Chapter Summaries

Annan raided the Seblin Gang, uncovered evidence of horrific crimes, and arrested its members before moving on to arrest the Lime Gang as well. After learning that crime crackdowns alone would not earn him a promotion, he set out to capture the Blade of Freedom.

• Tiger surrendered with the Seblin Gang, and Annan ordered the gang members restrained and the headquarters searched.
• Annan found human skin and rows of tiny skulls in Tiger's room, then ordered his men to interrogate him and identify the victims.
• Annan found a Property Deed in Hoss's room, led the Seblin Gang prisoners outside, and told the crowd he would keep cracking down on crime.
• Annan arrested the Lime Gang after its boss threatened him, summoning a Greater Earth Elemental to force the gang to surrender.
• The scribe told Annan that capturing gangs would not earn him a promotion, so Annan set out to arrest the Blade of Freedom.

Annan tracked the Blade of Freedom to Stinky Sock Street while confronting a gang that was falsely using its name. Maria secretly approached the group and offered them Gold Narls, but the Chief remained unsure who she was.

• The Blade of Freedom's Chief rebuked recruits for letting hatred, status, or tactics that exploited women undermine their cause.
• A messenger warned the Chief that the City Guard had arrived to arrest the Blade of Freedom, and he spotted Annan leading the search.
• Maria identified the Blade of Freedom's hiding place, and Annan sent her to offer the group food, supplies, or weapons.
• A thug led Annan to a neighboring house, where burly men claimed to be the Blade of Freedom and Annan threatened them.
• Maria entered the Chief's house unnoticed, offered a purse of Gold Narls, and called herself a passing Ratfolk.

Annan arrested the fake Blade of Freedom, whose members had been committing crimes under the group’s name on orders from nobles. After refusing a noble’s demand to release them, he expected his promotion to City Guard Officer while Maria helped the real Blade of Freedom stay hidden.

• Annan’s soldiers captured the Fake Blade of Freedom, and the gang’s leader admitted that nobles backed them.
• Maria reassured Deck and the real Blade of Freedom that they had not been exposed and gave them the Seblin Gang’s address for help.
• Annan interrogated the fake group, sent its members to the Dungeon, and jailed the informant who had turned them in.
• A Butler demanded that Annan release the prisoners, but Annan refused and accused the Butler’s master of colluding with the Blade of Freedom.
• The Scribe told Annan that few would object to his promotion to City Guard Officer, and Annan warned the Butler not to underestimate him.

Annan used the City Guard’s capture of Blade of Freedom members to secure a rapid promotion to City Guard Officer, while asking Reynaldo to identify the nobles backing them. After Annan publicly invited informants to help him find the group, an attacker tried to shoot him in the mess hall, but his Mage Robe deflected the arrow.

• Annan asked Reynaldo for a list of nobles hostile to the Blade of Freedom and for help identifying nobles behind the captured members.
• Annan ordered the prisoners gagged and gathered his ten subordinates, promoting them to captains.
• Annan and Maria ate in the City Guard mess hall, where Cook served them thin porridge and scraps of Bread.
• The scribe and Reynaldo’s Peacekeeper announced that Young Miss Olmedo had earned promotion to City Guard Officer for capturing Blade of Freedom members.
• Annan invited anyone with information about the Blade of Freedom to come make a fortune with him.
• An attacker shot an arrow at Annan, but Maria deflected it and his Mage Robe’s Defensive Magic stopped it from hitting him.

After Baron Ebert’s assassination plot failed, Annan arrested him and seized his manor’s hidden wealth, then used the case to advance his standing in the City Guard. He chose a crime-ridden district and reconsidered attending Peacekeeper Milburn’s Victory Banquet when he heard unmarried ladies would be there.

• Baron Ebert’s butler reported the failed assassination, but Annan arrived and arrested Ebert for plotting against a Kingdom official and ties to the Blade of Freedom.
• Annan searched Ebert’s manor with Maria and Illymoyas, finding valuables worth roughly 1,700 Gold Narls in total.
• Annan interrogated Ebert, warned him not to accuse more people without evidence, and declined Milburn’s offer of lucrative streets in favor of three crime-ridden ones.
• Annan’s role in the arrests raised his reputation among the City Guard, and he planned to sell the seized valuables through Schofield.
• A fellow City Guard Officer told Annan that Milburn’s Victory Banquet would draw unmarried ladies, prompting Annan to ask when it would be held.

