Chapter Summaries

Romain’s forces crushed Kant Territory’s conscripts, captured the fleeing villagers of Fourth Village, and reached Fifth Village with Count Kant’s reinforcements trailing them. As both armies camped for the night, Romain prepared cautiously for the final stretch of his Plunder Plan.

• Romain, Dick, and the other War Knights surrounded the conscripts after the cavalry charge, and the demoralized soldiers surrendered as the surviving cavalry fled.
• Romain ordered the fallen soldiers’ bodies taken for burial in Sigg Town and continued on foot with the wounded Kao tied to a saddle.
• Dota’s scouts tracked Fourth Village’s fleeing villagers until Romain’s lightly equipped troops intercepted and captured them, while Fifth Village’s residents escaped.
• Romain’s convoy reached Fifth Village by dusk, and scouts reported that more than five hundred of Count Kant’s reinforcements were following it.
• Count Kant’s reinforcements camped outside Fifth Village, and Romain’s forces dismantled village buildings for bonfires and guarded against a night attack.

Romain escorted the people and plunder from Kant Territory toward the Bro River while Count Kant’s much larger force followed without daring to attack. As the ships carried away the captives, Romain faced the problem of leaving roughly a thousand more behind, and Count Kant ordered an assault just as a burly warrior challenged his army.

• Romain and his exhausted troops marched through the snow to the Bro River, with heavy-shield soldiers guarding the convoy as nearly two thousand of Count Kant’s men pursued them.
• At the dock, Romain’s troops held formation while camp attendants loaded captives onto more than forty merchant ships, despite the shipowners’ reluctance to join the conflict.
• Count Kant arrived and ordered his archers to fire, but his forces suffered more casualties in the exchange and failed to stop the loading.
• Count Kant ordered his army to attack and reclaim the captives, but a burly, wild-haired man stepped out of the shield wall and challenged them to fight to the death.
• Romain’s plan to transport the captives by river faltered when he discovered that the ships could carry only a little over half of them, leaving about one thousand on shore.

Romain returned to Sigg Town after forcing Kant's knights to abandon their attack and discovered that his expedition had seized 5,234 slaves. He began arranging housing for them, leaving Sigg Town with a population and building project far larger than he had planned.

• Romain's trackers hauled the merchant ships through Silver Dragon Canyon while Kant's knights stood down, unwilling to risk their remaining forces in battle.
• Romain's soldiers returned to Sigg Town, where the wounded received treatment and the fallen were buried with honor.
• Jimmy and Seth counted 5,234 captured slaves at the docks, prompting Romain to celebrate the scale of his gains.
• Romain ordered Seth to settle the slaves, then took charge himself when he realized the town's empty houses could not accommodate them all.
• Romain decided to house up to ten people in each brick house and expand construction to absorb the new population.

Romain brought more than five thousand captured slaves to Sigg Town and planned to register each person before assigning them work. The chapter ended with the newcomers lining up to be recorded as residents, while Romain expected to reunite families left behind in Kant Territory through a future campaign.

• Romain captured common people and skilled workers, while ordering the deaths of former overseers and other unproductive elites who might challenge his authority.
• The slaves helped manage the journey by distributing food, caring for children, and taking on other tasks, though they resented Romain and competed among themselves for better treatment.
• Romain delayed assigning labor and organized a census so every slave could be entered into Sigg Town's Household Registry Department records.
• Romain, Jimmy, Niriel, Seth, Mol, and other literate administrators registered more than five thousand slaves in lines of several hundred people each.
• Romain expected slaves separated from their families in Kant Territory to reunite with them after a future campaign he called the Wipeout Plan.

Romain registered the new arrivals and faced a food shortage as Sigg Town’s population passed ten thousand. With livestock not yet ready for mass slaughter, he decided to lead a winter hunt in the Black Barbarian Lands.

