Chapter Summaries

Ryan learned that Count Weiss had revealed a Thunder Giant and invaded Silver Stream County, escalating his ambitions to seize Northwind Province. After Count Weiss and Viscount Hogg betrayed their allies and devastated the relieving armies, Ryan recognized that Count Winter’s response would decide the province’s fate and his own authority as Governor.

• Countess Winter abruptly left Rhino Horn Mountain after sensing trouble in her domain, and Ryan learned she was a powerful Space Mage.
• Ryan heard that Count Winter had been injured confronting a Thunder Giant in Count Weiss’s territory, giving Weiss a legendary combatant and an Extraordinary Legion.
• Count Weiss’s army entered Silver Stream County, and Viscount Hogg sent forces to resist while Count Winter and nobles from neighboring counties dispatched reinforcements.
• Viscount Hogg and Count Weiss attacked the reinforcements together, crippling Iron Mountain County’s army and killing more than three hundred of Count Winter’s Flying Wolf Cavalry.
• Ryan concluded that Count Weiss and Viscount Hogg had colluded and that Count Winter’s response would determine whether Weiss could take control of Northwind Province.

Count Weiss gathered support and revealed the strength behind his bid for power, while Ryan learned that Weiss had secured an Otherworldly Plane with a stabilized gateway. The chapter left Weiss’s thirty-thousand-strong army poised at Northwind Province’s border and Ryan surprised that Weiss had gained a privilege he thought was unique to him.

• Count Soron chose to support Count Winter after learning that Fidel Soron had used Gold Coins to provide winter supplies to warriors’ families, and he sent an envoy to Northwind City.
• Count Weiss learned that Count Soron had sided against him and directed his steward to secure Viscount Landa’s support by sending slaves to Cold Mountain County.
• Count Weiss dismissed Baron Ryan as a potential ally and explained that Viscount Landa’s testimony could sway the Empire because Cold Mountain County’s surviving nobles had suffered so heavily.
• Count Weiss led an army of thirty thousand, including an Extraordinary Legion of six thousand barbarians, to a plateau on Northwind Province’s border.
• Countess Winter revealed that Count Weiss had obtained a trace of divinity and paid an enormous price to stabilize a gateway to a dead Otherworldly Plane, where he had hidden the Thunder Giant.
• Ryan heard how Count Weiss had gained his forces and resources and realized that stabilizing a Planar Gate was not entirely his exclusive privilege.

Ryan weighed the rival nobles’ support in Northwind Province and negotiated with Lord Horla Winter over Count Winter’s offer of aid. The chapter ended with Horla contacting Count Winter to report Ryan’s request to exchange Life Potions for other supplies.

• Ryan learned that Viscount Hogg secretly supplied Count Weiss and commanded a thousand Apprentice Knight cavalrymen.
• Ryan assessed the counties’ competing alliances and concluded that Zero Crossing Prefecture was the only remaining place able to raise a military force.
• Lord Horla Winter arrived in Frozen Earth Territory and invited Ryan and the nobles of Zero Crossing Prefecture to resist Count Weiss.
• Ryan explained that his territory had been devastated by the orcs and said he intended to refuse Count Weiss’s offer of half of Iron Mountain County’s mineral revenues.
• Horla offered 150,000 Gold Coins and 2,500 low-grade Life Potions for troops to help Iron Mountain County, but Ryan asked to exchange the potions for food, livestock, weapons, or warhorses.
• Horla contacted Count Winter using the support of a Saint Domain Mage who commanded Space Magic.

Ryan accepted Count Winter’s terms and prepared Zero Crossing Prefecture for war, learning that Count Weiss had an evil alchemist and that Mage Luna needed Soul Magic manuals to advance. He argued that refusing the conflict would still leave the nobles paying heavily, and declared he would lead their army into battle.

• Ryan accepted Count Winter’s offer of Gold Coins, weapons, armor, spears, and Golden Potions.
• Mage Luna explained her limits in making Life Potions, asked Ryan to find Soul Magic manuals, and warned him that Count Weiss had an evil alchemist.
• Mage Luna told Ryan to hurry and have a child, fearing he might die in the coming war and leave her without protection.
• Kristan objected to Ryan accepting Count Winter’s invitation, but Ryan told the gathered nobles that refusing war would not spare them its costs.
• Ryan argued that the war’s losers would bear most of the Empire’s taxes while the victors gained wealth, and declared he would lead Zero Crossing Prefecture’s army.

Ryan organized a ten-thousand-man force to support Iron Mountain County, but prioritized training and managing the largely undisciplined troops over rushing to its aid. As his army marched, Baron Malik's castle fell to Viscount Hogg's forces.

