Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Annan catches Michael running a scam with Francois, who had made 303 Gold Narls by having Michael hit people with his staff. Instead of simply punishing him, Annan offers Michael 1,000 Gold Narls to establish an Alchemy Research Institute, with a monthly budget of at least that amount. Illymoyas immediately claims the chest for herself, so Annan tells Michael to obtain funding through Ingrid.
• Annan asks Francois to recruit farmers. Francois questions why Gemstone City should invest in agriculture when Magic Films are enormously profitable. Annan explains that their lead in the film industry will not last, and that control of theaters and the land around them can secure future income. Farming is also essential: a city that depends on others for food is vulnerable to shortages, blockades, and political pressure.
• Annan holds two banquets to promote Gemstone City. Few local lords attend the first, but the more formal Siltovis gathering attracts prominent guests. There he announces that the Empire is expected to repeal the Foreign Races Edict and presents Gemstone City as a place where all races will be welcome.

Character developments and interactions

• Michael has moved from discouragement over his lack of talent to obsessive, unconventional experimentation in alchemy. Annan sees his drive as useful and supports it, despite Michael’s questionable fundraising methods.
• Annan acts both as a friend and a ruler: he treats Michael generously, but also thinks strategically about the city’s long-term security and growth. His historical argument persuades Francois to proceed with recruiting farmers.
• Francois serves as Annan’s practical interlocutor, challenging the value of agriculture and quickly understanding the importance of theater ownership and urban development.
• Ingrid bluntly criticizes Annan’s preparation for rulership, then is surprised by his knowledge of history. She becomes the route through which Michael is to receive his research funds.
• Illymoyas interrupts the exchange by taking the chest of gold, showing her possessiveness and the indulgent relationship she has with Annan.
• At the Siltovis banquet, Annan’s inclusive vision impresses Sienna and the young women present, though most nobles remain skeptical. The passage contrasts the romantic appeal of Annan’s confidence with the social prejudice still facing nonhuman races.

Significant themes

• Self-sufficiency and political security: Food production matters even when it brings far less money than a booming industry; dependence can leave a city exposed to crisis or coercion.
• Planning beyond a windfall: Annan recognizes that early success in Magic Films will attract competitors, so he seeks durable advantages through theaters, property, and related ventures.
• Inclusion versus prejudice: Gemstone City’s promise of welcome offers an alternative to the discrimination other races continue to face.
• Support and ambition: Annan channels Michael’s fixation on alchemy into a serious research effort, turning an odd talent—and a dubious scheme—into a potential public asset.

Key plot points and events

• Annan returns from Siltovis and is escorted home by his sisters, Leila and Idelia. Leila teases him for neglecting the family, while Idelia’s wheelchair-bound presence makes the dinner initially feel subdued.
• The family shares a warmer meal. Idelia explains that she has had her wheelchair improved for comfort; Annan jokes about selling it under her name. Leila boasts about her fishing, though she is reluctant to admit how little she actually caught.
• When Idelia says she has no particular talent or goal, Annan offers her the role of Deputy City Lord of Gemstone City. She is surprised by his willingness to share authority, and Leila welcomes the idea.
• Annan tells Ingrid about Idelia’s appointment. Ingrid warns him to inform Lady Olmedo as well, but Annan expects her to be supportive.
• Thinking about Idelia’s question about marriage, Annan awkwardly asks the Magic Mirror to show him the most beautiful Elf, Tadel Moonchaser, but gets no response.
• In a meeting of the Holy Temple Council, the Thirteen High Kings decide that local rulers may choose whether to enforce the Foreign Races Edict.
• Annan arranges a trade deal with Hamis VI: ships will travel up the Bell River, and Hamis agrees to provide Annan with a theater in the Royal Capital. Annan plans to profit from introducing Magic Film there.
• Annan has also sent West with the Twin Ministers to the Duchy of Keating to promote Magic Film. In their carriage, Fronning praises Annan’s shrewdness in business, while Brink admits he has not actually watched Annan’s film.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan shows greater trust in his family by sharing civic power with Idelia, and continues to pursue Magic Film’s expansion through political and commercial alliances.
• Idelia moves from uncertainty about what to do with her life toward a meaningful public role; Annan’s offer gives her a chance to contribute beyond the family residence.
• Leila expresses affection through teasing and concern, and supports Idelia’s appointment.
• Ingrid remains practical and wary of political complications, reminding Annan to account for Olmedo’s position.
• Fronning and Brink reveal contrasting levels of knowledge about Magic Film: Fronning recognizes Annan’s commercial cunning, while Brink has not bothered to watch the film.
• Annan and Hamis VI quickly recognize the mutual benefits of cooperation, establishing a trade and entertainment partnership.

Significant themes

• Family and belonging: Annan’s return and his offer to Idelia strengthen family ties and give her a renewed sense of purpose.
• Trust and shared authority: Annan treats political power as something he can share with people he trusts, rather than merely guard.
• Commerce and ambition: Magic Film is becoming an international business, with Annan converting cultural influence into trade and revenue.
• Changing political order: The council’s decision decentralizes enforcement of the Foreign Races Edict, leaving policy to local rulers.
• Humor and teasing: Family banter and the ministers’ comments soften discussions of responsibility, politics, and profit.

