Chapter Summaries

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.

After a morning run, Victor joined Count Edmund for breakfast at Marquis Guilford's estate and learned about the Kingdom Navy's bases and Beckman City's trade and fishing economy. He enjoyed the estate's thousand-layer cream cake and took an extra slice for Brando.

• Victor met Count Edmund after his run, and Edmund explained why he had stayed at Marquis Guilford's estate instead of returning home.
• Edmund told Victor that the Kingdom Navy was divided among Beckman City, Lip, and Suche, and described Marquis Guilford's role in developing Beckman City's trade and fishing industries.
• Victor and Edmund shared breakfast, where Edmund recommended fruit drinks, beef pies, and thousand-layer cream cake.
• Victor enjoyed the cake and asked for an extra slice to take back for his godson Brando.

Duke Alex planned to hurry the Northern Frontier nobles toward Golden Tree City to meet the King on time, but Marquis Guilford persuaded them to stop for lunch and arranged a faster route. After collecting their people and cargo at the docks, the group prepared to travel by escort and canal ship.

• Alex urged the nobles to depart without lunch because they risked missing the King's deadline.
• Victor shared pastries with Brando, while James found that Victor had no food left for him.
• Marquis Guilford persuaded Alex to eat lunch and promised to arrange a timely journey to Golden Tree City.
• After lunch, Marquis Guilford led the nobles to the docks, where their cargo and personnel were ready.
• Marquis Guilford arranged an escort along Ruiz Avenue and ships on the Royal Capital Grand Canal for the journey to Golden Tree City.

Alex and the Vela Nobles’ delegation began its journey to the Royal Capital under a kingdom cavalry escort, joined by Marquis Gelorge. As they traveled along Ruiz Avenue toward the Grand Canal, Victor learned about the road’s history and discovered that the king’s written order let them pass its checkpoints without delay.

• Marquis Guilford arranged for Viscount Lugan and more than three hundred cavalrymen to escort Alex and the delegation to the Royal Capital.
• Marquis Gelorge arrived and joined the party, saying he wanted to return to the capital and accompany the Vela nobles to their audience with the king.
• The delegation departed Beckman City and traveled by carriage along Ruiz Avenue toward a ferry landing on the Grand Canal.
• Victor examined the road as Count Edmund explained its construction, its strategic importance, and the centuries it had taken to complete.
• Edmund explained that the convoy passed Ruiz Avenue’s checkpoints because Alex carried the king’s written order.

The delegation finished its journey along Ruiz Avenue and boarded ships at the Grand Canal ferry crossing, where Victor and Edmund agreed to start a carriage business near Beckman City. As the fleet headed toward the kingdom's interior, Victor became eager to see Golden Tree City.

• Marquis Gelorge borrowed two luxurious passenger ships from the royal Golden Tree Trading Company to carry the delegation and its cargo.
• The delegation loaded its people and supplies aboard the ships, while Viscount Lugan's Cavalry split between guarding the fleet and riding along the canal bank.
• Victor proposed selling improved Vela carriages in the kingdom's heartland, and Edmund agreed that they would be popular there.
• Victor and Edmund agreed to establish a trading company and carriage workshop near Beckman City, with Two Rivers Territory supplying parts and workers and Edmund arranging transport and sales.
• Victor reflected on the kingdom's prosperous trade routes and looked forward to visiting Golden Tree City.

Victor warned Count Edmund that the kingdom’s large serf populations and harsh conditions could make coordinated uprisings dangerous, especially because educated slaves could spread plans between territories. Edmund remained unconcerned because his family’s coastal fief had many Freemen and a strong military tradition.

• Victor questioned the high serf-to-Freeman ratio in the kingdom’s heartland, and Edmund explained that peaceful conditions and nobles’ reliance on serf labor had produced it.
• Victor warned Edmund that cooperating work crews could allow serfs from several territories to organize simultaneous uprisings, while Edmund dismissed the possibility.
• Victor pointed out that Freemen could own slaves and that educated slaves might have the knowledge and foresight to lead a revolt.
• Edmund said his family’s Eastern Coastal Province fief had a lower slave proportion and many Freemen serving in the navy, giving it a strong pool of trained and willing soldiers.
• Victor concluded that Edmund’s family had little reason to fear a local uprising.

Victor and Edmund traveled down the Grand Canal, where Victor trained Brando and earned the respect of Viscount Lugan through a sparring match and martial arts instruction. Lugan told Victor that most Royal Legions had grown weak, while border forces and the elite cavalry under his command remained better prepared.

• Victor and Edmund watched exhausted laborers get driven to tow another ship, and Edmund began to find Victor’s criticisms more reasonable.
• Victor took Brando around the canal to enjoy the scenery and sample local foods, then began training with him aboard the ship.
• Viscount Lugan challenged Victor to a barehanded spar, and Victor held back before calling their match a draw.
• Lugan sought Victor’s guidance in martial arts and answered his questions, including questions about the Kingdom Army’s deployments.
• Victor learned from Lugan that most Royal Legions had weakened through neglect and corruption, while Lugan’s cavalry was an elite unit maintained and trained at extra expense.

Victor learned from Viscount Lugan that corruption and short staffing had weakened the Kingdom Army's interior legions, then heard how Lugan's soldiers helped suppress a massive slave uprising through mass executions. The conversation ended when James called Victor to see the last lock before the capital.

• Victor learned that ending garrison rotations had let local officers and nobles inflate troop rolls and skim military pay.
• Lugan explained that his cavalry regiment claimed pay for nonexistent soldiers, while he used estate laborers to fool inspectors and fully paid the cavalrymen under his command.
• Lugan recounted how a slave revolt on Viscount Parivis's estate spread to neighboring estates and grew to two hundred thousand rebels before troops suppressed it.
• Lugan told Victor that the nobles and legion commander had the more than one hundred thousand surviving captives executed on a river sandbar.
• James called Victor to see the final lock before the capital, and Victor and Lugan left the room.