Chapter Summaries

Louis II sent Radick to stabilize the Northern Lands, frustrating the First Prince, who had expected to take charge there. Radick kept a low profile in Ironwall City while Derek decided to meet him and left Simon to occupy the Barbarians across the border.

• Louis II dispatched Radick to the Northern Lands with a Royal Guard unit and authority to stabilize the situation.
• After receiving orders to return, the First Prince raged and considered arranging an accident for Radick, but his strategists warned him against it.
• The First Prince returned without checking on Radick, who went to Ironwall City and arranged Marquis Hussein’s funeral without pursuing the killer.
• Radick stayed out of government and military affairs as the Northern Lands continued to prosper.
• Derek reviewed intelligence about Radick and decided to meet him, instructing Simon to keep the Barbarians occupied.

Derek returned to Swan Castle, met with Count Perez, and agreed to offer Prince Radick hope rather than concrete support. He then traveled to Digen Port and boarded a warship bound for a guarded island, leaving Adrian and the others at the harbor.

• Derek returned through a more prosperous Melgen Province and left the pregnant Tiona at Swan Castle.
• Derek met Count Perez, discussed Prince Radick and the King, and agreed to give the prince hope while exchanging information about the Northern Lands.
• Derek traveled west to Digen Port, inspected its growing trade and shipyard, and boarded a warship equipped with Ship Crossbows.
• Derek reached a guarded island where the Augusta Family had moved slaves, leaving Adrian and the others at the harbor.

Derek inspected his secret research island, where Philip oversaw enslaved craftsmen developing new weapons and machinery. After returning to the mainland, Derek headed to meet Prince Radick, who heard Harvey Garcia’s complaint about the Garcia Family’s unsold iron ore and offered to speak to Derek.

• Derek told Philip to ensure the craftsmen followed his research plans and inspected early work on ballistae and water-powered forge hammers.
• Derek left the island and set out to meet Prince Radick.
• Harvey Garcia tearfully told Prince Radick that the Garcia Family could not sell its iron ore because Count Augusta’s allies and merchants excluded them.
• A royal adviser explained the Garcia Family’s past conflict with Derek, and Prince Radick promised Harvey he would speak to Count Augusta.
• Derek, having remembered the old conflict, resolved to humiliate the Garcia Family.

Derek met Prince Radick and proposed that they cooperate to exploit the King's efforts to balance power in the Northern Lands. Radick weighed the risks as Derek warned that the First Prince would accept the offer if he refused.

• Derek invited Radick to ride with him and took him away from the Royal Guard Knights.
• Radick praised Derek's horsemanship and raised the Garcia Family's wish to apologize, but Derek said he might teach them a lesson.
• Derek challenged Radick to acknowledge the King's balancing tactics, and Radick admitted he understood his father's methods.
• Derek urged Radick to stir up trouble in the Northern Lands in exchange for chances to gain military authority and noble rank.
• Radick asked how he could trust Derek, who replied that the First Prince would partner with him if Radick refused.

Derek secured Prince Radick’s cooperation by promising tangible support, then ordered Adrian to make the Garcia Family’s situation miserable. As pressure mounted and Mountain Wolf Loyd blocked their iron shipments, Harvey Garcia lost control and vowed to kill him.

• Radick demanded tangible benefits before agreeing to cooperate with Derek, and the two reached an understanding.
• After the Royal Guard Knights arrived, Radick told Harvey to keep an eye on Count Augusta and left with his party.
• Derek ordered Adrian to keep tormenting the Garcia Family until they could no longer endure it.
• Northern lords intensified their pressure on the Garcia Family, while Harvey blamed Radick and raged over Derek’s rise.
• Mountain Wolf Loyd barred the Garcia Family’s goods from passing through his territory, prompting Harvey to prepare to kill him.
• A colleague rushed into Harvey’s study with news of another disaster.

Harvey discovered that the Garcia Family’s mine had been attacked twice, leaving the family unable to operate or recruit workers. Following Garcia Baron’s advice, he gave the mine to Prince Radick, who promised to appeal to Count Augusta on the family’s behalf.

