Recaps

Victor inspected the dam construction and learned that brittle stone from a nearby quarry could not provide the large blocks needed for the project. Zarack explained that Levant planned to import cut stones by sea, and Victor left without finding fault with their solution.

• Zarack promised Victor that he would complete the river dredging, dam construction, and immigration work.
• Victor noticed that workers were focused on excavating the reservoir rather than building the dam and asked Zarack about the delay.
• Zarack explained that stone from the nearby quarry fractured too easily to make large blocks for the mortared stone dam.
• Zarack said he had used broken stones to build a temporary wooden crib dam while the team sought a solution.
• Zarack reported that Levant planned to have the sea fleet buy and transport cut stones from elsewhere.
• Victor recognized that the plan would not delay the project or exceed its budget and did not blame Zarack or Levant.

Victor helped Levant and Zarack solve a construction delay by proposing concrete cut stones made from cement and brittle local stone, then established technical standards with them. After reviewing problems across the territory and spending time with Veronica, he left for Iron Tree City in late July.

• Victor discovered that Levant and Zarack had stalled dam construction because the local stone was too brittle and replacement cut stone would take a month to arrive.
• Victor proposed using cement and the brittle stone to cast concrete blocks as substitutes for cut stone, and Levant and Zarack agreed to test the method.
• Victor reassured Levant and Zarack that he was not punishing them and praised their contributions to the territory.
• Victor spent two days testing concrete cut stones and dam bodies with Levant and Zarack until they established technical standards.
• Victor reviewed problems across the territory, returned to the Lord's Mansion, and spent time with Veronica.
• Victor said farewell to Veronica and his family and set out for Iron Tree City in late July.

Brando Great Oak waited at Sunset City’s docks for Victor’s fleet, hoping to leave his territory and travel to the Raine Kingdom under his godfather’s protection. Victor’s ships appeared on the Blackwater River, and Brando prepared to welcome them.

• Viscount Sonanda told Yellen and Brando Great Oak that Victor’s fleet was nearing Sunset City.
• Brando said he wanted to leave the territory and travel to the Raine Kingdom with his godfather.
• Viscount Sonanda recalled that Victor had protected Brando’s succession and that the retainers trusted him to keep the young count safe.
• Ships bearing the Golden Sunflower Crest appeared on the Blackwater River.

Victor arrived in Sunset City, reunited with his godson Brando, and learned that the East Sea Alliance was making provocations along the coast. He prepared to take Brando to Raine Kingdom while Viscount Sonanda and Great Oak Territory’s officials stayed behind to handle the threat.

• Victor was welcomed at the docks, where he reunited with Brando and teased him about his candy and messy hair.
• Viscount Sonanda spoke with Sodoma aboard the flagship and learned that Sodoma would take the Golden Sunflower Family fleet south on an undisclosed assignment.
• Victor attended a family dinner at the count’s residence, where Viscount Sonanda told him that suspected East Sea Alliance-linked pirates were attacking coastal villages.
• Victor offered to leave Sodoma’s fleet in Sunset City to help, but Viscount Sonanda declined and said they could handle the probes themselves.
• Victor promised to keep Brando safe when he took him to Raine Kingdom, while Magnus and the others remained in Great Oak Territory.

Victor discussed the pirate raids in Suffolk County with his advisers and considered whether an East Sea Alliance noble was secretly supporting them. He decided to discuss the unconfirmed suspicion privately with Duke Alex rather than raise a public alarm.

• Victor sent Count Brando to rest while he continued discussing Suffolk County with the others.
• Baron Magnus said the former loyalist nobles were occupied with surrendering their goods and people, while southern pirates were secretly attacking coastal fishing villages.
• Viscount Sonanda agreed that someone might be supplying the pirates but ruled out a major East Sea Alliance fleet attacking the Raine Kingdom.
• Victor suggested that an East Sea Alliance great noble might be acting alone.
• Viscount Yellen proposed reporting the suspicion to Duke Alex in Count Brando's name, but Victor decided to speak to Alex privately during their journey.

Victor arranged for Viscount Sonanda to lead an anti-pirate campaign while he and Brando traveled toward Iron Tree City. Alex learned that Victor and Brando would arrive the next day and eagerly prepared to welcome them.

