Chapter Summaries

Fran traveled through war-ravaged White Flower Territory and headed for White Flower City to test whether she could use the Territory Token. Meanwhile, Count Ian announced a knightly duel to determine who would rule the city, leaving its rival claimants preparing to compete.

• Fran found that the Territory Token glowed when she entered White Flower Territory, where villages had been devastated and abandoned amid the fighting.
• Fran and Black Horse killed soldiers who tried to surround them in a recently captured town, then left to avoid further trouble.
• Fran decided to visit White Flower City to investigate the token while avoiding the nearby Northern Territory Pass and the future she had foreseen.
• In White Flower City, Count Ian heard the knights argue over who deserved to rule the territory they had conquered three months earlier.
• Count Ian announced that Duke Theodore had ordered a knightly duel, open to the knights who had participated in the conquest, with each allowed two attendants and a mage assigned to check for prohibited potions.

Fran entered White Flower City disguised as a melee adventurer named Elan and discovered how desperate the city had become. After a soldier tried to steal Black Horse, Fran killed him with a single punch, leaving the surrounding crowd to witness her strength.

• Fran disguised herself in a black robe and mask, took a Voice-Changing Potion, and decided to use Elan's name while traveling through White Flower City.
• Fran paid ten copper coins to enter the city, prompting all seven guards at the gate to fight over the money.
• Fran rode Black Horse into the city and set out to find a place to stay among its many empty houses.
• A soldier threatened Fran with a dagger and demanded that she hand over Black Horse.
• Fran broke the soldier's dagger, lifted him with one hand, and punched him dead in front of the gathered crowd.

Fran killed one of Andrew’s men and defeated Andrew in a duel after he challenged her. As Fran prepared to leave, Knight Eric arrived and asked whether she had beaten his soldiers.

• Fran killed a soldier who provoked her, and Andrew confronted her over the death of his subordinate.
• Andrew challenged Fran to a duel, and his men mocked her while she prepared to fight.
• Fran blocked Andrew’s attacks, then struck him hard enough to break several ribs and send him flying into his soldiers.
• Fran turned to leave, but Knight Eric arrived in armor and asked if she had beaten his men.

Fran faced Knight Eric after defeating his subordinate, but Finley intervened and stopped the confrontation. Finley asked Fran to serve as his attendant in White Flower Territory’s upcoming lord’s duel, and she agreed to consider it in exchange for a reward.

• Knight Eric prepared to attack Fran, but Finley arrived and identified her as one of his people.
• Knight Eric left after warning Finley that he hoped to win the duel and become lord of White Flower Territory.
• Fran thanked Finley, then followed him to his house to discuss why he had intervened.
• Finley explained that he needed Fran as an attendant for the duel because he had few capable soldiers.
• Fran agreed to take part if they could discuss her reward, leaving Finley visibly embarrassed.

Fran agreed to help Finley become the lord of White Flower Territory, hoping to use their connection to explore her Territory Token and pursue her own plans. Meanwhile, Eric and Cliff learned that they, Finley, and one other knight had been placed together in a group for the duel.

• Finley offered Fran a knightly title and other rewards if he became lord, or some of his skills if he failed.
• Fran agreed to help Finley win the lordship and introduced herself as Elan.
• Eric told Cliff that Finley had entered the duel with a skilled passerby as a retainer.
• Eric and Cliff discussed their plan to work together in the duel and use armored retainers to hinder their opponents.
• A soldier brought Eric the groupings, and Eric discovered that he, Cliff, and Finley were in the same group of four.

Fran convinced Finley and his soldiers that she was a former adventurer by describing an Earth Dragon hunt and joined them in complaining about mages. When Finley learned the knightly duel group assignments, he found himself grouped with Eric and Cliff and began looking for an ally.

• Stefan asked Fran about powerful monsters, and Fran told the soldiers an embellished story about helping an adventurer party hunt an Earth Dragon.
• Fran claimed she received no Earth Dragon materials because the mage who posted the request demanded them all, prompting the soldiers and Finley to complain about mages.
• A soldier brought Finley the duel group assignments, and Finley discovered that he, Eric, and Cliff were in the same group.
• Finley worried Eric and Cliff might team up against him and decided to find another knight to join forces with, while Fran smiled at hearing Eric's name.

Maeve inspected the knights and their equipment before the upcoming duel, rejecting clear violations while allowing several questionable cases through loopholes. The inspection ended with Fran’s transmuted Black Horse, which Maeve recognized as a magical creature but had to approve because the rules did not forbid it.

• Maeve found a poisoned dagger, demon-material armor, and attendants overusing enhancement potions, and she rejected the offenders.
• Maeve allowed Knight Cliff’s specially treated transmuted humans to pass because they fell into a loophole in the inspection rules.
• Maeve inspected Knight Eric’s heavily armed team and let them pass because their costly equipment violated no restrictions.
• Finley worried that his poorly equipped team had little chance of winning, but Fran refused to put his Black Horse aside.
• Maeve recognized Fran’s Black Horse as a heavily transmuted magical creature and allowed it to enter the duel because it was not prohibited.

