Chapter Summaries

Duke Barick’s coronation proceeded smoothly after the Royal Guard traitors were purged and relations with the Noble Faction eased. He was crowned amid a grand parade and celebrations across Golden Tree City, leaving the kingdom with its new ruler.

• Duke Barick invited nobles from across the kingdom to attend his coronation, and nearly all sent representatives or came in person.
• Golden Tree City prepared lavish decorations, while soldiers and citizens dressed in gold for the ceremony.
• Duke Barick rode through the capital with the parade, whose Vela Noble cavalry drew attention from spectators and wary Noble Faction leaders.
• The parade troops advanced as crowds cheered and blessed the new king.
• Duke Barick took the crown from the Prime Minister and placed it on his head as cannons fired across the capital.

Victor prepared to leave the Royal Capital after Balek I expanded cooperation with the Golden Sunflower Family and planned to strengthen the kingdom’s military. Victor and the remaining Two Rivers Legion troops headed for Beckman City to sail back to Vela.

• Great nobles sought artillery from Victor, but he refused because the Golden Sunflower Family had licensed the weapons exclusively to the Royal Family in the kingdom.
• Balek I formed a new cabinet, gradually tightened his control of the military, and signed orders for more factories in the Royal Domain.
• Balek I planned kingdom-wide telegraph lines and artillery for the regular legions, intending to prepare for another war against the Central City-State Alliance.
• Balek I announced a new Imperial Guard cavalry legion made up of young nobles, and more than four thousand men enlisted before Victor left the Royal Capital.
• Victor departed for Beckman City with some Two Rivers Legion troops, planning to sail home to Vela.

Victor traveled home through the Raine Kingdom, observing the worsening conditions caused by the influx of war slaves before meeting Marquis Guilford and navy officials in Beckman City. After reassuring his trading partners that Vela would preserve their existing arrangements, Victor left for Two Rivers County, where his troops and territorial plans were progressing smoothly.

• Victor saw that slaves in the Raine Kingdom were suffering more as wars flooded the markets with cheap labor, harming local workers and contributing to unrest.
• Marquis Guilford welcomed Victor to Beckman City with a ceremony and banquet, joined by Marquis Diamand and other nobles.
• Victor assured Marquis Guilford and Marquis Diamand that he and Alex intended to keep their current trade arrangements unchanged.
• Victor learned by telegram that the Two Rivers Legion had landed in Vela, the county's northern expansion was progressing, and more than two hundred thousand people had been relocated between territories.
• Victor spent two days in Beckman City, then sailed home aboard a navy fleet whose new steam paddle steamers shortened the voyage to three days.

Victor returned to Vela and met Marquis Edmund, who told him about the unrest caused by Vela nobles taking land and forcing Eastern Sea Province’s inhabitants into serfdom. The story left Victor heading toward Iron Tree City as Edmund sailed back to the kingdom to visit his ailing father.

• Victor landed on Vela’s western coast and unexpectedly met Marquis Edmund, who was preparing to return to the Raine Kingdom.
• Victor comforted Edmund about his father’s illness, and Edmund said he planned to care for him and bring him to Vela after he recovered.
• Victor and Edmund discussed the Coronation Ceremony and recent developments in Vela before parting ways.
• Edmund told Victor that Vela nobles had seized land in Eastern Sea Province and turned local freemen into serfs, provoking widespread rebellion.
• The Vela Army and the kingdom’s garrison repelled enemies crossing the border, averting a worse crisis in Eastern Sea Province.
• Victor headed toward Iron Tree City while Edmund sailed for the kingdom’s homeland aboard Victor’s steam paddlewheel ship.

Victor returned to Vela and discussed with Alex how to redirect Eastern Sea Province’s population toward developing the Northlands instead of letting Vela nobles sell them cheaply into slavery. He traveled north by canal, seeing how investment and new infrastructure had transformed Vela, though heavy traffic congested its locks.

• Vela nobles welcomed Alex’s recruitment of their children for the king’s Guard Cavalry as a new path to careers and advancement.
• Victor reached Iron Tree City and spent two days discussing Vela’s affairs with Alex.
• Victor proposed that Vela nobles relocate people from Eastern Sea Province to reclaim Northlands land, with receiving nobles covering transport costs and gaining a share of the reclaimed land.
• Alex agreed to Victor’s proposal and assigned his inner court to refine the plan.
• Victor left Iron Tree City and traveled north by canal, observing Vela’s growth and congestion at several navigation locks.

