Chapter Summaries

While Sifa fought the war at sea through a Time Projection, he secretly returned to Backlund to arrange a trap for the Black Saint, Catherine. Katarina agreed to help lure her with a Trissy projection, but demanded that Don Quixote restore her freedom afterward.

• Sifa left his Sequence 4 Time Projection to command his ship and traveled secretly to Backlund to find Katarina.
• Dean Wengris confronted Katarina in a Dock District warehouse and told her Don Quixote was ready to act.
• Dean Wengris revealed that their plan required Katarina to stage a play and pray to Catherine at the crucial moment.
• Sifa’s Sequence 4 Trissy projection appeared, startling Katarina, who recognized that it lacked Trissy’s connection to the Primordial.
• Katarina warned that Catherine would identify the projection as fake but agreed to help lure her, provided Don Quixote restored her freedom.

Klein learned that Amon had gone to Backlund, while Sifa witnessed a divine lightning strike and postponed his plans. Days later, Katarina escaped Hunters with help from a Demoness and revealed that she had hidden Trissy in a house on Boklund Street, just as a Hunter Angel approached.

• Klein heard Leonard's prayers and learned that Amon had gone to Backlund and stolen Adam's Corpse Cathedral, so he retrieved the Box of the Great Old Ones.
• Sifa saw a lightning bolt bearing the aura of a True God vanish before it struck Backlund and decided to delay his plans.
• Katarina prayed to Catherine for help as Dean Wengris and his Pyromaniacs pursued her through the woods.
• A senior Demoness helped Katarina escape the Hunters, and Katarina said Trissy had survived invoking a divine descent.
• Katarina led the senior Demoness to a house on Boklund Street, where Trissy was bound in a bedroom.
• Katarina sensed the Hunter Angel approaching and warned that they were in danger.

Sifa trapped Catherine, Katarina, the Demoness demigod, and Trissy in a desert using the Box of the Great Old Ones. He revealed his identity as Don Quixote and offered Catherine a trade involving a ring engraved with “To my beloved Catherine.”

• Catherine answered Katarina’s prayer and arrived at the house where Trissy was hidden.
• Sifa opened the Box of the Great Old Ones and transported everyone to a desert without mirrors.
• Sifa stopped Catherine’s attack by repeating, “He came, he loved, he left,” then identified himself as Don Quixote.
• Sifa told Katarina she had done well, and Katarina chose to follow him rather than return to the Demoness Sect.
• Catherine offered to bring Sifa a Conqueror Beyonder Characteristic in exchange for her release, but Sifa rejected the proposal.
• Sifa showed Catherine a ruby ring engraved “To my beloved Catherine,” and she reacted with surprise.

Sifa pressured Black Saint Catherine into revealing the genuine Conqueror Beyonder characteristic while protecting himself with a threat against Charles’s ashes. Katarina chose to remain with Sifa, who then summoned a powerful force of allies around them.

• Sifa repeatedly melted convincing copies of Catherine’s ring to unsettle her and control the negotiations.
• Catherine retrieved the genuine Sequence 1 Conqueror Beyonder characteristic from her purse, then considered leaving with it.
• Catherine offered Katarina forgiveness and proposed joining forces against Sifa, but Katarina declined and said she trusted Don Quixote more.
• Sifa revealed a gathering of demigods, Saints, and over a hundred Pyromaniacs surrounding Katarina.
• Amyrius’s projection declared that teleportation was prohibited, making it harder for Catherine to escape.

Sifa and Catherine’s supposed exchange turned into a series of traps, leaving Catherine under attack from Sifa’s boosted allies while she struggled to escape. Katarina and the Pyromaniacs joined the assault as Sifa used Glory’s Light to strengthen his forces and suppress the Demonesses.