Disguised at a banquet, Annan learned that City Guard Officer Maca had framed a merchant and then visited a house on his property deed. He returned the deed to the poor family living there, leaving them able to keep their home.

• Annan declined the ladies at the banquet, spoke with Peacekeeper Milburn, and learned Milburn was probing him about Baron Ebert and the Minister of War.
• A girl asked Annan to sleep with her so he would help free her father, and Annan sent her with Maria to the Dungeon to find him.
• Maria told Annan that City Guard Officer Maca had seized the merchant's goods, and Annan went with her to inspect his district.
• Annan found a family occupying the house on Upper Holt Street and returned its Property Deed to the woman who lived there.

Annan crushed the gang on the Three Holt Streets and made the district much safer, while the Blade of Freedom quietly moved in and began helping residents. After failing to find either the real or Fake Blade of Freedom, Annan learned that King Clo would soon make a Royal Procession through the New Royal Capital.

• Annan informed a family on Holt Street that he was the new peacekeeper, then planned to seize the local gang's territory after learning its leader had no deed to the property.
• Annan arrested the gang, used evidence about its noble backing to pressure its supporters, and put Schofield and the City Guard in charge of keeping the streets safe and searching for the Blade of Freedom.
• Annan addressed residents as Young Miss Olmedo and promised to stamp out crime, crush gangs, and destroy the Blade of Freedom; within three days, the gang lost its backing and disappeared from Holt Street.
• Deck brought the Blade of Freedom from Stinky Sock Street to Holt Street, where its members posed as merchants and helped people in need because residents had little reason to resist.
• After a week without finding the Blade of Freedom or the Fake Blade of Freedom, Annan dragged Martin around Holt Street to use his Good Fortune, but they found no clues and instead heard about King Clo's coming Royal Procession.

Annan prepared Holt Street for the king’s Royal Procession and had Maria warn the Blade of Freedom against attempting an assassination. After Schofield detained Deck and his group, Annan dismissed them as merely prospective members and released them, leaving Deck warned not to cross the line.

• Annan hired locals to clean Holt Street and its public restrooms, then insisted that the workers receive their wages.
• Maria confronted Deck and the other Blade of Freedom members, warning them that assassinating King Clo would be foolish and would not solve their problems.
• Deck told the group to stop discussing assassination after Maria appeared among them without being noticed.
• Two days later, Schofield brought Deck’s group in as supposed Blade of Freedom captives, and Annan recognized them as the people who had followed him to Holt Street.
• Annan argued that the group were only prospective Blade of Freedom members, ordered them untied, and warned them not to cross the line.

During the King's Royal Procession, a violent attack by Holy Grail Knight Retainers was blamed on the Blade of Freedom, and Annan learned that the Thesu Knights' Order was slaughtering civilians while hunting its members. The chapter ended with Annan declaring the knights to be the Blade of Freedom and ordering his men to attack.

• Annan watched the King's Royal Procession pass through Holt Street while the Detect Malice spell failed to expose his hostility.
• After the procession was attacked by Holy Grail Knight Retainers, officials blamed the Blade of Freedom, and Annan was ordered to arrest more of its members.
• Schofield told Annan that the Thesu Knights' Order was pursuing a new group of Blade of Freedom members, so Annan hurried to capture them.
• The knights killed civilians and hunted the fugitives, while residents tried to help them escape; an old man betrayed them, and a baby died in the ensuing violence.
• Annan arrived to find the knights herding residents into prison wagons, accused them of being the Blade of Freedom, and ordered his men to attack.

Annan led the City Guards in an attack on the Thesu Knights' Order, using spells and Lemon to kill and disable the knights. After a dragon-backed strike routed the cavalry, Annan urged the residents to join the assault, leaving the battle still underway.

• Annan persuaded the frightened City Guards to fight by calling the knights the Blade of Freedom and promising a bounty, then used Endurance Blessing to help them attack.
• Annan slowed the charging knights with spells and summoned Lemon, allowing the City Guards to kill more than thirty scattered knights through ambushes.
• A surviving knight alerted the commander, who gathered his forces and charged Annan's group, prompting the City Guards to panic and seek retreat.
• Annan opened a Portal and struck the commander with lightning and Dragon Might, which destroyed him and brought down the knights' horses.
• Annan sent the City Guards to claim credit against the injured knights, then amplified his voice and called on the residents to join the fight.

Annan framed the Thesu Knights' Order as Blade of Freedom infiltrators after they massacred slum residents, then forced Viscount Rien to accept the cover-up rather than face blame for the killings. The King noticed Annan's actions, creating a new opportunity for his promotion.

