Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Joan, badly wounded by Aili, is saved when Illymoyas arrives and heals her with Dragon magic.
• Joan urges Illymoyas to rescue Harold and the others, but learns they are already dead. Illymoyas reveals she had been watching all along, allowing the crisis to happen so Joan could grow stronger.
• Joan challenges Illymoyas’s belief that suffering is necessary for growth. Despite their disagreement, Illymoyas releases her Dragon Might, leaving Aili’s surviving men helpless.
• Joan kills Aili, then stops the workers from beating the prisoners to death. She learns the attackers were not members of the Wolf Gang and conscripts the survivors to fight at the front of her coming revenge campaign.
• After Bores, Jody, and Gloria arrive, Joan declares that the group will pursue those responsible and wipe them out.

Character developments

• Joan survives near-fatal injuries and makes her first kill, discovering that she feels less shaken than she expected. Grief and anger harden into determination, though she retains enough compassion to spare the prisoners.
• Illymoyas reveals her harsh, detached view that hardship is necessary for human growth. Her claim that she was present but chose not to intervene strains her relationship with Joan.
• Aili dies after blaming Joan for destroying his attempt to escape the fighting and begin a new life.
• The prisoners submit to Joan’s terms, having lost their leader and their freedom to choose.

Significant themes

• The cost of growth: Illymoyas treats suffering and loss as lessons that build strength; Joan questions whether such deaths were truly necessary.
• Survival and vengeance: The massacre turns Joan’s grief into resolve to confront the forces behind the attack.
• Mercy amid violence: Even after killing Aili, Joan rejects unnecessary cruelty toward his followers.
• Different standards of leadership: Illymoyas and the Empire officials accept harsh trials as a path to strength, while Joan places greater value on the lives lost.

Character interactions

• Joan and Illymoyas clash over her deliberate nonintervention and the deaths of Joan’s companions, though Joan ultimately asks for Illymoyas’s help.
• Joan gives the prisoners a choice between serving in the dangerous campaign against the Wolf Gang or fleeing.
• Bores, Jody, and Gloria arrive after the fighting, and Joan informs them that the immediate danger is over but the larger conflict remains.

Key plot points and events

• Joan executes the Wolf Gang messenger responsible for the Freedom Gang’s disaster, then leads a force—including members seeking revenge—to the Wolf Gang stronghold.
• Gloria smashes through the gate and overwhelms the gang’s second-in-command, killing him when he offers to reveal the Wolf King’s location.
• The Wolf Gang quickly collapses. Jody accepts surrenders and kills only those who resist, even stopping two of his own allies from indulging in bloodshed.
• Gloria defeats the Wolf King but accidentally leaves him barely alive; he dies before Joan can question him. Joan nevertheless uses his body to address the stronghold’s workers and prisoners.
• Joan declares herself the Wolf Gang’s new leader and promises the people freedom from enslavement, fair wages, rest, and the chance to return to their families. Gloria displays the Wolf King’s severed head as Joan orders the crowd to stand rather than kneel.
• Harding, whom Joan had feared lost, is found alive and reunited with her.

Character developments

• Joan acts decisively and commands loyalty, but the deaths of thirty comrades weigh on her. She turns victory into a public commitment to govern the oppressed differently.
• Gloria is a formidable, sometimes uncontrollable fighter: she kills the second-in-command and accidentally mortally wounds the Wolf King. Her earnestness contrasts with her brutality.
• Jody shows both eagerness to fight and discipline, enforcing surrender and restraining bloodlust among the victors.
• Harding’s survival briefly lifts Joan’s spirits; his confusion about her being called “Princess” hints at the identity and leadership questions around her.
• Illymoyas remains close to Joan, protecting her as the others fight.

Significant themes

• Liberation and responsible leadership: Joan promises practical changes, not merely a new ruler.
• The human cost of power: The thirty dead and their families haunt Joan, challenging her belief that she is worth their sacrifice.
• Revenge versus restraint: The fighters’ desire for vengeance is balanced against Jody’s efforts to prevent unnecessary killing.
• Dignity and equality: Joan rejects being worshipped or obeyed through forced kneeling, insisting that the people need not bow to anyone.

Character interactions

Joan trusts Gloria and Jody with the assault while accepting Illymoyas’s protection. Gloria’s battlefield strength advances Joan’s cause but also forces Joan to adapt when the Wolf King dies before questioning. Joan’s reunion with Harding provides a personal counterweight to the violence, while her address to the gathered workers establishes a new relationship based on promised rights rather than fear.

Key plot points and events

• After defeating the Wolf Gang, Joan accepts Jody’s plan to send its former members to work in the coal mine rather than immediately admitting them to the Freedom Gang. Though they protest, the workers soon find the new arrangement fairer than life under the Wolf King: they receive pay and rest, and are no longer abused.
• The group takes over the Wolf Gang’s well-defended base. Gloria reveals she claimed a coal mine by killing its boss, prompting Jody to reconsider his reservations about Joan’s more direct methods.
• Joan promotes her companions to underbosses and dispatches them to organize the newly controlled territory. She keeps her promise to free the Pain Gang members, but they choose to stay and accept mine work because they have nowhere else to go.
• Joan finds the Wolf King’s treasure but leaves it untouched, unsettled by Illymoyas’s silence and fearing the dragon is angry with her.
• Annan speaks with Joan through a Portal. He recounts Little Smo’s difficult past and helps Joan see that painful experiences can shape a person, without making her or Illymoyas wholly right or wrong.
• After the Portal closes, Joan apologizes to Illymoyas. She admits she relied too heavily on the dragon’s strength and feels responsible for the deaths they could have prevented.

