Chapter Summaries

As Valuana prepared to meet the Imperial Army, panic over the National Guard’s departure led civilians to conduct unlawful trials and executions. Pascal left the city’s political disputes to join the Guard with Paul, where Colonel Druo assigned them to his artillery battalion and urged them to use their abilities when needed.

• Pascal told Paulina he was leaving for the battlefield, and she gave him a tricorn hat bearing a Tricolor Cockade before they parted.
• Rumors that Valuana would fall into chaos after the Guard marched out fueled mob trials and executions, while Maxim refused to serve as chief judge.
• Pascal and Paul rode to Villar Training Ground and registered to join the National Guard.
• An officer began assigning Pascal and Paul to a regional force, but Instructor Druo recognized Pascal and claimed them for his artillery unit.
• Druo assigned the two mages to his Second Artillery Battalion and began teaching them artillery basics, then asked them not to hold back when the time came to act.

Pascal and Paul marched with Valois's army to defend a mountain pass against the advancing Imperial Army, while Richard feared the Empire would use a weapon that could disable magic across the battlefield. The armies spotted each other, and the Imperial artillery opened fire.

• Pascal and Paul received their assignments in the artillery, with Paul becoming a gunner and Pascal serving as his loader.
• Colonel Druo treated Pascal and Paul to canned food and asked them to protect his cannons during the coming battle.
• Paul read an artillery manual in their tent and spoke about wanting to use cannons to defeat the Imperial Army, while Pascal fell asleep.
• Scouts reported the opposing forces near Ables Village, and the Imperial commanders learned Valois had more than sixty thousand troops.
• Richard joined the Imperial Army's special operations regiment and warned that the Empire might use a magic-disabling weapon, but the deployment was already set.
• The two armies came into view of each other, and the Imperial artillery opened fire.

The Valoisian Army deployed an enormous alchemical construct to draw Imperial fire and trigger the Empire’s anti-magic weapon, then launched a charge during the resulting six-minute suppression of magic. As the battle intensified, Paul spotted an Imperial cavalry reserve that was actually Richard’s mage corps.

• Valoisian mages reported their reconnaissance, and an eighteen-meter alchemical construct emerged and advanced under Imperial cannon fire.
• The Empire revealed five concealed airships and activated its anti-magic weapon, dispersing the construct’s shield but failing to stop it immediately.
• A Tower of Stars Alchemy Department member explained that the construct had been a decoy and urged the Valoisian commander to charge while magic was suppressed.
• Valoisian troops rallied to the cry “Valuana is at our backs!” and charged as the Imperial cannons struggled to reload; Valoisian artillery broke the Imperial cavalry’s flank attack.
• Paul redirected the artillery toward a white-robed cavalry reserve in the northeast, which belonged to Richard’s mage corps.

Richard led a small group of Imperial Mages in a surprise attack on the Valoisian artillery, but Pascal and Paul’s disciplined defense turned the assault back. The Empire withdrew from Valuana after suffering its first major setback, leaving its lightning campaign in jeopardy.

• Richard’s mage corps came under artillery fire, so he gathered two Spellcasters and rode toward Paul and Pascal’s position.
• Richard’s group used poisonous mist and illusions to break through the infantry line and charge the artillery on horseback.
• Pascal and Paul defended the high ground with barriers and coordinated attacks, while the artillerymen fired on the Imperial Mages.
• Richard unleashed a torrent of flame, damaged a cannon, and escaped with a badly burned comrade as the Imperial Army retreated.
• The Valoisian National Guard held Valuana but lacked the strength to pursue, while the Empire’s advance and planned lightning operation faltered.

After Valois's victory at Valuana, the Royalist Faction tried to restore the monarchy, prompting Maxim and the Mountain Faction to push for Charles XVI's trial and a republic. Meanwhile, Rorschach readied the special zone for spring planting with new mechanical farming Golems, though he wondered whether farmers would accept them.

• Newspapers reported turmoil in the Empire's financial markets as the Imperial Army's battlefield setbacks weakened market confidence.
• The Royalist Faction regained influence in Valois and proposed replacing Charles XVI with a crown prince, prompting Maxim to call for the king's execution and the abolition of the monarchy.
• The Mountain Faction publicized evidence of Charles XVI's collusion with foreign enemies, and angry citizens stormed the Royal Palace while National Guard soldiers refused to disperse them.
• The Royalist Faction proposed putting every royal family member on trial, trapping the Mountain Faction between its popular support for Mr. "Equality" and its demand to prosecute the king.
• Rorschach planned to increase the special zone's grain output through land reclamation, mechanization, and fertilizer, and arranged for factories to build four-legged farming Golems.