• Ryan ordered Brandt to gather the trained Apprentice Knights and Harrington to form the slave soldiers into units, then studied Iron Mountain County's rough map.
• Captain Luke Winter urged Ryan to reach Baron Malik's castle quickly, but Ryan said his army needed time to assemble and train.
• Ryan told Viscount Miles he expected Iron Mountain County's nobles to hold out, while privately considering the war a chance to claim wealth and iron mines.
• After the nobles of Iron Mountain County offered ten thousand Gold Coins for an earlier arrival, Ryan set out with his army two days later.
• On the third day of the march, the Flying Wolf Cavalry reported that Viscount Hogg's army had taken Baron Malik's castle and occupied his territory.

Ryan led his army into Iron Mountain County and assessed its defenses as Viscount Hogg’s forces advanced. As Ryan prepared to defend Baron Freeman’s territory, Captain Luke reported that Viscount Hogg had entered Viscount Walter’s lands.

• Ryan questioned Captain Luke about Count Winter’s Flying Wolf Cavalry and suspected Count Winter had an unusual food source.
• Viscount Walter welcomed Ryan into Iron Mountain County and explained that Viscount Hogg’s army, followed by Count Weiss’s, had taken Baron Malik’s territory and defeated Walter’s forces.
• Ryan entered Baron Freeman’s territory, dismissed Baron Malik’s demand for help reclaiming his lands, and asked Baron Freeman for a map.
• Ryan studied the hilly terrain and learned that Iron Mountain County’s remaining slave army was gathered in a southern valley.
• Captain Luke arrived at Baron Freeman’s castle and warned Ryan that Viscount Hogg had led his army into Viscount Walter’s territory.

Ryan learned that Viscount Hogg’s army had used connected mine tunnels to bypass Baron Freeman’s territory and attack Viscount Walter. As Viscount Walter’s exhausted defenders slept after being fed, Viscount Hogg’s troops prepared to press their siege.

• Baron Freeman explained to Ryan that an Archmage had opened connected mines, letting Viscount Hogg’s army cross the mountains and defeat Baron Malik’s defenses.
• Ryan realized he would have to return to Viscount Walter’s territory and worried whether it could hold out.
• Viscount Walter gathered villagers and slaves into his castle, while Viscount Hogg fortified the southern road to block Ryan’s return and offered Walter a chance to surrender.
• Viscount Walter refused to abandon his family’s honor and alliances, so Viscount Hogg launched an assault on the castle.
• As the siege wore down Walter’s poorly trained defenders, he gave them food, and they slept deeply that night.

Ryan led his troops through the mountains and uncovered the hidden passage Viscount Hogg had mined through the mountain. As Walter Castle’s defenses crumbled, Ryan captured the passage’s guards and suspected more enemies were concealed nearby.

• Viscount Walter learned that the previous day’s battle had killed 120 slaves and seven soldiers, and ordered the losses kept secret.
• Viscount Hogg renewed his assault on Walter Castle, where his forces breached the gate with the help of sorcerers and a Golden Knight.
• Reinforcements from nearby nobles entered Walter Castle, but the gate breach left Viscount Walter urgently awaiting Ryan’s army.
• Ryan followed traces through the mountains, and Brandt shattered the rock wall concealing the passage used by Viscount Hogg’s army.
• Ryan questioned the captured attendants guarding the passage, then seized a soldier whose reaction suggested more people were hidden nearby.

Ryan's forces captured the Archmage Felicianno and discovered a valuable deposit of Jadeite Crystal in the mine. As Viscount Walter's battle with Viscount Hogg continued, Ryan's reinforcements arrived, giving Walter hope of victory.

• Brandt led Ryan's two thousand elite soldiers into the mine and found the Archmage Felicianno resting beside glowing crystals.
• Brandt and the knights charged Felicianno, injured him, and bound him before Ryan questioned him.
• Felicianno identified the crystals as Jadeite Crystal and confirmed that the mine held enough to meet Ryan's needs.
• Viscount Walter fought Viscount Hogg's forces at the blocked castle gate while cursing Ryan for not arriving.
• Viscount Walter saw Ryan's army approaching and announced that the reinforcements had arrived.

Ryan led two thousand elite soldiers in an assault on Viscount Hogg’s five-thousand-strong army, while his five hundred Deer Spirit-blessed Knight Retainers broke into its ranks. As Hogg’s troops began to collapse, his knight cavalry charged toward the battlefield.