Character developments and interactions

• Joan struggles with guilt, distrust, and the burden of leadership. Annan encourages her to make peace with herself and reminds her that people must believe in her; she tries to respond with a smile. She then takes responsibility for past mistakes and promises to do better.
• Illymoyas appears distant, leading Joan to fear their friendship is strained. Annan reframes the dragon’s costly help as a sign of friendship, encouraging Joan to value it.
• Jody favors rallying the poor and allowing them to free themselves, but Gloria’s blunt account of taking a mine challenges his assumptions.
• The former Wolf Gang members quickly transfer their loyalty from the Wolf King to Joan once they experience fairer treatment.
• The Pain Gang members choose to remain despite Joan’s distrust, revealing their lack of a home or safe place to go.
• Annan acts as Joan’s confidant and guide, using Little Smo’s story to offer perspective rather than declare who is right.

Significant themes

• Leadership and responsibility: Good intentions do not prevent harm; leaders must recognize when they have relied too much on others.
• Justice and reform: The former gang members are held accountable through labor, but humane treatment gives them a chance to change.
• Trauma and self-acceptance: Suffering shapes people, yet it does not reduce their lives to simple judgments of right and wrong.
• Trust and friendship: Joan’s relationship with Illymoyas depends on acknowledging the dragon’s care and being honest about her own feelings.
• Hope and belonging: Those who have survived by drifting or fighting may choose to stay when offered a place and purpose.

Key events

• Alone in the Tavern at night, Annan is visited by a Wealth Church priest, who secretly proposes an alliance. The Church offers to help Annan replace the Raymond Family as ruler of the Broken Mountains.
• Annan refuses, explaining that he has no desire to rule the region. Though he is open to cooperation with the Church, he objects to its motives and says his loyalty is to the people, not to whoever holds power.
• After the priest leaves, Annan reveals that the Ratfolk Elder has been hiding and listening. The Elder warns him that Grand Lord Raymond knows Annan’s people have gone to the Broken Mining District and plans to have the Oyster Gang attack them, then use the resulting conflict to his advantage.
• The Elder says the Oyster Gang is connected to the Round Table Brotherhood, but offers little further information before retreating through a hidden passage in the Tavern’s wall. Annan discovers the passage and reflects on the many factions operating in the Broken Mountains.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan demonstrates political independence and concern for ordinary people: he rejects the chance to seize power, while remaining willing to work with the Wealth Church on fairer terms. He also stays alert and probes the Elder’s evasive behavior.
• The Wealth Church priest approaches Annan pragmatically, hoping to use him to restore the Church’s influence. He is briefly reassured by Annan’s genuine respect for the Church, but leaves unable to persuade him.
• The Ratfolk Elder is caught eavesdropping and initially tries to conceal what he knows. Annan’s teasing and suspicion push him to reveal Raymond’s scheme, though he remains guarded and disappears before Annan can learn more.
• Annan’s exchanges with both visitors are marked by a contrast between his straightforward principles and their political maneuvering.

Significant themes

• Power versus public good: Annan refuses to replace one ruler with another merely for personal or institutional gain.
• Trust and secrecy: The priest’s covert visit and the Elder’s spying reveal how little anyone in the region can safely take at face value.
• Factional intrigue: The Church, Raymond Family, Ratfolk, Oyster Gang, and Round Table Brotherhood are entangled in a larger struggle for influence.

Key plot points and events

• Annan asks Captain Reyne about the Round Table Brotherhood. Reyne explains that it is a knightly organization based at the Lake of a Thousand Lakes, with close ties to the Templar Order, and distinct from the Ranger- and Assassin-heavy Shadow Brotherhood.
• The blockade of Coal Mountain begins to fail when Kilian sees Annan’s people using a Portal to bring in supplies. The Grand Lord recalls Kilian to Golden City rather than explicitly announcing that the blockade is over.
• Kilian learns that Annan is operating from the Black Reef Tavern and expanding into the Broken Mining District. Grand Lord Raymond orders Kilian to lead secret guards in an assassination attempt on Annan, abruptly abandoning their previous plan to confront him within the rules.
• Joan builds the Freedom Gang from groups formerly dependent on the Wolf Gang, supplying them and rallying them against the nobles’ exploitation.
• Oyster Gang envoys demand that Joan give up extra territory and stop interfering elsewhere. She outwardly agrees, pretending to surrender Mountainside Ravine and other gains, but intends to use the delay to prepare.
• Following Annan’s warning that the Oyster Gang is backed by the Round Table Brotherhood, Joan has Illymoyas eliminate nearby informants, sends Jody to organize allies for a possible uprising, and keeps Gloria at the stronghold to protect the group.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan continues to outmaneuver Kilian and coordinates with Joan, while learning that the Oyster Gang’s power is tied to a larger knightly organization.
• Kilian recognizes how far Annan has outplayed him, but remains obedient to his uncle. He hesitates at the order to assassinate Annan before submitting.
• Grand Lord Raymond shifts from political confrontation to covert violence, treating Kilian as a pawn rather than explaining his reasons.
• Joan tempers her anger and adopts a more forceful, populist approach to recruitment. Though she appears to yield to the Oyster Gang, she is secretly preparing resistance and taking precautions against another massacre.
• Joan and Jody discuss whether to honor the envoys’ demands; Joan makes clear the concessions are a ruse, then entrusts Jody with contacting allies. Illymoyas and Joan have also reconciled enough for him to help protect the movement.

