Chapter Summaries

Shade competed in the first day's archery event, then secretly shot Earl Lewis after learning the Earl had been injured. He later met the Follen Brothers at the arena market and agreed to play Rhodes Cards with them before the afternoon competition.

• Shade hit every target in his archery round despite the glaring sunlight, earning the best result among his group.
• Dorothy told Shade that Earl Lewis had been struck in the arm by an errant arrow and was recovering in a tent.
• Shade used an illusion to approach Earl Lewis's tent, stole a guard's pistol, and shot the Earl in the lower body before escaping into the market.
• Shade encountered the Follen Brothers, who had also hit every target in their archery round, and they began discussing Rhodes Cards.
• Shade and the Follen Brothers sat down at the Pig's Head Tavern, ordered drinks, and prepared to play a round with special cards.

Shade played a three-man card game with Eric Follen and Charles Follen, wagering special cards while discussing Earl Lewis and the brothers’ upcoming diplomatic mission. Shade won the first round in a tie and took a 21-point hand in the second round, leaving its result undecided.

• Shade and the Follen brothers agreed to play three rounds, with the highest scorer taking the lowest scorer’s special card and the runner-up paying the bill.
• Charles inspected Shade’s deck, marveled at its many special cards, and recognized the genuine Founding card Shade had acquired.
• Shade and Eric tied at 18 points in the first round, while Charles scored 17.
• Eric and Charles said Earl Lewis was politically capable and loyal to Kasonlik but had serious flaws and prejudices against Delarion people.
• The Follen brothers told Shade they would travel to the Pantanar Area for negotiations after leaving Tobesk, and Shade discussed visiting cities in the region.
• Shade adjusted his Sun 10 to 9 and reached 21 points in the second round, while the others’ final scores were not revealed.

Shade won a Rhodes Cards game against Eric Follen and Charles Follen, then competed in mounted archery during the afternoon. Afterward, he returned to camp and prepared to go on a spring outing with Dorothy and Tifa.

• Shade used Founding Earth’s effect to reach 21 points and make both Follen brothers bust, winning their Rhodes Cards game.
• Dorothy warned Shade that Earl Lewis of Kasonlik had been attacked and advised him to watch out for the serial killer.
• Shade learned that his mounted archery group would compete second, then invited Dorothy and Tifa to go on a spring outing after his event.
• Shade completed the mounted archery event without trouble, while Benn Siver and Dune Visworth struggled in the bright sunlight.
• Miss Galina’s maids helped Shade escape the crowd gathered outside the arena, and Dorothy asked how the competition had gone.

Shade spent a spring outing with Dorothy, Tifa, and the maids before returning home, where Luvia joined him and Dorothy for the night. On Tuesday, Shade prepared for the cross-country horse race and heard that Earl Lewis had been assassinated and that rival contestants’ horses sometimes suffered suspicious accidents.

• Shade carried Dorothy on horseback, raced her for a wish, and learned she planned to stay at his home that night.
• Shade and the young ladies picnicked by a stream, shared stories, and took a group photograph using his Breath of Time Ring.
• Shade and Dorothy returned to Saint Derain Square, where Luvia unexpectedly joined them in the bedroom.
• At breakfast, the Duchess questioned Shade, Dorothy, and Luvia about the previous night and mentioned Earl Lewis’s assassination.
• While preparing for the horse race, Shade heard that Baron Oldur’s horse had fallen ill and that horses of popular contestants often suffered suspicious accidents.

Shade won the Around the City Equestrian Competition’s morning race and performed well in the afternoon event, attracting admiration and handkerchiefs from spectators. Galina spent the night with him, and the chapter ended with Leisha warning him about the day’s duels and reporting Earl Lewis’s latest accident.

• Enhor Seriqi challenged Shade to prove he was more suitable for Princess Leisha, but Shade went on to win the morning race by a wide margin.
• After the race, Shade received Princess Angelina’s handkerchief and then many more from admirers; Dorothy also gave him hers.
• Shade earned another strong result in the afternoon arena event, gave an interview to the Steam Bird Daily, and returned to the city with Dorothy.
• Galina arrived at Shade’s home that night and kissed him after finding that he had no other guests.
• At breakfast, Leisha urged Shade to be careful in the day’s armored duels and told him that Earl Lewis had broken his left leg when his bed collapsed.

After Enhor Seriqi was found murdered near Edward III Arena, investigators questioned Shade because of his earlier dispute with the victim. The clues pointed to the Faceless Man, an Angel Level Humanoid Relic, and Miss Galina ordered Tifa to stay with Shade while the Church investigated.

