Recaps

Xu Yi appointed Anise director of the Design Institute and considered a gradual expansion toward the Drake Duchy. He then reflected on Bunta City’s debts and Earl Stark’s dwindling finances after driving merchants away.

• Xu Yi asked Anise to recruit more elven designers, appointed her director of the Design Institute, and left the recruitment drive in her hands.
• Xu Yi studied a map and considered building the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s presence step by step toward the strategically important Drake Duchy.
• Xu Yi wished Servini could inherit the throne, which he believed would help the magic industry develop across the Lampari Kingdom.
• Xu Yi recalled that Bunta City owed merchant guilds at least a million and a half gold coins after Count Samo’s infrastructure spending.
• Xu Yi agreed to supply Earl Stark with three thousand units of farmland magic machinery, knowing Bunta City could scarcely afford the cost.
• Two knocks sounded at Xu Yi’s study door.

Xu Yi rejected Princess Caroline’s attempt to seduce him, insisting that he loved Stille, and redirected their conversation toward business. Princess Caroline proposed establishing a Xinfei production base in Sewell City and trading Drake Duchy iron ore, leaving Xu Yi interested in the plan but unmoved by her personal offer.

• Princess Caroline visited Xu Yi in his study and asked whether the Xinfei Merchant Guild planned to invest in the Drake Duchy, but Xu Yi said it was not currently included in his plans.
• Princess Caroline asked about Xu Yi’s marriage and openly offered to use her body to advance cooperation, but Xu Yi refused because he loved Stille.
• Xu Yi told Princess Caroline he saw no current benefit in working with the Drake Duchy, prompting her to suggest building a production base in Sewell City near the duchy’s border.
• Princess Caroline said the Drake Duchy could supply iron ore for the Xinfei Merchant Guild in exchange for goods that would improve life there, and Xu Yi said the iron mines interested him more than her charms.

Xu Yi reviewed the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s finances with Kennard and planned investments to preserve the guild’s technological and resource advantages. He proposed developing Sewell City in the Drake Duchy into another Bunta City, despite its vulnerability to the nearby Sark Kingdom.

• Kennard gave Xu Yi the guild’s financial report, and they discussed profits, research budgets, and the need to invest more in technology.
• Xu Yi reviewed the guild’s earnings and discussed continued investment in Falling Rain Valley and the Black Rice Wasteland with Kennard.
• Kennard questioned why the guild bought iron ore despite owning a mine, and Xu Yi explained that he expected prices to rise as magic machinery spread.
• Xu Yi identified the Drake Duchy as a target for expansion and proposed winning Count Samo’s support to develop Sewell City into another Bunta City.
• Kennard warned that Sewell City was close to the Sark Kingdom, and Xu Yi said they would ensure the kingdom had no designs on it.

Princess Caroline left Falling Rain Valley without obtaining the technologies the Sark Kingdom wanted, but her visit convinced her that Xu Yi could help the Drake Duchy become stronger. She told Anduin she wanted to pursue genuine cooperation with him.

• Princess Caroline asked Xu Yi about buying streetlight and farmland magic machinery technology, but he explained why the Xinfei Merchant Guild would not sell the streetlight technology and why skilled workers were essential to producing the machinery.
• After their tour, Princess Caroline announced she was returning to the Drake Duchy and teased Xu Yi, who insisted he would not betray his wife.
• Once her carriage left Falling Rain Valley, Princess Caroline dropped her playful act and told Anduin she opposed the Grand Duke's agreement to help the Sark Kingdom gather intelligence.
• Princess Caroline connected the Lampari Kingdom's victory over the Sark Kingdom to its improved equipment and said she believed Xu Yi's ambitions extended beyond serving the Lampari Kingdom.
• Princess Caroline admitted she liked Xu Yi but said strengthening the Drake Duchy mattered more, and she told Anduin she wanted to cooperate with Xu Yi in earnest.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild announced an ambitious Five-Year Plan to expand production across the Lampari Kingdom and beyond, despite concerns about its limited manpower. Kennard defended the plan at a press conference and ended by announcing a road bicycle race in Bunta City.