Significant themes

• Power and manipulation: Raymond uses Kilian as a tool, while Joan and Annan rely on deception to buy time and shape events.
• Resistance to exploitation: Joan channels workers’ resentment of noble privilege into a growing movement for freedom.
• The cost of leadership: Joan restrains her anger because her choices could endanger the people who trust her.
• Uncertainty and unequal struggle: Ordinary hardship continues in Golden City even as political and military conflicts escalate elsewhere.

Key events

• From the Black Reef Tavern, Annan coordinates several fronts. With the Dimon Kingdom front at a stalemate, he sends Captain Reyne and his people to support Joan in the Broken Mining District, leaving Open-Pit Coal Mountain under the control of three former prisoners.
• Annan asks Reyne to negotiate with the Oyster Gang, whose ties to the Round Table Brotherhood and Templar Order could make them a useful force.
• During a meeting with Olmedo, an arrow smashes through the tavern window. Secret Guards surround the building, and Kilian orders them to kill everyone inside. Annan closes his Portal to protect Olmedo and takes cover.
• Olmedo alerts Idelia in Free City. Suspecting the Grand Lord ordered the attack, they send the airborne city toward the Broken Mountains; it is expected to arrive in three days.
• The attackers set the tavern ablaze, but Annan’s Mage Robe shields him from the assault. Mr. Mora appears to help him escape, but Annan sends him away to protect his secrecy and promises to find him later.
• Annan summons Aga and orders him to capture the attackers alive.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan’s trust in the three Masters gives them authority despite their prisoner status. He believes they will choose wisely, recognizing that the Grand Lord and President Phelan offer poor alternatives.
• Reyne is tasked with resolving the Oyster Gang situation within a tight timeframe, while Olmedo questions whether Annan has another reason to go there.
• Olmedo’s concern for Annan contrasts with Idelia’s confidence in his defenses. Olmedo fears Annan is too forgiving; Idelia agrees, recalling Levis as someone more willing to retaliate.
• Mr. Mora again risks helping Annan, but Annan prioritizes Mora’s safety and independence. Annan’s calm response to the attack shows confidence in his protections and control of the situation.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and belonging: Free City treats Annan as its indispensable heart, making an attack on him an attack on the entire community.
• Trust and choice: Annan grants responsibility to former captives and protects Mr. Mora rather than treating him as a tool.
• Power and retaliation: The Grand Lord’s apparent move from political maneuvering to assassination prompts Free City to mobilize, while Annan seeks to take his attackers alive rather than simply kill them.

Key plot points and events

• Aga, still disguised as a lich, leaves Annan amid the burning Black Reef Tavern. The attackers are immobilized by Aga’s aura of weakness.
• Annan confronts Kilian, who claims jealousy drove him to organize the attack. Annan suspects the Grand Lord or Elvis Raymond may be involved, but Kilian denies it.
• When the guards arrive, Annan sees through Kilian’s performance and asks to be taken directly to Grand Lord Raymond.
• Meanwhile, Joan’s Freedom Gang has grown rapidly to nearly five thousand members. Its sudden expansion has outpaced efforts to instill discipline and the Blade of Freedom’s ideals.
• Little Smo and Wilson have helped spread uprisings across the Broken Mountains. Harsh taxation and brutal suppression have pushed the poor to fight back, and some local lords have been driven out.
• Raymond learns that the unrest is connected to Annan and, alarmed by the broader political situation, orders an attack intended to warn Annan to back down.
• At the Golden Palace, Raymond confronts Annan over a report that Tyke Territory has fallen and its lord been hanged. He calls it an act of war.

Character developments

• Annan stays composed and politically perceptive, recognizing that Kilian’s confession is likely a cover and that Raymond’s attack reflects a loss of control.
• Kilian appears to accept blame, but Annan doubts his story; Kilian’s motives and loyalties remain unclear.
• Grand Lord Raymond shifts from confidence to alarm as he realizes Annan’s influence and the uprisings threaten his authority. He still sees the crisis as a matter of control and stolen revenue.
• Joan and the Freedom Gang face the consequences of their success: their rapid growth brings disorder and makes their revolutionary project harder to guide.

Significant themes

• Power and miscalculation: Raymond assumes he can end the political “game” whenever he wants, but events have grown beyond his control.
• Revolution and organization: Popular anger can fuel an uprising, but growth without discipline or shared principles risks reproducing the corruption it opposes.
• Exploitation and resistance: Raymond’s extreme taxation and the lords’ repression intensify the very rebellions they seek to suppress.
• Deception and performance: Annan reads through Kilian’s staged confession and the guards’ awkward display, while political actors conceal their real intentions.

Character interactions

• Annan questions Kilian directly, testing whether he is acting alone or serving powerful interests.
• Annan dismisses the guards’ pretense and takes control of the encounter by demanding an audience with Raymond.
• Raymond and Annan meet in open confrontation: Raymond accuses Annan’s people of rebellion, while Annan remains guarded as the conflict escalates.