• Catherine agreed to trade a Sequence 1 Beyonder Characteristic for Sifa’s ring, but the crown vanished as she launched a petrifying tide and used spider silk to snatch the ring.
• Sifa revealed that the ring was a fake and that it had been rigged to melt in flames, while the Mysticologist trapped several Demoness Sect demigods inside the Box of the Great Old Ones.
• Catherine escaped the box with an Angel-level Staff Substitution and summoned a blizzard, but Sifa replaced it with fog and sent the Pyromaniacs’ Flame Spears after her.
• Sifa’s Glory’s Light boosted his allies and suppressed Catherine’s abilities, while Katarina followed his orders and drove a gray tide toward Catherine.

Sifa’s allies trapped the Black Saint Catherine with attacks from the Mysticologist, Reinette Tinekerr, and Dean Wengris, but Catherine escaped their attempts to capture her. She reappeared in the desert and warned them that she could still reveal her complete mythical creature form at a cost.

• Trissy’s Projection harassed Catherine with black flames while Cattleya’s projection resisted the Box of the Great Old Ones and attacked with Sleeping Beauty and Longinus’s Spear.
• Catherine used the Evil God’s Gaze to possess Katarina and snap her neck, but a solemn voice prohibited possession and forced Catherine out of Katarina’s body.
• Reinette Tinekerr emerged from the fog, but Catherine used Mirror Substitution to evade her transformation and turn the Ancient Bane into a giant rabbit briefly.
• Reinette Tinekerr bound Catherine’s clothes and covered the artifact’s eye as Dean Wengris restrained her, but both vanished into the Box of the Great Old Ones.
• Catherine escaped with another Mirror Substitution, appeared in the desert, and told her pursuers to stop or face her complete mythical creature form.

Sifa and Catherine tried to trade the Conqueror characteristic and a ruby ring, but Katarina warned Sifa that Catherine might have cursed the characteristic. Catherine revealed her mythical creature form and fought Sifa and Reinette Tinekerr, ending trapped in Sifa’s sandstorm and flames while still facing another Angel.

• Catherine agreed to trade the Conqueror characteristic for the genuine ruby ring, and both placed their items on the ground.
• Katarina warned Sifa that Catherine might have cursed the characteristic, so Catherine revealed her mythical creature form and affected Katarina with Charm.
• Sifa revealed his flame giant form and attacked Catherine, but she retrieved the characteristic and escaped the flames while charming them aside.
• Catherine tried to curse Sifa with her Sealed Artifact, but an ice mirror reflected its effect onto her, and Reinette Tinekerr cursed her as well.
• Catherine escaped Reinette Tinekerr’s curse, but Sifa created a sandstorm and attacked her with flames, leaving her struggling against both elements while Reinette Tinekerr remained nearby.

Sifa captured Catherine with the Box of the Great Old Ones and brought Katarina back to Backlund. Nearly twenty-four hours later, he released Catherine inside a prayer room at Holy Wind Cathedral, where she immediately asked where she was.

• Reinette Tinekerr cursed Catherine while Sifa intensified the flames, and Cattleya's projection used Betrayal Feast to turn Catherine's Sealed Artifact against her.
• Sifa's Box of the Great Old Ones captured Catherine as a doll, and he dismissed his projections after the sandstorm subsided.
• Sifa used the Traveler's Gazetteer to take Katarina to Backlund, then left her in the city and returned to the Trafalgar.
• Sifa decided to release Catherine before the Box's twenty-four-hour limit and chose Holy Wind Cathedral as the location.
• Sifa disguised himself in an empty prayer room and released Catherine, who scanned her surroundings and asked where she was.

Sifa completed his negotiation with Catherine at Holy Wind Cathedral, trading the Conqueror Beyonder characteristic for her ruby ring and taking her Sealed Artifact and purse in exchange for her life. Meanwhile, Klein protected Dorian from the Abraham Family curse, and Reinette Tinekerr arrived to ask Sifa about the Sealed Artifact.

