Recaps

Selvia Reinhart retaliated against Steward Pino when he tried to force her to Baron Myka Hartman’s manor, killing his guards and leaving him gravely wounded. She arrived at the manor, where Myka dismissed his staff and addressed her as a Half-Dragon from the Empire.

• Steward Pino brought armed guards to Selvia’s home and used beaten Unity Society members to pressure her into accepting Baron Hardman’s invitation.
• Selvia transformed into her Half-Dragon form, tore off Pino’s arm, and killed all twelve guards.
• Selvia ordered Pino to take her to the baron and urged him to hurry so a physician might save him.
• At the manor, Baron Myka Hartman dismissed his secretary and guards before speaking privately with Selvia.
• Myka said Pino’s actions would not damage their friendship and invited Selvia, whom he identified as a Half-Dragon from the Empire, to sit.

Sellviya learned that the Allied Forces wanted her to assassinate John Maslow, the Imperial commander bound for Bahamut Town, in exchange for a place in the Fifth Allied Forces Battle Group. She accepted Myka’s plan but insisted on becoming his daughter to protect herself from being discarded afterward.

• Sellviya deduced that Myka had received special orders and learned that the Empire was sending John Maslow and more than six hundred troops to occupy Bahamut Town.
• Myka offered Sellviya a captain’s position in the Fifth Allied Forces Battle Group if she killed John Maslow, whom he described as a cunning commander responsible for the Allied Forces’ defeat.
• Sellviya questioned how she could assassinate John Maslow while facing hundreds of Imperial Mage Soldiers, so Myka explained the Star of Dawn’s plan to feign surrender, lure Maslow into trusting him, and distract his forces with a staged counterattack.
• Sellviya agreed to the mission but demanded that Myka make her his daughter instead of disguising her as a maid, tying their interests together before John Maslow arrived.

John led the joint force toward Bahamut Town and used a false threat assessment to persuade Laiya to cooperate with his plans. He left the troops resting by the Dom River, with Wendy forced to share his jeep ride and Laiya unknowingly positioned as his scapegoat.

• John led six hundred soldiers toward Bahamut Town, then regretted riding in a painfully jolting jeep after Wendy had knowingly refused to join him.
• John ordered the troops to rest by the Dom River and forced Wendy to ride in the jeep with him as payback for not warning him.
• John summoned Laiya to discuss the mission, and Wendy stayed when he insisted she learn how to command.
• John claimed the Allied Forces Fifth Legion might be hiding in Bahamut Town and using local villagers as informants, though he knew the enemy had likely fled the area.
• John planned to use the false threat to justify splitting the troops and privately regarded Laiya as the scapegoat for the defeat he intended to bring about.

John tried to persuade Laiya to lead a force to Bahamut Town as bait while he infiltrated nearby villages for intelligence. After clarifying that her task was simply to fight and hold the enemy’s attention, he got her to accept the mission.

• John proposed splitting the troops, with Laiya leading five hundred men toward Bahamut Town while he gathered intelligence with the 14th Squad and seventy soldiers.
• Laiya refused, doubting her ability to command and fearing she would ruin John’s plan.
• John challenged Laiya’s loyalty and courage, then explained that her force only needed to engage the garrison without decisively defeating it.
• Laiya understood that the bait mission suited her combat skills and firmly accepted John’s orders.

John sent Laiya to attack Bahamut Town as bait, expecting her to draw Sellviya into a fight, while Laiya misunderstood his warning as faith in her abilities and resolved to kill the red-haired woman. After Laiya left to prepare the troops, John caught Wendy trying to sneak away and dragged her toward his jeep.

• John warned Laiya to watch out for the dangerous red-haired Sellviya and to flee if she could not win.
• Laiya mistook John's warning for trust in her strength and resolved to kill Sellviya to prove herself worthy of being his blade.
• Laiya left to gather the troops and carry out John's bait plan against Bahamut Town.
• John noticed Wendy trying to escape into the bushes, and Wendy claimed she had been looking for a grasshopper.
• John grabbed Wendy by the collar and dragged her toward his jeep despite her pleas.

