Chapter Summaries

Theus met the prince after the fighting at Blood Port and sought permission to station Castel’s troops there. The prince presented him with a deed to the city, leaving Theus stunned by the offer.

• Theus came ashore after confirming there were no further dangers, while the Faithguard Army waited aboard its ironclad and the prince’s forces watched warily.
• The prince greeted Theus, joked with him, and walked with him to discuss the flying airship and Blood Port.
• Theus and the prince discussed the rebellion, the nobles who had withheld disaster-relief grain, and the prince’s ambition to make everyone his slave.
• The prince gave Theus a deed to Blood Port, claiming Castel’s warriors had earned the city through their fighting.
• Theus fell silent, surprised that the prince was willing to give up one of the Duchy of Tis’s most important cities.

Prince William and Theus negotiated an alliance, with Castel granting Theus control of Blood Port in exchange for support and other concessions. After they publicly announced their friendship, William told Isabella that knowledge mattered more to him than land, wealth, weapons, or ammunition.

• William offered Theus Blood Port and sought Castel's support for his coming war against the Empire, including supplies and help recruiting refugees.
• Theus rejected William's proposed terms and demanded a Faithguard Army garrison, permission for Empire Truth to preach, free trade, a letter concerning Nora, and transport for refugees from the Northern Territory.
• William accepted Theus's demands, and they declared Castel and Tis friends, establishing Castel's first foreign alliance.
• The Faithguard Army and Harbor Guard cleared the battlefield and assessed damage in Blood Port until nightfall.
• Isabella asked William whether he feared a trap in his agreement with Theus, and William said that what he wanted was knowledge.

Isabella and Theus discussed how schools and trade could extend Castel’s influence without costly territorial expansion, while Theus prepared for an expedition to the Northern Territory and weighed what to do about the Mystic Society. He suddenly remembered that Nini might publish a newspaper and ordered someone to stop her.

• Isabella explained to the prince that schools helped build a civil service and reduce crime, then said Theus intended to send troops to the Northern Territory.
• Theus returned to Castel by sea and told Alexei he had refused land in favor of preaching rights and free trade.
• Theus explained that schools would educate Blood Port’s people, draw talent toward Castel, and raise the region’s education level without burdening Castel with its administration.
• Theus told Alexei to organize a team for a voyage to the Northern Territory and said he would decide later how to handle the Mystic Society.
• Theus woke in the middle of the night and ordered someone to prevent Nini from secretly publishing a newspaper.

Theus used Chloe and Skynet to track the banshees’ underground newspaper network, while the Banshee Inspection Squad raided secret trades across the island. The banshees planned a counterattack, and the chapter ended with Monica tied up beside Chloe’s diary at the factory.

• Monica told Theus that her squad had failed to confiscate any newspapers, then secretly warned the sellers through an anonymous Mind Link chatroom.
• Theus persuaded Chloe to help by offering her Nini’s article, and Chloe agreed to watch the banshees’ covert activities.
• Gaia met a hooded seller to buy the final installment of Blood Port Chronicles, but the Banshee Inspection Squad raided them and the pair escaped in an explosion and smoke.
• The Banshee Inspection Squad used Skynet to break up underground transactions across the island, prompting the banshees to suspect a traitor and plan a counterattack.
• The next day, factory workers found Chloe’s diary and Monica tied up and hanging above them.

Theus dealt with the Banshees’ reckless antics and rejected several outlandish research proposals, while reflecting on Ash’s successful food-security project. He recalled how Ash had rescued a coyote during the Pollution incident and, despite forgetting to feed it, discovered it had survived for over a month.

• Theus found Monica hanging beside Chloe at the cathedral and tried to persuade her to come down before the prince arrived.
• Theus rejected dangerous proposals from Moth Chasing Flame, including Gaia’s nitroglycerin suicide-attack study and Tata’s plan to crash airships into enemies.
• Theus rejected Alexei’s plan for the Faithguard Army to build warships and Nini’s proposal to fuel an internal combustion engine with explosives.
• Theus remembered that Ash’s research had helped solve Castel’s food problem after the deep-sea war threatened its food supply.
• Theus recalled that Ash had rescued a coyote from Monica during the Pollution incident and often forgot to feed her pets.
• Theus remembered discovering that the coyote had survived for more than a month without food, though he did not yet explain how it would affect Castel’s food supply.

