Chapter Summaries

Oscar instructed Dragon Tree and Zong Hu to investigate the Alliance’s crisis and prepare for his possible death. Their journey was interrupted by Red Moon, a Truth Society supervisor, who attacked them, and Dragon Tree revealed a lightning spear to hold him off.

• Oscar told Dragon Tree and Zong Hu to gather intelligence, discover who caused the Emperor’s death, and unite Alliance loyalists against their enemies.
• Oscar explained what Dragon Tree and Zong Hu should do if he was killed, and the two agreed to follow his instructions.
• Red Moon killed the carriage horses and coachman, then attacked Oscar, Dragon Tree, and Zong Hu.
• Dragon Tree destroyed the wooden fragments Red Moon sent at them, while Zong Hu grabbed Oscar and fled.
• Dragon Tree summoned a bolt of lightning into a golden spear and challenged Red Moon, then clashed with him as Red Moon struck with moonlight.

Richard discussed tailored research plans with Pandora, Bi Bi, Lich Old Man A Fu, and Eight-Armed Skeleton A Nan while Xia Ya City was rocked by powerful clashes. As the group left the study, a blood-covered figure crashed through the window.

• Richard heard several explosions that suggested a battle involving Level 4 Wizards, but chose not to investigate.
• Pandora agreed to her research plan, while Bi Bi admitted she had not read hers and agreed without considering its demands.
• Lich Old Man A Fu questioned why his plan expanded beyond Magic Puppets, and Richard explained that his research had stalled; A Fu blamed Eight-Armed Skeleton A Nan for stealing his bones.
• Richard told A Nan not to cause trouble and warned everyone to stay inside the courtyard because Xia Ya City was dangerous.
• As Pandora, Bi Bi, A Fu, and A Nan left the study, a blood-covered figure smashed through the window.

Richard and his companions mistook Dragon Tree for an attacker and beat him up before learning that he had come to report Lord Oscar’s death. After a servant interrupted them, Richard realized the man outside was unfamiliar and suspected something was wrong.

• A bloodied Dragon Tree burst into Richard’s study, and the Lich Old Man, the Eight-Armed Skeleton, Pandora, and Bi Bi attacked him in turn.
• Dragon Tree recovered and complained about his rough welcome, then introduced himself as Lord Oscar’s subordinate and Zong Hu’s older brother.
• Dragon Tree told Richard that Lord Oscar had been assassinated, Zong Hu was gravely wounded, and a powerful old man had carried out the attack.
• Richard questioned Dragon Tree about Oscar’s death and the assassin, but Dragon Tree had no further clues.
• A servant came to check on the commotion, and Richard noticed that the man was not one of the servants assigned to him.

After learning that Xia Ya’s political order was unraveling, Richard refused Dragon Tree’s appeal to take over Oscar’s intelligence network and intervene. Dragon Tree admitted the request had been his own, then died from his injuries, while Richard ordered Bi Bi to bury him.

• Lan Ke told Richard that Borg and Mas had been taken away by the Security Division and the City Defense Division.
• Richard concluded that Xia Ya and the Alliance were descending into chaos and asked Dragon Tree why he had come.
• Dragon Tree said Oscar had left Richard the chance to take over his intelligence agencies and receive a great gift if he restored order, but Richard refused.
• Richard explained that he did not trust the offer and would not risk major trouble, while Dragon Tree admitted Oscar had not asked Richard to act.
• Richard said he planned to leave for his fief in Sika Kingdom, and Dragon Tree died from his injuries.
• Bi Bi discovered Dragon Tree was dead, and Richard told her to bury him deep and pack down the soil.

Dragon Tree abandoned his attempt to persuade Richard to help and set off alone to save Xia Ya, the Alliance, and the world. Richard explained that he had ordered Bi Bi to bury Dragon Tree only to make clear that he wanted him gone, then considered the hidden force destabilizing the Alliance.

