Chapter Summaries

Ryan invited Aethelred and Brock to become his followers and take leadership roles in Frozen Earth Territory, and they accepted. The next morning, visitors from the Clayton Family arrived from the South, and Ryan met one who greeted him as a brother.

• Ryan agreed to bring tribespeople from Swadifari to Frozen Earth Territory and promised fair treatment and trade for all his subjects.
• Ryan invited Aethelred to become Chief Administrator and Brock to become Chief Artisan, offering them resources and status equal to Brandt.
• Aethelred and Brock accepted Ryan's invitation to become his followers.
• Beard told Ryan that visitors from the South had arrived from the Clayton Family.
• Ryan met the Clayton Family visitor at Rhino Horn Mountain, who greeted him as a long-lost brother.

Katz Clayton visited Ryan in the Frozen Earth Territory, bringing a dragon heart from their father and a family message. He left Ryan with instructions to take three potions before consuming the heart and to return south before the Divine Grace Festival for a marriage alliance.

• Ryan learned that his third brother, Katz Clayton, had become a Sky Knight at twenty-eight.
• Katz told Ryan that their father had sent him to check on the territory and deliver supplies that included a dragon heart.
• Katz explained that the heart came from a blaze dragon and that each Clayton descendant could receive an allotted portion.
• Katz relayed their mother's wish for Ryan to return south before the Divine Grace Festival so she could arrange a suitable marriage alliance.
• Mage Luna advised Ryan to take the three potions seven days apart, then consume the dragon heart after twenty-one days.

Ryan took three potions to prepare his body and mind to absorb a divinity-tainted Blaze Dragon Heart, then consumed it and was overwhelmed by the dragon’s instincts. He remained aware but seized the Viscountess, thinking that he should be an adult by now.

• Ryan learned that the potions were created by Legendary Mage Master Tarantino, known as God's Prison, and discussed his journey South with Mage Luna.
• Ryan absorbed the first potion in ten days and the second in fourteen, while Mage Luna explained how the potions strengthened his body.
• Ryan took the third potion, which suppressed draconic instincts, and endured its effects for twenty days.
• Mage Luna had the Viscountess open the box and hold the processed Blaze Dragon Heart to Ryan’s mouth, and Ryan swallowed it.
• Ryan grew immensely strong as the heart’s power surged through him, then gave in to its instincts and seized the Viscountess while remaining conscious.

After advancing to Silver Knight and spending his sixteenth birthday in Frozen Earth Territory, Ryan prepared to travel South to return to the Clayton Family and face a marriage alliance chosen by his mother. He left Beard to manage his territory and set out with the Old Steward and a large party, while Viscount Hogg offered to help him meet suitable noblewomen.

• Ryan told Beard to store his birthday gifts, manage Frozen Earth Territory, and notify travelers that the Planar Gate would not remain open during his journey South.
• Ryan left his personal female attendant behind and urged her to practice the control spells in Mage Luna's notes while he was away.
• Ryan traveled South with the Old Steward, Aethelred, Brock, and roughly three hundred people, promising the Old Steward an advancement potion and discussing Transcendent mounts with the knights.
• Ryan explained to Viscount Hogg that he had come of age and would return to the Clayton Family, where his mother would choose a marriage alliance for him.
• Viscount Hogg offered to introduce Ryan to suitable noblewomen among his relatives in the South.

Ryan traveled from Winged Gorge through Danube and Volga Provinces to the Clayton Family’s stronghold in Galle Province, reflecting on the Empire’s power and his own status as a baron. At Castle of the Blazing Dragon, he reunited with Ellie Fleming and considered the family’s unusual rules about marriage and recognized heirs.

• Ryan passed through Winged Gorge and admired the Empire’s fortress, troops, and Rampaging Elephant Legion before entering Danube Province.
• Ryan crossed the Pascal Count Family’s domain and learned about its famed Stone-Winged Beast Legion, then traveled through Volga Province and its lands of winter crops and fine wine.
• Ryan arrived at Castle of the Blazing Dragon in Galle Province, the Clayton Family’s fortified city, and reflected that its ancestral glory did not belong to his branch of the family.
• Ellie Fleming welcomed Ryan as her child, and Ryan greeted her respectfully while noting she was not his biological mother.
• Ryan considered the Clayton Family’s recognized wives and heirs, and observed that Count Clayton had never accepted a third wife despite others urging him to do so.

