Chapter Summaries

High Priest Chimer and the support fleet celebrated a successful whale hunt off the northern coast before preparing to meet Chief Priest Miki. Chimer hoped the explorers’ discovery of a strange seagoing ship would help secure the northern sea route and expand the kingdom’s mission and colonization efforts.

• Jinghai Chieftain told High Priest Chimer that the fleet had captured a giant whale, and Chimer praised Jinghai’s skill and the kingdom’s policy of valuing capable people.
• Makah tribesfolk harvested the beached whale, while Samurai on the Longships killed sharks circling the carcass.
• A Longship loaded with whale meat sailed for Salt Creek Village to have the meat pickled.
• Priest Zu Yu reported to Chimer, who praised the Main God for providing food and oil for the kingdom and its coastal tribes.
• Chimer invited Battalion Commander Eva to meet Chief Priest Miki aboard the strange seagoing ship, explaining that Miki and Zuwaro led the northern exploration and that he served as their deputy.
• Eva suggested that Miki come aboard to receive the king’s decree of enfeoffment, while Chimer said he was eager to hear news of the Divine Revelation Continent and the opening of the western sea route.

Chief Priest Miki was invested as a fourth-rank priest and reunited with High Priest Chimer, who told him about the kingdom’s northern campaigns and political changes. As they discussed opening a trade route to the Western Sea, Miki learned that His Majesty had gone to the Lake Capital and that future northern exploration might receive less support.

• High Priest Chimer invested Miki as a fourth-rank chief priest responsible for the West Coast and Far North Coast dioceses.
• Miki and Chimer shared a bonfire meal and wine while Chimer recounted the fleet’s journey and the capture of Three Rivers City with help from the Cloud Snake Tribe and Great Chieftain Divine Monkey’s forces.
• Chimer explained that the coastline had been divided between Great Lake County and Apa County, whose commanders had authority to govern and launch campaigns.
• Miki was shocked to learn that His Majesty had returned to the Lake Capital after destroying the Totonac tribes and integrating the Coastal Alliance.
• Chimer described the kingdom’s four Jiedushi and warned that His Majesty’s absence could reduce support for northern colonization.
• Chimer asked Miki about the Western Sea continent, its tribes, and whether it matched His Majesty’s prophecy.

Priest Chimer and Scholar Miki discussed the Western Sea tribes, the promise of gold and craftsmen, and the northern expedition’s need for more ships and warriors. Miki planned to return to the Lake Kingdom with Western Sea shipbuilders and other valuable resources to secure support for northern colonization, while the southern exploration fleet threatened to compete for the kingdom’s limited ships.

• Chimer and Miki discussed reports that the Wa and Joseon tribes could write related forms of Divine Revelation and that a literate Wa headman knew of the vast Great Ming Han Tribal Grand Alliance.
• Chimer explained that Zuwaro needed more warriors and sailors to safely contact the powerful Western Sea tribes, whose craftsmen and technologies could be exchanged for gold.
• Chimer pledged ten Longships and more than six hundred warriors and sailors to Miki, explaining that two other ships had been left at the Oak Tribe and West Mountain Port.
• Chimer told Miki that the kingdom’s fourth batch of Longships had been reserved for Mekat’s Southern Continent expedition, prompting concern that northern expansion would lose resources.
• Miki said he would return to the Lake Kingdom with a Wind God Ship, Western Sea shipwrights, sailmakers, blacksmiths, horses, and seeds to argue for more support for the northern route.

Miki and Chimer arranged the longships and crews for the northern ports and Zuwaro before Chimer set out to explore the Far North Coast. Over drinks, Chimer explained that he had come to see the world, and the two priests parted for the night dreaming of mountains and the sea.

• Miki and Chimer reviewed a sea chart and discussed sending ships and crews north to Zuwaro before the Divine Revelation Island Chain froze.
• Miki assigned five longships to northern ports and planned for two more to support Zuwaro, while Chimer would take the remaining ship as his flagship.
• Chimer chose Divine Whale Port as his station because he wanted to see and ride the horses there.
• Chimer told Miki that he had volunteered for the expedition to spread the Main God's faith, represent His Majesty, and explore the wider world.
• Miki and Chimer shared rice wine and tequila, and Chimer described plans to visit the Western Sea Tribe and paint picture-boards called “Short Traveler of the Mexica.”
• The two priests fell asleep beside the bonfire, dreaming of a high mountain beside the receding waves.