• Bi Bi buried Dragon Tree after Richard told her to, but she struck him with her shovel when he climbed out of the pit.
• Dragon Tree explained that he had faked his death to make Richard feel guilty, then gave Bi Bi a booger ball she refused because it was not hers.
• Dragon Tree decided to save Xia Ya, the Alliance, and the world himself because Richard would not help, and left the courtyard.
• Richard told Bi Bi he had known Dragon Tree was alive and had ordered the burial to show his resolve.
• Richard considered the Alliance’s turmoil and suspected the Truth Society’s remnants or another hidden organization was behind it.

Richard chose to leave Xia Ya and develop his Fief in Shalin rather than become the power behind the Alliance, and departed at dawn. Meanwhile, Dragon Tree returned to Zong Hu after failing to persuade Richard to avenge their lord, bringing bread for breakfast as Zong Hu questioned his lack of grief.

• Richard decided to leave Xia Ya and focus on developing his Fief in Shalin, postponing his plans to deal with the Alliance’s hidden forces.
• Richard ordered Lan Ke to prepare a carriage and left Xia Ya at dawn, heading west.
• Dragon Tree returned to Spider Web’s secret contact point and woke Zong Hu, who was resting there.
• Dragon Tree told Zong Hu that he had failed to trick Richard into avenging their lord and that they would have to rely on themselves.
• Dragon Tree said he had gone to a bathhouse after the failure and brought two fresh loaves of bread for breakfast, leaving Zong Hu doubtful of his sincerity.

After Oscar’s death, Dragon Tree and Zong Hu resolved to investigate Spider Web and uncover the forces behind the chaos in Xia Ya. Red Moon watched Richard’s westward journey and grew wary when he reached Reef Rock Fortress, where he might meet Soren.

• Dragon Tree told Zong Hu to set aside his grief, then asked him to help investigate Spider Web and restore peace to the Alliance.
• A young man reported that Richard had left Xia Ya and was heading west to accept his fief in Shalin.
• Red Moon suspected Richard was faking his departure to lure the Truth Society into a trap and ordered his people to watch him.
• Over the following days, Red Moon’s watchers reported that Richard continued west without changing course.
• When Richard reached the border and prepared to pass through Reef Rock Fortress, Red Moon wondered if he intended to meet Soren and use the army to quell Xia Ya’s chaos.

Red Moon advised the young man to let Richard settle in Shalin while they tightened their control over Xia Ya through political maneuvering. He then ordered the young man to recruit the Second Prince to the Chaos Faction, pushing Xia Ya’s political turmoil toward an extreme.

• The young man reported that Richard had reached Withered Stone City in Shalin and summoned its officials to Blackwater City.
• Red Moon ordered most of the watchers withdrawn and warned against provoking Richard into returning to Xia Ya.
• The young man suggested killing the leaders of the Disciplinary Department and the Auxiliary Council, but Red Moon explained that political forces had to be divided or won over rather than wiped out.
• Red Moon promised the young man victory and the Alliance’s throne if he followed his guidance.
• Red Moon told the young man to contact the Second Prince’s people and draw the Stability Faction prince into the Chaos Faction.
• The young man mobilized his forces, making the chaos in Xia Ya grow worse.

Dragon Tree and Zong Hu discussed the Second Prince’s unexpected shift toward the Chaos Faction and considered how to investigate it and approach Richard in Shalin. Three days later, officials and influential figures gathered outside Blackwater City to welcome Richard, the powerful new lord.

• Dragon Tree told Zong Hu that the Second Prince had begun leaning toward the Chaos Faction, threatening their plan to stabilize Xia Ya.
• Dragon Tree and Zong Hu decided to investigate the Second Prince’s changed stance and considered sending agents to contact Richard in Shalin.
• Zong Hu advised waiting until Richard had settled in and they had uncovered more leads before approaching him.
• Three days later, officials, influential people, and Wizards prepared an Entry Ceremony outside Blackwater City as they awaited Richard’s arrival.

Shalin’s officials prepared an Entry Ceremony for their new Lord, Richard Austin, but his spell-enhanced carriage arrived early and overturned after a dramatic stop. The Lord remained inside and asked what they could do if he refused to come out.