Key plot points and events

• A ragged band of Necromancers travels toward Gemstone City. Though they look frightening and destitute, they are welcomed in the region and feel unexpectedly at home.
• Bandits try to rob them, mistaking their appearance for weakness. The Necromancers frighten the bandits off when a scarred mage reveals a bundle of decaying body parts; one woman quietly collects a dropped sword.
• Annan meets the newcomers. He reassures them that they are welcome and proposes giving them farms, bones, and skeletons to work the fields rather than sending them to fight.
• Most Necromancers are stunned, but the scarred mage angrily rejects the plan and spits at Annan. Luoxi intercepts the spit, and the guards seize the mage.
• Asked how he will respond, Annan refuses punishment without a trial. Since the city’s laws are not yet established, he says the mage should be released.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan shows compassion toward the marginalized Necromancers and treats them as potential citizens rather than weapons. He also insists that fairness must apply even when he has been insulted.
• The Necromancers are moved by Annan’s welcome; some become eager to serve him, while others are wary of the unfamiliar prospect of peaceful agricultural work. Their morals are mixed, and many readily produce human remains.
• The scarred mage reacts with contempt and anger to Annan’s offer, exposing the gulf between the Necromancers’ expectations and Annan’s vision for them.
• Henry trusts Annan but asks for time to consider the proposal. Ingrid is puzzled by Annan’s refusal to retaliate, revealing how accustomed she is to rulers defending their authority through force. Luoxi eagerly anticipates revenge but obeys Annan’s restraint.

Significant themes

• Prejudice and appearance: The Necromancers’ ragged looks conceal varied characters, while their treatment reflects society’s fear and exclusion of their craft.
• Belonging and rehabilitation: Annan offers outcasts a practical, peaceful role in building the city, challenging the assumption that their powers make them fit only for violence.
• Justice versus personal power: Annan argues that law should restrain those in authority, not merely punish the powerless—though Gemstone City has yet to establish its laws.
• Power and morality: Necromancers’ reliance on human remains underscores the ethical complications of their abilities and the tension between their values and their usefulness to the city.

Plot and key events

• The scarred man leaves with many Necromancers, furious at Annan’s plan to put them to work farming. Seven Necromancers—including Henry and both women—remain, giving Annan the start of his intended “Magic Revolution.”
• Annan anticipates trouble with the Druids and encourages residents to plant trees and build treehouses near places where Tree Sprites appear.
• He convenes a discussion about the ethics of using undead as farm labor. The group rejects human corpses and spells that preserve or manipulate rotting bodies. Dwarves and Elves are ruled out because of their likely outrage; Orc skeletons are judged unsuitable for farm work. Annan orders Ratfolk bones through trade with Count Ulmit.
• After the Necromancers bury the remains they brought into the city cemetery, Annan announces the plan. Residents unexpectedly volunteer to become Skeleton Farmers after death. They may serve for one year, then must be laid to rest.
• Gemstone City begins to settle into a routine. Ingrid tells Annan he should learn to act like a proper City Lord, prompting him to compare his modest household and private life with the excesses of other nobles.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan stays committed to his reforms but tries to balance their usefulness with residents’ beliefs and respect for the dead. He consults his allies and the Elf Mentor before making decisions.
• Henry remains loyal to Annan, partly because he believes in the farming plan and partly because of the promised wealth. He is disappointed that human skeletons are forbidden.
• The departing Necromancers resent being assigned farm labor, while those who stay accept Annan’s leadership and help shape the plan.
• The residents surprise Annan by volunteering for posthumous service, but insist on a one-year limit. Their response shows their trust in him and their practical outlook.
• Ingrid pushes Annan to embrace the role and expectations of a City Lord.

Significant themes

• Power, justice, and law: The scarred man’s repeated maxim contrasts with Annan’s efforts to govern through rules and negotiation.
• Reform versus pride: The Necromancers’ objection shows how even practical work can feel degrading to a feared social class.
• Ethics and consent: Annan seeks to make undead farming useful without violating cultural taboos, and the residents’ voluntary offer changes the debate.
• Cultural difference and governance: Decisions about whose bones may be used depend on each people’s customs, reminding Annan that ruling requires understanding diverse beliefs.

Key plot points and events

• Gemstone City continues to grow through the residents’ labor and personal contributions. Its new Library, Tavern, Blacksmith Shop, Dragon’s Lair, and homes all become part of Annan’s vision for the city.
• Annan insists that residents be paid, arguing that money must circulate rather than sit unused in the Treasure Vault. Though their wages provide only basic necessities, he expects people to build more comfortable lives through work.
• Leila feels useless because everyone else has a role in the city. Her fishing is also unsuccessful—and once she and Lily put saltwater fish into the mansion’s freshwater pond, the fish die.
• After Leila stays out late trying to catch a large fish, Annan finds and scolds her for wandering alone, worrying that the City Lord’s family could be targeted.
• Idelia explains that Leila’s real problem is not fishing but feeling she has no place in Gemstone City. Annan decides to help her succeed at it.
• Annan arranges for a magic fishing rod to be made and secretly recruits three Water Elementals to help. He gives Leila an ordinary rod, claiming it is suited to local fish. The Elementals then ensure she catches a large fish—but the hook is lodged in its belly, leaving her confused.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan shows his practical, community-minded leadership: he values shared prosperity and wants every resident to contribute. His concern for Leila leads him to devise a secret solution rather than dismiss her distress.
• Leila is insecure about having no useful role, though she is determined to fish. Her poor catches and mishaps are played for humor, while her late-night trip reveals how strongly she wants to prove herself.
• Idelia demonstrates insight and empathy, recognizing that Leila’s frustration comes from feeling unnecessary. She also has found a meaningful role for herself in the city.
• Lily tries to help Leila by keeping the fish alive, unaware that the pond’s freshwater cannot support them.
• Annan and Idelia discuss Leila’s situation; Annan scolds Leila for her risky outing but then acts to support her.