• Earl Stark resumed Bunta City's municipal redevelopment project but made the City Lord's Manor its lead contractor and treated the Xinfei Merchant Guild as an ordinary partner.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild announced major construction investments in the Black Rice Wasteland and the Stantin Duchy, then unveiled a Five-Year Plan for expanding across the Lampari Kingdom.
• Kennard told reporters that the guild could fund its expansion through strong profits, though manpower remained a major problem.
• Kennard explained that President Xu wanted the plan to push the guild to address its problems while moving forward.
• Kennard announced that the Xinfei Merchant Guild would hold the Bunta City Xinfei Road Bicycle Race outside Bunta City in one month.

Xu Yi, Stille, and Great Mage Camilla joined the Xinfei Road Bicycle Race, drawing cheers before setting off with the first group. Xu Yi and Stille rode leisurely as they discussed Earl Stark’s efforts to improve the autumn harvest, and Xu Yi predicted that the city lord would find a way to raise grain output.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild began its road bicycle race from Bunta City to Falling Rain Valley, with ten thousand riders divided into five groups and prizes offered to the top finishers.
• Xu Yi, Stille, and Great Mage Camilla appeared at the starting line and delighted the crowd; Camilla said she was nearing the threshold of becoming a level-five Great Mage.
• Camilla insisted on riding the full sixty kilometers, and she led the first group away from the starting line.
• Xu Yi and Stille slowed down and rode near the back of the field, enjoying the autumn countryside.
• Stille questioned whether Earl Stark could increase the city’s grain production, and Xu Yi said he was sure the city lord would find a way.

Bunta City's record grain harvest strengthened Earl Stark's position, but his order to replace Korol Village's fruit orchards with grain threatened residents' livelihoods. Cantona revealed that Xu Yi's response was to send them to farm in the Stantin Duchy.

• Bunta City's autumn grain harvest reached 760,000 tonnes, earning Earl Stark praise and securing his position as city lord.
• Old Man Sakeqi and Yashali questioned the reported harvest figures and worried Earl Stark's success would let him continue his Commerce-Suppression and Agriculture-Promotion Policy.
• Cantona reassured the group that his chamber's farming work aligned with the city's policy, then said Earl Stark had ordered Korol Village to uproot its fruit trees and plant grain.
• Korol Village residents protested that the order would destroy their orchard income and their families' jobs at the Fruit Canning Factory.
• Cantona said Xu Yi had made arrangements and revealed his plan was for the villagers to farm in the Stantin Duchy.

Xu Yi discussed the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s plans in the Stantin Duchy and encouraged Elder Elusia to expand the Night Song Tribe’s plastic business there. Elder Elusia celebrated the success of the tribe’s factory as Xu Yi prepared to depart with several merchant guild presidents.

• Xu Yi told Elder Elusia that he would keep the Korol Village Fruit Canning Factory open despite suspending its operations, and explained why the guild had leased farmland in the Stantin Duchy.
• Xu Yi proposed that the Night Song Tribe establish a Plastic Processing Factory in the Stantin Duchy and investigate its rubber trees and connections with the Moon Shadow Tribe; Elder Elusia agreed.
• Elder Elusia visited the Night Song Plastic Processing Factory and saw how its inexpensive plastic clothes hangers had sold more than forty thousand units in Bunta City.
• The factory attracted further orders and inquiries for plastic products, leaving Delier and the elves busy with business.
• Xu Yi waved to Presidents Cruz, Reilsa, and Vincent and set off with their convoy.

Xu Yi led a convoy of four merchant guilds into the Black Rice Wasteland to establish a joint base and factories with nearby beastman tribes. As the convoy approached its destination, the guild presidents discussed the threat of a possible beastman attack and the strength of their guards.

