Chapter Summaries

After completing the god’s trials, Violet Marshall received wisdom that could preserve her beauty, while Shade Hamilton departed through the White Fog. Violet and Teresa returned to the witches’ camp with a mysterious blue crystal, and Violet resolved to pursue greater power and investigate the knowledge she had gained.

• Violet Marshall gave up asking for eternal beauty and instead asked the Uncertain Wise Man to grant her wish, receiving wisdom that could preserve her beauty forever.
• Shade Hamilton and the two witches pulled Night Watchman free together, then Violet gave Shade her Ring of Power and kissed him before the White Fog carried him away.
• The god offered Violet and Teresa a final blessing; after they declined to make a wish, Violet found a teardrop-shaped blue crystal in her hand.
• Outside the vanished Obsidian Tower, Violet asked Teresa to become her apprentice after graduation and said she would record the knowledge granted by the god.
• Violet speculated that the kiss had made the Echo of Spacetime resonate, opened a rift with Night Watchman, and led Teresa back to the witches’ camp.

After returning from his adventure with Miss Violet Marshall, Shade discovered that Night Watchman had gained a stamina-restoring power and exchanged Ancient Writings translations for an ancient stone slab at Apna Library. He also spotted Sir Prisha visiting the library, leaving him with a new clue to investigate alongside Princess Margaret.

• Shade returned with the Ring of Power, and Leisha examined it before he stored it beside the other relics from the sixth Time Key.
• Shade smeared blood across Night Watchman’s runes and found that drinking water while using the sword granted him nearly unlimited stamina for a time.
• Shade visited Apna Library at 21 Ikem Street, traded his translated text for the ancient stone slab, and learned about the Black Raven Library.
• Shade recognized Sir Prisha in disguise on Ikem Street and tracked his footprints to Apna Library.
• Shade returned home, ate breakfast made by Leisha, and reflected on the present while awaiting Princess Margaret’s visit the next day.

Shade examined a second sealed stone slab, and Leisha gained the Spirit Rune Miracle—Library in the Years by touching it. After arranging an outing with Shade, Leisha learned that he had obtained rituals for producing Moonlight Water and Sun Fire from Youthful Immortality Leaves.

• Shade brought out the Red Moon Stone Slab, which did not respond to his Silver Moon or Yellow Moon Spirit Runes, and considered how to unseal Blasphemy Red Moon.
• Leisha touched the slab and gained the Spirit Rune Miracle—Library in the Years, while Little Mia startled and collided with the floating Silver Moon stone slab.
• Dorothy briefly took Leisha’s place, touched the new slab without effect, and then returned to Leisha through a soul exchange.
• Leisha invited Shade to stroll around the city and asked him to keep Monday night free for an opera with Princess Angelina.
• Shade used two Youthful Immortality Leaves and learned the rituals for creating Moonlight Water and Sun Fire.

Shade, with Leisha and Luvia’s help, established rituals that produced Sun Fire at noon and Moonlight Water at midnight. After tasting the first small harvest of Moonlight Water, he found his lunar powers had strengthened and learned that enough of it might unseal his Red Moon Spirit Rune.

• Shade bought materials for the Sun Fire and Moonlight Water rituals from Old John and asked Luvia to calculate their placement in his attic.
• Shade, Leisha, and Luvia built the ritual tabletop, and a faint spark of Sun Fire appeared at noon.
• Shade stored the Sun Fire in Sister Devlin’s lantern and explained its potential uses, though the small amount was not enough to share.
• Shade spent the day with Leisha, who reminded him to meet her at the Opera House the following night.
• At midnight, Shade collected a small amount of Moonlight Water and drank it, deepening his understanding of the Silver Moon’s power.
• Shade learned that drinking roughly ninety to one hundred twenty times that amount at once might unseal his Red Moon Spirit Rune.

Shade hosted Dorothy and Princess Margaret Anjou on Monday morning, learning more about Sir Prisha while discussing his investigation into a solitary Sorceress. Director Dak Anlos then warned Shade that duchy separatists planned to target Margaret in Tobesk and asked about suspicious people near her.