• Leisha and Miss Galina discussed the tournament, the negotiations between the countries, and the growing tensions around the Pantanar Area over breakfast with Shade.
• Deputy Director Mickelson Scott, Senior Detective Marin, and Roman visited Shade to question him about Enhor Seriqi's murder.
• Shade said he had spent the evening with Dorothy Louisa and Miss Galina, and Miss Galina confirmed that he had stayed with her through the night.
• Scott told Shade that Enhor had been strangled after suffering thirty-one bite marks, and that investigators had found tissue from his own body in his stomach.
• Leisha identified the killer as the Faceless Man, and Miss Galina told Tifa to remain with Shade whenever he was not competing.

Shade won his first Equestrian Duel match and advanced to the semifinals, then solved Marquis Ensis's theft case, which exposed the Marquis's hope for war. The next morning, Dorothy told Shade that three more people had been killed near the arena, but the final day of the competition was expected to continue under increased Church security.

• Shade defeated Mr. Dune Visworth in the first round and advanced to the semifinals alongside Mr. Eric Follen and two other contestants.
• Marquis Ensis commissioned Shade to find his missing Gilded Tobacco Box, and Shade identified a servant who confessed to stealing it for his sick daughter.
• The servant accused Marquis Ensis of wanting negotiations with Kasonlik to fail so he could earn military merit, and the Marquis paid Shade and Dorothy hush money.
• Shade discussed the risk of war with Dorothy as they walked back to his tent, and he spent a quiet night with Mia.
• Dorothy told Shade that three drunkards had been killed at Edward III Arena in the same way as Enhor Seriqi, and Leisha warned him to hold back during the day's match.
• Shade and Dorothy went to the arena with the Slothful Cat, where Tifa had brought two High-Ring Arcanists to help protect him.

Shade prepared for the final day of the Spring Around-the-City Equestrian Competition while the Church investigated a dangerous Humanoid Relic believed to have been lured to the arena. After the lots paired him with Xiao Dulahan, Shade refused to throw the match and began fighting while holding back.

• Iluna visited Shade's tent, shared the Church's investigation into the Faceless Man, and gave him a single-use detection charm.
• Shade prepared Clear Heart in case the Humanoid Relic appeared and left it with Tifa and Dorothy for protection.
• Shade and the other finalists drew lots, pairing Shade against Xiao Dulahan and Mr. Eric Follen against Sir Hels.
• Xiao Dulahan offered Shade two thousand pounds to lose so he could fulfill his promise to tell his parents about Kelana, but Shade refused because Miss Galina had ordered him to win.
• Shade and Xiao Dulahan entered the arena, and Shade held back as they fought, making their match more entertaining.

Shade won the equestrian semifinal and final, leaving him atop the competition rankings and poised for the afternoon exhibition match. After suspecting the Faceless Man would appear, he investigated the guarded Follen brothers’ tent and secretly listened through its ventilation window.

• Iluna watched Shade compete, noticed a strange flash that suggested a mirror, and asked Moody Robinson to check for illegal mirror-related groups in Tobesk.
• Shade defeated Xiao Dulahan in the semifinal, then beat Sir Hels in the final and earned an invitation to visit Coldwater Port.
• Dorothy told Shade that he led the points ranking and advised him to rest, but Shade said he expected the Faceless Man to appear and planned to investigate.
• Shade searched the lively market for clues about the Faceless Man relic, then approached the Follen brothers’ guarded tent and sensed that its occupants were blocking sound.
• Shade used the Red Butterfly Illusion to approach the tent unnoticed and extended a finger toward its ventilation window to listen in.

Shade overheard the Follen brothers discussing the Mirror Society, then learned that an invisible impostor had replaced Sir Hels and entered the tournament final. Iluna and her allies discovered the real Hels had been killed and rushed to stop the match, but Shade was already in the arena.

• Shade overheard Eric Follen and Charles Follen discuss the Mirror Society and warned Dorothy and Tifa to stay in camp.
• Sir Hels, unseen by the crowd, approached Shade's tent, but Mia spotted him and alerted the maids, who drove him away with an attack.
• Shade entered the arena for the final match and noticed that Sir Hels seemed different, but tournament rules kept them apart.
• Iluna arrived at the camp and told Dorothy and Tifa that the real Hels was dead and a Kasonlik Gray Gloves spy had taken his place.
• Dorothy realized the impostor might use the championship speech to trigger his curse and demanded that the match be stopped.