Victor returned safely to the Northlands after seeing road construction expand across Vela, then reunited with his family in Woodfort City. He planned to spend more time at home after the journey’s gains for the Golden Sunflower Family.

• Victor saw that more Vela nobles had begun building the major roads after growing wealthy from the East Sea Alliance’s defeat.
• Victor looked forward to the roads, canals, and railway improving travel and trade across Vela and connecting the Golden Sunflower Family’s territories.
• Victor traveled north with the Guard Corps, reached Bria County, and took the train to Two Rivers County.
• Two Rivers County’s officials gave Victor a simple welcome before escorting his special train into the territory.
• Victor stepped off at Woodfort City station and went straight to his waiting family.

A Xister Kingdom spy posing as a small-time merchant traveled to Northwind City while discussing trade and local conditions with an elderly passenger. He reached the rendezvous point and joined the assembled team planning to steal a high-performance steam engine.

• A weather-beaten Xister Kingdom spy rode toward Northwind City disguised as a traveling merchant seeking cowhides.
• An elderly shipwright identified the spy as a foreigner and advised him about trade in the Vela Northlands.
• The elderly man explained that Two Rivers County’s dried seafood already outcompeted Xister Kingdom goods, while the spy learned about Vela’s shifting trade and the Xister Kingdom’s economic troubles.
• The chapter revealed that the Xister Kingdom Spy Organization had sent the spy to obtain a powerful steam engine for its shipyards to copy Vela’s steam paddle steamers.
• The spy reached Northwind City before sunset, went to the rendezvous point, and met the rest of the operational team.

A Xister Kingdom spy team began an operation to steal an advanced steam engine from a Workshop in Northwind City and transport it home. The operation’s opening went smoothly, and the middle-aged man posing as a fur trader remained in the city before setting out for Woodfort City by train.

• The team leader explained that the team would steal an Inland River Patrol Boat engine, disguise it in a wagon, and use decoy wagons to evade pursuit.
• The team contacted its mole inside the Workshop, disguised the steam engine as other goods, and loaded it onto a prepared wagon.
• The wagons left Northwind City and split up, while the team members scattered and continued operating under their cover identities.
• The middle-aged man posing as a fur trader stayed in Northwind City and spent several days asking about cowhide prices in the markets.
• After leaving Northwind City, the man took the train toward Woodfort City.

A Xister Kingdom spy posing as a fur merchant was captured in Sea Song Town, but his interrogation misled the Internal Security Bureau into searching the coast for a stolen steam engine. The engine was later found dismantled in a Northwind City warehouse, revealing that the Xister Kingdom’s real objective had been to copy its designs, which had likely already reached home.

• A Xister Kingdom spy traveled to Sea Song Town disguised as a fur merchant, where agents in black uniforms arrested him at the harbor.
• An Internal Security Bureau officer interrogated the spy, who said the plan was to move the steam engine by wagon to Suffolk County and return by sea.
• The Bureau director concluded that the spies might have sent the engine south by water, so the Bureau asked the Golden Sunflower Navy to search ships along the Eastern Sea Province coast.
• After a month of fruitless patrols, the Bureau found the stolen engine dismantled and reassembled in an abandoned warehouse near its Northwind City workshop.
• The Bureau realized Xister Kingdom operatives had copied the engine’s components and taken the technical drawings away, leaving the director unable to act without the lord’s order to involve the Intelligence Department.

After learning that the Xister Kingdom had stolen steam engine blueprints, Victor decided against a covert retaliation and chose to lift restrictions on steam engine sales. The territory’s outdated early engines could now be sold as its research institute advanced to newer power technologies.

• The Internal Security Bureau reported that the Xister Kingdom’s spies had obtained steam engine blueprints, and Victor praised their operation.
• Victor rejected a plan to recover the blueprints and assassinate those involved because the technology had likely already reached the Xister Kingdom and retaliation could provoke a dangerous conflict.
• Victor concluded that the Xister Kingdom could soon produce steam engines using the stolen technology, though it would take time to match the stolen machine.
• Victor decided to lift restrictions on sales of early Marine Steam Engines and Steam Locomotives because their technology had already leaked and had become outdated.
• Victor noted that the Two Rivers County Research Institute had moved on to High-Pressure Steam Engines, internal combustion engines, and electric motors.

Victor’s decision to sell obsolete Steam Engines drew buyers from across the continent and stirred resentment in the Xister Kingdom, while the Golden Sunflower Family completed the sale under heavy surveillance. After Sura visited Victor with his young daughter, he reported that a Purple Alfalfa expedition had found a fire- and smoke-spewing mountain in the Frost Mountains.

