Chapter Summaries

Annan and Tadel emerged from the Forbidden Grounds after stopping Prince Aidan’s attack on the World Tree, while the Kingdom recovered Aidan’s body. Tadel joined Annan’s allies and confronted the High Elves, but the conflict remained unresolved as Annan prepared to rest.

• The Third Prince arrived through a Magic Gate, mourned Aidan, and asked Annan to return his brother’s body; Annan agreed but kept the Eye of Rudolf because it held Irilanze and Lord Emerald’s children’s souls.
• The Third Prince and the Bard discussed Aidan’s death, Annan’s influence on Aidan, and the Eye of Rudolf before the Third Prince left to bring Aidan’s body to the Royal Palace.
• Tadel woke beside Annan, mistook the Eye of Rudolf’s effect for Annan’s death, and learned that Aidan had stopped his plan and that Annan had rescued the souls inside the artifact.
• Annan and Tadel crossed the grassland and found the Skeleton King’s group and Dark Night members facing the High Elves; Tadel reported that the attackers were defeated and Lord Emerald’s children’s souls were rescued.
• Tadel challenged the High Elf Elder’s accusation and urged the High Elves to inspect the Forbidden Grounds, while Annan’s group stayed together and Annan prepared to rest.

Annan restored Lord Emerald’s child and learned that Prince Aidan had abandoned his plan to sacrifice her because Annan changed his mind. With the conflict between the Elven Royal Court and the Paem Kingdom easing, Annan gained fame in the Emerald Capital and used it to make several deals.

• Irilanze woke and overwhelmed Annan with spells, then emerged refreshed while Tadel explained that her books had told her not to interrupt.
• Annan used the Eye of Rudolf to reunite Lord Emerald’s child’s soul with her body, draining much of his power; the Young Elf Dragon immediately returned to sleep beside her parent.
• Lord Emerald told Annan that Aidan had planned to use the child as nourishment for the World Tree, but abandoned the plan because Annan had softened his heart.
• Annan returned to Envoy Village and told the Skeleton King about his plans, while the Skeleton King warned that the Nobles would see him as an enemy.
• The Elven Royal Court and the Paem Kingdom avoided a major war, and Annan became famous among the elves before making several deals.

Annan returned the Eye of Rudolf to the Kingdom of Rules and learned that it would avoid war with the elves. At the Elven Celebration, the Grand Elder announced that the Elven Royal Court had set aside plans for an alliance with outsiders.

• Annan showed Olmedo his footage of Tadel near the World Tree and discussed using it in a future Magic Film.
• The Third Prince accepted the Eye of Rudolf from Annan, gave him a Magic Ring, and said the Kingdom of Rules would avoid war with the elves.
• Annan agreed to send an Envoy to the Paem Kingdom in his place.
• At the Elven Celebration, Annan pushed to the front as the Grand Elder began announcing the Royal Court's decision on an alliance.
• The Grand Elder declared that outsiders could not be trusted and that the Royal Court would set aside the matter of an alliance.

Annan left the Elven Celebration after the Elven Royal Court rejected his alliance proposal, then decided to seek an alliance with the Ratfolk instead. He returned to Free City, where Olmedo ordered the celebration ceremony canceled.

• The Elven Royal Court rejected Annan's alliance proposal, and Tadel tried to console him while he declared he would find another ally.
• Annan told Tadel he planned to grow his own World Tree, then discarded the speech he had prepared for the alliance.
• Annan opened a Portal to tell his people the alliance had failed and discussed the Ratfolk's strengths and risks with the Skeleton King.
• Annan spotted the Rat King at the banquet and went to say goodbye, intending to pursue an alliance with the Ratfolk.
• Olmedo learned that the alliance had failed, asked whether Annan was all right, and ordered officials to cancel the celebration ceremony.

After the Elven Royal Court abandoned its alliance with him, Annan prepared to return to Free City and invited Irilanze to come with him. He left the Emerald Capital with her, while a mysterious figure watched from the forest.

• Krian urged Luoxi and Femi to attack the Elven Royal Court, but Luoxi dismissed his anger and Femi said the day for an attack would come.
• Annan proposed friendship and a possible alliance to the Rat King, who accepted by sharing a Ratfolk friendship ritual; Annan promised to visit the Rat King's Lair.
• Annan witnessed Kael'thas propose to Leona, gave the couple Magic Films, and said goodbye to Samael Night Song.
• Annan asked Irilanze to return to Free City with him, and she agreed after arranging to tell her people.
• Annan packed his belongings, reported a suspected link between a Cultist leader and Prince Aidan to the Elven Guards, and left the Emerald Capital with Irilanze.
• As they neared the edge of Aldo Forest, Annan glimpsed a beautiful figure watching them before turning toward home.