John and Wendy traveled toward Stone Village, where Wendy intercepted a suspicious merchant caravan and John initially ordered her to release it. After learning the caravan carried goods worth 500,000 D, John abruptly reconsidered his dismissal.

• Wendy pleaded to leave John's bumpy jeep ride, and John ordered the driver to stop.
• Wendy fled after spotting John's intent to torment her, then returned and reported detaining a suspicious merchant caravan.
• John told Wendy to release the merchants and lecture the soldiers about upholding the Empire's image.
• Wendy said the caravan's gold and luxury goods were worth about 500,000 D, and John reacted in disbelief.

Dick Hardman’s caravan was stopped by an Imperial unit near Stone Village, and John became determined to seize the gold he found in their wagon. John accused the caravan of being Allied Forces spies and threatened to execute them unless they proved their identities.

• Imperial soldiers stopped Dick Hardman’s disguised caravan near Stone Village as it tried to leave Walden Territory.
• John uncovered the wagon’s gold and jewels while Dick offered him half the valuables to prove the caravan’s loyalty to the Empire.
• Dick realized John was scrutinizing the cargo’s inscriptions and serial numbers rather than simply bargaining for the valuables.
• John decided to claim the gold by portraying the caravan as thieves and concealing his excitement from those watching.
• John accused Dick’s group of being Allied Forces spies and demanded proof of their identities, threatening to execute them under Imperial regulations.

John accused Dick’s caravan of being Allied spies, then used the threat to pressure Dick into handing over the gold as a supposed voluntary donation. After declaring the merchants innocent, John faced Wendy’s renewed suspicion that they should still be sent for interrogation.

• John accused Dick’s caravan of being Allied Forces spies, and Dick feared his group would be killed or interrogated.
• John suggested the caravan had brought its gold to support the Empire, and Dick eagerly agreed to the explanation.
• John hinted that the Imperial soldiers needed assistance, and Dick offered all the gold to John’s unit in exchange for a written donation certificate.
• John accepted the certificate, declared Dick and the caravan innocent, and prepared to release them.
• Wendy told John she still considered the caravan suspicious and recommended sending them to the interrogation department.

John realized that Reddick’s caravan might be carrying Allied Forces military funds and decided to keep them in custody rather than seize the gold or report them. He told Wendy his apparent greed had been a test, then offered to escort Reddick and the caravan to Bahamut Town while promising to protect them.

• Wendy warned John that the caravan’s gold was too valuable for ordinary merchants, prompting him to suspect they belonged to the Allied Forces.
• John decided to hold Reddick and the caravan so he could return the funds if they were Allied Forces members and pursue his plan to change jobs.
• John praised Wendy and claimed he had deliberately acted greedy to test her judgment, and Wendy believed him.
• John told Reddick he suspected his identity and proposed escorting the caravan to Bahamut Town until their identities and safety could be verified.

John Maslow questioned the captured merchant Reddick, whom he mistakenly believed was an Allied Forces ally and a potential partner in his plan to defect. Reddick tried to preserve his merchant identity under John's threatening questions, and John invited him into the jeep to talk further.

• Dick recognized John Maslow as the target of the Allied Forces' assassination plan and panicked, fearing the plan had been exposed.
• John considered Reddick a possible Allied Forces spy and decided to question him while pretending to be friendly.
• John reassured Reddick that Imperial soldiers would not harm him or his Lineage unless he had betrayed their trust, then asked to learn about business.
• Reddick forced a smile and agreed that family should help one another and that he was happy to discuss business.
• John mistook Reddick's frightened response for confirmation that he was an Allied Forces ally and invited him into the jeep for a private conversation.

John tried to signal to Reddick that he wanted to defect to the Allied Forces, while Reddick mistook the conversation for an Imperial interrogation and praised the Empire instead. The two continued toward Stone Village, with John still hoping to get Reddick to discuss his journey to the Victoria Kingdom.