• Annan freed the slum residents, planted evidence implicating the Blade of Freedom, and took the bodies to City Guard headquarters.
• Annan told the dead Blade of Freedom members he would bury them in Free City, then ordered the dungeon purified while leaving the knights' bodies untouched.
• Viscount Rien confronted Annan, who showed him the dead informants and accused the knights of murdering them.
• At the Minister of War's hearing, Annan cited Kingdom laws and warned Viscount Rien that he should be grateful for the cover-up; Rien accepted the loss.
• The King expressed appreciation for Young Miss Olmedo, bringing Annan to Clo's attention and opening a chance for promotion.

Annan became the Purification Court’s Ninth Inquisitor and assembled a team from the Auxiliary Legion and City Guard. After discovering that the Court had caught few members of the Blade of Freedom, he proposed an internal investigation and urged his subordinates to create opportunities for advancement by framing or removing people.

• Clo ordered Viscount Rien killed over the Blade of Freedom and appointed Young Miss Olmedo as the Purification Court’s Ninth Inquisitor.
• Annan recruited ten Auxiliary Legion Soldiers, brought along ten City Guard captains, and arrived at the Purification Court without a welcome.
• Annan reviewed the Court’s battle reports and suspected that a traitor had caused its poor record against the Blade of Freedom.
• After the Branch Court Head summoned him, Annan told his team to manufacture credit by framing people or removing their superiors.

Annan investigated corruption and Blade of Freedom ties within the Purification Court, then arrested the Branch Court Head using evidence he had arranged. King Clo ordered Reynaldo to bring Annan to the Royal Palace.

• Annan asked the Branch Court Head to support his investigation, then learned the man had tried to undermine him and began investigating him.
• Annan found suspicious ties between the Third Inquisitor and the Blade of Freedom, while his men uncovered the Branch Court Head’s corruption but no direct collusion.
• Annan discovered that the Warden had sold the missing bodies to a Necromancer, then killed the Necromancer and Warden and sent the Blade of Freedom members’ remains back to Free City.
• Annan raided the Branch Court Head’s Manor, presented evidence implicating him in the Blade of Freedom, and arrested him.
• Annan’s men found valuables worth 2,700 Gold Coins in the Manor, and the Court Director reported the arrest to King Clo.
• King Clo praised Annan and ordered Reynaldo to bring him to the Royal Palace.

Annan learned that Reynaldo had blocked his promotion to branch court chief and was warned to avoid Council Chairman Irwin Augusta, Olmedo’s uncle. After Annan exposed and killed the corrupt branch court chief, he set out to eliminate the nobles named in the man’s final confession.

• Clo considered meeting Annan and promoting him, but Reynaldo and the councilor objected; Irwin offered to meet Annan instead.
• Reynaldo summoned Annan back to his residence for dinner and explained that Irwin Augusta was a powerful Legendary Mage and Olmedo’s uncle.
• Annan confronted Reynaldo over blocking his promotion, then agreed to avoid Irwin for now.
• Annan questioned the imprisoned branch court chief about contacting Free City and rejected his pleas for another chance because he had tortured Batrue.
• Annan left the Dungeon, and the Purification Court announced that the branch court chief had killed himself out of guilt.
• The branch court chief’s confession implicated nobles who had profited from killing Blade of Freedom members, and Annan prepared to hunt them down.

Annan consolidated his authority as Young Miss Olmedo, purged corrupt nobles, and drew the King’s attention. He went to meet Clo at the Royal Palace, where he revealed that they had met before.

• The Court Director admitted his Blade of Freedom allegiance, then withdrew his family from corrupt deals and appointed Annan acting branch court head.
• Annan used the Purification Court to punish nobles who had oppressed civilians and dismantle their Gray Gloves gangs.
• Clo asked the Council Chairman to bring Young Miss Olmedo to the Royal Palace and later summoned her.
• A daughter of Boss Hoss tried to attack Annan, but he ordered his subordinates to throw her out.
• The Royal Palace envoy summoned Annan; Maria alerted the Minister of War, who warned Blade of Freedom leaders to prepare.
• Annan entered the throne room and greeted Clo as someone he had met before, alarming the Court Director.

Annan asked King Clo for authority to hunt the Blade of Freedom and was challenged to find its members among the Kingdom’s officials. After meeting Council Chairman Irwin Augusta, Annan left uncertain whether Irwin recognized him and sought to learn more from Olmedo.

