Chapter Summaries

Derek used his Panel to manage his subjects and oversaw Augusta City’s growing prosperity before traveling to Swan Castle. There, he secretly set out with the Elite Knight Order into the Barbarian Wilderness, leaving Tiona to await his return.

• Derek searched the Panel’s subjects and assigned experience points in batches while considering why he needed to maintain the people’s loyalty to the Louis Family’s rule.
• Augusta City’s reputation and trade grew over the summer, and the replanted wheat crop looked likely to yield as much as or more than before.
• Derek traveled to Swan Castle, where Tiona and the knights had gathered for the autumn.
• Derek armored himself and told Tiona he had to inspect the Barbarian Wilderness in person.
• Simon presented Derek with a riding crop, and Derek rode out with the Elite Knight Order beyond Swan Castle into the Barbarian Wilderness.

Derek surveyed the Barbarian Wilderness to plan an advance, then found a small tribe that had taken his lost Warhorses. Rather than punish the tribe, he offered its people a feast, leaving their fate open.

• Derek traveled through the Barbarian Wilderness, assessing its terrain and possible routes, fortress sites, and city locations.
• A storm scattered supplies and caused several of Derek's Warhorses to go missing, so his knights searched for them.
• Derek's knights found the horses with a small tribe and reported that the Barbarians had gathered most of them.
• The tribe's leader, Guli, told Derek in stiff Divine Language that they had only kept the horses temporarily.
• Derek invited the tribe to drink and ordered his knights to bring wine and prepare a feast.

Derek returned from a visit to the Barbarians and resumed managing affairs at Swan Castle, where he learned about the new Legion Commander, Governor Ronald, and the Holy Cross Kingdom. Archbishop John arrived in an agitated state, leaving Derek to wonder what had happened.

• Derek shared food and liquor with Guli and the Barbarians before leaving, and Guli recognized the Augusta badge Derek had dropped.
• Derek returned to Swan Castle, rested for two days, and resumed his work.
• Derek learned that the Legion Commander had arrived with more than a hundred riders and that Ronald had recruited two thousand soldiers.
• Derek heard that the Holy Cross Kingdom had been worn down by Augusta Family raiding squads and was unlikely to disrupt the coming New Year.
• Archbishop John arrived at Swan Castle in an unusually agitated state, and Derek went to greet him.

Archbishop John asked Derek to help win the support of Melgen Monastery, and Derek agreed to travel there with his knights. As they set out, their armed pilgrimage heightened tensions over the emerging Church branch and drew attention from across the Locke Kingdom.

• Archbishop John told Derek that Melgen Monastery’s influence could help them win over clergy in the Locke Kingdom.
• Derek agreed to use his power and knights to secure the monastery’s support, and he and John prepared to leave.
• Derek remembered that his youngest sister, Elfie, was at Melgen Monastery and planned to visit her along the way.
• Rumors spread that John and Derek’s visit could strengthen their emerging Church branch and provoke bloodshed.
• Derek assembled the full Augusta Knight Order to protect the journey, and the force left Saint Myra Province for the inner provinces.

Derek brought the Augusta Knight Order into Melgen Monastery’s territory, where Commander Burdett Kutz met them with the Monastery Knight Order. After provoking Burdett, Derek ordered a charge toward the Monastery Knights, leaving them unprepared for battle.

• Derek entered Monta Province with the Augusta Knight Order, drawing suspicion from locals and concern from Melgen Monastery.
• Commander Burdett Kutz met Derek with the Monastery Knight Order and explained that he had come to reassure uneasy Northland nobles.
• Derek challenged the Monastery Knight Order’s honor, then told Simon to take Archbishop John and ordered his knights to charge.
• The Augusta Knight Order thundered toward the unprepared Monastery Knight Order as Burdett realized Derek was attacking.

Derek led the Augusta Knight Order in a feigned charge that scattered the Monastery Knight Order, leaving Melgen Monastery without its main military force. He arrived at the monastery alone with his black-armored knights, while Dean Massimo and Dean Rosanara waited in alarm for Burdett’s return.

