Chapter Summaries

Hudson assessed his territory’s crowded officer ranks and received reports that Beastfolk tribes were preparing to invade the kingdom. He ordered scorched-earth preparations while Minotaur chief Stark hurried to gather his tribes as war threatened their survival.

• Hudson reviewed and signed appointments for the new graduates, while military costs and officer service rules continued to shape the territory’s army.
• Number Zero delivered reports of unusual Beastfolk movements, and Hudson concluded that an invasion was approaching.
• Hudson ordered Tom to warn the lords to prepare scorched-earth measures and deny the Beastfolk food and fodder.
• Chief Stark received the empire’s full war mobilization order and feared that the Minotaur race would be caught between the two armies.
• Stark ordered the tribes’ chiefs to attend an urgent meeting about their race’s survival.

As war approached between the Orc Empire and the Alpha Kingdom, Stark urged the Minotaur chieftains to resist risking their elite warriors for the empire, while Graeme considered helping Stark despite the danger. Hudson reported the kingdom’s preparations to Caesar IV and pushed to take charge of wartime mobilization and supplies.

• Stark warned the Minotaur chieftains that Hudson could command a vast army and argued that the Minotaurs should avoid a direct clash that could destroy their scarce armored forces.
• Primrose questioned Stark’s plan and feared the Imperial Court would punish the Minotaurs, but Stark insisted they had to act because the empire had abandoned them.
• Graeme trained his Pigmen while weighing whether to serve as a liaison between the Minotaurs and the Alpha Kingdom, and he decided the opportunity was worth the risk.
• Hudson’s mobilization orders prompted lords across the Near East and other provinces to fortify defenses, destroy crops, and drill their militias.
• Hudson told Caesar IV that the front could hold for at least half a year but warned that the kingdom lacked sufficient strategic supplies and needed coordinated reinforcements.
• Hudson pressed to oversee troop mobilization and supplies, and the court promised that its departments would cooperate.

Hudson returned to the front as the Beastfolk invasion loomed, while a Minotaur-linked Pigman requested an audience with him. Meanwhile, Charles III ordered a surprise attack on the Church, and Marquis Sunil’s forces captured Port Saintes, where hostile believers still threatened the victors.

• Hudson returned to the Near East, where nobles and soldiers eagerly prepared for war and his general staff issued plans to defend against possible intervention by the Alien Race Alliance.
• Zero told Hudson that a Pigman carrying a token connected to the Minotaurs had arrived with information and insisted on meeting him, so Hudson agreed to receive him.
• Charles III approved Count Phils’s plan to launch a seaborne assault on the Church’s homeland and force it to withdraw troops from the intervention coalition.
• Frankish forces bombarded Port Saintes, landed, and quickly overwhelmed the harbor’s disorganized defenders.
• Marquis Sunil inspected the captured port and recognized that its residents’ hostile gazes could turn into attacks from devout Church believers.

The Church struggled to defend Sacred Light Mountain after the Franks captured Port Saintes, while Hudson recognized the defeat’s strategic consequences. The Church withdrew from the Anti-French Alliance, and Marquis Sunil ordered brutal measures against zealots obstructing the Frankish advance.

• Pius VII learned that Port Saintes had fallen and ordered the Church to prepare defenses, while Blake proposed conscripting the faithful to delay the Franks.
• Hudson received news of Port Saintes’ capture and predicted that the Frankish advance would force the Church to pull troops away from the front lines.
• The Church withdrew from the Anti-French Alliance, prompting Bordeaux VIII and his ministers to work to keep the remaining allies in the war.
• Marquis Sunil ordered soldiers to kill suspicious people and execute families or communities accused of helping attackers, as faithful civilians used increasingly violent tactics to impede his army.

The Frankish army reached Sacred Mountain, and Pope Pius VII ordered the Church’s forces to prepare for a desperate defense. As Hudson learned that Arcanists and other enemies of the Church were gathering to exploit the battle, he stayed focused on the Orc Empire war; the Franks then launched their assault on Sacred Mountain.