Plot points and events

• Grand Lord Raymond confronts Annan over his role in stirring unrest across the Broken Mountains. Annan admits using the same tactics he used elsewhere, arguing that people with decent lives would not have risen up.
• Raymond acknowledges that his nephew Kilian tried to assassinate Annan, then unexpectedly offers Annan control of the Broken Mountains through marriage into the Raymond family. Annan refuses: he wants neither an enclave nor inherited power.
• Annan insists that the people of the Broken Mountains should decide their own future, rather than simply replacing one ruling class with another. Raymond vows to continue opposing him.
• After Annan leaves, Raymond orders Mr. Mora to remove the servants who overheard their conversation. Mora takes them away, but soon returns with them. Annan frees them from Mora’s control and offers them refuge in his territory; they agree, having nowhere safe to go.
• Mora reveals that he serves Annan because Annan is close to their shared “Matron,” whom he identifies as the Spider Queen Lolth. Annan connects this claim to Little Spider and questions what Mora knows about Bishop Sasha’s disappearance and death.
• Before Mora can answer whether others share his allegiance, a carriage arrives: Raymond’s wife, Melanie, has asked to see Annan.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan remains committed to self-determination and refuses Raymond’s offer of power. He also shows compassion by taking in the displaced servants, though his pleased thought that they might suit the young men of Free City adds a self-interested note.
• Raymond is revealed as pragmatic and focused on securing an exceptional heir, regardless of which child succeeds him. His offer to Annan suggests he recognizes Annan’s ability, but their political conflict remains unresolved.
• Mr. Mora openly breaks with—or at least defies—Raymond by following Annan and helping the servants. His cryptic devotion introduces a possible connection between Annan and Lolth.
• The servants are exposed as victims of coercion, sale, and abduction. Annan’s offer gives them a chance to escape the Grand Lord’s control.

Significant themes

• Revolution and self-determination: Annan rejects replacing the old elite with a new one and wants ordinary people to shape their own future.
• Power and legitimacy: Raymond prizes ability and succession; Annan refuses authority based on inheritance or marriage.
• Exploitation and refuge: The servants’ treatment shows the human cost of elite power, while Annan’s intervention offers a limited alternative.
• Hidden loyalties and divine influence: Mora’s allegiance to the Spider Queen raises questions about Annan’s relationship with Lolth and the unresolved circumstances of Bishop Sasha’s fate.

Key plot points and events

• Annan rides with Mora, a former Dark Elf who was transformed into a human through the Ritual of Pain. Mora and other Lolth worshippers have been searching for the Spider Queen for five years.
• Annan admits he does not know where Lolth is, but suggests she may have returned to the Abyss. Mora clings to this possibility, revealing how desperately he needs his goddess’s return.
• At the Raymond estate, Annan meets privately with Lady Melanie. She checks on him after Kilian’s attempted assassination, and the two converse warmly despite the growing conflict between Annan and her husband, the Grand Lord.
• Annan probes whether Kilian’s attack relates to his parentage. Melanie nearly reveals a secret, then blurts out, “I’m the Grand Lord’s wife!”—an odd, defensive response that leaves Annan puzzled.
• Annan learns that Melanie ordered Kilian confined in the dungeon and asks to see him. As he crosses the estate, he notices figures working near the chimneys, but the chapter ends before their purpose is clear.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan recognizes that he has underestimated the depth of believers’ devotion: unlike his own short experience as a ruler, Lolth’s followers have worshipped her for generations. He also uses tact and humor with Mora, and plays along with Melanie’s friendly overtures while investigating Kilian.
• Mora reveals his physical and emotional suffering, and his enduring loyalty to Lolth. Annan offers hope of restoring his Dark Elf form if the goddess returns.
• Melanie appears genuinely concerned for Annan and struggles to keep a secret about Kilian’s parentage. Her sudden declaration of her status as the Grand Lord’s wife hints at unusual emotions or an impulse she cannot control.
• Annan and Melanie maintain a cordial, almost familial façade despite the political tension surrounding Annan and the Grand Lord. Annan and Mora share a moment of compassion and trust.

Significant themes

• Faith and loss: Believers’ devotion can make the disappearance of a god an overwhelming personal and communal crisis.
• Limits of perspective: Annan realizes he cannot understand experiences he has never witnessed, including mass religious upheaval.
• Secrets and political tension: Melanie’s near-confession, Kilian’s imprisonment, and the unexplained activity on the roof suggest concealed dangers within the Raymond estate.

Key plot points and events

• Annan visits Kilian in the Raymond Family dungeon. Kilian is unharmed, since he is still the Grand Lord’s son, but he assumes he will not survive the family’s crisis.
• Kilian admits he had once viewed Annan as a rival, but now admires how quickly Annan unsettled his father. He asks why Annan is targeting the Raymonds.
• Annan first gives a mocking cover story, then explains his real motive: he wants to destroy people who exploit and dominate others.
• He describes the suffering he witnessed among the family’s workers, including starving miners, children who died in the mines, and a very young child forced to clean a chimney. Kilian responds with practical justifications rather than concern, revealing how thoroughly he accepts the system.
• Annan leaves, promising to return the next day, and moves his operations to Mora’s residence after an assassination attempt.
• In a call with Black Widow, Annan asks about the Spider Queen Church. Black Widow warns that its Dark Elf followers are cruel and sadistic. Annan considers allying with them—and her warning only makes him more interested.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan makes clear that his campaign is driven less by personal hatred of the Raymonds than by their exploitation of ordinary people. He presents himself as separate from the ruling class and sees the oppressed as far more valuable than nobles.
• Kilian drops his guarded manner in the dungeon. He openly admires Annan, but his disbelief and defenses of child labor show how deeply he has absorbed the family’s class prejudice.
• Annan and Kilian have a candid, tense exchange: Kilian probes Annan’s motives, while Annan challenges him with concrete evidence of the harm his family causes.
• Black Widow serves as Annan’s source on the Spider Queen Church, cautioning him against the Dark Elves. Her warning prompts Annan’s wry, increased interest rather than deterring him.