• Victor ordered Viscount Sonanda to destroy the pirates, authorized attacks on East Sea Alliance ships, and planned to fund the campaign with contributions from Suffolk County's nobles.
• Magnus, Yellen, and Sonanda agreed to wait until Victor and Brando had left before preparing the campaign, while Yellen planned a sweep of Sunset City's black market.
• Victor issued a mobilization order, then departed by ship with Brando, who excitedly recounted the exaggerated puppet-show tales about his godfather.
• Victor carried Brando into the cabin during a strong gust and promised to tell him a truthful story instead of the puppet-show version.
• In Iron Tree City, Alex ordered grain sent to Notting County and learned that Victor and Brando would arrive the next day, prompting him to plan a welcome.

Alex reunited with Victor at the river dock near Iron Tree City and invited him back to the city. On the ride, Alex and Victor caught up while Brando greeted Alex formally, not remembering that they had met before.

• Alex recognized Victor's fleet outside the dock and ordered his cavalry to let Victor and his guards through.
• Alex and Victor dismounted and embraced happily after more than half a year apart.
• Alex and Victor remarked on each other's changed appearance, and Alex explained that his duties as duke and his father's death had left him exhausted.
• Alex led Victor and Brando toward Iron Tree City, while Brando asked Victor to teach him how to dismount from a horse.
• Brando introduced himself formally to Alex, who joked that he had held Brando when he was younger, and Victor said it was normal for a child not to remember.

Victor visited Alex in Iron Tree City and learned that rebellion across the Central Three Counties had forced Alex to deploy most of his Scarlet Feather Guard. With spring planting delayed and the autumn harvest uncertain, Alex asked Victor to lend grain, leaving Victor aware that food shortages could threaten nearly two million people.

• Alex explained that he had formed the two-thousand-man Scarlet Feather Guard because the Iron Birch Family lacked enough special warhorses to rebuild the Iron Knight Regiment.
• Victor saw that Iron Tree City had recovered much of its prewar bustle, and Alex showed him the renovated conference room and promised copies of books from the Silver Maple Family treasury.
• Alex asked Victor to lend autumn grain, and Victor realized Alex’s unusual cavalry force suggested trouble in the Central Three Counties.
• Alex revealed that people in all three counties had rebelled and attacked garrison camps, forcing him to send nearly all the Scarlet Feather Guard to suppress them.
• Alex said the rebels had delayed spring planting, making the autumn harvest uncertain, and noted that sending prisoners of war to Notting County had kept matters from worsening.

Alex proposed redistributing the Central Region’s population by building a canal from Milan County to North York County, using prisoners and conscripted labor. Victor found the plan workable and saw that it could ease rebellions while developing the canal route and rewarding Northern Frontier nobles.

• Alex regretted rejecting Victor’s earlier proposal to exchange the populations of Iron Birch Territory and the Central Three Counties.
• Alex said he intended to redistribute the population across the lands.
• Alex proposed a 140-kilometer canal connecting the Central and Northern Regions, built with nearly fifty thousand prisoners and conscripted workers.
• Alex planned to settle people in sparsely populated Sykes County and war-damaged Notting County, and grant most canal-side towns and villages to distinguished nobles and officers.
• Victor traced the route on the map and judged the plan workable, believing it would reduce rebellions and win support from Northern Frontier nobles.

Alex explained Casimian’s canal plan to Victor, who agreed to support the project with grain. After nobles from across the Vela Three Provinces gathered, Alex led them west to board the Kingdom Navy’s fleet for their journey to the Raine Kingdom.

• Alex told Victor how Casimian had proposed a canal connecting Iron Tree City and Northwind City, and showed him the engineer’s detailed survey and plan.
• Alex explained that the canal would use prisoner labor and support from nobles along the route, while Victor pledged thirty thousand tons of wheat each year until construction ended.
• The Vela Three Provinces’ great nobles arrived in Iron Tree City, and Alex departed with them on July 24.
• The party traveled through war-ravaged Ent and Strath Counties before reaching the better-preserved Fude County and its seat, Traca.
• After learning the Kingdom Navy’s fleet was ready, Alex led the gathered nobles to the port, where they boarded that night to sail the next morning.

Victor watched the calm, sunlit Tears of God Inland Sea at dawn while the others slept, then spoke with Count Edmund Longbloodvine on deck. The two compared the inland sea with other waters as Victor described his journey through the Shattered Ice Ocean.