Annan and Irilanze traveled from Wilhelm to Free City, where she planned to take on several roles in his growing territory. He reunited her with Olmedo and returned to the City Lord’s Mansion as preparations continued for the Great Wall.

• Annan and Irilanze sailed toward Free City, and she told him she had brought all her possessions and entrusted herself to him.
• Annan reviewed the Third Prince’s gifts, including money, Mountain Essence, armor, and valuable crop seeds.
• Annan sold goods to passengers during the voyage, then arrived at Free Port with Irilanze in early April.
• Annan showed Irilanze the Mage Tower, Mushroom House, and Academy before bringing her to the City Lord’s Mansion.
• Olmedo welcomed Irilanze, and the two former acquaintances reminisced while Annan took Irilanze to rest.
• Ingrid brought Olmedo the list of workers assigned to build the Great Wall in the Montablinlock Duchy and remarked that Olmedo was smiling.

Annan showed Irilanze Free City’s secret Otherworld Tree and asked her to help care for it alongside Dade. He then sent Dade seeds from the Third Prince and ordered more land cleared and farmers recruited, leaving plans for distilled alcohol underway.

• Annan took Irilanze to the garden, where she discovered that Free City had a second World Tree from another world.
• Idelia welcomed Irilanze home, and Annan asked her to care for the Otherworld Tree with Dade.
• Annan told Irilanze that he no longer cared what the Elves thought and viewed the tree as Free City’s first counterattack.
• Annan and Irilanze found Dade working in the fields, and Annan introduced them as caretakers of the tree.
• Annan gave Dade the Third Prince’s seed bags, ordered her to test-grow them, and directed her to recruit ten thousand farmers and clear more land near Free City.

Annan planned to expand Free City's schools and organize them into specialized academies, while seeking new revenue from farming and distilled liquor. He checked on Cathy and learned she was a clever but mischievous student, then told her that Free City's future belonged to her.

• Annan and Idelia planned to reclaim wasteland, expand the school system, and divide its courses among six academies to train Free City's officials and professionals.
• Annan asked Idelia how Cathy was doing, then caught Cathy after she ran off and checked her unfinished homework.
• Annan took Cathy to her mathematics teacher, who reported that Cathy bullied classmates, rode Grasti, and climbed rooftops, though she was clever.
• Annan recognized his own childhood in Cathy's behavior and told her that Free City and its future belonged to her.

Annan returned to Free City, reviewed Olmedo’s proposed legislation, and rejected land sales in Gem Bay in favor of limited leases. That night Irilanze sneaked into Annan’s room and encountered Lilith, while the next morning the Elf Mentor stared at Annan’s room as he hurried away.

• Annan returned Cathy to the Orphanage, then joined his family for dinner at the City Lord’s Mansion.
• Eldest Sister proposed giving Cathy the Reeves Family name, and Leila and Annan agreed.
• Olmedo presented Free City’s monthly briefing, and Annan rejected selling Gem Bay land, proposing low-cost leases with limits instead.
• Irilanze slipped into Annan’s room at night, where Lilith appeared through a Magic Circle and the two asked each other who they were.
• The next morning, the Elf Mentor emerged and stared at Annan’s room, making Annan hurry off for breakfast.

Annan discovered that a false story about his meeting with the elves had spread through Kindred Spirits, then let Faru Barros continue entertaining a tavern with it. He later asked the visiting Kingdom students what they had learned in Free City and what places they liked best.

• Irilanze and the household staff repeatedly checked on Annan after hearing he had supposedly cried during his meeting with the elves.
• Annan read Kindred Spirits and found a fabricated story claiming the elves had humiliated him and that he had wagered he would surpass their population within thirty years.
• Annan learned that Faru Barros was spreading another rumor about an elf woman and saw him entertaining a tavern, but chose not to stop him.
• Annan and Luoxi headed to find Eli and build a third Mushroom House, then encountered Sigma while he was shopping.
• Annan summoned the Kingdom students and asked what they had learned and which places in Free City they liked best.
• Sigma praised the Gladiator Arena for turning a place of deadly combat into a peaceful sporting venue, earning Annan's applause.