Ash showed Theus the giant crops she had grown by watering plants with tangible pollution, revealing a way to produce food and useful materials from pollution. The chapter ended with the prince arriving in Castel and seeing the crops growing on the evil gods’ tentacles.

• Theus visited Ash after she reported major results from her research into breeding polluted creatures and discovered that her coyote had grown into a huge, eerie wolf.
• Ash showed Theus the enormous wheat, olive trees, and coconut trees growing in her courtyard.
• Ash explained that the coyote had been stealing tangible pollution used as Steam Engine fuel, and that she had discovered pollution could make plants grow.
• Ash described how pollution-grown crops could provide coconuts, oil, fermentable wheat kernels, food, and alcohol.
• After the Deep Sea War, people grew the plants on Pollution Serpents’ tentacles to draw out pollution, and the prince arrived in Castel to see them.

Theus’s civil service system impressed Isabella because it kept nobles from monopolizing power and gave capable commoners a path to rise. As the ironclad approached Castel, Isabella warned the prince not to embarrass himself over the island’s wonders.

• The prince left Blood Port’s reconstruction to Galahad and his bureaucrats, then boarded the ironclad for Castel without attendants.
• Theus explained how the Empire’s thirteen-rank system left loopholes for nobles, while his own system required examinations and relevant practical experience for advancement.
• Isabella concluded that Castel’s system could help her reform the Empire, though she suspected Theus was hiding a separate scientific or religious institution.
• Isabella asked the prince to keep his composure when he saw Castel’s wonders, and he protested that she might be the one to embarrass herself.

The prince toured Castel with Theus, examining its harbor, armored Banshees, and the Skyveil Behemoth as Castel prepared to transport supplies to the Masha Archipelago. He dismissed Galahad’s fear of the island until he noticed the distant lighthouse seeming to grow taller.

• The prince arrived in Castel and observed its steel dock platform, island scenery, and heavily armored Banshees.
• Theus showed the prince the Skyveil Behemoth, which had been refitted to carry cargo for factories being prepared in the Masha Archipelago.
• The prince asked about the Pirate King, and Theus revealed that he was in Castel.
• The prince and Theus traveled by carriage, and the prince watched a steam locomotive pass.
• The prince noticed that the distant lighthouse seemed to have grown taller.

The prince toured Castel with Theus and learned that the Banshees lived and worked among ordinary people rather than being kept solely as soldiers. He challenged Theus to explain why Castel did not use the Banshees’ battlefield power, and the chapter ended with Theus facing the prince’s demand for an answer.

• The prince admired Castel Cathedral, while Theus explained its immense reinforced-concrete walls and gave him a scale model.
• The prince noticed that the Banshees traveling with them had vanished, and Theus said they had used the webway.
• Inside the cathedral, the prince saw Banshees rescuing Monica from a monument and observed that they mingled with ordinary residents.
• The prince argued that Banshees should be isolated, exempted from ordinary law, and trained as elite soldiers rather than allowed to pursue civilian work.
• The prince recalled the armored priests who had broken the Empire’s lines in the Northern Territory war and stared at Theus, waiting for his explanation.

Theus demonstrated that rifles had interchangeable parts and explained to Prince William why mass production, rather than the Banshees’ battlefield power, formed the core of industry. William was left pondering Theus’s ideas and the meaning of “We do not need gods.”

• Theus took apart two Faithguard Army rifles, mixed their components, reassembled them, and fired both to demonstrate that their parts were interchangeable.
• Prince William realized the demonstration suggested every bolt-action rifle in Castel could be assembled from interchangeable parts.
• Theus argued that Banshees were too difficult to replace and that industrial systems depended on mass production and interchangeable parts.
• Theus told William that he had excluded the Banshees from the tactical system because they were not powerful enough to overturn it.
• William recalled the words “We do not need gods” and stood lost in thought while Theus watched him.