• Victor admired the mirror-like sea at sunrise and regretted that Brando and the others were asleep and would miss the view.
• Count Edmund Longbloodvine joined Victor on deck and explained that he wore practical sailor's clothes whenever he led a fleet.
• Victor praised Edmund's simplicity and told him how remarkable the calm inland sea seemed compared with the Eastern Sea and the Shattered Ice Ocean.
• Edmund asked about the waters Victor had seen, and Victor described sailing north with Captain Jack to witness the Shattered Ice Ocean's drifting ice fields.

Victor learned from Earl Edmund how the Kingdom Navy's Gassel-class oared sailing ships navigated the dangerous Tears of God Inland Sea, while Edmund revealed an internal dispute over replacing them. After returning to his cabin, Victor suspected Edmund wanted him to pass information to Alex.

• Victor and Edmund discussed the Shattered Ice Ocean and Edmund's naval career as the fleet prepared to lower its sails and secure its ropes.
• Edmund explained that the fleet used Gassel-class oared sailing ships to maneuver around thunderstorms and sudden wind corridors in the Tears of God Inland Sea.
• The Lombardy used its oars to bypass a thunderstorm cluster and cross a fierce wind corridor as Edmund described the ship and its crew to Victor.
• Edmund told Victor that some naval officers wanted to replace the Gassel ships with Balati Galleons, while his father and Fleet Commander Lawrence opposed the plan.
• After the fleet entered rain, Victor returned to his cabin, saw Brando asleep, and suspected Edmund had revealed the Navy's dispute so Victor would tell Alex.

Victor woke aboard the Lombardy and spent time with Brando and the newly promoted Northern Frontier nobles. He left the deck to meet Duke Alex and Marquis Lloyd in the captain’s cabin.

• Victor woke in the afternoon and found Brando playing on deck after James had taken him out to sea.
• Victor warned Brando to be careful aboard the ship, then greeted the young Northern Frontier counts, including Count Isaac.
• James told Victor that Duke Alex and Marquis Lloyd were waiting for him in the captain’s cabin.
• James complained that Count Isaac had treated him dismissively, and Victor encouraged James to keep earning merit and managing his territory.
• Victor and James reached the captain’s cabin, where James left Victor to join the nobles’ discussion.

Alex told Victor that Count Edmund wanted to exchange Crimson Maple Territory for inland lands adjoining his existing holdings, despite Crimson Maple being unusually prosperous. Count Lloyd suggested Edmund feared Alex and the Iron Birch Family more than battle, but Alex chose to honor their agreement by the rules.

• Victor entered Alex's cabin and found Count Edmund there; Edmund left after Alex promised to handle his request.
• Alex explained that Edmund wanted to trade all his Northlands lands for a smaller inland territory, citing his trauma from the Civil War and his losses.
• Victor questioned why Edmund would surrender prosperous Crimson Maple Territory, and Alex described its fertile plain, mild climate, and large population.
• Count Lloyd argued that Edmund feared being targeted as a Silver Maple branch and worried about his territory's strategic location and weakened political connections.
• Count Lloyd urged Alex to take advantage of Edmund's fear, but Alex said he would keep his word and arrange the exchange according to the rules.

Victor and Alex discussed possible exchanges involving the Crimson Maple Territory and learned that the East Sea Alliance had gathered nobles at the border. Alex then told Victor the Kingdom Navy had agreed to let them use its shipping route for trade with the mainland, in return for ten percent of each ship’s cargo profits and an escort.

• Victor concluded that Counts Albert and Benjamin were the likeliest candidates to exchange territory for the Crimson Maple Territory.
• Marquis Lloyd explained that Leonard had stayed away because the East Sea Alliance was dealing with a gathering of Raine Kingdom nobles at the border.
• Marquis Lloyd dismissed the East Sea Alliance’s activity as unlikely to pose a serious threat and then left.
• Alex told Victor that the Kingdom Navy had approved their proposal to use its shipping route for mainland trade.
• Victor accepted the Navy’s ten-percent share of cargo profits as a favorable deal because it included an escort.

Victor and Alex discussed their trade route, missing support from Chairman Vitri, and the Kingdom Navy’s political faction. At a shipboard salon, Count Edmund explained that he bought Two Rivers Territory’s paper because he expected Victor to improve it and saw a chance to restore a lucrative Navy trade.