Annan advised Free City’s future leaders on stability and learned that the Elves had abandoned their alliance. He and Idelia decided to try growing the eighty-seven Origin Fruits Irilanze had brought, leaving Irilanze and Dade to test where the fruit trees could thrive.

• Annan praised the students’ ideas and taught them that stability depended on security, protective power, and peace.
• Ingrid told Annan that the Elves had changed their minds about the alliance, then led him to the City Lord’s Mansion.
• Annan learned that Idelia was deciding how to distribute the eighty-seven Origin Fruits and proposed trying to grow them instead.
• Annan asked Irilanze and Dade to cultivate Origin Fruit trees, and Dade requested ten fruits to test in several locations.

Annan invited the neighboring powers to Free City to persuade them to fund defensive walls, but they remained wary and refused to commit. The chapter ended with Annan and Olmedo considering whether Free City would have to build walls around Gem Bay itself.

• Annan rejected Femi’s suggestion to pressure the neighboring powers and sent invitations so he could speak with them directly.
• Idelia adopted Cathy, who took the Reeves surname and joyfully celebrated gaining a family.
• In mid-April, leaders and envoys from nearby powers arrived in Free City, and Olmedo briefed Annan on who they were.
• At the banquet, Annan warned the guests about the Ratfolk and urged them to build walls, but most declined to act without others going first.
• Annan used pressure to make Bro, an envoy from Aeneas Franco’s Territory, show him respect, but Bro said Franco would only believe the warning if he saw the danger himself.
• Olmedo concluded that the neighboring powers neither feared nor trusted Free City, leaving her and Annan to consider building a wall around Gem Bay themselves.

Annan pursued Gale for information about whether the Stuen Ratfolk planned to head south, then tried to win her over by turning her resentment toward the McKennan Clan. The chapter ended with Gale shaken by his argument that the McKennan Ratfolk were the Stuen Clan’s enemy.

• Annan asked about Maria and Gale’s work and learned that Maria was leaking false information while Gale was secretly contacting the Stuen Ratfolk.
• Cathy chased off three boys who had been bullying Lily, then carried Lily into the City Lord’s Mansion with Ivana and Grasti.
• Annan confronted Gale about the Stuen Ratfolk’s plans to head south, but she said she did not know.
• Annan used his supposed friendship with the Sereine Rat King and Gale’s fear of the Elders to get into her room.
• Annan reminded Gale that the McKennan Ratfolk had taken the Northern Frontier after the Stuen Clan spent centuries planning there, and argued that they were the Stuen Clan’s enemy.

Annan left the banquet’s trade negotiations to Olmedo, while Free City launched a farmland program that gave Hunter and Jack the chance to become farmers. After registering to clear three hectares of wasteland, the pair received farming tools and were offered draft oxen and Skeleton Farmers.

• Annan told a knight from Franco's Territory to discuss trade with Olmedo, and Idelia praised his lordly manner.
• Free City announced that residents could lease farmland or clear wasteland, with tools, seeds, draft oxen, and Skeleton Farmers available under set conditions.
• Hunter and Jack teamed up and applied to clear wasteland, choosing three hectares after learning that they had to meet minimum cultivation and yield requirements.
• A young official registered Hunter and Jack and showed them their new farming tools, draft oxen, and Skeleton Farmers.

Reynaldo warned Horus to accept the 100-hectare land limit and earn Annan’s favor by producing a good harvest. After Free City resettled thousands of farmers, Annan confronted the problem of around eighty thousand unemployed residents and ordered them to clear wasteland and attend the Schoolhouse.

• Horus complained to Reynaldo that civilians would profit from the 100-hectare lease limit, and Reynaldo advised him to make a good showing at the Autumn Harvest.
• Jack and Hunter began working their three-hectare plot, but Hunter confronted Jack when he tried to rest instead of helping.
• Count Horus visited Jack and Hunter, asked how they would manage their land, and gave them food; Hunter thanked him while Jack distrusted the nobleman.
• Free City allocated eighty thousand hectares among more than sixteen thousand farmers, but Olmedo reported that around eighty thousand residents remained unemployed.
• Annan ordered the unemployed residents to clear wasteland, receive relief grain if they refused, and attend the Schoolhouse while the Guard Legion increased patrols.