• The gathered officials and Wizards discussed the Lord’s identity and waited for his arrival.
• Colin learned from his apprentice that the Lord had passed Red Valley Town and told everyone to proceed with the unfinished ceremony.
• A spell-enhanced carriage pulled by six crimson horses raced toward the welcoming party and stopped so abruptly that it slid sideways and overturned.
• Colin approached the carriage and invited the Lord to come out and view the ceremony.
• After a long silence, the Lord asked what they would do if he refused to come out, leaving Colin and the crowd stunned.

Bi Bi arrived at Blackwater City ahead of Richard and told the gathered officials that he was inspecting their jurisdictions before coming to the city. She ordered them to remain there until he arrived, leaving them anxious about what he would discover.

• Bi Bi crawled out of the overturned carriage and revealed that she was Richard’s subordinate, not the new lord.
• Bi Bi explained that Richard was inspecting the jurisdictions across Shalin and would come to Blackwater City after completing his investigations.
• Bi Bi warned the officials not to leave before Richard arrived and blasted the ground to demonstrate her power.
• Bi Bi rejected an official’s concern that their jurisdictions needed attention, saying that trouble would prove they were poor administrators.
• The officials escorted Bi Bi to Richard’s prepared residence and waited anxiously for him to arrive.

Richard traveled across Shalin to inspect the territory and gather samples, including from the ruins of the former Shalin Kingdom. After hearing merchants in Takri complain about bandit raids, he left the tavern thoughtfully.

• Richard reviewed Shalin’s history, learning how an epidemic and a poisonous potion disaster destroyed the old kingdom and how the Soma Alliance later claimed the region.
• Richard assessed Shalin’s barren land and mountainous terrain, deciding that its position near the Northern Wastes and its defensible borders gave it potential as a base.
• Richard collected samples of soil, air, water, and crops across Shalin and investigated the former kingdom’s territory for lingering toxins.
• Richard stopped in Takri at dusk and listened to tavern patrons discuss life in the region.
• Three merchants told Richard about recent bandit raids, including the killing of Old Stutter, and Richard left the tavern deep in thought.

Richard summoned Shalin’s officials in Blackwater City and explained that he wanted to reorganize how orders reached the lower levels. He announced that he would establish a new institution called the Efficiency Department.

• After seven days of waiting, Shalin’s officials gathered in the Blackwater City theater for a meeting with Richard.
• Richard called roll and matched the names on his list to the officials present.
• Richard explained that Shalin’s layered administration could prevent his orders from reaching local officials promptly.
• Richard announced that he wanted to establish the Efficiency Department.

Richard proposed an Efficiency Department and held a vote for its deputy minister, with Mayer Grover gaining the most support. Richard questioned Mayer about bandit attacks and confronted him with the claim that the largest bandit leader was his brother-in-law, which Mayer denied.

• Richard announced that the Efficiency Department would oversee Shalin and invited the gathered administrators to choose a deputy minister.
• Mayer Grover volunteered, and nearly forty percent of those present raised their hands in support of him.
• Richard congratulated Mayer on his support and said he could take office if his answers raised no major concerns.
• Richard asked how Mayer would stop bandit attacks that had robbed sixteen merchant caravans in the past week.
• Mayer said his newly trained force would wipe out the bandits, and Richard asked whether he would kill their leader, Xiao Ke Tuo Lie, who was Mayer's brother-in-law.
• Mayer denied knowing Xiao Ke Tuo Lie or any bandit leader, blamed a malicious rumor, and glared at his rivals.

Richard confronted Mayer over supporting bandit raids and repeatedly denying his guilt, then killed him with a suffocating force. He asked for a volunteer to become Deputy Minister of the Shalin Efficiency Department, but the terrified administrators stayed silent.

• Richard accused Mayer of choosing short-term profits by backing bandit raids instead of fostering commerce in the Economic Union Area.
• Mayer denied any connection to the bandits, and Richard said his repeated denials proved he thought Richard was unintelligent.
• Richard sealed Mayer's mouth and throat with an invisible force, suffocating him to death in front of the assembled officials.
• The officials watched in fear as Richard asked who would try for the deputy minister post, and no one volunteered.