• Ryan advanced with two thousand disciplined soldiers, and their approach shattered the formation of Viscount Hogg’s troops.
• Ryan ordered a charge, while Hogg called for his front line to fall back and signaled his reserve cavalry.
• Gastro and Ryan’s other five hundred Knight Retainers surged into the enemy ranks, following Ryan’s order to disrupt the army and blunt the cavalry’s charge.
• Ryan’s forces drove Hogg’s army backward, killing many soldiers and spreading fear and disorder through its ranks.
• The cavalry commander saw Hogg’s troops collapsing and ordered his riders to charge.

Ryan led his soldiers through a brutal clash with Viscount Hogg’s forces, then negotiated a prisoner exchange while keeping the captured mage Feriancino. After reaching Viscount Walter’s castle, Ryan helped prepare its defenses, and by morning Viscount Hogg’s hesitation left his next move uncertain.

• Ryan rallied five hundred Knight Retainers and withdrew toward the wheat fields as the cavalry charge threw both armies into chaos.
• Ryan and Viscount Hogg’s forces separated after heavy losses, then agreed to collect the dead and wounded and exchange prisoners.
• Ryan refused to release Feriancino, telling Viscount Hogg that he would keep the captured mage for ransom.
• Ryan entered Viscount Walter’s castle, requested food and care for his wounded, and reported that Hogg’s routes home were blocked.
• Ryan learned that 215 of his soldiers had died and ordered the wounded to have their injuries cleaned and treated.
• Ryan saw the next morning that Viscount Hogg’s army had not gathered, suggesting Hogg was hesitating to attack the castle.

Viscount Hogg chose the main road and sent cursed slave soldiers and a reckless cavalry charge against Harrington’s defenses. Ryan arrived to find the road buried in the dead, while Viscount Walter explained why the Hogg family’s commanders were willing to die in battle.

• Viscount Hogg found the mine tunnel blocked and chose to take the main road rather than attack Viscount Walter’s castle.
• Baron Freeman and Baron Malik urged Harrington to attack, but Harrington reminded them that Ryan had entrusted him with command and waited for Hogg’s army.
• Viscount Hogg sent cursed slave soldiers charging at Harrington’s forces, then drove his knights and cavalry into the defensive line.
• Harrington’s army was overwhelmed as Hogg’s cavalry charged through the road.
• Ryan heard the battle and asked Viscount Walter whether Hogg would use a cavalry charge; Walter confirmed that the Hogg family had a history of fighting to the death.
• Ryan led his elite forces onto the battlefield and saw the road strewn with corpses and wounded slave soldiers.

Ryan’s forces suffered heavy losses when Viscount Hogg’s cavalry broke through their ranks, and Baron Freeman’s castle fell to Hogg and Count Weiss’s army. As the enemy prepared to attack Viscount Walter’s Domain, Ryan organized a rapid harvest while Hogg and Hector Weiss judged how close Iron Mountain County was to surrender.

• Ryan learned that Viscount Hogg’s cavalry had killed more than five hundred slave soldiers, and he reassured the bloodied Harrington that the defeat was not his fault.
• Ryan discovered that Count Weiss’s army and Viscount Hogg had attacked from the south and north and captured Baron Freeman’s castle.
• Ryan lent Viscount Walter two thousand slave soldiers to harvest the fields, warning that the grain would be needed as rations in the coming war.
• Viscount Hogg settled in Baron Freeman’s castle with Hector Weiss, who reported that Count Weiss had entered Northwind County but struggled against Count Winter’s forces and the Thunder Giant.
• Viscount Hogg proposed attacking Viscount Walter’s castle with Hector’s four hundred and fifty barbarians, believing Iron Mountain County would surrender once its remaining forces suffered further losses.

Ryan threatened to withdraw his troops as Iron Mountain County’s defenses suffered heavy losses, then offered to turn the stalemate into a victory for the county at a steep price. The nobles considered his terms, but the chapter ended before they agreed.

• Ryan warned the Iron Mountain County nobles that he would leave unless they found a way to end the costly siege, since his troops were suffering heavy losses at Walter Castle’s gate.
• The nobles offered Zero Crossing Prefecture fifty thousand Gold Coins and discounted iron ore in exchange for Ryan keeping his army in the war.
• Ryan asked what the nobles would pay if he could make Viscount Hogg withdraw and restore a ceasefire between the two sides.
• Baron Malik questioned why Ryan had demanded money earlier if he could win the war, and Ryan explained the risks and costs of committing his army.
• Ryan demanded fifty thousand sets of weapons and ten years of trade at ninety percent of market prices; after Viscount Walter objected, Ryan offered to buy the weapons and armor himself for seventy thousand Gold Coins.

Ryan used oil and fire to turn the siege of Viscount Walter’s castle, routing Viscount Hogg’s exhausted army. Viscount Hogg agreed to talk, leaving the war’s outcome open to negotiation.