Annan faced a worsening ore shortage as Free City’s growing workforce and production expanded, while Ingrid’s lessons led Sigma to question why work and nations generated different levels of wealth. Sigma stayed in Free City after the other Kingdom students returned home and began to understand that prosperity depended on producing resources of greater value.

• Copperbeard told Annan that the Blacksmith Shop was running short of ore, so Annan arranged surveys and planned to import iron ore from other cities.
• Ingrid explained to the Kingdom students that processing raw ore in Free City created jobs and kept tax revenue in the city.
• Sigma asked whether that production chain explained why some countries were rich and others poor, and Lord Gru encouraged him to stay and think it through.
• Lord Gru took ten students back to the Kingdom and left Sigma and the others in Free City; Emma returned in Sigma’s place.
• Sigma compared what farmers, coachmen, and shopkeepers earned, then concluded that wealth depended on producing resources of greater value.
• Ingrid praised Sigma for identifying the problem and told him to try to solve it, while he realized the solution was in Free City.

Annan dealt with a minor border dispute while pursuing spring planting and seeking a way to nourish the Otherworld Tree. He learned Oddities might serve as fertilizer and brought Painting Person to the City Lord’s Mansion for research.

• Olmedo told Annan that surveyors had clashed with hunters from Lord Franco’s Territory in the Forest Mountains, and Annan chose to ease tensions.
• Annan’s reputation had worsened after cavalrymen calling themselves Duchy soldiers crushed the Black Bull Raiders and piled their enemies’ heads outside Free City.
• Annan arranged for Mages and Dade’s Druid friends to help prepare farmland for spring planting.
• Dade told Annan that Nature Force and Life Force had barely helped the Otherworld Tree grow, and Annan recalled the Merchant’s advice to use Oddities as fertilizer.
• Annan learned how the Oddities had settled into life in Free City and summoned Painting Person to cooperate with his research.

Annan and Dade sought a suitable nutrient for the Otherworld Tree and concluded that Humanity was the best option. After Dade objected to killing people for experiments, Annan recruited willing Oddities to execute death row inmates so they could nourish the tree.

• Annan and Dade tested the Painting Person with Nature Energy and discussed whether Holy Magic could counter the Oddities' Withering Aura.
• Dade explained that Humanity existed only in living beings and made the strongest nutrient, leaving them to consider using a living person or Oddity for the experiment.
• Annan proposed using death row inmates, but Dade objected that killing them for research would be wrong.
• Annan called the Oddities together and recruited the Burnt Girl, the Slug, and the Invisible Man as executioners to provide nutrients for the Otherworld Tree.
• Dade thanked Annan for respecting her opinion, and Annan said respect was key to maintaining friendship.

The captured Mad Wolf Chief revealed a hidden fortune but was executed anyway, then revived as a powerful Oddity. Annan and Dade brought him to the Otherworld Tree, which bound him and dragged him into a pit.

• The Mad Wolf Chief tried to bargain with Krian by offering a hidden fortune, but Krian refused to promise his release.
• After the fortune was found, the Mad Wolf Chief was taken to Free City and executed for his crimes.
• The Mad Wolf Chief awoke after death with new power and transformed into an Oddity, then was bound and taken to the Garden.
• Dade asked Annan why the Mad Wolf Chief had transformed, and Annan suggested his Master Level strength might explain it.
• The Otherworld Tree's roots seized the Oddity and dragged him into a pit after Annan told the tree to behave.

Annan discovered that the Otherworld Tree could absorb Humanity from oddities and use it to grow, but Burnt Girl lost control after killing too many criminals. The Otherworld Tree absorbed the excess Humanity from her and the other executioners, restoring Burnt Girl and giving Annan a way to prevent oddities from losing control.

• The Otherworld Tree rapidly grew after absorbing an oddity, and Annan found that its leaves let people communicate across several hundred meters.
• Annan encouraged the Disciplinary Legion to hunt criminals while Burnt Girl, Invisible Man, and Slug gained Humanity by carrying out executions.
• Burnt Girl lost control after killing a prisoner, and Lilith restrained her until Annan arrived.
• The Skeleton King explained that the oddities had absorbed more Humanity than their bodies could contain, warning that the excess could make them mindless.
• Annan brought Burnt Girl, Invisible Man, and Slug to the Otherworld Tree, which absorbed their excess Humanity and stopped Burnt Girl's black smoke.