• Sifa chose Holy Wind Cathedral as a neutral venue, and Catherine brought him the cursed crown in exchange for the ruby ring.
• After the Scholar of Yore checked the crown, Sifa demanded Catherine's Grade 0 Sealed Artifact and purse as payment for sparing her life.
• Catherine accepted the terms and left; Sifa stored the crown and Evil God's Gaze, then donated her purse's contents to the Church of Storms.
• Klein answered Dorian's prayer and used Sefirah Castle's power to shield him from the Abraham Family curse during the full moon.
• Reinette Tinekerr appeared in Sifa's room and said the snake-haired woman had told her the Sealed Artifact was in his hands.

Sifa negotiated a three-year agreement with Reinette Tinekerr, who left her student Sharron to assist him in exchange for the Evil God's Gaze. After examining the Box of the Great Old Ones’ new abilities, Sifa prepared to leave the military and Loen with a spectacular final performance.

• Sifa bargained with Reinette Tinekerr and agreed to give her the Evil God's Gaze in exchange for three years of assistance.
• Reinette Tinekerr returned with Sharron, a Sequence 4 Marionettist, and assigned her to stay by Sifa’s side and contact her when he needed help.
• Sifa handed the Evil God's Gaze to Sharron for safekeeping, and Sharron concealed herself inside a mirror.
• Sifa inspected the Box of the Great Old Ones and found it had gained Mirror Illusion and Calamity: Earthquake from Catherine.
• Sifa reviewed his preparations for becoming a Sequence 1 Conqueror and decided he could begin planning to leave the military and Loen after a spectacular farewell performance.

Sifa led the Royal Third Fleet through a fierce battle against the Feysac fleet, but a later ambush and a clash with a royal Weather Warlock ended with reports that he had died covering his ships’ retreat. In Enqi Town, Helibel heard the news and broke down, while Enilu held out hope that Sifa was still alive.

• Sifa used projections of himself and Nefi to command the Royal Third Fleet, which fought off the Feysac fleet and pursued its retreating ships.
• A combined Feysac and Intis fleet ambushed the pursuing flotilla, and Sifa’s projection fought to help it escape.
• A Feysac Weather Warlock of royal descent arrived, and Sifa’s projection and Nefi’s projection stayed behind to face the enemy as the flotilla withdrew.
• A man identified as Your Highness Don Quixote left Backlund with Katarina to travel around.
• Helibel heard a newsboy report that the Royal Third Fleet’s commander had died, and she returned home in tears.
• Enilu comforted Helibel and suggested that Sifa might still be alive.

Chapter Summary: “The Unemployed Magician”

• Setting and conflict: The chapter opens in the Amanda Mountains, where Loen and Feysac forces are locked in a brutal, repetitive war. The defensive line has been breached several times, and constant cannon fire, blizzards, and heavy casualties have turned the region into a “human meat grinder.”
• Villa Village: Hidden in a valley and isolated by deep winter snow, Villa Village has escaped direct destruction. Its population has grown with refugees from Midseashire and elsewhere. Villagers survive by clearing snow from their homes and streets, while the adult men also form a self-defense team.
• Jack and Hank: Young Jack, a refugee who has settled in the village, enjoys helping his father, Hank, shovel snow. Their ordinary morning changes when Jack notices two mysterious travelers entering the village despite the blocked roads.
• Arrival of the strangers: Hank confronts the travelers with a hunting rifle. The male stranger claims they are harmless wanderers and demonstrates supernatural abilities by creating a flame that transforms into a sparrow. Jack immediately recognizes him as a Magician.
• The magician’s performance: The magician introduces himself indirectly as a former performer who lost his livelihood after the war made people lose interest in magic shows. When Hank jokingly asks him to stop the blizzard, the magician snaps his fingers—and the wind and snow genuinely cease.
• Village reaction: Sunlight breaks through the clouds, bringing warmth and hope to the isolated villagers. The people celebrate enthusiastically, dancing and cheering in the snow.
• Introduction of Don Quixote: Hank proudly presents the stranger to the villagers as a “great magician,” identifying him as Don Quixote. Don’s female companion is described as his assistant, though she remains unnamed and largely silent in this excerpt.

