Recaps

Alex and Victor captured Baron Rossi Peach and his companions after taking the castle, then learned Rossi was carrying a secret message for Grand Duke Silver Maple. Alex threatened Rossi into revealing it, and the chapter ended with an arrow killing a companion who urged him to consider his family.

• Alex had prisoners haul firewood and shout threats while Victor's archers sealed the castle windows, prompting the defenders to surrender.
• Alex discovered hidden private soldiers with military crossbows and then met Baron Rossi Peach, who claimed to be an envoy from the Raine Kingdom.
• Rossi began explaining that he represented Duke Wiske of Wos Province, but Lord Eli interrupted him with a cough.
• Alex had Lord Eli killed, then kicked Rossi down and demanded that he hand over the item meant for Grand Duke Silver Maple.
• Rossi's companion warned him not to bring shame upon the Oleander family, and an arrow pierced the man's head.

Alex questioned Baron Rossi after Victor killed Layson, learning that Duke Wiske had pressured Rossi into a mission by promising to restore his title and lands. Rossi agreed to hand over the secret pact in exchange for his safety, and Alex confirmed the document was genuine.

• Victor shot and killed Layson, and Baron Rossi begged Alex to spare him and promised to cooperate.
• Rossi explained that Wos Province’s nobles had seized his family’s lands after his father died defending them, and that Duke Wiske had sent him to the Grand Duchy of Vera with a promise to restore his title.
• Rossi agreed to give Alex the item and asked him to spare his two retainers, who joined Rossi after Alex released them.
• Rossi led Alex and Victor to a wooden case in a castle guest room and handed over a parchment scroll.
• Alex examined the scroll and confirmed that it was the genuine secret pact, bearing Rossi’s father’s seal and signature.

Alex and Victor secured the secret treaty and escaped the Woven Fern Territory by galley, leaving a cavalry feint to mislead the Imperial Guard Legion. Rasul arrived afterward and found the castle destroyed and the delegation missing.

• Alex promised Baron Rossi a place in the Northlands and brought him along with the party.
• Alex and Victor decided not to kill the prisoners, but to take them aboard the galleys as rowers while the trading post guards led the horses west as a decoy.
• Victor and Alex led the interception squad downstream toward Blackwater City, where they planned to meet reinforcements and return home.
• At 3:00 AM on the 16th, Victor's two galleys departed with 78 warriors, including 18 wounded, as the Baron of Woven Fern's castle burned behind them.
• Around 11:00 AM, Rasul arrived with 500 cavalrymen and found the castle in ruins and the embassy delegation gone.

Rasul pursued the attackers west with an exhausted cavalry force while Victor and Alex traveled down the Blackwater River with their captives. James led troops into Stream Territory to deliver Victor’s letter to Baron Brown, but reached the baron’s castle as its defenders sealed the gates and prepared for battle.

• Rasul ordered three companies of cavalry to pursue the attackers, though their commanders and soldiers resented his authority and conserved their horses’ strength.
• Victor and Alex discussed the mission, their casualties, and where to release their captives as their boat approached the edge of Strath County.
• Victor told Alex to drop off the servants at a shallow beach and keep the captive private soldiers rowing until Blackwater City.
• James led the First Cavalry Detachment into Stream Territory, disarming patrols and killing those who resisted as he hurried toward Baron Brown’s castle.
• The castle defenders spotted James’s army, shut the gates, and took positions on the battlements, so James ordered his troops to scatter.

James delivered Victor’s letter to Baron Brown while his troops surrounded Stream Territory, and Brown weighed Victor’s offer against the danger facing the Alfalfa Family. After Victor’s reinforcements and siege equipment arrived, Brown decided he would not hand over his troops and let Victor take the blame.

• James met Baron Brown outside the castle, delivered Victor’s letter, and released the captured patrol soldiers.
• Brown told James to restrain his troops and returned to the castle to consider his choice.
• Brown spoke with his nephew Sura, who said the Alfalfa Family would respect Brown’s decision and follow his command.
• James’s reinforcements arrived, and the troops built a wagon fort and assembled siege equipment near the castle.
• Brown read Victor’s letter, considered the risks of neutrality and Victor’s offer, and made up his mind to reject the plan.

Baron Brown decided to join Count Colt's command against Grand Duke Mora, and Sura chose to join Victor's forces rather than return to his family. The chapter ended with Brown preparing to leave the Stream Territory with his troops after arranging its defenses and administration.

