Chapter Summaries

Little Smo showed the Ratfolk Artisans a film and talked with their leader, Lucky Mouse, about his life and lost sense of purpose. Annan gave Little Smo a new goal: to help every race live in peace and end war across the world.

• Little Smo watched the Ratfolk Artisans respond with wonder to When Freedom Knocks and led them back to Camp, then invited Lucky Mouse for a walk.
• Little Smo told Lucky Mouse about his childhood hardships, his dream of ending poverty and oppression, and how Annan had made that dream come true.
• Little Smo took Lucky Mouse to Free City's Graveyard, showed him the soldiers' memorial and Broken Fang's statue, and encouraged him to become a hero remembered by the Ratfolk.
• Annan approached Little Smo after Lucky Mouse returned to Camp and asked whether losing his purpose was why he had stepped down as commander of the Blade of Freedom.
• Annan urged Little Smo to make his new dream come true by bringing peace to every race and ending war and killing across the world.

Annan helped Little Smo regain his sense of purpose and planned the Free City's next priorities, including new schools, defenses, and Mage Towers. He learned the Ratfolk Artisans' tunnel work had slowed because they were captivated by life in the city, and ordered Little Smo to learn their language and find out what they discussed.

• Little Smo taught the camp Cook how to prepare food for the Ratfolk Artisans and gave Eli plans for their beds.
• Annan told Francois he had motivated Little Smo by reminding him that many people beyond the Free City lived in misery, then declined to assign Francois another job.
• Annan chose to prioritize new schools, followed by city wall fortifications and Mage Towers, while Idelia handled appointments for new Free City officials.
• Annan learned that tunnel construction had slowed because the Ratfolk Artisans kept visiting the Free City and chatting as they worked.
• Annan told Little Smo to study Ratfolk Language Proficiency at the Mage Tower and learn what the artisans were talking about.

Little Smo learned Ratfolk Language and tried to connect with the Ratfolk Artisans, while Annan discovered that the Otherworld Tree blocked Beludona’s contact with the Abyss. Believing it might protect him from the Demon Lord, Annan lay down beneath the tree to test whether he could sleep safely.

• Little Smo learned Ratfolk Language at the Mage Tower and returned to the camp to speak with Lucky Mouse.
• Lucky Mouse explained that calling someone a “freak” was praise among Ratfolk, and Little Smo listened as the artisans debated which of Annan’s characters was strongest.
• Little Smo defended Potter, frightening the Ratfolk Artisans and leaving him frustrated by how little they understood Free City.
• Annan and Beludona traced the interruption in their connection to the City Lord’s Mansion, where Annan suspected the Otherworld Tree was interfering.
• Annan had Luoxi place a sofa beneath the Otherworld Tree and fell asleep there to test whether it would shield him from the Demon Lord.

Beludona began the Outstanding Devil selection and learned that her first target was Elena, Annan’s Succubus subject in Free City. Beludona granted Elena’s wish to lose weight in exchange for thirty days of abstinence, and Annan asked who her second target would be.

• The eight-hundredth Outstanding Devil selection began, and Beludona drew the sixth day for her tests while Brudona taunted her.
• The Archdevil used the All-Seeing Eye to choose Elena in Free City as Beludona’s first target.
• Annan arrived at Elena’s Massage Parlor with Beludona and introduced the two women after finding Elena with a noblewoman.
• Annan explained that Beludona had to entice three people into signing Contracts, and Elena wished to sleep with Annan before asking to lose weight.
• Beludona signed a Contract to make Elena’s tummy disappear in return for thirty days of abstinence, then Annan asked who the second target was.

Annan helped Beludona complete her second Trial by asking Cathy to make a wish, and Cathy traded a strand of hair for candy. Beludona learned that the great devil had noticed she was making the Trials easier and planned to make the final one harder.

• Cathy discovered that Professor Swaro had called her an idiot after Ivana showed her that all her homework answers were wrong.
• Annan took Cathy aside and explained that the great devil had chosen her as the second person for Beludona's Trials.
• Beludona told Annan that the All-Seeing Eye could spy on the Main Plane, but it required souls, which Free City could not spare.
• Cathy wished to conquer the Abyss, then accepted candy as an easier wish and gave Beludona a strand of hair to complete the second Contract.
• Beludona told Annan that her uncle said the great devil knew she had been easing the Trials and was preparing to make the final one harder.

