Chapter Summaries

Roy supplied Leishande’s Half-Elves with weapons and armor, then expanded his Magic Herbs trade by buying low-grade herbs in Padesto City and selling them in Castleton City. The chapter ended with a letter from Leishande reporting battles against the Elven Headhunters and asking Roy to return to Padesto City for another trade.

• Roy gave Leishande two Magic Belts so the Half-Elves could transport the weapons and armor back to the Pagisto Plateau.
• Roy and Woods bought ten bundles of each of several low-grade Magic Herbs from a Padesto City trading house after the merchant ship had left.
• Roy’s group returned to Castleton City and sold the herbs to local potion shops over the next half month, earning roughly twice their purchase price.
• Roy attended Elf Academy through the rainy season and received a letter from Leishande saying the Half-Elves had fought several battles and the Headhunters had stopped casually sending search parties into the mountains.
• Leishande told Roy he had brought Magic Herbs outside Padesto City and asked him to come back soon to trade.

Roy continued building his Magic Herb trade between the Pattington Plane and Castleton City, while learning that the Resistance Army faced a dangerous conflict with the Highland Headhunters. After selling herbs in Castleton, Roy was followed and attacked by an arrow as he stepped out on Brown Street.

• Roy met Leishande outside Padesto City, exchanged supplies for a hundred bundles of Magic Herbs, and warned him that the Silver Moon Elf military might soon intervene in the plateau war.
• Leishande described the Highland Headhunters’ effective tactics and the Resistance Army’s heavy losses, and Roy urged him to keep fighting while preparing a possible retreat.
• Back in Castleton, Roy studied Abbott’s island charts and told Klayr he planned to keep trading Magic Herbs; Klayr advised him to join the city’s Magic Herb Merchant Guild.
• Roy struggled to sell his herbs as Castleton’s market became saturated, then noticed a hooded elf watching him and saw the elf’s carriage follow his own.
• At the Cross Street Intersection on Brown Street, Roy was struck by a silent arrow that hit the Hammer of Judgment Book against his chest.

Roy chased an elf assassin through Brown Street after the assassin’s arrow struck the Hammer of Judgment Book. The Night Blade Leopard stopped the assassin at a bridge, and Roy struck him down with a Holy Light Hammer, revealing him as a Silver Moon Elf.

• An elf assassin shot an arrow into the Hammer of Judgment Book, and Roy chased him as Brown Street’s Half-Elves joined the pursuit.
• The Night Blade Leopard followed the assassin across the Da Nei River and ambushed him on a stone bridge.
• The assassin wounded the Night Blade Leopard and fled toward the Great Sea Embankment as Roy caught up.
• Roy cast Hammer of Judgment and knocked the assassin face-first onto the embankment.
• A Half-Elf identified the captured attacker as a Silver Moon Elf, sparking an uproar among the Half-Elves.

Roy survived an elf assassin’s attack and learned that a Magic Herb Merchant Guild boss had ordered it because Roy’s low prices threatened his business. When Santos approached Roy outside the academy, Klayr confronted him and Santos’s coachman shoved Klayr, drawing a crowd of Elf students.

• Roy stopped the Half-Elves from beating the captured elf assassin and handed him over to the Elven Guard.
• Roy told Moira and Sabrina about the attack, and they offered to accompany him to sell Magic Herbs.
• Master Harper praised Roy’s Endless Sea chart to his class, while Klayr asked Roy about the assassination and invited him to a ball.
• The Elven Guard traced the assassination order to Santos, a Magic Herb Merchant Guild boss whose market Roy had undercut.
• Santos approached Roy outside the Elf Academy, and Klayr accused him of hiring the assassin.
• Santos’s coachman shoved Klayr, prompting nearby Elf students to swarm toward them.

Merchant Santos failed to persuade Roy to withdraw the charges and sought help from Butler Boris to influence the tribunal before his hearing. Meanwhile, Roy and Klayr prepared to attend a ball so Roy could seek a recommender for the Magic Herb Merchant Guild.

