Chapter Summaries

Brando killed Chai Ge with Moon Inheritance, the First of the Three Swords, then fought alongside his allies to defeat the other assassins. After Livuz helped stop the last attacker, Brando turned to face Grand Duke Anlek.

• Chai Ge led seven Gold Rank warriors in an attack on Princess Griffine’s group and ordered them to target Livuz before assaulting the Royalist Faction.
• Brando blocked Chai Ge’s strike with a basic sword technique, then killed him with the Sword of Earth and revealed Moon Inheritance.
• The remaining assassins attacked Brando, but Mordefis and Andriga joined the battle, and Oufwell, Nia, and Macaro fought alongside them.
• Brando and his allies defeated the attackers, while Livuz immobilized the last assassin and Brando killed him with a thrust through the heart.
• Brando turned toward Grand Duke Anlek, who opened his eyes slightly and fixed him with a cold gaze.

Brando reviewed his growing strength and tried to understand the changes surrounding the Ambersell conference. Freya visited him, affirmed her loyalty to Eluin, and told him that Princess Griffine wanted to see him.

• Brando reached Templar Knight level sixteen, upgraded several skills, and worried that his equipment and strength were inadequate for the approaching mana tide.
• Brando questioned why the Ambersell conference had been delayed and why Grand Duke Anlek and many nobles appeared to have shifted their positions.
• Freya met Brando at Lokesh Palace and asked whether he planned to start a war over Buchi, which Madara had occupied.
• Freya told Brando that she would live and die with Eluin and thanked him for guiding her to the Royal Military Academy.
• Freya asked whether Brando belonged to the Royalist Faction, and he replied that Highland Knights had little contact with it.
• Freya told Brando that Princess Griffine wanted to see him.

Marquis Yuxi confronted Count Vitokin over the nobles’ plot against the Royalist Faction and warned that they must either force the princess to abdicate or prepare for war. Brando then met Griffine and the Royalists, where his accidental use of “Crown Princess” was taken as a declaration of allegiance, and she asked whether he was a Highland Knight.

• Marquis Yuxi dismissed Brando as a threat but privately recognized that High Priest Wood’s support made him significant.
• Marquis Yuxi provoked Count Vitokin and his young heir by praising Brando and comparing him to a hero from Tonigell.
• Count Vitokin told Marquis Yuxi that their prepared scapegoats had dissatisfied an important figure and warned that their plot could damage the Xifah Family’s rule.
• Marquis Yuxi told Count Vitokin that the nobles had to force his niece to abdicate or return north and prepare for war, then revealed his undisguised killing intent after Vitokin left.
• Brando met Griffine and the Royalists in a study, and his slip of the tongue in calling her “Crown Princess” was interpreted as support for Haruze’s succession.
• Griffine thanked Brando for rescuing her and asked whether he was a Highland Knight, which he confirmed.

Brando assessed the Royalist Faction’s alliance strategy and warned Princess Griffine that its prospects were poor, but she remained committed to the plan. After the sanctuary accused Brando of ties to the Cultists, the Royalists defended him, while Brando suspected the sanctuary’s sudden hostility concealed a deeper problem.

• Brando told Princess Griffine that the Royalist Faction was weak and correctly deduced that it sought to secure the sanctuary and merchant guilds’ neutrality through an alliance with Anlek.
• Brando outlined risks in Griffine’s strategy, but Livuz rejected his warning and Griffine continued to believe the alliance could restore the Royalist Faction’s strength.
• Griffine announced that the sanctuary blamed minor noble Sisyphus for the assassination attempt and demanded that the Royalists hand Brando over for suspected Cultist ties.
• Griffine refused to surrender Brando, declared him one of their own, and asked him to win the Highland Knights’ support; Brando said he could not guarantee their backing but suggested Karasu might favor them.
• Griffine asked about Brando’s relationship with the Yanbao Family, and he claimed he had forced Dirfiel to bring him to the conference.
• Brando accepted that Griffine would not change her strategy and suspected the sanctuary had broken its promise to High Priest Wood for reasons he did not understand.

After the Royalist Faction refused to change course, Brando decided to force the Ambersell Conference into war and sent a letter to the Naga. He entered the conference with Dirfiel, where High Priest Moros’s unexpected arrival revealed that events had already diverged sharply from the history Brando knew.

• Brando gave Su a letter for the Naga and told Freya he planned to start a war by killing his enemies.
• Dirfiel insisted that Brando attend the Ambersell Conference as her retainer, and he agreed.
• Brando surveyed the attendees and noticed that several figures were absent while the Highland Knights had sent an envoy.
• High Priest Moros arrived as the Temple of Flames’ representative, leading Brando to realize that the Sanctuary’s leadership and history had changed ahead of schedule.

