Chapter Summaries

Charlotte Mecklen captured Yannick Aure and discovered that Duchess Mesu had sent the Military Enforcement Department after him because of a dispute involving her fleet. He realized the fleet’s growing political rivalry with Menilman lay behind the investigation.

• Charlotte’s forces attacked the Military Enforcement Department’s Knight Order, killing many of its members and capturing Yannick Aure.
• Charlotte threatened Yannick’s family, and Yannick revealed that Duchess Mesu had ordered him to investigate Charlotte.
• Yannick said Ellens Cook had targeted Charlotte because he had won Sophia Garland’s heart, but Charlotte rejected this as the real reason.
• Yannick revealed that the investigation was connected to the fleet, and Charlotte recalled Duchess Mesu’s control of the Northern Fleet and its struggle to regain strength.
• Charlotte understood that Menilman’s three Magic Alchemical Warships had disrupted Duchess Mesu’s plans and made Menilman a rising naval power.

Charlotte faced Duchess Mesu’s attempt to target him and decided not to rely on Count Brittany for protection. After capturing the Military Enforcement Department Knight Order, he secretly turned its members into Labyrinth Guardians and arranged for the unit’s disappearance to be credited to the Wormwood Knight Regiment.

• Charlotte considered how Duchess Mesu’s hostility toward Senior Menilman had made him a target and concluded that Count Brittany would not risk his family for him.
• Yannick Aure admitted that he could forge evidence to help Charlotte, but Charlotte refused and revealed his high-ranking posts in Inglima.
• Charlotte took the captured Military Enforcement Department Knight Order to Machu Picchu and transformed its members into Labyrinth Guardians.
• Charlotte arranged for the Black Phoenix Army captives to report that the Fars Knight Order had been wiped out, and the Wormwood Knight Regiment received a commendation for the supposed victory.
• Charlotte asked Count Brittany about the planned investigation, and the Count said the Military Enforcement Department should enforce the law impartially.
• Charlotte sent the wounded Black Phoenix Army soldiers to Machu Picchu to await the Military Enforcement Department Knight Order’s next investigation.

Charlotte faced a tax investigation and a confrontation with Ellens Cook, but Count Brittany quietly secured his promotion instead of the expected punishment. As the war stalled, Fars prepared a naval offensive, and Count Brittany told Charlotte that he and Constantine would leave the South Seraph front under a new commander.

• Ellens Cook investigated Charlotte's failure to collect taxes and accused him of being absent from South Seraph, while Charlotte defended himself with war losses and legal arguments.
• Count Brittany proposed a three-thousand-Écu fine, but Ellens Cook announced Grand Duchess Mesu's harsher demotion and tax repayment orders, prompting Charlotte and Ellens Cook to duel before Count Brittany stopped them.
• After half a month without punishment, Charlotte received an official promotion to twenty-fourth-rank, first-level Councillor and learned that Fars and Inglima were preparing the Goddess of Victory Offensive against Byron at sea.
• Worried about Senior Menilman but unable to leave the brutal South Seraph front, Charlotte heard Count Brittany explain that the land war had reached a stalemate and that he and Constantine would depart, leaving a new commander in charge.

Charlotte was appointed commander of the South Seraph War Zone after the Empire withdrew its forces, then returned to Strasbourg while the Central Government Office delayed investigating him. As shortages spread through the city, Sophia Garland came to visit him.

• Count Brittany appointed Charlotte Mecklenburg commander of the South Seraph War Zone, and Charlotte accepted after learning the region would be downgraded to a war zone.
• Count Brittany, Viscount Constantine, the Saint Ranks, and the Knight Orders withdrew, leaving the West Wind Knight Regiment and Chloe's Knight Order facing each other in South Seraph.
• Charlotte was summoned to Strasbourg for a fourth investigation, while Dorothy Soumei temporarily took command of the West Wind Knight Regiment.
• The Central Government Office told Charlotte that his investigative team had not yet been formed, and he spent his free time with Anne as shortages and food-rationing rumors spread through Strasbourg.
• Charlotte relied on his stored supplies and merchant connections to avoid shortages, and Sophia Garland visited him on his fifth day back in Strasbourg.

Sophia Garland visited Charlotte, returned the Whale Butcher, and invited him to a ball, which he declined. After Sophia left, Anne visited Charlotte, took the Whale Butcher and Whale Slayer to her home, and discussed her delayed government assignment with him.

• Sophia Garland thanked Charlotte for saving her and returned the Whale Butcher, then invited him to lunch and a ball.
• Charlotte refused Sophia’s ball invitation, and she promised to invite him to a smaller gathering instead.
• After Sophia left, Anne visited Charlotte and asked him to bring the Whale Butcher to Baker Street 221B as a decoration.
• Charlotte brought both the Whale Butcher and Whale Slayer to Anne’s home and reassured her about her delayed post-graduation assignment.
• At Anne’s home, Charlotte noticed her new belongings, including an elaborate set of pure silver tableware.

