Chapter Summaries

While traveling with Nahekt's caravan, Ye Ting asked about Egypt's customs and learned how political turmoil under Pharaoh Pepi and Merenre II had burdened the people. Nahekt explained that Nitocris had become pharaoh after Merenre II's death and was likely being controlled by ministers.

• Ye Ting asked Nahekt about Egypt, and Nahekt described the kingdom's turmoil and the dangers facing merchants.
• Nahekt said Pharaoh Pepi had ruled for ninety-four years, while provincial governors defied his authority and imposed tolls.
• Nahekt blamed Merenre II's conflicts with officials for worsening Egypt's unrest and said rumors claimed ministers assassinated him.
• Nahekt told Ye Ting that Nitocris, Merenre II's young widow and Pepi's daughter, had been made pharaoh by the ministers.
• Nahekt suspected the ministers had chosen Nitocris because they thought she would be easy to control.

Nahekt praised Pharaoh Nitocris to Ye Ting before a massive sandstorm struck their caravan in the desert. Ye Ting protected everyone by casting a legendary spell, leaving Nahekt awestruck by his power.

• Nahekt enthusiastically described Pharaoh Nitocris's beauty and her care for Egypt's people to Ye Ting.
• A huge sandstorm approached, and Nahekt ordered the caravan to shelter behind the camels and cargo.
• Nahekt feared they would die, but Ye Ting assured him they would survive and stepped out to face the storm.
• Ye Ting used High-Speed Chanting to cast the legendary spell Storm Mantle, creating a vast spherical tempest around the caravan.
• The Storm Mantle shielded everyone from the sandstorm, and Nahekt watched Ye Ting as though he were a god.

Ye Ting traveled with Nahekt’s caravan through villages along the Nile and reached Memphis, Egypt’s bustling capital. Nahekt and the caravan continued to regard Ye Ting as a powerful foreign god, despite his insistence that he was not Set.

• Nahekt treated Ye Ting as a god and called him Set, while Ye Ting insisted his storm magic was not divine power.
• Ye Ting explained the difference between magic and divine arts, which Egyptians believed came from the gods.
• The caravan traded goods in villages along the Nile while Ye Ting observed Egyptian life during the flood season.
• After selling their stored goods, Nahekt’s caravan continued to Memphis.
• Ye Ting entered Memphis and saw its towering walls, busy streets, temples, and royal palace.

After parting from Nahekt, Ye Ting headed into Memphis to study Egyptian divine arts, but a grand procession drew his attention. Its palanquin carried a regal, beautiful woman whose identity remained unrevealed.

• Nahekt gave Ye Ting a golden amulet that let him call upon his family's caravans throughout Egypt.
• Ye Ting blessed Nahekt in the name of Thoth, and Nahekt discovered that his ability to calculate accounts had greatly improved.
• Ye Ting vanished before Nahekt could thank or worship him, then went to explore Memphis's temples and study Egyptian magic.
• A procession of lavishly dressed soldiers entered through Memphis's gate, carrying a palanquin with a richly adorned woman seated upon it.

Nitocris recounted how powerful ministers murdered her brother and made her a puppet Pharaoh, then prayed in despair for the gods to punish them. Ye Ting revealed himself and offered her the power to take revenge, leaving Nitocris to hide his visit from her maids.

• Nitocris explained that she had played along with the ministers to become Pharaoh and learn the truth about her brother's murder.
• She condemned the ministers in prayer and questioned why the gods had not punished them.
• Ye Ting approached Nitocris in the bath and revealed himself, offering her power to take revenge.
• Nitocris was shocked when Ye Ting vanished, then realized his ability could help her assassinate her brother's killers.
• Nitocris told the maids that nothing was wrong and concealed Ye Ting's visit.

Ye Ting teased Nitocris in her bathhouse, then offered to help her take revenge. Nitocris accepted his offer and promised he could do anything with her body if he helped.

• Nitocris sent her maid away, covered herself with sheer gauze, and told Ye Ting to reveal himself.
• Ye Ting appeared naked, then put on a robe after Nitocris demanded that he dress.
• Ye Ting pretended to be a god answering Nitocris's prayers, then laughed when she believed him.
• Nitocris grew furious at Ye Ting for mocking her and defiling Pharaoh's body.
• Ye Ting offered to help Nitocris take revenge, and she agreed, telling him he could do anything with her body.

Nitocris offered herself to Ye Ting in exchange for revenge, but he refused to make her body the price and promised to kill her enemies. After breaking down in his embrace, she trusted his promise and agreed to accept a different condition.

• Nitocris offered Ye Ting her body if he would avenge her, but he teased her and said he had never asked for such a bargain.
• Nitocris pounded Ye Ting's chest and began to cry, and he comforted her and promised to kill her enemies.
• Nitocris asked whether Ye Ting truly meant to avenge her, and he assured her that he would keep his word.
• Nitocris offered to accept the condition involving her body if Ye Ting succeeded, but he said he would not use her desperation to threaten her.
• Nitocris and Ye Ting agreed that he would avenge her in exchange for a different, acceptable condition.