Mite, an Imperial Heretic Inquisition knight, stopped Brudona from claiming his soul and drove her away. In Hell, the greater Devil gave Beludona a final test to collect ten thousand signatures from people willing to be friends with Devils, and Annan helped her pass it in half a day.

• Mite revealed himself as an Imperial Heretic Inquisition knight and wounded Brudona with a blood-forged rapier, forcing her to flee.
• Back in Hell, Brudona learned that Beludona had exchanged a piece of Candy for a strand of hair and complained that Beludona's Contracts were too easy.
• The greater Devil challenged Beludona to obtain ten thousand signatures from Free City residents willing to be friends with Devils.
• Beludona accepted the test after Annan urged her to agree.
• With Free City's official support, Annan gathered ten thousand signatures in half a day, and he warily declined the greater Devil's offer of help.

Beludona returned to Hell, where she was named the year's Outstanding Devil and ordered to corrupt Free City. To repay Annan, she decided to seek a Six-Armed Snake Demon on the Planar Battlefield, and her uncle arranged for her to join the next officer deployment.

• Beludona thanked Annan for helping her, then returned to Hell after ordering Claire and the others to follow Annan's lead.
• The great devil named Beludona this year's Outstanding Devil and told her to corrupt Free City.
• Beludona ignored her resentful Younger Sister Brudona and told her uncle that she intended to go to the Planar Battlefield to find a Six-Armed Snake Demon for Annan.
• Beludona's uncle warned her against trusting anyone from the Main Plane, but she insisted she had decided to go to the front.
• Beludona's uncle put her on this month's officer call-up list, and she decided to keep the news from Annan until she found a Six-Armed Snake Demon.

Annan read a draft of Kindred Spirits with Idelia and questioned its stories about Free City, while Leila returned from her outing and teased him about handling official business. Elsewhere, Burnt Girl wondered why killing a bandit had not increased her Humanity, and Hunt awoke to find workers calling him the Spinning Machine.

• Annan told Idelia about his dream of future versions of himself and read several articles about himself and Free City in Kindred Spirits.
• Annan objected that the Training Camp Contest article portrayed the Rikaner Kingdom as an enemy, and Idelia said the draft could still be revised.
• Leila returned, and she and Annan challenged each other over fishing and official work before Annan declared he would do something great another day.
• Burnt Girl killed a bandit in the execution chamber, then sat aside when she realized her Humanity had not increased.
• Hunt woke as a woman touched him, and a worker identified him to a group of women as the Spinning Machine.

Hunt found himself transformed into a spinning machine and secretly spun cotton yarn for Aip, who came to believe he was the Spinning Machine God. Aip arranged to take the machine home, but its unexplained activity attracted the attention of the guards, who questioned her about the Spinning Machine God.

• Hunt discovered he could communicate only by moving the machine’s spindles, and Aip realized he did not want to be discovered.
• Hunt spun cotton yarn overnight, and Aip found the yarn at her workstation each morning.
• When Aip feared the mill would discover the machine’s nightly work, she asked Fischer to let her take it home.
• Fischer arranged for Aip to rent the spinning machine, and Aip brought it home to spin while she was away.
• Neighbors reported the sound of a spinning machine in Aip’s empty room, and guards confronted her at the mill.
• Aip told the guards that the Spinning Machine God was responsible.

Annan investigated a spinning machine that seemed to have developed a Machine Spirit and discovered it held the soul of an executed man named Hunt. He welcomed Hunt to Free City, ruling that the machine was Aip’s protected private property.

• Olmedo heard the Royal Guard Captain’s report about a spinning machine that answered its owner, and he sent the news to Annan.
• Annan visited Aip and asked her to keep contacting the machine while he waited for it to respond again.
• Annan and Luoxi returned the next day and provoked the machine into communicating through its spindles.
• Annan summoned Slug to interpret the machine’s language and learned that its occupant was Hunt, a prisoner executed five days earlier.
• Annan told Hunt that he had already been punished and that Aip owned the machine, so Free City law protected him as her private property.

Annan encouraged the Guard Legion to care for their weapons by calling them Machine Spirits, but a Cavalryman named Pier appeared to prove that a Magic Musket could truly help its owner. As the belief spread across Free City and soldiers treated their equipment better, Annan remained baffled by how a Machine Spirit could exist.