Significant themes

• Class exploitation and moral responsibility: The chapter contrasts the suffering of workers and children with the Raymonds’ wealth and indifference.
• Privilege and dehumanization: Kilian treats exploitation as ordinary and describes commoners as incapable without noble leadership.
• Actions over identity: Annan rejects being grouped with nobles simply because he holds status, judging people by how they treat others.
• Unexpected alliances: Annan’s willingness to consider the feared Spider Queen Church suggests that political usefulness may outweigh reputation.

Key plot points and events

• Annan insists on trying his plan involving the Dark Elves despite Black Widow’s warnings. She bursts into tears, convinced they will destroy him; his teasing response only reinforces her suspicion that he desires them.
• In the stronghold, Joan’s allies await Captain Reyne’s report. The Oyster Gang agrees to stay neutral in Joan’s conflict with the Grand Lord, but only if Joan’s group abandons the territory and people they have taken and withdraws from the Broken Mining District.
• Joan refuses to abandon the workers. With Annan’s assurance that she need not seek his approval as long as she follows Free City’s principles, she orders Reyne to launch a decapitation strike against the Oyster Gang.
• Little Smo and Wilson’s attempts to organize workers in the Broken Mountains collapse when the Nobles, prepared for rebellion, send troops to crush the uprisings. After heavy losses and betrayals, the survivors flee into the mountains. Elvis Raymond, the Grand Lord’s son, arrives to suppress the unrest.
• Grand Lord Raymond berates Elvis—not only for failing to capture the rebellion’s leaders, but also for his personal schemes and apparent interest in Kilian. Elvis obeys while concealing both fear and resentment.

Character developments and interactions

• Black Widow and Annan: Her warnings reveal genuine concern for Annan, though their exchange remains comic and suggestive. Annan stays determined and deflects her fears with humor.
• Joan and her allies: Joan struggles with the cost of continuing the fight but ultimately chooses solidarity with the workers over retreat. Jody forcefully argues that abandoning them would betray the hope they were given. Illymoyas relays Annan’s support, helping Joan make her decision.
• Captain Reyne: He urges caution, recognizing that attacking the Oyster Gang could draw in the Round Table Brotherhood and make Joan’s faction appear heretical.
• Little Smo and Wilson: Their early success gives way to a harsh lesson: tactics that worked in the Rikaner Kingdom cannot overcome the deeply rooted, still-powerful Noble order here.
• Elvis and Grand Lord Raymond: Their confrontation exposes the strained, controlling father-son relationship. Elvis presents himself as obedient, but inwardly resents his father.

Significant themes

• Solidarity versus expediency: Joan rejects withdrawal because protecting the workers matters more than avoiding risk.
• The limits of rebellion: Popular support alone cannot defeat entrenched power backed by trained soldiers, wealth, and political ties.
• Political caution and factional consequences: A strike against the Oyster Gang could provoke a larger conflict and damage Joan’s legitimacy.
• Power and hypocrisy: The Nobles’ personal entanglements coexist with their efforts to preserve a rigid social order.
• Loyalty, control, and resentment: Elvis’s obedience masks fear and growing bitterness toward his father.

Plot points

• Elvis concludes that Kilian must die before their father can release him or use him to restrain Elvis’s claim to the inheritance.
• He gets his mother, Lady Melanie, to support his plan. She sends guards with him to the dungeon.
• Elvis tells Kilian that he has been condemned to a secret execution. Kilian suspects Elvis is acting on his own and asks to visit a childhood home before returning to die.
• At the house where he was found as a child, Kilian recalls dreaming of buying it for himself and the other children. The elderly owners return coins they found there, but they are gold rather than the copper coins he remembers; he lets the old memory go.
• Kilian mentions his search for his mother, whom neither brother knows anything about. He then agrees to return to the dungeon, asking Elvis not to harm the elderly couple.
• Elvis reassures him that they are his “future subjects,” then secretly orders a subordinate to deal with everyone Kilian encountered.
• Earlier, Elvis passes workers gathered around a dead or dying child, but dismisses the scene and continues to the dungeon.

Character developments and interactions

• Elvis becomes openly ruthless, convinced that Kilian’s survival threatens his future. He relies on Melanie’s backing and treats Kilian’s requests as risks to manage.
• Kilian remains calm in the face of his supposed execution. His childhood visit reveals a wistful, gentle side, though he also seems detached from the mother he never knew.
• Melanie supports Elvis, viewing him as the Raymond family’s only viable heir.
• The brothers’ exchange exposes their shared vulnerability beneath their rivalry: Kilian recognizes Elvis’s fear and warns that their father’s cruelty may eventually turn against him too.

Significant themes

• Power and family: Their father’s controlling, loveless rule has turned his sons into rivals rather than brothers.
• Inheritance and paranoia: Elvis sees Kilian’s existence—and closeness to Annan—as a threat that must be eliminated.
• Memory and loss: Kilian’s childhood home and forgotten coins mark the distance between his past hopes and present life.
• Cruelty and indifference: Elvis’s disregard for the suffering child and his order to silence witnesses show how power makes other people disposable.

Key plot points and events

• Kilian returns to the Dungeon and asks Elvis for a dagger. He tells Elvis he is ending his life because he has recognized that their father values power above his sons, treating them as tools who can be sacrificed.
• Kilian stabs himself through the chest. Elvis and a guard confirm his death, finding no letter or evidence of a trap.
• Elvis reports what happened to Lady Melanie. The news quickly reaches Grand Lord Raymond, who summons Elvis to the Golden Palace.
• Raymond accuses Elvis of killing Kilian and chokes him. Melanie intervenes, and Raymond releases him. Elvis is left shaken, haunted by Kilian’s warning.
• Annan hears of Kilian’s death. He regrets the loss of his intended replacement for Raymond, questions whether the death was truly suicide, and decides to visit the Raymond family to pay his respects.