Shade learned that his opponent had been replaced by the Angel Level Relic called the Faceless Man, which was impersonating a Kasonlik spy with bombs strapped to his body. He accepted a Church amulet and enchanted sword and agreed to defeat the spy without revealing that he knew the truth, while the real Sir Hels was already dead.

• Captain Robinson told Dorothy and Iluna that Shade had to keep the bomb-wearing opponent placated until Military Intelligence Section Six could arrest him after the match.
• Director Anlos informed Shade that sir Hels had been replaced by a Kasonlik spy and ordered him to win without exposing the spy's identity or letting him approach the king and queen.
• Mr. Sari Pirot gave Shade a dove-shaped amulet and an enchanted longsword to help him defeat the spy.
• Director Anlos promised Shade a raise and promotion if he completed the mission, and Shade agreed to defeat his opponent.
• Shade returned to the rest area and sensed that the real Sir Hels had died after being replaced by the Faceless Man.

Shade competed against the Relic disguised as Sir Hels in the Tobesk Spring Around-the-City Equestrian Competition, using the knight’s story of a missing twin to make him question his identity. Shade defeated him and was named champion, while Sir Hels left with the Church Ring Arcanists.

• Shade and Sir Hels began their mounted duel before the cheering crowd, and Shade recognized that direct clashes could injure his horse.
• As they fought on horseback and on foot, Sir Hels told Shade that his twin brother had been stolen when they were infants.
• Shade used the Faceless Man’s connection to twins to suggest that Sir Hels was the missing brother who had lost his original identity.
• Sir Hels briefly unleashed the Demon Hunter’s Sword Dance, but Shade blocked its attacks and challenged him to settle the match with one final strike.
• Shade broke Sir Hels’s sword in their final charge and won the competition, while the confused Relic departed toward the Church Ring Arcanists.

Shade won the 1854 Tobesk City Around the City Equestrian Competition, received his champion’s award from Princess Leisha, and attended the royal banquet with Dorothy and Tifa. The celebration continued at Galina Manor, where a distant explosion interrupted their night.

• Shade accepted the trophy and shield from Princess Leisha after telling the king he had sworn to uphold chivalric spirit in her name.
• Shade reunited with Dorothy and Tifa, returned the borrowed pendant and sword to Director Anlos, and explained what he knew about the Faceless Man’s twin brother.
• Shade and his companions returned to Galina Manor to prepare for the banquet, where Shade gave an interview and met Earl Lewis and the Follen Brothers.
• Shade seized Earl Lewis’s hand and squeezed it after the Earl tried to approach the Duchess, defending his lover in front of the royal family.
• Princess Leisha invited Shade and Dorothy to a resting room, and later Shade, Dorothy, and Miss Galina continued the evening at Galina Manor until a distant explosion interrupted them.

After the Church linked the Mirror Society’s operation to the Chosen One of Space and the Tobesk equestrian competition, Shade and Luvia began considering how to find the Chosen One. Shade also received a letter postponing his visit to Mia Goode and said farewell to Eric Follen and Charles Follen as they left Tobesk.

• Luvia told Shade that the Church believed the Mirror Society’s operation had involved a Chosen One, and Iluna later explained that the Chosen One of Space might be connected to one of the thirty-six equestrian contestants.
• Iluna warned that the Church would investigate Shade’s relationships, while Luvia planned to seek leads through Galina and the Seer Association and Shade considered traveling if the Chosen One was not local.
• Shade received Mia Goode’s letter asking him to delay his visit until summer, and he decided to postpone the trip while still hoping to keep Little Mia with him.
• Eric Follen and Charles Follen visited Shade to say goodbye, gave him an old copy of Kartherian Fairy Tales, and said they were leaving for Green Lake City and Mikella Blast Furnace City with Earl Lewis.

Shade investigated the Follen Brothers’ Edwards ancestry and learned that the Academy had cleared his Study Group and Miss Mia Goode. He visited Sparrow Hamilton’s grave and the city orphanage, pledged half his equestrian prize money to renovate it, and ended the weekend at a candlelit dinner with Miss Galina.

• Shade learned that the Follen Brothers had one-quarter Delarion blood and planned to ask Margaret and Miss Sylvia to investigate their maternal family.
• The Academy cleared the five members of Bill Schneider’s Study Group and confirmed that Miss Mia Goode and her town were genuine, while asking Shade to report on his contact with the Faceless Man.
• Shade visited Sparrow Hamilton’s grave with Doctor Schneider and found that the flower there had bloomed.
• Shade visited the Tobesk City welfare institute with Bishop Owen and Priest Augustus, told stories to the children, and offered half of his 3,000-pound competition prize to renovate the building.
• Shade went to Miss Galina’s manor for a candlelit dinner after Iluna had already left.