Charlot gave Anne Whale Butcher and Whale Slayer, and they talked about her publishing success and the life they imagined sharing. A letter revealed that Anne had been appointed a first-class Councillor of the twenty-fourth rank, and Charlot explained how the Lionheart Dynasty appointment had helped her advance in Fars; the chapter ended with Anne confirming she had also received administrative status.

• Charlot showed Anne Whale Butcher and Whale Slayer, and Anne explained the lances' combined ability to summon a shadow knight.
• Anne told Charlot that their novels had become popular across several countries and described how she had built publishing houses and bookstores.
• A postman delivered an official letter to Anne at Baker Street 221B, and she discovered that she had become a first-class Councillor of the twenty-fourth rank.
• Charlot explained that the Lionheart Dynasty had granted them both official positions and that Anne's father had arranged the appointment to help her advance in Fars.
• Anne thanked Charlot affectionately, promised she would never lose her temper again, and confirmed that she had received administrative status as well.

Charlotte gave Anne the Floating World Prosperity artifact and escorted her home, then studied a Golden Ring and advanced his cultivation to the thirteenth rank. The next day, he accompanied Anne to report to the Central Government Office, where his former superior Madame Aldegonde recognized him.

• Charlotte gave Anne the Floating World Prosperity floral crown, and she accepted it happily.
• Charlotte appointed Golden Goat Herolf as his old butler and examined the three Golden Rings, delighting Herolf by seeming to discover the third ring's secret.
• Charlotte opened a tenth Bloody Vortex belonging to the Aristocles clan and advanced his Star War Qi to the thirteenth rank, entering the high ranks of Transcendence.
• Anne asked Charlotte to accompany her to report to the Enforcement Department, and he agreed, taking her in a secondhand carriage.
• Madame Aldegonde greeted Charlotte at the Central Government Office and revealed that his former colleagues already knew his identity and his carriage, Dark Luxury.

Anne Brittany joined the Central Government Office’s Military Enforcement Department and used her authority to send Ellens Cook to the front lines after he threatened Charlotte Mecklen. The department fell silent when Anne revealed that Julius Axel had personally signed her appointment document.

• Charlotte Mecklen asked Madame Aldegonde to look after Anne Brittany, and Anne offered to help the older woman advance by transferring her to the Enforcement Department.
• Charlotte and Anne completed Anne’s appointment paperwork and encountered Ellens Cook, who threatened to investigate Charlotte again.
• Anne declined Charlotte’s lunch invitation to focus on her first day, while Charlotte left to pursue promotions for his subordinates.
• Ellens Cook received a transfer order sending him to Ferlanden and angrily demanded that Anne cancel it.
• Anne refused, declared that Ellens Cook had to serve on the front lines, and showed the department officials her appointment document signed by Julius Axel.

Anne used her imperial authority and Count Brittany's backing to force Ellens Cook to the front lines after he offered to apologize for framing Charlotte. While Charlotte waited for Anne, he ran into Frederica in a coffee shop and learned she had returned to Strasbourg.

• Anne revealed her rank and family backing, rejected Ellens Cook's offer to apologize, and demanded that he be sent to the front lines.
• The head of the Enforcement Department ordered Ellens Cook to leave for the front lines that day.
• Charlotte encountered Ellens Cook outside the Central Government Office and challenged him to a formal duel, but Ellens Cook left without accepting.
• Charlotte waited for Anne in a Val-d'Oise District coffee shop, reflecting on Strasbourg's uneven shortages.
• Frederica met Charlotte at the coffee shop, questioned why he was not at the front lines, and heard that his investigation concerned more than his personal taxes.
• Charlotte asked Frederica why she had returned to Strasbourg despite the Empire's unfavorable policies toward beastfolk.

Frederica asked Charlot to shelter nearly five hundred thousand displaced leopard folk, and he agreed if they learned a human language, studied the Beast God Transformation Technique, and rejected cannibalism. After making plans to discuss the arrangement, Charlot went to meet Anne, while Ellens Cook approached Sophia with an accusation about Charlot.

• Frederica told Charlot that the Orc Tribal Alliance and Orc Assassin Alliance had collapsed, leaving her responsible for the leopard folk from 186 tribes.
• Charlot agreed to take in the leopard folk across the cities he controlled, provided they learned Fars or Inglima, studied the Beast God Transformation Technique, and became Non-Cannibals.
• Frederica agreed to discuss the details with Charlot that evening at Champs-Élysées Avenue Number 58, and Charlot left to meet Anne.
• Charlot met Anne as she handled her new Enforcement Department duties, and they left together.
• Ellens Cook stopped Sophia Garland outside Sheffield University and claimed Charlot was secretly seeing a young lady from the Brittany family.

