Chapter Summaries

Charlotte and Romios traded prisoners and people through a series of duels while their forces prepared to fight at sea. Meanwhile, Cresto besieged Sedona City, where a New Continent commander used an evil god's power to transform the city into a monster and halt the West Wind Knight Regiment.

• Red Eagle told Andreus that she could bring Charlotte many people, and Andreus relayed her words to Charlotte, who praised him and arranged for a Ghost Ship to collect a thousand prisoners from Cappadocia.
• Agon defeated Romios's Saint Rank fighter and captured him, after which Charlotte released the fighter and received a group of elderly people, women, and children from Romios.
• Charlotte and the New Continent Council fought successive duels, exchanging thousands of people before both sides halted the matches and began probing each other at sea.
• Cresto led the West Wind Knight Regiment to Sedona City, where a New Continent commander transformed the city with evil god power and stopped the regiment outside its walls.

Charlotte built a hot spring resort at Doviliat Port and relocated the Holy Light Divine Kingdom’s entertainment venues there. He was then summoned to suppress a rebellion in Strasbourg, where the Axel Family remnants had seized the city, apparently with former Prime Minister Wood Brandon’s help.

• Charlotte developed Hot Spring Mountain with villas, resort towns, bathhouses, and entertainment venues, and assigned Great Ling Demons to serve there.
• Charlotte distributed the summit villas to his generals and returned to Arcadia Port, where Emperor Brittany ordered him to put down the Strasbourg rebellion.
• Charlotte left his fleet under the Black Dragon and Ishermerlun’s command, then secretly traveled to Machu Picchu with Anne, Kreil Brittany, Abner Sumay, and Andreus.
• Charlotte waited in Machu Picchu for Antonio, since retaking Strasbourg would be nearly impossible without a peak Saint Rank expert.
• Charlotte received intelligence that Wood Brandon had planned the rebellion and contacted the imperial clansmen who remained in Strasbourg.
• Charlotte recognized that the longer the rebels held Strasbourg, the more likely nobles loyal to the Axel Family would join them.

Magion Axel led the Royal Knight Regiment’s Sixth Cavalry Battalion into Machu Picchu, where Charlotte Mecklen captured him and his troops with little resistance. After questioning Magion, Charlotte considered infiltrating Strasbourg and selected skilled Labyrinth Guardians for the mission.

• Magion Axel led his cavalry battalion toward Machu Picchu, hoping to finish the mission quickly and return to reading Anne Mecklen’s novels.
• Charlotte Mecklen let the cavalry enter Machu Picchu, then raised a fog and ordered his forces to attack after they advanced.
• When Charlotte and three other Saint Ranks appeared, Magion surrendered and revealed that he was a devoted fan of Anne Mecklen.
• Kreil Brittany offered Magion signed books, and Magion repeatedly declared himself a prisoner while the others struggled to hold back their laughter.
• Charlotte incorporated Magion’s battalion into his forces and considered using an impersonating group to infiltrate Strasbourg.
• Charlotte selected skilled Labyrinth Guardians for the infiltration plan.

After learning that Morgan Axel had returned to Strasbourg and planned to reclaim the throne, Charlotte recognized the threat to the Brittany Dynasty and decided to stop him before his restoration could gain legitimacy. He sent Anne and Nanny Karen to warn Brittany, then planned to infiltrate Strasbourg with his allies and assassinate Morgan.

• Charlotte learned from Magion that Morgan Axel would ascend the throne in a few days and that the Axels had gathered powerful support in Strasbourg.
• Magion revealed that Morgan’s forces included eleven Saint Ranks, more than sixty Transcendences, and leaders Wood Brandon and Asturias Axel.
• Charlotte questioned Magion, treated him generously, and summoned Kreil Brittany, Abner Soumei, Nanny Karen, Andreus, and Anne to discuss the crisis.
• Kreil and Abner urged a surprise attack, while Nanny Karen advised informing Brittany; Charlotte sent Anne and Nanny Karen to warn him in secret.
• Charlotte rejected a direct assault on Strasbourg and ordered the remaining men to infiltrate the city, assassinate Morgan, and blame Wood Brandon.