Rorschach developed a cheaper way for the Tower Spirit to control agricultural constructs and planned to use them to reclaim land and expand farming through the Zweilinger Agri-Business Association. After revising the land-claim and sales plans to protect Refugees from being crowded out by large landowners, he left the Association set to promote bundled construct rentals and fertilizer sales.

• Rorschach, with Caroline's guidance and Kano's input, devised a circuit-based terminal that let one master construct control others while reducing computing costs.
• Rorschach established the Zweilinger Agri-Business Association and proposed letting Refugees claim reclaimed plots with costs repaid in grain at harvest.
• Frey warned that Rorschach's repayment quota was too high for ordinary farmers, while Horn, Gao Po, and Andre said large landowners would readily take advantage of the offer.
• Rorschach ordered purchase limits to prioritize Refugees, lower first-year grain collections, offer longer contracts, and promote the benefits of agricultural constructs and fertilizer.
• Rorschach directed the Association to bundle construct rentals with fertilizer purchases, and he told Andre that the plan would transfer land ownership rather than place all farmland under the Association.

Rorschach and Bart staged a dramatic demonstration of construct farming tools and magically accelerated wheat to promote the Agri-Business Association’s equipment and fertilizer in Kempston’s villages. Bart agreed to support rural development in exchange for Rorschach backing his bid for a seat on the special zone’s Autonomous Committee.

• Rorschach recruited Bart, now Kempston’s temporary town mage, to help promote agricultural tools and fertilizer.
• Bart described how war and a conglomerate’s rise had ruined the Duma River Alliance, and Rorschach encouraged him to run for the Autonomous Committee.
• Rorschach and Bart demonstrated the farming tools, then used fertilizer and the Revival spell to grow wheat rapidly before the crowd.
• The Agri-Business Association’s salesmen explained tool rentals, fertilizer sales, harvest-backed payment, and a five-egg offer for signing a letter of intent.
• Bart demanded his wages after the demonstration, and Rorschach offered him a committee seat; Bart then embraced supporting rural development.

Rorschach dealt with problems caused by the rollout of fertilizer and considered how farming equipment and collective rentals were changing rural life. Martin’s report on village producers reached Rorschach and the Autonomous Committee, though it was not published, leaving the future of these small collective organizations uncertain.

• Andre told Rorschach that three constructs had malfunctioned without bacterial leaks, and that one had killed a boar with its plow; Rorschach ordered the incident publicized in newspapers across Bayern.
• Rorschach learned that some farmers had overused fertilizer or fed it to livestock, and that a child had suffered acute kidney failure after drinking it; he healed the child and uncovered a landlord behind rumors calling fertilizer Devil’s Salt.
• Bart led soldiers to seize the landlord, flog him publicly, and send him to a coal mine to gather fertilizer materials.
• Andre told Rorschach that Gao Po’s Precision Factory had proposed a harvesting-model prototype, which the Agri-Business Association was testing cautiously after problems with the plow model.
• Smallholders began registering collective associations to share the cost of renting constructs, while the Refugees were organized into Production Teams.
• Martin wrote a report on village collectives and their handmade goods; although the newspaper did not publish it, the report reached Rorschach and the Autonomous Committee, who considered the groups’ uncertain future.

Martin and Hannah joined Andre at the Mage Tower, where Rorschach tested five prototype Anti-Magic Devices against sustained spells. The machines disrupted everyone’s magic, but Martin remained unaffected, leaving the mages astonished.

• Martin and Hannah walked beside the river, where Hannah noticed the magical aura around Martin’s pendant, but Martin kept its origin secret.
• Andre emerged from the river and took Martin and Hannah to the Mage Tower at Rorschach’s request.
• Caroline warned everyone not to open the passage to the Third Palace because it had not been adjusted properly.
• Rorschach tested the five prototype Anti-Magic Devices by having Caroline and Hannah sustain spells inside the array.
• The devices disrupted Caroline’s and Hannah’s spells and unsettled the others, but Martin remained completely composed.

Rorschach tested Martin and revealed that his lack of mana might make him useful in experiments to create a human-microorganism symbiosis that could grant spellcasting ability. After the isolation-chamber tests, Caroline noticed that the Gardener construct was not controlled by the Tower Spirit.

• Rorschach examined Martin and found that even the greenhouse plants had a stronger spiritual glow than he did, though Martin was uniquely unaffected by the Anti-Magic Device.
• Rorschach combined Martin’s Living Water Body microorganisms with slime mold from the Black Forest and placed them in cold storage to encourage a symbiotic relationship.
• Rorschach told Martin that a successful human symbiosis might give him acquired spellcasting ability, and Martin eagerly agreed to continue cultivating the microorganisms.
• Caroline and Hannah tested the spells in the Spellcasting Cloud inside the isolation chamber while Andre recorded their resistance to interference; Hannah vomited after leaving.
• Caroline stayed behind to check the portal’s stability, then told Rorschach that the Gardener construct was not controlled by the Tower Spirit.