Ye Ting taught Nitocris magic in the imperial garden as she tried and failed to learn an eighth-circle spell. The palace maids saw their lessons as music practice, while Nitocris remained determined to master magic and take revenge herself.

• Ye Ting corrected Nitocris's gestures and pronunciation as she practiced casting a spell, but she could not make it work.
• Nitocris suspected Ye Ting had given her a false method, then blamed herself when he explained that she had already managed to cast the second-circle spell Blur by instinct.
• Ye Ting reassured Nitocris that she had talent, but explained that learning the eighth-circle spell Ultimate Invisibility would be exceptionally difficult.
• Ye Ting explained that Nitocris wanted to learn magic so she could personally take revenge after he revealed that his power was magic rather than a divine art.
• Ye Ting muddled the palace maids' awareness so they believed he was teaching Nitocris to play an eastern instrument called the xiao.

After teaching Nitocris, Ye Ting was escorted to his room, where he sensed an unseen soul whose concealment defeated his detection spells. He concluded the hidden presence was a god or demigod with authority over invisibility, but believed he could still deal with it.

• Nitocris invited Ye Ting, known at court as Thoth, to stay in the palace and dine with her later.
• The palace maids eagerly anticipated serving Ye Ting, but he dismissed them after they brought him to his luxurious room.
• Ye Ting sensed another soul hiding in the room and challenged it to reveal itself.
• Ye Ting cast four detection spells, but none exposed the hidden presence.
• Ye Ting reasoned that only a god or demigod with a domain related to concealment could evade his magic, and decided he had ways to handle it.

Ye Ting used Magic Miasma to expose the hidden presence in the room, revealing the god Medjed after it attacked him. He identified Medjed and its connection to Nitocris, while the confrontation remained unresolved.

• Ye Ting filled the room with Magic Miasma and changed it into Grave Mist, but the hidden presence did not react.
• Ye Ting transformed the mist into Radiant Fog, and the presence revealed itself in a corner of the room.
• The revealed white figure fired golden beams from its eyes at Ye Ting.
• Ye Ting's preconfigured spells deflected and erased the beams.
• Ye Ting recognized the figure as Medjed, a subordinate of Osiris with a close connection to Nitocris in the Type-Moon setting.

Ye Ting spoke with Major God and learned that the Egyptian god protected Nitocris but could not interfere directly in human affairs. Major agreed to let Ye Ting study his concealment power so Ye Ting could teach it to Nitocris and help her pursue revenge herself.

• Ye Ting used a spell meant for communicating with animals to speak with Major and learned that Major had approached him to watch over Nitocris.
• Major revealed that Nitocris was the only pharaoh who had worshipped him, and Ye Ting teased him until Major headbutted him.
• Ye Ting asked Major to help Nitocris with the hatred troubling her, and Major indicated that he could not intervene directly.
• Ye Ting promised to teach Nitocris to use her own power to take revenge, then proposed studying Major's invisibility power and turning it into Egyptian rune spells.
• Major agreed to let Ye Ting study his power so Ye Ting could teach it to Nitocris.

Ye Ting introduced Nitocris to Medjed and used her fondness for petting the god to begin their lesson. He proposed adapting Medjed’s divine power into an Egyptian-style spell to help Nitocris master Ultimate Invisibility, and asked her to explain Egyptian rune spells.

• Ye Ting asked Nitocris whether she remembered worshipping a strange-looking god, then summoned Medjed after she identified him as Lord Medjed.
• Nitocris apologized to Medjed and learned from Ye Ting that Medjed had been protecting her.
• Ye Ting patted Medjed, and Nitocris eagerly joined in, enjoying petting the god until Ye Ting interrupted her.
• Ye Ting explained that he planned to turn Medjed’s divine power into an Egyptian-style spell to help Nitocris learn Ultimate Invisibility.
• Ye Ting asked Nitocris to explain Egyptian rune spells so he could understand their principles.

Ye Ting accompanied Nitocris to her audience with Egypt’s ministers, who grew suspicious of his closeness to the queen. After learning he was a foreign musician, they dismissed him as a showy bard and began planning to expose and remove him.

• Ye Ting refused the palace maids’ advances and went to see Nitocris after breakfast.
• Nitocris brought Ye Ting to her audience with Egypt’s ministers and introduced him, while he showed little interest in them.
• The ministers watched Ye Ting and Nitocris’s intimate behavior and discussed his influence over the queen.
• A minister questioned a palace maid, who identified Ye Ting as a foreign traveler and musician.
• The ministers decided Ye Ting was a pretentious bard and planned to expose him, kill him, or drive him from Egypt.

Nitocris defied Egypt’s ministers to keep Ye Ting at her side, then taught him Egyptian runic magic, only for him to master it with astonishing speed. The chapter ended with Nitocris questioning whether Ye Ting was a foreign God of Wisdom and reacting with disappointment when he said gods and mortals could fall in love where he came from.

