Recaps

Xu Yi warned Servini against surrendering her claim to the throne, but she chose to support Prince Eric and resign from public office. Three months after Eric’s peaceful accession, Bunta City’s trade continued to thrive, and the chapter ended with someone reflecting that the late king would have been happy to see its prosperity.

• Xu Yi questioned Servini’s decision to support Prince Eric, called it foolish, and urged her to be careful when she attended the king’s funeral.
• Servini publicly backed Eric’s accession, resigned as Bunta City mayor and from her kingdom posts, and withdrew from public view after the funeral.
• With Servini and Prince Miham supporting Eric, Eric took the throne without a struggle and dispelled fears of civil war.
• Three months later, Bunta City prospered under its new mayor as magic machinery producers expanded production and merchants shipped goods across the kingdom and beyond.
• The Porter Merchant Guild operated 107 cargo ships along the Sanglang Canal and the Sandy and Rum Rivers.
• An unidentified speaker sighed that Lampari the Thirteenth would have been happy to see Bunta City’s prosperity.

Xu Yi told Servini that Bunta City’s apparent prosperity concealed mounting pressure on merchants and workers after taxes on magic machinery and large guilds rose sharply. He left her to consider whether the kingdom’s guilds could endure the new policies.

• Servini urged Xu Yi not to abandon the Lampari Kingdom, but he explained that he had moved Xinfei’s research centers and sent Stille and Freya to the Stantin Duchy as precautions.
• Xu Yi questioned Servini about her secluded life on her fief and told her Bunta City had recently changed its merchant tax policies.
• Xu Yi explained that Xinfei’s business tax had risen from 43% to 56%, with an additional special tax on magic machinery, cutting its expected annual profits by more than half.
• Servini wondered why Bunta City looked more prosperous, and Xu Yi said guilds were increasing production to offset shrinking profits while workers faced wage cuts.
• Xu Yi told Servini that Bunta City factories had seen at least fifteen worker disturbances in the past month and that other magic-machinery guilds were struggling to stay open.
• Servini looked toward Bunta City and fell silent as Xu Yi questioned whether its merchants could hold on.

Xu Yi saw King Eric’s supposedly friendly stance give way to gradual measures targeting the Xinfei Merchant Guild and the magic industry. As Bunta City’s business tax reform threatened the guild, the City Lord of Camadu City arrived, and Xu Yi invited Servini to watch what happened next.

• After ascending the throne, King Eric publicly praised the Xinfei Merchant Guild and said he would support the magic industry for the kingdom’s benefit.
• A month later, City Lord’s Manors began inspecting Xinfei factories, taking equipment and production lines, while the Magic Industry Administration imposed costly certificates.
• The Magic Industry Administration demanded that Xinfei share its proprietary technology, but Xu Yi and other merchant guilds opposed the demand until it was abandoned.
• Xu Yi concluded that Eric was using gradual measures to control the magic industry, and he viewed Bunta City’s business tax reform as a threat driven by Eric’s noble supporters.
• A Xinfei employee told Xu Yi that the City Lord of Camadu City had arrived, and Xu Yi asked Servini if she wanted to watch a good show.

Xu Yi met with City Lord Kamadu, who pressed him to accept cooperation with the Kingdom Magic Research Institute and warned him to halt military shipments to Sewell City. Kamadu also hinted at coming changes to tariffs on foreign trade, leaving Xu Yi wary of the Kingdom’s new policies.

• Kamadu visited Xu Yi at Falling Star Manor and asked whether Stille planned to return from the Stantin Duchy.
• Kamadu asked Xu Yi to approve comprehensive cooperation with the Kingdom Magic Research Institute, but Xu Yi said the guild was still considering it.
• Kamadu urged Xu Yi to decide soon, citing the King’s patience and the research resources the institute could provide.
• Kamadu ordered Xu Yi to suspend further military magic machinery shipments to Sewell City and said all military supplies required Military Department approval.
• Xu Yi asked whether the guild’s household magic machinery export privileges would also change, and Kamadu warned that new tariffs on foreign goods would be announced soon.