• After seeing his soldiers' anxiety about facing James's well-equipped army, Baron Brown decided to join Count Colt and told Sura he could choose his own future.
• Sura said he wanted to join the Two Rivers Territory, and Baron Brown rode with him to James's camp to pledge his allegiance.
• James appointed Baron Brown captain of the First Independent Regiment of the Golden Sunflower Legion and offered equipment for the Stream Territory's defenses.
• Baron Brown introduced Sura to James, who welcomed him into Victor's command.
• Baron Brown returned to the castle to arrange the territory's affairs and prepare troops and provisions, while the Stream Territory soldiers' morale rose at the prospect of fighting alongside the Two Rivers Territory.

Victor and Alex sailed past Silver Maple City toward Blackwater City while discussing the duchy's finances and Victor's hope to capture the city. Meanwhile, Rasul discovered that the Raine envoy had escaped, and Viscount Borey rushed to inform Grand Duke Mora.

• James handed heavy weapons to Baron Brown, who gave James Stream Territory's army roster of 762 soldiers.
• Victor and Alex's fleet reached the port near Silver Maple City, where they discussed its revenues and the duchy's financial and military problems.
• Victor declined Alex's offer to visit Silver Maple City, watched its inner-city walls, and continued sailing with him toward Blackwater City.
• Rasul's troops found only a herd of horses after tracking the cavalry, and Rasul ordered men to gather the horses while he sought a way to contact the Capital City.
• Viscount Borey received Rasul's message about Woven Fern Territory's fall and the missing Raine envoy, then went to report the news to Grand Duke Mora.

Viscount Borey told Grand Duke Mora that the Raine Kingdom’s envoy, secret pact, and Baron of Woven Fern had vanished after Woven Fern Castle burned down. Count Lagos advised investigating the ruins and questioning Borey’s returning force, while Mora dispatched the Silver Maple Inner Guard to Ent County for answers.

• Viscount Borey arrived at Maple Leaf Palace and reported that the Raine Kingdom’s envoy and secret pact had disappeared.
• Borey offered to surrender his command, but Mora refused to blame him before learning what had happened and summoned Count Lagos.
• Borey explained that his force had found Woven Fern Castle burned down and the envoy, secret pact, and Baron of Woven Fern missing.
• Count Lagos advised Mora to recall Borey’s force to Silver Maple City for questioning and send the inner guard to investigate Woven Fern Territory.
• Mora ordered a man from the Silver Maple Inner Guard to investigate the ruins in Ent County and report back.

Mora and Count Lagos planned to convene the Noble Council, accuse Count Colt of treason, and pass a special military tax to fund a campaign against him. They believed the scheme would secure enough votes, though Viscount Borey worried that victory would ultimately depend on the battlefield.

• Mora wanted to mobilize the Imperial Guard Legion immediately, but Count Lagos warned that the treasury and army were unprepared for war.
• Count Lagos advised Mora to present evidence of Count Colt’s treason at the Noble Council and levy a special military tax.
• Count Lagos proposed promising nobles parts of Northern Frontier fiefs and restoring benefits lost by eastern and Central nobles to win their support.
• Count Lagos outlined a plan to remove Northern Frontier and southern nobles from the council and gain Western nobles’ support by blaming Count Colt’s subordinate for the Baron of Woven Fern’s disappearance.
• Mora approved levies of 800 gold for barons, 1,500 for viscounts, and 3,000 for counts, while Count Lagos proposed refunding the court ministers’ payments afterward.
• Viscount Borey remained concerned that the plan underestimated the military challenge posed by Count Colt and the Northern Frontier Allied Army.

Victor and Alex discussed how Grand Duke Mora’s fines and their corrupt collection had devastated the Central and Eastern Regions. The chapter left Victor realizing that Mora’s subordinates had kept most of the profits while the Duchy’s Direct Legion remained underfunded.

• Victor saw abandoned farmland along the Blackwater River and was surprised by the Central Region’s decline.
• Alex told Victor that Mora and his supporters had caused much of the damage by imposing fines on nobles from Jora’s faction.
• Alex explained that Count Lagos’s merchant associations bought nobles’ property and produce at low prices, and forced some to sell their serfs.
• Victor asked why the Duchy’s Direct Legion was still being replenished slowly despite the money raised.
• Alex revealed that Mora received only thirty percent of the profits while his subordinates kept seventy percent, leaving Victor stunned.

