Chapter Summaries

Sabrina’s Adventure Group crossed the Pagisto Plateau to find Roy, learning that he had rescued Half-Elves and was organizing their defense. After reaching the South Black Iron Mine, they discovered Roy was at a more distant mine and continued toward him.

• Mulin arranged a Half-Elf guide, who led Sabrina, Moira, Woods, Tiffany, and Klayr north through the Sudaso Mountain Range while praising Roy’s rescue of thousands of mine slaves.
• Sabrina asked the guide whether the Half-Elves might settle elsewhere, but he doubted the slavers would stop pursuing them if they left Pagisto.
• The group reached the Gaxi South Black Iron Mine and learned from its wary guards that Roy was training a Half-Elf Guard Squad at the northernmost Black Iron Mine.
• Sabrina urged the group to continue toward Roy, while she explained to Moira that Roy’s work could help Half-Elves defend themselves and ease tensions with Silver Moon Elves.
• That night, the group camped beneath a sheltered rock as Moira, Sabrina, and Tiffany rested together and Woods answered Klayr’s questions about hearing nature.

Roy welcomed Moira, Sabrina, Woods, Miss Tiffany, and Blair to the North Black Iron Mine, where he put his friends to work helping prepare for a possible war. He refused Moira and Sabrina’s offer to stay, insisting they return to school, while Woods agreed to remain and help.

• Roy met Moira, Sabrina, Woods, Miss Tiffany, and Blair at the castle and asked them to help at the mine.
• Roy asked Woods to find a way to grow fruit trees on the cold, rocky hillside.
• Roy arranged for Sabrina to teach the Half-Elf Warriors and for Tennyson to train Moira in assassin combat techniques.
• Roy told Klayr that his eight mines were short on staff and that he was preparing for the Highland Headhunters’ return.
• Woods agreed to stay and help Roy, but Roy refused Moira’s offer to stay and insisted that she and Sabrina return to school.
• Sabrina took over the Half-Elf Warriors’ training, while Woods and Klayr helped survey the terrain, easing Roy’s workload.

Klayr recorded a melody Roy composed from the wind and offered to help him sell mining wealth in Castleton City. Meanwhile, Moira trained in stealth under Tennyson, and Sabrina demonstrated her combat technique to the Half-Elf Warriors.

• Roy hummed a melody inspired by a golden eagle, and Klayr transcribed it as Roy named it Song of the Eagle.
• Klayr offered Roy a Mining Association recommendation and help finding a warehouse in Castleton City for his spinels and Mithril Ingots.
• Moira trained with Tennyson, who taught her that she had to evade a target’s sense of smell as well as its sight and hearing.
• Sabrina arranged for ten Half-Elf Warriors to attack her on a narrow rock and defeated their encirclement with Dance of Radiance.

As Roy’s group prepared to leave the Pagisto Plateau for Elf Academy, Tiffany made magic scrolls, Woods planned to stay and tend plants, and the travelers shared a last evening together. That night, Highland Headhunters attacked the Black Iron Mine castle, and the Half-Elf Warriors sounded the alarm and spotted them on the terraces.

• Tiffany successfully made three Ice Wall scrolls and planned to give them to Roy before the group departed.
• Woods inspected the Red Berry shrubs and planned to graft apple branches onto them, while preparing to build a sunroom for his Light Flowers.
• Roy prepared the horses, luggage, and a farewell dinner as the group made plans to leave the next morning for school registration and course selection.
• Moira remained upset about leaving, while Tiffany urged Sabrina to stay and help Roy after graduation.
• Roy shared Orange Wine with Klayr, who was struggling to finish Song of the Eagle before their departure.
• Highland Headhunters crossed the mountains and crept toward the Black Iron Mine castle, but ropes and iron bars tripped them and alerted the defenders, who lit fire arrows and recognized the attackers.

Highland Headhunters attacked the castle at night, and the Half-Elf Warriors fought to hold the City Wall. Roy nearly fell to the attackers before Sabrina arrived and turned the battle in the defenders’ favor.

