Chapter Summaries

John planned to use a staged assassination to turn Kevin against his family, while realizing William had appointed Kevin to test and intimidate him. He then announced that the Hohenheim Family had arrived in Faoken, bringing Marshal Cain to seek treatment with the Star Lotus, and the meeting ended as John prepared to greet them.

• John explained how a staged assassination could make Kevin suspect Yuniski and Duke Mosesiris, and assigned Lunebo to arrange it using the Infiltrator Program's methods.
• John realized William had appointed Kevin as a test of his abilities and a warning to keep Faoken obedient, but resolved to pursue his own vision.
• John praised Igodala and Igonila for their efforts and announced that the Empire and Faoken would reward them.
• John revealed that Marquis Fritz, Marshal Cain, and the Hohenheim Family were coming to Faoken so Cain could seek treatment with the Star Lotus, which could win Faoken the support of a Crowned Rank neutral ally.
• Wendy received word that the Hohenheim Family's liner had docked at Berth Two, and John ended the meeting to go greet the visitors.

Marquis Fritz brought the Hohenheim Family’s adult direct-line members to Faoken, betting that Governor John Maslow could cure his father and restore the family’s fortunes. Meanwhile, Anna learned that the Special Operations Division had been demoted and replaced as the Allied Forces’ top unit by the Hero Squad.

• Marquis Fritz admired Faoken’s orderly port and urged his eldest son, Corin, to learn from what he saw.
• Britney Ludwig Hohenheim worried that visiting John could make the family a target of the Old Guard Party, but Fritz explained that he had chosen to risk everything rather than submit to its schemes.
• Fritz greeted John Maslow and announced that he had brought every adult member of the Hohenheim Family’s direct line to Faoken.
• Anna challenged Orco’s notice that the Special Operations Division had been demoted from level one to level three and required to work with the Nightwalker Oversight Team.
• Orco told Anna that the Hero Squad would replace the Special Operations Division as the new level-one unit.

Anna learned that the Special Operations Division had been demoted in favor of a new Hero Squad and decided to investigate it through secret channels. Meanwhile, Leon recognized Sharip’s exceptional strategic talent and considered nominating him for the Supreme Commander Plan.

• Orco told Anna that the Special Operations Division’s status had been downgraded, ordered her to cooperate with the Hero Squad when necessary, and insisted that the division continue training.
• Anna suspected the Hero Squad was connected to the Ehtan Faith and decided to use a trusted contact with ties to a Francia Kingdom intelligence family to investigate it.
• Anna returned to her quarters and summoned Mark Jansen to the meeting room.
• Leon lost a chess game to Sharip, who admitted that he had deliberately held back despite Leon recognizing his skill.
• Leon deduced that Sharip had traveled to seek a nomination for the Supreme Commander Plan and considered whether the unremarkable but brilliant strategist could defeat John Maslow.

Leon transferred his Allied Forces Supreme Commander candidacy to Sharip after asking him to conceal his past records and serve only as a staff officer, hoping he could one day defeat John; Maslow. Meanwhile, John revealed that Cain could recover with costly treatment and offered to pay for it himself.

• Leon explained his theory that John; Maslow used special intelligence methods to exploit commanders' personalities and combat styles, and asked Sharip to seal his records and stop commanding battles.
• Sharip accepted Leon's condition, swore not to reveal his true rank even if he faced John; Maslow, and received Leon's candidacy badge.
• Zelot told Fritz that Cain's condition was dire but that targeted medicine could restore him, though treatment would cost at least 10,000,000 D.
• John told Fritz he would pay for Cain's recovery.

John persuaded Fritz that he would pay for Cain’s treatment, prompting Fritz to consider a closer alliance between the Hohenheim Family and Faoken. After learning the treatment would cost far less than expected, John spotted an opportunity to recruit the family’s unemployed professionals to help develop Faoken.

• John and Zelot staged an argument over the cost of Cain’s treatment, and John insisted he would honor his promise to pay.
• Fritz admired John’s apparent generosity and decided to pursue deeper cooperation, including considering Britney as a possible match for John.
• John privately asked Zelot whether Fritz had noticed their act, then learned Cain’s treatment would cost 876,452 D.
• John rejected Zelot’s suggestion to inflate medicine prices and ordered him to copy the Maslow Quotations twenty times.
• John read Wendy’s report that 156 adult Hohenheim Family members had graduated from the Imperial Higher Academy, including 32 unemployed former senior managers, and saw a way to put them to work in Faoken.