Baron Rossi explained how the Raine Kingdom’s history, noble politics, and stalled southern expansion had led the king and navy to pursue an eastward advance into the Grand Duchy of Vera. Victor and Alex learned that the Raine Kingdom would likely keep supporting the campaign, leaving the Northern Frontier Allied Army with reason to hold out against Grand Duke Silver Maple.

• Alex regretted that the Northern Frontier Allied Army could not cross Carn City and appeal to the Central nobles, while Victor warned that those nobles might want both armies destroyed.
• Baron Rossi described how Raine’s powerful dukes oppressed lesser nobles and how past wars and royal concessions had weakened them.
• Rossi explained that the current king had expanded the navy, which captured coastal strongholds but eventually reached a stalemate against the Central Duchy Alliance.
• Rossi said the navy had discovered a route across Tears of God to the Grand Duchy of Vera, giving the king and navy a new path for expansion.
• Rossi predicted that the Raine Kingdom would send troops to help if Count Colt and the Northern Frontier Allied Army held on, and Victor recognized that the kingdom’s internal pressures made its intervention likely.

Victor, Alex, and Baron Rossi discussed the Raine Kingdom Navy’s possible intervention and compared the military strength of the Kingdom and the Duchy. They arrived at Blackwater City, where Alex went to the merchants' association while Victor stayed behind to explore.

• Baron Rossi explained that the Raine Kingdom Navy had a powerful Marine Legion, but Victor warned that it might not be strong enough to face the western nobles' forces alone.
• Alex described the noble houses and military strength of the Western Three Counties, and Baron Rossi compared them with the weaker noble territories of the Raine Kingdom.
• Alex explained that the Duchy's continued expansion had kept its nobles relatively strong and said the rebellion could succeed without Kingdom assistance.
• Alex thanked Baron Rossi for the intelligence and promised to introduce him to his father, then Victor urged them to go to dinner.
• Victor and Alex arrived at Blackwater City the next morning, and Alex left for the merchants' association while Victor stayed behind to explore.

Victor returned to Blackwater City and witnessed a clash between Baron Enos’s city guards and soldiers of the Third Legion at the gate. Regimental Commander Taros ended the confrontation, and Victor entered the city after paying the fee, wondering whether the Third Legion was stronger than Count Colt believed.

• Victor arrived at Blackwater City and noticed that Duchy's Direct Legion soldiers now guarded the city gate.
• Third Legion soldiers stopped Baron Enos’s daughter’s carriage for refusing to pay the entry fee, and the coachman challenged them.
• Baron Enos led city guards against the Third Legion soldiers, who used disciplined formation tactics to hold them back.
• Captain Tackel arrived and challenged Baron Enos, but their argument threatened to restart the fight.
• Regimental Commander Taros intervened, ended the confrontation, and replaced the gate guards with his soldiers.
• Victor paid the entry fee and entered the city, reflecting on the Third Legion’s apparent combat strength.

Victor explored Blackwater City and found that its growing military presence and war preparations had driven up commodity prices, especially food. He learned that York County’s governor and grain merchants had manipulated the grain supply for profit, leaving ordinary people impoverished and the city full of refugees.

• Victor set aside concerns about Alex and wandered through Blackwater City, where he noticed more residents and busier trade but worsening conditions for ordinary people.
• Victor questioned merchants and craftsmen, learning that war preparations had raised bulk commodity prices and wheat flour had become especially expensive.
• Victor discovered that poor harvests in noble territories had reduced grain available for sale, while the county office had bought up much of the local supply.
• A chamber of commerce clerk told Victor that the governor had withheld grain from the market and worked with grain merchants to keep prices high.
• Victor concluded that the governor had stockpiled cheap grain for the Duchy Army while profiting from kickbacks, leaving Freemen and other residents to suffer inflated prices and poverty.

Victor gathered information in Blackwater City while Alex met with a member of the Honeysuckle family and urged him to join their cause. After Alex returned to the ship, he identified Regimental Commander Taros as a viscount from a family with a long history in the Duchy's Direct Legion.

• Victor regretted that Blackwater City's refugees were being wasted and hoped Count Colt would soon bring the Northern Frontier Allied Army so he could claim them as spoils of war.
• Alex met a hooded Honeysuckle family member in a tavern and tried to persuade him to cooperate, warning that his family was being weakened by Count Lagos and Count Sibeth.
• The Honeysuckle family member resisted, fearing that a defeat would destroy his family, while Alex gave him until next year to decide.
• Victor returned to the ship with provisions for the soldiers, and Alex said the fleet could depart because he had made the necessary arrangements.
• Victor told Alex about the disturbance at the city gates, and Alex explained that Regimental Commander Taros was a viscount from Derby County whose family had long served in the Duchy's Direct Legion.