At the Ambersell Conference, Princess Griffine resisted Grand Duke Xifahe’s attempt to seize Eluin’s throne and invoked the ancient oath tied to the Lionheart Sacred Sword. When the sword appeared, Moros questioned its authenticity, but a Knight of the Lake arrived to confirm it.

• Grand Duke Xifahe challenged Griffine’s family’s right to rule, and Griffine accused his faction and the Queen of responsibility for Oberon VII’s death.
• Moros urged the nobles to choose a new ruler, but Griffine refused and reminded them that the ancient oath required the Lionheart Sacred Sword’s return.
• Dirfiel revealed that the sword stand had shattered three months earlier, prompting Xifahe to claim the Kolkovan Royal Family had lost its right to the throne.
• A trainee knight raised the Lionheart Sacred Sword, and Griffine declared that the Kolkovan family had upheld the oath.
• Xifahe and Moros questioned whether the sword was genuine, but a Knight of the Lake entered Lokesh Palace and said he could prove its authenticity.

Brando and Antitina discussed the Temple’s intervention in Eluin’s succession dispute as they traveled with Magdal, who revealed that High Priest Wood had been placed under house arrest. Their carriage was then attacked, and Brando escaped with both women before confronting the armed men responsible.

• Brando explained that Princess Griffine’s Lionheart Sword had strengthened the Royalist claim, while the northern nobles were likely stalling before war.
• Magdal joined Brando’s carriage and secretly told him that High Priest Wood had been placed under house arrest.
• Brando postponed discussing Temple news until they reached the auction house, wary that spells might carry their conversation.
• Attackers caused Brando’s carriage to overturn, and Brando cut an opening in it and carried Antitina and Magdal to safety.
• Brando saw that arrows had killed the horses and wounded the coachman, then confronted a group of men in black armor.

Brando and Magdal confronted the Black Blade Legion after its cavalrymen injured their coachman and blocked their carriage. Brando crippled the soldiers’ Earth Dragons, challenged Viscount Von Dognin to a duel, and watched him leave after Magdal invoked the ban on duels at Saint Pino Square; the group then headed to the auction house’s VIP room.

• Black Blade Legion cavalrymen injured Brando and Magdal’s coachman after their carriage stopped too slowly, and Magdal rebuked them.
• Brando used the Sword of Earth to destabilize the ground and cripple many of the cavalrymen’s Earth Dragons, provoking them to draw their swords.
• Viscount Von Dognin arrived, apologized to Magdal, then demanded that Brando answer for damaging the legion’s mounts.
• Brando challenged Von Dognin to a noble’s duel, but Magdal reminded them that duels were forbidden at Saint Pino Square.
• Von Dognin postponed the duel until after the Noble Council and departed with his soldiers, and Brando agreed to enter the auction house’s VIP room.

At the auction, Brando learned from Magdal that the Temple of Flames had abruptly changed its position and might force Eluin’s civil war to a swift end. He agreed to help protect Griffine on his own terms and asked Magdal to obtain the sanctuary’s letter, leaving open the possibility that he would take Griffine away by force.

• Brando escorted Antitina and Magdal into a private auction box, cast an additional soundproof spell, and asked Magdal why the sanctuary had changed its intentions.
• Magdal explained that Moros had brought a letter that prompted High Priest Wood to shut himself away and forbid her from leaving the sanctuary; she warned that the sanctuary was backing the northern nobles and that Griffine was in danger.
• Brando questioned whether helping Griffine meant declaring war on the sanctuary, then told Magdal he did not support the Royalist Faction and would intervene only on his own terms.
• Brando argued that protecting people mattered more than the Royalist Faction’s claim to legitimacy, and Magdal said she wanted Griffine safe because she was her friend.
• Brando asked Magdal to show him the sanctuary’s letter and warned that he might have to take Griffine away by force; Magdal agreed and asked him to call her by her name.
• Brando urged Magdal to fight to master her own destiny, but she declined to leave the sanctuary, and they parted with Magdal promising to send word.

After learning that the Earth Sanctuary had started its war early over the Earth Sword Harangya, Brando realized the Royalist Faction and Princess Griffine were in immediate danger. He gathered his allies and arranged a Shanshen Naga raid on Ambersell’s port, then decided to meet a Half-Elf girl.