Ryan returned to the Clayton estate, met his mother Kalami Sterling, and then spoke with his father, Count Clayton, about the development of Frozen Earth Territory. The chapter ended with Ryan asking whether Count Clayton would stop campaigning in the Northlands.

• Ryan reunited with Kalami Sterling, who welcomed him home and affectionately stroked his hair.
• Ryan reflected on how becoming a noble had separated his interests from those of the Clayton and Sterling families.
• Ryan entered the dragon-bone reception hall and addressed Leon Clayton as Lord Count Clayton before being permitted to call him Father.
• Ryan presented local specialties from Frozen Earth Territory, and Count Clayton praised how well the territory had developed.
• Ryan asked Count Clayton whether he would no longer continue into the Northlands.

Ryan learned that he would accompany Count Clayton to the Imperial Capital for the Divine Grace Festival, where the Empire would seek political allies and benefits. At Castle of the Blazing Dragon, Kalami discussed Ryan’s marriage prospects, and he asked to choose his own wife.

• Count Clayton told Ryan that the Northern Orcs had been weakened and invited him to the Imperial Capital for the Divine Grace Festival.
• Ryan considered selling Frozen Earth Territory’s otherworldly specialties through the Clayton Family to develop his territory.
• Ryan watched the Clayton descendants fight with Kalami, who told him that Kelsie held a Baron’s title and could not attend the festival.
• Kalami said she and Sister Ellie had selected eligible daughters from three viscount families and seventeen baron families as potential wives for Ryan.
• Ryan asked Kalami to let him choose among more candidates, and she advised him to seek her help if he met someone suitable at the Imperial Capital.

Ryan attended a family banquet at Castle of the Blazing Dragon, where Master Knox revealed Brock’s extraordinary crafting talent and asked Ryan to give Brock to him. Ryan refused to agree to Knox’s request for Brock to become his disciple.

• Ryan reflected that the South looked down on Northwind Province and resolved that Frozen Earth Territory, rather than the Clayton Family’s lands, was where he belonged.
• Count Clayton hosted Ryan at an internal family banquet and established the Clayton Family and Ryan as political allies.
• Master Knox arrived at the banquet in disheveled clothes and excitedly asked Ryan to give him Brock.
• Knox explained that Brock had the supreme talent of a craftsman who would never tire, which could let him forge Legendary Weapons repeatedly and might enable him to create a divine artifact.
• Ryan asked whether Knox wanted Brock as his disciple and said he could not agree.

Ryan rejected Master Knox’s claim that Brock needed his guidance, and the Countess froze Knox when he threatened Ryan. After Brock and Aethelred judged the Clayton Family’s techniques and Brock dismissed Knox’s abilities, Ryan decided to prioritize finding Supernatural Ores in the imperial capital.

• Ryan told Master Knox that Brock was his follower and Chief Artisan, and questioned whether Knox was skilled enough to teach him.
• Master Knox grew furious, but the Countess sealed him in ice and ordered soldiers to carry him away.
• Ryan found Brock and Aethelred studying the Clayton Family’s blacksmiths, and Aethelred said their techniques were advanced but inferior.
• Brock said Knox’s skills were below his own and claimed he could forge a Legendary Weapon if Ryan supplied enough Supernatural Ores.
• Ryan made finding Supernatural Ores a top priority for the trip to the imperial capital, and Knox fell silent after hearing Brock’s words.

Ryan and Count Clayton arrived at the Imperial Capital a month before the Divine Grace Festival, where Clayton revealed his dragon mount, Krostman. After settling in, Ryan took Brandt, Brock, and Aethelred to Palmyra Street to buy supernatural materials for Brock.

• Ryan and Count Clayton reached the Imperial Capital, and Ryan saw its immense walls and the towns outside where magical beast mounts had to wait.
• Count Clayton rode Krostman, an Amber Dragon, into the city while Ryan’s horse, Fierce Winter, remained calm beside him.
• After the dragon departed, Brandt, Brock, and Aethelred joined Ryan, and Brandt declared that he could slay dragons too.
• Ryan rented a manor for his group and then took Brandt, Brock, and Aethelred to Palmyra Street to shop for supernatural materials.

Ryan and Brock visited Raistlin Wyatt’s shop in Flor’s Imperial Capital, where they bought rare materials for Brock to forge tack. Ryan then proposed a larger trade with Winterwood’s Druids and awaited Raistlin’s answer.