Victor and Alex discussed grain shortages, refugees, and plans for a possible march on Blackwater City, including Viscount Taros’s potential role. They uncovered the Honeysuckle family’s weakened position, leaving open the possibility that Victor and Alex could win them over.

• Alex identified Viscount Pelle Red Maple as Blackwater City’s governor, and Victor warned that he had stockpiled grain and supplies for Mora.
• Victor and Alex discussed buying grain for a future campaign and arranging to move refugees from around Blackwater City to the Golden Sunflower Territory, with Alex agreeing to provide wheat.
• Victor urged Alex to watch the Third Legion and Viscount Taros’s Third Regiment, and Alex said Taros might become a partner but did not want to act as an inside man.
• Alex explained that Taros had escaped the Civil War’s purges because his troops were stationed in the Western Three Counties, and that his family had paid to preserve his military position.
• Alex revealed that Taros had filled his regiment with his family’s veteran private soldiers and that the Honeysuckle family was in financial trouble and vulnerable to Count Sibes Honeysuckle.
• Victor recognized that the Honeysuckle family had few options left, making it possible for them to be won over.

Victor and Alex agreed to travel east by sea, while Victor planned to return to Golden Sunflower Territory and leave the wounded soldiers there. Meanwhile, Santos's force entered Black Pine Territory, where Viscount Peros prepared to fight Two Rivers Territory despite his son Macut's pleas to negotiate.

• Victor told Alex he would travel to Golden Sunflower Territory and later seek permission to lead troops to the Eastern Region.
• Alex agreed to leave the wounded soldiers with Victor and continued east with the fleet.
• Santos led nearly four thousand troops into Black Pine Territory but encountered only distant scouts.
• Macut urged Viscount Peros to speak with Two Rivers Territory before fighting, but Peros locked him in the study.
• Viscount Peros told a knight that he was raising troops to punish the Iron Birch Family and expected Macut to be spared if he was defeated.

Viscount Perez prepared Black Pine Territory’s forces to defend against the advancing Two Rivers Territory army, while Santos’s fleet landed at a river dock. Santos learned from Orlando that Macut had likely been placed under house arrest and that Perez intended to use the Black Forest’s terrain to fight.

• Viscount Perez ordered Arman’s First Infantry Battalion to depart after dinner and explained to Raman why the Two Rivers Territory army’s supplies could not be cut off.
• Viscount Perez decided to yield the banks of the Great Fish River and use the Black Forest as a defensive barrier.
• Santos’s forces landed at a river dock in Black Pine Territory as Santos admired the Black Forest.
• Orlando told Santos that Macut was likely under house arrest and that Black Pine Territory soldiers had captured agents trying to reach him.
• Santos said Perez would likely use forest harassment and cavalry ambushes against them.

Santos prepared to counter the Black Pine Territory army’s forest tactics with a secret weapon while arranging a permanent outpost near the dock. Sagras presented a two-phase construction plan, and the army began building the first phase before winter.

• Santos told Orlando that the Black Forest’s terrain favored the enemy and that the Intelligence Department had been unable to locate the forest paths.
• Santos showed Orlando covered carts and said he had obtained a secret weapon from Bob, though he warned that the Black Pine Territory army might suffer losses.
• Santos spoke with Master Craftsman Makarov, who had brought his inventions to observe and improve their battlefield performance.
• Santos inspected the outpost construction site, where Sagras had begun work with three engineering companies and six hundred laborers.
• Sagras showed Santos plans for a three-hectare outpost, with a wooden wall, a water-filled canal, and initial wooden buildings before a bastion fort was added next year.

Santos assigned Captain Sagras to build a supply station and shared canned fruit with Shang Ye while they discussed Victor’s plans for canned provisions. After Shang Ye warned that Black Pine Territory could raid the camp through the Black Forest, Santos put his detachment on guard duty for the night.

• Santos left an infantry detachment and inland fleet personnel to defend the supply station Captain Sagras would build.
• Santos shared a jar of trial canned apples with Shang Ye, who praised its taste and its potential as military provisions.
• Santos told Shang Ye that Victor planned to improve canned food’s shelf life and expand production for sale to the territory’s people.
• Shang Ye warned Santos that Black Pine Territory might use the Black Forest to launch a nighttime raid on their camp.
• Santos assigned Shang Ye and his detachment to guard the camp, ordering them not to pursue raiders into the forest.