• Xu Yi reviewed how the Xinfei Merchant Guild had built cooperation with the Worrel Werewolf Tribe and four neighboring beastman tribes by offering jobs and labor permits.
• The four merchant guilds prepared to establish a base and factories deeper in the wasteland, with Xu Yi hoping the settlement would become humanity’s first foothold there.
• Xu Yi checked the route for signs of activity, while President Cruz worried that the Beastman Independent Legion or other tribes might attack the convoy.
• President Reilsa argued that the guilds’ well-equipped guards could handle the beastmen, and Xu Yi noted that the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s armor and weapons had been made by his guild.
• President Reilsa asked why Xu Yi had not formally recruited the elves into the guards corps, and Xu Yi said their loyalty depended on the benefits he offered.
• President Reilsa suggested that Xu Yi recruit more human guards, but Xu Yi reflected that his elite guards had been difficult to obtain from the retired Lampari Kingdom army.

Xu Yi and the merchant guilds’ forces prepared to crush a large Beastman Independent Legion attack, using Magic-Powered Stone Throwers to devastate the charging beastmen. The weapons impressed the guild presidents, while Xu Yi explained their high cost and revealed that the Kingdom Military Department could not afford to buy them.

• Xu Yi and President Reilsa discussed beastman resistance as their convoy reached its destination and made a makeshift camp for the night.
• Thousands of beastmen appeared in the darkness, and Xu Yi ordered Hart, Oma, and Fario to follow their plan and break the attackers’ fighting spirit.
• The four merchant guilds deployed their guards as Hart commanded four Magic-Powered Stone Throwers to fire into the charging beastmen.
• The stone throwers’ volleys killed and wounded many beastmen, astonishing Presidents Reilsa and Cruz with their destructive power.
• Xu Yi described the weapons’ limits and their price, then said the Kingdom Military Department had been unable to afford even five thousand gold coins for the four machines.

Xu Yi discussed the Lampari Kingdom’s finances and the merchant guilds’ opposition to Earl Stark, then watched the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s weapons devastate an attack by over five thousand beastmen. The surviving beastmen fled, leaving Xu Yi to regret that he could not pursue them with warhorses.

• Xu Yi argued that spreading Bunta City’s magic industry could improve the Lampari Kingdom’s finances, and President Cruz and President Reilsa acknowledged their inability to challenge Earl Stark politically.
• Xu Yi concluded that President Reilsa’s Rexton Merchant Guild and most Bunta City guilds opposed Earl Stark because his policies had harmed commerce.
• The Magic-Powered Stone Throwers and Magic Repeating Crossbows decimated the beastmen before fewer than a thousand wounded attackers reached the defensive perimeter.
• The four merchant guilds’ guards charged the survivors and routed them in close combat, while the stone throwers struck the fleeing beastmen.
• Xu Yi watched the remaining beastmen escape and regretted that he could not equip his guards with warhorses to pursue them.

The four merchant guilds won a lopsided battle against the Beastmen, securing their plans to build a base in the Black Rice Wasteland. Xu Yi then inspected the guild’s mining and smelting operations and considered how its military success could strengthen Servini’s position.

• The four guilds’ stone throwers, repeating crossbows, and superior equipment helped them defeat more than five thousand Beastmen with almost no casualties, though Xu Yi regretted that some enemies had reached close quarters.
• Xu Yi explained that the operation was meant to crush Beastman resistance and protect the guilds’ investments, while he still hoped cooperation would ultimately bring peace.
• As the four guilds began building a base, the cooperating Beastman tribes sent workers to help, inspired by the improved life of the Worrel Werewolf Tribe.
• Xu Yi inspected the mine near the Worrel Werewolf Tribe and found it operating normally, but the Nonferrous Metals Smelting Factory still faced technical obstacles.
• Xu Yi remained confident in the guild’s long-term investments and believed the Military Department’s victory in the Murto Mountain Ranges could make it receptive to further support for Servini.

Lampari the Thirteenth reviewed reports on the Northern Garrison’s costly victory at the Murto Mountain Ranges, Bunta City’s harvest, and the Xinfei Merchant Guild while searching for a way to ease the kingdom’s financial troubles. Servini asked him to support Xu Yi’s proposal to make the kingdom prosperous, then requested free trade rights for the Xinfei Merchant Guild, and he refused outright.