• Derek diverted the Augusta Knight Order at the last moment, but the Monastery Knight Order fell into chaos and would need hours to regroup.
• Burdett realized Derek had deliberately incapacitated the monastery’s greatest military force and pursued the knights too late.
• Dean Massimo and Dean Rosanara waited at Melgen Monastery’s entrance, believing Burdett would return with Count Augusta.
• The black-armored Augusta Knight Order arrived without Burdett or the Monastery Knight Order, and Derek dismounted before the stunned deans.

Derek visited Melgen Monastery, where he and Archbishop John clashed with the politically minded deans over faith and God. When Dean Massimo challenged Derek to kneel before God, Derek put a sword to his throat, and Massimo responded with threats of divine punishment.

• Derek accepted the monastery deans’ greeting on horseback, then criticized the Monastery Knight Order and offered to train them among the Barbarians.
• Archbishop John arrived after vomiting from the ride and joined Derek as the deans led them through Melgen Monastery and recounted its history.
• At a statue of God, Archbishop John and the deans argued over doctrine, but neither side persuaded the other.
• Dean Massimo demanded to know why Derek did not kneel after seeing God, and Derek challenged him to explain why God allowed suffering.
• Derek drew his sword and held it to Dean Massimo’s throat, but Massimo shouted that God would punish Derek and his bloodline.

Derek confronted the leaders of Melgen Monastery, claiming his identity as Saint Derek and offering to demonstrate his holy power. After taking up residence there, he reunited with his sister Elfie, who warned him about the monastery’s hidden corruption.

• Derek silenced Massimo’s objections and insisted he had come as Saint Derek, not merely as Count Augusta.
• Archbishop John swore that Derek was a saint, and Derek proposed using his Baptism miracle on Commander Bodet.
• Derek delayed the demonstration, saying he needed time to recover, while Massimo suspected a scam.
• Derek stayed at Melgen Monastery and reunited with his sister Elfie at a welcoming banquet.
• Elfie told Derek that Dean Rosanara might send nuns to his bed, possibly including a pair of twins.

Derek sought the monastery’s support before the first offensive against the Barbarians by demonstrating his holy power to Burdett Kutz and two other Monastery Knights. The knights swore loyalty to Derek, while Dean Massimo remained convinced that the miracle was a trick.

• Derek spent time training with the Monastery Knights and meeting local nobles, improving his reputation at the monastery.
• With the offensive against the Barbarians approaching, Derek arranged a ceremony before the monastery’s core members to secure the Monastery Knights’ support.
• Burdett Kutz said he would pledge loyalty only after witnessing a miracle, so Archbishop John asked Derek to demonstrate his holy power.
• Derek baptized Burdett through his Panel-granted power, transforming Burdett’s abilities and convictions and making him swear eternal loyalty.
• Derek baptized two more Monastery Knights, who also became devoted to him, while Dean Massimo wondered whether Burdett had been pretending all along.

Derek turned Melgen Monastery’s failed attempt to control him into an alliance, securing support for an expansion into the Barbarian Kingdom. After returning home, he set off troop and supply movements that alarmed the Kingdom’s forces and the Southern Nobles.

• Dean Massimo accepted that Derek had seized the initiative and negotiated an alliance with him, despite his concerns about Derek’s plan to expand into the Barbarian Kingdom in God's name.
• Derek explained that he wanted to restore his family’s ducal standing rather than become King, and Massimo saw how conquering and settling new territory could make that possible.
• Derek and Melgen Monastery finalized their alliance in secret, and half of the Monastery Knight Order followed him when he departed for home.
• Count Augusta returned to Saint Myra Province and met frequently with the Northland Nobles as grain, supplies, and troops began moving on a large scale.
• The Kingdom’s forces in the Northern Lands and the Southern Nobles grew wary of Derek’s troop movements, while Count Lovett’s conflict with Derek heightened their concerns.

Count Rovitt and Marquis Hussein reacted to Count Augusta’s religious campaign against the Barbarian Kingdom and began maneuvering against his growing influence. Rovitt ultimately chose to support Augusta’s side with grain shipments while secretly warning Hussein, leaving both factions competing for his loyalty.