Britney refused Fritz's proposal to arrange her marriage to John, then offered to become John's secret mistress and manage the Faoken Trade Guild, though Fritz forbade her from pursuing the plan. As John decided to retain the Hohenheim family's talented graduates in Faoken, Wendy reported that a Hohenheim young master had accused the casino of cheating and started a fight with its guards.

• Britney told Fritz that marrying John would risk humiliating him and harming the Hohenheim family.
• Britney proposed remaining in Faoken as John's secret mistress and helping him manage the Faoken Trade Guild, but Fritz ordered her not to pursue it.
• Britney reflected that self-interest outweighed promises of love and wondered what kind of man John would prove to be.
• John decided to keep the Hohenheim family's 156 higher-academy graduates and business talents in Faoken, but struggled to persuade Fritz to leave them there.
• Wendy told John that a Hohenheim young master had lost a fortune at the casino, accused its staff of rigging the games, and gotten his guards into a fight.

Gordon accused the House of Fortune Casino of cheating after losing twelve hands and started a fight with its security. John Maslow arrived to intervene, and Gordon froze when John recognized him.

• Gordon lost twelve consecutive Texas Hold’em hands, accused the casino of rigging the cards, and argued with the Lionfolk dealer.
• Scale Claw Black Marsh arrived with casino security, but Gordon ordered his guards to attack and demanded they capture the dealer.
• John Maslow entered the casino with Governor’s Office guards and asked the Goblin manager to take him to Room 3.
• John pretended to support the casino manager while the Hohenheim Family members were thrown out of Room 3, badly beaten.
• Gordon prepared to seek help at the Governor’s Office but froze when John asked what he was doing there.

John intervened after Gordon was beaten at a casino and offered the Hohenheim Family a Noble Offspring Reform Program to train its wayward young members. Fritz accepted the proposal with deep gratitude, then asked John what he thought of the Sixth Army Group.

• Gordon complained to John that the casino had cheated and beaten him, then offered to help clean up Faoken with eight hundred men.
• Fritz arrived, struck Gordon, and chased him with a chair after fearing his son's actions would endanger the Hohenheim Family's secret approach to Faoken.
• John stopped Fritz and proposed admitting Gordon to Faoken's Talent Training Program, which he presented as a Noble Offspring Reform Program.
• Fritz reviewed John's generous offer and accepted it, believing John was helping the Hohenheim Family out of admiration for the Empire's Hero.
• Fritz asked John for his opinion of the Sixth Army Group, leaving John uncertain as he paused with his tea.

John secured Fritz’s promise to connect Faoken with Marshal Donner and canvass votes for the Autonomous Region Restriction Act, while Roxy examined her defeat and resolved to evolve through harsher battles. The chapter ended as footsteps approached Roxy in the Sankaster estate.

• Fritz told John that Marshal Donner owed the Hohenheim Family debts and agreed to introduce him and seek support for Faoken.
• John gave Fritz an IOU for one million D to cover the costs of canvassing votes, and Fritz vowed to secure support for Faoken.
• Roxy reviewed her failures in the Fauken Campaign and recognized that her arrogance and poor leadership had contributed to her defeat.
• Roxy decided to pursue personal evolution through more brutal proving grounds and greater adversaries.
• Footsteps approached Roxy in the Sankaster estate.

Roxy was released from house arrest and ordered to lead a fifty-thousand-strong army against the Frostland Barbarians, with Morris Walderon assigned as her supervisor. At camp, she confronted her teacher Orco over his control of her past campaigns and proposed a dangerous trap that would use herself as bait.

• A royal envoy restored Roxy's command and ordered her to lead the Victoria Northern Expeditionary Army north, informing her that Morris Walderon would supervise the campaign.
• Roxy learned that General Orco was waiting at the army camp and met with him to discuss Morris's arrival and the expedition plans.
• Roxy accused Orco of interfering with her command in earlier battles, while Orco challenged her tactics and questioned her willingness to use ruthless methods.
• Roxy proposed luring the Frostland Barbarians into Bulong Icefield Valley with a three-sided encirclement, using her own ten thousand troops as bait.
• Roxy told Orco she was willing to risk her life for victory, presenting it as the lesson she had learned from her defeats to John Maslow.

