Recaps

Xu Yi discovered that the canal protest in Bunta City had been used to undermine Princess Servini’s reputation, though Count Samo explained that she had already turned the incident to her advantage. The chapter ended with Xu Yi finding Servini’s newspaper article on magic industry and human resources.

• Count Samo showed Xu Yi a Bunta Daily report announcing a Vocational Skills Training School to address the city’s workforce shortage.
• Xu Yi learned that a farmers’ protest over the Sanglang Canal had prompted Princess Servini to prioritize workforce training.
• Count Samo pointed out that the protest was unusually large and organized, and Xu Yi realized someone had likely backed the farmers to target Servini.
• Xu Yi read other newspapers that portrayed the farmers sympathetically and implied that the City Lord’s Manor and Servini were responsible for their plight.
• Count Samo said Servini had already handled the controversy and turned it into an opportunity to demonstrate her governance.
• Xu Yi found Servini’s article on magic industry, economic development, and improving the population’s competitiveness.

Lampari the Thirteenth read Servini’s report on Bunta City’s growth and reflected on the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s influence. Viscount Leslie then warned him that Prince Eric’s refusal to keep buying the guild’s military equipment could doom the Northern Garrison if it attacked the Sark Kingdom.

• Lampari the Thirteenth studied Servini’s thirty-seven-page report, which detailed Bunta City’s rising taxes, grain production, population, and trade.
• Lampari the Thirteenth considered the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s plans for a mana-powered ship and wondered whether Xu Yi had long intended to open maritime trade routes.
• Viscount Leslie arrived, and Lampari the Thirteenth welcomed him and asked what he had learned while serving in the Northern Garrison.
• Viscount Leslie credited the Northern Garrison’s victory over the Sark Kingdom and its control of the Murto Mountain Ranges to new weapons and equipment, much of it made by the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Viscount Leslie told Lampari the Thirteenth that Prince Eric had stopped further purchases of the equipment and asked whether the king intended to let the prince go to his death.

Viscount Leslie failed to persuade Lampari the Thirteenth to stop Prince Eric’s attack on the Sark Kingdom and left the palace troubled by the king’s willingness to accept losses. Seeking comfort in the Xinfei Merchant Guild, Leslie learned that Alex had left Anvilmar and asked the new supervisor, Fallein, about opening a magic machinery factory on his own behalf.

• Leslie asked Lampari the Thirteenth to stop Eric’s attack, but the king said he could not prevent the nobles supporting Eric from driving the Northern Garrison into war.
• Lampari the Thirteenth explained that he had sent Eric and the others out to test them, and that he would choose one of two grave losses; Leslie warned him that soldiers would die.
• After leaving the palace, Leslie reflected on the king’s cold resolve and his own family’s willingness to put its interests before him, then found comfort in the household magic machines that reminded him of Xu Yi.
• Leslie visited Count Samo’s Outer Residence looking for Alex, but Supervisor Lam told him that Alex had returned to Bunta City and might never come back to Anvilmar.
• Leslie met the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s new supervisor, Fallein, and asked whether he could arrange cooperation to open a magic machinery factory; Fallein asked whether Leslie represented himself or the Stark Family, and Leslie said he represented only himself.

Xu Yi agreed to partner with Princess Caroline on a magic machine tool factory in Sewell City, while keeping the guild’s research and design technology secret. He explained to Count Samo that giving the Drake Duchy limited benefits could draw it toward Lampari’s side, then met President Pombelli with a large shipment from Bunta City.

• Princess Caroline proposed establishing a magic machinery factory in the Drake Duchy, then agreed to build a joint factory with Xu Yi in Sewell City instead.
• Xu Yi refused to share research and design of magic machine tools but agreed to prioritize the Drake Duchy’s engineering machinery requirements.
• On the carriage ride out of Sewell City, Xu Yi told Count Samo that he hoped the factory’s benefits would draw the Drake Duchy closer to Lampari and force it to choose a side.
• Xu Yi said he would leave Sewell City for Bunta City in three days and asked Count Samo to oversee local affairs.
• Xu Yi and Count Samo met President Pombelli, whose Feilson Carriage Company had delivered more than fifty cargo magic locomotives’ worth of goods through the snow.
• President Pombelli asked whether Feilson could take over all of Sewell City’s transport business, prompting Xu Yi and Count Samo to laugh.