Theus showed Grand Duke William of Tis Castel’s industrial system, and the Prince became determined to learn how it worked. After Theus mentioned showing two people around in Chloe’s diary, Chloe asked who the second person was, leaving Theus to realize he had overlooked something.

• The Prince asked what level of power could overturn the existing system, and Theus showed him the Stellar Furnace beneath Castel’s cathedral.
• The Prince expressed interest in Castel’s industrial system, so Theus took him to tour factories and explained their production processes.
• Theus considered transferring basic industrial production, such as olive-oil factories, to Blood Port.
• Theus wrote in Chloe’s diary that he had shown two people around, then went to bed without waiting for her reply.
• Theus woke suddenly after Chloe asked who the second person was.

Isabella wrote to Galahad about Castel’s hidden industrial and underground infrastructure, concluding that the Empire should deepen its cooperation with Castel. She warned that if her letter to the Northern Territory had already been sent, they should prepare for war.

• Isabella wrote that Castel’s strength came from its industry and institutions, not from miracles, and recalled how she had once misunderstood the island.
• Isabella explained that the seaside lighthouse was built from steel salvaged from shipwrecks, which the Banshees were gathering underwater.
• Isabella told the prince that a tree-covered wall was likely a limb of the Evil God used as a nursery for trees growing on its body.
• Isabella described an excavated entrance that suggested an extensive underground tunnel network large enough for Banshees and their weapons.
• Isabella warned Galahad not to underestimate Castel and ordered him to deepen cooperation unless the letter to the Northern Territory had already been dispatched, in which case they should prepare for war.

Theus investigated Chloe’s claim that the Prince was accompanied by an invisible woman with unusually high soul energy, but the others could detect nothing unusual. He left Chloe hanging from the cathedral monument while promising to monitor the Prince and compensate her for the long wait.

• Nini met the Prince outside Castel Cathedral and explained that Theus was comforting Chloe, whose soul remained in her diary.
• The Prince said he had heard rumors that secret arts could preserve a soul until it found a compatible body, then left.
• Nini told Theus through the Mind Link that Chloe had seen a high-energy woman beside the Prince, though Nini sensed no Transcendence power from him.
• Chloe described the woman’s soul energy as exceptionally high and the Prince’s as above average, while Theus’s allies reported no abnormalities.
• Theus decided to have the Prince watched in secret and promised Chloe overtime pay and compensatory leave while she remained suspended from the cathedral.

Theus asked Chloe about his soul energy, then toured the island with the Prince, who recognized Castel’s strength in its ideals, knowledge, and technology. The Prince prepared to leave and proposed a merchant fleet, and Theus offered Blood Port support and favorable trading terms.

• Theus asked Chloe to assess his soul energy, and she told him his body had none; he dismissed her theories and left.
• Chloe reflected that she knew something in Theus’s shell was neither human nor a known evil god, but she considered Castel her home and wondered about her overtime pay.
• Theus and the Prince discussed the banshees’ multitasking and research as Nini led the Banshee Inspection Squad around the island.
• The Prince praised Castel’s strength and said she had abandoned any thought of opposing it.
• The Prince announced she was leaving and asked Theus about forming a merchant fleet, and he offered Blood Port tariff-free trade, rescue assistance, and rewards for opening new markets.

Theus and the prince agreed on reforms and plans for cooperation between Castel and Blood Port, including opening Blood Port’s markets and supporting the Mystic Society. The prince planned to reclaim Blood Port’s land deeds as public property, while Theus prepared to send supplies and establish a foothold there.

• Theus promised the prince that Castel’s proposed incentives and market reforms would benefit both Castel and Blood Port, despite the prince’s doubts about abolishing tariffs.
• The prince said he would postpone the war against the Empire and investigate the destruction of his supplies by [Loving Mother].
• The prince warned that the Northern Territory’s lords might reject his letter demanding safe passage for Nora and the refugees, but Theus said the Faithguard Army would ensure their release.
• The prince offered the prince’s ship passage to Blood Port aboard Castel’s ironclad warship, which the prince accepted.
• Theus decided to send supplies to Blood Port and establish factories and a merchant-guild presence there to support the Mystic Society.
• The prince offered craftsmen and land for the Mystic Society, explaining that he intended to reclaim Blood Port’s old land deeds as public property.