• John asked Reddick why his caravan included elderly people and children, and Reddick claimed he had taken them in out of kindness.
• Reddick described the caravan's jewelry, accessories, and clothing business, and offered to have clothes tailored for John.
• John praised the Victoria Kingdom's tulips and hinted that he wanted to travel there, hoping Reddick would recognize his defection signal.
• Reddick praised the Empire's chrysanthemums instead, believing he had avoided John's trap.
• John concealed his frustration, agreed that he liked chrysanthemums, and asked Reddick about his planned business in the Victoria Kingdom.

Dick tried to convince John that he had come to the Victoria Kingdom to trade for silk and recruit silk-making craftsmen, while John weighed the story against his suspicions. John exposed a gap in Dick’s knowledge of the kingdom’s silk laws and asked whether he had been lying.

• Dick told John that he hoped to recruit silk craftsmen and bring silk production to the Empire to earn Emperor William Perus’s favor.
• John considered the history of Xianqin and concluded that Dick’s plan sounded plausible, but he remained suspicious.
• John praised Dick’s supposed business foresight, and Dick believed he had convinced him.
• John asked Dick about a Victoria Kingdom law that had placed silk production under royal control six years earlier.
• Dick’s smile stiffened and he broke into a cold sweat as John asked whether he had been lying.

John Maslow used a false accusation about Victoria’s trade decree to frighten Dick Reddick into nearly confessing his ties to the Allied Forces, then revealed that he had made a deliberate mistake. John concluded that Dick was his ally, and the jeep arrived at Stone Village.

• Dick Reddick panicked when John appeared to suspect him of being an Allied Forces spy, but John offered him an excuse for recruiting foreign merchants.
• Dick accepted John's explanation and claimed that his private channels let him bypass Victoria's oversight of merchant recruitment.
• John challenged Dick's account by pointing out that the cited decree concerned iron ore prices, not silk trading rights, and Dick grew convinced he was trapped.
• Dick prepared to betray his father and the Allied Forces to save House Hartman, but John corrected himself and said the silk reform bill had been introduced three years earlier.
• Dick changed the subject by praising John's loyalty to the Empire, while John privately recognized Dick as an ally.
• Wendy announced over the communications device that the jeep had arrived at Stone Village.

John confronted his soldiers after Wendy mistakenly detained Mike as an Allied Forces spy, then tried to reassure the terrified villager and repair the Empire’s reputation. He ordered Mike’s injury treated and continued toward Stone Village, reflecting on his isolation and his limited ability to change the world around him.

• Wendy detained Mike, believing his flight from the Imperial soldiers proved he was an Allied Forces spy, and offered to interrogate him.
• John dismissed the guards, apologized to Mike, and explained that the Imperial Army had come to camp and announce new policies rather than harm civilians.
• Mike revealed that he was sixteen and planned to marry Mary, while John offered him a wedding gift as compensation for Wendy’s actions.
• Mike nervously praised John and the soldiers as good people, prompting John to recognize how deeply civilians feared the Imperial Army.
• John ordered the soldiers to treat Mike’s forehead wound and walked toward Stone Village, troubled by his loneliness and inability to change the larger system.

John arrived at Stone Village and tried to reassure its frightened villagers that his Imperial soldiers had come to inspect, not plunder. After giving them canned meat and ordering his men to protect the village, he visited Chief Ernest’s home, leaving Ernest bewildered by his unexpected kindness.

• John greeted Chief Ernest and explained that the Imperial Army had come to inspect Stone Village, while Ernest feared they would repeat the Allied Forces’ earlier abuses.
• John told Ernest to send the villagers back to their work and offered help, surprising Ernest by showing no anger when the villagers dispersed.
• John gave Ernest twelve cans of meat as a first-visit gift, then ordered his soldiers to camp outside the village, patrol nearby, and avoid harming farmland or villagers.
• John slowed his pace to accommodate Ernest’s limp and stopped to admire the scenery, making their walk to Ernest’s home take an hour.
• At Ernest’s home, Ernest reflected on John’s strange conduct, then poured him a cup of warm water and thanked him.

John learned from Ernest how crushing taxes and debt trapped Stone Village’s villagers, deepening his doubts about serving the Empire. When Mike accidentally insulted Imperial soldiers in front of him, John calmly warned the boy to stay alive and left the village.