Scholar Miki’s sea voyage north showcased the Main God’s flying Eye of the Gods, converting and awing those gathered at Whale Port, before he inspected the kingdom’s North Port and counseled Priest Kejie on expansion. Miki then sailed south past the Rising Sun Tribe and reached South Port, where he saw extensive corn fields.

• At Whale Port, the Eye of the Gods appeared above the harbor, and the assembled tribesmen and Western Sea captives knelt in awe and prayed to Huitzilopochtli.
• As the Zheyang Sea Ship sailed south, Miki saw Murakami Suemichi’s newfound devotion and considered using him to guide the kingdom in the Western Sea.
• At North Port, Kejie reported the Clatsop settlement’s growth, an alliance with the River Mouth tribes, and a costly fight against the Kalapuya.
• Miki reprimanded Kejie for risking kingdom warriors and urged him to prioritize farming, converting and absorbing tribes, and delaying further eastern expansion.
• Miki sailed south past the Rising Sun Tribe’s kelp fields and arrived at South Port, where he saw vast corn fields.

Scholar Miki’s expedition visited South Port, where converted Coos People farmed and fished, before sailing south to the towering redwood forests. Shipwright Kim Seon-su prayed to the Giant Divine Tree, wishing to build a great seagoing ship and serve as timber in his next life.

• Chief Priest Miki praised Priest Keshu’s fields and shared corn cakes with the crew at South Port.
• Translator Watanabe learned that the Rubber People called corn Tlacatecolotl and prayed to repay the Main God with blood sacrifice.
• The ships sailed south past the Tolowa tribes, whose chiefs welcomed them despite their conflicts and lack of trade goods.
• The crew encountered a vast redwood forest and saw a Giant Divine Tree rising more than a hundred meters above the canopy.
• Kim Seon-su prostrated himself before the tree and prayed to build a great seagoing ship, then become a great timber in his next life.

Scholar Miki arrived at Lake Bay Port and heard Priest Xi Feng describe a legendary Death Valley and a strange golden-red mountain discovered far to the east. Xi Feng suspected its abundant yellow ore might become iron when heated, and the chapter ended as he revealed that possibility to Miki.

• Scholar Miki arrived at Lake Bay Port, where Priest Xi Feng and the Wiyot community welcomed him.
• Miki observed that the settlement had grown to eight hundred people, with kingdom settlers intermarrying and forming deep ties with the local tribes.
• Xi Feng told Miki that Tulan’s stories of Death Valley had led him to send warriors and guides east to search for the legendary poisonous lakes.
• The explorers found a golden-red mountain about four hundred miles east, covered in yellow ore that smelled like sulfur.
• Xi Feng explained that heating the ore burned away its powder but turned the hard yellow pieces dark red, suggesting they were iron ore.

Priest Xi Feng’s discovery of golden-colored ore east of Lake Bay Port was identified by blacksmith Otani Kengo as pyrite, a source of iron. With Scholar Miki supervising, Otani built a clay furnace and began smelting the ore, leaving the Kingdom awaiting its first iron.

• Xi Feng showed Scholar Miki the ore he had found, but admitted he could not confirm whether it was iron.
• Otani Kengo tested the ore in a fire, recognized it as pyrite, and told Miki it could be smelted into iron.
• Miki promised Xi Feng a reward if the ore proved useful and assigned Otani thirty workers to smelt it.
• Otani directed the workers to build a two-meter clay furnace with bellows and carefully checked its construction.
• Shijian lit the furnace, and after it heated for two hours, Otani ordered the workers to add the pyrite.

Scholar Miki oversaw the successful smelting of iron at Lake Bay Port and decided to search the nearby mountains for a potentially enormous iron deposit. He left Otani to teach the ironmaking methods and planned a split journey, with Shijian sailing south while Miki investigated the mine.

• Otani Kengo smelted several hundred catties of iron over five days, producing brittle cast-iron lumps that could still be used for farming tools and axes.
• Scholar Miki praised Otani, rewarded him with a Gold Amulet, and ordered him to teach the furnace-building and smelting methods to Priest Xi Feng and apprentices.
• Miki instructed Otani to demonstrate the Hundred-Refined Iron method and arranged for two local wives to help him while he trained others.
• Miki suspected the mountains east of Lake Bay Port held a major iron mine and decided to investigate it with Priest Xi Feng, leaving Otani behind to teach iron smelting.
• Miki ordered Shijian to take the Zheyang Sea Ship to West Mountain Port for repairs and head south if Miki had not arrived by November, carrying the craftsmen and ship to Talaya and requesting a new Wind God Caravel.