• Marquis Sunil’s army advanced toward Sacred Mountain, while Church officials used harsh measures to slow the flight of clergy and civilians.
• Pope Pius VII learned that reinforcements would take ten days to arrive and ordered the Church’s military and religious orders to prepare for battle.
• Hudson watched the conflict from Snow Moon Territory as his forces pushed back nearby Beastfolk tribes, while the Orc Empire avoided committing to a costly fight.
• Robert told Hudson that Arcanists planned to use abyssal creatures to test whether the gods would intervene, but Hudson refused to join the operation.
• Marquis Sunil urged his soldiers to purge the Church as heretics, and the Frankish army began its assault with cannon fire and ladders against Sacred Mountain’s defenses.

As the Franks pressed toward Sacred Light Mountain, Pope Pius VII launched a night raid that failed when the enemy’s prepared forces ambushed his troops. The Church began summoning angels for reinforcements, but the ritual transformed them into Fallen Angels, leaving the holy mountain in chaos.

• Marquis Sunil studied a map of the Papal State while Frankish forces prepared for the Church’s attack.
• Pope Pius VII ordered a night raid, but Frankish soldiers and six Holy Domain experts ambushed the Church force and surrounded it.
• Robert and the other Holy Domain experts urged Pope Pius VII to withdraw rather than break the rules against joining secular wars.
• Pope Pius VII ordered Bishop Solon to prepare an angel-summoning ritual as the Church’s defenders faced mounting losses.
• The cardinals summoned angels by sacrificing captives, then poured an evil liquid into the blood pool and caused the angels to become Fallen Angels.

Fallen Angels and an external assault plunged Sacred Light Mountain into chaos, but Pope Pius VII returned and rallied the Church’s defenders. As the Frankish forces shifted to striking the Church’s wider foundations, Marquis Sunil’s ambush lured the returning monster legion into a forest trap, where Undead attacked the Terrain Dragon cavalry.

• The angel summoning produced Fallen Angels that slaughtered clergy and believers across Sacred Light Mountain, while Bishop Solon struggled to contain the chaos.
• The Man in green and the Grey-robed Elder escaped the three Holy Domain retainers, and Pope Pius VII returned with reinforcements to turn the battle in the Church’s favor.
• Robert advised Marquis Sunil to abandon the attempt to seize Sacred Light Mountain and instead target the Church’s reinforcements and foundations of rule.
• News and footage of the Fallen Angels’ summoning spread across the continent, while Hudson ordered his commanders to meet and plan their next deployments.
• Marquis Omar and Caesar IV discussed the Church’s losses, including seven dead cardinals and the death of the Inquisition’s head.
• Marquis Sunil’s forces ambushed the returning monster legion; Legion Commander Drachen pursued them into the woods, where Undead creatures attacked the scattered Terrain Dragon cavalry.

Drazin’s Terrain Dragon Legion was trapped by the Franks and suffered devastating losses before surrendering during a desperate breakout. On Holy Mountain, Pope Pius VII learned how the angels had been corrupted, blamed Bishop Solon for the disaster, and then received news that the Church’s returning monster legion had also been ambushed.

• Drazin ordered the Terrain Dragon Legion to break out south after the Franks’ encirclement tightened around them.
• Marquis Sunil ordered his forces to guard against a midnight escape, but the Church cavalry charged out of the forest and fought the Tyrannosaurus Rex Legion.
• Marquis Sunil offered to spare anyone who surrendered, and countless Church soldiers laid down their weapons, ending the battle.
• Pope Pius VII learned that infiltrators had corrupted the crystal spheres and used River Styx water to drive the summoned angels mad.
• Pope Pius VII accused Bishop Solon of responsibility for the catastrophe and threw him out of the hall, while the Church’s leaders stayed silent.
• A messenger told Pope Pius VII that the monster legion returning as reinforcements had been ambushed at Soul-Gazing Territory and forced to break out.