• Harvey learned that Mountain Wolf had supposedly attacked the Garcia Family’s mine, but Knight Aud found signs that an elite mounted force had carried out the raid and cleaned up afterward.
• Harvey arrived at the mine and accused Aud of failing to pursue the attackers, while Aud warned that the raid was likely connected to Count Augusta and pursuing the attackers would be too dangerous.
• The mine was attacked again before it could resume operations, and the Garcia Family found itself shunned by the Northern Lands’ nobles and unable to recruit miners.
• Garcia Baron wrote to Harvey without blaming him and instructed him to offer the mine to Prince Radick in exchange for protection.
• Harvey visited Prince Radick and handed over the mine’s deed, and Radick promised to speak to Count Augusta while sending him a copy of the deed.

Derek and Prince Radick exchanged secret messages and uncovered evidence that the Perez Family had hidden a Heavy Cavalry Regiment. At Swan Castle, Derek probed Count Perez while concealing what he knew, then secretly reported the count’s preparations to King Louis II.

• Derek gave Prince Radick a sealed letter containing an address, which a beggar secretly passed to Radick’s messenger outside the estate.
• Radick sent trusted men to investigate the address, and they discovered the Perez Family’s concealed Heavy Cavalry Regiment.
• Radick suspected Count Perez might be planning to seek a duchy or rebel and decided to inform Louis II.
• At Swan Castle, Count Perez denied wanting a ducal title but advised Derek to lobby the Noble Senate over Duke Leopold’s inheritance.
• After Count Perez retired, Derek reflected on the family’s hidden military preparations and reported their disloyalty to the King.

Derek used intelligence from Count Jefferies to expose the Perez Family’s position to Louis II, who appointed Count Jefferies commander of the Iron Wall Legion. Derek supplied Jefferies with military goods, while Count Perez warned that the Jefferies Family aimed to become a ducal power, leaving Derek content to use them as a scapegoat against the Perez Family.

• Derek obtained information about the Perez Family through the Jefferies Family and tested Louis II’s reaction by passing on part of it.
• Louis II dismissed Prince Radick’s suspicions as manipulation, sent two banners of Royal Guard Legion knights to protect him, and chose Count Jefferies to command the Iron Wall Legion.
• Count Perez resented the royal appointment, while Derek welcomed the renewed balance it would bring among the Northland Nobles.
• Count Jefferies visited Swan Castle and contracted with Derek to buy warhorses, weapons, and armor for the poorly equipped Iron Wall Legion.
• After the banquet, Count Perez warned Derek that the Jefferies Family wanted to become a ducal family and was using the purchases to equip its private army.
• Derek accepted the deal because he wanted the Jefferies Family to regain strength and take the blame as he opposed the Perez Family.

Count Jefferies tried to weaken the alliance between the Perez and Augusta Families by revealing the Perez Family’s hidden Heavy Cavalry Regiment to Count Augusta. Count Perez saw through the political maneuvering and warned that the royal family was exploiting Jefferies as well, while Derek listened from a secret passage.

• Count Jefferies met Count Perez on a secluded terrace and warned him that the king might discover the Perez Family’s hidden Heavy Cavalry Regiment.
• Count Jefferies revealed that he had told Count Augusta about the regiment, planting suspicion between the Perez and Augusta Families.
• Count Perez suppressed his anger, recognized Derek’s political skill, and warned Jefferies that Louis II was using him to expand royal influence.
• Count Jefferies considered Count Perez’s warning and concluded that he had not lost out, though the political contest was not over.
• Derek emerged from a secret passage after the two counts left, complaining that his feet had gone numb.

Derek pretended not to know Count Jefferies and Count Perez were conspiring, then escalated their rivalry into open political and economic conflict across the Northern Lands. Watching the three-way struggle, Louis II decided to divide the Northland Nobles by settling old debts with the Jefferies Family and granting Augusta's request.

• Derek secretly overheard Count Jefferies and Count Perez discussing their schemes, then acted as if he knew nothing when he met them the next day.
• Count Perez targeted Mountain Wolf Loyd's men to warn Derek, and Derek retaliated by cutting off Knight Armor supplies to the Perez Family and dismissing officials tied to it.
• Count Perez stirred rebellion in the Iron Wall Legion, while Derek raised the Jefferies Family's trade-route taxes and moved against its influence in the legion and the Perez Knight Order.
• The three counts' feud spread through the Northland Nobles, but Derek's Augusta Family gained support while trade and tax certificates continued to function.
• Louis II reviewed the reports, decided the Northland Nobles had grown too powerful, and resolved to divide them by settling the Jefferies Family's old debts, granting Augusta's request, and treating the Old Count differently.