• Ernest denied that the villagers’ injuries came from the Allied Forces and claimed they had fought over water.
• John promised to arrange a new well and asked Ernest about Stone Village’s taxes.
• Ernest described eleven taxes and predatory loans that forced families to mortgage their children, and John realized how close villagers were to starvation.
• John reflected that the Empire’s noble-driven policies made its downfall inevitable and that he had no power to reform it.
• Mike arrived with canned meat and called Imperial soldiers “dogs” in front of John, terrifying both Mike and Ernest.
• John patted Mike’s head, advised him not to insult people to their faces if he wanted to stay alive, and left the village.

Ernest decided to risk trusting John, the Xianqin descendant, to protect Stone Village from the Imperial Army and summoned his son and the other villagers. Back at camp, John began writing a report to General Dormammu about the old noble system.

• Ernest scolded Mike for wanting to eat the canned food, then sent him to fetch his father and Uncle Pulida.
• Ernest hid Mike’s two cans and chose to gamble on John’s goodwill rather than trust the Kingdom’s or Empire’s nobles.
• Mike ran to find his father, while Ernest watched children returning from gathering intelligence and resolved to risk everything for Stone Village.
• John returned to camp, found the soldiers training or studying, and told Wendy not to disturb him.
• John sat down to write a report titled “On the Harm of the Old Noble System to the Empire's Unification.”

John wrote a reform bill targeting the old noble system and planned to use it to transfer from the military into government service, advance reforms, and eventually retire. As he prepared to send the bill to Dormammu, he sensed explosive magic and suspected Wendy had found Allied Forces troops.

• John detailed how the old noble system harmed citizens, commerce, and the Empire, then sealed the reform proposal in three copies for Dormammu.
• John reasoned that Dormammu might take the bill to Emperor William and push through some reforms despite opposition from the Old Guard Party.
• John planned to use the reform campaign and his expected political setbacks to leave the battlefield, enter the administration, and later retire.
• John emerged from his tent and learned from two soldiers that Sergeant Wendy had left to carry out a task he did not remember assigning her.
• John sensed thickening magic power, saw a dark crimson magic circle on a distant hill, and wondered whether Wendy had found Allied Forces troops as an explosion sounded.

Wendy mistook nine Stone Village men for Allied Forces spies, then learned they had come to report an enemy hiding place. Their leader, Siegfried, offered to guide the Imperial Army to the Allied Forces soldiers in Horseshoe Mountain and fight alongside them.

• Wendy guarded John's tent while planning to cook him a Stargazy Pie.
• Two auxiliary soldiers told Wendy that Stone Village villagers had arrived with important intelligence, and she arranged extra guards before meeting them.
• Wendy recognized the nine sturdy men and concluded they were Allied Forces spies.
• Siegfried recounted how he gained Wild Hunt Power, fled persecution, and secretly strengthened himself to protect his family and village.
• Siegfried told Wendy that Allied Forces soldiers had plundered Stone Village and revealed their hiding place in the valley at the center of Horseshoe Mountain.
• Siegfried offered to guide the Imperial Army to the enemy and join the fight.

Wendy recognized Siegfried as a rare mutated mage and led him and nine Mage Soldiers toward the Allied Forces concealed in the Horseshoe Mountain valley. After reconnaissance revealed 431 enemy troops and a major, Wendy ordered the squad to attack without a plan, convinced the ten Imperial soldiers had the advantage.

• Wendy examined Siegfried's magic and concluded he possessed unusual solidified magical formula circuits, then decided to bring him along to eliminate the Allied Forces.
• Wendy selected nine Mage Soldiers from the 14th Squad and ordered Siegfried to lead them to the enemy, despite his warning that more than 300 elite troops were waiting.
• A soldier from the 14th Squad reported that 431 Allied Forces troops, including a major, were in the valley and that they belonged to the Fifth Legion.
• Wendy punished Charlie Mambo for previously questioning Captain John and ordered him to copy the Maslow Quotations one hundred times.
• Wendy dismissed Siegfried's request to discuss an attack plan and ordered the 14th Squad into Level One Combat Status to annihilate the enemy and capture the major alive.