Roxy learned that Orco had falsified her psychological assessment to restore her command and warned that John Maslow would defeat her unless she evolved. She left determined to go to Faoken and face John herself, as the Allied leadership planned to destroy Faoken after using the northern campaign as a pretext.

• Orco admitted that he had written Roxy’s assessment report and warned that she had not learned to cover her ruthless strategies.
• Roxy argued that the Frostland campaign could help her evolve and accused Orco of secretly engineering the conflict.
• Orco revealed that he had contained the scandal over Roxy’s attempt to slaughter allied troops and said Faoken had to be destroyed before the decisive war against the Empire.
• Orco explained that the northern expedition would provide an excuse to attack Faoken after the campaign, with the operation planned for a year later.
• Roxy rode toward the Sankaster estate and resolved to go to Faoken to face John Maslow personally.

After Fritz removed Britney from the Hohenheim family’s Talent Training Program, John decided to have Lunebo discreetly sound her out about a job with the Faoken Trade Guild. He then remembered the three captured Allied Forces Mages and prepared to interrogate them.

• Wendy gave John Fritz’s revised trainee list, which excluded Britney Ludwig Hohenheim from the Talent Training Program.
• John considered Britney’s ruthless history and suspected Fritz had a reason for leaving her out, but he kept Fritz’s changes in place.
• John told Wendy to send Lunebo to visit Britney and subtly mention that the Faoken Trade Guild was looking for branch heads.
• Wendy reminded John that three captured transcendent Mages had been imprisoned for eight days, and John decided it was time to interrogate them.
• John and Wendy grinned as they anticipated putting the captives through a harsh interrogation.

John Maslow interrogated captured Francia deputy commander Elvis Lincoln, using knowledge of his family conflicts and the threat of his ruin to force him to reveal who ordered the assassination. John then offered Elvis a chance to survive by becoming his informant inside the Allied Forces, leaving Elvis to consider the offer.

• John entered Elvis's cell with Wendy and recited details of Elvis's military record and strained position in the Lincoln Family.
• John warned Elvis that keeping him missing for three years would cost him his title, reputation, and protection, and Elvis revealed that Orco Dehart had pushed for the assassination at the Allied High Council.
• John concluded that Orco held a personal grudge against him and said Faoken would settle the account now that the assassination had failed.
• John offered Elvis a chance to survive by providing information about Allied High Command and its operations.

John pressured Elvis into accepting a secret role as an Imperial agent by arguing that the Empire could overwhelm the Allied Forces if unified and offering him a staged prison escape. Elvis agreed while secretly planning to remove any contract after returning to the Allied Forces, and John stopped at the doorway to say something more.

• John questioned Elvis about the war’s likely victor and warned that a unified Empire could defeat the Allied Forces.
• John gave Elvis a month to decide, then began to leave, prompting Elvis to ask what he would gain by accepting the offer.
• John promised Elvis freedom and a staged escape to the Francia Kingdom, while implying that the other two captured Mages might not survive.
• Elvis knelt and pledged to serve as an Imperial agent, though he secretly planned to seek the Valdren Family’s help to remove the contract.
• John headed for the door, then stopped and began speaking to Elvis without turning around.

John used fabricated intelligence and a hidden memory spell to recruit three Allied Forces Mages as agents, then released them according to plan. A week later, Fanny summoned him to the testing ground to reveal an unusual new Construct prototype.

• John explained to Wendy that he had implanted a false memory in Elvis and prepared another memory trap for Jarvis.
• John interrogated Jarvis and Morino, recruited both as supposed Empire agents, and photographed all three Mages as evidence of their defections.
• John released Elvis on the first day, Jarvis on the third, and Morino on the seventh while Fauken's development continued.
• Wendy told John that Fanny had finished her prototype ahead of schedule and urgently wanted him at the testing ground.
• John arrived at the testing ground, where Fanny pulled the black cloth from a strange, humanlike metal Construct.