Sophia Garland used Ellens Cook’s slander as an excuse to visit Charlot Mecklenburg and seek his help, while arranging for her father to receive a damaging report about Ellens. Charlot promised to deal with Ellens, unaware that he had already been sent to the front and that Sophia’s letter threatened his future.

• Ellens Cook told Sophia Garland that Charlot Mecklenburg had arranged his transfer to the Ferlanden front, and Sophia offered to recommend him to her father, Count Galanod.
• Sophia wrote her father a letter mentioning Ellens Cook’s insult to her reputation and sent it through an Imperial Post branch.
• Charlot spent the day with Anne and then escorted her home to 58 Sixth Avenue in the Val-d'Oise District.
• Charlot returned to Champs-Élysées Avenue Number 58 and found Frederica and Sophia waiting for him.
• Sophia claimed Ellens Cook had slandered both her and Charlot, and Charlot promised to handle the matter.
• Frederica realized Sophia was pursuing Charlot and became more alert.

Charlotte discussed his rapid rise to high-rank Transcendence and the Mecklen School of writing with Frederica and Sophia Garland. After Frederica explained the danger facing her leopard people tribe, Charlotte said he could help both women and proposed integrating beastmen into human society.

• Charlotte told Sophia Garland that he would someday be strong enough to stand against Duchess Mesu, and Sophia admired him and thought of his novels.
• Frederica asked Charlotte about his rank, and he revealed that he had recently reached thirteenth-rank, low-tier high-rank Transcendence.
• Frederica hinted to Sophia Garland that she could help her, and Sophia realized Frederica was an ally rather than a rival.
• Charlotte considered Ellens Cook a cunning opponent, unaware that Anne Brittany had emotionally shaken him.
• Frederica explained the leopard people tribe’s plight, and Sophia Garland said the matter would be difficult to handle.
• Charlotte said beastmen could be integrated into human society and asked Madam Nancy to prepare pastries and tea.

While under investigation in Strasbourg, Charlotte learned from Sophia Garland that the Holy Light Divine Kingdom was a suppressed first-generation Legendary Warship, then secretly traveled to Saint Michael’s Island to investigate its underground labyrinth. He found routes leading deeper beneath the island and continued descending toward the mysterious ship.

• Charlotte found Golden Goat Herolf’s note warning that the Golden Ring controlled the unfinished Holy Light Divine Kingdom, which had been created from another Divine Creature, and he crushed it.
• Charlotte asked Frederica and Sophia Garland about the Holy Light Divine Kingdom, and Sophia explained its history as a vanished first-generation Legendary Warship and shared conflicting accounts of its connection to the Queen Bee.
• Charlotte decided to investigate Saint Michael’s Island, spent the day with Anne, and used the Mirror Gate to travel there after seeing her home.
• Charlotte quietly entered the unguarded underground labyrinth, searched the place where Herolf had lured him before, and found nothing there.
• Charlotte used his Labyrinth Power to locate passages at least three levels deeper and continued descending toward a point below sea level.

Charlotte explored Saint Michael City's fourth-level labyrinth, found the Holy Spirit Michael hidden beyond it, and buried a pile of bones that he believed belonged to the kingdom's first king. As he finished, he heard a soft, joyful laugh.

• Charlotte used his Golden Rings to open the gate reserved for Michael's descendants and created a Magic Mirror before entering the coffin hall.
• Charlotte examined the royal coffins and noted that the first, sixth, and last kings' bodies were missing.
• Charlotte searched the kingdom's library, found no way onward, and decided he would ask Golden Goat Herolf about the labyrinth.
• Charlotte's Golden Rings transported him to a natural cave where Holy Spirit Michael slept inside a cocoon of light.
• Charlotte found scattered bones, guessed they belonged to the first King Michael, buried them, and heard a soft laugh.

Charlotte sacrificed the Golden Ring controlling Holy Spirit Michael to the Serpent of Destiny, which absorbed Michael and returned a transformed ring to him. On the sixth level, Charlotte found the Holy Light Divine Kingdom built around a still-living Divine Creature, whose repeated requests left him wondering whether he could fulfill some of them.