John praised Wendy for capturing an Allied Forces major, then warned her about the Empire’s enemies and the duties of its soldiers. His speech drew the admiration of Siegfried Fafner, whose unexpected appearance left John pale and desperate to believe he was only seeing an illusion.

• Wendy credited John’s influence among Stone Village’s civilians for helping her capture an Allied Forces major and explained her view of the Empire’s mission.
• John accepted that the capture disrupted his plans and instructed Wendy that the Empire’s enemies included exploiters and anyone undermining its development.
• Siegfried Fafner applauded John’s speech, and John recognized him as a future villain he thought was still living in seclusion five years before.
• John asked Wendy who the newcomer was, but she admitted she did not know and asked him his name.
• Siegfried introduced himself as Ernest Fafner’s eldest son and thanked John and the Imperial Army for helping Stone Village.

John stopped Siegfried from asking to enlist, urging him to protect his family and promising Stone Village would improve. Knowing Siegfried’s tragic future as the Empire’s experimental weapon, John hoped to keep him out of the army, though he feared the political consequences if the Empire’s leaders targeted him.

• John interrupted Siegfried before he could ask to join the Empire and urged him to remain a civilian for his family’s sake.
• John promised that Stone Village would improve and refused to approve Siegfried’s enlistment.
• John recalled how, in the original storyline, Duke Mosesiris had arranged for Siegfried’s family to be killed and made him the core subject of the Imperial New Mage Combat Corps.
• John remembered Siegfried’s experiments, his transformation into the source of the Twelve Guardians, and his eventual death after his final arrow failed to stop Damocles.
• John feared that enlisting Siegfried could draw him into Duke Mosesiris’s plans and force John into a dangerous confrontation that would ruin his hopes for a peaceful life.

John rejected Siegfried’s enlistment, then tried to keep Wendy from turning his remarks into Maslowist doctrine. He headed to interrogate the captured Allied Forces major, suspecting the major knew where another shipment of gold was hidden.

• Siegfried thanked John and left Stone Village after John declined his enlistment application.
• Wendy urged John to reconsider, but he cited recruitment rules and warned her against favoritism and abusing authority.
• Wendy recorded John’s remarks in her green notebook and embellished them as new Maslowist teachings.
• John redirected Wendy toward interrogating the captured Allied Forces major and wondered why the Allied Forces had come to the area.
• John suspected the major was connected to a shipment of gold and hurried toward the tent, eager to question him.

Major Will Hoffman was captured after his unit’s raid failed, and he was shocked when John Maslow appeared to interrogate him. John believed Will knew where a huge sum of Allied Forces gold was hidden and tried to persuade him to reveal it.

• Will Hoffman remembered that his soldiers’ looting of Stone Village had exposed their hidden position and led to their defeat.
• Will resolved to remain silent, believing Lieutenant General Roxy would later exchange prisoners and rescue him.
• John Maslow entered the interrogation tent, and Will was stunned to see the assassination target in front of him.
• John claimed he already knew Will’s plan and interpreted Will’s shock as proof that he was guarding a fortune in Allied Forces gold.
• John urged Will to hand over the gold in exchange for his life, while imagining how he would invest the money after the war.

John tried to break Major Will's resistance and learn where the gold was hidden, using insults, pressure, and a staged threat of execution. Just as Will began to offer information, a female Imperial soldier brought in a man who looked almost exactly like Baron Myka, leaving Will stunned and resentful.

• Will denied knowing about the Allied Forces' plan, so John taunted him about Lieutenant General Roxy and the failed mission.
• Will attacked John in anger, and Hawk struck him with a rifle butt, breaking his teeth before hauling him up by the hair.
• Will continued to deny knowledge and demanded prisoner treatment, while John stopped questioning him and created a tense silence.
• John checked his watch and remarked that the timing was right, prompting Will to begin offering information.
• A chestnut-haired female soldier entered with a flattering man whose face nearly matched Baron Myka's, shocking Will.