Xu Yi brought equipment to establish the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s production base in Sewell City and discussed future passenger Magic Locomotives and freight transport with Count Samo and President Pombelli. After learning that the Feilson Carriage Company wanted to open a local branch, Xu Yi warned that he would not let the attackers who had threatened the convoy get another chance.

• Xu Yi explained that the guild planned passenger Magic Locomotives ranging from one-person vehicles to large buses, but that a fast Fire-Powered model would take at least five years to develop.
• Xu Yi, Count Samo, and President Pombelli arrived at the guild’s production base, where Canby and the other dwarves had found that Sewell City’s cold reduced machinery power.
• Xu Yi and President Pombelli used Magic Air Conditioners to warm the workshop, and Xu Yi praised the Feilson Carriage Company for not using its customers’ goods.
• President Pombelli asked Count Samo to support a Feilson Carriage Company branch in Sewell City, while Count Samo reminded Xu Yi of the danger they had faced on the road.
• Xu Yi said he would not give the people responsible for the attack another chance.

Count Michelle weighed Prince Eric’s accusations against Count Longley and ordered an investigation while responding to deadly resistance during Dulakton City’s supply requisition. In Bunta City, Servini reviewed the city’s finances and asked her officials how to spend its substantial surplus.

• Count Michelle read Prince Eric’s angry reply, feared he was alienating his few Northeastern Province supporters, and ordered her butler to investigate Count Longley’s meeting with Xu Yi and send Longley a supportive message.
• Count Michelle learned that the City Guard’s forced requisition had left thirteen civilians dead and fifty-six seriously injured, then fined soldiers who had killed anyone and ordered the supplies sent to Prince Eric.
• Count Michelle reflected that Dulakton City could barely scrape together three hundred thousand gold coins’ worth of supplies.
• Servini thanked Bunta City’s officials for delivering more than seven hundred thousand gold coins in taxes and learned the treasury held over 1.27 million gold coins after expenses.
• Baron Fumar proposed spending fifty thousand gold coins to renovate the old town, and Servini approved the idea while asking for further development proposals.

Akali finished her year-end report and found Avita testing a magic airship in Falling Rain Valley. Avita’s airship could fly with a fifty-kilogram load, but she still struggled to keep it aloft for more than two hours.

• Akali completed her research summary and went to deliver it to Avita before starting her holiday.
• Akali found Falling Rain Valley quiet after the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s workers began their New Year break.
• Akali found Avita testing a magic airship and learned that its flight duration remained limited by unstable mana supply and deformation.
• Avita landed the three-meter experimental airship, which carried a fifty-kilogram iron weight.
• Akali praised Avita’s prospects for making history, and Avita said she envied Xu Yi because his name would be remembered more deeply than theirs.

Avita and Akali worried that Prince Eric’s possible war against the Sark Kingdom would endanger their northern hometowns, so Akali rushed home to urge her family to move. At Falling Star Manor, Stille left to handle work despite the approaching snow, while Great Mage Camilla’s frustration with driving led her to realize Communications Arrays could be used in Magic Machinery.

• Avita suggested bringing her parents from the north to settle in Bunta City, warning Akali that Prince Eric’s planned campaign could put their hometowns at risk.
• Akali learned that northern cities were raising taxes to equip the Northern Garrison, then hurried off to persuade her parents and relatives to move.
• Great Mage Camilla struggled to practice driving a Medium Mana Bus and broke three trees in Falling Star Manor’s courtyard.
• Mia arrived to take Stille to work, and Stille left with Liss despite Great Mage Camilla’s concern about her pregnancy and the weather.
• After wishing she could contact Xu Yi through a Communications Array, Great Mage Camilla realized the array could be used in Magic Machinery.

Stille witnessed the Porter Merchant Guild hiring Lokhan and the other beastmen, ensuring they would be treated fairly and arranging warm clothing for them. President Porter then asked her to help his guild secure Mana-Powered Ships as soon as the Xinfei Merchant Guild developed them.