Charlotte Mecklen and his allies searched the imperial palace for Morgan, then infiltrated Wood Brandon’s residence to learn where the Crown Prince was. Charlotte discovered that Viscount Soren had been tasked with finding Morgan, but Winnie Brandon’s words left Morgan’s location unknown.

• Charlotte Mecklen, Kreil Brittany, Abner Soumei, and Andreas Constantine used a Magic Mirror to reach Baker Street and entered the imperial palace to search for Morgan.
• After finding the emperor’s and Crown Prince’s quarters empty, the four decided to search Wood Brandon’s residence, where nobles were gathering.
• Charlotte knocked out a young man in a carriage, stored him in the Book of Ages, and disguised himself as Viscount Soren to enter the gathering.
• Winnie Brandon recognized Charlotte as Soren and privately asked about Crown Prince Morgan’s mood, stressing that their plan depended on keeping him safe.
• Charlotte realized Viscount Soren had been responsible for finding Morgan, but Winnie led him into a room before he could learn Morgan’s whereabouts.

Charlotte killed former Crown Prince Morgan Axel and arranged for Wood Brandon to take the blame, then hid with his companions in Strasbourg. After confirming Morgan was dead, Charlotte learned Antonio had surrounded the city, giving him a chance to capture the capital with an attack from within and without.

• Charlotte knocked Winnie Brandon unconscious, left the Prime Minister's residence, and returned to Viscount Soren's residence with Abner Soumei and Andreas Constantine.
• Charlotte found Morgan Axel playing Snake Cards, but a gunshot killed Morgan before Charlotte could act; Abner said Lord Wood Brandon had ordered the assassination.
• Charlotte revealed Winnie Brandon to the card players so they would blame Wood Brandon, then left with Abner and Andreas and later met up with Kreil Brittany.
• Charlotte and his companions hid at Baker Street 221B while soldiers searched Strasbourg and rumors accused Wood Brandon of killing Morgan to claim the throne.
• After several days, Charlotte confirmed Morgan was dead and prepared to leave, but news that Antonio had surrounded Strasbourg led him to send Kreil to coordinate an attack from within and without.

Kreil Brittany reported that His Majesty did not want war with Axel, so Charlotte and the others decided to blame Wood Brandon for Morgan’s death and strengthen their alliance. Charlotte escorted Anne to Emperor Brittany’s camp, where they met Princess Axo, who doubted that Wood Brandon had killed Morgan.

• Kreil Brittany told Charlotte that His Majesty would not go to war with Axel, and Charlotte urged the group to agree on a shared account of Morgan’s death.
• Kreil Brittany demanded that Andreus pledge loyalty through a marriage alliance, but Charlotte instead sent him into the Book of Ages to kill Sauron and Winnie Brandon.
• Andreus refused to kill them and began advancing the Book of Ages’ story, while Charlotte accepted his choice and explained that blaming Wood Brandon would protect the Brittany Family’s standing.
• Charlotte secretly escorted Anne to Emperor Brittany’s frontline camp, where they learned that Princess Axo had returned from the Lionheart Dynasty.
• Princess Axo asked who had killed Morgan and said she did not believe Wood Brandon was responsible.

Charlotte received authority to negotiate with the Axels and promised to suppress the rebellion quickly after Emperor McLean Brittany offered him Anne’s hand in marriage. Anne asked Princess Axo to become her stepmother, while Axo hoped Charlotte would protect Anne.

• Charlotte blamed Wood Brandon for Morgan’s death and offered to kill him, while Emperor McLean Brittany suspected Zimmerman or Charlotte of the murder.
• Emperor McLean Brittany appointed Charlotte to handle negotiations with the Axels, replacing Antonio.
• Charlotte assured the emperor that Anne’s future was secure with him and accepted the offer to marry her after the war.
• Charlotte promised to suppress the Axel rebellion within a month and negotiate peace treaties with four nations.
• Anne asked Princess Axo to become her stepmother and explained why she trusted her to care for the family.
• Axo let Anne fall asleep on her lap and quietly asked Charlotte to protect her daughter.