Significant themes

• Community and shared purpose: The city is built from the gifts and efforts of its residents, not merely from Annan’s authority.
• Work, dignity, and economic justice: Annan sees paid work as a way for people to participate in the economy and improve their lives.
• Belonging and self-worth: Leila’s struggle reflects the need to feel useful and included.
• Care expressed through action: Annan’s protective, slightly deceptive plan shows how his concern often takes practical and humorous forms.

Summary

• Since Annan’s return, Della has been unusually attached to him, sometimes appearing right behind him or standing beside his bed. Annan initially worries about her behavior, then learns she is drawn to the World Tree Leaf he carries.
• Annan considers letting Della hold the leaf, but the Elf Mentor warns that its Nature Force cannot be extracted by soaking it in water. If released improperly, it could transform the territory into a forest—and turn its inhabitants into fertilizer. Annan abandons the idea.
• The Elf Mentor also says they will soon return to the Elven Royal Court. Annan reassures the Mentor that their friendship will not change, whatever the Mentor looks like.
• Ingrid tells Deputy City Lord Idelia that Gemstone City needs an Envoy to handle diplomacy, messages, trade, and war negotiations. Annan agrees he has been doing that work himself and proposes the absent Bard for the role, though the Bard’s whereabouts are unknown. Ingrid also notes that Annan needs to get out and do more as City Lord.
• Annan visits Francois, who is supervising Earth Elementals and Necromancers as they learn to farm the wasteland. After hearing that Necromancers encountered supposed Bandits, Francois suspects they may actually be spies connected to the hostile “Mad Dog Duke.”
• Annan sends a small group of Musketeer recruits, led by Jack, to investigate and gain combat experience. Ingrid keeps Royal Guard Captain Luoxi in Gemstone City, while Annan has Earth Elementals discreetly follow the recruits. By evening, the recruits report that they defeated the supposed Bandits and captured their leader.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan balances concern for Della and the danger of the World Tree Leaf with the practical demands of ruling. He also tries to delegate diplomacy and give inexperienced soldiers a chance to train.
• Della reveals that her closeness to Annan is driven by the leaf’s pull, not simply personal affection.
• The Elf Mentor offers crucial guidance about the leaf and receives reassurance from Annan about their friendship.
• Ingrid demonstrates a firm, practical approach to administration, identifying the need for an Envoy and insisting Luoxi remain at her post.
• Francois uses his knowledge of Gemstone City’s records to connect the Bandit incident to a possible political threat.
• Jack and the recruits win their first encounter, though their account shows the supposed Bandits attacked them first and suffered heavy losses.

Significant themes

• Power and risk: The World Tree Leaf is valuable but potentially catastrophic if mishandled.
• Responsibility and delegation: Annan must shift from personally handling everything toward building a functioning government and military.
• Trust and loyalty: Annan reassures the Elf Mentor, while Della’s trust is tested by her unusual attraction to the leaf.
• Preparation amid uncertainty: Gemstone City trains its forces while investigating possible threats from a rival power.

Key plot points

• Annan stops a captured bandit leader from insulting the recruits who received magic weapons. He shows the man that Gemstone City has an Arcane Core and declares that ordinary soldiers deserve protection, education, and equal treatment.
• Annan questions the prisoner about whether the Mad Dog Duke sent him. The man confirms that Duke Gilles considers Annan’s presence an invasion, despite Annan’s Pioneer’s Warrant. Annan leaves the interrogation to Della.
• Necromancers begin assembling Skeleton Ratfolk from a shipment of bones. The skeletons could help with farming, but their deathly aura must be removed before they can safely live around people or plants.
• Annan meets Ministers Fronning and Brink from the Duchy of Keating through a Portal. He introduces Idilia as Gemstone City’s deputy city lord and older sister, then lets her handle trade talks over Magic Film.
• Fronning notices the World Tree Leaf Annan received from an Elven envoy. This improves the negotiations and prompts him to propose an alliance and send a delegation to Gemstone City. Idilia cautions that Keating is likely visiting several places, not committing to them alone.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan openly rejects the class hierarchy that treats commoners as expendable, winning the recruits’ loyalty. He also asserts his authority to the bandit leader, though he admits interrogation is not his strength.
• The bandit leader shifts from outrage to confusion when confronted with Gemstone City’s Arcane Core, but remains loyal to Duke Gilles and hostile to Annan’s claims.
• Idilia takes charge of the trade negotiations and gives Annan a practical, skeptical assessment of Keating’s interest.
• Minister Fronning moves from observing Annan to treating him as a potential ally after learning of the Elven connection. Minister Brink conducts the negotiations with Idilia.
• The Necromancers are eager to make use of the bones, while Annan sees their potential as farm labor—provided their dangerous aura can be dealt with.

Significant themes

• Equality and dignity: Annan challenges the assumption that only nobles and Professionals matter, insisting that ordinary people deserve safety and opportunity.
• Power and status: The bandit leader’s outrage reflects a rigid social order, while the World Tree Leaf shows how influence and recognition can shape diplomacy.
• Pragmatism and uncertainty: Annan pursues trade and alliances, but Idilia reminds him that friendly gestures do not necessarily mean firm commitment.

