Chapter Summaries

After the Kingdom Chishima Tribe’s victory over the Wajin fleet drew nearby Ainu tribes to its ceremony, Zuwaro led a united ritual that culminated in the Bear Spirit sacrifice. He claimed the bear’s heartblood and the Ainu People’s recognition, leaving him positioned as the emerging king of Mashiri Island.

• Ainu tribes sent chieftains and envoys with gifts to celebrate the Kingdom Chishima Tribe’s victory, delaying the Main God ceremony until many gathered.
• Zuwaro and Losanda led prayers and ritual dances that joined Ainu customs with the Main God faith and proclaimed the tribes’ unity.
• Ainu headmen prayed over a black bear and bound it for sacrifice, then Buyo Nizhao presented Zuwaro with a bow and arrows.
• Zuwaro shot the bear, and Buyo Nizhao declared the bloodless sacrifice a sign that the Sky God Kamuy had accepted it.
• Zuwaro stopped Buyo Nizhao from taking the bear’s heartblood and claimed the honor for himself, while announcing plans to involve the chieftains in sacrificing a Wajin Priest.
• The Ainu People cheered Zuwaro as he took the bear’s heartblood, marking him as their recognized Great Chieftain and the prospective king of Mashiri Island.

Ryuzoji Iehiro pressured the captive Master Juehui to negotiate ransom after the Sanda Gold Clan sacrificed Tendai monks. Juehui instead proposed returning to Omi with a thousand jin of gold and offering the Sanda a path to powerful political connections, leaving Iehiro stunned.

• Ryuzoji Iehiro shut the tent curtain and told Master Juehui that his intervention had spared him from the altar, while Monk Mizhu feared he would be sacrificed instead.
• Ryuzoji Iehiro demanded five hundred jin of gold and five thousand jin of Gunpowder to release Juehui, but Juehui argued that he needed to return to the Tendai Sect before he could arrange any ransom.
• Juehui warned that if he died in captivity, the Sanda Gold Clan’s dealings with Morino Kiyoshi could be exposed, prompting Ryuzoji Iehiro to threaten him with a blade.
• Juehui proposed that the Sanda release him and give him one thousand jin of gold so he could restore his standing and continue trading with them.
• Juehui claimed he could offer the bloodline and family name of the Kiyowa Minamoto Clan’s Buwei House and the Echizen Shiba Clan, along with an official post as Guardian of Ezo, and Ryuzoji Iehiro’s blade cut his shoulder.

Zuwaro arranged for allied Ainu tribes to send five hundred people to Karafuto Port, then considered Master Juehui’s proposal to bring Shiba Clan survivors to Ezo and establish a branch under the Kingdom’s control. Juehui argued the alliance would benefit both sides, while Zuwaro remained wary of the Shogunate’s intentions.

• Zuwaro set a levy of five hundred tribesmen from the allied Buyo and Ishikari tribes to work at Karafuto Port in exchange for weapons and armor.
• Zuwaro realized Karafuto Port needed more grain and that the Kingdom depended on continued trade with Wagoku.
• Ryuzoji Iehiro explained that Master Juehui proposed bringing Shiba Eido, Etsu-hime, and their retainers to Ezo to establish a Shiba branch family under Kingdom influence.
• Iehiro described how a Shiba family name could help the Kingdom gain standing among Wagoku warrior houses and attract samurai, artisans, and trade.
• Zuwaro questioned whether the Shogunate would truly permit the arrangement and threatened Juehui with his bronze axe.
• Juehui defended his proposal, saying the Shiba survivors faced danger in Omi and that their alliance with the Gold Clan was a beneficial karmic bond.

Master Juehui explained how he would manipulate the Shogunate, the Tendai Sect, the Shiba Clan, and the Kakizaki Clan to establish the Shiba in Ezo under Sanda control. The Sanda leaders agreed to release him only after the Shiba bloodline arrived, and Juehui named Morino Kiyoshi as the ally who could begin the plan.