• The Highland Headhunters climbed the City Wall under a barrage of arrows and flaming Stone Balls, forcing the Half-Elf defenders into close combat.
• Sabrina armed herself and ran to the wall while Moira slipped out to join Captain Timothy and Tennyson’s Assassin Squad.
• Roy helped defend the battlements, but six Highland Headhunters surrounded him and pinned him down as a War Blade fell toward his head.
• Woods transformed into an Earth Tyrant Bear and attacked the headhunters, but Sabrina arrived in time to block the War Blade with her Serugi Longsword.
• Sabrina used Dance of Radiance to cut through the attackers and restore the Half-Elves’ advantage as Woods and Roy helped drive back the assault.

Dark Moon Elf Warriors led by Captain Timothy ambushed Highland Headhunters beneath North Black Iron Mine Castle while the Half-Elves fought off a siege on the walls. The headhunters retreated after heavy losses, and Roy began treating the wounded as Moira returned to Sabrina, who said the enemy had reached the Gaxi Mountain Range.

• Captain Timothy led Dark Moon Elf Warriors in an ambush beneath the wall, killing the headhunter captain and his squad while Moira watched without striking.
• Sabrina, Roy, Woods, Klayr, and Tiffany helped the Half-Elves repel repeated attacks on the castle walls.
• A horn sounded, and the Highland Headhunters withdrew; at least three hundred died on the walls, while the Assassin Squad killed at least a hundred more in four raids.
• Roy treated a badly wounded Half-Elf Warrior with diluted Tree of Life Sap and Holy Light Art, while Woods helped and supplied Light Flowers.
• Moira returned to the bedroom as Sabrina came back exhausted and bloodied, then learned that the Highland Headhunters had reached the Gaxi Mountain Range and were fighting them that night.

Roy and the defenders of North Black Iron Mine Castle endured a growing Highland Headhunter blockade after repelling a night raid, while the Headhunters regrouped and sent a force south. The chapter left Roy fearing that Central Gaxic Black Iron Mine Castle was under attack after smoke rose near Aurelian Snow Mountain.

• Sabrina washed off the blood from the battle while Moira asked about Roy and then went to help in the treatment room.
• Roy treated the wounded Half-Elf Warriors as he learned the Highland Headhunters had retreated to Aidas Mountain and sent scouts around the mine.
• The Headhunter Chieftain executed more than thirty wavering Headhunters and joined other chieftains in planning a new attack.
• Roy saw nearly a thousand Headhunters bypass North Black Iron Mine Castle toward Aurelian Snow Mountain, while the growing blockade trapped the defenders inside.
• Sabrina, Woods, Tiffany, Klayr, and Moira agreed to stay and help Roy, and Roy later spotted a thick column of smoke rising near Aurelian Snow Mountain.

Roy and the defenders of North Black Iron Mine Castle endured a prolonged siege by the Highland Slavers until they were driven back into the mine and considered escaping. Just as Roy began arranging a retreat, a Half-Elf Warrior reported that griffins carrying Half-Elf riders had appeared outside.

• The Highland Slavers captured the southern and central Black Iron Mines and gathered thousands of warriors around North Black Iron Mine.
• Roy urged Miss Tiffany, Moira, and Klayr to flee south, but they insisted on staying to help defend the castle.
• Roy and the Half-Elf Warriors repelled repeated assaults while Miss Tiffany used magic to freeze part of the City Wall, but supplies and defenders dwindled.
• The Highland Slavers breached the castle walls and captured the Arrow Towers, forcing Roy and the surviving Elf Warriors to retreat into the rear mine.
• Captain Timothy urged Roy to withdraw under cover of night, and Roy began arranging for Moira and Sabrina to leave.
• A Half-Elf Warrior rushed into the mine and told Roy that griffins carrying Half-Elf Warriors had appeared outside.

Kaka returned to the Pagisto Plateau with 150 griffons, while Mulin brought 150 Half-Elf Warriors and supplies to reinforce Roy at North Black Iron Mine. With their help, Roy retook the castle in a night battle and drove the Highland Slavers back to the North Slope of Aidasi Mountain.