• The Serpent of Destiny asked Charlotte to sacrifice Holy Spirit Michael, and Charlotte threw the Golden Ring onto him.
• Michael vanished into the River of Destiny, leaving behind a golden snake-shaped ring that Charlotte reclaimed and wore.
• Charlotte found a Magic Array that led to the sixth level, where he discovered the Holy Light Divine Kingdom moored on an underground lake.
• Charlotte swam beneath the warship and saw a Divine Creature pinned alive beneath it, with feathers from Michael fused into the spikes.
• The Divine Creature's thoughts listed the many things she required before accepting a master and offering to explore the Seven Seas.
• Charlotte asked whether he could fulfill some of her requests, but her repeated thoughts continued without response.

Charlotte discovered the Holy Light Divine Kingdom’s history and damage, then left the ship without exploring the dangerous Seventh Layer of the Labyrinth Cave. Back in Strasbourg, he agreed to help Frederica’s starving leopard people by sending them to Machu Picchu.

• Charlotte used his diary to calm the Divine Creature and gained the Holy Light Divine Kingdom’s voyage log, which recorded the ship’s history and its damage from Akras and Agmilas.
• Charlotte boarded the Holy Light Divine Kingdom, found the entrance to the Seventh Layer of the Labyrinth Cave, and left after the Golden Serpent Ring warned him away.
• Charlotte returned to Strasbourg, learned Frederica and Sophia Garland had visited, and resumed his cultivation after dinner.
• Frederica told Charlotte the leopard people were out of food and asked him to arrange their relocation, so Charlotte directed her to send them to Machu Picchu.

Charlotte brought Frederica and Sophia Garland to Mecklen Manor to sort the valuable books he had acquired, including materials about the Holy Light Divine Kingdom. After returning to Strasbourg to meet Anne, he agreed to visit Aunt Sophie with her on her birthday.

• Charlotte planned to move the leopard people to Cappadocia City and hoped they could help unite humans and beastmen through the Beast God Transformation Technique.
• Sophia Garland offered to help Charlotte search books for information about the Holy Light Divine Kingdom, and Frederica reluctantly agreed to assist with sorting his larger collection.
• Charlotte took Frederica and Sophia Garland to Mecklen Manor, where they spent the day examining books and checking for relevant records.
• Charlotte returned to Strasbourg before Anne finished work, and he told her she could choose books for her bookstore and publishing house.
• Anne asked Charlotte to visit Aunt Sophie with her on her birthday, and he agreed as they reflected on how Sophie’s actions had brought them together.

Charlotte returned to the Lucavaro District with Anne and visited Sophie Brittany’s grave at the Temple of the Serpent of Destiny. After praying, he was approached by a young Priest who said the Archpriest wished to see him.

• Little Bard welcomed Charlotte and Anne, then left a dozen youths to await Charlotte’s orders.
• Charlotte spotted Yang Melianne among the youths from Seagull City but decided to speak with him later.
• Charlotte and Anne arrived at the Temple of the Serpent of Destiny and went to the cemetery behind it.
• Anne left white daisies at Sophie Brittany’s grave and prayed, while Charlotte silently apologized and reflected that he had killed Yang Mills.
• A young Priest called Charlotte the Favored One of the Serpent of Destiny and said the Archpriest wished to see him.

Charlotte learned that his Golden Serpent Ring was called Whispers of Destiny and that the Serpent of Destiny had favored him. Archpriest Tromsø made Charlotte an official Priest and gave him a lengthy Divine Revelation, which Charlotte and Anne found startling and entertaining.

• Archpriest Tromsø recognized Charlotte as the bearer of Whispers of Destiny and invited him to join the Serpent of Destiny Temple as a God-Favored.
• Archpriest Tromsø revealed that he could glimpse fate and explained how he recognized the divine radiance surrounding Charlotte.
• Archpriest Tromsø appointed Charlotte an official Priest, gave him documents, robes, and a Divine Revelation, and offered him access to the Art of Destiny.
• Charlotte left the temple with Anne and entrusted her with his new documents and robes.
• Charlotte read the Divine Revelation's 128 instructions on pleasing the Serpent of Destiny, and Anne suggested he turn it into a novel.

Charlotte reviewed the Serpent of Destiny’s dangerous Divine Revelations and planned a special novel collection with Anne to create a new custom. The next day, he learned that Menilman had captured two Byronian Magic Alchemical Warships, making the Imperial Rose Fleet famous.

• Charlotte read the God of Fun’s Divine Revelations and dismissed their risky tasks as difficult.
• Anne suggested adding a Serpent of Destiny custom to a special edition of the novels, then proposed writing the Serpent and the Black Moon as the same sex to avoid angering her.
• Charlotte returned to Mecklen Manor with food for Frederica and Sophia, then allowed them to visit the estate freely.
• Charlotte read that the Fars and Inglima fleets had suffered heavy losses in a major battle against Byron in the Giant Whale Sea.
• Menilman captured two retreating Byronian Magic Alchemical Warships, and Duchess Mesu praised the Imperial Rose Fleet’s success.