Key plot points

• With the Duchy of Keating’s Envoy delegation approaching, Annan rushes to make Gemstone City presentable. He sends a hundred Earth Elementals to accelerate construction of the school, bathhouse, flowerbeds, and streets.
• The new Public Bathhouse initially sits empty: residents consider bathing unnecessary and inconvenient. Annan’s solution is to spread a story that a neighboring duke mocked the city’s dirtiness and that Annan bet he could make its people clean. Residents rally to defend their City Lord’s honor, and the baths quickly fill.
• Della’s interrogation reveals why the Mad Dog Duke of Montablinlock is provoking Gemstone City: he wanted control of Gem Bay and plans to seize it once construction is complete. Idelia orders patrols by the Musketeers and Elemental Legion.
• The school is completed, roads expand rapidly, and the city’s Elementals take on practical roles. Annan also brings Little Spider back and introduces her to Lily, while carefully keeping the two apart.
• As the delegation nears, the group debates what to plant along the roads. Annan chooses wheat.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan proves resourceful and politically shrewd, using civic pride rather than force to change residents’ behavior. He also remains playful and eccentric, joking about the duke’s “pretty” dreams and choosing wheat for its beauty.
• Idelia helps manage the city’s security and questions Annan’s unusual strategy. Della supplies intelligence through interrogation and shows her effectiveness as a Dark Elf.
• Eli Gravel oversees construction, while the Elementals support the city’s rapid development.
• Gemstone City’s residents shift from resisting public bathing to embracing it once they believe the city—and Annan—have been insulted.
• Lily, Silly Cat, and Little Spider provide a lighter domestic moment: Lily investigates the spider’s bottle, Silly Cat flees, and Little Spider stays hidden in her nest.

Significant themes

• Civic pride and persuasion: Annan turns personal loyalty and local identity into motivation for collective action.
• Building civilization: Schools, baths, roads, hospitals, and sanitation mark Gemstone City’s transition from a rough settlement toward an organized city.
• Pragmatism amid rivalry: City-building is tied to trade and diplomacy, but also to the looming threat of territorial aggression.
• Work and adaptation: Residents and magical beings alike are assigned roles as the city grows, while old habits are challenged by new conditions.

Plot and key events

• Four months after moving from Shelter Harbor Town, Gemstone City faces a Goblin population boom. Their noise and rapid reproduction worry the residents, and Ingrid predicts they could number six thousand within five years.
• Annan establishes the first chapter of the Gemstone City Code, limiting sapient species to no more than one child per year while exempting species near extinction. With the Goblins’ consent, Georgina performs birth-control surgeries and becomes the city’s biology professor and a hospital doctor. Annan prevents Goblin leader Dole from undergoing the procedure because he has no children and may pass on his intelligence.
• Faster proposes using an organization’s research into different races’ habits to set reproduction rules. When Annan asks about the organization, Faster refuses to explain further, saying it is not yet time.
• Annan prepares for a delegation from the Duchy of Keating, his companions’ first allies. The city improves its streets and homes, teaches residents the Common Tongue, and draws merchant ships and visitors. Lady Fine Wine buys fertile land for a winery and vineyard.
• Visitors enliven the taverns but bring trouble: drunken offenders are jailed and sent to work the fields alongside Skeletons and Ratfolk.
• Ingrid advises hiding the Foreign Races because Keating has a history of hostility toward them. Annan refuses, preferring to show the delegation the city as it truly is. The delegation arrives with the first spring rain of Year 1000.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan balances his vision of a multi-racial city with practical concerns, creating rules rather than hiding or rejecting the Goblins. He also shows care toward Dole by protecting his chance to have children.
• Dole cooperates with the new law and takes responsibility as Goblin leader, though he acknowledges how strongly Goblin mating instincts affect him.
• Faster reveals his organization’s broad knowledge but keeps its history and purpose secret, frustrating Annan.
• Ingrid offers cautious, historically informed advice; Annan respectfully but firmly rejects concealment.
• Georgina’s expertise in Necromancy leads to a new civic role in medicine and education.

Significant themes

• Managing diversity: Coexistence requires rules that account for different needs and reproduction rates.
• Idealism versus practical governance: Annan wants an inclusive city but must address real social pressures.
• Transparency and identity: Annan chooses to present Gemstone City honestly, even where that may provoke prejudice.
• Knowledge and power: Faster’s secretive organization suggests a larger world beyond Annan’s current understanding.

Plot points and events

• At the Old Castle, the Mad Dog Duke resents the Keating delegation’s visit to Annan. A Gray-Robed Mage advises against killing them, since Keating is too powerful to risk exposure. Instead, they plan to contact the Elemental Planes and accuse Annan of stealing authority over his Elemental Legions. The duke also orders cruel punishment for maids the envoys admired.
• The delegation travels through Annan’s territory, first mistaking the working skeletons in the fields for a sinister display. They learn these “Skeleton Ratfolk” are farmers and are impressed by the smooth road and orderly surroundings.
• In Gemstone City, the envoys encounter polished streets, elegant buildings, streetlights, and a Crystal building identified as a Blue Dragon’s Lair. They are especially astonished to learn that Greater Water Elementals clean the washrooms.
• Annan lets Idelia lead the negotiations. Merchant noble Kia Peterson, head of the delegation, tours the city and sees its port, workshops, diverse peoples, and lack of visible churches or aristocratic estates.
• The envoys react negatively when Annan explains that the school serves commoners’ children and orphans. They abandon discussion of an alliance and depart, citing other cities to visit.
• Kia’s remark that “Gem Bay” is too ordinary prompts Annan to adopt Free City as Gemstone City’s new name.