Xu Yi confronted the Lampari Kingdom’s demands for the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s magic machinery technology while Servini left for Anvilmar City to plead with King Eric. In Falling Rain Valley, workers feared the guild was closing, and Xu Yi reassured them before telling Kennard that he would resist those trying to exploit the guild.

• Servini learned that City Lord Kamadu wanted the Xinfei Merchant Guild to give the Kingdom Magic Research Institute full access to its technology, and she decided to speak to King Eric despite Xu Yi’s warning.
• Servini left Bunta City in her Mana Sedan and headed for Anvilmar City, while Xu Yi returned to overseeing the guild’s difficult relocation.
• Workers gathered around Xu Yi in Falling Rain Valley and asked whether the Xinfei Merchant Guild was closing down.
• Xu Yi denied the closure rumors, assured the workers that the guild was profitable and would remain open, and sent them back to work.
• Xu Yi ordered Kennard to find who was spreading the rumors, then said he would let those trying to exploit the guild continue until he saw who gave out first.

As Lord Kamadu’s commercial taxes and targeted policies crippled Bunta City’s magic machinery guilds, the Xinfei Merchant Guild expanded production but saw its profits plunge. Xu Yi then announced that he had applied to relinquish his title of viscount, leaving the meeting room stunned.

• More than ten Bunta City merchant guilds halted magic machinery production or cut output, while the Xinfei Merchant Guild expanded its workshops and hired laid-off workers.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild sold record quantities of household magic machinery, but its profit for the previous month fell to only 130,000 gold coins.
• Kennard questioned whether Xu Yi had abandoned his concern for the wider magic industry, while the department heads described the damage caused by Kamadu’s policies.
• Amulode said his plastic processing factory and the Moon Shadow Tribe’s fertilizer factory planned to move to the Stantin Duchy.
• Xu Yi announced that he had applied to the Kingdom Noble Council to relinquish his title of viscount.

Xu Yi explained to Servini why he had voluntarily surrendered his noble status: in a deal with King Eric, he secured free-trade rights and commitments to support Bunta City's magic industry. He left Servini shocked by revealing that the Xinfei Merchant Guild would transfer its magic machinery technologies to ten guilds chosen by the Kingdom Magic Industry Administration.

• Xu Yi told Servini that his noble status had originated from Lampari the Thirteenth's favor and that he had reached a deal with King Eric through Lord Kamadu.
• Xu Yi explained that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had gained the right to manage foreign trade without advance approval, while still filing regular reports and paying customs duties.
• Xu Yi said he had asked King Eric to abolish the special business tax on magic machinery and continue policies supporting the magic industry.
• Xu Yi revealed that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had agreed to transfer its full range of magic machinery technologies to ten guilds selected by the Kingdom Magic Industry Administration.
• Servini stared at Xu Yi in shock and asked whether he had lost his mind.

Xu Yi discussed the consequences of cooperating with the Kingdom Magic Industry Administration and arranged for the Night Song Tribe to relocate its plastic factory to the Black Rice Wasteland. Elder Elusia revealed that the elven warriors might willingly become Xu Yi’s private guards, and he became eager to ask them.

• Xu Yi explained to Elder Elusia that the Xinfei Merchant Guild would transfer some of its technology to the Kingdom Magic Industry Administration and asked what the Night Song Tribe thought of the demands on its factory.
• Elder Elusia refused to share the tribe’s plastic-processing technology, and Xu Yi told her the factory would have to be dismantled unless it relocated.
• Xu Yi persuaded Elder Elusia that moving the factory to the Black Rice Wasteland would improve its transport links and room to expand, and she agreed to have Amulode choose a site.
• Xu Yi asked Elder Elusia to have the 150 elven warriors guard the Xinfei base, and she suggested they might instead gladly serve as his private guards.
• Elder Elusia explained that the Night Song Tribe regarded Xu Yi as one of their own because he had helped solve their water-supply problem, and Xu Yi became eager to ask Fario and the others.

