Chapter Summaries

Charlotte examined Dove Castle’s supernatural treasures and finances while planning to move the Baron’s wealth, but Madame Nansera’s main army arrived at the castle. The chapter ended with Charlotte facing pressure to meet the enemy outside, despite believing a defensive battle was safer.

• Charlotte learned that a Blood Butcher had taken Baron Filer’s six Supernatural Weapons to Byron, including the Knight’s Lance that could summon a Spirit Steed.
• Charlotte chose Dark Luxury, a ring that transformed into a fast carriage pulled by eight Spirit Steeds, as a way to secretly transport the Baron’s wealth.
• Charlotte learned that the Baroness had taken Dark Luxury away, while the castle held fewer than ten thousand Ecus in cash and fifty-six thousand Ecus including gold coins.
• Dobbin reported that Madame Nansera’s force of more than ten thousand South Seraph Restorationists had reached the foot of the castle.
• Dorothy urged the group to gather their people and meet the enemy, while Charlotte thought they should defend the castle instead.

Charlotte prepared Silver Doveburg to resist the South Seraph Restoration Army, rallying soldiers and residents as the enemy assembled outside the city. After the attackers blocked his shot with the Primal Blood Boundary and began their assault, Charlotte received notice that Silver Doveburg would undergo Labyrinthization if he resisted eighteen attacks without leaving or surrendering.

• Frederica warned Charlotte that Transcendents in the enemy camp made the castle unreliable, and Charlotte ordered the West Wind Knight Regiment and Silver Doveburg’s residents to defend the city.
• Dorothy delivered Charlotte’s orders, Frederica offered to help, and Butler Datt gathered the castle’s servants to join the defense.
• Jonah of the South Seraph Restoration Army demanded Silver Doveburg’s surrender, while its residents cursed him and Madame Nansera.
• Charlotte fired at Jonah with his Anti-Space Long-Range Rifle, but Blood Kindred Transcendents used the Primal Blood Boundary to stop the bullet.
• Jonah ordered his army to attack, and Charlotte challenged him to a duel as the troops advanced.
• Charlotte received a message that Silver Doveburg would undergo Labyrinthization after he resisted eighteen attacks without leaving or surrendering.

Charlotte defended Silver Doveburg against the South Seraph Restoration Army, using his strongest weapons to drive back its Transcendents. After the attackers withdrew, he mourned the casualties and wondered whether the people fighting understood they were being used in a larger conspiracy.

• Charlotte organized surrendered soldiers and Silver Doveburg’s weapons into a defense as the South Seraph Restoration Army charged the walls.
• When Transcendents leaped toward the walls, Charlotte used his Anti-Space Long-Range Rifle and Hands of Blazing Flame to kill two and force the others back.
• The West Wind Knight Regiment and Silver Doveburg militia fought fiercely, and Jonah eventually ordered the South Seraph Restoration Army to withdraw after several hours.
• Charlotte comforted the defenders, counted more than three hundred dead among his forces, and ordered doctors to treat the wounded.
• Watching the restorationists prepare to attack again, Charlotte lamented the war and hoped the dead had fought for ideals rather than conspiracies.

Charlotte faced the South Seraph Restoration Army’s third siege wave after Jonah committed his Knights and Transcendents to the attack. Though his companions expected Silver Doveburg to fall, Charlotte told them to hold the city and leapt from the battlements with Blood Rose.

• Charlotte repelled the Restoration Army’s second assault, then organized rotating rests and supplied food while preparing for another attack.
• Jonah led his Knights and the previously withdrawn Transcendents into the third siege, convincing Charlotte and his companions that the city could not withstand them.
• Frederica declared she would flee, Yellow Bear asked Charlotte to look after his family, and Dobbin agreed to hold Silver Doveburg.
• Charlotte refused Dobbin’s offer of the Divine Steed, told Dorothy, Frederica, Yellow Bear, and Dobbin to defend the city, then leapt from the battlements with Blood Rose.