• Master Juehui proposed guiding the Shiba Clan to establish a branch in Ezo, using the Kakizaki Clan, Tendai Sect, and Shogunate connections to secure an official title.
• Ali compared Juehui’s scheme to eunuchs deceiving an emperor and an imperial princess, and Juehui confirmed that he intended to deceive several sides at once.
• Zuwaro demanded that the Shiba bloodline be delivered in exchange for Juehui’s release, offering two hundred jin of gold as a deposit and requiring five thousand jin of Gunpowder for the balance.
• Master Juehui agreed to the terms and asked the Sanda to send Mizhu to Omi to seek help from the one person who would work to rescue him.
• Master Juehui revealed that the person who could start the scheme was Morino Kiyoshi.

Master Juehui persuaded the Sanda leaders to work with Morino Kiyoshi, while Ryuzoji Iehiro headed south to negotiate with him. Morino met Ryuzoji aboard a recovered Zheyang Ship, and as they began talks, the Kingdom’s third surrender negotiation with Yodzocahi began on the Mexican Plateau.

• Master Juehui convinced the Sanda leaders that preserving him and sharing responsibility with Morino Kiyoshi would protect their gold trade, and they agreed to send two Zheyang Ships south with Monk Mizhu and ten Warrior Monks.
• Ryuzoji Iehiro became the Sanda envoy and took Master Juehui north to the tribe’s camp, where Juehui wondered about the Sanda’s ships and rumored Gold Mountain.
• Morino Kiyoshi reached Wakasa Bay and recognized one of the Sanda ships as a Zheyang Ship that had vanished years earlier.
• Ryuzoji Iehiro greeted Morino aboard the ship, revealed he had joined the Sanda as a Priest of the Main God, and invited him to discuss the past, trade, and future.
• Xolotl and an elder Mixtec God-descendant began the Kingdom’s third surrender negotiation with Yodzocahi, studying a map marked at the Great Sand River plain.

Xolotl negotiated with Elder Yungushan over the Yunshan Tribes’ transfer to the Lake Kingdom, agreeing to their demands in exchange for religious allegiance and help against the Zapotecs. The chapter left Yungushan committed to sending his third son and other nobles to lure Zapotec reinforcements into an Alliance ambush.

• Elder Yungushan demanded a larger fief, twelve thousand migrants, five noble titles, grain support, and autonomy for the Yunshan Tribes.
• Yungushan promised that the Yunshan Tribes would worship Huitzilopochtli as their Main God and send noble heirs to Shenwei University while retaining local control of succession and their army.
• Xolotl agreed to the transfer terms and promised five years of grain support and farming assistance in the Great Sand River plain.
• Xolotl asked Yungushan to break the Yunshan Tribes’ oath with the Zapotecs and help draw the Zapotec army into an Alliance ambush.
• Yungushan agreed to send his third son and other Zapotec-descended noble youths to seek aid, though they would not know about the plan.
• Xolotl raised a cup of cacao with Yungushan and toasted the future reunification of the Rubber People.

Xolotl inspected the aftermath of Kuakehu’s ambush, identified the Zapotec tribes and gods represented on their fallen warriors, and found a young Mixtec noble among the dead. He ordered the Mixtec bodies returned to Yodzocahi and continued toward the larger battlefield where funeral sacrifices would be held.

• Kuakehu described how his forces ambushed and routed eight thousand Zapotec reinforcements, killing thousands while suffering relatively few losses.
• Xolotl examined the fallen Zapotec warriors’ clothing and identified patterns linked to their tribes and gods, including the ancestral god Petela of the Mountain God city.
• Xolotl considered the strategic importance of capturing Silver Tip City and the Zapotec ancestral city, while worrying about the strength of its mountain fortress.
• Xolotl discovered a young Mixtec noble among the corpses and ordered Kuakehu to return him and any other Mixtec dead to Yodzocahi.
• Xolotl prayed for the dead and continued with the priests toward the larger battlefield, where they planned funeral sacrifices.

Xolotl traveled through the aftermath of the Alliance’s ambush and learned how its forces had destroyed a Zapotec legion. At Snake-Waist Camp, he saw the thousands of dead and recognized that the old Mixtec-Zapotec covenant had become a blood feud, leaving the Alliance’s conquest of the south nearly unstoppable.