• Victor ordered the Two Rivers County Machine Factory to phase out old production and sell its stored Steam Engines after learning that the Xister Kingdom had stolen blueprints.
• Alex and Balek I accepted the sales decision and prepared to profit from selling low-end Steam Engines, while the Xister Kingdom’s officials complained about the costly spy operation.
• The Xister king declined to punish the Prince or the Spy Organization’s head and instead ordered the Prince to buy engines for comparison with their reproductions.
• The Golden Sunflower Family’s month-long sales event drew merchants backed by factions from more than a dozen countries, while the Internal Security Bureau and Intelligence Department monitored them.
• Sura visited Victor with his daughter and told him that a Purple Alfalfa expedition had found an exposed copper deposit and a mountain spewing fire and smoke in the Frost Mountains.

Victor learned of a suspected active volcano in the Ice and Snow Mountains and arranged an expedition to investigate it, hoping to find sulfur deposits for Two Rivers County’s chemical industry. The Purple Alfalfa Family sent the original expedition to Two Rivers County, where Victor met its daring leader.

• Sura told Victor that an expedition had found a smoking, fire-belching mountain near the edge of the Ice and Snow Mountains.
• Victor decided to investigate the mountain and asked Sura to lend him the Purple Alfalfa Family’s expedition as guides for a larger survey.
• Sura agreed to Victor’s request, and he and Irene reported it to Count Purple Alfalfa after returning to their family’s territory.
• Count Purple Alfalfa sent the expedition to Two Rivers County to serve the Golden Sunflower Family.
• Victor received the expedition members and spoke with their bold leader, whom he found well suited to exploration.

Victor organized a heavily armed expedition to survey Snow Mountain, establish a forward base, and search for a volcano and sulfur deposits. He also prepared to use a successful discovery as an opportunity to seize the Faith Order headquarters while protecting its important documents and Enlightened Sanctuary.

• Victor promoted Le Paul to deputy leader of the expedition after learning about his experience and knowledge of the grasslands.
• Victor appointed an army detachment commander to lead the expedition and equipped its more than five hundred members with guards, supplies, weapons, and mortars.
• The expedition set out with nearly a hundred wagons to survey the northern grasslands, explore Snow Mountain, and search for minerals, including sulfur deposits near a reported volcano.
• Victor reviewed intelligence gathered from the Faith Order headquarters and ordered the Intelligence Department and Army Department to prepare a low-intensity plan to capture it.
• Victor assessed the Golden Sunflower Family's growing strength in Two Rivers County and Qinghe County and remained confident it could surpass the Xister Kingdom through continued development.

Victor reviewed the Golden Sunflower Family’s midyear population, tax, education, and military reports. He approved a 5,000-gold education allocation but deferred the proposed military expansion, asking the Army and Navy Departments to reconsider its scale.

• Viscount Powell reported that the three territories’ population had exceeded 3.5 million, and Victor said slave purchases should continue while prices remained low.
• The Taxation Department reported rising revenues in Two Rivers and Boler Counties and said Qinghe County’s agricultural taxes covered its local government and troops.
• Gallawell reported record enrollment at advanced-level schools, and Victor approved expanding primary and intermediate enrollment while preserving teaching quality.
• Victor granted the Education Department an additional 5,000 gold for enrollment growth and better staff compensation.
• The Army and Navy Departments requested 8,000 more Garrison Army personnel and additional ships and sailors, but Victor asked them to reduce and reconsider the proposal before he decided.

New Commerce Minister Rivado reported the territory’s strong trade growth and recommended expanding Two Rivers Paper Industry. Victor then reassigned sales responsibilities from the Commerce Department to better manage scarce materials, protect local industries, and reserve supplies for the territory’s own development.

• Rivado reported that trade had generated 167,000 gold and 58,000 gold in profit during the first half of the year, while warning that the steam engine sales event had boosted the figures.
• Rivado described strong sales of the territory’s sugar, iron, liquor, machinery, and Two Rivers Paper, and recommended expanding the paper mill.
• Victor praised Rivado’s report, then announced that sales of iron, grain, steel, and manufactured goods would be handled by other departments or the factories themselves.
• Victor explained that unified pricing had damaged other nobles’ industries and that futures sales had left the Arms Factory and shipyard unable to buy enough steel for their orders.
• Rivado reluctantly accepted the reduced authority of the Commerce Department, while Victor kept the department’s general responsibility for commerce and trade.