Character developments and interactions

• The Mad Dog Duke’s hostility toward Annan deepens, but the Gray-Robed Mage restrains him from a reckless attack and proposes a covert political tactic instead.
• Annan remains confident in his city’s principles, even when they cost him a potential alliance. He leaves diplomacy to the more capable Idelia and answers the envoys’ questions with casual humor.
• Idelia worries whether rejecting the delegation is the right choice; Annan reassures her that he believes it is right, reflecting their trust and shared commitment.
• Kia Peterson is impressed by the city’s prosperity and contributes the naming suggestion, but the delegation’s broader reaction turns sour when confronted with Annan’s social priorities.

Significant themes

• Competing values: The delegation’s discomfort with education for commoners exposes the gulf between their aristocratic worldview and Annan’s more egalitarian society.
• Progress and social order: Skeleton laborers, elemental services, clean streets, and public infrastructure make Annan’s city both strikingly prosperous and unsettling to outsiders.
• Principle over political advantage: Annan accepts the loss of a possible alliance rather than compromise the society he is building.
• Power and legitimacy: The Duke’s plan to accuse Annan of stealing elemental authority hints at a larger struggle over who has the right to command such power.

Plot points and events

• At an evening gathering, Annan decides Gemstone City must choose its allies carefully after noble envoys treat him with contempt. The group agrees that “Free City” better expresses his goal of a society without divisions by race or class, though Illymoyas objects.
• In the Montablinlock Duchy, Grand Duke Gilles summons the four Elemental Elders and tells them that Annan has supposedly stolen and enslaved elementals. A mage warns that the Elders may refuse to act if Annan has an agreement with the elementals. Gilles then plans to draw Druid avengers toward Annan’s city.
• Before dawn, all elementals in the city disappear without warning. Annan locks down Free City and checks other locations through Portals, discovering that the elementals he had brought from the Elemental Planes are gone too.

Character developments

• Annan shifts from seeking broad friendship to distinguishing potential partners from mere allies, while shaping a more inclusive civic identity for his city.
• Gilles remains furious and vengeful, escalating his efforts against Annan despite warnings about the risks.
• The people around Annan respond quickly to the crisis: the city is locked down, and Illymoyas takes up a defensive position.

Significant themes

• Freedom and inclusion: Annan’s proposed “Free City” rejects divisions of race and class.
• Power and vulnerability: The elementals have been the city’s chief protection; their sudden loss leaves its residents exposed.
• Political mistrust and escalation: Gilles’s accusations and plans show how rival leaders may turn a dispute into a wider conflict.

Character interactions

• Ingrid and Olmedo advise Annan on diplomacy, while Francois and others discuss the nobles’ hostility. Martin’s unexpectedly sharp remark draws everyone’s attention.
• Gilles clashes with his cautious mage, rejecting restraint and seeking ways to harm Annan.
• Annan gathers information from his companions as they report the disappearances, then verifies the crisis across multiple locations.

Plot points and events

• Annan discovers that the Elemental Legion he spent months building has vanished. Dean Breichim explains that summoning too many Elementals has saturated Free City with the aura of the Elemental Planes.
• When Annan tries summoning again, an Earth Elemental Elder and then a Fire Elemental Elder intervene, each reclaiming the summoned Elemental. Mr. Swaro negotiates with them and learns that Annan’s Lesser Summoning Spell violated the rules between the planes, so the Elementals were recalled because they had no valid contract.
• Idelia suspects the recalls were coordinated. The Fire Elder says a group of northern mages informed the Elementals, leading Annan to wonder whether the Mad Dog Duke is involved.
• With Free City’s work slowing sharply without Elementals, Annan considers building a Mage Tower. He learns that Lilith, whom Asimov had already told she was a Tower Spirit, can serve as the core of a Growth-Type Mage Tower. Mr. Swaro and Dean Breichim decline to lead it, so Annan entrusts the tower’s control to Lilith.
• The crisis has immediate practical effects: shipping and construction slow, and sanitation worsens. Annan borrows fifty Magic Rings from Siltovis and installs them in city washrooms.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan responds to the crisis by investigating its cause and quickly searching for a long-term solution. He readily trusts Lilith with the Mage Tower’s authority.
• Mr. Swaro initially seems brusque but actively helps Annan, confronting the Elemental Elders and negotiating with them. He refuses to give up his own path to lead the new tower.
• Dean Breichim explains the Elementals’ behavior and the requirements for a Growth-Type Mage Tower, but remains committed to Solz Magic Academy.
• Lilith reveals that she knows she is a Tower Spirit and accepts a role that could make her the Mage Tower’s independent core.
• Idelia questions whether the Elementals’ return was merely coincidence, prompting the clue about northern mages.

Significant themes

• Power and responsibility: Annan’s mass summoning disrupts the balance between planes and has consequences for the whole city.
• Trust and autonomy: Lilith may control the Mage Tower herself; Annan chooses to trust her rather than divide its authority with a mage.
• Crisis and adaptation: The Elemental shortage exposes Free City’s dependence on magic, while Annan improvises both a strategic response and practical fixes.
• Uncertainty and loss: Annan’s thoughts about Asimov and the many people and places lost in recent events underscore the broader instability surrounding the crisis.