Maeve inspected Finley’s team and recognized Fran’s sword as an exceptionally valuable enchanted weapon, then predicted that Finley would win the duel. She hinted to Count Ian that one of Finley’s companions could decide the match, and the duel was about to begin.

• Maeve examined Fran’s Highland Silver longsword and suspected Fran was connected to a Mage Family from the Floating Isle.
• Maeve approved Finley’s team and Finley led Fran and Stefan to the dueling grounds.
• Count Ian and the minor nobles discussed who would win, with one noble favoring Knight Eric because of his armor.
• Count Ian asked Maeve for her prediction, and she chose Finley, saying one of his companions might determine the battle.
• Count Ian announced that the time had come for the knightly duel to begin.

The battle began, and Finley used his speed to draw three knights into a chase while Fran charged the crossbow-wielding squires. Fran’s Sunflame sword incapacitated one squire, leaving the fight still underway.

• Count Ian threw a stone to signal the start of the battle, and Eric, Cliff, and the other knight charged toward Finley.
• Finley told Fran and Stefan to deal with the enemy squires, then rode around the arena while the three knights pursued him.
• Stefan suggested lying down and playing dead, while Fran assessed the enemy and charged the two squires aiming crossbows.
• The squires fired at Black Horse, but its stiff coat deflected both bolts without injury.
• Fran used the Sunflame Breathing Technique to cut through one squire’s armored shoulder and incapacitate him.

Fran used Sunflame and her horse’s agility to disrupt the battle, striking enemy soldiers and throwing Knight Eric’s pursuit into chaos. She then charged into another skirmish, where she knocked a soldier from his horse despite his side’s temporary alliance with hers.

• Fran cut a heavy infantryman’s arm with Sunflame, then took his firebomb and threw it at Knight Eric.
• Eric endured the flames, injected his horse with a stimulant, and charged after Finley as the audience cheered the flaming knight.
• Count Ian recognized Fran’s attack as a version of a technique sold by the Adventurers Guild and wondered how she could use it so powerfully under the clouds.
• Fran rode Black Horse into a fight between two modified humans and their handlers and kicked one modified human’s horse aside.
• Fran elbowed a soldier who had assumed she had come to help him, knocking him from his horse.

Fran cut down the modified men and their attendants, drawing Knight Eric and Knight Cliff’s attention. Cliff charged at Fran, but her Sunflame Slash severed his Volcanic Scrap Iron lance, leaving him afraid of facing her attack directly.

• Fran rode down a mounted modified man and stabbed him in the back of the neck.
• Eric found his armored attendants incapacitated, then joined Knight Cliff and sent him after Fran while he held off the other two.
• Cliff charged Fran on his grassland warhorse as spectators expected her to be defeated.
• Fran met Cliff’s attack with [Sunflame Slash], and her Black Horse kicked his mount off balance.
• Fran’s slash cut Cliff’s lance in half, and Cliff feared that the same attack could cut through his armor and body.

Cliff surrendered and left the arena, abandoning Eric to face Finley and the other knights. Fran caught up and struck Eric down with Elven Swordsmanship, leaving the contest’s survivors to continue without him.

• Finley and another knight attacked Eric’s horse while Cliff was occupied.
• Cliff removed his helmet, dropped his weapon, and left the arena rather than risk fighting Fran.
• Maeve suggested Cliff had surrendered because he doubted he could win and feared Eric would soon fall.
• Fran rode the Black Horse after Eric as his horse neared collapse, and Eric leaped onto Finley’s horse to escape.
• Fran used Elven Swordsmanship to slash through Eric’s armor and nearly sever his spine, sending him tumbling from his horse.

Fran and Finley defeated the remaining knight in the duel, securing Finley’s chance to become the new lord of White Flower City. Count Ian offered Fran a place in Duke Theodore’s order of knights, but she declined and said she was heading to the Northern Territory.

• Fran knocked Eric off his horse, and the remaining knight used an enhancement potion on his mount but still failed to catch her black horse.
• Finley caught up to the knight and attacked him while Fran slowed down to join the fight; together, Fran and Finley defeated him.
• The crowd cheered for Finley’s victory, while many nobles who had backed Eric and Cliff reacted with dismay.
• Count Ian warned the nobles that objections to the duel’s outcome should be taken to Duke Theodore, then approached the victors.
• Count Ian invited Fran to join Duke Theodore’s order of knights, but Fran declined because she had to travel to the Northern Territory.
• Count Ian announced that Finley needed one more victory to become lord of White Flower City, and Finley vowed to win as the minor nobles glared at him.

Fran visited Finley to learn how knights were promoted and discovered that advancement and the use of a knight's Formal Rank power depended on a territory or knight order. She also realized why the Alliance had little interest in borderland lords, whose land-based advancement offered limited potential.