• Silver Moon Elf students beat Merchant Santos and his coachman after the coachman shoved Wagner Klayr, and Santos fled the academy gates in his carriage.
• Merchant Santos decided to ask an influential contact for help and brought a visitation letter to Wellington Manor to see Butler Boris.
• Ms. Edith and Ms. Phyllis arrived at Wellington Manor and learned that Santos was waiting to visit Butler Boris.
• Roy accepted formal clothes from Klayr and agreed to accompany him to a ball to seek a recommender for the Magic Herb Merchant Guild.
• After waiting all afternoon, Merchant Santos told Butler Boris that he faced a trial and asked him for help.

Merchant Santos bribed Boris Butler to cancel his upcoming trial, but Boris instead asked Owen Ellington to interfere, and Owen said he would review the case file first. Meanwhile, Roy attended an estate gathering with Klayr, spoke with Christine about his plan to buy Half-Elves’ Magic Herbs, and was led to meet an elven noble.

• Merchant Santos paid Boris Butler to arrange cancellation of his trial, and Boris promised to raise the request.
• At dinner, Boris told Owen Ellington that Santos was facing a trial; Owen agreed to review the case file before deciding whether to intervene.
• Owen asked Ms. Edith about Roy, and she described him as soft-hearted.
• Roy attended a gathering at an estate, served fruit wine to noblewomen, and talked with Christine about trading in Magic Herbs to help Half-Elves.
• After performing three pieces, Klayr found Roy and led him toward a group of elven nobles.

Roy secured Captain Simpson’s recommendation to join the Magic Herb Merchant Guild, registered as a member, and prepared to attend the trial of the elf assassin and merchant Santos. The chapter ended with Roy and Klayr entering the Hall of Judgment for the trial.

• Klayr introduced Roy to Captain Simpson, who agreed to recommend him to the Magic Herb Merchant Guild.
• Klayr helped Roy socialize at the ball, where Roy danced with a Silver Moon Elf lady, while Martina and Sherry watched from the crowd.
• Owen Ellington reviewed Santos’s case file and learned that Santos had hired an elf assassin to kill Roy over competition in the Magic Herb trade.
• Roy received an invitation, registered with the Magic Herb Merchant Guild, and learned that its headquarters connected through a tree passage to a Demiplane.
• Roy and Klayr arrived at the Hall of Judgment to attend the trial of the elf assassin and merchant Santos.

At the trial, Merchant Santos and Tracy were convicted after Santos admitted hiring Tracy to attack Roy, who refused an out-of-court settlement. Roy then expanded his Magic Herbs business while the guild warned him against price-cutting, and he brought Earl Swynborne news of the mines and Half-Elves on Pagisto Plateau.

• Santos arrived expecting the trial to be settled, but Elven Guards escorted him into a private room and then brought him before the tribunal.
• The Castleton Harbour Guard Squad testified that Tracy had tried to kill Roy at Santos's instruction, and Santos admitted he had hired Tracy to scare Roy away from the Magic Herbs trade.
• Roy rejected an out-of-court settlement, and Owen Ellington sentenced Santos to one hundred and fifty years in prison and Tracy to one hundred years.
• Santos and Tracy blamed each other as Elven Guards took them to a prison carriage bound for Parrham Island Prison, and Owen Ellington told Roy he was Edith's older brother.
• Roy shipped large quantities of cheap Magic Herbs from the Pattington Plane, enlisted Woods to process them, and received a guild notice warning him against malicious price-cutting.
• Roy told Earl Swynborne that Pagisto Plateau had more than a dozen mines and that Mine Owners had been using Elf Headhunters to capture Half-Elves.

Roy reassured Leishande that the Silver Pegasus Legion’s campaign on the Pagisto Plateau would target the mines and Highland Headhunters rather than the Half-Elves. As Roy prepared to leave Pattington Plane, Earl Swynborne summoned him to military headquarters, while his companions returned to Castleton City.