Xu Yi discussed the Magic Industry Administration’s inspection and the transfer of Xinfei Merchant Guild’s technology with Director Russell, warning that the kingdom’s new magic industry firms lacked the research and development capacity needed to advance beyond what they acquired. He left Russell with a grim warning that the future depended on luck.

• Anise told Xu Yi that elves and humans could mate and have half-elf children, and Xu Yi agreed to discuss her questions with Elder Elusia later.
• Xu Yi sent Vivian and Anise to show the Magic Industry Administration officials their designs during the administration’s first inspection of Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi told Director Russell that the ten designated merchant guilds were receiving Xinfei’s technologies for far less than their usual transfer fees, while political support had helped reverse Bunta City’s special commercial tax.
• Xu Yi warned Russell that transferring mature technology would not replace research and development, since the other guilds lacked Xinfei’s personnel, theoretical foundations, and basic workers.
• Xu Yi offered no advice beyond wishing the new guilds good luck, leaving Russell visibly unsettled.

After King Eric’s rise to power, Bunta City changed as the Xinfei Merchant Guild was forced to transfer technologies to selected guilds, which began undercutting established businesses. The chapter leaves Falkor and Feilson facing major losses under new royal-backed policies, while their leaders wonder where Xu Yi has gone.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild transferred magic machinery technologies to ten guilds designated by the Magic Industry Administration, and editor-in-chief Naxi resigned from the Bunta Daily.
• The Rockefeller Merchant Guild built five steelworks using transferred technology and forced Fuller Morgan’s Falkor Merchant Guild to sell pig iron at a low price.
• Fuller Morgan worried that the Falkor Merchant Guild’s annual profits would fall and wondered whether Xu Yi had abandoned Bunta City.
• The City Lord’s Manor ordered Feilson Carriage Company to replace its public transit locomotives with Lafali models and pay an annual security deposit.
• President Pombelli calculated that the changes would make Feilson lose money and angrily declared that he would quit if he could not keep the business running.

Xu Yi and Stille settled into life at the Xinfei Farm on Karasga Island while the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s relocation progressed. Great Mage Truchi returned from the island and, impressed by how Xu Yi had improved life there, agreed to join the guild as a researcher.

• Xu Yi caught a fish with lightning magic and told Stille he was disappointed that some people still resisted the magic industry.
• Xu Yi reflected on the rapid relocation of the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s main operations and considered what might be needed to build an independent magic industry on the island.
• Great Mage Camilla arrived with Great Mage Truchi and other visitors aboard Small Mana Speedboats, and Truchi complained about Camilla’s reckless driving.
• Xu Yi asked Truchi about his return to Karasga Island, and Truchi praised the improvements in the islanders’ lives.
• Xu Yi said there were more ways to improve the islanders’ lives and that he would need Truchi’s help, prompting Truchi to join the Xinfei Merchant Guild Magic Research Institute as a researcher.

Xu Yi welcomed Great Mage Truchi into the Xinfei Merchant Guild Magic Research Institute as the guild struggled with a shortage of researchers amid its relocation. Truchi pressed Xu Yi for details about improving Karasga Island, and Xu Yi said newly returned information would help him explain his plan.

• Xu Yi divided the Magic Research Institute between Falling Rain Valley and the Stantin Duchy, assigning the former to existing products and the latter to new technologies.
• Great Mage Truchi announced that he would join the institute, exciting Xu Yi and drawing attention because Great Mage Camilla had already joined.
• Xu Yi agreed to appoint Truchi as a Senior Researcher with a salary of ten thousand gold coins a year and extensive benefits.
• Truchi asked Xu Yi to explain his plan to improve Karasga Island before he committed fully to his work.
• A faint buzzing sounded overhead, and Xu Yi said the information he needed had returned and would help him explain the plan.