• Lampari the Thirteenth read the Military Department’s report showing that the Northern Garrison needed over forty thousand gold coins a month to hold the Murto Mountain Ranges.
• Lampari the Thirteenth studied the Agriculture Bureau’s praise of Earl Stark and a confidential report about the Xinfei Merchant Guild as he considered the kingdom’s problems.
• Servini brought Lampari the Thirteenth Xu Yi’s proposal, and she said she believed it had better than a fifty-fifty chance of succeeding.
• Lampari the Thirteenth said Xu Yi’s plan to turn to the Stantin Duchy could solve the kingdom’s grain problem, while Servini urged him to support broader change.
• Servini asked Lampari the Thirteenth to grant the Xinfei Merchant Guild free trade rights, and he sharply refused.

After losing their jobs and struggling to afford Yaqi’s marriage to Leia, Afalia's Father decided to move his family to the Stantin Duchy for work with the Xinfei Merchant Guild and the Cantona Chamber of Commerce. Yaqi learned that Leia’s father was also considering the move, while Leia wanted to stay with Yaqi.

• Afalia's Father’s family saw their income fall after Bunta City’s new city lord’s policies caused factories to close or relocate, leaving three of his five children without work.
• Afalia's Father urged Yaqi to find a better-paying job so he could afford the house and Xinfei household machinery Leia’s parents required before marriage.
• Afalia's Father proposed that he, Yaqi, and Yaqi’s mother move to the Stantin Duchy, where the Xinfei Merchant Guild and the Cantona Chamber of Commerce were recruiting farmers and workers.
• Yaqi worried that moving would separate him from Leia, but Afalia's Father revealed that Leia’s father had also decided to go to the Stantin Duchy.
• Afalia's Father told Yaqi that Leia wanted to stay with him, and Yaqi realized his father had teased him about giving her up.

Earl Stark discovered that the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s free trade rights, combined with its move to Falling Rain Valley, had sharply reduced Bunta City’s tax revenue. As he tried to find ways to repair the damage caused by his policies, he came across a document that caught his attention.

• Earl Stark continued working late to manage Bunta City and conceal problems with its inflated harvest figures.
• The Commerce Office granted free trade rights to the Xinfei Merchant Guild and several other merchant guilds, directing taxes on foreign trade to the Kingdom Treasury.
• Earl Stark learned that the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s tax payments to Bunta City had fallen after it moved most of its operations to Falling Rain Valley.
• Earl Stark’s advisers estimated that the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s departure and the other guilds’ free trade rights would cost Bunta City at least half its monthly tax revenue.
• Earl Stark sought ways to restore Bunta City’s income, then noticed an official document and narrowed his eyes.

Earl Stark grew alarmed that farmers were leaving Bunta City to work Xinfei Merchant Guild land in the Stantin Duchy, so Xu Yi visited him to explain the plan and proposed a bet. The chapter ended before Xu Yi revealed the request he would make if he won.

• Earl Stark realized nearly a hundred farmers had applied to leave Bunta City and rejected the latest application.
• Chekhov told Earl Stark that Xu Yi had requested a late-night audience.
• Xu Yi explained that Xinfei Merchant Guild planned to recruit two thousand Bunta City farmers to cultivate its hundred thousand hectares in the Stantin Duchy.
• Earl Stark insisted two thousand people could not cultivate that much land, and Xu Yi proposed betting that they could produce two hundred thousand tonnes of rice annually.
• Xu Yi offered to return the farmers and pay compensation if he lost, and asked Earl Stark to grant him a request if he won.

Xu Yi secured Earl Stark’s agreement to let the Xinfei Merchant Guild recruit up to two thousand farming households from Bunta City and reviewed the guild’s plans in the Stantin Duchy and Black Rice Wasteland. On his way to the guild’s Product Service Center, he found an unconscious young woman and carried her to Falling Star Manor.