Markut received a secret letter from his allies while confined in the castle, then escaped with their help during a warehouse fire. He set out to find the Two Rivers Territory army and learn what was happening before the conflict became uncontrollable.

• A servant smuggled a letter to Markut inside his dinner, and Markut read it and burned it.
• Pudas told Lorak how Viscount Perez had treated his enemies and serfs cruelly, while they affirmed their loyalty to Markut.
• Cohen and his allies started a warehouse fire and brought anesthetic-coated crossbows to rescue Markut.
• Lorak, Pudas, and the others incapacitated the two guards outside Markut's study and entered to free him.
• Markut agreed to escape and said he needed to find the Two Rivers Territory army before the sides began fighting in earnest.

Macut escaped house arrest with the help of his loyal subordinates and headed for the southern route to join Two Rivers Territory's army. Meanwhile, Captain Alman led a night raid toward the enemy camp, determined to prove Black Pine Territory's army could defeat Two Rivers Territory; Shang Ye learned that the attackers had arrived.

• Macut and his rescuers left the castle through a side gate and rode toward the southern route, which would be unguarded after midnight.
• Alman gathered four platoons in the Black Forest and learned from a scout that the enemy camp near the docks was lightly watched.
• Alman recalled his conflicts with Macut over army recruitment and equipment, then resolved to demonstrate Black Pine Territory's strength with a night raid.
• Alman signaled his troops to move, and the platoons split into groups and disappeared into the forest.
• A soldier told Shang Ye that the enemy had come.

Shang Ye prepared his detachment to defend against Black Pine Territory’s Night Owl Platoon, relying on new Repeating Crossbows and Makarov’s mirror warning system. Before dawn, Shang Ye watched the reflected lights in the forest, ready to observe the enemy’s approach.

• Shang Ye climbed a watchtower overlooking the Black Forest and confirmed that his preparations had gone unnoticed.
• Shang Ye recalled how Makarov had equipped his detachment with lightweight half armor and introduced the rapid-firing Repeating Crossbow.
• Makarov explained that the Repeating Crossbow had limited range and power but could fire up to thirty bolts rapidly and withstand hundreds of consecutive shots.
• Shang Ye accepted all fifty Repeating Crossbows Makarov had brought and arranged for his crossbowmen to learn how to use them.
• Makarov warned Shang Ye about the Night Owl Platoon and set up mirrors in the forest to reflect warning signals toward the camp.
• Shang Ye observed the reflected lights from the watchtower as he waited for the Black Pine Territory soldiers.

Shang Ye withdrew Two Rivers Territory’s hidden sentries and increased the camp’s visible defenses to confuse Black Pine Territory’s approaching force. Arman learned of the changes, suspected a trap, and continued scouting toward the camp as his troops advanced cautiously.

• Shang Ye ordered all hidden sentries recalled, saying the coming battle did not warrant needless losses.
• Black Pine Territory’s scouts found the sentry posts abandoned, and one returned to report the change to Arman.
• Arman chose to continue the night operation, ordering his squads to slow down and organize while he scouted ahead.
• A Night Owl reported that Two Rivers Territory had more guards on the watchtower and more frequent patrols, prompting Arman to investigate.
• Shang Ye told Mammon that the increased patrols, watchtower presence, and brighter fires were meant to give the enemy an excuse to attack.

Arman led a night raid on Santos's camp, but the attackers were caught in an ambush and routed by a relentless barrage of arrows. Arman fled into the Black Forest, while the Night Owls stayed behind to help restore order among the retreating troops.

• Arman studied the camp's defenses and ordered his infantry to enter, cause chaos, set fires, and withdraw after five minutes; the Night Owls refused to join the attack but offered to receive his troops in the forest.
• Arman showed his squad leaders gaps in the patrol routes, and the Black Forest infantry advanced toward the camp under cover of darkness.
• Flames erupted along the camp's edge, revealing the trap, and Arman ordered his soldiers to retreat.
• Soldiers inside the camp fired a dense, seemingly endless barrage of arrows from handcarts, cutting down the Black Pine troops and sending the survivors into a disastrous flight.
• Arman fled to report to Viscount Perez and blamed a suspected leak of intelligence, while the Night Owl leader chose to help the routed troops regroup.