Rorschach explained his plans to use Enlightenment Art to create independent constructs and argued that the coming war could help spread the Special Zone’s way of life across Valois. In the Northern Valuana Region, Richard recovered from battle and studied why Valois’s Mages had joined the rebels.

• Caroline warned Rorschach to handle Enlightenment Art cautiously, but he described plans to create independent constructs and preserve the lives of wounded soldiers.
• Rorschach told Caroline that he hoped to make all of Bayern like the Special Zone and believed the coming war would force the Kingdom of Bavaria to take sides.
• General Karl told Richard that depleted legions would be reorganized into mixed formations and offered him the chance to lead his old regiment.
• Richard’s roommate read the booklet Richard had been studying, while Richard explained that he wanted to understand why Valois’s Mages had left the Mage Guild to join the National Guard.

As the Imperial Army struggled through rain and mounting fatigue, Richard attended a decisive battle against the numerically superior National Guard while distracted by the growing crisis. The battle began, and Richard spotted a valuable enemy target as the Bayern light infantryman beside him prepared an unfamiliar rifle.

• Rain and mud slowed the Imperial Army, whose exhausted main force faced a fragile supply line and a vast National Guard army.
• Richard joined the front ranks alongside Lieutenant Colonel Richard Henchi, who had built trenches and wire defenses despite other commanders’ objections.
• The National Guard attacked with artillery and advancing infantry columns, while the Imperial Army committed its cavalry and prepared reserves.
• Richard watched the battle from high ground under orders to strike valuable enemy targets, then noticed the Bayern light infantryman beside him setting up an unfamiliar rifle.
• Richard forced himself to focus and identified a valuable target through his binoculars.

Richard fought with the Kingdom’s forces as their skirmishers overwhelmed the Imperial Army, whose officers struggled to explain the enemy’s speed and coordination. After Richard stole a strange device from an enemy soldier, three Imperial Mages began preparing a lightning spell and detected a regular signal in their magical network.

• A Jäger shot an Imperial commander, then explained to Richard that the Kingdom’s dispersed troops could keep advancing without their officers.
• The Kingdom’s National Guard skirmishers and Grenadier Cavalry drove back the Imperial cavalry and infantry, while Valois’s field guns disabled the Imperial artillery.
• The Imperial general learned that the Anti-Magic Device would not be deployed and blamed magic for the Kingdom’s rapid, precise coordination.
• Richard used poisonous smoke and his Storage Ring to steal a strange backpack device from an enemy soldier.
• Three Imperial Mages formed a Magic Induction Network to summon lightning, but it detected a regular signal.

Richard stole a Valois radio set and returned to the Imperial Army, which could intercept its coded signals but could not decipher them. As the Empire's lines faltered and its troops prepared to fall back to the Turtle Shell, Paul and Pascal struggled to use their radio while defending No. 2 Right Hill.

• Richard used Cloudkill to incapacitate Valois officers and signalmen, stabbed an officer, stole the radio equipment, and escaped toward the Imperial lines.
• Imperial officers and Mages examined the captured radio signals and concluded that Valois used coded transmissions to send battlefield orders.
• After the Empire lost its second line and the mountains on the left flank, the general ordered a feint and prepared the troops to withdraw into the Turtle Shell.
• On No. 2 Right Hill, Paul and Pascal tried to recharge their radio and contact headquarters, but found the battery dead and the manual's Anti-Divination Cipher section unfinished.
• As enemies charged up the hill, Pascal used a Grease Spell in the rain to make them slide back down.

Paul recognized that the Imperial Army was feigning attacks before withdrawing east toward a fortified camp, and Druo moved the artillery battalion to pursue. The National Guard reached the camp’s trench defenses, where Paul’s guns opened a gap in the barbed wire, but the Imperials quickly replaced it.

• Druo arrived with reinforcements, and Paul was promoted to company commander while Pascal became his adjutant.
• Paul deduced that the Imperial Army was withdrawing east and used Fireballs with Pascal to confirm the enemy’s retreat.
• Druo moved the artillery battalion closer to the retreating Imperials as the Valoisian Army pursued through the forest.
• The Imperial Army took shelter in a camp surrounded by multiple layers of trenches, frustrating the National Guard’s artillery and infantry.
• Paul ordered concentrated fire on the barbed wire, blasted open a gap, and demanded a way to keep the breakthrough going after the Imperials replaced it.