• Dorothy arrived at Shade's house with breakfast and said she would accompany him throughout the day at Leisha's request.
• Princess Margaret visited Shade to discuss Sir Prisha and the solitary Sorceress, and Dorothy revealed that she and Shade belonged to the same Ring Arcanist group.
• Margaret told Shade that Sir Prisha had recently advanced to the fifth ring and was exceptionally talented, but refused to share his private secrets.
• Shade asked Margaret whether she knew of a quiet, respectable man nearby, and she offered to arrange a meeting with Sir Prisha.
• Director Dak Anlos visited Shade and reported that duchy separatists planned to make a move against Margaret, asking whether Shade had noticed strange people around her.

Director Anlos assigned Shade to watch over Princess Margaret during her visit to the National Mechanical College, and Shade discussed the Prisha family crest with her and Dorothy. A new client, Baron Boris Cameron, then hired Shade to investigate a magical box his younger brother Jimmy claimed could duplicate banknotes.

• Director Anlos gave Shade an entry permit and told him to accompany Princess Margaret at the National Mechanical College and report suspicious activity.
• Shade told Princess Margaret and Dorothy that he sometimes worked with Ridgewich Field, then discussed the history and heraldry of the Prisha family with them.
• Baron Boris Cameron arrived at Shade's home and asked him to take a commission concerning his younger brother, Jimmy.
• Boris told Shade that Jimmy had not gone missing but had recently claimed to own a box that could duplicate banknotes.

Shade accepted Baron Cameron’s commission to expose a box that supposedly copied money and find who sold it to Jimmy Cameron. Dorothy and Princess Margaret joined him to investigate, and the three headed toward Jimmy’s home and the western industrial district.

• Baron Cameron hired Shade to expose the money-copying box and identify its seller, offering thirty pounds and asking Dorothy to consider writing the case as a story.
• Shade accepted the commission but clarified that Dorothy would decide for herself whether to write about it.
• Dorothy agreed to accompany Shade as his detective assistant, and Princess Margaret asked to join them as well.
• The three visited Jimmy Cameron’s house in the factory district, but he had already gone out.
• Shade, Dorothy, and Princess Margaret walked west toward Tobesk’s industrial district as snow began to fall, while the princess took in the city streets.

Shade, Dorothy, and Princess Margaret visited factory owner Jimmy Cameron to investigate a magical box that supposedly duplicated money. Cameron showed them the box, and its undersized interior suggested a hidden compartment.

• Shade, Dorothy, and Princess Margaret arrived at the Cameron Wool Textile Factory and met Jimmy Cameron, who recognized Shade as a detective.
• Shade explained that he was investigating a box that supposedly copied coins and banknotes, and Cameron admitted he had bought one for one hundred pounds.
• Cameron said the box had produced twenty-one pounds and repeated the seller’s warning that too many copies could destabilize Delarion’s economy.
• Shade asked to examine Cameron’s Victor Box, and Cameron retrieved it from a secure safe.
• The group inspected the wooden box and noticed that its interior was much smaller than its exterior, suggesting it concealed a compartment.

Shade exposed the Victor Box as a fraudulent wish-granting object that had mentally controlled Mr. Cameron, then destroyed it with Holy Water No. 4. After the box unleashed a dangerous manifestation of desire, Shade and Dorothy decided to continue investigating the merchant who sold it, with Princess Margaret joining them.

• Shade used Mind Blast to break Mr. Cameron's mental control and showed him the empty Victor Box by stabbing it with a dagger.
• Mr. Cameron admitted he had been deceived and gave Shade the address of the merchant who sold him the box in exchange for two pounds.
• Shade tested the box with revealing powder and alchemical items, then sprinkled it with Holy Water No. 4, causing it to burn and release corrosive acid and a desire-luring black entity.
• Shade used Silver Moon to disperse the entity, while Dorothy protected Princess Margaret and contained the smoke.
• Shade confirmed the box had been destroyed, and Dorothy and Princess Margaret agreed to continue the investigation with him.

Shade, Dorothy, and Princess Margaret tracked down Mr. Krum to learn who was making and selling the Victor Boxes. Mr. Krum gave them the address of Victor Fanni, leaving the group ready to visit him at the Three Cats Inn.

• Shade, Dorothy, and Princess Margaret traveled to Krum's Spice Shop, where they learned that Mr. Krum was away at his warehouse.
• Shade found the nearby warehouse location, and the group persuaded the guard to let them enter.
• Shade questioned Mr. Krum about the Victor Box and claimed that he and his noble companions wanted to buy one.
• Dorothy and Shade persuaded Mr. Krum to trust them and explain his connection to the box maker.
• Mr. Krum told them that Victor Fanni assembled the boxes at the Three Cats Inn and would meet them if they said Mr. Krum had recommended them.