• Brando met Lendess and the Shanshen Naga at the house in Ambersell, where Su gave him news that the Earth Sanctuary had mobilized for war three months ahead of schedule.
• Brando concluded that Princess Griffine was likely under house arrest and ordered everyone to gather, while Su told him that Romane had gone to the trade district with Qian.
• Brando questioned whether he had selfishly drawn his companions into the struggle, then gained reassurance from Su that she and her father trusted him.
• Brando asked Sanir to raid the port warehouses and the Ambersell navy’s stores, promising to provide defense details and create an opening for the attack.
• Brando requested that Sanir mobilize the Sea Demon Whale to help the Naga escape, then decided to meet a Half-Elf girl.

Princess Griffine learned that Brando held the Sword of Earth and rejected a plan that could divide Eluin, even as the Royalist Faction prepared a desperate gamble. Alone in the storm, she was confronted by Brando and attacked him, apparently seeking death.

• Count Odin told Griffine that Brando had taken the Sword of Earth during the battle at the Ring of Trade Winds.
• Macaro proposed joining Grand Duke Viero to secure the southern territories, but Griffine rejected the plan because it risked splitting Eluin.
• Griffine dismissed her advisers and learned that Macaro and the others had gone to see the Little Prince while Oufwell and Count Odin left together.
• Brando appeared in Griffine's room, and she drew a short sword and attacked him.
• Brando realized Griffine might be trying to make him kill her, and his movements slowed.

Brando stopped Princess Griffine from killing herself, but their struggle turned into an impulsive kiss that left her angry and their feelings exposed. When footsteps approached, Griffine ordered Brando to hide in her wardrobe, leaving their conversation and the intruders' arrival unresolved.

• Princess Griffine attacked Brando with a sword and dagger, and he disarmed her and pinned her against the wall.
• Griffine broke down in tears, and Brando kissed her; she slapped him and accused him of betraying her trust.
• Griffine asked whether Brando wanted her, and he admitted his feelings but said he wanted her to become the strong Crown Princess of Eluin first.
• Footsteps approached the room, so Griffine told Brando to hide in her wardrobe and called his help a princess's advance payment.

Griffine decided to leave Ambersell and fight the Xifah Family and the Sanctuary, with Brando and her trusted aides helping her. She tasked Brando with meeting Magdal and retrieving a legendary figurehead from the Sanctuary so they could escape by ship despite the coming storms.

• Griffine told Oufwell and Nemesis to prepare to leave Ambersell and said she would fight to keep Eluin united.
• Nemesis reported that only thirty percent of the Royal Knights could be mobilized and that escape by land was blocked, while Oufwell suggested seeking Count Odin's support.
• Griffine revealed Brando, who had been hiding in her wardrobe, and claimed he had a ship that could help them escape.
• Griffine proposed using a figurehead of Goddess Martha from the Andefuler Sanctuary vault to calm the storms and escape by sea.
• Griffine assigned Brando to meet Magdal, retrieve the figurehead, and bring it back.

After Brando helped Princess Griffine plan to recover Prince Haruze following the nobles' meeting, he went with Freya to meet Princess Magdal at Andefuller Grand Sanctuary. Magdal failed to appear, and Brando and Freya decided to go inside and look for her.

• Nemesis asked Princess Griffine how they would recover Prince Haruze, and Griffine vowed not to let the Royalist Faction use her brother as a bargaining chip.
• Brando proposed waiting until after the nobles' meeting to break out, and Griffine agreed to use the distraction of the Royalist Faction's conflict with Grand Duke Xifahe.
• Brando revealed that he had brought his own force to Ambersell and offered to command it in support of Griffine's breakout.
• Brando and Freya waited in the rain near Andefuller Grand Sanctuary for Princess Magdal, but she missed their appointed meeting time.
• Freya urged Brando to enter the sanctuary and search for Magdal, and Brando agreed to take her inside.

Magdal secretly overheard Moros and Marquis Yuxi plotting against Griffine and the Royalist Faction, including a plan involving the White Lion Legion. When Moros caught her in the hidden passage, Magdal recognized the ring in his hand and murmured that it was impossible.

• Magdal learned that Wood was refusing visitors and that Moros was meeting Marquis Yuxi and another nobleman.
• Yuxi told Moros that a leaked report of a Lionfolk invasion had stirred conflict within the Royalist Faction.
• Magdal listened as Moros discussed the forces protecting Griffine, including the Knight of the Lake and the White Lion Legion.
• Yuxi gave Moros a ring that served as a token for someone chosen to make an identification.
• Moros detected a noise, destroyed a bookcase, and exposed Magdal in the secret passage; she stared at the ring and said it was impossible.

