Chapter Summaries

Victor Golden Sunflower reflected on his failed attempts to awaken the mysterious tower in his palm while serving in Grand Duke Jola’s civil war. After learning that a powerful northern army was marching south to support Mora, Victor prepared for a dangerous turn in the war.

• Victor organized his battle gear and considered how combat had failed to activate the tower in his palm.
• Victor reviewed the civil war’s factions and the eastern army’s advantage over Mora’s forces.
• James Blue Rose told Victor that his retainers were waiting at the camp entrance.
• Santos reported that Baron Colt was leading fifty thousand northern troops south, including two thousand Iron Knights.
• Victor accepted his father’s guards and returned to his tent, uneasy about the coming battle.

Victor’s Light Cavalry hunted messengers around Lavork while he assessed where the Northern Coalition would attack. The Iron Knights soon struck the main formation from the southeast and shattered its ranks, leaving Victor watching the army collapse.

• Victor led his Light Cavalry in ambushing two groups escorting messengers, but the captured couriers carried no useful intelligence.
• Victor reasoned that the Northern Coalition would avoid the marshy southern approach and target the army’s eastern main formation instead.
• A cavalryman spotted dust clouds rising in the southeast, and Victor rushed his squad toward the main formation.
• More than ten thousand cavalrymen, led by Count Colt’s Iron Knights, broke through the main formation and tore its ranks apart.
• Victor watched the formation collapse after only a quarter of an hour of fighting.

Victor escaped the shattered main camp with his squad and reached the Eastern Allied Army’s Third Legion, where he reported that Grand Duke Jola was likely dead and the eastern forces had routed. As the army prepared to regroup, Baron Wembley told Victor to prioritize their family’s survival and announced he would transfer the territory and baronial title to him.

• Victor led his squad northwest toward the right wing while over a hundred Barbarian Cavalry pursued them, then entered the army formation after the pursuers turned back.
• Victor reported to Legion Commander William that the main camp had been shattered, Grand Duke Jola was suspected to have fallen, and the four legions had likely routed.
• Legion Commander William ordered Viscount Ronald to report to Count Black and directed the other officers to reorganize their troops defensively.
• Baron Wembley reunited with Victor, warned that the family must focus on survival, and discussed the heavy casualties among Victor’s light cavalrymen.
• Baron Wembley promised Victor command of a hundred light cavalrymen and announced that he would transfer the territory’s authority and eventually the baronial title to him.

Victor reorganized the depleted Third Squadron and led it across the battlefield to gather routed troops and intelligence about the Northern Alliance’s heavy cavalry. After learning that Grand Duke Jola had been killed, he returned toward the Main Camp and suspected Count Colt had a larger, more ruthless goal than merely supporting Marquis Mora.

• Ronald appointed Victor acting commander of the Third Squadron and ordered him to rally routed soldiers, avoid fighting, and gather intelligence.
• Victor merged the remnants of the Eighth and Ninth Platoons, appointed Richard to lead the new Eighth Platoon, made James its deputy, and placed Santos as deputy commander of the Seventh Platoon.
• Victor led the reorganized squadron onto the battlefield, where routed crossbowmen and Knight Jack described the Northern Alliance’s heavily armored cavalry breaking through the Spearman Phalanx.
• Four messengers told Victor that the Northern Alliance cavalry had reached Grand Duke Jola’s headquarters and that the grand duke had been killed.
• Victor sent Richard and twenty men to report the news to Ronald, then led the remaining force back toward the Main Camp and wondered why Count Colt had acted so ruthlessly.

Victor learned that Count Colt had weakened the Duchy’s direct legions to pressure the Grand Duke into opening northern development rights against a possible united Barbarian threat. After returning east with his troops, Victor recruited Knight Jack and reached Blackwater City, where he planned to rest and buy supplies.

• Victor reported to Baron Wembley, who explained that Count Colt had intervened in the civil war to secure northern development rights and gain support against the Barbarians.
• Baron Wembley ordered Victor to return to the territory with the wounded and warn the Silver Sunflower Barony and Oil Sunflower Barony to prepare for possible pressure from Marquis Mora.
• Victor received Viscount Ronald’s approval to leave and prepared to travel east along the Blackwater River with Santos and his subordinates.
• Knight Jack asked to join Victor, who took him as a retainer, appointed him deputy captain, and promoted Santos to captain.
• Victor’s troop transport reached Blackwater City, where he sent Santos to camp outside and entered the city with Jack and several guards.

Victor visited Blackwater City’s plant market, bought two Silver Maple saplings, and met Vitri Greenleaf of the Gorn Trading Company. After learning about Iron Bean, Victor recognized its potential and arranged to take two tons back to his territory.