Charlotte charged through Madame Nansera's army to reach Jonah, but a mysterious Black Knight kept him from killing the commander. As Jonah's guardian Knights closed in and he threatened to slaughter Silver Doveburg's people, Charlotte's anger sharpened his resolve while the battle remained undecided.

• Charlotte cut through Madame Nansera's soldiers toward Jonah, prompting Frederica, Dorothy, Yellow Bear, and Dobbin to rally Silver Doveburg's defenders.
• Jonah recalled his guardian Knights after spotting Charlotte, but Charlotte outran them and reached the commander’s position.
• A mysterious Black Knight deflected Charlotte's rifle shots and forced him into a close fight, preventing him from attacking Jonah.
• Charlotte used the third of the Twelve Angelic Movements, Eternal Dawn, to escape a deadly thrust, but the Knight soon suppressed him again.
• Jonah's guardian Knights neared the fight, and Jonah threatened to slaughter everyone in Silver Doveburg and punish the Behemoth People.
• Charlotte began to despair, but Jonah's threat filled him with anger, courage, and unusual clarity.

Charlotte killed Jonah, escaped the pursuing Transcendents, and helped Dobbin rout the South Seraph Restorationists at Silver Doveburg. The diary then reset Silver Doveburg’s Labyrinthization requirements and asked Charlotte to enter the number of NPCs, which he set at 586,000.

• Charlotte mastered Wings of the Hatchling Dragon, killed Jonah with a shot from Hockwell Silver Rhino 〥, and fled while firing at the mysterious Knight and the pursuing Guardian Knights.
• Charlotte led more than ten Transcendents in circles through the South Seraph Restorationists’ siege army, disrupting it until Dorothy used Gale and Dobbin opened the gates to pursue the retreating soldiers.
• The Transcendents abandoned their pursuit as the South Seraph Restorationists’ army collapsed, and Charlotte, exhausted, watched Dobbin drive back the surrendering soldiers.
• Charlotte decided to send the prisoners to Strasbourg and revised his report to claim the South Seraph Restorationists had captured Silver Doveburg and killed Baron Filer’s family before his forces retook the city.
• The diary said Charlotte’s departure had invalidated Silver Doveburg’s earlier Labyrinthization progress and required him to resist eighteen attacks without leaving or surrendering, while promising a passage to Machu Picchu afterward.
• Charlotte entered 586,000 as Silver Doveburg’s NPC count, and the diary’s third page disappeared after a delay.

Hughes grieved Jonah’s death and rallied the South Seraph Restoration Army to prepare another attack on Silver Doveburg. Charlotte returned to Doveburg, where he distributed six Supernatural Weapons as he awaited the enemy’s assault.

• Hughes mourned Jonah, whom he had regarded as a father and mentor, and vowed to avenge him by killing Charlotte and capturing Silver Doveburg.
• An aged mage told Hughes that divination had identified Charlotte as a Behemoth Person who studied at Strasbourg, but could not uncover his family; Hughes ordered scouts to investigate his origins and requested reinforcements.
• Hughes gathered the defeated soldiers and organized the next campaign, while blaming himself for failing to save Jonah.
• Charlotte waited for the South Seraph Restoration Army to attack again, knowing he needed to withstand eighteen more attacks before Silver Doveburg could undergo Labyrinthization.
• Charlotte selected six Supernatural Weapons and gave them to Dorothy, Frederica, Yellow Bear, Dobbin, and two loyal Transcendents from Silver Doveburg.

Charlotte recruited Gwen and Bancroft, expanded and organized the West Wind Knight Regiment, and turned back two attacks on Silver Doveburg, raising its Labyrinthization progress to (2/18). When Grand Duke Joseph ordered him to march to Interlaken City, Charlotte delayed, then sent the messenger to Hughes, and Louis Smythe and Ross Bard arrived with their trade caravans.