• Niriel struggled to register the slaves’ occupations, while Romain assigned skilled newcomers to trades, unskilled adults to farms or the army, and children to study at Origin Manor.
• Romain realized the town’s food stores could not sustain its enlarged population, so he planned to rely more heavily on soybeans until livestock could be slaughtered.
• Romain counted on Aki’s Farming Grounds and Livestock Shed to provide meat, milk, and eggs, while reserving much of the produce for students and soldiers.
• Romain asked Seth to help Jimmy assign workers and select recruits while he went on a winter hunt.
• Romain prepared to lead soldiers into the Black Barbarian Lands to replenish the town’s dwindling meat supplies.

Romain visited the wounded Kao, praised his victory over a War Knight but reprimanded him for risking his life, and promised to dub him a War Knight. He then told Sana to care for her brother, leaving her feeling misunderstood and out of place at the manor.

• Romain checked Kao's injuries and reviewed how Kao had trained hard, improved his stats, and killed a fully armed War Knight in a duel.
• Romain promised to dub Kao a War Knight, then scolded him for challenging the knight without permission and risking his life.
• Romain left Kao's room and saw Sana and Gevra playing together in the snow.
• Romain told Sana that she should take better care of her wounded brother, but Sana felt wronged because Kao had sent her away and she feared Romain.
• Sana and Gevra continued keeping each other company as both felt out of place at the manor.

Sana struggled to understand her place as Kao’s sister, while Kao urged her to serve Romain and stay in his sight. Romain took Sana and Gevra along on a winter hunt, where his soldiers began hunting magical beasts to relieve the food shortage.

• Sana returned to Kao’s room after the lord reprimanded her, and Kao told her to help Romain on his hunting trip.
• Kao urged Sana to ask Romain to take her hunting so she would live in the lord’s sight, and Romain agreed after hearing what had happened.
• Gevra joined Sana, and Romain set out with three hundred soldiers to hunt enough meat to help address the food shortage.
• The hunting party entered the snowy forest, where Romain considered the region’s potential as farmland if it were reclaimed.
• Romain spread his soldiers around a hunting ground, and they began killing magical beasts such as wild boars and forest bears.

Gevra and Sana picked goldenberries in the snowy wilderness, intending to bring them to Romain and the sick Kao. After Gevra opened up about her loneliness as they headed back, she discovered Sana had disappeared.

• Gevra found a patch of goldenberries and excitedly showed Sana how delicious and medicinal they were said to be.
• Sana and Gevra gathered berries in buckets, planning to bring them to Romain and Kao.
• Sana grew uneasy when the winter hunting party vanished from sight, but followed Gevra farther into the wilderness.
• As they walked back, Gevra told Sana about feeling cursed with bad luck for others and grateful that Sana accepted her.
• Gevra turned around and found Sana gone, dropping her bucket as goldenberries spilled across the snow.

Sana became lost and injured in the savage forest after falling down a snowy slope, then faced a vicious wolf as strange power awakened within her. An unseen archer struck the wolf down, and Sana saw a man with blazing scarlet eyes standing a hundred meters away.

• Sana lost consciousness after slipping down a snowy slope and woke after nightfall, unable to find her way back.
• Sana twisted her ankle, became trapped in the freezing forest, and feared Gevra's curse was coming true.
• Sana crawled through the forest until an old wolf approached and pounced on her.
• Sana released a strange power that formed an invisible barrier, but the barrier shattered as the wolf attacked.
• An archer shot the wolf with a powerful arrow, and Sana saw him standing in the dark with scarlet eyes.

Romain rescued Sana from the gloomy forest and carried her back to the winter hunting camp, where she recovered from her ordeal and developed unfamiliar feelings toward him. The chapter ended with Sana and Gevra asleep beneath the Lynx Cloak while Romain went to rest after staying awake all night.