• At a wine reception, Count Rovitt and Marquis Hussein condemned Count Augusta’s campaign, while Count Perez argued that it was lawful under religious statutes.
• The Old Count defended Augusta’s authority, and Marquis Hussein left the reception determined to rally the King, Ronald, his troops, and the Southern Nobles.
• Marquis Hussein wrote to Sir Wilson, asking him to convey greetings to his King.
• Tamir Rovitt urged Count Rovitt to back Augusta’s trade route, and Rovitt ordered grain loaded onto ships bound for the Northern Lands.
• Count Rovitt then wrote a separate letter to Marquis Hussein and sent it with his trusted knight.

Derek secured support from Northern nobles and led an army into the Barbarian Wilderness, where Simon charged the last major Barbarian force. The battle began with Derek confident of victory, but its outcome remained unknown.

• Derek accepted the Rovitt Family's goodwill and kept their alliance secret while securing support or neutrality from other nobles.
• Derek rejected King Louis II's promises and gathered more than thirty thousand men to campaign against the Barbarians.
• The Augusta army entered the Barbarian Wilderness and swiftly defeated several tribes before a force of about three thousand Barbarian cavalry confronted Derek.
• Derek sent Simon to attack the Barbarian cavalry, and Simon charged at the front carrying the Two-Headed Dragon Banner.

Derek’s army captured the southern castles and stormed Yanle City with relentless night assaults, despite heavy casualties. Derek took the city, while the Royal Court Emissary fled south and hidden Barbarian forces gathered in the wilderness.

• Derek led his cavalry to Yanle Mountain and ordered Simon to take Yanle City within three days.
• Simon’s soldiers captured the two southern castles and continued attacking Yanle City through the night despite mounting losses.
• Augusta’s troops seized a section of Yanle City’s wall, and a heavy infantryman killed the Barbarian commander during the counterattack.
• The Royal Court Emissary abandoned the city and fled south instead of seeking Duke Wilson.
• Derek stood atop Yanle City’s walls as Barbarian armies, including Alpha Wolf Enrick’s forces, gathered in the wilderness to the south.

Derek learned that the Barbarians had appeared south of Yanle City and realized the King and several noble factions had conspired against him. He ordered his forces to burn Yanle City and break through, while Harrot watched the city go up in flames.

• Enrique asked Duke Wilson to lead the vanguard, but Wilson assigned Harrot the cavalry and ordered Enrique to seal escape routes.
• Before dawn, Simon reported that Barbarians had appeared south of Yanle City, and Derek recognized that he had been trapped through collusion with his enemies.
• Derek suspected Hussein, Rovitt, the Southern Nobles, and other factions had joined forces to prevent him from returning.
• Derek ordered his troops to prepare to depart, set Yanle City on fire, and break through with the cavalry while the infantry guarded the rear.
• Harrot encountered the Augusta army, then saw Yanle City burning and wondered why the Locke people had set it ablaze.

Derek led Augusta’s army out of burning Yanle City and launched a night attack on the Barbarian forces in the Yanle Mountain Corridor. After routing Harrot’s cavalry, Derek faced Duke Wilson’s prepared battle formation, with Barbarian forces threatening from both ahead and behind.

• Derek rallied Augusta’s officers, ordered Yanle City set ablaze, and led the army out of the city.
• Augusta scouts used Five-shot Repeating Crossbows to kill a Barbarian patrol and then defeated the remaining scouts in a brief melee.
• Harrot recognized that his scouts had been overwhelmed, but his hastily assembled cavalry collapsed when Derek’s forces charged in the darkness.
• Derek’s cavalry routed Harrot’s troops and rode past without pursuing them, leaving Harrot unable to send warning to the forces ahead.
• After a short rest, Derek found Duke Wilson’s army waiting in a tightly formed defensive position in the narrow Yanle Mountain Corridor.