Character developments and interactions

• Kilian dies with apparent calm, but his final words reveal his bitterness and growing understanding of his father’s selfishness. He insists Elvis did not defeat him; he chose to die.
• Elvis begins by wanting to confirm Kilian’s death, yet finds himself disturbed rather than relieved. Raymond’s attack makes Kilian’s warning feel credible, and Elvis recoils when Melanie touches him.
• Lady Melanie tries to protect Elvis from Raymond, though afterward she excuses Raymond’s behavior as something he has “always” done.
• Grand Lord Raymond responds to Kilian’s death with suspicion and violence, but his thoughts remain fixed on using Annan to consolidate power.
• Annan views Kilian with mixed pity and regret, recognizing both the damage done to him and the harm he caused.

Significant themes

• Power over family: Raymond’s ambition reduces his sons to instruments, while family bonds offer little protection.
• Cycles of resemblance and harm: Kilian sees himself and Elvis as becoming like their father, suggesting that his cruelty and their father’s influence may persist through the family.
• Agency and defeat: Kilian frames suicide as a choice rather than Elvis’s victory, though his despair also shows how deeply he has been shaped by his circumstances.
• Uncertainty and complicity: The circumstances of Kilian’s death remain officially accepted but emotionally suspect, and those around the family struggle to question its power.

Key plot points and events

• Annan tells Black Widow that Kilian is dead. Her indifferent response reveals she never cared for Kilian himself, prompting Annan to wonder whether anyone truly had.
• Black Widow warns Annan repeatedly to beware of the Dark Elves. Mr. Mora dismisses her warning as not entirely mistaken, then agrees to accompany Annan to Kilian’s funeral.
• At the Raymond estate, Lady Melanie allows Annan to attend despite the family’s hostility. Kilian’s funeral is sparse: Annan and Uncle Fox are the only friends present, while Melanie and Elvis attend as family.
• Annan places a white flower on Kilian’s chest and speaks privately with Elvis. He suspects Kilian did not take his own life and asks whether Elvis spoke with him. Elvis confirms they did, but refuses to explain.
• Annan warns Elvis to watch their father, suggesting Kilian’s fate could be repeated. He also notices Ratfolk near the cemetery, an unexplained detail that troubles him.
• Annan and Mora leave the estate. On returning to Mora’s residence, they are ambushed by the Grand Lord’s forces: tentacles, poisonous mist, spells, and Shadow Servants attack. An Epic Lich named Aga neutralizes the assault, allowing Annan and Mora to escape by teleportation. Annan tells the attackers their next meeting will be at the Golden Palace.

Character developments and interactions

• Annan grieves Kilian and recognizes the loneliness that shaped him. He remains wary and perceptive, questions the circumstances of Kilian’s death, and warns Elvis despite their strained relationship.
• Black Widow shows how little Kilian meant to her, while her persistent warning about the Dark Elves suggests genuine concern for Annan.
• Mr. Mora accompanies Annan and proves to be a dependable ally, revealing open hostility toward the Grand Lord.
• Elvis remains defensive and resentful, particularly toward Annan, and offers little insight into his brother’s death.
• Lady Melanie maintains control of her family and grants Kilian a burial in the family cemetery, while continuing to treat Annan graciously.
• Annan’s bond with the Raymond Family effectively ends with Kilian’s death; Grand Lord Raymond is now firmly his enemy.

Significant themes

• Loneliness and unreturned affection: Kilian’s life and funeral underscore how few people truly cared for him.
• Betrayal and family danger: Annan’s warning to Elvis hints that the Grand Lord’s ambitions may endanger his own family.
• Grief and closure: Annan’s visit gives Kilian a final gesture of respect, even as it closes their connection to the Raymonds.
• Escalating conflict: The ambush confirms that Annan’s struggle with the Grand Lord has moved from political hostility to open violence.

Key plot points and events

• With conflict against the Oyster Gang looming, Princess Joan insists on learning to fight so she can join the front line rather than remain a bystander.
• Jody trains her in the Stronghold hall. Joan repeatedly falls and gets hurt, but keeps demanding another round. Illymoyas heals her enough to continue.
• After two hours, Jody deliberately leaves an opening, allowing Joan to land her first blow. He suggests she learn from Gloria, whose Berserker style may suit Joan’s reckless determination better than conventional technique.
• Annan arrives and learns of Joan’s training. He also tells Jody that Kilian is dead and that he expects his Wanted Poster to spread through the Broken Mountains. He introduces Mora as an ally.
• Joan leaves to find Gloria. Annan decides to return to the Free City, while continuing to question the deeper forces behind the Broken Mountains’ troubles.

Character developments and interactions

• Joan reveals how strongly she fears being a burden. Her resolve to fight leads her to endure exhausting, painful training, and her first successful hit gives her a brief but important boost in confidence.
• Jody is patient and supportive, balancing honest feedback with encouragement. He worries about Joan’s safety and recognizes that her determination may be better matched to Gloria’s approach.
• Illymoyas supports Joan’s choice, heals her, and gently reminds her that even a Dragon needs rest.
• Annan respects Joan’s agency rather than stopping her, and begins looking beyond the immediate gang conflict to the region’s wider corruption and power struggles.