• Xu Yi reflected on his wager with Earl Stark, which would promote mechanized farming in Bunta City while allowing the guild to recruit up to two thousand farming households.
• Xu Yi planned to hurry the settlers to the Stantin Duchy to reclaim one hundred thousand hectares and noted the guild’s promising iron and magic crystal mines there.
• Xu Yi considered the growing factory base and recruitment efforts in the Black Rice Wasteland, which he believed could bring the region under human influence.
• Xu Yi thought about Count Samo, Sewell City, and Princess Caroline before heading to the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Product Service Center.
• Xu Yi found a young woman unconscious beside an alley, picked her up, and flew toward Falling Star Manor.

Xu Yi sheltered Teresa Ika at Falling Star Manor and offered help if she chose to explain her troubles. After returning to Falling Rain Valley, he met Freeman, who asked whether the Ireland United Merchant Guild could produce magic fans.

• Xu Yi met Teresa Ika at breakfast and learned that she had not yet explained what trouble she faced.
• Xu Yi told Vivian to let Teresa recover at Falling Star Manor and secretly give her a hundred gold coins when she left.
• Xu Yi visited the Xinfei Merchant Guild's Product Service Center in Bunta City, then returned to the bustling Falling Rain Valley.
• Freeman invited Xu Yi to lunch and asked whether the Ireland United Merchant Guild could produce magic fans.

Freeman asked Xu Yi to support the Ireland United Merchant Guild’s plan to make Magic Fans, and Xu Yi agreed to transfer its magic-array technology at a reduced price. After hearing about the Kingdom Parliament’s objections to employing orcs, Xu Yi suggested that Stille form a multi-race opera troupe to introduce them to Anvilmar’s influential residents.

• Freeman told Xu Yi that the Ireland United Merchant Guild had decided to try manufacturing Magic Fans and wanted to buy only the magic-array technology.
• Xu Yi offered to transfer the technology for ten thousand gold coins and told Freeman the guild must develop the other aspects independently.
• Freeman asked Xu Yi to help recruit magicians, and Xu Yi suggested seeking graduates from Baron Rector Magic Academy.
• Stille told Xu Yi that the Kingdom Parliament had approved her labor-permit agency for dwarves and elves but objected to employing orcs.
• Xu Yi proposed that Stille form an opera troupe featuring human, elven, dwarven, and orc performers, and Stille showed interest.

Swain Wellen visited the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s reclamation project and brutally whipped a local worker he caught slacking, until Cantona intervened. Cantona had the injured man taken for treatment and continued supervising the land, while reflecting that the Stantin Duchy’s local farmers were far less productive than the workers from Bunta City.

• Swain Wellen surveyed the hundred-thousand-hectare wasteland leased to the Xinfei Merchant Guild and looked forward to the rent, harvest share, factories, and roads it would bring.
• Swain Wellen whipped a local worker for slacking as the farmers from Bunta City watched without intervening.
• Cantona arrived and persuaded Swain Wellen that the workers were Xinfei Merchant Guild employees, then sent two men to carry the unconscious worker away for treatment.
• Swain Wellen asked Cantona when the land would be ready, and Cantona estimated reclamation would finish in under a month, allowing sowing early the following year.
• Cantona recalled that Bunta City farmers worked longer and reclaimed five to seven mu a day, while local Stantin Duchy farmers managed at most one mu.

Cantona dealt with Patriarch Wellen’s request to buy farmland magic machinery and inspected the port being built along the leased land. The chapter ended when a subordinate reported that Cantona’s workers were fighting the local farmers.

• Cantona reflected on the wages and land revenues Patriarch Wellen took from the five thousand workers while protecting a farmer who had become skilled at operating the machinery.
• Patriarch Wellen asked to buy a thousand units of each type of farmland magic machinery, and Cantona told him Xu Yi would arrive in a few days.
• Cantona visited the port under construction and discussed Xu Yi’s plans and the project’s uncertain profitability with Supervisor Riley.
• Cantona invited Riley for drinks, but Riley declined because a shipment of construction materials was arriving.
• A subordinate rushed to Cantona and reported that Cantona’s people were fighting the local farmers.