• Stille oversaw President Porter and Lokhan signing an Employment Contract for the beastmen workers.
• Stille told Mia to find the workers shelter and arrange clothes for them, despite Mia's concerns about the cost.
• Stille sealed the contract and warned President Porter against discriminating against the beastmen, while reminding Lokhan to honor the agreement.
• President Porter showed Stille three small boats and asked about the progress of the Xinfei Merchant Guild's Mana-Powered Ship project.
• President Porter asked Stille to speak to Xu Yi so the Porter Merchant Guild could order Mana-Powered Ships in advance.

Xu Yi secured technology-transfer deals with Sewell City's merchant guilds and persuaded its three largest guilds to invest in a steelworks without gaining access to its steelmaking technology. He revealed to Count Samo that the investors' trade with the Sark Kingdom would help advance his plan for a “trade invasion.”

• Xu Yi promised Sewell City's merchant guilds priority in future technology transfers and pledged that Xinfei would not build local household magic machinery factories, winning their support and signing agreements worth over three million gold coins.
• Xu Yi met with President Sampson, Duan Selop, and Skanno Orwell, who objected to investing in the steelworks without receiving its steelmaking technology.
• Xu Yi refused to transfer the technology because the steelworks had military supply duties, while Count Samo confirmed that its steel would help improve Sewell City's military equipment.
• Xu Yi offered the three guilds priority consideration for any future steelmaking technology transfer, and all three agreed to invest three hundred thousand gold coins each in the steelworks.
• Count Samo asked what Xu Yi stood to gain from the arrangement, and Xu Yi pointed out that all three guilds traded with the Sark Kingdom before naming his plan “trade invasion.”

As Xu Yi prepared to leave Sewell City, Princess Caroline declared her attraction to him and requested several engineering technologies on behalf of the Drake Duchy. Xu Yi agreed to the technology transfer, and Caroline kissed him and bit his lip before he departed.

• Xu Yi prepared to leave Sewell City for Bunta City with Linda, while the rest of the Xinfei Merchant Guild convoy remained to work at the Production Base.
• Princess Caroline entered Xu Yi and Linda's bedroom and confessed that she wanted Xu Yi, though he rejected the possibility because he already had a wife.
• Princess Caroline told Xu Yi that her father wanted to exchange two mines for three technologies related to large Engineering Magic Machinery.
• Xu Yi agreed to transfer the Large Magic Machinery Coaxial Drive Technique, the Swing Arm Reset Technique, and the Timed and Fixed-Point Activation Technique.
• Princess Caroline kissed Xu Yi on the lips, bit his lip until it bled, and said goodbye.

Xu Yi reunited with Viscount Leslie, who described the Northern Garrison’s severe shortages and then asked to establish a magic machinery factory with the Xinfei Merchant Guild. Despite Xu Yi and Baron Haines warning that the move would pit him against the Stark Family, Leslie remained determined, and Xu Yi agreed to help him enter the magic industry.

• Xu Yi met Viscount Leslie and Baron Haines at Count Samo’s Outer Residence, then joined them for a banquet.
• Viscount Leslie recounted how Northern Garrison soldiers endured freezing winters, inadequate food, and military funding that largely failed to reach them.
• Leslie proposed partnering with the Xinfei Merchant Guild to establish a magic machinery factory in his own name.
• Xu Yi and Baron Haines realized Leslie intended to defy the Stark Family and warned him of the consequences.
• Leslie said his experience in the Northern Garrison had strengthened his resolve, and Xu Yi welcomed him into the magic industry.

Xu Yi returned to Anvilmar and learned that the New Moon Song and Dance Troupe had become popular with nobles, who showered the Beastman girls with gifts and sought their company. After hearing that some girls were secretly meeting wealthy men, Xu Yi stayed at their courtyard to address the threat to the troupe’s purpose.