Lynn Kate volunteered to become Richard’s Deputy Minister of Efficiency and argued that his ruthless methods and past successes made him useful to Shalin. Richard began testing him, leaving Lynn’s appointment dependent on how he answered.

• Shalin’s managers stayed silent as they debated whether Richard’s offer was a trap, until Richard asked for a volunteer for the third time.
• Lynn Kate stood and applied to become Deputy Minister, pledging to serve Richard and accepting the risk of execution if his answers disappointed him.
• Richard warned Lynn that, like Mayer, he could be appointed or punished depending on his performance, then asked why Lynn considered himself wiser and more suitable.
• Lynn recounted his past defeat by Mayer and claimed he had preserved his smaller territory while taking land and merchant caravans from Mayer’s jurisdiction.
• Lynn admitted that he had used bandits to damage Mayer’s trade, promised to abandon those methods if Richard accepted him, and insisted that he would remain a bad man in service to Richard.

Richard appointed Lynn Shalin's temporary Deputy Minister of the Efficiency Department after warning him to prioritize his assigned tasks and act with discretion. Lynn revealed that he wanted revenge on Mayer by taking his wife, relatives, and even his deceased grandmother.

• Richard told Lynn that justice mattered to commoners, but wisdom and discretion mattered more to him in a subordinate.
• Richard made Lynn the temporary Deputy Minister of the Efficiency Department and authorized him to use Shalin's manpower and resources to complete assigned tasks.
• Lynn asked to reclaim the wife Mayer had taken from him nearly ten years earlier, and Richard agreed.
• Lynn said he also intended to take Mayer's wife, younger sister, daughter, mother, and grandmother in retaliation.
• Lynn explained that Mayer had imprisoned and tortured him for seven years, and Richard reminded him that his tasks came first and that excessive actions could provoke resentment.

Richard left Lynn in charge of carrying out his plans for Shalin’s Efficiency Department, and Lynn celebrated his newfound authority before discovering how demanding the work was. After establishing the headquarters and expanding the department into more than half of Shalin’s regions, Lynn was exhausted and had no time for his personal plans.

• Richard gave Lynn a scroll detailing his tasks, promised to send people to help and protect him, and left the venue.
• Lynn made the administrators wait while he read the scroll, then dismissed them and savored his sense of power before laughing at Mayer’s corpse.
• Lynn established the Efficiency Department’s headquarters in Blackwater City within a few days.
• Lynn struggled to set up regional branches as administrators resisted him, so he relied on Bi Bi to handle two of his strongest opponents.
• After more than a month, Lynn had brought over half of Shalin’s regions under the department, but exhaustion left him without time to see his wife or pursue revenge.

Lynn struggled to sleep while worrying about bringing Shalin under the Efficiency Department’s control, then shaved his thinning hair off with a dagger. At daybreak, he woke Bi Bi and set out with her to investigate the region, leaving his plans for resolving its resistance still undecided.

• Lynn woke after his quilt fell to the floor and realized his hair had become much thinner.
• Lynn shaved his head with a dagger, deciding that going bald was an acceptable price for securing power and his position.
• Lynn found Bi Bi asleep at her desk with a quill in hand and woke her for work.
• Bi Bi offered to kill someone, but Lynn explained that killing would not solve the problems in Shalin.
• Bi Bi examined Lynn’s rough, freshly shaved scalp, then followed him outside into the cold.

Lynn struggled to overcome the locals’ covert resistance to his orders and establish the Efficiency Department. A group from Blackwater City arrived, captured one of the people coordinating the obstruction, and revealed their leader as Molly, the Blood Princess of the Sika Kingdom.

• Lynn realized the locals were deliberately twisting his orders, and he could not find suitable people for the Efficiency Department.
• Lynn told the unknown visitors to wait half an hour, but one of them challenged his decision before he could meet them.
• A limping woman said the group had come from Blackwater City to help Lynn, and Molly announced that they had already dealt with the problem.
• Hulk brought in a captured man, whom Molly identified as one of the coordinators secretly resisting Lynn’s directives.
• Lynn recognized the woman in scarlet as Molly, the Blood Princess of the Sika Kingdom.