• Annan declared himself a mortal enemy of the Blade of Freedom and asked King Clo for greater authority to hunt its members.
• Clo offered Annan control of the Purification Court Branch if he found ten Blade of Freedom members among Kingdom officials, and the whole Purification Court if he found a hundred.
• Irwin Augusta arrived at the Royal Palace, compared Annan to his niece, and asked whether Annan knew Agawar.
• Annan told Irwin that Agawar had abandoned Breeze City and caused Snow Mountain Fortress to fall, then left the Palace unsure whether Irwin recognized him.
• Annan reassured the Purification Court Head and opened a Portal to Montreal Mountain to ask Olmedo about her uncle.
• Olmedo asked whether Irwin had recognized Annan, and Annan admitted he was no longer certain.

Annan investigated the Council Chairman’s influence and judged prisoners accused of belonging to the Blade of Freedom, sending some back to Free City. He then revealed his Grail Knight Squire badge to imprisoned squires who had tried to assassinate the king and asked how many Challenge Points killing the king would earn.

• Olmedo warned Annan that his uncle, Council Chairman Irwin Augusta, might have been involved in Asimov’s downfall, and Annan learned that Irwin handled most of the Kingdom’s government orders.
• Annan noted that Agawar had arrived in the New Royal Capital and said he wanted to deal with him as well as the nobles gathering there under pressure from the Blade of Freedom.
• Annan questioned prisoners in the Purification Court’s Dungeon, identified which ones belonged to the Blade of Freedom, and sent the guilty and those who had refused to speak back to Free City.
• Annan visited the deepest cells, where several Grail Knight Squires were imprisoned for attempting to assassinate the king.
• Annan showed the squires his Grail Knight Squire badge and asked how many Challenge Points killing the king would earn, prompting the Retainer to recognize him as Annan.

Annan revealed his identity to the imprisoned Holy Grail Knights’ Retainers, won their trust, and sent them to Free City while uncovering a forgotten prisoner in the Dungeon. He then used the assassination attempt as a pretext to purge the Blade of Freedom in the New Royal Capital.

• Annan healed the Retainers and had the Court Director identify him as Annan Reeves, King of the North and master of the Floating City.
• Rhea Rah and the Round Table Squad pledged their service to Annan, who arranged their release and sent them to Free City.
• Rhea Rah revealed that a prisoner was hidden in the Dungeon, and Annan found a girl locked inside an Iron Maiden under the Guardian Church’s custody.
• Annan left the mysterious prisoner in the dark and departed the Dungeon with the others.
• Annan used the assassination attempt to dispose of a Blade of Freedom member and began a bloody purge of the group across the New Royal Capital.

Free City’s forces advanced on the New Royal Capital as “Let Magic Fly” stirred unrest across the Rikaner Kingdom and the Kingdom’s leaders struggled to contain its collapse. Clo promoted Young Miss Olmedo to Deputy Purification Court Head, and Olmedo began investigating Rikaner Glory for collusion with the Blade of Freedom.

• Francois, Little Smo, and the Red Witch led Free City’s forces toward the New Royal Capital, while the Blade of Freedom spread unrest across the Kingdom.
• Audiences flocked to “Let Magic Fly,” and viewers and newspapers drew parallels between its story and the conflict between Free City and the Rikaner Kingdom.
• Kingdom officials falsified economic figures as nobles plundered resources, and soldiers surrendered to the Blade of Freedom and helped it retaliate against their oppressors.
• Clo, afraid to send Legendary fighters away from the New Royal Capital, backed Young Miss Olmedo against the nobles’ accusations and made him Deputy Purification Court Head.
• Young Miss Olmedo arrived at the Rikaner Glory Newspaper Office with subordinates and announced that he was investigating its collusion with the Blade of Freedom by the King’s order.

Annan repeatedly searched the Rikaner Glory Newspaper Office but found no evidence of the Blade of Freedom. After Marquis Barr ordered Shadow to attack Annan’s people, Annan arranged a covert bribe and returned with the Purification Court to surround the office.

• Annan searched the Newspaper Office, found nothing, and warned Marquis Barr that he would keep investigating.
• After several more visits, Reynaldo told Annan that Marquis Barr had asked him to rein Annan in and that the King might soon forbid further searches.
• Marquis Barr sent Shadow to teach Annan a lesson, while Annan arranged for a disguised bribe to be offered to the Newspaper Office through a newspaper story.
• Marquis Barr assumed Shadow had succeeded when Annan stayed away the next day.
• On the afternoon of the third day, Annan returned with the Purification Court and surrounded the Newspaper Office.