Charlotte launched a flood of sensational novels in Strasbourg that blamed Wood Brandon for Morgan’s assassination, forcing him to resign and plunging the city into greater disorder. Charlotte then sought declarations of loyalty from Axel Family members while searching for the missing Wood Brandon.

• Antonio entrusted Charlotte with negotiating after Charlotte returned to Strasbourg with Emperor Brittany’s order.
• Charlotte printed and flooded Strasbourg with sensational novels implicating Wood Brandon in Morgan’s assassination, selling them for twenty-two centimes or whatever buyers would pay.
• Rumors spread through Strasbourg, and Wood Brandon resigned as Imperial Prime Minister on the sixth day of the novel campaign.
• Wood Brandon disappeared, rival emperor candidates fought for allies, and assassinations increased as Strasbourg descended further into chaos.
• Charlotte offered pardons and restored positions to Axel Family members who renounced their royal title and supported Emperor Brittany, while investigating Wood Brandon’s whereabouts.

Charlotte prepared to retake Strasbourg while worrying about Wood Brandon and Midafis, whose actions could still complicate the conflict. His concerns were interrupted when Wood Brandon appeared through a Magic Mirror and revealed that he belonged to the Vangogh Clan.

• The chapter recounted how Charlotte had taken the royalties from Freeman Martin's novels and paid Fast-Handed Clerks to keep their authorship secret.
• Asturias Axel regretted joining the rebellion as seven Axels in Strasbourg claimed to be the best candidate for emperor.
• Charlotte assessed the chaos in Strasbourg and worried that Midafis might bring his troops to aid the rebels.
• Charlotte planned to eliminate the Axels after retaking Strasbourg and send them to develop islands in the Agres Sea.
• An unfamiliar old man emerged from a Magic Mirror, and Charlotte recognized him as Wood Brandon.
• Wood Brandon revealed that he was a member of the Vangogh Clan.

Charlotte confronted Wood Brandon, who revealed that he had helped bring down the Axel Dynasty out of a personal grudge and could imitate Charlotte’s martial arts through the Infinite Mirror World. Wood Brandon pursued Charlotte between Mirror Worlds with a Spirit Realm Hound, leaving Charlotte to draw the Blood Spirit Rhino as the hounds closed in.

• Charlotte questioned Wood Brandon about his adopted children, his time aboard the Holy Light Divine Kingdom, and his role in the rebellion against Fars.
• Wood Brandon said he had incited Axel to besiege Zimmerman because of a personal grudge, and Charlotte attacked him with gun and sword techniques.
• Wood Brandon deflected Charlotte’s attacks with a twig and imitated his swordsmanship, then escaped into a Magic Mirror when Charlotte combined his sword and gun attacks.
• Wood Brandon invaded Charlotte’s Mirror World, pursued him with a Mirror Shadow, and followed him through successive mirrors.
• The Mirror Sage told Charlotte that Wood Brandon’s Spirit Realm Hounds could track dimensions and hunt anyone who knew of them, and the hounds manifested and attacked.
• Charlotte’s Mountain Breaker could not harm the hounds, so he put it away and drew the Blood Spirit Rhino.

Charlotte fled Wood Brandon's Spirit Realm Hounds through his vast Mirror World, drawing him toward Nanselaf and the support of two Legendary Warships. Wood Brandon invaded Charlotte's Mirror World to stop him, and the two began a battle on Charlotte's home ground.

• Charlotte fought off the Spirit Realm Hounds with a Knight's Lance but discovered that Wood Brandon's Mirror World trapped him across its scattered domains.
• Charlotte used mirrors on merchant wagons and ships to extend his Mirror World across the Old Continent, then headed toward Arcadia Port in Nanselaf for help.
• Wood Brandon pursued Charlotte because he feared the two Legendary Warships stationed at Arcadia Port, especially after nearly being swallowed by Amon aboard the Holy Light Divine Kingdom.
• Wood Brandon entered Charlotte's Mirror World, and Charlotte sealed it to keep him from escaping.
• Charlotte and Wood Brandon summoned dozens of Mirror Shadows, and their battle reached its climax.