• Leishande told Roy he could no longer deliver Magic Herbs because he needed to escort Half-Elves away from the Pagisto Plateau, and Roy urged him to consider moving them to Rampart Town.
• Roy assured Leishande that the Seventeenth Silver Pegasus Legion intended to seize the plateau’s mines and would not attack the Half-Elves, easing some of Leishande’s fears.
• Roy collected the Magic Herbs from Leishande and Langbo in a secluded forest, then returned to Padesto City with Sabrina, Woods, Moira, and Miss Tiffany.
• At the Teleportation Portal, a Guard Captain told Roy that Earl Swynborne wanted to see him and agreed to let his companions return to Castleton City without him.
• Roy sent Sabrina, Woods, Moira, and Miss Tiffany through the portal, and Moira hugged him before she left.

Roy was summoned by Earl Swynborne and assigned to the Seventeenth Silver Pegasus Legion’s Logistics Unit to guide it on Pagisto Plateau and help contact the local Half-Elves. After a week of travel, Roy spotted what he guessed was Leishande’s Transport Team ahead.

• Earl Swynborne questioned Roy about his earlier dealings with the Half-Elves on Pagisto Plateau and asked him to join the expedition.
• Roy agreed to travel with the Logistics Unit and help the legion contact the Half-Elves and find clues about the Highland Headhunters.
• Commander Berkeley assigned Roy a gentle stallion and a military tent as the Logistics Unit prepared its supplies.
• Roy wrote to Sabrina and Moira before the Logistics Unit departed Padesto City the following morning.
• After a week on the road, Roy rode up a hill and spotted a distant herd of bighorn sheep that he guessed belonged to Leishande’s Transport Team.

Roy helped the struggling Logistics Regiment as it crossed the muddy Hilly Mountain Area, revealing that he could heal injured horses with divine magic. He persuaded Commander Berkeley to seek help from his Pagisto Plateau friend Leishande, and the chapter ended as Leishande and Langbo emerged from hiding to meet Roy.

• Roy traveled with the Silver Moon Elf Logistics Regiment and earned the warriors' trust by helping with camp duties.
• Heavy rain worsened the mountain roads, leaving the regiment stuck amid mud, damaged wagons, and injured horses.
• Roy used Holy Light Art to heal a fallen war horse, surprising Commander Berkeley with his priestly abilities.
• Roy offered to ask Leishande and his flock of rams to help transport supplies, after Berkeley confirmed the army would not attack the plateau Half-Elves.
• Roy went into the forest with two Elf Warriors, and Leishande and Langbo emerged from hiding after realizing Roy was not being forced to come with them.

Roy helped Commander Berkeley’s Logistics Regiment overcome severe transport problems in the Hilly Mountain Area by recruiting Leishande’s argali sheep and using his knowledge of the terrain. After reaching the plateau’s edge, Roy, Leishande, and the regiment set out again to support the Cavalry Vanguard Regiment and pursue Roy’s mission to locate the Elf Headhunters and their mines.

• Roy asked Leishande to lend his Bighorn Argali Sheep Transport Team, and Leishande agreed after Roy promised the Silver Moon Elf army would protect the Half-Elves.
• Leishande and Langbo brought more than thirty argali sheep to Commander Berkeley, who promised them compensation and asked for their help navigating the mountains.
• Leishande marked a better route on the map, and the sheep carried supplies that allowed Berkeley’s Logistics Regiment to cross the Hilly Mountain Area in two days.
• Roy treated injured War Horses at the military camp while the Logistics Regiments arrived and dealt with heavy losses and supply shortages.
• Commander Berkeley told Roy and Leishande that they would accompany the Cavalry Vanguard Regiment onto the plateau and carry another batch of supplies.
• The next morning, Roy rode with Berkeley’s regiment and Leishande’s loaded pack train up the steep mountain paths.