• Lilith is entrusted with the Mage Tower. Idelia investigates her by speaking with Abby and Olmedo, then questions Lilith herself. Lilith admits she followed Annan because her teacher, Asimov, told her to—and says she would obey him even if he ordered her to betray Annan. Still, Idelia decides to trust her, reassures her that she will remain herself, and authorizes the tower’s construction.
• Free City gains a new purpose. With the Elementals gone and the bonfire extinguished, the city begins preparing materials for the Mage Tower. Annan asks Dean Breichim for guidance; Breichim recommends building it in interlocking layers and describes the legendary Tower of Heaven, which was 114,000 feet tall and built from Mountain Copper. Eli Gravel starts construction, though completion will take at least three months.
• Annan strengthens the city’s defenses and draws in allies. He sends Francois to invite the Mercenary Guild and the Street Sweepers to establish themselves in Free City. He also hires Illymoyas to patrol, persuading her to bring three young Blue Dragons with her. The arrangement costs twenty Gold Narls a day and is partly intended to encourage her clan to settle in the city.
• A threat appears in the farmland. A black crow—apparently a Druid—spies on the Skeleton Ratfolk and is caught by the dragons. Annan rescues it from Yumirs, one of the young dragons, who initially threatens him before Illymoyas pins him down. The crow vows to turn Free City into a forest, but Annan finds its threats—and its manner—oddly unimpressive.
  Character developments and interactions: Idelia moves from suspicion to trust in Lilith, while Lilith remains reserved and openly loyal to both her teacher and Annan. Annan’s impulsive trust and competitive ambition shape the plans for the tower; Breichim tempers that ambition with practical advice. Illymoyas negotiates for her clan while maintaining a playful, familiar rapport with Annan. The crow’s capture introduces a possible conflict with the Druids.
  Themes: Trust and loyalty, the challenge of building a future after upheaval, ambition balanced by practical limits, and the uneasy line between protection and emerging threats.

Key plot points

• With Illymoyas’s dragon curse broken, the Crow transforms into a female Halfling Druid. Annan covers her with his Mage Robe and learns that she belongs to a group calling itself the Druid Avengers.
• She accuses Annan and his people of spreading death. He explains that the farmers she killed were Ratfolk he had already defeated; their cleansed skeletons now work the fields as a form of atonement. She remains distrustful.
• Annan takes her outside Free City to show her saplings planted by his people. He questions her belief that anyone who harms a tree deserves death, even if they also plant trees. Her answers grow hesitant, exposing doubts in her rigid judgment.
• Annan recounts how other Druids once criticized his people but came to accept their efforts. When Tree Sprites joyfully gather around him, he shows the Halfling a World Tree Leaf—an honor from the Elves for fighting Ratfolk and planting forests. She begins to wonder if he is truly a bad person.

Character developments

• Annan responds to hostility with patience and persuasion, using practical evidence and questions rather than force. He presents himself as both an opponent of the Ratfolk and a caretaker of the forest.
• The Halfling Druid begins as a furious, uncompromising avenger who sees human civilization as evil and believes damage to forests must be punished with death. Her certainty starts to falter when she sees the saplings, hears about the other Druids, and witnesses the Tree Sprites’ affection for Annan.

Significant themes

• Prejudice and the possibility of change: Annan recognizes that the Druid’s hostility comes from entrenched assumptions, and tries to challenge them through conversation.
• Justice versus vengeance: The chapter contrasts the Druid Avengers’ lethal punishment with Annan’s use of defeated enemies for reparative labor.
• Environmental responsibility: Annan argues that planting and restoring forests can matter alongside resource use, while the Druid initially treats any harm to nature as unforgivable.
• Actions as evidence: The planted saplings and Tree Sprites’ response offer concrete reasons to question the Druid’s assumptions.

Character interactions

• Annan’s charm and calm manner ease the Druid’s anger, though they do not immediately win her trust.
• He leads her away from the city and questions her beliefs about woodcutters, forcing her to confront cases that do not fit her simple rule.
• The Druid rejects Annan’s account at first, but the visible forest restoration and his connection to nature gradually shift the conversation from accusation toward doubt.

Plot points and events

• Annan asks Dean Breichim how he persuaded Gema, a halfling Druid Avenger, to listen. Breichim explains that the group treats any interference with nature—including planting trees—as harmful. Annan reveals he sent Gema to the Theater, where she watched films, and admits he invented a story to influence her.
• Annan wonders how to win over Elementals. With little practical guidance in his Warlock’s Handbook, he considers possible gifts: copper for Earth Elementals, heat for Fire Elementals, and perhaps asking Sea Folk about Water Elementals. He has no good idea for Wind Elementals.
• At the Mage Tower construction site, Annan watches Eli Gravel teach Lilith to control the tower. He also discovers that the five “lost” Skeleton Ratfolk can simply be reassembled and raised again.
• Francois tells Annan that Gema has watched two films. Annan also learns the Druid Avengers were lured from the Wyvern Mountains, apparently by the Mad Dog Duke. He and Francois resolve to plant more trees and recruit workers.
• Annan speaks with Gema at the Theater. She refuses to betray her companions, but he warns that fighting the Free City could get them killed and points out that it, too, protects nature. Frightened and uncertain, Gema runs off, but promises to tell her companions about him.
• That evening, Annan pays the dragons for their work. Illymoyas takes all the young dragons’ earnings, claiming she will keep the money safe until they are adults.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan relies on persuasion, theatrical storytelling, and gentle reassurance to defuse conflict. He is also practical, looking for ways to build relationships with Elementals and protect the city.
• Gema remains loyal to her companions but is shaken by Annan’s arguments and the prospect of fighting the city. Her promise to pass on his message leaves room for future dialogue.
• Dean Breichim advises Annan candidly, while Francois shares his anger at the Duke’s apparent manipulation and backs Annan’s plans.
• Illymoyas is both a diligent worker and an overbearing older sibling, confiscating the young dragons’ wages despite their protests.

