The Chess Player's Calculations

In the Deep Holy War Hall of the Tear Knight Governor's Residence, black stone pillars supported the vaulted ceiling, keeping out the bitter wind.

A vast relief map of the Tear Knight Defense Line stretched across the center of the hall.

A fine layer of Holy Silver Powder covered its surface, recreating the terrain of the defense line.

Thousands of Holy Silver threads crisscrossed above the map, marking precise coordinates.

Two hundred and thirteen platinum fire-crystal pins trembled faintly across the map. Each was connected to a miniature conduction array that monitored the Sacred Flames in every fief in real time. Where a Sacred Flame had gone out, its pin had turned a dull black.

More than a dozen isolation belts sealed with red wax wound across the map.

They marked Gray Blood contamination zones deemed too dangerous to enter. The cooled wax had darkened to purple.

A Source Furnace inspector in heavy robes stood beside the map, checking the Sacred Flame consumption figures sent in by each fief. Meanwhile, the Bishop of Holy Radiance Military Affairs reviewed the latest orders for redeploying the Mobile Holy Knights—

On a high pig-iron seat facing the map sat Yasol, the Tear Knight Governor, his face covered by the Mask of Mercy.

His breath escaped through the gaps in the mask and condensed into a thin layer of white frost in the cold air of the hall.

The Bishop of Condemnation climbed the steps in heavy leather boots and spread before Yasol a series of battle reports delivered by Alchemical Messenger Birds.

Yasol reached out with a black-gloved hand and broke their red wax seals one by one.

"In this Blood Moon Season's assault, seventeen fiefs have fallen, ten percent fewer than at the same point last year."

A cardinal councilor of the