Charlotte used the Emilia and the Holy Light Divine Kingdom to evade Wood Brandon and force him to flee the Mirror World. Afterward, Charlotte discovered that a Mirror Shadow of Zimmerman Axel Robin had remained behind and appeared to be alive.

• Wood Brandon exhausted himself fighting Charlotte's Mirror Shadows, while Charlotte hid aboard the Emilia, where the Spirit Realm Hounds could not find him.
• Charlotte took the two Legendary Warships toward Wood Brandon, and their arrival drove him to break the Mirror World and escape through a Magic Mirror.
• Charlotte returned to the Mirror World and found Zimmerman Axel Robin's Mirror Shadow still there, apparently alive.
• Charlotte put away the Holy Light Divine Kingdom, held Emilia ready as a weapon, and greeted Zimmerman as an old friend.

Charlotte encountered a confused being calling itself Zimmerman and told him about his identity and family, but a powerful force reclaimed him before Charlotte could learn more. Charlotte and Emilia returned with the two Legendary Warships, while the New Continent Council argued over its missed chance to attack.

• Charlotte told Zimmerman that he was Zimmerman Axel Brittany, the son of McLean Brittany and the brother of Antonio and Anne, with Charlotte as his brother-in-law.
• Zimmerman briefly accepted Charlotte’s account, then accused an evil god of corrupting his memories as a powerful force swept him away.
• Emilia devoured much of the force’s manifestation, but it escaped the Mirror World before Charlotte could capture it.
• Charlotte carried Emilia out of the Mirror World and returned the Emilia and the Holy Light Divine Kingdom to the sea near Arcadia Port.
• The New Continent Council’s leaders argued over whether they should have attacked Charlotte while his ships were missing, and Idhæra challenged Avish and Red Eagle’s confidence.

Charlotte studied the Mirror Spirit ability and developed a new kind of conceptual creature before launching a siege on Strasbourg on the final day of the deadline. After taking the city, he punished and pardoned the rebel nobles in ways that greatly expanded the Fars royal family's directly governed lands.

• Charlotte studied the Mirror Spirit in Machu Picchu and condensed a second rune, which brought Spirit Realm Cloud Cats into his Mirror World.
• On the final morning of the deadline, Charlotte, Antonio, and Ishermerlun launched a siege on Strasbourg while Gareth occupied Asturias.
• Asturias escaped after Antonio stopped Charlotte from pursuing him, and Antonio returned to the front lines to report the rebellion's suppression.
• Charlotte sentenced several Axels to hanging, then exiled others to the Agres Sea after neutral nobles pleaded for mercy.
• Charlotte let nobles who had supported the Axels buy pardons, taking their titles and fiefs and expanding the Fars royal family's directly administered lands.

After suppressing the Strasbourg rebellion, Charlotte negotiated with Romios to avoid war over South Seraph and offered the New Continent Council self-government in exchange for nominal lordship and land in the New Continent. Twenty-seven rounds of talks ended with Charlotte gaining nominal ownership of land across twenty-seven major regions.

• Charlotte left Anne Brittany, Nanny Karen, Kreil Brittany, and Abner Soumei in Strasbourg to oversee government affairs, then returned to Arcadia Port with Andreus.
• Charlotte invited Romios aboard the Holy Light Divine Kingdom and proposed settling the conflict peacefully instead of going to war.
• Charlotte offered to make South Seraph an autonomous territory governed by the New Continent Council if it recognized him as lord and exchanged land in the New Continent.
• Charlotte promised not to tax the South Seraph Free Zone, while requiring it not to tax people from Duke Mecklen's Territory.
• Romios organized a negotiating delegation, and the two sides held twenty-seven rounds of talks aboard the Holy Light Divine Kingdom.
• Charlotte secured nominal ownership of land in twenty-seven major regions of the New Continent.