• Viscount Hogg ordered two hundred knights to dismount and join another assault on the castle.
• Ryan hurled oil barrels into the harvested fields and fired a flaming arrow, setting straw alight and panicking Hogg’s warhorses.
• Ryan and Viscount Walter led their soldiers through the gate passage and seized control as the defenders attacked the besieging army.
• Viscount Hogg ordered a retreat, but his army broke into a rout after days of fighting and the fires shattered its morale.
• Ryan called on Viscount Hogg to surrender, and Hogg agreed that they should talk.

Ryan negotiated an end to the fighting between Silver Stream County and Iron Mountain County, then led his army home through worsening winter weather. Baron Enzo warned that the approaching blizzards might drive the Black Goat Orcs south again.

• Viscount Hogg and Ryan clashed over whether Hogg would pay reparations and admit defeat, so Viscount Walter postponed the negotiations until after a banquet.
• Ryan spoke with Baron Enzo as snow began to fall, and the nobles resumed negotiations under the threat of a severe winter.
• Viscount Walter and the nobles of Iron Mountain County paid one Gold Coin per soldier, while Viscount Hogg departed warning that the war was only paused.
• Ryan gave the compensation Gold Coins to his surviving soldiers and hurried his army back to Zero Crossing Prefecture, where men died in the cold.
• Baron Enzo reminded Ryan that blizzards had driven the Black Goat Orcs south in the past and suggested last year's invasion might have been prompted by signs of another harsh winter.

Ryan returned to Frozen Earth Territory during a deadly blizzard, organized winter preparations, and opened a new Planar Gate after the territory settled into the snow. He and one hundred retainers crossed into a snowless grassland under a gentler cold wind.

• Ryan led more than five hundred soldiers through the snowbound mountain pass and returned safely to Frozen Earth Territory.
• Ryan ordered the mountain farmland cleared and covered with ashes, then appointed Beard to replace the aging Old Steward.
• Ryan checked the territory's food supplies and authorized firewood cutting to help residents survive the winter.
• Ryan funded several taverns and let Baronet Azur manage them as warfare across Northwind Province stopped for the winter.
• Ryan and one hundred retainers, including Brandt, entered a new Planar Gate and found a vast grassland with only a thin frost.

Ryan and his retainers discovered a vast herd of wild horses and followed its riders to a tribe on the grassland. There they met the tribe’s chieftain and her powerful brother at Volund’s Forge, where Ryan found the divine artifact Tyrfing.

• Ryan and Brandt saw a huge herd of wild horses sweep past them without trampling them.
• Ryan’s party followed the young riders to a tribe, where the mounted warriors challenged them and allowed Ryan to enter with ten companions.
• Ryan and his companions reached Volund’s Forge, a stone building at the heart of the tribe.
• Ryan approached the divine artifact Tyrfing, but a burly man stopped him and clashed strength with Brandt.
• A young woman and Brandt called out to the fighters, and the woman revealed that she managed the tribe while her brother was its chieftain.

Ryan learned the history of Swadifari from Aethelred and gained the Horse Spirit’s Blessing by touching the divine Tyrfing Hammer. He then blessed Brandt and met the Horse King outside the tribe, strengthening his authority among its people.

• Aethelred told Ryan that Swadifari’s people had been devastated by the gods’ war and that she and Brock had led their tribe in resisting a greedy noble.
• Ryan touched Tyrfing, received the Horse Spirit’s Blessing, and gained greater control over his combat skills and the peak physique of a Bronze Knight.
• Ryan gave Brandt more than a thousand Horse Spirit’s Blessings, enhancing his skills and his potential connection with a mount.
• Ryan sensed the approaching wild horses and went outside the tribe to meet the Horse King.
• The Horse King reared before Ryan as he stroked its brow, astonishing the tribe and reinforcing Ryan’s authority.

Ryan secured the Svadilfari tribe’s allegiance after Aethelred revealed that the Spirit of the Wilds had passed its last power into her and Brock’s blessings. He began trading for the tribe’s resources and planned to develop the land gradually, leaving warhorse breeding as his next challenge.

• Aethelred told Ryan that the Spirit of the Wilds had vanished and had left blessings with her and Brock.
• Ryan declined to formally rule the tribe for now, but asked its people to become his subjects so he could develop the wilds and their resources.
• Ryan used Horse Spirit's Blessing to grant a warrior a Breathing Technique, prompting the tribe to accept him as the Spirit of the Wilds’ inheritor.
• The tribe presented Ryan with stored food and fruit wine, and he opened the Planar Gate to impress them and send soldiers for more people and money.
• Ryan arranged to buy the tribe’s goods with money and considered Aethelred and Brock’s exceptional talents, then identified warhorse breeding as his remaining problem.