Scholar Miki’s party crossed the mountain forests in search of iron ore and reached a high overlook with a view of the sacred snowy Mount Shasta and a red-topped mountain beside a small lake. Miki treated the white mountain as a sign from the Main God, while Old Raccoon described the mountains through the Wiyot’s beliefs about benevolent and evil spirits.

• Old Raccoon led Scholar Miki’s party east along the Long River, which the Spanish Explorers later called the Trinity River.
• When the river turned north toward Kahosadi territory, Old Raccoon explained that the Kahosadi lived near a large lake and spoke in birdlike sounds.
• Scholar Miki considered how the river could carry iron ore by canoe but worried that the steep, pathless mountain trails would require men to carry it.
• After two days crossing dense forest, the party reached an open height and saw the mountain lakes and ranges.
• Old Raccoon identified the towering snowy peak as Uytaahkoo, the Kahosadi’s Great White High Mountain, and Miki prayed to it as the Mountain of Huitzilopochtli.
• Old Raccoon pointed out a red-topped mountain beside a small Bitter Lake and said the White Mountain Benevolent God suppressed the Evil Serpent living there.

Scholar Miki and the priests confirmed that the Great Iron Mountain held vast deposits of iron ore and pyrite, while Warrior captain Shijian arrived at prosperous West Mountain Port. Shijian arranged for the captured sea ship’s repairs and for four new crops from the Western Sea Tribe to be planted there.

• Scholar Miki tested the red mountaintop stones and confirmed they were hematite, while the mountain’s pale yellow rock was pyrite.
• Priest Xi Feng and the others celebrated the discovery, and Miki recorded the mountain’s location and considered why its iron ores differed.
• Warrior captain Shijian arrived at West Mountain Port and saw its fishing fleet, farmland, shipyard, temple, and busy market.
• Shijian told High Priest Keyuan that the captured sea ship would be repaired at the port and that Miki would arrive in about a month.
• Shijian proposed planting rice, millet, soybeans, and peas brought from the Western Sea Tribe, and Keyuan agreed to try them in the port’s fields.

Divine King Avet declared a new holy war against the southern Cloud Tribes, and the Mexica vanguard marched out to begin the conquest. As Xolotl contemplated the wider wars spreading across the region, a Castilian exploration fleet sailed west into the unknown Atlantic.

• High Priest Uger performed the rite, and Divine King Avet proclaimed that the Main God demanded fresh sacrifices and war against the Cloud Tribes.
• Avet named the Tepanec, Mixtec, and Zapotec as targets and ordered the Mexica army to march south without rest.
• One thousand Jaguar Warriors and four thousand Royal Warriors set out as the vanguard, aiming to devastate the Cloud Tribes' crops before the larger army followed.
• Xolotl watched the warriors depart and considered the Kingdom's campaigns across the Maya lands and the Longship Tribe's presence in Cuba.
• A Castilian fleet of one Carrack and two Caravels sailed west into the North Atlantic under the Northeast Trade Winds.

Columbus falsified the fleet’s public sailing record while privately tracking its greater westward progress and anticipating land near Antillia. His calculations and confidence were shaken when the crew saw blue-white fire descend over the sea to the northwest.

• Columbus recorded reduced sailing distances in the public log and the estimated true distances in his private diary.
• Columbus complained that the Santa Maria was slow and that royal representatives and Juan de la Cosa limited his authority.
• Columbus calculated that the fleet had traveled 254 leagues since September 8 and expected Antillia to be nearby after sailors spotted seabirds.
• The sailors panicked at a fiery sight over the northwest sea, and Columbus put away his private diary before leaving his cabin.
• Arana reported that heavenly fire had descended, and Columbus froze when he saw the blue-white glow.

As Columbus’s fleet sailed west, a display of blue-white fire was interpreted as a divine omen, helping him strengthen his authority over the crew. The sight of seaweed later raised hopes that land was near, and Columbus declared that they were approaching the legendary island of Antillia.

• Columbus insisted the distant Heavenly Fire was the Lord’s guidance, and Rodrigo identified it as Corposants, convincing the Sailors it was a good omen.
• Columbus used the Sailors’ renewed confidence to build his authority as the fleet continued west.
• Chachu spotted yellow-green seaweed in the water and called the Sailors to look.
• The Sailors celebrated the seaweed as evidence of nearby land and recalled the reward for whoever discovered it first.
• Columbus examined the seaweed and proclaimed that Antillia lay nearby.

Columbus’s fleet found no land after sailing through the Sargasso Sea, and the crew began doubting his claims. Columbus suppressed his own doubts and ordered the ships to press west toward Cipangu, Japan.