• Alex and Victor agreed that using the military route would make trade far more profitable than the regular route.
• Alex worried that Chairman Vitri had disappeared after returning to the kingdom proper and complained that promised funding and supplies had not arrived.
• Victor told Alex that Count Edmund had described a Navy dispute, and Alex asked Victor to learn what the faction wanted in return for their support.
• Victor attended a salon aboard ship, where the nobles questioned Count Edmund about buying the Two Rivers Territory’s entire annual paper output.
• Count Edmund described the kingdom’s paper markets and said improved paper from Victor’s territory could replace Papyrus Paper and benefit the Navy.

Victor offered Count Edmund a continuing deal for Two Rivers Territory’s new paper at half the Vela Region market price of Papyrus Paper. Edmund recognized the business’s enormous potential and asked to bring in the Kingdom Navy and other partners.

• Victor asked the other nobles to leave so he could speak privately with Count Edmund.
• Edmund offered to raise the price of his previous order by fifty percent, but Victor said he was satisfied with the original price.
• Victor revealed that his factory had produced stronger, more flexible, whiter paper and promised to send Edmund a batch for his order.
• Victor guaranteed continued cooperation if Edmund bought his territory’s paper at half the local market price of Papyrus Paper.
• Edmund estimated he could earn tens of thousands of gold coins annually and asked permission to find additional partners.
• Victor said Edmund could involve others in the business but expected his partners to deal with him openly.

Victor and Alex learned that Edmund’s Kingdom Navy faction sought a profitable, politically neutral trade partnership with the Vela Region. During the voyage, Edmund showed Victor’s party an island waystation in the Tears of God Inland Sea, and Brando expressed his wish to join the navy someday.

• Edmund explained the Kingdom Navy’s rivalry between factions and proposed an even split of profits from trade between the Vela Region and the kingdom’s heartland.
• Victor asked Edmund for details about the opposing faction, and Edmund prepared a dossier for him to take to Alex.
• Victor and the Kingdom Navy fleet reached a small island waystation, where Edmund recounted how his fleet had discovered its abundant fresh water.
• Brando asked to join the navy as an apprentice sailor, and Victor encouraged him to study and promised to speak to Magnus and Yellen if they objected.
• Edmund showed the group how the island’s fresh water and supplies let the fleet carry more cargo despite adding a day to its crossing.

Victor watched the fleet’s oarsmen come ashore to eat and bathe, then asked Edmund about their origins and conditions. Edmund explained that they were mostly prisoners of war serving as naval slaves, and described how the navy controlled them and offered some a path to freedom or military service.

• Victor watched escorted oarsmen emerge from belowdecks, eat while seabirds harassed them, and bathe naked in the sea.
• Brando left for the ship after seeing how filthy the oarsmen were.
• Victor asked Edmund where the oarsmen came from, and Edmund said most were prisoners of war from captured city-states around the Tears of God Inland Sea.
• Edmund explained that the navy relied on war slaves to row because the Inland Sea required ships to use both oars and sails, and that the slaves also bolstered forces during amphibious landings.
• Edmund said oarsmen could leave or join the Marine Corps after two years, and that armed Marines aboard each ship deterred rebellion.

Victor taught Brando about shipbuilding after the boy resolved to help the war slaves, then the fleet reached Beckman City, the Kingdom Navy’s home port and the capital of Eastern Coastal Province. The nobles prepared to go ashore as Brando eagerly anticipated the city’s seafood.

• Brando told Victor he wanted to study how to build faster ships so war slaves would not have to row, and Victor promised to teach him.
• Victor taught Brando during the voyage, and Brando spent the next few days studying intensely.
• As the fleet neared the mainland, Victor and Brando went on deck, where Earl Edmund said Beckman City was still at least an hour away.
• Earl Edmund introduced Beckman City as the Kingdom Navy’s home port and described its rapid growth and support for the navy.
• The fleet docked in Beckman City, and the nobles sent their servants to pack while they stayed on deck and looked forward to going ashore.

The Vela nobles arrived at Beckman's military port, where Marquis Gelorge and the Kingdom's officials welcomed them with a grand ceremony. Marquis Laou Allen praised Alex for carrying on Duke Colt's work before Marquis Guilford urged everyone to continue into the city for the banquet.