Xu Yi showed Great Mage Truchi and the others the Magic Airship and a detailed aerial map, then explained how Karasga Island’s location near both the Free Trade Union’s territory and the Black Rice Wasteland gave it strategic importance. He revealed plans to overcome the orc tribes blocking a port on the wasteland’s coast, leaving Truchi astonished by the island’s potential.

• Xu Yi welcomed Akali and Avita back aboard the newly tested Magic Airship, and Stille asked to ride on a future flight.
• Avita gave Xu Yi a large map she had made from the airship, and he showed it to Great Mage Truchi and Great Mage Camilla.
• Xu Yi pointed out that Karasga Island lay less than a hundred kilometers from both his location and a stretch of the Black Rice Wasteland coast.
• Great Mage Truchi objected that powerful orc tribes made building a port on the wasteland’s coast impractical.
• Xu Yi said he had already begun addressing the orc threat and argued that Karasga Island’s strategic importance justified the effort.

Great Mage Truchi agreed to join the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s research branch in Falling Rain Valley, while Angklu asked Xu Yi to continue supplying weapons for his campaign to unite the Stantin Duchy. Xu Yi accepted six mine deeds as payment, and Angklu left declaring his intent to overthrow the duchy’s order, though Xu Yi doubted his chances.

• Great Mage Truchi chose to lead research at the Magic Research Institute’s Falling Rain Valley branch, focusing first on mana-powered ships and Karasga Island.
• Angklu visited Xu Yi and requested more weapons and equipment despite still owing the guild 360,000 gold coins.
• Angklu argued that his victories over rival lords and his plans for magic industry made him a worthwhile investment.
• Angklu offered deeds to two iron ore mines and four magic crystal mines, promising to bring them under his control within six months, and Xu Yi agreed to continue supplying him.
• Before leaving, Angklu dismissed accusations that he was a traitor and said he would overthrow the existing order to improve people’s lives.

Old Sakeqi rode to Bunta City’s annual road bicycle race and defended the Xinfei Merchant Guild against villagers who praised Anjette’s newer bicycles. At the start, Bluff unveiled Xinfei’s Multi-Speed Road Bicycle and offered a bonus to anyone who finished ahead of its rider, Alex.

• Old Sakeqi rode from Mexilan Village toward Bunta City with Sam and other villagers, who showed off their lightweight Anjette bicycles.
• Sam and the other young men argued that rival guilds were surpassing Xinfei, and Old Sakeqi scolded them for insulting the guild and President Xu.
• The group arrived at the crowded race square, where Old Sakeqi noticed that many entrants rode Anjette and other non-Xinfei bicycles.
• Heinz announced the race rules, and Bluff introduced Xinfei’s new Multi-Speed Road Bicycle, demonstrating its lightweight frame, hard tires, and gear mechanism.
• Bluff introduced Alex as Xinfei’s rider and promised an extra hundred gold coins to anyone who finished ahead of him, exciting the villagers while Old Sakeqi doubted they could beat him.

Sam’s Anjette bicycle broke during the race, prompting him and other riders to plan a compensation demand over the poor quality. Meanwhile, Heinz rejected Virole Anjette’s demand to share gear-shifter technology and ended the technology-sharing partnership, leaving Anjette stunned.

• Sam’s Anjette bicycle repeatedly malfunctioned during the race, and its rear wheel fell off after he kicked it at the finish line.
• Sam met other riders whose Anjette bicycles had broken and joined their complaints about the guild’s poor quality and plans to seek compensation.
• Virole Anjette demanded that Heinz share the gear-shifter technology under their agreement, but Heinz said it belonged to another guild and was protected by confidentiality and patent law.
• Heinz reminded Virole that the Xinfei Merchant Guild did not need the partnership and agreed to end it when Virole accused him of refusing to cooperate.
• Heinz gave Virole a signed notice terminating their technology-sharing partnership immediately, leaving Virole shocked.

Xu Yi and Servini discussed her plan to establish fruit-growing and processing industries on her fief, then argued over his break with the Magic Industry Administration and her decision to abandon the throne. The conversation ended unresolved as they prepared to attend a joint operation with Servini as its nominal commander.