• Roy spotted Kaka's griffon fleet overhead as the Highland Slavers attacked him with Short Flying Spears.
• Kaka landed in the rear courtyard and reunited with Roy, while Mulin reported on the other mines and brought reinforcements and supplies.
• Roy ordered Captain Timothy to prepare to retake the castle, and Kaka took the Griffon Warriors back into the sky as night fell.
• Dark Moon Elf Warriors ambushed the Highland Slavers inside the castle while Roy's Half-Elves seized its sections and Griffon Warriors showered the enemy camp with arrows.
• By dawn, Roy's forces had reclaimed North Black Iron Mine Castle, and the Highland Slavers had retreated to the North Slope of Aidasi Mountain.

After Kaka and Tiprado brought griffon riders and reinforcements, Roy retook North Black Iron Mine and persuaded Tiprado’s hunters to join the Pagisto Plateau Guard Squad. At a strategy meeting, Mulin proposed using the castle as a base for coordinated air attacks and nighttime raids against the Highland Headhunters.

• Kaka, Tiprado, and their griffon riders helped Roy drive the Highland Headhunters away and reclaim North Black Iron Mine Castle.
• Roy thanked Tiprado and invited his hunters to join the Guard Squad, explaining its official status, resources, and agreement to share half the mines’ income with the Silver Pegasus Legion.
• Tiprado agreed to join the Pagisto Plateau Guard Squad after Roy addressed his concerns.
• Mulin proposed holding North Black Iron Mine Castle, attacking exposed headhunters from the air by day, and sending the Assassin Squad to raid camps at night.
• Tiprado agreed to use griffons to transport the Assassin Squad to camps near the other snow mountains and bring back supplies.

Moira joined Vice Captain Tennyson’s Assassin Squad on a nighttime raid against the Highland Slavers camped beneath Aidasi Mountain, killing her target and helping save a fellow elf. Afterward, Roy checked on Woods and went to examine Sabrina’s wound, where he found Miss Tiffany in their room.

• The Highland Slavers gathered beneath Aidasi Mountain, fearing the Assassin Squad and the griffin-riding Half-Elves after their failed assault on the mine.
• Vice Captain Tennyson led Moira and the Assassin Squad toward the slavers’ bonfires and silently killed a sentry.
• Moira killed her assigned slaver with a Thrust Sabre, then cut the tattoo-faced slaver’s arm to stop him from stabbing a fallen Dark Moon Elf Warrior.
• The Dark Moon Elf Warrior stabbed the slaver beneath him, and Moira’s Thrust Sabre finished the man as he tried to strangle the elf.
• Roy checked Woods’s healing wounds, then went to examine Sabrina’s shoulder and found Miss Tiffany with her.

Roy arranged for Klayr to gather supplies and healing materials while he led the Griffon Corps to support the Half-Elves at the North Mithril Mine. The griffons drove off the slavers attacking the mine, and Roy asked Qian Ning Sitney how long they had been there.

• Roy discovered that Moira had secretly joined the Assassin Squad and told her to be careful on future missions.
• Roy assigned Klayr to take spinels to Padesto City and Castleton to secure military supplies, Elf Biscuits, potions, and Tree of Life Sap.
• Tiprado led the Griffon Corps to retrieve the Assassin Squad, and Roy reassured Moira after she returned from the raid.
• Roy, Sabrina, Miss Tiffany, and Klayr flew with the Griffon Corps toward the First Mine, stopping at the North Mithril Mine when Roy spotted more than a thousand slavers there.
• Tiprado and the Half-Elf hunters rained arrows from the griffons, forcing the slavers to flee from the North Mithril Mine.
• Roy asked Qian Ning Sitney when the slavers had arrived, and she said they had first appeared a week earlier before gathering in force three days ago.

Roy left the North Mithril Mine after arranging for Sabrina and Tiffany to treat the wounded and guard the exhausted Half-Elves. He flew to the First Mine to load the Griffon Corps with arrows, supplies, and food before heading north, while Klayr stayed behind to deliver spinel and letters and obtain more provisions.