Derek faced Duke Wilson’s seventy-thousand-strong Barbarian army and ordered Burdett’s Monastery Knight Order to make a suicidal charge at Wilson’s banner to open a path through the encirclement. The fanatical knights rode out singing hymns, while Wilson dismissed them as lunatics.

• Wilson kept his army advancing in rotating formations to exhaust Derek’s outnumbered knights.
• Derek rejected the idea of targeting Wilson directly and listened as Simon and Burdett volunteered to lead a charge.
• Burdett declared that the Monastery Knight Order would fight to the last for the Holy One, and Derek promised them a place in his kingdom if angels did not guide them.
• Derek ordered Burdett to attack Wilson’s banner and continue until every knight was dead.
• The Monastery Knight Order tore down its banners, draped them over themselves, and charged while singing hymns.
• Wilson saw the charging knights and dismissed them as lunatics who overestimated themselves.

Derek exploited gaps in Duke Wilson’s formations to disrupt the Barbarian army and isolate the troops around its commander. With the Monastery Knight Order still unable to reach Duke Wilson, Derek prepared to deploy his motionless Heavy Armored Knights.

• Duke Wilson watched the Monastery Knight Order charge through successive formations and identified them as possibly belonging to the Melgen Monastery Knight Order.
• Derek ordered Simon to lead a thousand men through a gap on the left flank, disrupting the Barbarian formations before they could readjust.
• Derek sent Man Niu’s cavalry to crush a formation preparing to rotate forward, worsening the chain reaction and easing pressure on Burdett’s knights.
• Duke Wilson committed his reserves to prevent a collapse, but Derek’s attacks left only twenty or thirty thousand troops before and around him.
• Derek decided the moment had come to use his motionless black Heavy Armored Knights.

Derek led the Black Armored Heavy Cavalry in a desperate charge through the Barbarian army toward Duke Wilson’s command banner. After the Monastery Knights helped break through the final formation, Derek cut down the banner and confronted Duke Wilson.

• Derek chose to personally lead the heavy cavalry charge, and the knights smashed into the Barbarian formation.
• Duke Wilson ordered his troops to hold their positions and threatened punishment for anyone who retreated.
• After the cavalry lost momentum, Derek dismounted and ordered the knights to fight on foot as they pushed toward the command banner.
• Barbarian spearmen stalled the attack until Burdett and the wounded Monastery Knights arrived and forced open a path.
• Derek’s forces broke through the final formation, cut down the central command banner, and reached Duke Wilson.

Derek defeated the Barbarian army after capturing Duke Wilson and taking control of the enemy command platform. He held the battlefield, ordered prisoners taken, and waited for the Augusta Family’s main infantry to arrive.

• Duke Wilson surrendered to Derek and offered ransom, but Derek refused and knocked away his final attempt to fight before ordering him bound.
• Derek raised the Two-Headed Dragon banner on the enemy command platform, and the Barbarian army collapsed as its command failed.
• Derek ordered the Locke forces to take prisoners and clean up the battlefield instead of pursuing the fleeing troops.
• Derek planned to use Barbarian commoners to rebuild a fortress at Yanle City while refusing to spare certain noble officers and tribal chieftains.
• Augusta Family scouts kept Barbarian Kingdom scouts away from the battlefield, and Derek’s confidence returned when the main infantry arrived.

Derek established Melgen Province as Augusta’s territory and ordered its tribes to provide soldiers and settlers. After a chief objected, Derek had him seized and threatened to conquer his tribe, leaving the other chiefs to accept his demands.

• Derek ordered the renaming of the Barbarian Wilderness, the construction of Yanle Fortress and Melgen Monastery, the recruitment of a battalion, and a claim to Duke Leopold’s title.
• The barbarian chiefs reported to Derek, intimidated by his armored veterans and his reputation for killing those who defied him.
• Derek declared that Augusta would rule Melgen Province and demanded that each tribe provide three people per hundred for the army and seven per hundred to settle in towns.
• When a chief asked for a smaller quota, Derek ordered Simon to conquer the chief’s tribe and confiscate its people.
• Simon had the chief seized and assured the other chiefs that he would be allowed to return before being captured again to build the Count’s city; no one else objected.