Pope Pius VII reacted to the Church’s crushing defeat as the Anti-French Alliance struggled to coordinate a general offensive. Meanwhile, Hudson assessed the coming beastfolk invasion and ordered his forces to use fortifications, magic, and poison to wear down the enemy.

• Pope Pius VII ordered troops to gather routed survivors and warned returning forces to guard against another ambush after the Terrain Dragon Legion was crippled.
• News of the Church’s defeat spread, weakening the Anti-French Alliance and leaving Bordeaux VIII to manage its divided coalition.
• Bordeaux VIII ordered the general offensive to begin despite allies’ doubts that the Church could contain the Franks.
• Hudson’s advisers reported that more than a million beastfolk were assembling near Snow Moon Lake, while Hudson judged that his forces lacked the supplies for an advance.
• Hudson approved a defensive strategy and instructed Marek the Mage to spread mages through the fortresses and use covert poisons against the beastfolk.

The Beastfolk army struggled to take Satux Fortress as Daniel recognized the Alpha Kingdom’s growing strength and its campaign of logistical sabotage. That night, powder released from the fortress stirred tensions in the camp, and a clash between Elephamen and Ratmen erupted into violence.

• The Beastfolk assault on Satux Fortress caused heavy casualties, and Daniel warned his generals that the Alpha Kingdom’s defenses and soldiers had grown far stronger.
• Marquis Usuhu proposed killing Hudson with help from Elven experts, but Daniel dismissed the idea, and the generals failed to find a viable alternative to attacking the fortified line.
• A guard reported that poisoned corpses had contaminated the Beastfolk camp, so Daniel ordered the army to stop consuming battlefield corpses until the priests found a way to detect the poison.
• Mage Betty and Count Ebert prepared the fortress defenders against exposure, then Betty’s mages used the north wind to scatter hallucinogenic powder toward the Beastfolk camp.
• An irritable Elephaman soldier killed a young Ratman after a quarrel, and the Ratmen responded by raising their weapons and charging.

The Beastfolk suffered devastating losses after Hudson’s schemes triggered a camp riot and targeted their Southern Army, prompting Crown Prince Daniel to seek Elven protection. Meanwhile, Hudson continued to wear down the Beastfolk while keeping the Kingdom’s forces from launching an all-out war, and he set out toward a Beastfolk lakeside camp with uneasy northern dukes in tow.

• Ratmen and Elephantmen clashed, and the fighting spread through the Beastfolk camp until Crown Prince Daniel ordered the priesthood to suppress the riot.
• Daniel’s forces suffered heavy casualties, while the Southern Army was routed after Holy Domain magical beasts attacked and enemy strikes killed senior officers and priests.
• Daniel rejected Marquis Usuhu’s claim that the enemy’s Holy Domain was responsible, and he warned the Beastfolk leaders that an Elven Holy Domain expert would soon arrive.
• Hudson refused to rush the war without sufficient supplies, while intelligence reports credited a camp riot with costing the Beastfolk at least two hundred thousand soldiers.
• Hudson ordered his party toward the Beastfolk camp by the lake, and Duke Rodriguez and the other northern dukes reluctantly went along.

Hudson surveyed the beastfolk camp at Snow Moon Lake, then waited as the siege stalled and the Orc Empire’s leaders debated their losses and options. He ultimately led a nighttime naval attack that set the connected tents ablaze with magic and cannon fire.

• Hudson saw the beastfolk tents crowded along Snow Moon Lake and decided to continue wearing down the enemy rather than attack immediately.
• Hudson returned from his reconnaissance trip and reassured the governors that the Orc Empire’s large army had weaknesses in quality and organization.
• Daniel told the Orc Empire’s rulers that the Alpha Kingdom’s defenses blocked further progress and proposed a northern flanking maneuver after the spring thaw.
• Hudson sailed back to Snow Moon Lake at night and ordered the ships to fire while fire and wind mages ignited the beastfolk camp.
• The flames spread through the tents, and a cannon blast struck an elderly beastfolk who had tried to escape the fire.