Theus received news that the Four Northern Territories had refused Prince William’s demand to release Nora, and that Nora’s resistance army had been defeated. The chapter ended with Theus discovering Nora’s severed head in a box sent from Count Bazel.

• Theus gave Prince William holy scripture, advanced-class textbooks, and construction materials as the prince departed for Blood Port.
• Galahad arrived at Castel and told Theus that the Four Northern Territories had refused Prince William’s request to release Nora.
• Prince William beheaded the northern envoy, declared war on the Four Northern Territories, and cut off trade with the north.
• Galahad showed Theus Count Bazel’s letter, which claimed the northern forces had defeated Nora’s resistance army.
• Theus opened an exquisite box and found Nora’s severed head inside.

Theus recognized Nora in the box and remembered her past, including her promise to save Castel in exchange for sheltering Northern Territory refugees. He prepared to respond to Prince William’s position, while Nora’s immortality and the Northern lords’ motives remained uncertain.

• Theus recalled Nora’s armor, her chain censer, and how she had once preached to Jeremiah on a journey to the Northern Territory.
• He remembered Nora asking him to take in Northern Territory refugees and promising to save Castel before she fought Monica.
• Theus recognized Nora’s severed head in the box and thanked Galahad, then arranged for ships to take him to Blood Port.
• Nora blinked inside the box and told Galahad to come find Theus again later.
• Galahad explained that Nora was an immortal Burier, while he worried over the Northern lords’ suspicious provocation of the prince’s alliance.

After Nora’s death and the return of her severed head, Theus’s newspapers and public discussion stirred Castel’s anger toward the Northern Territory. At a cathedral gathering, Theus declared war, while Nora awakened beside Chloe’s Diary and the two awkwardly introduced themselves by their former affiliations.

• News of Nora’s death spread across Castel, and workers and the Faithguard Army recalled her kindness and condemned the northern lords.
• Castel’s newspapers published accounts of the lords’ crimes and Nora’s bravery, prompting soldiers to petition Theus to go to war.
• Theus carried Nora’s head through the cathedral and placed it beside the Memorial to the Fallen, then declared war to a roaring crowd.
• Galahad realized that the newspapers and days of public discussion had prepared Castel for war before Theus’s brief declaration.
• Nora opened her eyes on the church monument and awkwardly greeted Chloe’s Diary, with both indicating that they no longer belonged to their former groups.

Josh learned that Nora had been killed and that Castel planned to answer the Northern Territory lords with war. He and Zoe left to ask the lord for places for the Mystic Society in the expeditionary force, fearing the believers might go to war on their own.

• Josh read the newspaper announcing Nora’s death, Castel’s vow of “Blood for blood,” and plans to send an expeditionary force to the Northern Territory.
• Josh hid the newspaper from Gwen, then showed it to Zoe, who reacted with anger.
• Josh set out to tell the Mystic Society’s believers about Nora, but Zoe stopped him and proposed they seek places in the expeditionary force.
• Zoe warned that the believers would form their own group if the lord refused, and Josh hurried after her without stopping for a coat.

After dreaming of Lina, Hodge told Kyle that Nora’s death had driven him to want to join the expeditionary force, though he had never known her. He decided to fight for Castel in the Northern Territory, and Kyle agreed to go with him to sign up the next day.

• Hodge woke from a nightmare and joined Kyle at the night watch, where they discussed the mobilization and the crowded expeditionary force registration.
• Hodge admitted that he felt rage over Nora’s death and wanted to avenge her, though he feared the political commissar might reject him.
• Kyle recalled how Hodge had survived exile, been treated by Chloe, and later joined the Faithguard Army with him.
• Hodge explained that he had first fought to protect the life he enjoyed in Castel, including its food and drink.
• Hodge said he would fight for Nora and for Castel, and Kyle told him they would sign up together the next day.