Shade received a White Stone Crystal and a Relic Derivative from Galina, then learned that the sixth Chosen One might appear in Green Lake City or Mikella Blast Furnace City. He planned to travel to the region the next day and invited Luvia to stay with him that night, when he intended to use the Time Key.

• Galina gave Shade a White Stone Crystal and a flint produced by the Traveling Witch's Leather Backpack, then played Hide and Seek with him at the manor.
• Shade returned home on Monday, collected a flint from God's Gift Box, and learned that his weekly task was to use it whenever cooking required matches.
• Luvia told Shade that the Church had identified seven possible cities where the Chosen One of Space might appear.
• Luvia used a Demon Coin to divine that Shade could encounter the Chosen One in a city on the Central Old Continent's border between conflict and war, narrowing the possibilities to Green Lake City and Mikella Blast Furnace City.
• Shade said he would prepare information about the two cities and leave on Tuesday, then invited Luvia to stay overnight.

Shade learned from Mr. Edmund that four Edwards siblings escaped Green Lake Town’s destruction and that the family’s ruins were rumored to hold secrets of the Elixir of Immortality. Before Shade left, Mr. Edmund gave him a Time Key as a deposit and asked him to find Rotten Tail Fish bones in the Green Lake Region.

• Shade visited Mr. Edmund, who told him that Green Lake Town’s ruins were rumored to conceal secrets about the Elixir of Immortality.
• Mr. Edmund shared notes naming the four Edwards siblings who escaped the disaster: Hohenheim, Edward, Alphons, and Maria.
• Shade learned that the siblings scattered and concealed their identities, and considered how Audrey Edwards and the Follen Brothers might descend from them.
• Mr. Edmund explained that Green Lake City and Mikella Blast Furnace City formed one region governed by the cross-border Green Lake Diocese.
• Mr. Edmund gave Shade an early Fifth Epoch Time Key in exchange for Shade’s promise to buy bones from twenty Rotten Tail Fish in the Green Lake Region.

Shade spent a date-like evening with Luvia before using the black Time Key to enter a destroyed past version of Tobesk. He endured the Final Epoch’s apocalyptic influence and gained the Termination Spirit Rune.

• Shade visited the Seer Association, agreed to let Vice President Mark publicize Founding, and accepted payment for the news.
• Shade and Luvia shared dinner and an evening together before he left her sleeping and took the black Time Key into the study.
• Shade used the Time Key to enter the Time Corridor and learned he had arrived in Tobesk during the Final Epoch, where he could not leave Saint Derain Square without defeating a powerful enemy with the key.
• Shade stepped into the living room of 6 Saint Derain Square and was overwhelmed by the destroyed world's chaos until the Time Key warmed and helped him endure it.
• Shade sensed several powers and inscribed the Whisper—Termination Spirit Rune after witnessing the end.

Shade explored 6 Saint Derain Square in the Final Epoch, where time had shattered and the house lay abandoned. He found signs that Detective Sparrow’s history still existed, but he could not determine what had changed in spring 1853 before climbing onto the rooftop.

• Shade’s thoughts about Whisper Elements and the dying world injured him, so he stopped trying to understand them.
• Shade discovered the house was empty and unmaintained, then learned through Contact Father of Infinite Tree that time itself had shattered.
• Shade explored the floors and basement, finding that the Hidden Wall, Soul Cemetery, and Heart of the Earth Furnace still existed, though he could not enter the spaces beyond their doors.
• Shade found Detective Sparrow’s postcards and scenery photographs hidden in the attic wall, confirming that Sparrow had once owned the house.
• Shade concluded that the difference from his own history likely began in spring 1853, then opened the rooftop door and climbed onto the roof.

Shade explored the apocalyptic True World around Saint Derain Square and discovered how to transform the Black Key into a spell-enhancing staff. He entered the square expecting a powerful enemy, and a monster emerged from the Smith Old Couple’s house.

• Shade surveyed the ruined city, the black Sun, and the storm-wrapped floating island, then concluded Saint Derain Square was an arena where his enemy would appear.
• Shade recited Long-Haired Luvia’s final phrase, causing the Black Key to glow and reveal its power.
• Shade called on Luvia Annette and transformed the key into a black wooden staff that enhanced spells and thaumaturgies.
• Shade invoked Destiny Ring, dropped Frog Leg, and leaped from the rooftop into Saint Derain Square.
• Shade waited as the Smith Old Couple’s front door was battered from within, then watched a tattered monster smash its way outside.