• Jack guided Victor through Blackwater City and pointed out the nearby plant market, where Victor bought two expensive Silver Maple saplings.
• Vitri Greenleaf introduced himself as the head of the Gorn Trading Company’s York County branch and discussed possible trade with Victor’s Golden Sunflower Territory.
• Victor asked Vitri about Iron Bean and learned that northern Barbarian tribes cultivated it for its iron-producing tubers.
• Vitri showed Victor a warehouse full of unsold Iron Bean and offered him two tons for two Silver Maple Leaves.
• Victor accepted the deal and invited Vitri to visit the Golden Sunflower Territory.

Victor encouraged the wounded soldiers with food and promises of compensation, then returned to Golden Sunflower Territory and began examining the Iron Beans. After reaching Stone Castle, he was welcomed home by Steward Boon and prepared to face the territory’s waiting administrative work.

• Victor brought fresh food and fruit to the wounded soldiers and announced compensation for fallen soldiers’ families, work for disabled veterans, and support for injured soldiers unable to work.
• Victor told Santos and Jack that they would leave Blackwater City the next morning, then tested an Iron Bean and wondered whether it was an edible, valuable crop.
• Victor and his men sailed back to Linshui Town, where he assigned Santos to settle the wounded and offered Jack the position of deputy cavalry captain with a four-Silver-Coin monthly salary.
• Victor rode to Stone Castle, praised Steward Boon for managing the territory, and entered the castle after returning home.

After returning to Stone Castle, Victor called the territory’s directors to report on its condition and considered reforms, including developing an eastern exclave. The reports revealed the territory’s population, finances, and farming progress, and the chapter ended with Knight Ron arriving as Victor learned the northern horse-buying caravan was overdue.

• Victor ordered Steward Boon to summon the directors and planned to use the returning troops’ presence to resolve the eastern exclave’s development and ownership problems.
• Linde reported completed spring plowing, progress with draft horses, and successful trials of Bitter Bamboo and Big Leaf Chrysanthemum; Victor instructed him to expand cultivation and wait for Victor’s guidance on the heavy plow.
• Powell reported that the census counted 9,117 people among Freemen households, and Victor awarded the census clerks bonuses and assigned fine enforcement to the Taxation Department.
• Enrique reported that commercial and dockage taxes had fallen sharply during the war, while Robo confirmed the treasury could cover two months of salaries.
• Boon told Victor that the caravan sent north to buy warhorses had been missing for nearly two months, and Knight Ron Edelweiss arrived to report on the territory’s defenses.

Victor returned from the battlefield and reunited with his family, while Ron helped him review his wartime decisions on the journey home. He learned that bandits had raided Thorne’s territory, and planned to bring his sister Irene back from school before the coming turmoil.

• Ron checked Victor for injuries and reported that bandits from the eastern enclave had burned two manors in Green Oak after Thorne sent his troops away.
• Victor ended the meeting and invited Ron to return with him to the manor, where Ron analyzed Victor’s battlefield experiences during their carriage ride.
• Victor arrived home and was welcomed by Downs, who told him that Lady Ellie and the children had been waiting for him.
• Victor’s twin siblings Enrique Golden Sunflower and Wendy Golden Sunflower greeted him eagerly, and he gave them tin figurines as gifts.
• Victor reunited with Lady Ellie and considered bringing Irene Golden Sunflower back from the noble academy in Cambridge City before the coming turmoil.

Victor decided to expand Golden Sunflower Territory’s army by recruiting serfs and reforming their service and rewards, while Lady Ellie approved his plans and raised a possible marriage alliance. As Victor finished revising the recruitment rules, his long-awaited Kindling Lighthouse module began activating and sent him into a deep sleep.

• Victor told Lady Ellie that the eastern counties might become unstable and proposed spending one thousand gold coins to expand the army.
• Lady Ellie approved the expansion, and Victor explained his plan to recruit serfs, reward their families, and grant some soldiers Freemen status and land.
• Victor asked Ron to create a training program for the new serf soldiers, then agreed to contact Mira after Lady Ellie mentioned a possible marriage alliance.
• Victor revised the army recruitment and compensation plans and prepared them for review at a territory work meeting.
• Victor entered an unexplained space, consented to activating the Kindling Lighthouse module, and fell asleep as it began its ten-hour activation.

After the Beacon Lighthouse awakened, Victor learned that the low-magic world left most of its capabilities unavailable, though he could use its calculation and analysis modules. He set the system to help with practical plans and, after learning other lighthouses could connect when the Magic Tide returned, asked it to chart how his civilization could prepare for the tide’s arrival in fifty years.