Baron Vittel reported that agricultural production had surged, especially in Qinghe County, where restored farmland, irrigation, improved seeds, and fertilizer led to a bumper harvest. Victor approved the department’s work and ordered that half of the collected grain be stored, as the midyear reports concluded with the territory’s government running smoothly.

• Baron Vittel reported that new farmland in the Northlands expanded Two Rivers County’s cultivated area by nearly twenty percent, while Qinghe County’s grain production rose by a third.
• Vittel explained that Victor’s defeat of Qinghe County’s former nobles, the return and reorganization of farmland, repaired irrigation, improved seeds, and guano fertilizer had boosted production.
• Vittel estimated Qinghe County’s summer wheat harvest at one million tonnes and said the territory expected to collect at least three hundred thousand tonnes of wheat, including taxes.
• Victor praised the Agricultural Department and ordered officials to sell half the collected grain and store the rest to avoid disrupting market prices.
• The remaining departments completed their reports, and Victor concluded that the territory’s government was functioning smoothly and its future looked promising.

By November 1678, Two Rivers County had expanded its population, mining, industry, communications, and railways, while Victor planned further railway development across Vela. The Snow Mountain Expedition Team returned with high-purity sulfur ore and unusual specimens, enabling the Territory Research Institute to produce sulfuric acid and investigate a fire-resistant tree.

• Two Rivers County expanded cotton production, relocated workers from Qinghe County, and discovered a silver mine that Victor approved using to expand local coin minting.
• The Steelworks added a blast furnace, the telegraph network across the Vela Region was completed, and the railway network connected Two Rivers County to Iron Tree City.
• Victor planned to make the Golden Sunflower Territory a major railway hub and considered loans and management agreements to expand rail construction across Vela.
• The Snow Mountain Expedition Team returned safely with high-purity sulfur ore, mineral samples, and detailed surveys of the volcanic region.
• The Territory Research Institute produced sulfuric acid under Victor's guidance and began studying the Thick-Bark Tree, whose tough bark might serve as a natural fireproof material.

The Expedition Team established a permanent outpost, while the Intelligence Department gathered new information about Faith Order Headquarters and its contacts with the Skyline Grassland Barbarians. Victor kept plans to attack Faith Order Headquarters the following spring and ordered further intelligence gathering before the operation.

• The Expedition Team returned with about half its members, while the rest stayed at the Outpost Base to spend the winter and maintain it.
• Mizhene's position at Faith Order Headquarters gave the Two Rivers Army intelligence about its defenses, and Victor ordered preparations for a spring attack.
• The Intelligence Department learned that Faith Order Headquarters had contacted the Skyline Grassland Barbarians and that the Faith Order Leader had not appeared publicly, prompting conflicting assessments of his condition.
• Victor ordered Orlando to investigate the Faith Order and the grassland further, and the Intelligence Department discovered a battered Barbarian tribe migrating toward Faith Order Headquarters.
• The Intelligence Department judged that Faith Order Headquarters had absorbed the tribe, but Victor decided its small number of able-bodied members did not warrant changing the planned timing of the attack.

Victor toured Woodfort City's commoners' neighborhood to inspect daily life and local governance, then overheard workers discussing a gambling den and Scarface's predatory loans. He left the chapter angered by the exploitation of dockworkers.

• Victor secretly set out with four personal guards and Internal Security Bureau agents to inspect Two Rivers County.
• Victor observed the clean, bustling commoners' streets and learned that nearby factories and dock construction provided work for residents.
• Victor spent the day exploring shops and stalls before entering a tavern with his guards.
• Victor overheard a worker warning his brother that gambling and Scarface's high-interest loan could cost him his home.
• Victor heard that Scarface had already taken Old Ryan's house and broken his leg, and his expression turned ugly.

Bobok, a South City Branch Bureau patrol officer, bought breakfast on his way to a special operation and arrived at the station early. There, he shared his extra Yousubing with auxiliary officer Boyang, who had come in to clean despite not being required to join the operation.

• Bobok left home early through the snow to assemble at the South City Branch Bureau for a special operation.
• Bobok bought Yousubing from a street vendor, paying twenty copper pieces for four pastries despite asking for only two.
• Bobok ate three pastries on his way to the bureau and carried the last one inside.
• Bobok found Boyang at the station and learned that the auxiliary officer had come early to clean.
• Bobok gave his remaining Yousubing to Boyang, who gratefully ate it.