Hudson’s forces destroyed the Beastfolk camp at Snow Moon Lake, while Daniel struggled to explain the defeat to the Beastfolk rulers and proposed a more defensive strategy. At the Emerald Palace, Caesar IV received confirmation that Hudson’s army had won an extraordinary victory, leaving the Kingdom to absorb the scale of its success.

• Hudson ordered Undead Mages and witches to exploit the corpses and resentful souls as the burning Beastfolk camp became a massacre.
• A shadowy cult leader killed two Eaglefolk messengers and sent his followers to collect souls discreetly while he guarded the route to delay reinforcements.
• At dawn, Hudson ordered his troops to pursue the fleeing Beastfolk, finish off survivors, and retrieve and burn the bodies from Snow Moon Lake.
• Daniel faced the Beastfolk emperors and kings over the devastating rear-camp losses, blamed Hudson’s cunning, and recommended fortified camps and attrition warfare.
• Caesar IV questioned the battle report’s enormous casualty figures, and Count Eckmann assured him that the Military Affairs Department had verified them.

After Hudson’s victory at Snow Moon Lake elevated the Alpha Kingdom’s standing, Caesar IV planned to report the triumph to the Human Alliance, while Charles III sought to use congratulations and a Human Marshal proposal to win political leverage. The Church reeled from its decline, and Hudson received the battle report as honors and public attention gathered around him.

• Count Francis urged Caesar IV to report the victory to the Human Alliance, and Caesar agreed to wait for the detailed battle report before sharing the account.
• Charles III ordered letters of congratulations for the Alpha Kingdom and Hudson, then proposed that the Human Alliance award Hudson the title of Human Marshal.
• Pope Pius VII lamented the Church’s decline after Hudson’s victory and renewed his thoughts of reform, while Frankish forces continued ravaging the Papal State.
• Hudson reviewed the compiled battle report and ordered it sent to the Kingdom government, remaining composed as congratulations and the Frankish honors raised his prestige.

Caesar IV and his ministers agreed to nominate Hudson as Human Marshal, despite the political risks and the Frankish Empire’s original proposal. In the south, Bordeaux VIII’s government moved to convene a Human Alliance conference and exclude the Church from deciding the proposal.

• Count Eckmann told Caesar IV that Hudson would likely accept the Franks’ proposal to make him Human Marshal.
• The ministers avoided opposing Hudson, and Caesar IV ordered the Foreign Affairs Department to submit the Alpha Kingdom’s own nomination to the Human Alliance.
• Other countries largely ignored the Frankish proposal, while Bordeaux VIII considered using an alliance conference to break the stalemate in the Anti-Frankish War.
• Marquis Olmos urged support for a conference, and Count Midford warned that the move would upset the alliance’s allies, especially the Church.
• Marquis Olmos proposed gathering representatives from every country except the Church to discuss Hudson’s nomination, and the Ilibia Kingdom’s ministers agreed.

The Church faced exclusion from the Human Alliance meeting and anticipated losing territory and privileges as its allies abandoned it. Meanwhile, the Alpha Kingdom prepared to host the meeting, and Hudson’s soldiers and the Coslo Family sought to turn his prospective Human Marshal title into lasting family prestige.

• Pope Pius VII learned that the Human Alliance meeting had been arranged without the Church and ordered his people to negotiate for whatever rights they could preserve.
• Caesar IV reviewed preparations for the meeting in Canglan City and refused to relax wartime supply quotas, while Count Francis advised Marquis Omar to keep the reception simple.
• The Alpha Kingdom’s soldiers welcomed Hudson’s possible Human Marshal title because it could help secure recognition for their own service in history.
• The Coslo Family began writing an embellished account of Hudson’s childhood, claiming that he had shown extraordinary talent and commanded the family’s private army at eight.