• Charlotte recruited Gwen and Bancroft into the West Wind Knight Regiment and organized new combat squads as the regiment grew to eight thousand soldiers.
• Charlotte assigned Dorothy to inventory Baron Filer’s private property and sent for Louis Smythe and Ross Bard.
• Charlotte’s forces repelled Madame Nansera’s first attack, raising Silver Doveburg’s Labyrinthization progress to (1/18), then defeated Hughes’s second attack and raised it to (2/18).
• Grand Duke Joseph ordered Charlotte to march to Interlaken City, but Charlotte repeatedly delayed the deployment by claiming he was injured.
• Charlotte had someone impersonate Madame Nansera break the messenger’s legs and sent him to Hughes with a mocking letter; Hughes killed the messenger and sent his head to Interlaken City.
• Louis Smythe and Ross Bard arrived in Silver Doveburg with their trade caravans.

Charlotte tried to strengthen Silver Doveburg by converting Baron Filer’s collectibles into funds for hiring Transcendent detectives and adventurers, while Hughes dismissed Charlotte as an implausible suspect in Jonah’s murder. Charlotte then examined his remaining Supernatural Items, including the rare flying vehicle Floating World Prosperity.

• Charlotte arranged separate deals with Louis Smythe and Ross Bard, giving them luxury items to sell so they could hire detectives and adventurers.
• Hughes reviewed records of former Strasbourg students and discarded Charlotte Mecklenburg’s file, doubting that someone with Charlotte’s disreputable reputation could have killed Jonah.
• Charlotte accepted the risk that Louis Smythe and Ross Bard might betray him because he needed to turn Baron Filer’s wealth into protection for Silver Doveburg.
• Charlotte inspected the thirty Supernatural Items left in Baron Filer’s collection, including the High-Order artifacts Dark Luxury and Floating World Prosperity.
• Charlotte learned that Floating World Prosperity was an exceptionally rare flying vehicle created by Saint Alchemist Master Stardust, though it could not be used in battle.

Charlotte examined Baron Filer’s collection, dismissed several impractical supernatural items, and discovered that the Famous Painting pistols revealed compromising memories of his former self. He turned to the collection’s weapons and found two Magic Gun Bags that suited his needs.

• Charlotte put away Floating World Prosperity and decided he would sell the delicate, impractical artifact.
• Charlotte examined the Famous Painting pistols, then opened the Baron’s five hidden Magic Portraits and recognized two women from Charlot Mecklenburg’s memories.
• Charlotte closed the compromising portraits, set aside the other three, and planned to burn them later.
• Charlotte reviewed Baron Filer’s seven Supernatural Weapons and found five Magic Rapiers and two Magic Gun Bags.
• Charlotte decided the two Magic Gun Bags were useful for storing firearms and ammunition, despite their limits with Anti-Space weapons.

Charlotte examined Baron Filer’s magical collection and celebrated Dobbin’s breakthrough to Knight with their companions. The celebration was interrupted by Madame Nansera’s forces, and Hughes tried to provoke Charlotte by displaying the heads of slaughtered families.

• Charlotte examined two Magic Gun Bags and reflected on the magical items Baron Filer had collected.
• Dobbin told Charlotte that he had become a Radiant Knight, and Charlotte invited everyone to celebrate with a drink.
• Charlotte toasted Dobbin and promised his companions that he would share any rewards and bear any responsibility for their failures.
• A report that Madame Nansera had arrived brought Charlotte and his companions to the city wall, where Charlotte taunted Hughes into challenging him to a duel.
• Hughes displayed hundreds of severed heads and told Charlotte that his soldiers had slaughtered three families connected to Strasbourg University, asking whether Charlotte recognized any of them.

Charlotte faked grief over the heads Hughes delivered, then helped repel another assault on Silver Doveburg while worrying that the city’s Labyrinthization was progressing too slowly. The Grand Duchess’s messenger, Belisa, ordered him to join Duke Joseph at Interlaken City and revealed that the Duchess had invited Charlotte’s family to her residence.