• Brock examined the shop’s Supernatural Metals, and Raistlin stopped him from touching the goods before he bought them.
• Ryan introduced himself as Count Clayton’s son, and Raistlin identified the materials Brock needed for a set of tack.
• Ryan agreed to buy the materials for 3,500 Gold Coins and signed a contract for delivery to his estate.
• Ryan offered to buy one thousand beast bows from Winterwood and pay Druids to help develop his territory.
• Raistlin declined to join Ryan himself but said he would consult others and give Ryan an answer in a few days.

After spending heavily at Winterwood, Ryan took Brock and the others to the Imperial Magic Academy to seek warhorse-breeding methods and recruit mages for Frozen Earth Territory. He arrived knowing that the Academy’s mages and their connections could provide the extraordinary talent he needed.

• After leaving Winterwood, Ryan reflected that his purchases would help Fierce Winter grow and renewed his search for warhorse-breeding potions and methods.
• Ryan considered recruiting mages for Frozen Earth Territory, since he had knights but no mage capable of magical research or spellcasting.
• Ryan ruled out obtaining horse-potion formulas from the royal Mage Tower and headed for the Magic Academy as another possible source.
• Ryan recalled the Academy’s importance to the Empire and the many mages and extraordinary connections gathered around its towers.
• Ryan arrived at the Magic Academy, aware that intermediaries helped outsiders seek work from its mages and that many of its promising students lacked resources or opportunity.

Ryan met his former acquaintance Jovan Deane at the Magic Academy and asked him to arrange a meeting with Grand Mage Macken, who specialized in Life Potions for beasts. Unable to reach the Grand Mage directly, Ryan agreed to meet one of Macken’s assistants, Magus Yelena.

• Ryan recognized Jovan Deane, who was struck by how much Ryan’s status and appearance had changed since they were younger.
• Ryan asked Jovan which mages could help with raising mounts, especially warhorses, and Jovan pointed him toward Grand Mage Macken’s dark red tower.
• Jovan explained that Macken was the only mage at the Academy skilled in Life Potions for beasts and was difficult to meet.
• Ryan offered Jovan Gold Coins to arrange contact, then agreed to speak with Macken’s Magus assistant instead.
• Jovan brought Magus Yelena to meet Ryan and introduced him as a powerful noble with the bloodline of the Count Clayton Family.

Ryan met Yelena, a Life Mage serving Grand Mage Macken, and paid her to arrange a meeting with her teacher. After learning Ryan was a baron who sold ore in the frigid Northwind Province, Macken eagerly welcomed him and offered him wine.

• Jovan introduced Yelena to Ryan, then left after accepting money from Aethelred.
• Ryan paid Yelena 200 Gold Coins to help him meet Grand Mage Macken, and she agreed.
• Ryan asked Yelena to join or cooperate with his territory because her Life Magic might help crops grow, but she declined the offer and led him to Macken.
• Macken asked Ryan about his origins, rank, and noble status, then warmed to him after hearing he was Baron of Frozen Earth Territory in Northwind Province.
• Macken told Yelena to bring out his Heart of the Seabird and pour Ryan some, saying he would not take her money this time.

Ryan negotiated with Grand Mage Macken for his warhorse-rearing knowledge, then offered him a hundred thousand gold coins to visit the Frozen Earth Territory for a month. Macken accepted the binding contract, while Ryan hoped the visit would lead to Macken becoming his retainer.

• Ryan questioned whether Macken's Life Potions alone could produce warhorses comparable to Highland Warhorses and asked for his complete rearing system.
• Macken suspected Ryan was purchasing the knowledge for the Clayton Family, but Ryan asserted his separate identity as Baron of the Frozen Earth Territory.
• Ryan deduced that the Imperial House or Highland Mage Corps was restricting Macken's dealings with great nobles to keep his warhorse knowledge from them.
• Ryan formally invited Macken to become his retainer and offered him a hundred thousand gold coins for one month in the Frozen Earth Territory.
• Macken accepted the offer, and Ryan stamped his emblem onto Macken's binding contract scroll.

Ryan learned that the Church’s Cardinal Archbishop had come to the Empire to announce the baronet system, reviving the struggle between divine and royal authority. After seeing the Church’s Holy Kingdom Knights enter the Imperial Capital, he realized the conflict was spreading into the Empire.