The National Guard breached the Imperial defensive line with earth magic, triggering a fierce clash between Imperial and Valoisian Mages before artillery and infantry joined the fight. The battle stalled at the trench intersections, while Paul studied the fighting through his telescope.

• A Valoisian Mage formed a giant hand of earth and stone that crushed the barbed wire and trench, creating a ramp for the National Guard.
• Imperial artillery shelled the breach, and Spellcasters from the Imperial Magic Academy and Tower of Stars began attacking each other.
• Captain Schmidt fought a Valoisian Mage who had disguised himself as a fireball, dragged him into the barbed wire, and was then thrown against it by an explosion.
• Paul's artillery battalion fired a corrected second barrage that struck the Valoisian Mages and helped stop their advance.
• Both armies sent infantry into the breach, but the narrow, staggered trenches limited the National Guard's numbers and left the fight dependent on ordinary soldiers.
• Imperial Mages sent lightning through the barbed wire to block attacks beyond the breach, while Paul watched and memorized the battle through his telescope.

Richard and Lieutenant Colonel Richard Henchi discussed the dangers of prolonged trench fighting and the need to protect the Imperial Army’s ammunition depot from a surprise attack. When National Guard apprentice Jules infiltrated the depot to ignite its gunpowder, Richard caught him with a spell.

• Paul watched the attackers struggle through the muddy trenches, and he and Druo considered what could break through the layered defenses.
• Lieutenant Colonel Richard Henchi warned Richard that rain, flooding trenches, and exhausted soldiers could undermine the Imperial Army’s defenses.
• Richard and Henchi agreed to ask the general for stronger protection around the ammunition depot.
• As tired soldiers moved ammunition, Jules used Spatial Magic to slip into the depot and approached the gunpowder.
• Richard revealed himself and struck Jules with a ray before he could set the gunpowder alight.

Richard captured Jules after stopping his attempt to ignite the ammunition depot, and the Imperial Army subdued the young Spellcaster with its prisoner-control procedure. The battle ended as the Valoisian forces retreated and both armies returned to their lines.

• Richard and Henchi collided while trying to stop Jules, who used Leap to escape and scattered matches while attempting to ignite a gunpowder barrel.
• Richard knocked Jules unconscious before he could start a fire, then helped take him into custody.
• The military doctor confiscated Jules’s belongings, made him vomit, and gave him Belladonna Wine and a small bowl of porridge to prevent him from casting spells.
• The military doctor explained that the Special Defense Agency had developed the prisoner procedure, but Richard began to reveal that the Agency had been merged into something else before wounded soldiers interrupted them.
• The Valoisian forces received retreat signals and withdrew while the Imperial Army cautiously returned to its breached first line of defense.
• After ammunition ran low and the firing stopped, both sides faced each other across the battlefield, and the battle ended.

The National Guard won a costly victory that forced the Imperial Army to retreat and abandon its plan to seize Valuana. Meanwhile, republican Valois put Charles XVI and his wife on trial, and the final vote sentenced them to death, ending the first monarchy on the Floren Continent.

• The exhausted National Guard held its victory as the Imperial Army withdrew toward the Condé Region and the Sene River.
• The Mountain Faction established republican Valois, and Charles XVI and his wife faced a public treason trial before the National Assembly.
• The presiding judge announced the National Guard's victory, and Charles congratulated the soldiers while insisting he was innocent.
• Royalists and republicans argued over the execution as representatives voted, leaving the tally tied until the final vote.
• A curly-haired club member cast the deciding vote for execution, declaring that the king must die for the republic to live.
• Charles XVI was taken to the square and executed, and his crown fell to the ground.

Rorschach and Andre welcomed Archmage Alexander von Humboldt and an unexpected guest who had secretly traveled to Bayern through the Mage Guild’s Teleportation Array. Rorschach recognized the guest as Imperial Chancellor Otto, while King Albert and the Eldest Prince waited at the Royal Palace for the chancellor’s arrival.

• The Empire’s defeat, Valois’s transformation into a republic, and Otto’s secret visit to Bayern unsettled the continent.
• King Albert and the Eldest Prince waited for Otto at Munich’s airship landing site, but a secretary told them the chancellor had arrived by another means.
• Rorschach and Andre went to the Mage Guild to meet Humboldt, who was expected to guide Bayern’s spring plowing.
• Humboldt and an unnamed older guest appeared together through the Teleportation Array, surprising Andre and prompting Rorschach to question its safety.
• Rorschach recognized the older guest as Chancellor Otto and welcomed him to Bayern.