Shade, Dorothy, and Princess Margaret visited the Three Cats Inn to find Victor Fanni, who was staying there. On his way upstairs to scout, Shade spotted an acquaintance on the second floor and changed his appearance before proceeding.

• Shade and his companions ate lunch after learning Victor Fanni's whereabouts, and Dorothy and Margaret discussed the Three Cats Inn's history.
• The three traveled through the snow to Saint Song Square and entered the inn, where Shade ordered drinks from Mrs. Sangmei.
• Shade told Dorothy and Margaret he would investigate the upper floors alone before deciding whether to approach Victor Fanni together or seek help from the Church.
• Shade stopped on the second floor after recognizing an acquaintance, then changed his coat and applied Witches' eyeshadow.

Shade joined Luvia at the Three Cats Inn, where she was searching for a Chosen One, and helped her watch the tavern for suspicious Ring Arcanists. They found Miss Pawo meeting two apparent outsiders, but Luvia ruled out each of them as the Chosen One.

• Shade found Luvia on the second floor and offered to help her identify a Chosen One she had sought out after a dream.
• Luvia read Shade's cards, told him his Destiny was obscured, and gave him a pound as a deposit for a future visit to drive out a supposed Demon.
• Shade returned downstairs to tell Dorothy and Princess Margaret he would stay upstairs, then resumed watching the tavern with Luvia.
• Miss Pawo arrived with a blond gentleman, and Luvia confirmed neither of them was a Chosen One.
• Two unfamiliar Ring Arcanists joined Miss Pawo's group, and Luvia ruled them out as well; Shade suspected they came from the Voodoo Society.
• Luvia teased Shade about spending nights alone with Mia and said Mia still did not legally belong to him.

Shade and Luvia identified Sir Legenes Presia, known as Guiding Moon, as the Fourth Chosen One and discussed how to assess his attitude toward civilization. They used Luvia’s Elephant Coin for divination, and the coin vanished as she performed the reading.

• Luvia spotted three newcomers from the Apna Library and recognized Guiding Moon as the person she had been searching for.
• Shade identified Guiding Moon as Sir Legenes Presia, a member of Princess Margaret’s delegation and a suspected Apna Library spy.
• Luvia said they needed to determine Presia’s attitude toward the world and civilization before deciding whether to help or oppose him.
• Shade failed to use Echoes of the Past to recover what Miss Pawo’s group had discussed, and he and Luvia noted that several Ring Arcanist organizations had gathered together.
• Luvia gave Shade an Animal Coin that could summon an elephant, and they discussed an earlier incident in Tobesk involving a summoned white elephant and a reality-distorting entity.
• Luvia used divination on the Elephant Coin, which crumbled into dust and disappeared before falling onto the table.

Shade and Luvia discussed the Chosen One Ritual and the organizations seeking the Chosen Ones, then Shade investigated the mysterious resident of Room 413. When he returned downstairs to enlist Dorothy and Princess Margaret’s help, he found a pale stranger sitting with them.

• Luvia told Shade that Apna Library had concealed part of the ritual text, which specified Lake Heart Island, and described the complicated cooperation among Apna Library, The Truth Society, and the Pantanal Voodoo Society.
• Shade asked Luvia to alert the Witches about the Great Swamp Region and use the Seer Association to check the Glimmerstone collection, while he planned to investigate Sir Prisha and finish the task before anyone gathered all five stones.
• Shade went to Room 413 on the Fourth Floor and noticed that the brass Cat on the gas lamp watched him, then used Confusion to immobilize it.
• Shade decided to get Dorothy and Princess Margaret’s help before approaching the room, but found a pale man with messy blond hair sitting at their table and talking to them.

Shade confronted Victor Fanni, whose menace and corruption revealed him to be a Demon. When the Demon trapped Shade, Dorothy, and Princess Margaret in darkness and attacked them, Shade invoked the Angel’s power to drive it back.

• Victor Fanni warned Shade to stop investigating him and threatened to erase him from the world.
• Victor Fanni unleashed a corrupting darkness, but Shade resisted it with Holy Silver light and asked for a Victor Box and an explanation about the Intellect Angel.
• Shade used the Victor Box and Coin of Wisdom, then identified Victor Fanni as a Demon when its scaled hand recoiled from his light.
• After Victor Fanni vanished, Dorothy and Princess Margaret summoned their companions as a huge demonic figure reached down through the darkness.
• Shade apologized, raised his Witch Detector badge, and called on the Angel, whose white sacred light swept away the darkness.