• Ryan arranged to take Grand Mage Macken to the Northlands after the Divine Grace Festival and pursued books, seeds, and grain agreements in the Imperial Capital.
• Ryan visited Countess Ellie, who explained that the Church’s Cardinal Archbishop had arrived and that the Empire and Church were negotiating over the baronet system.
• Countess Ellie told Ryan that the Empire feared the Church’s return would restore its influence and undermine the nobles’ past victory.
• Ryan left the count’s residence and saw the Holy Kingdom Knights, one of the Church’s nine Extraordinary Legions, marching toward the Imperial Palace.

On the Divine Grace Festival, Emperor Columbus III announced that the Empire would create a new baronet title open to commoners who devoted themselves to the light. Ryan realized the Empire had combined royal and divine authority, while the Church’s Cardinal Archbishop and knights watched from the palace.

• After Church priests healed hundreds of people for free, crowds flocked to the Cardinal Archbishop, and Ryan told Aethelred the Empire would not let him be killed.
• Ryan attended the Divine Grace Festival at the imperial palace, where Columbus III appeared with the divine artifacts Norris's Edge and the Holy Radiance Scepter.
• Columbus III praised the gods and the Empire, then claimed the Lord of Dawn had granted him authority to establish a new noble title.
• Columbus III declared that pioneers devoted to the light could become baronets, prompting commoners across the Imperial Capital to erupt in excitement.
• Ryan realized the Empire’s solution was to combine royal authority with the Church’s divine authority.

Columbus III established the Baronet System as a class of nobles called Light Pioneers, securing recognition from rulers across the region and challenging The Church’s authority. As Cardinal Archbishop Tom Walter approached Columbus, he suddenly fell to his death, and Grand Duke Fleming suspected the killing would be used to start a war.

• Columbus III inscribed the Baronet System onto the Proof of Flore, establishing baronets as Light Pioneers who served the Empire and the gods.
• Columbus III granted Umberto and others—including a freed slave—land and baronet status, declaring that even a slave could become a noble by serving the Empire and the gods.
• Delegations from kingdoms, duchies, and an Earldom marked the scroll to recognize the Empire’s baronets as nobles.
• Tom Walter warned Damon that The Church would destroy heretics, then walked toward Columbus III as nobles and hidden Legends watched tensely.
• Tom Walter suddenly fell from the platform and died, throwing the imperial palace into chaos.
• Grand Duke Fleming called the death of a Cardinal Archbishop ridiculous and said it was a ruthless attempt to start a war.

After a Cardinal Archbishop died in the imperial palace, the Church and the Flor Empire clashed while both sides prepared for a larger conflict. As the Divine Grace Festival ended, Countess Ellie presented Ryan with twelve candidates for a political marriage, and Ryan asked whether the Melendez Family owned ships.

• Damon Reiner charged at Columbus III, but imperial forces restrained him and suppressed the Holy Kingdom Knights who attacked the palace.
• Columbus III blamed the Cardinal Archbishop’s death on his own divine artifact, but many people distrusted the Empire’s account.
• The Feather Dragon Legion arrived at the Imperial Capital to retrieve Tom Walter’s body, and Damon’s Holy Kingdom Knights were released and left the Empire.
• Ryan wondered why Damon’s group was traveling north, while the Church and the Empire’s calm appeared to foreshadow a coming conflict.
• Countess Ellie introduced twelve noblewomen as marriage candidates for Ryan, including Avril Melendez and Neesh Hoover.
• Ryan asked Countess Ellie whether the Melendez Family had ships.

Ryan agreed to pursue a marriage alliance with Avril Melendez, whose family controlled a valuable river trade route, and met her parents in the Imperial Capital. After Ryan and Avril spoke at the Magic Academy, the alliance appeared confirmed, with a Melendez delegation set to visit Frozen Earth Territory.

• Ryan accepted the countess's suggestion to meet Avril and asked whether the Melendez Family would agree to the match.
• Count Clayton arranged for Krostman to take Ryan to the Melendez residence, where Viscount Melendez welcomed him and the viscountess showed concern about Frozen Earth Territory.
• Ryan proposed that the Melendez Family send a team to Frozen Earth Territory, and Viscount Melendez agreed to travel there with Ryan in a few days.
• Ryan met Avril at the Magic Academy and described stories from Aixnier until she became more at ease.
• Ryan told Avril he would arrange a visit to the Melendez Family after returning to the Northlands, and Avril understood that their families' marriage alliance was confirmed.