• Victor entered the Beacon Lighthouse and learned from Guide Number 1 about the Moonlit Prophet, Soul Matter, the Magic Tide, and why the lighthouse had selected him as an inheritor.
• Victor learned that the lighthouse could currently offer only basic calculation and analysis, then approved a six-hour task using one-quarter of his Soul Matter to design a suitable plowing tool.
• Victor submitted tasks for an army expansion plan, compensation standards, and enclave development, and realized that broader or less specific requests took longer to calculate.
• Victor learned that six Beacon Lighthouses had been placed in different worlds and might reconnect as the Magic Tide rose, potentially bringing other civilizations into contact with his world.
• Victor told Guide Number 1 to call him Victor and requested a schedule for preparing his world, prompting Number 1 to plan for a Void Lighthouse and Void Fleet over the next fifty years.

Victor oversaw the creation and successful field test of a Saxon heavy plow, then planned its rollout across Golden Sunflower Territory's farms. He also arranged to recruit eight hundred soldiers, including serfs, and left the manor expecting his new recruitment and compensation plans to be ready by morning.

• Victor guided the Weaponry Workshop's craftsmen in making a Saxon heavy plow and offered a gold coin to anyone who could make a cheaper version while retaining half its efficiency.
• Victor tested the heavy plow with a draft horse, saw it turn soil far more effectively than a light plow, and ordered each farm to receive three sets and train their workers and horses.
• Victor visited the Main Camp, watched Ron's pikemen train, and told him that recruitment would begin the next day.
• Victor planned to recruit eight hundred soldiers, including one hundred Light Cavalry, and integrate the rest into existing infantry units after unified training.
• Victor proposed improving the households of Serf Soldiers by relocating them to a centralized farm and providing housing, land, expenses, and loans; Ron agreed to help with recruitment and camp preparations.
• Victor returned to the manor and checked his consciousness space, where his recruitment and compensation plans were still unfinished.

Victor launched a recruitment drive for the territory’s army, arranged plans to settle recruits’ families as Freemen, and addressed divisions between Freeman and serf recruits at the Main Camp. As recruitment continued, he learned of political and military developments, including the death of Baron Thorne Green Oak, and pledged land and rewards to soldiers who served well.

• Victor reviewed the recruitment and pension plans, then selected forty young men at a farmstead, encouraging Jack and promising the underage Walker a fair chance in a later recruitment.
• Victor trained Ron and the Squad Leaders to continue recruiting, then ordered Linde, Powell, and Robo to establish a new farmstead and coordinate the settlement and registration of recruits’ families.
• Steward Boon told Victor that the armies were withdrawing, the territory’s caravan had bought two hundred warhorses, and Baron Thorne Green Oak had died; Victor asked him to learn Count Colt’s intentions.
• Victor found Freeman and serf recruits divided at the Main Camp, ordered Quartermaster Blinken to issue uniforms and maintain meal standards, and inspected the recruits’ food.
• Victor shared a meal with the recruits, heard Jack, Amy, and Tom describe their training and hopes, and promised them Freeman status and land in return for their service.

Victor oversaw recruit training, welcomed his sister Irene home, and received the last returning troops before his territory settled into recovery and construction. A month later, with farms and the new settlement developing, he refined the Calculation Module’s personal panel and prepared to buy war supplies.

• Victor completed the organization of 800 recruits into mixed squads and began their training at the Main Camp.
• Victor welcomed Irene back to the territory and reassured her that her school holiday would last no more than two months.
• Victor received Sir Paul and the final expeditionary troops at Linshui Town's docks, then hosted a homecoming banquet.
• Victor granted returning troops leave and combat allowances, while he personally visited wounded soldiers and the families of the fallen.
• Victor oversaw the delivery of heavy plows and Draft Horses, and the new settlement and Main Camp expansion were completed.
• Victor used the Calculation Module to create a Personal Panel, then asked Number 1 to make it more compact while he prepared to purchase war supplies.

Victor negotiated with Alex Iron Birch to exchange the Golden Sunflower Territory’s enclave for a larger coastal territory in North York County, while preparing his people and troops to move north. A week later, Baron Wembley returned home and reunited with his family.

• Victor interpreted his father’s letter as a sign that Count Colt’s envoy was coming and traveled to Linshui Town to receive Alex Iron Birch.
• Alex asked Victor to cooperate with the Iron Birch Family in the coming fight against the Barbarians and offered a 510-square-kilometer coastal territory in exchange for the enclave.
• Victor agreed to support Alex’s family in return for the land, and Alex said the enclave would go to his third brother, Daven.
• Victor strengthened military training, sent Jack and a hundred-man squad ahead to scout North York County, and planned to move the enclave’s people and supplies north.
• A week later, Victor, Irene, and the younger children welcomed Baron Wembley home, and he embraced his family before telling Victor he had worked hard.