• Xolotl prayed over the fallen Zapotec warriors and urged the priests to bury them far from water sources.
• Xolotl examined the Zapotec weapons and armor, assessed their tribal military organization, and concluded that their forces were vulnerable in large-scale battles.
• Kuakehu explained that Alliance ambush forces seized Snake-Waist Camp, trapped the retreating Zapotec legion, and helped annihilate thousands of its warriors.
• Xolotl climbed the hillside and saw the mass of Zapotec dead, including the thousands killed in the encirclement.
• Xolotl concluded that the ambush ended the Mixtec-Zapotec covenant, broke the Zapotec military backbone, and left the Alliance’s southern conquest close at hand.

Xolotl presided over the funeral for five hundred Alliance Warriors killed in the battle against the Zapotec. Afterward, he persuaded Kuakehu to help him hold a funeral for fallen Zapotec nobles and warriors before their garrison, hoping to spread Huitzilopochtli’s faith among the Zapotec tribes.

• Xolotl arranged ritual vessels and led the funeral rites for the five hundred Alliance Warriors buried at the camp.
• The Alliance Warriors mourned their dead, then performed a war dance beside the graves and the five thousand Zapotec corpses.
• After the ceremony, Xolotl asked Kuakehu to identify Zapotec nobles and brave warriors among the dead and bring their bodies to the mountain-pass camp.
• Xolotl proposed holding a funeral for the Zapotec dead before their defenders and tribal envoys, and Kuakehu agreed to help.

Xolotl led a sacred funeral for the Zapotec dead, using the ceremony to declare that the southern tribes were kin destined to unite with the Mexica. On his return, Divine King’s envoys told him to judge prisoners again, including the high-ranking Mountain Clan Chief Izel.

• The Divine King approved a funeral for the Zapotec and ordered the commander to protect Prince Xolotl, sending twenty Shadow Guards as well.
• Xolotl donned Zapotec-style priestly vestments and led a funeral for more than two hundred Zapotec nobles and warriors before both armies.
• Xolotl declared that the Zapotec and other southern tribes were kin to the Mexica and prophesied the unification of the Rubber People.
• The Zapotec envoys thanked Xolotl for the funeral and left, while he anticipated a future meeting with them in battle.
• Two Divine King’s envoys told Xolotl that Kuakehu and Royal Legion officers would receive titles, Turquoise and surviving Shorn Guard would be promoted, and several nobles, including Izel, would face judgment by divination.

Yodzocahi surrendered to the Mexica Alliance, and Avet accepted the Yunshan Tribes’ submission while ordering them to migrate to a new fief. After taking control of the fortress, Avet planned to reorganize the Eastern Legion and prepare to attack Mountain River City.

• Cloud God Mountain and Yungu Shi led the Yunshan Tribes in surrendering Yodzocahi and presenting their Heritage Tablet to Avet.
• Avet seized the tablet, learned that Yodzocahi held enough grain for twenty thousand people for a year and a half, and agreed to spare the Yunshan inheritance under the royal oath.
• Avet ordered twelve thousand Yunshan tribespeople to migrate to a northwestern fief by way of the Mixtec seacoast, while Alliance Warriors occupied Yodzocahi.
• Avet declared that the Eastern Legion would march on Mountain River City and told Xolotl to promote minor nobles and warriors, deal with the great nobles, and consolidate military authority.
• Avet ordered a gathering of the generals for the next day to reward merit and punish crimes, authorizing Xolotl to kill those who needed to die in the Main God’s name.

During the Nemontemi ceremonies, Avet rewarded loyal officers with noble titles and fiefs while placing their new lands under the Alliance center’s management, advancing his centralizing reforms. He then ordered Xolotl to judge commanders who had fled battle, beginning the chapter’s promised punishments.