• Charlotte pretended Hughes had killed his family, stirring the defenders of Silver Doveburg to anger before the South Seraph Restoration Army began its third siege.
• Charlotte joined the defense, and after more than two hours Hughes retreated, leaving hundreds of dead as Silver Doveburg’s Labyrinthization reached (3/18).
• Fars’s Knight Orders invaded Byron’s Ferlanden, the Black Phoenix Dynasty declared war on Byron, and southern orc tribes backed Byron, leaving Fars surrounded by enemies.
• Belisa arrived on behalf of the Grand Duchess and asked Charlotte to take the West Wind Knight Regiment to Interlaken City to aid Duke Joseph.
• Charlotte refused, citing the danger to Silver Doveburg, and Belisa told him the Duchess had invited his father, brother, and other family members to her residence.

Belisa urged Charlotte to abandon Silver Doveburg and rescue Duke Joseph, but Charlotte rejected her arguments and left her in tears. When Mosa challenged Charlotte over Belisa’s distress, Charlotte repeatedly knocked him off the city wall and wondered whether he was nearing the seventh rank.

• Belisa asked Charlotte to abandon the people of Silver Doveburg to save Duke Joseph, but Charlotte said he needed time to think.
• Charlotte argued that Grand Duke Ferdinand had taxed his family and failed to protect them from bandits, leaving Belisa in tears.
• Mosa confronted Charlotte and demanded an apology, but Charlotte told him to challenge Hughes instead.
• When Mosa threatened Charlotte, Charlotte kicked him off the wall twice and tripped him off it a third time as he kept returning.
• Charlotte considered his recent combat experience and whether he was close to becoming a Mid-Order Transcendent, while Mosa gave up and went back to Belisa.

During the fourth siege of Silver Doveburg, Belisa offered to date Charlotte if he would abandon the city and rescue Duke Joseph, but he rejected her by revealing that he was already dating Anne Brittany. The chapter ended when Charlotte heard applause and feared the enemy had reached the walls.

• Hughes's reinforcements arrived, and he began the fourth siege of Silver Doveburg.
• Belisa offered to date Charlotte if he left the city to rescue Duke Joseph in Interlaken City.
• Charlotte had Dorothy explain that he was dating Anne Brittany, Count Brittany's daughter and Gorgia University's West Wind Goddess.
• Charlotte showed Belisa the Hockwell Silver Rhino 13 that Anne had given him, and Belisa fled with her three guards.
• Dorothy asked Charlotte whether he enjoyed bragging about dating a count's daughter, and Charlotte defended himself with grandiose remarks.
• Charlotte heard applause and abruptly feared that the enemy was nearby.

Nanny Karen revealed that she had come to protect Charlotte on Anne’s behalf, then a Nanseran Saint Rank appeared over Silver Doveburg. With the defenders losing hope, Charlotte promised to repel him and asked Dorothy and Frederica to be Anne’s bridesmaids at his wedding.

• Nanny Karen emerged from a dream realm and explained that Anne had sent her to protect Charlotte.
• Nanny Karen revealed that she had frozen everyone around Charlotte with her power, but withdrew the dream realm when the Nanseran Saint appeared.
• The Nanseran Saint’s arrival drove Silver Doveburg’s defenders to despair, while Charlotte privately trusted that Nanny Karen could help.
• Charlotte urged the defenders not to despair and promised to repel the Saint Rank.
• Charlotte asked Dorothy and Frederica to be Anne’s bridesmaids if he drove the Nanseran Saint back.

Charlotte used Floating World Prosperity to rise above Silver Doveburg as Nanny Karen confronted Saint Vigo in a dream and forced him to withdraw. After the South Seraph Restoration Army retreated and Charlotte received notice of a future reward, Hughes woke and asked Nanny Karen for a chance to duel Charlotte in a dream.

• Charlotte put on Floating World Prosperity and announced that he would drive South Seraph's Saint Rank away from Silver Doveburg.
• Nanny Karen appeared to Saint Vigo and demanded that he stop attacking Silver Doveburg; when he refused, she threatened Hughes, and Saint Vigo threatened Charlotte in return.
• Saint Vigo retreated to protect Hughes, leaving Silver Doveburg's residents to believe Charlotte had frightened him away, and the city cheered for Charlotte.
• Charlotte's diary recorded another victory and promised him a reward after Labyrinthization, while he ordered the defenders to take turns standing watch.
• Saint Vigo promised not to attack Silver Doveburg, and Hughes woke from Nanny Karen's dream and asked her to let him duel Charlotte there in exchange for the army's temporary withdrawal.