High Priest Moros and Marquis Yuxi exposed their alliance with the Circle of Unity, and Yuxi killed Princess Magdal when she tried to flee. Later that stormy night, thieves Gil and Bu overheard men hiding a sack in a Temple passage and connecting it to High Priest Wood, leaving them eager to investigate.

• Moros ordered Marquis Yuxi to take Magdal to Wood, while Magdal condemned the Temple’s interference in Eluin’s affairs.
• A Circle of Unity Ouroboros Ring fell from Yuxi’s hand, and Magdal realized the men were allied with the group and tried to escape.
• Yuxi pursued Magdal and stabbed her through the heart as she thought of Griffine and her wish to live.
• During a storm, Great Fae thieves Gil and Bu emerged from a tunnel beneath the Temple courtyard and hid from approaching men.
• Gil and Bu overheard the men say they were hiding a sack until Wood had left and that Magdal’s disappearance would be blamed on the coming chaos.
• After the men departed, Gil and Bu decided the hidden treasure could make them rich, despite Bu’s worry about the danger.

Brando and Freya found Princess Magdal apparently dead in a hidden passage and used Jill and Boo’s theft to make them reveal what they had witnessed. Brando identified the men involved and said Magdal’s condition could still be salvaged, while vowing to punish those behind the attack.

• Jill and Boo opened a sack in the secret passage and found Princess Magdal, who appeared to be dead.
• Brando arrived with Freya, confirmed Magdal’s fatal wound, and accused Jill and Boo of her murder to frighten them into talking.
• Brando threatened to confiscate the Great Fae’s buried wealth, and Jill admitted they had come to steal before describing three men they had seen.
• Jill imitated the men’s voices, allowing Brando to identify Moros and Yuxi and suspect a confidant of Count Vitokin as the third man.
• Brando told Freya that Magdal’s situation could still be salvaged and promised to make the conspirators pay.

Brando discovered that Princess Magdal was a constructed life-form with a soul, not an ordinary human, and concluded that she was not truly dead. As dawn approached in Ambersell, he turned his attention to the looming crisis and wondered why Marquis Yuxi’s faction had attacked the princess and a high-ranking priest.

• Brando discussed the nature of life and soulless beings with Otales, who agreed that Magdal was a special existence unlike ordinary life.
• Brando told his companions that Magdal’s wound would have killed a normal person, but she was not human and did not count as an ordinary living being.
• Brando explained that Magdal’s unknown race, preserved body, and dimly glowing pupils suggested she was a constructed life-form with a soul, like the Rune Dwarves.
• Brando reassured Freya that Magdal herself probably did not know what she was and said she was not truly dead, though he needed records to learn how to wake her.
• Brando looked toward the dark sea as dawn neared and questioned why Marquis Yuxi’s allies had attacked Magdal and a high-ranking Temple priest.

As the Royalist Faction and Brando’s forces prepared to fight for Port Ambersell, Griffine departed with her allies while Brando assembled the White Lion Legion and set out with the Sword Protector Family. The battle was about to begin, and Brando left Caglis and Sanir to carry out the original plan.

• Sanir watched the naga army arrive near Ambersell as Brando prepared for the coming battle.
• Griffine departed by carriage with the Royalist Faction, and Freya spoke with the Knight of the Lake about fighting fellow Eluin people.
• After learning that Griffine had set out, Brando ordered the White Lion Legion to mobilize, while High Priest Moros ordered troops into the city and Ambersell imposed martial law and closed its port.
• The White Lion Legion donned its restored White Lion Armor and assembled before Brando for inspection.
• The count’s eldest daughter from Outpost Castle invited Brando to travel with her, and he left Caglis to lead the legion alongside Sanir.
• Roman urged Brando not to forget their promise, and he reassured her that they would become great merchants.

Owen led the White Lion Legion into Ambersell as Grey Fin Naga forces launched a storm-backed assault on the harbor and city. As the Patrol Cavalry turned to confront the invaders, Count Odin and Master Rudeu summoned a vast flock of birds to attack Ambersell, while a mysterious creature watched from above.

• Owen brought the White Lion Legion through Ambersell's gates as the city recognized their banner.
• Sanir and the Grey Fin Naga seized Ambersell's docks, and the Sea Demon Whale rose from the stormy sea.
• Jinopa initially refused to divert the Patrol Cavalry from its mission, then ordered his troops to turn back and intercept the Nagas as they attacked the city.
• Count Odin met Master Rudeu, who revealed a tree-shaped ring and summoned countless birds from Flada Forest to descend on Ambersell.
• A huge creature watched the assault from above and admired the one it called little one.