Significant themes

• Agency and belonging: Joan chooses action over feeling like a burden.
• Persistence and realistic progress: A small achievement matters, even when mastery is far away.
• Uncertainty beneath conflict: Annan suspects the Broken Mountains’ problems involve more than a simple struggle between nobles and commoners.

Key plot points and events

• After the Lords crush the Freemen’s uprising, Little Smo and Wilson hide with their dwindling supplies in a mountain cave. Little Smo argues that many supporters have merely scattered, but accepts that the Freemen need better training and allies with professional skills.
• Annan arrives to reassure them and ask about their plans. Little Smo intends to rebuild support in villages, towns, and among sympathetic local leaders. Annan weighs the danger of open revolt against the slower strategy of changing society from within; with time short, they settle on working in parallel: Joan will expand their territory while Little Smo spreads the movement’s ideals.
• A wounded scout returns from the Abandoned Mine Tunnel, reporting an attack by Ratfolk. A swarm pours into the cave, but Annan prevents the Freemen from attacking and tries to speak their language. A black mole recognizes him as a friend and interrupts the Ratfolk assault.
• Beneath the Raymond estate, Grand Lord Raymond worships an immense fragment of mountain copper and bargains with a mysterious “Great Lady.” He promises to use Annan to defeat outsiders and traitors, recover his power, and ultimately surrender the Golden Mountains. The entity responds by repeating Annan’s name.

Character developments and interactions

• Little Smo shows greater maturity and resolve than Wilson, treating the Freemen’s defeat as a setback rather than the end. Annan encourages him, framing failure as part of learning.
• Wilson is shaken by the movement’s defeat and the cave’s danger, but continues supporting the group.
• Annan serves as a source of practical help and renewed hope. He recalls his connection to the Stuen Ratfolk and uses their language to stop the Freemen from provoking a fight.
• Grand Lord Raymond reveals a fervent, submissive side beneath his public arrogance. His secret dealings suggest he intends to manipulate Annan for his own ends.
• The mole’s recognition of Annan hints at an existing relationship that may be crucial to resolving the Ratfolk threat.

Significant themes

• Setbacks and resilience: Defeat can become a source of growth rather than proof that a cause is doomed.
• Education and preparation: Lasting resistance depends on building people’s knowledge, strength, and organization over time.
• Strategy under pressure: The chapter contrasts gradual reform with violent revolution and suggests combining open expansion with covert organizing.
• Communication over violence: Annan’s attempt to speak with the Ratfolk prevents an immediate clash.
• Hidden power and betrayal: The secret cavern and Raymond’s bargain reveal that the political conflict is entangled with a larger, mysterious threat.

Plot and events

• Gloria puts Joan through brutal combat training, repeatedly knocking her down and insisting she keep fighting. Joan endures it because she asked Gloria not to hold back.
• The Freedom Gang prepares for an attack: after being rebuffed, the Oyster Gang has united the mining district’s gangs and surrounded their stronghold.
• When the enemy charges, Captain Reyne leads a mounted counterattack with Jody and the gang’s newly trained warriors. Gloria engages the Oyster Gang Leader while Reyne and Jody try to reach the enemy mages.
• Joan, worried about the fighting, asks Illymoyas to let her help. Illymoyas drops a pile of armor in front of her, and Joan enters the battle heavily protected.
• Unable to distinguish friend from foe, Joan charges through the melee, swinging her sword. She reaches a wooden wall before Illymoyas points out that she has gone the wrong way, so she turns and heads back.

Character developments and interactions

• Joan grows tougher and more determined through Gloria’s severe training. Though inexperienced on the battlefield, she acts courageously—and rather blindly—when her friends are in danger.
• Gloria remains harsh but appears to recognize Joan’s courage, telling her that courage is enough. She also agrees to fight while Reyne keeps Joan from joining the charge.
• Jody worries that Gloria’s treatment of Joan could provoke resentment, but Gloria argues that Joan asked for it and sends him to help prepare outside.
• Captain Reyne takes command of the defense and leads the charge against the enemy.
• Illymoyas supports Joan by providing armor, then calmly redirects her when she gets lost.
• Two Imperial officials are troubled by Joan’s mistreatment, though one wonders whether it might not be so bad if she truly were the princess.

Themes

• Courage and perseverance: Joan’s willingness to keep getting up matters more than her skill.
• The cost of preparation: Gloria’s brutal training is presented as preparation for a real battle, though others question its severity.
• Identity and loyalty: Joan is treated as an impostor, yet her behavior makes an observer wonder whether she could embody the princess after all.
• War’s confusion and danger: The charging forces, magic, and close combat reveal the chaos confronting an inexperienced fighter.

Key plot points and events

• Annan questions a Stuen Ratfolk black mole about the tunnels in the Broken Mountains. It confirms the Ratfolk are digging there but refuses to let him explore too deeply.
• When a wounded Freeman identifies a Brownfur Rat as the creature that mauled and killed one of their men, Annan demands it be punished. The black mole immediately orders the Brownfur Rat handed over.
• The injured Freeman prepares to kill the Rat, but changes his mind: since it can control rats, it could be more useful alive. Annan offers it a chance to make amends, and the black mole accepts.
• Humans and Ratfolk share a meal, easing the hostility between them. Annan learns the black mole has been in the mountains for three years.
• Annan suspects the Ratfolk are searching for a new underground gold vein—and wonders whether Grand Lord Raymond knows about it. He thinks Raymond may be using Annan to eliminate rival organizations and plans to test his theory by watching for a move against the Wealth Church.
• In a separate battle, Joan fights fiercely in heavy armor. An arrow volley kills many of her companions around her, leaving her enraged.