Charlotte refused Hughes’s dream duel unless Hughes continued sending troops to attack Silver Doveburg, using the attacks to advance the city’s Labyrinthization. After their first duel ended with Charlotte’s death in the Dreamscape, he hinted that the Jonah Hughes had killed was a double, leaving Hughes desperate for answers.

• Saint Vigo encouraged Hughes to trust his strength, while the old mage admitted his divination about Charlotte had been mistaken.
• Charlotte rejected Hughes’s proposed dream duel and bargained for repeated attacks on Silver Doveburg, eventually agreeing to duel after every five attacks.
• Madame Nansera sent three waves of a hundred attackers, and Charlotte learned that Silver Doveburg’s Labyrinthization had reached 9/18 progress.
• Hughes fought Charlotte in the Dreamscape and killed him after more than thirty exchanges.
• As he disappeared, Charlotte told Hughes that Jonah had been a double and hinted that the real Jonah was still out there.

Charlotte challenged Hughes to honor their bargain by dueling him in the Dreamscape, where Hughes promised to lead a hundred warriors in one siege if they fought twenty times. Hughes repeatedly defeated Charlotte, but Charlotte finally wounded him with a desperate counterattack, and they appeared together for the twelfth duel with Charlotte confident and Hughes still expecting victory.

• Charlotte confronted Hughes about breaking his promise, but Hughes refused to believe in a “real Jonah” and resisted Charlotte’s request to stage a siege.
• Hughes swore by the Vampire God Timothy to send a hundred warriors to attack once if he dueled Charlotte twenty times, and Charlotte accepted.
• Hughes defeated Charlotte repeatedly in the Dreamscape, and Charlotte’s performance declined until he could barely withstand ten moves.
• In their eleventh duel, Charlotte used Dragon's Breath Barrage and threw Blood Rose, killing Hughes in the Dreamscape after Hughes killed him.
• Nanny Karen praised Charlotte’s ability to adapt and resolved to help him and Anne, while Charlotte and Hughes appeared together for their twelfth duel.

Charlotte revealed his Star War Qi while fighting Hughes, but Hughes killed him after a prolonged duel. They rested in the Dreamscape, where Hughes spoke about Jonah and his wish to become a vampire, and Charlotte claimed he refused because of love.

• Charlotte transformed his sixth-rank Bloody Glory into House of Asilo's Star War Qi and fought Hughes with the Colorless Blade.
• Charlotte used his speed and battle sense to withstand Hughes for more than twenty exchanges, but Hughes caved in his chest and killed him.
• Charlotte returned to the Dreamscape and asked Nanny Karen to provide ale for him and Hughes.
• Hughes told Charlotte that Jonah raised him, taught him the Flesh and Blood Furnace and Golden Requiem, and forbade him from becoming a vampire so he would remember South Seraph.
• Hughes admitted that he wanted to become a long-lived vampire, and Charlotte claimed he avoided becoming one because of love.

Charlotte and Hughes continued their Dreamscape duels as Hughes attacked Silver Doveburg, and Charlotte broke through to the seventh rank while struggling to survive Hughes’s spear techniques. After Silver Doveburg’s Labyrinthization advanced to (11/18), Charlotte received the Mind Channel reward and considered how to use it to transport people and items between labyrinths.

• Charlotte and Hughes argued over the South Seraph people’s blood feud before resuming their duel, where Charlotte comprehended Setting Sun Melts Gold and lasted more than thirty moves.
• Hughes’s next assault left Charlotte unable to withstand his faster spear techniques, but Charlotte advanced to the seventh rank during their seventeenth duel and began surviving longer.
• Hughes attacked Silver Doveburg again, raising its Labyrinthization progress to (11/18), and Charlotte’s diary awarded him Mind Channel.
• Charlotte learned that Mind Channel could send lower-rank people and items into Machu Picchu or Labyrinthized Silver Doveburg, but he could not retrieve them remotely and some of his items exceeded his rank.