Significant themes

• Nature and interference: The Druids’ absolute opposition to changing nature clashes with Annan’s view that planting forests can also serve its protection.
• Persuasion over force: Annan tries to prevent violence by creating understanding, though Gema’s fear and loyalty make reconciliation uncertain.
• Limits of knowledge: Annan’s handbook and formal expertise offer little help with unfamiliar beings or real-world diplomacy.
• Power and responsibility: The city’s strength may deter the Druids, but Annan recognizes that preventing a fight is preferable.

Key plot points

• At dinner, Gema eats eagerly and thanks Aunt Susan, then slips outside. Martin reveals he pretended not to understand her identity so he could get more pie.
• Annan finds Gema by the shore. She explains that humans killed her people and burned her village, prompting her to join the Druid Avengers seeking revenge. Annan doubts humans were responsible and offers to help uncover the truth if she will be his friend.
• Gema agrees, but says her companions already consider Annan a forest-destroying villain. Annan asks her to buy him time while he pursues another way to resolve the conflict.
• Annan visits the Crystal Lair and secretly gives ten Gold Coins each to Illymoyas’s three younger dragon siblings. Yumirs, who had threatened Annan earlier, regrets his behavior.
• Annan asks Olmedo to send help to find the Treefolk Druid in the Third Monster Mountains, believing the Druid may be able to mediate. Rather than send knights and mages, he decides to use the White Dragons, whom the Treefolk may recognize.
• As a new day approaches, Annan prepares to seek the elements’ favor with the Mountain Copper. The Warlock’s Handbook can no longer guide him, and he must pursue an unprecedented path.

Character developments and interactions

• Gema remains hurt and distrustful of humans, but Annan’s offer gives her a reason to question her assumptions and cooperate. She resists being treated as someone who needs protection.
• Annan shows patience and tact, seeking peaceful ways to address the Druids’ hostility while preparing to investigate the underlying tragedy. He also quietly builds goodwill with the young dragons.
• Martin displays mischievous practicality, while Aunt Susan and Uncle Holin respond warmly to Gema despite not understanding her background.
• The young dragons accept Annan’s secret gift, and Yumirs’s self-reproach hints at a change in attitude.

Significant themes

• Prejudice and truth: Gema’s belief that humans destroyed her village drives the conflict, while Annan argues that her certainty may be misplaced.
• Reconciliation through trust: Annan offers friendship and investigation rather than retaliation, though cooperation remains risky.
• New beginnings: Annan’s coming elemental pursuit marks a step beyond established magical guidance into unknown territory.

Plot points and events

• Annan reviews Free City’s finances with Ingrid. Ordinary tax and trade income are modest, while Magic Films generate enormous revenue—285,000 gold narls for February alone.
• He orders Magic Recording Stones to be counted as trade and plans another newspaper office, plus posters and printed editions of his films. He explains that deliberately inaccurate phrases can provoke arguments and help a story spread.
• Idelia suggests expanding film sales beyond the Tartun Empire and the Duchy of Keating. Annan says success depends on noble patrons, whose greed can wipe out profits, and that he may need to travel there himself.
• The conversation turns to Annan’s effort to win the Elementals’ favor. He admits he needs to learn Greater Elemental Language and asks Mr. Swaro to teach him. Swaro initially claims no spell can teach knowledge, disappears, then returns with a stack of books—after Idelia reveals that magic can teach languages.
• Meanwhile, Druid scout Gema returns to the Forest Mountains. She reports that humans near the bay are planting trees, with a Tree Sprite among them, and that their lord is Annan Potter. Forgetting Annan’s warning, she points in the wrong direction and adds that he has a scar on his forehead.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan shows himself as a shrewd promoter who understands publicity, but also recognizes the limits of his influence when dealing with nobles. His pursuit of the Elementals leads him to begin studying their language.
• Ingrid handles Free City’s accounts and questions Annan’s plans; she also reminds him how recently he returned.
• Idelia lightly teases Annan about his romantic-sounding pursuit of the Elementals, then exposes Mr. Swaro’s trick.
• Mr. Swaro gets the better of Annan by returning with books after pretending language learning is impossible through magic.
• Gema struggles to convince the Druids that humans are planting trees rather than destroying the forest. A gentle Deer Halfling comforts her, while the other Druids challenge her account.

Significant themes

• Money, power, and influence: Free City’s finances rely heavily on the success of Magic Films, while expansion depends on navigating noble privilege.
• Publicity and storytelling: Annan treats controversy—even deliberate mistakes—as a way to make stories travel.
• Cross-cultural suspicion and misunderstanding: The Druids expect human wrongdoing and initially doubt Gema’s report of tree-planting.
• Learning and preparation: Annan recognizes that building ties with the Elementals requires acquiring their language.