Louis II granted Derek the inheritance of Duke Leopold and rearranged the Jefferies Family’s fiefs, prompting Derek to travel to the Royal Capital with a vast procession. After visiting the Jefferies Family’s new settlement, Derek continued south as nobles along the route came to meet him.

• Louis II summoned Derek to the Royal Capital to receive the ducal scepter and relocated the Jefferies Family’s fief, allowing them to move their subjects and granting their descendants city posts as compensation.
• After urgent discussions, Derek decided to travel to the Royal Capital to claim the title and see the kingdom’s great city.
• Derek prepared his territory, assigned knights to guard it, and set out with more than five thousand people and a large convoy.
• Derek’s procession stopped in the Northern Province, where a Jefferies Family heir welcomed him because Old Count Jefferies was away in Ironwall City.
• Derek rested for a night and continued south as nobles along the route visited him.

Derek traveled toward the Royal Capital, drawing fervent admiration from Northland Nobles and observing the central provinces’ harsher rule. He reached the capital’s outskirts, where he left a disputed fief untouched for now and settled his force in a royal-prepared camp before meeting Louis II.

• Derek accepted the Northland Nobles’ enthusiastic farewell as he traveled through Ferrera Family territory, Monta Province, and the central plains.
• Derek noticed that farmers in the central provinces lived worse than those in the Northern Lands and kept his troops under tight control as they advanced.
• Virut reported that a court Baron occupied Leopold’s abandoned Fief, and Derek chose to address the matter after meeting the King.
• Derek’s main force registered with the Royal Guard Legion and moved into a camp stocked by the royal family for Northland counts.
• Louis II anticipated the Royal Capital nobles’ reactions to Derek’s arrival and viewed the Northland Nobles as a powerful blade in his hand.

Derek met secretly with Viscount Adam Caprione, who warned him that the Royal Capital felt dangerous and arranged an escape route. After gathering intelligence from other Northland representatives, Derek prepared to bring fifty knights to meet Louis II.

• Viscount Adam entered Derek’s camp in disguise and warned him to leave through the east gate if trouble arose.
• Derek promised Adam that the Northern Lands Knights would protect him and received further intelligence about the Royal Capital.
• Two groups of Northland representatives visited Derek, but their reports revealed no immediate danger and included rumors and hostile nobles.
• Derek dismissed his opponents as men who had forgotten the cost of fighting the Northern Lands Knights.
• At dawn, Derek led fifty mounted knights into the Royal Capital and headed for the royal palace to meet Louis II.

Derek entered the royal court for the first time, where King Louis II treated him with caution as a powerful count from the Northern Lands. The King announced that Derek would inherit Duke Leopold’s title, with the ceremony set for seven days later.

• Derek surrendered his sword at the palace gates and told his knights to rush in if they heard anything.
• Derek asked why black slaves were working in the palace and learned that southern nobles had presented them as tribute.
• Derek entered the royal court in plain formal clothes, knelt before Louis II, and took a seat among the Northern nobles.
• Louis II warned the court against provoking Derek, then announced that Derek would inherit Duke Leopold’s title and asked whether anyone objected.

Derek attended the royal court meeting and defended the Northland Nobles’ interests as disputes arose over military appointments, slave taxes, and national tax rates. When nobles proposed reducing the Northern Lands’ tax privileges, Derek challenged them to settle the matter by fighting.

• Louis II opened discussion of noble-title inheritances, and Derek stayed silent while representatives debated disputed successions.
• Derek opposed appointing a new commander for the Saint Michael Legion before next year and challenged Viscount Karim Belosin to take the post; Karim backed down.
• The nobles argued over how to tax and classify black slaves, eventually agreeing to fourth-class tax rates and third-class treatment.
• Nobles proposed abolishing the Northern Lands’ tax privileges and raising taxes on southern overseas trade.
• Derek rejected the arguments over taxes and proposed that the nobles fight, with the winner paying less tax.