Charlotte divided the New Continent Council by negotiating separate land claims and oaths of allegiance, ending the conflict and bringing the New Continent Council Free Territory under Duke Mecklen. After returning to Mecklenburg, he ordered the West Wind Knight Regiment to eliminate gangs across his territory.

• Charlotte offered South Seraph's cities to New Continent immigrants in exchange for their land claims, fracturing the New Continent Council into competing factions.
• Charlotte and the council agreed to rename South Seraph the New Continent Council Free Territory and signed contracts making the council and its settlements swear allegiance to Duke Mecklen.
• Avish left with several subordinates after finding no support, while the council celebrated the end of the war.
• Charlotte oversaw the withdrawal of Duke Mecklen's army and the council's return of troops to local lords, then sailed back to Mecklenburg two weeks later.
• Charlotte sent the West Wind Knight Regiment to forcibly conscript gang members, rapidly improving public security across Duke Mecklen's Territory.
• The chapter ended by noting that the South Seraph Restoration Army and its leader, Hughes, suffered the greatest losses from the new contract.

After three New Continent fleets conquered small Old Continent countries, Red Eagle warned Charlotte Mecklen that the new rulers had been corrupted by evil gods and their populations faced extinction. The Serpent of Destiny appeared in Charlotte’s dream and urged him to stop the evil gods from disrupting the eras, but Charlotte awoke uncertain whether the message had been an oracle.

• Charlotte spent a month handling the affairs of his territory, where improved security and commerce attracted immigrants from the free territories of the New Continent Council.
• Three immigrant fleets conquered the Mason Kingdom, Gotlandsburg, and the Duchy of Calabria while the Four Great Empires began peace talks.
• Red Eagle told Charlotte that the three New Continent rulers had become vessels for evil gods and that more than a million residents could die.
• Charlotte gave Red Eagle a fleet with two Ancient Magic Ghost Warships and undead Saint Rank escorts, then planned to investigate the threatened countries and alert the Four Great Empires.
• The Serpent of Destiny appeared in Charlotte’s dream and said the evil gods had inserted an illusory era between Lady Black Moon’s era and its own, asking Charlotte to stop them.
• Charlotte woke drenched in cold sweat, could not tell whether the dream had been an oracle, and received no response after praying.

In the thirty-eighth year of the Black Moon, Charlotte investigated the Law of the Gods and raised the threat in the New Continent to the highest priority, summoning its council to discuss the missing countries. As the representatives arrived in Mecklenburg, Charlotte suddenly remembered that Juno had left him a notebook he had not yet properly read.

• Charlotte searched several copies of the Law of the Gods for a way to change an era but found no answers.
• Reports said the Mason Kingdom, Gotlandsburg, and the Duchy of Calabria had cut off contact, while adventurers sent to investigate had disappeared.
• The New Continent Council offered help, and Charlotte invited its representatives to Mecklenburg after receiving further warnings about the evil god.
• Romios arrived aboard a Magic Alchemical Warship with nearly a hundred people, including Idhæra and Abelia, and they met Red Eagle.
• Charlotte received the representatives at the Serpent of Destiny Temple, then remembered Juno's unread notebook and began sweating.

Charlotte used the Serpent of Destiny’s power to give everyone gathered at the Great Temple ten Dawn of Destiny, which could teleport and heal them, then discovered that he had incurred a huge debt for the favor. He left the temple facing the awkward silence of his assembled family and allies.

• Charlotte realized an evil god’s influence had been blocking his inspiration, and the Serpent of Destiny offered a sanctuary and Dawn of Destiny to those fighting the evil god.
• Charlotte gathered more than a hundred people, including Anne, Sophia Garland, and his other allies and family, at the Great Temple.
• The Serpent of Destiny bestowed ten silver scales on each person, granting them ten Dawn of Destiny apiece.
• Charlotte learned that each Dawn of Destiny cost one Joy of Destiny and that he now owed another thirteen hundred Joy of Destiny.
• Charlotte opened his eyes to find the conference hall silent as Emilia asked why he had kept them closed.