• Romain tracked Sana through the forest, found her injured and chilled, and carried her back wrapped in his Lynx Cloak.
• Sana told Romain how she had become lost after Gevra cursed her, and Romain decided he needed to reassess Gevra’s power.
• As Romain carried her, Sana felt increasingly drawn to his warmth and scent and wondered sadly whether she could be close to him again once they returned to the manor.
• Romain returned Sana to the winter hunting camp at dawn, learned that Gevra had fallen asleep after waiting for him, and laid the two girls together beneath the cloak.
• Romain gave instructions for the next day and returned to his tent to rest.

After returning from a successful winter hunt, Romain planned to expand Sigg Town’s army and prepare for another apostle recruitment. He confronted Gevra about hiding her power and learned she had suppressed it because she did not want to hurt anyone.

• Romain returned to Sigg Town with more than a hundred thousand jin of game, and Seth reported that he had recruited six hundred new soldiers.
• Romain planned to build an army of two thousand professional soldiers and raise the next apostle recruitment to one hundred and fifty draws.
• Romain summoned Gevra and reassured her after the incident in which she had nearly killed Sana.
• Romain asked Gevra why she had hidden her power, and Gevra said she did not want to hurt anyone.
• Romain concluded that Gevra’s power mattered to Shasta, who had come to Sigg Town and helped ignite conflict across the northern lands.

Romain urged Gevra to face and control her power rather than hide from it, promising to stand behind her. He then used a ten-pull and unexpectedly recruited both Sana and Gevra as five-star apostles.

• Gevra admitted she feared her power would bring Romain misfortune, and he challenged her to stop hiding from fate.
• Romain reminded Gevra that Sana might have died if he had not brought her back, then promised to support her as she learned to control her power.
• Gevra agreed to answer Romain's summons and went to check on Sana's injured foot.
• Romain used a ten-pull and received a golden five-star Sana, whose physical talents and abilities surprised him.
• A second golden result revealed five-star Gevra, whose skills involved manipulating fate, converting luck and misfortune, and cursing.

Romain used his resources on a massive recruitment session, which yielded two five-star apostles but no four-stars, and considered ways to improve future results. He visited the injured Kao and Sana, then lifted Sana and asked her to become his attendant.

• Romain spent his resources on 150 recruitment pulls, receiving two five-star apostles, three three-star apostles, and no four-star apostles.
• Romain considered using Magic Stones and training Gevra to improve his chances of recruiting powerful apostles.
• Romain visited Kao, who was recovering from severe abdominal injuries, and Sana, whose sprained ankle had improved.
• Kao harshly blamed Sana for getting into danger, and she hid her distress from Romain when he asked about her ankle.
• Romain lifted Sana from her chair and asked whether she wanted to become his attendant.

Romain revealed that Sana had become a Witch and invited her to become his attendant, giving her a new home and a chance to train. As Sana and Gevra set off together, Romain predicted Sana’s prospects were boundless, while Kao turned his thoughts to the pirate leader Yoen.

• Romain told Kao that Sana had become a Witch and that he would train her as his attendant.
• Sana accepted and asked Romain for a room, food, and protection from Kao; Romain granted her requests and welcomed her loyalty.
• Sana embraced Romain and recalled her childhood fishing village, then found herself understanding Kao better.
• Gevra asked to play with Sana, and the two girls ran out together after Romain agreed they could play if they passed their lessons.
• Romain told Kao that Sana’s future achievements might surpass his own, while Kao muttered Yoen’s name and grew furious.

Romain assigned his newly recruited apostles to posts while Sigg Town struggled to build its departments and school. At dinner, he questioned Sana and Gevra about their Witch abilities and decided to seek magical knowledge for them, wary of sending them to the secretive Witch Forest.

• Romain searched the Residents Department archives, found promising apostles, and assigned them directly to suitable posts.
• Romain's War Knights worked to establish the Military Department and draft rules for military pay, discipline, and benefits.
• Seth and Niriel helped manage Sigg Town, while the manor's classes stopped and students began teaching one another.
• Romain asked Sana about her awakening, and she and Gevra admitted they did not know how to train their abilities.
• Romain told Sana and Gevra to familiarize themselves with their powers and considered finding them magical knowledge, but ruled out sending them to Witch Forest.