• Annan told Luoxi that the Spinning Machine’s soul qualified as a Machine Spirit, then urged the soldiers to care for their Magic Muskets.
• Luoxi gathered the Cavalry and warned them to respect their weapons while forbidding them from cleaning guns with spit.
• Late that night, Luoxi brought Annan to the Camp, where Pier claimed his Magic Musket had a Machine Spirit that helped him fight and aim.
• Pier shot the bull’s-eye at fifty meters while blindfolded, and Luoxi promoted him to Centurion.
• The Machine Spirit belief spread through the legions, the Spinning Mill, and Free City, while Leila rebuked Annan for disrespecting the idea.
• The logistics department reported that requests to repair or replace weapons and tools had dropped, though Annan still wondered whether other objects might develop Machine Spirits.

Annan dreamed that an old shopkeeper guided him through a series of Magic Muskets before revealing a powerful Magic-Energy Annihilation Gun that seemed destined for him. He woke beneath the Otherworld Tree, troubled by the shopkeeper’s claim that the weapon was his path.

• Annan dreamed he was Mr. Potter, testing several Magic Muskets in a wand shop and causing increasing destruction with each one.
• The old shopkeeper brought out a Magic-Energy Annihilation Gun, and Annan’s shot tore apart the shop and the street around it.
• The shopkeeper told Annan that the gun suited him and that it had left the lightning-shaped scar on his face.
• Annan woke beneath the Otherworld Tree and wondered what the shopkeeper meant by saying the gun was his path.

Annan prepared Free City for the coming Ratfolk invasion by warning neighboring territories, expanding defenses, and arranging grain supplies. He refused the Zoren Sais Trading Company’s offer for Free City’s harvest and sent surplus grain to the Dimon Kingdom, which faced a shortage after Ratfolk contamination.

• Annan learned that the Empire planned to resolve the northern threat and had Francois warn nearby lords that the Ratfolk were preparing a major push south.
• Francois offered neighboring territories Magic Muskets, but the lords preferred concrete walls, and Free City supplied lime and workers for their construction.
• Annan accepted that Franco's Territory would not take Free City's help after Reynaldo reported that the Forest Mountains could shield Free City if it fell.
• Annan had Ingrid demand three silver coins per pound of grain from the Zoren Sais Trading Company, whose leader rejected the price but stayed in Free City.
• After learning that Ratfolk contamination had left Lesao Valley unfit for farming, Annan arranged to send surplus grain to the Dimon Kingdom.

Joan delivered Free City's grain to the starving capital of the Dimon Kingdom, restoring hope and opening talks between Annan and the First Prince about trade. The Kingdom sought a permanent portal, but Annan could offer only temporary portals, and learned that most of its coal mines lay in enemy-held territory.

• Joan brought Free City's grain wagons through a Teleportation Portal and promised the capital's residents more shipments.
• Joan spilled grain from a sack to reassure the crowd, then had the wagons admitted to the Royal Palace.
• Joan arranged a meeting between Annan and the First Prince, who thanked Free City and asked about a permanent Teleportation Portal.
• Annan said Free City could open temporary portals several times a day and asked whether the Kingdom had coal mines.
• The First Prince explained that most of the Kingdom's coal mines were occupied by the Ratfolk and Demons.

Annan offered the Dimon Kingdom supplies on credit and realized Magic Power could fuel new technologies, while Francois negotiated a weapons deal with the Kingdom. After a small trial order, the Dimon Kingdom placed a massive follow-up order for Golems, Cannons, and Muskets, leaving Free City scrambling to increase production.

• Annan offered the First Prince supplies on credit, and sent Francois to help prepare a list of the Dimon Kingdom’s needs.
• Annan considered the shortage of coal and Firewood, then realized Magic Power could be used to power engines, airships, and weapons.
• Francois toured the Dimon Kingdom’s capital, criticized its defenses and supplies, and asked the First Prince about Magic Muskets.
• On June 3, the Dimon Kingdom ordered food, materials, ten Knight Golems, and ten Magic Muskets for a trial.
• On June 6, the Dimon Kingdom ordered 100 Knight Golems, 1,000 Magic Cannons, and 10,000 Magic Muskets, and Annan accepted the order.
• Ingrid began preparing production as the Golem Factory and Blacksmith Shop struggled to meet the order’s scale.