• Xu Yi met the New Moon Song and Dance Troupe girls, who asked to stay in Anvilmar City, and told them he would discuss it with Stille.
• Baron Haines explained that Fulaiduo had given Avir a necklace worth six thousand gold coins, though she had not shown interest in him, and that the other troupe members were popular too.
• Haines warned Xu Yi that he had angered nobles by protecting the girls and that some of them were secretly meeting nobles and merchants.
• Xu Yi worried that the girls could become playthings for wealthy men instead of helping humans and Beastmen coexist.
• Xu Yi announced he would stay at the courtyard that night, and Haines stopped himself from making a suggestive joke when he saw Xu Yi’s serious expression.

Xu Yi waited to see whether the orc girls would choose to stay with the New Moon Song and Dance Troupe, then learned from Avir that they wanted security and a better life but felt uneasy about relying on human nobles. He promised to help them become independent, while Baron Haines warned him about his meeting with the Nobles' Council the next day.

• Xu Yi told the orc girls they could return to Bunta City with him, remain in the troupe, or leave, and warned them against becoming human nobles' or merchants' playthings.
• After waiting two hours without a visitor, Xu Yi met Avir, who explained that the girls understood and appreciated his concern but wanted a stable, comfortable life.
• Avir told Xu Yi that the girls would welcome his taking them in, but Xu Yi refused and promised to seek a path to their independence if they stayed in the troupe.
• Baron Haines questioned Xu Yi's efforts to promote cooperation between humans and other races, and Xu Yi explained that the Xinfei Merchant Guild depended on their willing contributions.
• Baron Haines reminded Xu Yi that he would face the old men of the Nobles' Council the next day, leaving Xu Yi frowning.

Xu Yi attended a nobles' review council in Anvilmar City, where Count Basa accused him of violating rules against nobles engaging in trade. The council declared that Xu Yi would lose his noble status and become a commoner.

• Xu Yi arrived at the Nobles' Council after Count Samo, Viscount Leslie, and Baron Haines warned him that the review likely meant trouble.
• Viscount Sal Lim explained that Xu Yi would answer questions from the council members during the review.
• Count Basa opened the review by accusing Xu Yi of actions unbecoming of a noble and questioning him about his control of and profits from the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi acknowledged that he traded despite knowing the council's regulations, but challenged Count Basa's claim that he had disgraced all nobles.
• Count Basa ruled that Xu Yi would be stripped of his noble status and reduced to a commoner.

Xu Yi accepted the Nobles' Council's decision to strip him of his title, then challenged its attempt to seize land used by the Xinfei Merchant Guild. Just after the council revoked his status, Steward Derma delivered the king's decrees elevating Xu Yi first to baron and then to viscount, leaving the council stunned.

• Count Basa declared Xu Yi stripped of his noble status, and Xu Yi pointed out that the council no longer had authority over him as a commoner.
• Count Basa presented documents revoking Xu Yi's noble privileges and reclaiming his private fief, while Xu Yi argued that the council had mistaken the fief's size and could not seize royal land leased by the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Steward Derma entered and confirmed that the king had ordered him to deliver appointments once Xu Yi was stripped of his title.
• Steward Derma read the king's decrees elevating Xu Yi from commoner to baron and then from baron to viscount, leaving Count Basa and the council members ashen.

Lampari the Thirteenth defended Xu Yi’s noble title against the Nobles’ Council and discussed granting the Xinfei Merchant Guild permission for supervised trade with enemy nations. Xu Yi returned to find that the king’s intervention had made him a political target, while Viscount Leslie appeared determined to openly oppose the Stark Family.

• Xu Yi warned Lampari the Thirteenth that protecting his title could turn the Nobles’ Council against the king, but the king said he could not let the Xinfei Merchant Guild leave the kingdom.
• Xu Yi asked for expanded Free Trade Rights, proposing legal, king-approved smuggling to sell goods to the Sark Kingdom and drain its funds; Lampari the Thirteenth said any privilege would come at a price.
• Xu Yi returned to the outer residence, where Viscount Leslie and Baron Haines said the king’s public defense of him would provoke the Nobles’ Council and make him a political target.
• Xu Yi observed that he had been branded as Princess Royal Servini’s man, while Viscount Leslie said his cooperation with the Xinfei Merchant Guild could signal a shift in the Stark Family’s position.
• Viscount Leslie said he would act against his family before they cast him out, leaving Xu Yi and Baron Haines concerned that his defiance could bring disaster.