Roy arrived at the Cavalry Vanguard Regiment’s camp with the Logistics Regiment and was assigned to the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad. After helping Leishande secure supplies and leave safely, Roy stayed behind with Langbo, who would help him find the Elf Headhunters.

• Roy and the Logistics Regiment traveled through the mountains for nine days before reaching the Cavalry Vanguard Regiment’s camp on the Pagisto Plateau.
• Commander Berkeley delivered the supplies and introduced Roy to Commander Hekelis, who assigned Roy to the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad.
• Roy met Jones, the squad’s captain, and received permission to return to the Logistics Regiment for his belongings.
• Leishande said he needed to return to his settlement, and he suggested Langbo stay to help Roy locate the Elf Headhunters.
• Commander Berkeley gave Leishande daily necessities, and Leishande departed with his bighorn sheep while Roy and Langbo returned to camp.

Roy and Langbo served with the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad, where their scouting and survival skills helped expose Elf Headhunter ambushes and support the Cavalry Vanguard Regiment’s campaign. After Silver Pegasus reinforcements drove the Headhunters deeper into the Pagisto Plateau, Roy and Langbo joined the pursuit while Roy remained overlooked by Commander Hekelis.

• Commander Hekelis dismissed Roy’s importance and planned operations against the Elf Headhunters across the Pagisto Plateau.
• Langbo warned Roy that Elf Headhunters could be lying in ambush above a grassy slope, and Captain Jones’s scouts circled around and discovered the fleeing scouts.
• Two Elf Headhunters ambushed Roy and Langbo in tall grass; Roy killed them and treated Langbo’s serious throat wound.
• Roy gained a reputation in the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad as he repeatedly fought Headhunters and brought back their corpses.
• The Cavalry Vanguard Regiment won several battles using reconnaissance reports, but the Headhunters lured the cavalry into traps and Commander Hekelis requested reinforcements.
• Silver Pegasus reinforcements routed the Headhunters, and the Cavalry Vanguard Regiment pursued them into the plateau with Roy and Langbo among its ranks.

The Cavalry Vanguard Regiment and Silver Pegasus Legion learned that the mine owners were supporting the Highland Headhunters and set out to locate a mine using Roy’s knowledge. They reached the fortified mine, where Commander Hekelis prepared to confront its defenders.

• Silver Pegasus reinforcements drove the Elf Headhunters deeper into Pagisto Plateau, while the adjutant learned that Roy’s Tenth Reconnaissance Squad had hunted nearly thirty Headhunters.
• Roy and Langbo concluded that they should target the mines supplying the Headhunters, and Langbo revealed a hidden mine on a nearby ridge.
• Commander Hekelis told Roy that the Silver Pegasus Legion wanted to seize the plateau’s mines, and Roy agreed to guide the forces to one he knew about.
• Roy led the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad and the Cavalry Vanguard Regiment toward the mine, while Silver Pegasus scouts spotted its fortress-like structure from the air.
• The Cavalry Vanguard Regiment reached the mountain and found the route blocked by a landslide, and Commander Hekelis drew his sword and pointed it at the mine fortress.

Mine Owner Grantham surrendered his fortress to the Silver Moon Elf army, which took control and began searching for the Half-Elf miners and the mine entrance. Roy and the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad searched the rooms but found no entrance, and Captain Jones questioned a Half-Elf steward about its location.

• Grantham ordered his private army to surrender as the Silver Pegasus Warriors and Commander Hekelis's cavalry approached the fortress.
• The private army opened the gates, surrendered its weapons, and let the Silver Moon Elf cavalry enter.
• Roy and Captain Jones searched the fortress, where the cavalry rounded up its inhabitants and found a bag of unpolished gemstones.
• Commander Hekelis rejected Grantham's denial and attempted bribe, then ordered him detained and began taking over the mine.
• Roy's squad failed to find the mine entrance, so Captain Jones asked a Half-Elf steward where the mine shaft was.