John discovered that Fanny had developed the Steel Bone armor, a powerful mana-powered exoskeleton that far exceeded his expectations. After an ordinary Beastfolk soldier demonstrated its strength, John ordered Fanny to produce enough suits for an entire company within a month.

• John recognized Fanny's exoskeleton as an early version of the Steel Bone Assault Type I armor and learned about its layered defenses, detection crystal, and strength-enhancing functions.
• Fanny explained that the armor could protect a wearer from a High Mage's attack, operate for eight hours, and greatly enhance an ordinary person's movement and strength.
• John asked Fanny to demonstrate the armor, and an ordinary Beastfolk soldier activated it successfully.
• At Fanny's command, the soldier jumped seven meters into the air and landed hard enough to gouge craters into the testing ground.
• John ordered Fanny to manufacture as many suits as possible and asked her to equip an entire company within a month.

John ordered Faoken to accelerate production of Fanny's Steel Bone Armor, recognizing its potential to strengthen his forces and pressure rival clans. After securing a production plan and promising to help Fanny repair her Ancient Construct, he left her feeling at peace with her choice to join Faoken.

• John planned to use Steel Bone Armor to persuade Kevin to cooperate and to pressure the Froststar and Venomfang clans after their failed assassination attempt.
• Fanny said the workshop could produce five hundred suits in a month, explained that each cost 3,000 D, and estimated future output of up to six thousand suits monthly with sufficient materials.
• John ordered Marda's Functional Group to prioritize armor production and equip 150 Rapid Response Force members within a month.
• Fanny asked John to move Marda's explosive tests away from her workshop, and John agreed to relocate them.
• John offered to gather materials so Fanny could repair her Ancient Construct after the first armor batch was complete.
• Watching John and the others together, Fanny felt reassured that joining Faoken had been the right choice.

John visited Meyer in the garden and discovered that Wendy had tricked her into planting carrots upside down, then helped her replant them. When Meyer doubted her worth as a sage, John reassured her that he believed she would become a hero who could stand on her own.

• John left the testing ground after confirming Steel Bone Armor production could meet its target, while Wendy stayed behind to test the armor.
• John found Meyer playing with Bread in the garden and startled her, causing her to collide with his chin.
• John discovered that Meyer had dug up her carrot seedlings and replanted them with their roots above the soil, following Wendy's false instructions.
• John explained how to plant carrots and helped Meyer replant the damaged seedlings.
• Meyer admitted she felt inadequate compared with other sages, and John told her he had never given up on her potential to become a hero and an independent sage.

John persuaded Meyer to begin the Sage Plan early by traveling to the Morning Star Clan, while secretly intending to help her mature through a staged crisis. As Meyer set out, the Empire opened a major assembly to deliberate on a bill restricting military expansion in autonomous regions, a measure aimed at Faoken.

• John explained that Fanny's Steel Bone Armor had accelerated his plans and asked Meyer to travel to the Morning Star Clan as the sage's successor; Meyer agreed.
• Meyer decided to ask Major Wendy to watch Fanny and protect her chances with John.
• Six days later, Meyer left Faoken with the Morning Star Clan's caravan, escorted by a hundred elite assassins from the Silver Moon Clan.
• In Ereno, 821 legislators gathered at Westru Palace as Wolf Caster opened deliberations on the Bill to Restrict Military Expansion in the Imperial Autonomous Regions on behalf of William Perus.

Wolf introduced the Restriction Bill, which would sharply limit the military and political autonomy of Faoken, and the Empire's factions prepared for a vote that seemed certain to pass. Fritz delivered Marshal Cain's mysterious letter to Donner Quixote, who agreed to try to influence the vote, leaving its outcome uncertain.

• Wolf presented three restrictions limiting autonomous regions' troops, heavy magic equipment, and senior officer appointments, with a vote scheduled four hours later.
• Gerald led the Reformists to a private meeting while Fritz held a list of twenty-seven councilors who planned to oppose the bill.
• Fritz recalled that his father, Marshal Cain, had left a sealed letter intended to persuade Donner Quixote to help.
• An hour before the vote, Fritz met Donner in a secluded lounge and gave him Cain's letter.
• After reading the letter, Donner agreed to see what he could do about the vote, though he left the result to Faoken's luck.