Victor prepared to lead the northern reclamation effort as Baron of the Golden Sunflower Territory, while his father expanded his resources and responsibilities. After the succession ceremony, Victor revised his plans to account for new transport, immigrants, troops, and a possible effort to help his uncle’s struggling territory.

• Victor reported the territory’s increased sunflower oil production and outlined his preparations to lead more than 5,000 people north, while Baron Wembley warned him about conflicts with other nobles.
• Baron Wembley arranged for Victor to inherit the barony before his northern expedition, and Victor’s family congratulated him as the territory prepared a succession ceremony.
• Victor held the ceremony, where Viscount Ronald asked him to help James, who would establish a territory near Victor’s lands.
• Wembley revealed that Ronald had provided three transport ships and that James would serve under Victor, then urged Victor to take additional serfs and craftsmen north.
• Wembley assigned Ron to accompany Victor and asked him to borrow cavalry from his uncle Soros and consider helping the struggling Edelweiss Territory.
• Victor instructed Number 1 to revise his immigration and financial plans to include the new route, transport capacity, settlers, troops, and support for Edelweiss.

Victor traveled to the Edelweiss Territory to secure support for his northern expedition, and Viscount Roy agreed to send two hundred light cavalrymen under Soros. After gathering ideas to improve the territory and buying seeds in Brook City, Victor encountered Vitri Greenleaf at a Gorn Trading Company shop.

• Victor reached the Edelweiss Territory and reunited with Viscount Roy, Soros, and the rest of his maternal family.
• Viscount Roy agreed to provide Victor with two hundred light cavalrymen and have Soros lead them overland to Northwind City.
• Number 1 identified cashmere goat farming and processing as a promising way to improve the Edelweiss Territory.
• Victor toured the territory, then left with his fleet and traveled to Brook City in Bria County.
• Victor bought beet and alfalfa seeds and assigned Number 1 tasks to improve sugar-making and silage technology.
• Victor entered a Gorn Trading Company shop and met Vitri Greenleaf, who greeted him as Baron Victor.

Victor arranged a Light Yew Wood purchase with Macut Blackpine, secured information services from Vitri, and learned why Northern Frontier nobles were opening their lands to settlers. He left Brook City with the timber deal underway and warnings to build near old outposts before the Barbarians raided after spring.

• Victor inspected Light Yew Wood at the Gorn Trading Company, and Vitri introduced him to Macut Blackpine of Black Pine Territory.
• Victor proposed floating timber rafts downstream and offered three hundred Gold Coins for logs; Macut agreed to the deal.
• Macut explained the Northlands’ strained defenses, described Black Pine Territory, and warned Victor to build around old outposts before spring raids.
• Victor asked Vitri to provide information about nobles heading north, and they agreed on an annual ten-Gold-Coin subscription.
• The next morning, Victor paid Vitri forty Gold Coins in fees and gave Macut a deposit of one hundred and fifty Gold Coins for the timber order.

Victor continued his fleet’s journey toward his territory, arranging help from James and discussing river transport plans with Vitri. After stopping in Northwind City, the fleet reached the mouth of the Great Fish River and anchored for the night.

• Victor welcomed James and Santos’s fleets, confirmed their travel schedule with Powell and Jack, and appointed Jack second-in-command.
• James offered to send his fleet with Victor’s on another voyage before winter to transport additional supplies, and Victor accepted.
• Vitri told Victor that the Gorn Trading Company planned to develop timber transport along the Great Fish River, and they agreed to explore the river mouth together.
• Victor’s fleet sailed to Northwind City, where he bought iron birch logs and learned that Alex and Count Colt were away.
• The fleet continued east to the Great Fish River’s mouth, where Jack checked for hidden reefs and ordered the ships to anchor for the night.

Victor reached his territory’s coast and learned that Jack’s advance squad had been driven from an outpost after fighting a Barbarian force. He prepared his troops and fleet to confront the cavalry near the Great Fish River while scouting for possible reinforcements and planning the battle.

• Victor arrived at the coast and found Jack’s battered advance squad waiting by a watchtower.
• Jack reported that his men had raided a defeated Barbarian tribe, then held their outpost for four days against roughly five hundred Barbarian Cavalry before escaping.
• Victor learned that the cavalry force had a little over four hundred warriors and held about twelve hundred captives, then ordered scouts to investigate the north and troops to unload and prepare for battle.
• Victor assigned Ron to screen the battlefield, Santos to lead the infantry, and Jack and James to command cavalry units, with the troops set to rest before moving out.
• Victor discussed possible plant-based long-distance communication with Number 1, then went to inspect unloading and calculate the army’s supplies.