• Roy treated wounded Half-Elf Warriors at the North Mithril Mine, then left Sabrina and Tiffany behind to help Qian Ning Sitney with healing and defense.
• Roy and the Griffon Corps flew from the North Mithril Mine to the First Mine, where Kaka reported that thousands of Highland Slavers had entered the Gaxi Mountain Range.
• Roy had the hunters load arrow components, bows, equipment, and Elf Biscuits onto the griffons from the First Mine's stores.
• Roy left Klayr at the First Mine with spinel and letters for delivery, instructing him to acquire Elf Biscuits and Tree of Life Sap before taking supplies to Padesto City.
• The Griffon Corps flew north past the Second Mine, where Roy saw the elevator framework and Half-Elf Warriors training, but did not stop to recruit them.

Roy and the Griffon Corps tried to contain the headhunters around the Black Iron Mines, but the enemy’s growing numbers and new armor forced the Half-Elves to consider retreating. As Roy prepared to withdraw, Qian Ning sent word that remnants of the Half-Elf Rebel Army had arrived at North Mithril Mine.

• The Griffon Corps rested overnight at North Mithril Mine, where Tiffany used a siren’s song to lull wounded Half-Elves to sleep while treating them.
• Roy and the Griffon Corps surveyed the southern Gaxi Mountain Range, driving herds southwest and helping the Assassin Squad pick off isolated headhunters.
• The headhunters gathered in South and Central Black Iron Mines and forged black iron armor that blunted the Griffon Corps’ arrows, leaving Roy’s forces at a stalemate.
• The military advised Roy to abandon territory north of the Gaxi and Sudaso Mountain Ranges, and Roy decided to retreat first to North Mithril Mine.
• Kaka brought Roy a letter from Qian Ning, who reported that Half-Elf Rebel Army remnants had arrived at North Mithril Mine.

Qian Ning and the Half-Elf Warriors defended the North Mithril Mine from nearly two thousand hunters until Helick’s Rebel Army arrived and destroyed the attackers. Roy then met Helick, agreed to provide his force with supplies, and learned they intended to leave Rampart Town for good and seek a life elsewhere on the Pagisto Plateau or farther north.

• Hunters gathered in force and launched an assault on the North Mithril Mine, climbing its walls while Half-Elf defenders fought them with arrows and falling metal ingots.
• Thousands of Half-Elf Warriors led by Helick’s Rebel Army charged from the western ridge and trapped the hunters between their force and the castle.
• The battle lasted until midnight, and all the hunters were killed; Helick’s warriors camped outside the mine while Qian Ning sent Roy a report.
• Roy arrived two days later, recognized Helick as a former blacksmith from Rampart Town, and asked why he had come to the plateau.
• Helick explained that his force had come to defend the Half-Elves and rescue their people, and Roy offered them military supplies and food but refused to let them join the Mine Guard.
• Helick told Roy that his warriors did not plan to return to Rampart Town and hoped to settle somewhere on the Pagistington Plane.

Roy’s forces killed the slavers guarding Tianpu Canyon’s southern entrance and began fortifying the passage to block their movement through the Gaxi Mountain Range. By dawn, Gray Dwarves from North Black Iron Mine had arrived to help build the wall.

• Helick explained to Roy that he was taking five thousand Half-Elf Warriors north to fight slavers and travel beyond Rampart Town, while Roy arranged to send supplies to the Pagisto Plateau.
• Roy returned to North Black Iron Mine as the Griffon Corps drove cattle and sheep south, leaving the slavers concentrated in two mine castles and unable to move freely through the Gaxi Mountain Range.
• Roy gathered the Assassin Squad and Half-Elf Warriors, including Sabrina and Woods, beneath the cliffs at Tianpu Canyon and surrounded the slavers guarding its southern entrance.
• Woods transformed into an Earth Tyrant Bear as the Half-Elves and Dark Moon Elves attacked, killing the canyon guards in less than an hour.
• Roy’s Half-Elf Warriors began building a stone wall across the canyon entrance, and the Griffon Corps brought Gray Dwarves from North Black Iron Mine to help with construction.

Commander Helik led the Half-Elf Warriors in a battle outside South Black Iron Mine Castle, where they routed the Headhunters but failed to stop their chieftain from breaking out. The survivors fled to Central Black Iron Mine Castle, while Roy oversaw construction of a wall at Tianpu Canyon as the Griffon Corps drove Headhunters north.