Key events

• Annan asks Mr. Swaro how to win over elementals. Swaro explains that they value things they would never encounter, and agrees that mountain copper might interest an Earth Elemental Elder. He recounts a king’s failed attempts to build invincible elementals, which ended in rebellion.
• Annan experiments with offering a wild yellow flower to the Elemental Elders. The Earth Elder shows no interest, but the Fire Elder reaches through a summoning gateway and accepts the flower. It withers in the heat, and Annan senses the Elder’s regret.
• Annan rushes to the blacksmith to ask Copperbeard to make copper flowers.
• Elsewhere, Druids find an apple pie in Gema’s satchel. Gema realizes Annan must have put it there. The Bark Elf accuses her of forgetting her hatred and siding with humans. Gema insists Annan promised to find who killed her people, but the Druids decide to leave early and punish the humans they believe deceived her.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan’s curiosity about elementals becomes personal and empathetic: the Fire Elder’s apparent sorrow at the ruined flower moves him to seek a gift it can keep.
• Mr. Swaro shares his knowledge more warmly than before, though his lingering prejudice against Sorcerers shows when he repeatedly purifies himself after helping Annan.
• Gema struggles to stop the Druids’ revenge. She remains convinced that Annan is trying to help, but her connection to him makes the Druids distrust her.
• The Bark Elf is stern and unmoved by Gema’s explanation, while the female Halfling deer gently reveals the pie and recalls a more familiar, shared past.

Significant themes

• Communication across difference: Elementals may be intelligent despite rarely speaking; Annan tries to understand them through gifts rather than words.
• Compassion versus vengeance: Gema argues that innocent people should not be harmed, but the Druids are driven by grief and suspicion.
• Good intentions and unintended consequences: Annan’s small act of kindness toward Gema may have helped trigger the Druids’ premature departure.
• Power and its limits: The king’s increasingly elaborate elemental creations fail through magic, force, and ultimately political revolt.

Plot points and events

• In the Third Monster Mountains, Sven and his uncle Blom lead a search for the druids. After days without success, they use a Magic Stone playing The Mage Tower’s Fall to draw them out.
• A Treefolk Druid takes the stone. Recognizing Sven, he agrees to go with the party when told that the druids’ own avengers are causing trouble in Annan’s New Territory.
• Annan learns that Lus Port, Deep Blue Port, and Wheatfield City have cut off trade with Free City, apparently under pressure from the Mad Dog Duke. He suspects the duke may have a powerful adviser and sees the ports as part of a growing effort to surround Free City.
• Ingrid tells Annan that residents are secretly worshipping gods. Although Free City’s laws do not restrict religion, the city has no churches; Annan reflects that a future city-state will need to address the role of faith.

Character developments and interactions

• Sven wonders why Olmedo refuses Annan’s offer to become Deputy City Lord. Blom encourages him to think for himself, suggesting Olmedo’s decision has a deeper reason than unwillingness to serve.
• Sven recalls that the druids were drawn to the Magic Film and approaches the Treefolk Druid respectfully. The druid’s initial refusal to join human conflicts changes when he learns the threat comes from druids’ avengers.
• Annan responds pragmatically to the trade cutoff, considering its political and financial implications. He also jokes with Illymoyas, who interrupts the discussion demanding a reward, and reminds the dragon to set a good example for the younger dragons.
• Ingrid raises the issue of residents’ religious fears, prompting Annan to consider how Free City’s policies may need to evolve.

Significant themes

• Political pressure and fragile alliances: Trade relationships prove vulnerable to noble influence and family ties.
• Leadership and judgment: Sven is urged to reason out Olmedo’s motives rather than accept easy explanations.
• Faith and civic life: Freedom of belief is not enough if worshippers feel compelled to hide; a growing city may need to make room for religion.
• Practical priorities: Annan balances immediate needs—trade, refugees, and housing—against the future demands of a city-state.

Key plot points and events

• Annan explains how worship shapes people’s relationships and how the gods’ rivalries can divide their followers. As a nonbeliever, he has no divine “title” and is treated as an outsider—though the Year of Turmoil has left believers unable to contact their gods.
• He proposes building a church containing statues of every god, reasoning that any god who objects would be proving they are neither orderly nor good. He and Ingrid set out to find a site and consult residents.
• Their outing is interrupted when Ingrid spots an Elf Assassin attacking Annan. The Guards try to capture her, and Illymoyas swiftly pins her down. Interrogation reveals she was sent by the Mad Dog Duke.
• Though advised to raise Free City out of danger, Annan refuses to retreat, trusting the protection of two Epic Mages.
• Annan then pulls Michael from the Alchemy Laboratory after two weeks of nonstop work. In the farmland, Druids arrive searching for “Annan Potter.” Confusion over the name and a forehead scar leads them to seize Michael instead.
• A Treefolk Druid arrives and greets Annan, leaving him relieved as the confrontation hangs unresolved.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan remains irreverent toward religious conventions and refuses to let threats force him to abandon Free City. He also shows concern for Ingrid’s workload and Michael’s health.
• Ingrid, a believer in the God of Order and Law, is cautious about Annan’s provocative church plan but acts decisively to protect him. She ultimately stays behind to manage the City Lord’s Mansion.
• Michael has become so absorbed in alchemy that he neglects rest; Annan coaxes him out with praise.
• The Mad Dog Duke continues escalating his campaign against Free City by sending an assassin.
• Gema and the Druid Avengers mistakenly identify Michael as Annan Potter, while the Treefolk Druid recognizes and addresses Annan directly.

Significant themes

• Faith as identity and social connection: Shared worship gives people common ground, while rival gods can foster conflict.
• Nonconformity and tolerance: Annan challenges religious assumptions and imagines a city accommodating every faith.
• Resistance and responsibility: Annan chooses to defend Free City rather than withdraw, while also attending to his companions’ needs.
• Comic misunderstanding amid danger: The scar-based mix-up turns a potentially violent encounter into an absurd cliffhanger.