• Avet enfeoffed Kuakehu as a glorious noble for his service in the southern campaign and announced that the Alliance center would manage his new fief.
• Kuakehu accepted the grant, while Xolotl recognized the decree as a precedent for expanding Alliance control over noble fiefs.
• Avet granted fiefs and hereditary noble titles to twenty Military Nobility, with their lands also placed under the Alliance center’s management.
• Avet enfeoffed Turquoise as a hereditary noble, granted him riches, and promoted him to commander of the Imperial Guard Battalion.
• After completing the military rewards, Avet ordered Xolotl to judge the commanders of the ambush troops who had fled.

At Yodzocahi, Xolotl conducted divine judgments that executed the defeated noble generals, while Izel begged Divine King Avet to spare him. Avet spared Izel’s life but stripped the Mountain Family of troops and land and ordered its remaining warriors to serve as the vanguard for the march west toward Mountain River City.

• Xolotl invoked Huitzilopochtli and pronounced execution sentences for the captured noble generals, who were publicly killed one by one.
• Mountain Clan Chief Izel begged Xolotl, the great nobles, and finally Avet to spare him, offering half his fief and submission to Alliance officials.
• Xolotl changed the yarrow and declared Izel’s sentence was blood punishment, leaving Avet to decide which limb to sacrifice; Avet ordered that one of Izel’s fingers be cut off.
• Avet reduced the Mountain Family’s fief by thirty percent, transferred five hundred Mountain warriors to Turquoise’s Shorn Guard battalion, and ordered Izel’s remaining 3,500 warriors to march as the vanguard.
• Avet left five thousand Royal Legion troops to garrison Yodzocahi and Snake-Waist Camp, then ordered the rest of the army to march west toward Mountain River City in five days.

Chief Priest Tomatl presided over Cuba’s New Year sacrifice as the kingdom’s faith and military strength spread across the islands. The celebration ended without any sign of the expected demon fleet, leaving Tomatl uncertain when or where the invasion would come.

• Tomatl offered cassava, fish, deer, and frogs to the Main God at Iron Bay Town’s altar, while Taino tribespeople and Kingdom Warriors celebrated the sacrifice.
• The Cuba Navy fired its cannons, displaying the kingdom’s fleet and the different weapons carried by its galleys and captured caravels.
• Martin Behaim, now called Priest Apprentice Ah Ding, watched the ceremony as a captive marked and dressed as a priest, believing he could not return to his former life.
• Tomatl considered how the Main God’s faith and Iron Bay Town’s trade, workshops, shipyard, and forces had expanded across Cuba and neighboring islands.
• Tomatl noted that neither the tribes nor the patrol ships had found the demon fleet, then announced the sacrifice’s end and called for an all-night feast as the Year of the 3 Reed (1495) began.

In February 1495, Tupi hunter Amo went to investigate strange outsiders on the Potengi River and encountered the Portuguese camp at Port Natal. After sailors shot him down, Father Faria stopped them and took the frightened hunter into the camp.

• Tupi tribespeople told Amo that strange, pale outsiders with enormous boats had appeared near the sea.
• Amo followed the Potengi River east and found three large ships, a fenced camp, and Portuguese settlers cutting timber.
• The Portuguese sailors spotted Amo and fired their matchlock muskets, knocking him to the ground as he tried to flee.
• Father Faria stopped the sailors from attacking Amo and offered him food, shelter, and religious guidance.
• Amo, frightened and unable to understand Father Faria, grasped the priest's sleeve and followed him into the camp.

After exploring Brazil’s southern coast for more than three months, Bruno Cao returned to Port Natal convinced the continent stretched far south and offered no route to Seres. He warned Martim not to interfere with Father Faria’s missionary work and went to visit the priest.

• Bruno Cao established Port Natal and left Father Faria in charge before sailing south with two ships and fifty men to explore the coast.
• Bruno Cao returned after sailing as far as 30 degrees south, reporting that the forest gave way to vast grasslands but the continent still had no end in sight.
• Bruno Cao said his crew found only small, impoverished native villages and lost two sailors during attacks on two of them.
• Martim admitted he and the sailors wanted to find the converted native’s village, but Bruno Cao forbade them from harming natives under Father Faria’s care.
• Bruno Cao took a bowl of fish soup and walked toward the church to see Father Faria.