• The Headhunter Chieftain led more than fifteen hundred starving Headhunters out of South Black Iron Mine Castle to fight Commander Helik's Half-Elf Warriors.
• The Headhunters charged through a volley of arrows, but the Sword Dancers and swordsmen held their line and the ballistae killed many attackers.
• Commander Helik's forces spread around the Headhunters, and the Headhunter Chieftain led a violent breakout through the Half-Elf flank.
• The surviving Headhunters fled north to Central Black Iron Mine Castle, where the Half-Elf Warriors gathered on the opposite hillside.
• Roy directed more than a hundred Gray Dwarves building a city wall at Tianpu Canyon while the Griffon Corps drove Headhunters north through the canyon.

Roy fortified Skyfall Canyon’s southern entrance as the Half-Elf Warriors routed the slavers at Central Black Iron Mine Castle and drove the survivors north. The exhausted slavers reached Roy’s wall and kept charging despite heavy losses, leaving the Half-Elves to face them at the canyon mouth.

• Roy told Woods why the Rebel Army’s Half-Elf Warriors had the advantage over the Highland Slavers and ordered Gray Dwarves to finish a stone wall before sunset.
• Sabrina worried that thousands of slavers fleeing north would encounter Roy’s new wall at Skyfall Canyon, while Moira continued serving with the Assassin Squad.
• More than five thousand Half-Elf Warriors surrounded Central Black Iron Mine Castle, scattered the slavers’ charge, and pursued the survivors north through the Gaxi Mountain Range.
• Roy, Sabrina, and Woods waited behind the completed wall as Griffon riders and Half-Elf archers attacked the exhausted slavers approaching the canyon entrance.
• Miss Tiffany unleashed a Blizzard with five Magic Scrolls, freezing and injuring many slavers, but survivors still reached the wall.
• Sabrina cut down a slaver climbing the wall and realized he was too weak to resist as the remaining slavers pressed toward the entrance.

Roy and Helick’s Half-Elf forces defeated and hunted down the Highland Headhunters across the Gaxi Mountain Range, securing Roy’s mines and establishing a foothold on the Pagisto Plateau. After the victory, Roy arranged food and military supplies for Helick’s Rebel Army and received an appointment letter from the military department.

• Sabrina, Roy, Woods, and a Half-Elf assassin killed the Headhunter Chieftain at the Southern Entrance of Skyfall Canyon, breaking the attackers’ assault.
• Helick’s Half-Elf Warriors pursued the starving, exhausted Headhunters across the mountains, while Griffon Cavalry guided the pursuit and prevented them from resting.
• Roy watched the battle and concluded that the Half-Elf Rebel Army needed his support to leave the Pagisto Plateau and find a new settlement.
• Over more than half a month, Helick’s five thousand Half-Elf Warriors captured nearly all six thousand Headhunters scattered around Aidasi Mountain, preserving Roy’s mines and securing a foothold in the plateau’s heart.
• Roy supplied Helick’s army with food and military goods, and the military department approved further supplies and sent Roy an appointment letter.

Klayr struggled to secure military supplies for Roy until news of Roy’s victory over the Highland Headhunters changed the Padesto military’s attitude. Roy consolidated his forces, planned a campaign in western Pagisto, and received an appointment as Chief Executive of the plateau’s mines; Mulin arrived ready to depart.

• Klayr learned that the military would not supply Pagisto, but after news of Roy’s victory reached Padesto, officials offered him supplies to transport to the plateau.
• Leishande turned his pack train back to Padesto, collected the military supplies, and resumed the journey to the First Mine.
• The Highland Headhunters withdrew their other forces from southern Pagisto after learning that nearly six thousand of their fighters had been killed in the southern Gaxi Mountain Range.
• Roy sent surviving Gray Dwarves to rebuild the southern entrance of Skyfall Canyon and persuaded Commander Helik to lead the Rebel Army west toward Pagisto’s western plateau after receiving supplies.
• Roy’s forces grew to more than one thousand Half-Elf Warriors and two hundred assassins, and he received an appointment naming him Chief Executive of the Pagisto Plateau mines.
• Mulin entered Roy’s office with a register and asked when they would leave.