Xu Yi returned to Bunta City and reunited with Stille, then witnessed a successful trial of the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s experimental Mana-Powered Ship. The ship showed promising speed downstream, though its weak engine struggled upstream, and Xu Yi left the researchers with instructions and a bonus while Camilla asked for one of the ships.

• Xu Yi brought thirty-five Orc Tribe girls back to Bunta City and headed directly to Falling Star Manor, where he found Stille waiting by the Sandy River.
• Xu Yi embraced and kissed Stille, then watched a one-person Mana-Powered Ship race downstream at more than thirty kilometers per hour.
• Great Mage Camilla revealed that she had piloted the experimental ship, and the researchers reported that it had reached a top speed of thirty-seven kilometers per hour across seventeen trials.
• Xu Yi questioned the researchers for omitting poor upstream results, warned them about conducting public and unsafe experiments, and awarded them a third-tier bonus.
• Camilla reluctantly let the researchers take the ship away after Xu Yi persuaded her to go home with Stille, then asked him to reserve her a ship once development was complete.

After returning to Falling Star Manor, Xu Yi rejected President Cruz’s proposal to make custom household magic machinery for the Amli Merchant Guild’s villas, choosing instead to focus on spreading magic machinery. He agreed to consider investing with Cruz in poor Bateru City, and Kennard then revealed that he had to say goodbye.

• President Cruz proposed that the Amli Merchant Guild sell villas equipped with Xinfei household magic machinery customized to match each home, but Xu Yi refused because the work would drain scarce design and research resources.
• President Cruz reported that his guild had built 8,367 kilometers of cement road across the kingdom and discussed Bateru City’s poverty with Xu Yi.
• Xu Yi told President Cruz he had found a rare resource in Bateru City and invited him to join an investment there, and Cruz agreed to follow his lead.
• Kennard told Xu Yi that he had supported Cruz’s custom machinery proposal, but Xu Yi explained that promoting magic machinery mattered more than increasing sales.
• Kennard warned that other guilds might take the opportunity Xu Yi rejected, then said he had no choice but to say goodbye to Xu Yi.

Xu Yi agreed to give Alex another chance by assigning him to the guild’s transport battalion, while Heinz promised to make sure his nephew worked hard. At the City Lord’s Manor, Xu Yi asked Servini about private noble armies so he could protect himself, and she said there was no theoretical limit to their size.

• Xu Yi explained to Heinz that Alex’s sale of guild secrets had been serious, but agreed to let him join the transport battalion as a driver.
• Heinz thanked Xu Yi and hurried off to tell Alex, while Xu Yi doubted that Alex would accept the hard work.
• Xu Yi visited Servini, who admitted that the prospect of becoming queen and handling the kingdom’s affairs worried her.
• Xu Yi learned that Servini had handed the prisoners from the attack on his convoy to the King and decided not to interfere further.
• Xu Yi asked Servini about raising a private noble army for protection, and she said that its size had no theoretical limit.

Xu Yi considered Servini’s advice about the limits on nobles’ private armies, then encountered a traffic jam caused by a collision between a cargo magic locomotive and two carriages. The minor nobles blamed Old Man Sakeqi, and the chapter ended with them realizing they had insulted magic locomotives in front of Xu Yi.

• Xu Yi recalled Servini’s explanation that cost and pressure from the Royal House kept noble private armies small, and he accepted her suggestion to recruit a few hundred guards under the name of a Fief Guards Corps.
• Xu Yi’s carriage stopped in a growing traffic jam near Bunta City’s western gate, where a cargo magic locomotive and two horse-drawn carriages had collided.
• Xu Yi flew to the accident scene and recognized Old Man Sakeqi, who said the nobles’ carriages had crashed into his locomotive while he was hauling Xinfei Merchant Guild goods to Falling Rain Valley.
• The minor nobles denied responsibility and insulted magic locomotives, then panicked when they noticed Xu Yi’s anger.