• Nitocris rejected the ministers’ demands to dismiss Ye Ting, and they outwardly compromised while quietly considering schemes against him.
• Ye Ting and Nitocris studied Egyptian runic magic together in her study, with Medjed watching.
• Ye Ting learned more than half the basics in one morning, leaving Nitocris amazed by his magical knowledge and talent.
• Nitocris asked whether Ye Ting was a foreign God of Wisdom or her divine son, and Ye Ting denied it.
• Ye Ting explained that gods and mortals could fall in love in his homeland, leaving Nitocris seemingly disappointed.

Ye Ting turned against the Vizier after discovering his scheme to poison Nitocris and his degrading obsession with her. He crushed the Vizier with his killing intent but spared his life so Nitocris could take revenge herself.

• The Vizier offered Ye Ting wealth and women resembling Nitocris in exchange for helping him poison her.
• Ye Ting felt disgusted by the Vizier’s obsession with Nitocris and his anger became killing intent.
• Ye Ting’s killing intent terrified the Vizier and drove the female slaves mad.
• Ye Ting withdrew his killing intent and spared the Vizier, remembering Nitocris’s wish to take revenge herself.
• The Vizier asked Ye Ting what he was after seeing the devastation around him.

Ye Ting punished Vizier by altering his and his attendants’ memories, then returned to the palace and told Nitocris what Vizier had done. He encouraged Nitocris to learn magic so she could take revenge herself.

• Ye Ting erased the memories of Vizier and those present, leaving Vizier with false memories of a violent mania that would undermine his power.
• Ye Ting returned to the palace, where the maids mistakenly assumed he had allied with the ministers against Nitocris.
• Nitocris rushed to check that Ye Ting was unharmed and claimed she was only showing concern as Pharaoh.
• Ye Ting told Nitocris about Vizier’s crimes and said he had given him a slight punishment.
• Ye Ting encouraged Nitocris to study magic and take revenge on Vizier with her own hands.

Ye Ting studied Egyptian divine runes and converted Medjed’s concealment power into magical runes so Nitocris could learn an invisibility spell. After mastering Medjed’s Invisibility, Nitocris began her revenge against the ministers responsible for her brother’s death.

• Ye Ting learned that Ra, Osiris, and Horus formed a trinity representing the sun’s cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
• Ye Ting derived magical runes from Egyptian divine runes, including runes for the soul and gold.
• Ye Ting and Nitocris spent several days creating divine runes from Medjed’s power and then converting them into magical runes.
• Nitocris learned Medjed’s Invisibility in one day, despite her limited magical foundation.
• Nitocris began pursuing revenge against the ministers who had caused her brother’s death.

Nitocris prepared to avenge her brother Merenre II by personally killing their enemies, while Ye Ting taught her that ruling Egypt would require making ruthless decisions. Convinced to take her first step, she set off under a concealment cloak, still determined to find a way to let all Egyptians live well without sacrifice.

• Nitocris met Ye Ting, Thoth, and Medjed in the royal garden, carrying the adamantine dagger Merenre II had given her.
• Ye Ting comforted Nitocris and told her that a pharaoh had to accept the necessity of death and learn to be ruthless.
• Nitocris reflected on Ye Ting's counsel, hardened her resolve, and considered appointing him vizier after restoring order to the court.
• Ye Ting gave Nitocris a white cloak from him and Medjed that would strengthen her concealment magic.
• Nitocris kissed Ye Ting, patted Medjed, and left for the palace gates to begin her revenge, promising to seek a future without cruelty or sacrifice.

Nitocris left the palace under cover of invisibility to begin her revenge, while Ye Ting and Medjed followed to keep her safe. At the finance minister’s home, Nitocris took Ye Ting’s joke literally and knocked out every living creature there before reaching her target.

• Ye Ting used a wide-area suggestion spell to ensure the palace staff and guards would not remember Nitocris leaving or anything else that happened that night.
• Nitocris activated Medjed's Invisibility and departed on her revenge mission, while Ye Ting and Medjed followed using Ye Ting’s magical mark on her cloak to track her.
• Ye Ting recalled that Nitocris had asked him how an assassin could enter a home and avoid witnesses, and that he had joked she should knock everyone out.
• Nitocris entered the finance minister’s residence and hesitated before striking the gate guard with her dagger’s hilt.
• Nitocris knocked out the other guards, servants, dogs, parrots, cat, and kitchen sheep, leaving every living creature in the residence unconscious before morning.

Nitocris carried out a night-long revenge against the conspirators who murdered her brother, Merenre II, and broke down after killing them. She showed Ye Ting the unfinished underground palace where she had planned to drown the nobles and then take her own life.

• Nitocris used the Repelling Spell, knocked out the people in the Finance Minister’s home, and killed him, then vomited and sobbed before regaining her resolve.
• Nitocris traveled across Memphis through the night, incapacitating more than a thousand people as she assassinated the conspirators behind Merenre II’s murder.
• Nitocris killed Vishir of Upper Egypt, returned to the palace, and wept as she thanked Ye Ting for helping her avenge her brothers.
• Nitocris showed Ye Ting the underground palace she had built, explaining that she had planned to drown the nobles there and then end her own life.