Baron Bruno returned from exploring the southern coast and found Father Faria teaching the Tupi hunter Amo about his language and Catholicism. Father Faria used fish soup to present conversion as the condition for receiving the Lord’s gifts, leaving Amo bewildered and intimidated.

• Father Faria asked Amo to name objects and foods in Tupi, recording words such as cashew, cassava, and toucan-feather headdress.
• Amo described the toucan headdress as a sacred object protected by forest spirits, and Father Faria recognized his reverence as idol worship.
• Bruno returned safely from exploring the southern coast and told Father Faria that the continent extended farther than they had imagined.
• Father Faria gave Amo a taste of Bruno’s salty fish soup and called it the Lord’s gift, saying that only converts and their tribes could receive it.
• Father Faria left the chapel, while Amo remained confused and watched the priest’s departing figure with fear.

Bruno recounted his fleet’s exploration of Brazil and discussed the colony’s prospects with Father Faria. Father Faria identified mahogany dye and sugarcane as sources of wealth, leaving Bruno captivated by the land’s potential.

• Bruno described the fleet’s fast voyage along Brazil’s coast, its lack of contact with powerful native kingdoms, and the names he gave to several bays and a great river.
• Father Faria asked about the Tupi natives, and Bruno claimed the sailors had traded peacefully for food despite remembering the villages they had attacked and burned.
• Father Faria urged Bruno to restrain his men and convert local people, explaining that the colony needed native labor to develop its land and produce wealth.
• Father Faria proposed making valuable red dye from mahogany, but said the colony would need many workers and farmland to produce it steadily.
• Father Faria examined Brazil’s soil and climate and concluded that the region could grow sugarcane in abundance if the colony had enough labor and livestock.
• Bruno became enthralled by the prospect of sugar production and praised Brazil as a fertile land bestowed upon Portugal.

Bruno weighed the wealth sugarcane might bring to Natal against the labor and population needed to grow it, while considering other sources of workers and the Portuguese crown’s urgency to develop the colony. As Bruno and Father Faria discussed Portugal’s concealment of the New Continent and its dangerous dispute with Castile, Columbus appeared in Aragon with a Castilian cavalry force confronting Reinhard’s mercenaries.

• Bruno learned from Father Faria that sugarcane required fertile soil, livestock manure, and thousands of settlers, so he set aside any near-term plantation plans and considered timber, dye, and imported slaves instead.
• Father Faria questioned why Bruno and the Royal House were rushing to develop Natal, and Bruno explained that the sick King John II wanted news of a southern passage before his support might end.
• Father Faria realized Portugal had concealed the New Continent from Archbishop Jorge da Costa and the Holy See, then warned that King John II’s refusal of papal mediation risked worsening the conflict with Castile.
• Bruno and Father Faria considered the danger of a Portuguese-Castilian rivalry as Bruno planned to return to Natal with more immigrants and ships.
• Columbus arrived near Barcelona and announced himself to Reinhard as the discoverer of India and Cipangu, while two hundred Castilian cavalry surrounded Reinhard’s Germany mercenary company.

Columbus arrived with Castilian royal cavalry to requisition Reinhard’s German mercenary corps for an expedition to Cipangu and India. Reinhard discovered that his men had already been hired by Duke Louis of Orleans for the French king’s Italian Wars and used the earlier contract to resist Columbus.

• A Castilian cavalryman requisitioned twenty-four sheep from an Aragonese shepherd and paid him far less than they were worth.
• Columbus reminded Reinhard of their supposed meeting near Granada and boasted that Queen Isabella had made him a baron and commander of an expeditionary force.
• Columbus presented Isabella’s requisition order, and Reinhard recognized it as a valid royal contract invoking Castile’s right of first requisition.
• Reinhard searched the order for a flaw, then pointed out that his mercenary corps had been hired earlier by Duke Louis of Orleans.
• Reinhard showed Columbus the French contract and claimed the corps had joined the French campaign in Italy.