• Servini asked Xu Yi to help establish an industrial base on her private fief and proposed fruit farms, a canning factory, and a juice factory.
• Xu Yi worried that Servini’s plan would compete with the Xinfei Merchant Guild, but she said her royal privileges would let her sell beyond the Lampari Kingdom.
• Servini warned Xu Yi that ending cooperation with the Magic Industry Administration had angered powerful nobles and could threaten the guild’s operations in the kingdom.
• Xu Yi said he was prepared to give up operating in the Lampari Kingdom, and Servini warned him that abandoning the guild would hurt Bunta City’s residents.
• Xu Yi asked Servini whether she regretted giving up her claim to the throne, and she admitted that she did not know.
• Xu Yi ended their discussion and invited Servini to join the joint operation, where she was its nominal commander.

Xu Yi showed Servini the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guards Corps’ diverse troops and costly magic equipment before they launched an operation against the orcs in the Black Rice Wasteland. The chapter ended as Xu Yi formally announced the start of the Black Rice Wasteland Clearing Operation.

• Xu Yi and Servini inspected the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guards Corps and Servini’s five hundred private guards at the Guards Base.
• Servini learned that a complete set of Individual Military Magic Machinery cost three hundred gold coins and could not afford to equip her five thousand guards with it.
• Servini addressed the assembled guards and introduced the operation against the orcs.
• Fifty armored Mana Armored Transport Vehicles arrived, and Xu Yi explained their reinforced construction and defenses.
• Xu Yi criticized the Lampari Kingdom’s military underfunding and corruption before announcing the start of the Black Rice Wasteland Clearing Operation.

After the Magic Industry Administration barred the Xinfei Merchant Guild from producing magic machinery in the Lampari Kingdom, the guild shut its factories while public anger and political resistance grew. Though its presence faded in Bunta City, the guild continued expanding in the Black Rice Wasteland and Stantin Duchy, shipping its machinery back into the kingdom.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild accepted the production ban and closed its magic machinery factories across six Lampari Kingdom cities, leaving its service centers and research facilities operating.
• Commoners and newspapers supported the guild, and Baron Haines published a Lampari Weekly article attacking the Magic Industry Administration and the nobles backing its ten designated merchant guilds.
• Count Samo defied the ban, declaring that Sewell City would neither recognize nor enforce it, while the city's Magic Industry Park continued to grow.
• Workers and small component-making merchant guilds suffered as Xinfei stopped production and the ten designated guilds offered lower wages and absorbed manufacturing work.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild expanded in the Black Rice Wasteland and Stantin Duchy, sending cargo magic locomotives laden with machinery toward destinations in the Lampari Kingdom.

King Eric struggled with the kingdom’s finances and his lack of influence as he considered raising the military budget. Duke Stark proposed reducing the Kingdom Army and having nobles’ private guards take on secondary defensive duties, leaving Eric to weigh the plan.

• Eric reflected on how exhausting kingship was and how little control he had over the kingdom.
• Duke Stark warned Eric that noble loans would come due early next year and that repaying them would strain the treasury.
• Eric explained that he wanted to increase the Military Department’s budget, especially for the Northern Garrison, because of the threat from the Sark Kingdom.
• Duke Stark suggested reducing the number of Kingdom Army troops and relying on noble private guards to defend secondary areas.
• Eric objected that nobles’ guards should protect only their own fiefs, but Duke Stark argued that their service would save the treasury money.
• Eric considered the proposal and admitted it might be a possible solution.

Old Man Sakeqi and Old Man Bateru drove cargo for the Xinfei Merchant Guild through the Black Rice Wasteland and discussed leaving Bunta City for the Stantin Duchy. After considering the shrinking wages and worsening prospects in Bunta City, Bateru agreed to look into moving as well.