• Fran visited Finley and asked him to explain how knights were promoted.
• Finley explained that knights needed a title and support from a territory-backed knight order or a lord to advance.
• Fran declined Finley's offer of a promotion slot and asked whether promoted knights could keep their power after leaving their order or territory.
• Finley explained that knights who lost territorial support could barely use their Formal Rank power without risking their lives.
• Fran concluded that knighthood was fundamentally tied to land and understood that the Alliance sought ways for mages to benefit from territories without being bound to lordship.

The nobles tried to weaken Fran by muddying the arena and using Rain Prayer scrolls to block the sun before her duel with Ryan. Stefan’s iron tube felled Ryan’s attendants, and Fran’s Sunflame Arts blazed despite the clouds, leaving the nobles stunned as the battle began.

• The nobles backed Ryan and had the arena covered in mud to force Finley and Fran to fight on foot.
• Ryan’s allies activated Rain Prayer scrolls to weaken Fran’s Sunflame Arts by hiding the sun.
• Count Ian questioned the arena’s condition, but an official claimed the duel rules prevented them from cleaning it.
• Stefan fired his strange iron tube and dropped the two attendants behind Ryan.
• Fran’s sword blazed red despite the dark sky, shocking Ryan and causing several nobles to faint.

Fran left White Flower City and rode toward the Northern Territory, while Connor’s Blood Wolf Knights continued searching travelers at the pass for a particular item. As Fran approached, Connor was beginning to doubt his resolve after a month of guarding the pass and seeing a recent rise in mages traveling north.

• Fran wished Finley luck, declined to reveal where she had obtained her custom spear, and rode toward the Northern Territory.
• The Blood Wolf Knights endured a monotonous, bitterly cold month guarding the Northern Territory Pass and grew resentful of Connor.
• Connor’s knights searched Dorian Sloan, but the Tracking Bug showed he was not carrying the item they sought.
• Dorian threatened to have the Battle Mage Corps deal with the knights and then hurried into the canyon.
• Connor wondered whether his decision to stay at the pass had been wrong as a black-robed rider on a black horse approached.

Fran confronted Connor Rolenbu and the knights who had been waiting to seize her Territory Token, but she used a Flame Trap to destroy her decoy and reveal her strength. She approached the remaining knights alone, calculating that defeating all eleven could bring her to Second Order.

• Fran pretended not to know why Connor and his knights had stopped her, then offered to hand over the Territory Token and warned them about her mentor.
• Connor rejected Fran’s warnings and demanded the Territory Token, giving her twenty seconds before ordering the knights to attack.
• The knights struck Fran’s decoy, which exploded in a Flame Trap and left three of them severely injured.
• Connor recognized the power of Dragon Flame as Fran signaled her Black Horse to safety and walked toward him.
• Fran counted the eleven remaining knights and silently calculated that defeating them could bring her to Second Order.

Fran used a homunculus and Dragon Flame to kill three Blood Wolf Knights, then unleashed Earth Uplift when Connor recognized her Prophecy Spell. After Fran killed a knight who attacked her, Connor stopped the others and decided to face her himself.

• Fran revealed that the apparent version of herself had been a homunculus made from a corpse, and her trap and Dragon Flame killed three knights.
• Connor recognized Fran's Prophecy Spell and feared she had prepared a trap for the Blood Wolf Knights.
• Fran cast Earth Uplift, transforming the valley and weighing down the knights with earth and sand.
• A silver-armored knight charged Fran, but she blocked his greatsword with Sword Dance and killed him with a strike to the head.
• Connor stopped the knights from attacking and announced that he would face Fran himself.

Fran fought Connor and his knights in the canyon, using Sunflame to damage Connor’s weapon and cut down three knights before Connor wounded her. The chapter left Fran preparing to cast [Howling Gale] and [Earth Uplift] as Connor and the remaining knights faced her.

• Connor used his Second Order strength to shatter Fran’s Shield Spell Rings, but Fran’s Sunflame damaged his greatsword in their clashes.
• Connor struck Fran’s Hardened Scale Rock, while Fran leaped into the knights behind him using Elven Swordsmanship.
• Fran killed three knights with Swift Wind Slash and Sunflame, leaving seven surrounding her.
• Connor struck Fran with his greatsword and inflicted a vicious wound, but [Light in Blood] began healing her.
• Fran activated the Spell Rings for [Howling Gale] and [Earth Uplift] and began gathering magic.

Fran used powerful earth and wind magic to overwhelm Connor’s knights, leaving Connor as the only opponent still able to fight. She then struck through Connor with her glowing longsword, killing the final knight he had been protecting.

• Fran raised an earthen spike beneath three knights, then crushed them inside a mound of compacted earth.
• Fran’s gale stripped the armor from two knights and wounded them, while she evaded Connor’s aerial sword slash and kicked him.
• Two knights fled; Fran froze one with the Purple Shortsword, and Connor shielded the last behind himself.
• Fran declared that the last knight was hers and unleashed a brilliant attack with her longsword, leaving Connor wounded and the knight behind him dead.