• Edmund explained that the Kingdom Navy had opened Beckman's military port to welcome the Vela nobles, and soldiers and warships lined the docks.
• Alex led the nobles ashore beneath a red carpet as a band played, prompting Victor and Alex to recognize the ceremony's resemblance to Victor's welcome in Silver Maple City.
• Marquis Gelorge greeted Alex and Victor, praised Victor's original idea, and explained that the ceremony had earned royal approval and rewards.
• Marquis Gelorge introduced Marquis Laou Allen and Marquis Guilford, the governor of the Eastern Coastal Province.
• Marquis Laou Allen recalled his friendship with Duke Colt and praised Alex for completing the old duke's unfinished work, moving Alex to tears.
• Marquis Guilford interrupted Laou Allen and led everyone onward to the welcoming banquet.

Victor and Brando traveled through the vast canal city of Beckman before arriving at Farview Palace, where Marquis Gelorge welcomed the nobles of the Vela Three Provinces on behalf of Carol I. The banquet eased the Vela nobles’ fears of being excluded by the kingdom, but Victor suspected the king’s warm welcome also meant the region would soon be drawn into another war.

• Victor and Brando marveled at Beckman’s extensive canals, bustling boat traffic, and immense size as their procession crossed the city.
• Victor promised Brando he might explore the city later, then the procession left Beckman’s built-up area and reached Farview Palace.
• Count Edmund told Victor that Farview Palace served as the king’s residence during naval inspections.
• Marquis Gelorge welcomed the Vela nobles and praised their role, the navy’s efforts, and the Eastern Coastal Province’s support in gaining overseas territory.
• Victor recognized the welcome as a sign that the kingdom valued the Vela region, but feared its strength would soon be used in another war.

Victor attended the welcome banquet in Beckman, avoided dancing so he could eat with Brando, and met Edmund’s childhood friend, the ship captain Saphinia Ironsword Grass. Edmund left with Saphinia after she reacted to Victor’s skeptical look, while Brando joked that Edmund would be henpecked.

• Victor saw James dancing with a young noblewoman and realized James would not be free to leave soon.
• Victor joined Alex and the regional nobles briefly, then took Brando to the buffet to sample Beckman’s food.
• Victor rejected the noblewomen who invited him to dance and gave Brando a large crab to eat.
• Edmund recommended pan-fried pink squid to Victor and introduced Saphinia Ironsword Grass as Commander Laou Allen’s youngest daughter and an experienced female captain.
• Saphinia glared at Victor and pulled Edmund away, and Victor smacked Brando for joking about Edmund being henpecked.

Victor attended the welcome banquet in Raine Kingdom, where nobles praised his White Sugar and asked to buy it. The chapter ended with the nobles recognizing White Sugar’s advantages for fruit drinks and discussing how it could be sold throughout the kingdom.

• Victor enjoyed Raine Kingdom’s banquet food and let Brando have another piece of honey cake.
• Alex introduced Victor to the high-ranking nobles and praised his wartime exploits and the success of White Sugar.
• Marquis Gelorge, Marquis Guilford, and Chief of Staff Laou Allen asked Victor to sell them White Sugar.
• Alex promised to deliver the White Sugar included among their gifts, and Gelorge proposed selling it through the royal family’s Golden Tree Trading Company.
• The nobles realized the Gorn Trading Company had likely kept its White Sugar shipments for internal use, while White Sugar’s flavorless sweetness made it especially suitable for fruit drinks.

Victor and Alex negotiated a White Sugar sales partnership with the kingdom’s nobles to raise funds for rebuilding the Vela Region. Victor and Marquis Guilford finalized a tiered profit-sharing agreement, and Victor ended the discussion eager to eat after his voyage.

• Victor and Alex recognized the kingdom’s strong potential market for White Sugar.
• Victor explained that Vela needed trade revenue to rebuild war-damaged territories and asked the three nobles for sales channels.
• Victor took over negotiations, focusing on Marquis Guilford’s terms and confirming that the Kingdom Navy’s interests had already been addressed.
• Victor agreed to give the nobles thirty percent of annual sales up to 200 tons, forty percent for sales between 200 and 1,000 tons, and fifty percent above 1,000 tons.
• Marquis Guilford shook hands with Victor and invited him to enjoy the banquet, while Victor said he was more interested in its food.