• Old Man Sakeqi drove their Medium Cargo Magic Locomotive through the Black Rice Wasteland while Old Man Bateru woke and offered to take over.
• Sakeqi told Bateru he planned to inspect the Stantin Duchy and likely move there with his family because work in Bunta City had become poorly paid.
• Bateru warned that leaving Bunta City could cost them their resident status and questioned whether they could bear to leave the Lampari Kingdom.
• Sakeqi explained that the ten merchant guilds had driven down wages and freight rates, while the Xinfei Merchant Guild still offered fair work.
• After reflecting on how ordinary people were neglected by the kingdom's leaders, Bateru agreed to look around the Stantin Duchy and consider moving.

Old Sakeqi and Old Bateru saw how much the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Black Rice Wasteland base had grown before watching Hart return from a sweep against the orcs. Hart revealed that the orcs were now armed with weapons from the Sark Kingdom, and Fario decided to report the discovery to the president.

• Old Sakeqi and Old Bateru delivered nonferrous metal ore to the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s steelworks and accepted a job transporting precision alloy to the Stantin Duchy.
• Old Sakeqi and Old Bateru watched a convoy of the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Mana Armored Transport Vehicles enter the Guards Corps camp and wondered why nearby orcs welcomed its return.
• Hart told Oma and Fario that his latest sweep had suffered no losses but that every orc he encountered had carried a weapon.
• Hart showed Oma and Fario a longsword whose workmanship and markings identified it as a weapon from the Sark Kingdom.
• Fario agreed with Hart and Oma that the discovery was unusual and said they should report it to the president.

Xu Yi ordered Hart to investigate the orcs allied with the Sark Kingdom while carefully managing the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s ties to Lampari. He attended Yaqi and Leia’s wedding with Stille and Avir, where their striking appearances drew attention, but his discussion with Count Wellen ended on a tense note.

• Xu Yi told Hart to stay alert, push into the Black Rice Wasteland, investigate the orc alliance with the Sark Kingdom, and notify the Lampari Kingdom Western Garrison Legion.
• Xu Yi sent a letter to Princess Royal Servini through her guard captain as a gesture to reduce the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s ties to Lampari’s rulers.
• Xu Yi helped Avir prepare a performance of the Wedding March for Yaqi and Leia’s wedding, and Stille arrived dressed in formal finery.
• Xu Yi, Stille, and Avir attended the wedding, where Count Wellen and Xinfei Merchant Guild staff joined the celebration.
• Xu Yi and Count Wellen held a tense, unpleasant conversation during a break in the wedding.

Xu Yi negotiated with Count Wellen to secure more land for the Xinfei Merchant Guild by trading technology instead of paying an exorbitant rent. After agreeing to exchange technologies for land, Xu Yi refused to transfer military technology, but Count Wellen asked whether he could buy military magic machinery.

• Count Wellen demanded one million gold coins in annual rent for another tract of land, and Xu Yi rejected the price.
• Count Wellen offered to accept technology transfers instead of cash and named fruit canning and household magic machinery as his interests.
• Xu Yi agreed to trade one technology for the rent on ten thousand hectares after pretending to haggle reluctantly.
• Count Wellen asked for the Xinfei Merchant Guild's military magic machinery technology, and Xu Yi refused to transfer it.
• Count Wellen then asked whether he could purchase military magic machinery, leaving Xu Yi wary of the direction their dealings were taking.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild’s profits recovered despite the Magic Industry Administration’s restrictions, but Xu Yi learned that the Lampari Kingdom would soon impose import tariffs on its goods. He refused to raise prices and decided to focus on markets beyond the kingdom.

• Sebas reported that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had earned more than one million gold coins in net profit last month as public support boosted sales.
• Xu Yi observed that protests against the ten favored guilds might be politically manipulated by cities supporting Servini, though he did not mind the guild being used.
• Xu Yi warned the conference that new spending and upcoming regulations would hurt the guild’s finances for several months.
• Xu Yi explained that the Commerce Office planned to classify machinery made outside the Lampari Kingdom as imports subject to tariffs, even when sold by a local guild.
• Xu Yi rejected Ankato’s suggestion to raise prices and said the guild would seek markets in other countries.