Romain used a ruby to enter a Battle Simulation, bringing twelve Apostles into past battles to test how the system worked. After experiencing three stages of combat, including a devastating cavalry charge, he learned that Apostles could relive battles but remained vulnerable to fear and death.

• Romain reviewed the gemstones he had gathered and found that red gems could be exchanged for more Simulation Vouchers than blue ones.
• Romain spent a small ruby on three vouchers, then used one to select twelve Apostles and enter a simulation of three past battles.
• Romain and the Apostles relived the shield formation’s defense against the War Knights, but they could not change the battle’s outcome.
• Romain led the Apostles in a charge against Baron Crow’s Conscript Army, killing two conscripts before the simulation moved to the next battle.
• Romain and the surviving Apostles joined the Longbowmen, where Romain fired effectively as a War Knights charge killed two Apostles and left the others struggling with fear.

Romain held a medal ceremony for soldiers who had distinguished themselves in battle, then arranged wives for nearly five hundred soldiers through a lottery. The chapter ended with him ordering the men to bring their future wives to him so he could witness their weddings.

• Romain awarded Rick and other longbowmen merit medals and commended the unit for holding back pursuers and saving a thousand people.
• Romain named the injured Kao his War Knight and promoted Nathson to noncommissioned officer, promising Nathson he could bring his wife after another campaign.
• Romain announced that soldiers without wives would draw names from a box containing screened women taken from Kant Territory.
• Disabled soldiers drew first, and Romain secretly gave Tucker a slip naming Laura as his future wife.
• After all the soldiers received names, Romain told them to bring their future wives before him for their weddings.

Laura was taken from her family to marry Tucker, a disabled soldier, under the lord’s orders. She left with Tucker, accepting that she had little control over her life.

• Old Man Richard feared for Laura as his family waited in their assigned house.
• Tucker arrived at house 1276 and announced that the lord had given Laura to him in marriage.
• Tucker revealed that he had lost his right hand, and Old Man Richard accepted that his daughter would marry a disabled man.
• Laura identified herself and asked Tucker where he was taking her.
• Laura left with Tucker after gently freeing her hand from Old Man Richard’s grasp.

Laura and Tucker joined the other soldiers and women for a mass wedding arranged by Lord Romain, who led them through vows and promised to protect their marriages. The celebration ended with a lavish feast, fur coats for the couples, and marriage certificates.

• Laura walked with Tucker to the wedding venue and learned that Lord Romain would witness their marriage without charging them.
• Romain arranged the arriving couples into ranks and declared their service to him before asking them to accept one another as spouses.
• Romain led the men and women in vows promising love, respect, and lifelong protection.
• The newlyweds shared a lavish feast and took home leftover food.
• Romain gave each couple a fur coat as a wedding gift and issued them marriage certificates.

Romain distributed labor and prepared Sigg Town for spring plowing, but most available fields were abandoned wasteland that required years of hard work and careful treatment before they could become productive farmland. The chapter ends with Romain facing the challenge of expanding cultivation using scarce tools and newly applied agricultural knowledge.

• Romain gave nearly five hundred soldiers Fur Coats as wedding gifts and granted them three days of marriage leave.
• Romain assigned laborers to the military camp, the Foundry Department, the Woodworking Factory, and the Livestock Department.
• Romain began spring plowing, but the previously cultivated fields could not meet the town’s needs, so workers had to reclaim wasteland.
• Romain explained that reclaiming wasteland required breaking compacted soil with Pickaxes, clearing stones and weeds, and improving the land over three to five years.
• Romain described using crops, rainfall, burning, peat, and fermented manure to improve soil as part of the reclamation process.