Character Development and Interactions

• Hank shifts from suspicion and defensiveness to amazement, gratitude, and admiration. He initially treats Don as a possible threat but becomes his public supporter after witnessing the magic.
• Jack is curious and easily impressed, immediately recognizing Don’s supernatural talent and helping establish the magician’s welcoming image among the villagers.
• Don Quixote appears friendly, theatrical, and confident. His self-description as an unemployed performer adds humor and suggests that he conceals extraordinary powers beneath an ordinary appearance.
• The villagers move collectively from isolation and hardship to excitement and renewed hope after Don changes the weather.

Major Themes

• War and civilian suffering: The broader war creates fear, displacement, death, and economic disruption, even in places not directly attacked.
• Hope amid despair: Don’s arrival and the sudden sunlight symbolize relief and the possibility of hope in an otherwise bleak, war-torn world.
• Appearance versus reality: Don looks like an ordinary wanderer and claims to be merely a magician, but his abilities are clearly far beyond normal performance.
• The power of wonder and community: A single miraculous event unites the villagers, transforming their mood and bringing collective joy after months of hardship.

Sifa and Katarina traveled under the guise of a wizard and his assistant, using magic to convince a skeptical village and leave behind another local legend. Afterward, Sifa revealed that they were heading to Lenburg to pursue his own plans.

• Duke challenged the Magician to make it rain, and Sifa summoned a cold downpour that made the villagers believe in his power.
• Sifa stopped the rain when Duke and the villagers begged him to bring back the sun.
• Hank welcomed Sifa and Katarina into his home, where Sifa revealed their identities and summoned Sharron from a gold coin.
• Sifa recalled faking the deaths of his Sequence 4 and Nefi's Sequence 5 projections to leave the military and travel with Katarina and Sharron.
• Sifa told Katarina they would travel to Lenburg, where he planned to learn about the Sealed Artifact 0-01.

Sifa prepared to pursue the Hunter Uniqueness by approaching the Church of Knowledge, and Edwina agreed to arrange his meeting with her teacher in Lenburg. After leaving a village with advice to pray to the Weather God, Sifa and Katarina arrived near Lenburg’s warfront as an Intis Hunter squad attacked.

• Sifa entertained Hank’s son Jack with a miniature storm, making the boy happy and easing Hank’s worries.
• Miss Viri delivered Edwina’s letter, which said her teacher welcomed Sifa’s offer to help Lenburg and would answer his questions.
• Sifa left the village with Katarina, gave the villagers his honorific name, and told them they could pray to the Weather God for good weather.
• Sifa created a fiery sparrow that dazzled Jack and the villagers before he and Katarina vanished from the snowy ground.
• An Intis squad of Hunters attacked Lenburg’s border fortifications with a Flame Spear and compressed Fireballs.

Anderson Hood took command of a defensive sector in Lenburg and provoked the Intis troops into intensifying their attack. Sifa spotted Anderson from the Central Plateau, then traveled with Katarina to Lenburg’s capital.

• The commander handed Anderson Hood and his Hunters a defensive sector after Anderson claimed his affection for Lenburg and promised to hold it.
• Anderson urged the Soldiers to trust him, then taunted the Intis troops until they unleashed a barrage of fireballs.
• Anderson’s Soldiers glared at him as he prepared to act, while he sensed something toward the Central Plateau.
• Sifa recognized Anderson from a distant hillside and explained to Katarina that he had likely come to fight the Intis and seek advancement.
• Sifa and Katarina reached Lenburg’s capital that evening, where Katarina used her abilities to secure their lodging and conceal their presence.

Sifa used a Sequence 5 projection of himself to gain the Church of Knowledge’s trust and accepted a mission to assassinate Guskes. He then went to the Rorsted Sea and summoned the ghost ship Celeste, leaving his next move poised to begin.