Character developments

• Annan balances justice with pragmatism: he insists the Brownfur Rat answer for its attack, but supports sparing it when the injured Freeman sees a way to make it useful. He also grows more suspicious of Grand Lord Raymond’s motives.
• The injured Freeman demonstrates restraint and mercy, choosing potential cooperation over revenge despite his severe wounds.
• The black mole proves influential among the Stuen Ratfolk and surprisingly willing to cooperate with Annan, especially once food is offered.
• Joan shows courage and resilience in battle, but the deaths of her allies push her toward intense fury.

Significant themes

• Justice and mercy: The Brownfur Rat is held accountable, yet given a chance to repair the harm it caused.
• Cooperation across hostility: A shared meal and practical compromise soften the divide between humans and Ratfolk.
• Power and hidden motives: Annan’s suspicions about the gold vein suggest that political actions may conceal larger economic schemes.
• The cost of leadership and combat: Joan survives the attack, but her companions do not; strength cannot shield those around her.

Character interactions

• Annan confronts the black mole over the dead and injured Freemen; the mole complies rather than escalating into a fight.
• The wounded Freeman turns the attempted execution into an offer of service, and Annan backs his decision.
• Annan uses the meal to build rapport with the black mole and draw out information.
• In battle, Joan relies on her gang companions for protection, but their deaths leave her alone with her anger.

Key plot points and events

• Joan condemns the enemy gang members for risking their lives to enrich leaders who stay safely behind. She reveals herself as the Imperial Princess and urges them to fight for themselves.
• The arrival of the Grand Lord’s Cavalry—and a bounty offered for enemy heads—overturns the momentary doubt Joan created. Enemies swarm her while she is isolated.
• Two officials who have been pretending to be dead consider rescuing Joan, despite recognizing her as an impostor, so she can face trial. They freeze again when Illymoyas appears.
• Illymoyas carries Joan away, but Joan insists on returning because her followers need to see her fight. The dragon relents, then attacks the enemy, routing the Rangers and badly weakening the allied gangs’ morale.
• The Freedom Gang exploits the confusion and charges. When a stray Magic Missile hits Illymoyas, she retaliates with devastating Dragon Language lightning, wiping out the enemy mages.
• Captain Reyne and Jody abandon the mages they had been defending and rush toward the panicked gang leaders.

Character developments and interactions

• Joan shows courage and leadership, confronting the enemy directly and choosing to return to danger despite Illymoyas’s warning. Her willingness to die for Annan’s campaign reflects both conviction and recklessness.
• Illymoyas shifts from protecting Joan by removing her from the battlefield to respecting her determination and returning her to the fight. She then becomes a terrifying force against the enemy.
• Reyne and Jody move from defending their mages to seizing an opportunity against the enemy leaders, suggesting that battlefield priorities have changed.
• The enemy fighters briefly question their leaders’ motives, but fear and the promise of payment quickly override Joan’s appeal. Their leaders treat them as disposable, while the fighters pursue profit and survival.

Significant themes

• Leadership and sacrifice: Joan’s willingness to share the danger contrasts with the gang leaders’ self-preservation.
• Morale and the tide of battle: Joan’s words briefly shake the enemy, but reinforcements, incentives, and then Illymoyas’s attack repeatedly reshape the battlefield.
• Agency versus protection: Joan wants to act alongside those who believe in her, while Illymoyas sees the danger and tries to keep her alive.
• Power and fear: The dragon’s arrival and magic show how overwhelming force can shatter discipline and turn the battle.

Key plot points

• The Skarlu United Organization collapses under pressure from the Freedom Gang: its leaders and mages are killed, and its poorly disciplined members flee.
• Commander Skaven tries to rally the rout toward his soldiers, but the panicked gang members crash into his shield formation. When the soldiers use spears to stop them, some of the fugitives turn and fight back.
• Captain Reyne realizes the Grand Lord’s cavalry may have been positioned to strike Annan’s forces alongside the Skarlu, but the organization’s sudden collapse ruins that plan.
• Joan leads a counterattack from Illymoyas’s back. After dodging a lethal magical blast, the dragon attacks the enemy Mage Corps, forcing Skaven to retreat.
• Joan and the Freedom Gang call on the remaining soldiers to surrender. They lay down their weapons, and the Freedom Gang takes control of the Broken Mining District.

Character developments and interactions

• Commander Skaven shifts from confidence to desperation as his supposed allies prove useless; he ultimately abandons his troops and flees.
• Joan remains eager to fight despite her exhaustion and leads the decisive charge. She and Illymoyas work closely together, though Illymoyas must physically lift Joan onto her back.
• Illymoyas shows both restraint and ferocity: she holds back her Dragon Might at first, then attacks the mages after spotting the threat.
• Captain Reyne assesses the battlefield strategically and warns Gloria that pulverizing enemies leaves them impossible to revive through necromancy.
• Gloria is eager to keep fighting, while Jody questions the purpose of the Grand Lord’s involvement.

Significant themes

• Discipline versus panic: the Skarlu’s lack of cohesion turns a possible battle stalemate into a rout.
• The chaos of war: fear makes fleeing allies collide with their own defenders, transforming a formation into another battlefield.
• Leadership and cooperation: Joan’s initiative, Illymoyas’s strength, and the Freedom Gang’s coordinated pressure turn the tide.
• Victory through surrender: once the opposing forces lose their will to fight, the conflict ends with mass disarmament rather than further slaughter.