Xu Yi addressed a violent clash between Bunta City farmers and locally hired Stantin Duchy farmers at the Xinfei farm, suspecting Patriarch Wellen had provoked it to pressure the guild. He assigned Cantona and Supervisor Riley to manage the workers and planned to negotiate with Patriarch Wellen.

• Xu Yi learned that a clash between more than three hundred Bunta City farmers and over five hundred local farmers had injured hundreds and halted work at the farm.
• Cantona argued that the local farmers were lazy and underpaid relative to the Bunta City farmers, while Xu Yi said both groups had grounds for dissatisfaction.
• Xu Yi suspected Patriarch Wellen had stirred up the local farmers to advance his demands, but cautioned against damaging their working relationship without evidence.
• Xu Yi tasked Cantona and Supervisor Riley with calming the Bunta City farmers, while ordering that the local farmers be publicly punished and moved to basic infrastructure work.
• Xu Yi told Cantona that the guild would privately reassure its own farmers, then left to make a deal with Patriarch Wellen.

Xu Yi negotiated with Patriarch Wellen over the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s factories, rubber procurement, and local labor disputes, then proposed improvements to attract more investors. Wellen balked at funding the costly plan, so Xu Yi offered to have the guild pay in exchange for a special privilege.

• Xu Yi told Patriarch Wellen that the Rubber Processing Factory would need elven workers and asked him to arrange rubber collection at twenty gold coins per ton.
• Patriarch Wellen eagerly agreed to collect as much rubber as possible after calculating the substantial income the Xinfei Merchant Guild could bring him.
• Xu Yi asked Wellen to calm local farm workers after clashes with workers from the Lampari Kingdom and warned that continued trouble could drive the guild away.
• Xu Yi told Wellen that other Bunta City merchant guilds were interested in investing and proposed improvements to transportation and other conditions on Wellen’s estate.
• Wellen objected when Xu Yi estimated the improvements would cost two million gold coins, so Xu Yi offered to pay if Wellen granted the guild a special privilege.

Xu Yi and President Cruz discussed investing in the Stantin Duchy, expanding road construction, and the delayed Magic Locomotive. After arranging plans for roads and passenger service, Xu Yi left Wellen City to meet Anise, Delier, and Stasha for talks between the Night Song and Moon Shadow Tribes.

• President Cruz questioned Xu Yi's decision to spend two million gold coins on improvements in the Stantin Duchy, and Xu Yi said he did not intend to leave.
• President Cruz described the local workers' slow progress, so he planned to recruit workers from Bunta City and nearby cities for expanding road construction.
• Xu Yi and President Cruz discussed the Magic Locomotive, which remained under development despite a reported research breakthrough.
• Xu Yi and President Cruz planned more than three hundred kilometers of roads in the northern Stantin Duchy and a passenger route between Bunta City and Wellen City.
• Xu Yi left Wellen City and met Anise, Delier, and Stasha, who were preparing to help arrange cooperation between the Night Song and Moon Shadow Tribes.

Xu Yi negotiated with Elder Lysania Shadow Song to establish a rubber-processing factory for the Moon Shadow Tribe, with the Xinfei Merchant Guild covering the initial costs while the elves controlled operations. Elder Lysania agreed to trust Xu Yi personally and offered him an elven form of compensation that might rapidly increase his magical power.

• Xu Yi waited while Anise and Delier negotiated with Elder Lysania Shadow Song about establishing a rubber-processing factory for the Moon Shadow Tribe.
• Xu Yi explained that the Xinfei Merchant Guild would retain nominal ownership, fund the factory, provide orders, and help the elves develop rubber-processing technology.
• Elder Lysania agreed to the arrangement but said she trusted Xu Yi alone, and he promised to personally oversee future cooperation.
• Elder Lysania asked why Elder Elusia had not helped Xu Yi rapidly increase his magical power, then said there was another way besides the Moon Goddess's Blessing.
• Elder Lysania rejected Xu Yi's offer to treat the factory costs as an investment and announced she would personally compensate him in the elven way.