Michael experienced a terrifying dream in which a shadowy figure chased him through the Mushroom House, then woke to find Annan visiting with an idea for powering machines directly with Magic Energy. Michael agreed to build a prototype within three days.

• Michael dreamed that darkness pursued him through the streets and into the Alchemy Room, where a figure found him hiding in a wardrobe.
• Michael woke at the Alchemy Table and heard footsteps and a knock outside the Alchemy Room.
• Annan arrived and showed Michael a fire Magic Rune that could absorb magical elements and recharge itself.
• Annan proposed using Magic Energy to drive a machine directly instead of using fuel, steam, and a piston.
• Michael told Annan he could build the machine within three days.

Annan pursued a new transportation system and worked with Michael to develop a Magic Energy Engine powered by Thrust Runes. After refining the design with Magic Stones and building a locomotive and tracks, Annan boarded the Free City's first train for its maiden test.

• Annan explained to Olmedo how trains could carry cargo and passengers across the vast Allen World, bringing more visitors to the Free City.
• Michael demonstrated a prototype Magic Energy Engine whose Thrust Runes turned gears for three minutes before running out of power.
• Annan chose Magic Stones to supply the engine and gave Michael permission to use as many as needed for another test.
• Copperbeard and several Dwarf artisans built a locomotive and railway tracks while Michael prepared the powered engine.
• Michael told Annan that the train was ready, and Annan brought Eldest Sister and Olmedo to the construction site.
• Annan climbed aboard the train and prepared to operate it himself for its maiden voyage.

Annan and Michael tested the Magic Energy Train, improving its materials and identifying ways to extend its operating time. After deciding it was ready to reveal to the world, Annan shut himself in his Study to work on a new idea involving the internet.

• Annan started the Magic Energy Train, but it stopped after a few meters when its Magic Circuit board suffered Magic Corrosion.
• Michael replaced the circuit board with Mithril, and five days later the Train ran faster and could reverse, but its Magic Stones quickly ran out of power.
• Annan and Michael proposed making the Magic Stones drain evenly and inscribing Magic-Gathering Runes on the Train to help them recover.
• Annan decided the Magic Energy Train was ready to announce and returned to the City Lord's Mansion to draw plans related to the internet.

Annan discovered that the Otherworld Tree could recharge its leaves, then planned a railway linking Free City to Siltovis. On his nineteenth birthday, Free City began building the railway, and its Magic-Powered Train defeated a White Dragon in a public demonstration before departing into the Wilderness.

• Annan explained to Olmedo that leaves regained energy near the Otherworld Tree, allowing them to be reused within its growing range.
• Annan proposed running the railway along the coast from Free City toward Siltovis, and Olmedo agreed to handle negotiations while Annan chose Cape for the station.
• On Freedom Day, Annan celebrated his nineteenth birthday and attended the station's groundbreaking ceremony with Idelia.
• Annan staged a tug-of-war between Michael's Magic-Powered Locomotive and Timmy the White Dragon, and the locomotive dragged the dragon backward and won.
• After hearing the crowd cheer, Annan realized the demonstration needed a train whistle, and the Magic-Powered Train sounded it before heading into the Wilderness.

Free City began its autumn harvest, producing far more grain than expected as Annan prepared for the Ratfolk threat. After ordering further fortifications, Annan approved a major expansion of the city’s armies.

• Annan began the Autumn Harvest as Free City’s farmers gathered wheat, and Sigma Watson met Horus while collecting grain and warned him that Free City was preparing for the Ratfolk’s Autumn Offensive.
• Annan learned that the territory’s fields were expected to yield eighty thousand tons of grain and planned to store some, reserve some for brewing, and sell the surplus to the Dimon Kingdom.
• Annan attended the Tunnel’s completion ceremony after Ratfolk Artisans finished it ahead of schedule, reducing the journey between the connected areas to under two hours.
• Annan inspected the nearly completed City Wall at the Montablinlock Duchy border, judged it too short, narrow, and thin, and ordered it strengthened.
• Eldest Sister proposed expanding Free City’s army, and Annan increased the target strengths of the Hellfire Legion, Guard Legion, and Musketeer Legion to ten thousand, five thousand, and five thousand.