Shade and his companions survived an encounter with an Evil Spirit Demon at the Three Cats Inn, then returned home to recover and plan their precautions. The demon was temporarily driven off, and Shade prepared to protect Dorothy and Princess Margaret while promising to destroy it within a week.

• Shade used the Moonbeam Greatsword's Silver Moon to shatter the demon's strange space and force it to retreat.
• Shade gave Dorothy and Princess Margaret holy-water tea, warned them that the demon might return, and asked them to stay near their protectors.
• Shade brought the women to 6 Saint Derain Square, where he exorcised Princess Margaret with the Night Watchman and she performed a ritual in the attic.
• Shade told Dorothy to stay at his home and planned to lend Leisha the Demon Hunting Seal before accompanying her to the opera.
• Dorothy reminded Shade to return early, bathe, and accompany Leisha to the four-hour opera she had chosen.

Shade told Doctor Schneider about the demon connected to the Victor Box, and the doctor identified it as the Proliferation Demon, Fanni, and began planning to track it down. Shade returned home with a protective Alchemy Item and a Time Key, then went to meet Leisha at the Maria Empress Opera House.

• Shade visited Doctor Schneider and showed him the demon-tainted bench and holy water from the Victor Box incident.
• Doctor Schneider identified the demon as Fanni, the Proliferation Demon, and said he would investigate Room 413 at the Three Cats Inn and track it down.
• Doctor Schneider gave Shade a protective Alchemy Item and a Time Key as payment for the information.
• Shade returned home, reassured Dorothy that the demon problem would soon be resolved, and examined the Time Key with Little Mia.
• Shade went to the Maria Empress Opera House, where a servant led him to a royal-family private box to wait for Leisha.

Shade reunited with Leisha, who used an examination as an excuse for a private rendezvous, then received news that Miss Goode had recovered and planned photographs with Dorothy. He drew a rare fountain pen from God's Gift Box and learned his weekly task was to copy three hundred words.

• Leisha welcomed Shade and Angelina, then sent her maids away and arranged a private examination with Shade while Angelina guarded the door.
• Shade read Miss Goode's letter and learned she had recovered, while she planned to restore her town and asked him to send a photograph with Little Mia.
• Shade agreed with Dorothy to have photographs taken together and arranged for a photographer to visit their home.
• Shade drew a commemorative Mendi Fountain Pen from God's Gift Box, and Dorothy claimed it after recognizing its rarity.
• Shade learned that his weekly task was to copy three hundred words.

Miss Galina and Miss Sylvia brought Shade to Regent Park to investigate a suspected Keeper of Secrets, while Shade assured them he could handle the demon pursuing him. At the frozen lake, they prepared to use a special method to summon the Keeper.

• Miss Galina visited Shade after hearing that Margaret Anjou had encountered a demon, and Shade showed her the protective badge he had bought from an Alchemy Master.
• Shade told Miss Galina that Apna Library had sold incomplete Poem Chapter Fragments and that the Chosen One Ritual required an island in the water.
• Miss Galina invited Shade to join her and Miss Sylvia in investigating a suspected Keeper of Secrets, and Shade left Night Watchman at home before setting out with them.
• Miss Sylvia met Shade and Miss Galina near the Nington River and predicted that Tobesk would receive unusually heavy snowfall that winter.
• The group entered Regent Park and reached Regent Lake, where reports of singing had been heard; Miss Galina said they needed to do something before summoning the Keeper of Secrets.

Shade, Miss Galina, and Miss Sylvia attempted to summon the Sage Level Relic Mischief Boy at the frozen lake using five absurd offerings, but the ritual did not work. After the witches exchanged jokes to make the scene more cheerful, Shade sensed that something had arrived.

• Miss Galina drove away three hidden Ring Arcanists across the lake, and Miss Sylvia’s spell sent them fleeing.
• Shade offered rice, a salted duck leg, rusty ornaments, a parchment marked “soul,” and a clump of hair while Miss Sylvia played the harmonica.
• When the five offerings produced no response, Shade suggested arranging a comedy or circus, but Miss Galina refused to waste time.
• Miss Galina and Miss Sylvia told jokes about Shade, Tifa, and each other, but the ritual still showed no signs of working.
• Shade interrupted the witches’ next jokes and announced that the relic was there.