Xu Yi cleared a road blockage and met Avita, who had brought her parents to Bunta City because she feared war would reach their hometown. He agreed to consider helping them and other people from Loren City settle there, leaving him planning to discuss Bunta City's growing population with Servini.

• Xu Yi used levitation magic to move two overturned carriages, then directed traffic until the road was clear.
• Avita arrived with her parents and introduced them to Xu Yi, who praised her work and welcomed them to Bunta City.
• Avita explained that she wanted her parents to settle in Bunta City because their hometown near the Northern Border might be endangered by war.
• Avita asked Xu Yi to help her parents settle and said others from her hometown wanted to move there too.
• Xu Yi agreed to consider helping them and resolved to discuss Bunta City's settlement procedures with Servini.

Xu Yi settled a dispute between Old Man Sakeqi and several minor nobles, whose interest in buying Cargo Magic Locomotives grew after they learned how much hauling work could earn. The story then shifted to Cantona in the Stantin Duchy, where he was overwhelmed by plans to cultivate Xinfei’s vast farmland and waited for a delivery of machinery.

• The minor nobles offered to reconcile with Old Man Sakeqi, but one mocked his ability to pay for their carriages, prompting him to produce a thousand-gold-coin banknote.
• Xu Yi stopped the noble from taking the banknote and settled the compensation at fifty gold coins, which Old Man Sakeqi paid.
• The minor nobles asked to buy Cargo Magic Locomotives, but Xu Yi said the guild could not sell them to individuals and explained that Sakeqi’s vehicle belonged to the Cantona Chamber of Commerce.
• Xu Yi and Old Man Sakeqi discussed Cantona’s continued absence as the chapter described Cantona’s demanding work cultivating land in the Stantin Duchy.
• Cantona waited for a convoy carrying Farmland Magic Machinery to Xinfei Farm, then froze when he recognized the driver who climbed down from the lead Cargo Magic Locomotive.

Ankato arrived at Xinfei Farm with farmland and household magic machinery, while ten Cargo Magic Locomotives secretly headed to the coast under Hart’s escort. There, Hart delivered a hidden shipment of weapons and Magic Repeating Crossbows to Angklu, who inspected the final vehicle and was stunned by what it contained.

• Ankato told Cantona that Xu Yi had sent him to introduce household magic machinery to the Stantin Duchy, and Cantona welcomed the convoy to Xinfei Farm.
• Cantona noticed Hart accompanying the shipment and watched ten Cargo Magic Locomotives continue toward the coast, but he kept his questions to himself after Ankato warned him not to ask.
• At the dock, Hart met Angklu and waited with him for thirty small seagoing boats to arrive.
• Hart invited Angklu to inspect the cargo, which contained Xinfei weapons and armor in the first seven vehicles and Magic Repeating Crossbows and Arrow Cases in the next two.
• Angklu lifted the tarpaulin on the final Cargo Magic Locomotive and nearly stopped breathing when he saw its contents.

Angklu traded the Stantin Duchy’s iron and Magic Crystal mines to the Xinfei Merchant Guild for weapons and equipment, despite worrying about the cost to his duchy. In Bunta City, Xu Yi discussed his expanding guards with Servini and asked what equipment she wanted for her five-thousand-strong Private Guard.

• Angklu accepted the Second-Generation Magic-Powered Stone Throwers and other goods, while Hart refused to send a technician because the guild would not interfere in the Stantin Duchy’s affairs.
• Angklu signed over permanent mining rights to his iron mine and Magic Crystal Mine in payment for the two hundred thousand gold coins’ worth of weapons and equipment, then worried that his sacrifice might make him a sinner in the duchy’s history.
• Bunta City’s New Year sales lifted household magic machinery revenue, while the Xinfei Merchant Guild reported more than ten million gold coins in annual profit and over five million in investments.
• Servini challenged Xu Yi about recruiting and organizing a large force of guards, including elf, dwarf, and orc guards.
• Xu Yi said he wanted protection from Prince Eric and asked Servini what standard of weapons and equipment she wanted for her five-thousand-strong Private Guard.