inheritance opened, and its entrants faced a deadly trial in which Graeme abandoned a Pigman young patriarch to die.

• Hudson rejected calls to send reinforcements and explained that the border nobles had provoked the Beastfolk through reckless expansion.
• Viscount Marcelino revealed that a hidden force had planted Beastfolk corpses and stirred conflict, and Hudson warned the commanders about agents serving an Evil God.
• After the conference, Hudson accepted an order to attend Prince Peter’s welcoming banquet in the Royal Capital.
• The Beast God’s phantom opened the Sacred Land of Inheritance, where the entrants were attacked by undead ancestors as soon as they entered.
• Graeme ignored the Pigman young patriarch’s plea for help, and the young patriarch died when the Pigmen around him were overwhelmed.

Graeme seized a pillar of light and received an inheritance that awakened his Golden Pigman bloodline and gave him cultivation experience. Outside the trial, Orc leaders agreed to a twenty-year truce and assigned border duty to three mid-tier races, while Prince Peter arrived in the Alpha Kingdom to study its military strength.

• Graeme entered a pillar of light, relived a Golden Pig’s life fighting Demons, and emerged as a Golden Pigman with the dream’s experience.
• The Bearman Emperor, Silver Moon Wolf Emperor, and Lion Emperor agreed to a twenty-year truce and a ban on hunting talented descendants, while the Eagle Emperor Clan’s influence diminished.
• The Behemoth King proposed rotating border defenses, and the Boarmen, Hyena-men, and Minotaurs accepted the assignment after the Eagle Emperor named them.
• Prince Peter traveled toward Canglan City to study the Alpha Kingdom’s military and noticed that ordinary citizens appeared trained and ready for war.

Prince Peter visited the Alpha Kingdom to study its military system and discussed its wartime society and possible future with Hudson. After Hudson gave the delegation valuable magical potions, Peter agreed to arrange a return gift, opening the way for a deal over Avalart's surplus population.

• Prince Peter toured the Alpha Kingdom and learned from Marquis Suarez how warfare, military logistics, and high noble mortality had shaped its society.
• Hudson welcomed Prince Peter and explained the kingdom's customs, then claimed it had plans for the day the Orc Empire was annihilated.
• Prince Peter said Avalart intended to learn from Alpha's methods of strengthening the country and military, and the two sides exchanged gifts after discussing military theory.
• Back at the embassy, Mage Bernard was astonished by Hudson's valuable potions, and Marquis Suarez suggested Hudson wanted population for his territory.
• Prince Peter asked Marquis Suarez to coordinate the matter and instructed Mage Bernard to appraise the potions so he could prepare a return gift.