• Sifa controlled his Sequence 5 projection, Hunter Rayleigh, and met Kranbarit at a Church of Knowledge church using Edwina’s letter of recommendation.
• Rayleigh explained his interest in Sealed Artifacts and offered to earn compensation by completing tasks for the Church of Knowledge.
• Kranbarit tasked Rayleigh with assassinating Guskes, an Intis official and Conspirer responsible for planning the invasion of Lenburg.
• Sifa decided to have Katarina handle the assassination while Rayleigh took credit, and set himself a two-month deadline to investigate 0-01.
• After Sifa left, Katarina questioned Sharron about her relationship with His Highness, and Sharron refused to answer.
• Sifa reached a deserted island in the Rorsted Sea, recited Celeste’s honorific name, and summoned the ghost ship from beneath the water.

Sifa commissioned Abrio to recruit at least ten thousand soldiers for an army, then returned to Lenburg to pursue the Church of Knowledge's assignment. As Guskes prepared an assault on Lenburg's capital, an uncanny passage opened behind him.

• Sifa boarded the Celeste and asked Abrio to recruit an army of at least ten thousand, providing ten thousand gold pounds as starting funds.
• Sifa returned to the capital of Lenburg and told Katarina they would complete the Church of Knowledge's commission by targeting Guskes and exposing the mastermind behind him for contribution credit.
• At an occupied village near Lenburg's border, Guskes ordered his deputy to launch an all-out assault the next day and reach the capital within a week.
• After his deputy left, Guskes marked troop movements on a map, and a rippling passage appeared in the window behind him.

Sifa used Katarina to assassinate Guskes and uncover General Felit as the real mastermind behind the Intis operation. Through Rayleigh, Sifa reported the discovery to Kranbarit and began questioning him about Grade 0 Sealed Artifacts.

• Katarina used the Mirror World to infect Guskes with several deadly diseases, killing him.
• Felit took command, ordered Guskes's death concealed, and burned down the house where Guskes had stayed.
• Sifa told Kranbarit that Guskes had been a pawn and identified Felit as the real mastermind.
• Kranbarit sent a priest to verify Felit's identity, then offered Rayleigh answers in return for his assistance.
• Rayleigh asked what Grade 0 Sealed Artifacts were and how their serial numbers related to their danger.

Sifa considered where the Church of Knowledge might keep Sealed Artifact 0-01 while waiting for another commission. Three days later, the Church confirmed his intelligence about Felit and asked Rayleigh to meet again, but had not yet assigned him a new task.

• Kranbarit explained that Sealed Artifacts were numbered according to assessments that could change over time, and Rayleigh thanked him before leaving the church.
• Sifa reflected on two possible locations for 0-01: a site suited to its sealing requirements or the Church of Knowledge's headquarters, and decided to confirm its location before making plans.
• Sifa spent three days relaxing in Lenburg's capital until his projection, Rayleigh, relayed that Kranbarit wanted to see him the next morning.
• Kranbarit told Rayleigh that the Church had confirmed Felit was the Intis general known as Red Fox and that Sifa's intelligence had helped them avoid mistakes in battle.
• Rayleigh asked Kranbarit whether the Church wanted him to hunt down Red Fox.

Kranbarit assigned Rayleigh to find Roskin, a suspected Faceless spy hiding in Lenburg’s capital. Sifa analyzed how Roskin might have blended in and considered using genuine bait to lure him out.

• Rayleigh offered to hunt Red Fox, but Kranbarit said others were handling the demigod and gave him the task of finding Roskin instead.
• Kranbarit showed Rayleigh documents and photographs of Roskin and warned that the elusive spy might be a Faceless.
• Sifa returned to the hotel through his projection and reasoned that Roskin had likely assumed the identity of a middle-class resident.
• Sifa considered conventional investigation, mystical tracking, and entrapment as ways to locate Roskin, then settled on baiting him as the most promising approach.