Derek challenged the nobles' talk of decorum, and Louis II settled their conflict through a series of knightly duels for tax reductions. The Northland Knights dominated the bouts before Louis II and the Southern Nobles stopped the contest, leaving Derek disappointed that he could not pursue a complete victory.

• Derek argued that the Locke Kingdom's power rested on swords and bows, and Louis II agreed to decide the tax reductions through combat.
• Louis II set a three-faction gauntlet in which each victory reduced taxes by one-tenth and each defeat increased them by the same amount.
• Simon defeated Brook and then killed two more Southern Knights in successive bouts.
• Virut stepped forward to challenge an opponent, and the Northland Knights won another bout against the Royal Capital Knights.
• With the Northland Knights ahead and still undefeated, Louis II consulted with the Southern Nobles and called off the matches.
• Derek regretted that the contest ended before the Northland Knights could claim a complete victory.

Derek attended a royal court gathering where First Prince Arthur launched a coup against Louis II using armed black slaves. The palace defenses collapsed, and Derek fought his way out as the King faced imminent danger.

• Louis II spoke with Derek about the Northern Lands and praised his sons while keeping the royal factions balanced.
• A black slave revealed that he was digging the grave of an attendant, then the slaves uncovered weapons and attacked the gathering.
• Arthur arranged the uprising, ordered the palace gates seized, and sent the black slaves to kill Louis II.
• The black slaves overwhelmed the palace guards, leaving Louis II in crisis as Derek shot one attacker with a single-shot weapon.

Derek withdrew from the palace uprising rather than risk helping Louis II, recognizing the chaos as an opportunity for the royal family to lose its grip. He left through the east gate with the Northland Knight, while Viscount Adam faced the approaching City Guard troops.

• The Northland Knight broke away from the palace gate guards and rushed toward the gunshots inside the palace.
• Virut fired another shot as Louis II ordered the palace guards to kill the black slaves, but Derek refused Simon’s offer to help the King.
• Derek met up with the Northland Knight and led them toward the east gate as the black slaves overwhelmed the palace guards in the garden.
• Viscount Adam questioned the City Guard troops claiming to have the First Prince’s order and then agreed to open the gate for Derek.
• Derek asked Viscount Adam for Warhorses and led the Northland Knight out to fight through the troops outside, promising to protect him if needed.

Prince Arthur seized the throne after Louis II’s death, framed Count Asier Liesgo Unamuno, and crushed opposition in the Royal Capital. Derek escaped and, after receiving his ducal enfeoffment, planned to forge a document to distract Prince Arthur by sending it to Prince Radick.

• Adam stayed at the palace and led the guards in defending its gates while Derek escaped under the Northland Knights’ protection.
• Prince Arthur took control after Louis II’s death and promised the Booker Tribe equal status for helping him seize the palace.
• Prince Arthur ordered the black slave leaders killed and blamed Count Asier Liesgo Unamuno for the king’s assassination and the rebellion.
• Prince Arthur sealed the Royal Capital, secured noble pledges, and eliminated opponents accused of regicide.
• Derek failed to reenter the city and received a ducal Enfeoffment Document and scepter from Prince Arthur.
• Derek ordered his men to forge an identical seal and create a false document to send to Prince Radick.

Derek accepted King Arthur’s generous concessions while keeping the Northland Nobles out of the royal family’s struggle, as Arthur consolidated his throne. Derek withdrew toward Monta Province, where he met Prince Radick.

• Derek watched King Arthur seize power, break his promises to the black slaves, and punish nobles as the kingdom’s factions shifted.
• Derek refused Arthur’s invitation to the capital, then accepted tax relief, noble promotions, expanded trade, and recognition of his claim to Melgen Province.
• Derek assured Arthur’s emissary that the Northland Nobles would not interfere in the royal family’s disputes, easing the new King’s concerns.
• Arthur used rewards, investigations, and marriage alliances to win support and divide the Southern Nobles while securing his rule.
• Derek reclaimed the land attached to Duke Leopold’s title, reinforced his estate, and led his army toward Monta Province.
• Derek met Prince Radick, who arrived on a fast horse.