• Pilot Pedro Alonso Nino lowered the sounding line to two hundred fathoms without finding the seabed, and the sailors concluded that no nearby land lay ahead.
• The crew complained that Columbus had promised land and mocked his leadership, while Martin Alonso Pinzon and the Pinzon brothers’ influence left Columbus reluctant to confront them.
• Pedro suggested the fleet might have passed the island, and Columbus reassured the sailors by promising that Japan and its riches lay ahead.
• Columbus reviewed the fleet’s westward progress and briefly questioned whether they had missed Antillia or Saint Brendan’s Island.
• Columbus convinced himself that Japan lay within another half month of sailing and ordered the fleet to continue west at full speed.

Columbus led the three ships west across the ocean, falsifying the distance sailed and insisting that land and Cipangu lay ahead as the crew grew increasingly desperate. The chapter ended with the Sailors mutinying and demanding to return, while Arana warned Columbus that they were ready to cut him down.

• Columbus kept the crew moving west through weak winds and rough seas, reassuring them with claims that land was near.
• Big Pinzon claimed to spot land, but the fleet’s celebration ended when the supposed land proved to be clouds.
• Columbus concealed the fleet’s true distance and worsening food shortage, while using birds, fish, and signs in the sky to bolster his promises of discovery.
• Columbus noticed Polaris and the compass needle shifting by roughly three degrees, but could not explain the magnetic declination.
• As the ships sailed farther west, Columbus insisted Cipangu was close and dismissed the crew’s desire to turn back.
• Arana warned Columbus that the Sailors had mutinied, gathered on deck with knives, and were demanding to return.

Columbus faced a sailors’ mutiny as the crew demanded that he turn back from the voyage. He tried to calm them by proposing an assembly of all three ships to decide their course, leaving the decision unresolved.

• The sailors, led by boatswain Chachu, gathered with weapons and threatened to kill Columbus and return east.
• Columbus confronted the rioters with his sword and Queen Isabella’s letter of appointment, but Chachu accused him of deceiving the queen and the crew about the promised route to Cipangu.
• Surrounded by armed sailors, Columbus noticed that De La Cosa and royal steward Gutierrez had not joined the riot and realized the revolt was impulsive and lacked a plan.
• Columbus threw down his rapier, agreed that the fleet could turn back, and called on De La Cosa to convene an assembly for the crews of all three ships, with Gutierrez as witness.
• Columbus declared there would be no blame or bloodshed and urged the sailors to discuss the gains of turning back or continuing west.

Columbus survived a threatened mutiny by persuading the sailors to continue west for five more days, promising to turn back if they found no land. Afterward, he completed a gold-test oath with Bartolome to ensure the sailors trusted his promise not to report the mutiny to the Kingdom's nobles.

• Columbus and the fleet's representatives agreed to sail west for five more days and return if they saw no land.
• Columbus reassured the sailors that he would not pursue or expose them for the mutiny, but Bartolome demanded an oath by the sailors' rules.
• Goldsmith Caro performed a gold-test ritual, and Columbus and Bartolome carved their names into a copper plate and swore the oath.
• The sailors accepted the oath, and Columbus ordered them to raise the sails and continue west toward Cipangu.

Columbus redirected his fleet southwest after following seabirds and endured a near mutiny as the sailors demanded to turn back. The fleet finally sighted a dark island, and Columbus celebrated what he believed was Cipangu and the eastern route to gold.

• Columbus saw seabirds flying southwest and ordered the fleet to follow them.
• As the fleet sailed southwest, the sailors threatened Columbus, but he persuaded them to continue for one more day.
• The Nina’s crew caught a carved wooden club in their nets, convincing the sailors that inhabited land was nearby.
• The Pinta and Nina signaled that they had sighted land, and the fleet saw a black island on the horizon.
• Columbus celebrated the discovery and declared that he had reached Cipangu and the East.

Columbus and his fleet landed on a Bahamian island, claimed it for Castile, and approached a Taino village expecting to find East Asia. Seeing the islanders and their surroundings, Columbus concluded that they had reached India.

• Sailors sighted land and argued over who had first discovered it, while Columbus claimed he had seen it before Rodrigo.
• Columbus ordered the armed boats lowered and declared the island Castilian territory, naming himself its governor.
• Columbus, the Pinzon captains, and royal witnesses held an occupation ceremony and named the island San Salvador.
• Columbus and his armed party approached a Taino village and wondered why its people did not resemble the wealthy Japanese described by Marco Polo.
• Columbus decided that the fleet had missed Cipangu and reached the outer islands of India instead.