As Hudson held the Beastfolk army in a stalemate, rumors of racial extermination further undermined Daniel’s authority, and he ordered lavish rewards to push the troops into another assault. Meanwhile, foreign envoys exploited the Alliance conference to sell goods in the Alpha Kingdom, prompting Caesar IV to investigate their motives.

• Hudson let the fortified Beastfolk army weaken through attrition as morale among Daniel’s troops declined and rumors spread that the Imperial Court planned racial extermination.
• Daniel ordered a crackdown on cults, rejected evidence that conscription had devastated a tribe, and promised siege troops extra food, wine, and military prostitutes.
• Count Miles explained that his lackluster sales in the Southeast Province were intended to spread word of his goods before merchants and pleasure-seeking noble offspring became his customers.
• Caesar IV received reports about foreign envoys trading goods under diplomatic cover and asked whether they were pursuing profit or sending a political signal.

Caesar IV hosted an Alliance Conference where the Alpha Kingdom sought greater influence and council seats, while Hudson attended as a newly appointed council member. The oath ceremony exposed a deeper Church conflict when two Saints from the Northern and Southern Churches presided, leaving Bishop Montesol unable to challenge them.

• Caesar IV opened the Alliance Conference in Canglan City, and representatives began debating the reelection of council members.
• Representatives from fallen nations protested losing their council seats, but guards removed them and the reelection proceeded.
• Hudson led the new council members to their oath-taking ceremony before Bishop Montesol interrupted to challenge the clergy presiding over it.
• Marquis Delgado defended the ceremony, and two officiants revealed themselves as Saints, forcing Bishop Montesol to withdraw his objection.
• The elderly Saint resumed the oath ceremony while Hudson recognized that the separate Churches had gained powerful religious backing.

After the councilor reshuffle, the Human Alliance debated responsibility for the Anti-Frankish War, while the Church came under growing pressure as the other nations moved to divide its assets. Hudson saw the partition of the Church becoming inevitable, and the chapter ended with an urgent report arriving from the front.

• The councilor reshuffle gave the three great powers nearly forty-five percent of the Alliance Council seats, leaving declining kingdoms worried about their influence.
• Caesar IV proposed negotiations to end the Southern Continent war, but Bishop Montesol blamed the Franks while Count Davis rejected the accusations and defended the imperial title.
• Count Georgievich demanded that the Franks relinquish the title and compensate the Alliance, while Davis denied the Franks would surrender their empire and accused the Church of provoking the war.
• Delegates argued over responsibility for three days, and the Church became the focus of condemnation as nations began confiscating its properties.
• Hudson learned that the Church was dumping assets and that the Anti-French Alliance had begun withdrawing troops, suggesting the Franks and Iberians had secretly reached an agreement.
• An urgent report arrived from the front for Marshal Hudson.

Hudson returned to the Near East Region after learning the Beastfolk were preparing to flood the front, while the Alliance conference moved toward dividing the Church’s power and property. The Church representatives tried to evade the vote by fainting, and Hudson found an Elven Holy Domain overseeing the Beastfolk dam, limiting his options for sabotage.

• Hudson learned the Beastfolk had dammed the river upstream and set off to return to the Near East Region to command the war.
• Caesar IV called for a vote on the Alliance’s negotiation results, and Bishop Montesol failed to delay the proceedings.
• The Frankish Empire and Ilibia Kingdom supported the division of the Church’s assets, while Caesar IV’s proposal offered every nation religious autonomy and imposed war reparations on the Church.
• Caesar IV proposed reopening the investigation into the Church’s occupation of peninsula territories, and Bishop Montesol and other Church representatives fainted before the vote.
• Hudson inspected the Beastfolk dam from above, then returned to camp after sensing an Elven Holy Domain overseeing the operation.