At the fortress mine, Commander Hekelis investigated the shaft where slaves had been forced to mine gemstones and ordered a rescue for the Half-Elves below. As miners began climbing out, the discovery of a sealed shaft that had once released giant black beetles raised the possibility of a Dark Creature passage underground.

• Roy and the Tenth Reconnaissance Squad learned from the mine overseer that slaves received food according to how much ore they sent up, and that miners underground included several rival factions.
• Commander Hekelis tested the shaft’s depth and questioned the overseer, who described the mine’s history and its changing sources of slaves.
• Commander Hekelis ordered a rope ladder lowered so miners, including innocent Half-Elves, could be rescued, while another Commander Hekelis investigated the iron-barred shaft where giant black beetles had appeared.
• Roy helped carry a dried beetle specimen, and the commanders identified it as a Dark Creature and discussed clearing the quicklime from the sealed shaft before exploring it.
• An emaciated Old Elf climbed out and said he had been a mining slave for over sixty years; another miner followed, and Commander Hekelis warned the guards to watch those who emerged.

Commander Hekelis’s raid freed the Half-Elf mine slaves but left the Gemstone Mine with too few miners to maintain production. With the mine nearly stalled, Mine Owner Grantham proposed adding new miners as the best way to restore output.

• Commander Hekelis questioned a Half-Elf prisoner and a rescued Silver Moon Elf about the factions living in the mine.
• Commander Hekelis freed Half-Elves from the mine but returned the Dark Moon Elf prisoners and Gray Dwarves underground to continue mining.
• Commander Hekelis’s forces detained Mine Owner Grantham, his family, and his private soldiers, while Roy observed that the mine’s freed labor force would leave production in disarray.
• The Gemstone Mine’s daily output fell to one-tenth of its former level, keeping Commander Hekelis and the Cavalry Vanguard Regiment at the fortress.
• Mine Owner Grantham offered Commander Hekelis gemstones and magic weapons in exchange for his release, but Commander Hekelis refused and asked how to restore production.
• Mine Owner Grantham said the mine needed new Miners, since the freed Half-Elves had been its main labor force.

Commander Hekelis assigned the Reconnaissance Brigade to remain at the First Mine while the other cavalry battalions departed for a second mine. Roy stayed behind with the brigade, and the chapter ended when Grantham tried to bribe Roy and two Elf Rangers with jeweled golden goblets.

• Commander Hekelis sent the captains to discuss who would garrison the First Mine, and they decided the Reconnaissance Brigade would stay behind.
• Captain Yalige reluctantly took charge of the mine with five hundred Elf Rangers as the other cavalry battalions prepared to leave.
• Roy accepted staying at the mine, where his squad guarded warehouses as the Gray Dwarves and prisoners stopped sending up gemstone ore.
• The cavalry battalions departed, leaving the Reconnaissance Brigade at the mine, while the Elf Rangers withheld food from the prisoners below.
• Grantham approached Roy and two Elf Rangers at night and offered them jeweled golden goblets, but they ordered him back to his room.

Roy tried to restart the mine by offering food in exchange for gemstone ore, while rumors suggested the Silver Pegasus Legion might cooperate with Grantham and the Mine Owners. His exchange brought cheers from the prisoners below, and the next day they sent up higher-quality ore.

• Miner Grantham tried to win over three Elven Guards with Golden Goblets, while Roy refused a goblet and warned Langbo that Grantham might be planning to escape.
• Captain Jones assigned Roy to guard the mine shaft and asked him to find a way to make the prisoners and Gray Dwarves resume work.
• Langbo told Roy that Commander Hekelis had suggested to Earl Swynborne that Grantham take charge of the mine again, raising fears that the Legion would cooperate with the Mine Owners.
• Roy took over the mine shaft guard shift and posted an exchange list offering food and drink for gemstone ore.
• Roy and three Elven Guards lowered a Wooden Box into the mine, collected low-quality ore and requests, then sent apples and breadfruit down in exchange.
• Roy received cheers from the mine and, the next day, exchanged more food and honey for higher-quality ore.