Chapter Summaries

Xu Yi arranged for Servini’s five thousand guards to receive Xinfei equipment on credit while affirming his loyalty to the Lampari Kingdom. As the chapter ended volume three, he reflected on nurturing the magic industry through cooperation rather than price wars and hoped to spread Bunta City’s industrial growth across the Sains Continent.

• Xu Yi offered Servini’s five thousand private guards equipment on credit, along with two Magic-Powered Stone Throwers and fifty Large Cargo Magic Locomotives.
• Servini warned Xu Yi that she would defend the Lampari Kingdom’s interests, and Xu Yi assured her that he wanted the kingdom to grow stronger.
• Xu Yi considered the popularity of the Magic House concept and his plan for other guilds to collaborate with the Amli Merchant Guild on customized household magic machinery.
• Xu Yi rejected proposals to cut Xinfei Magic Air Conditioner prices, fearing a price war would harm other guilds and the magic industry’s development.
• Xu Yi reflected on the profits earned by Bunta City’s magic machinery guilds and hoped the industry would spread throughout the Lampari Kingdom and the Sains Continent.

During a winter standoff in the Murto Mountain Ranges, Shalong Li Nuer received copied plans for the Lampari Kingdom’s Magic-Powered Stone Thrower and doubted the Sark Kingdom could build its own in time. Li Nuer warned that Xu Yi could threaten Sark’s plans, but Aiwei Ruoang said the General Staff Office wanted to capture his inventions and was already watching him.

• A blizzard halted fighting between Li Nuer’s Greedy Wolf Legion and the Lampari Kingdom’s Northern Garrison, which had taken the Murto Mountain Ranges the previous year.
• Aiwei Ruoang gave Li Nuer copied plans for the Magic-Powered Stone Thrower and reported that the Sark king had ordered research accelerated.
• Li Nuer doubted the Sark Kingdom’s Magic Academy could reproduce the weapon before Prince Eric’s forces might attack after winter.
• Ruoang said Eric’s Northern Garrison had stopped buying military magic machinery from the Xinfei Merchant Guild, though Li Nuer and Ruoang agreed it could still be dangerous.
• Li Nuer urged the General Staff Office to eliminate Xu Yi, but Ruoang said it valued his inventions and believed the Lampari Kingdom was too weak and unstable to threaten Sark.

Sevi arrived in Bunta City with his parents and was amazed by its modern infrastructure and lively residents. After a brief inspection, Akali brought her family to their new villa in the Dawn Residential Complex, where they began settling into their new home.

• Sevi traveled with his parents to Bunta City and marveled at its bridge, station, roads, and busy streets.
• Akali challenged the station inspector about checking her family, then accepted the brief inspection required for their arrival.
• Akali promised Sevi she would try to take him to meet President Xu and hired a vehicle to bring the family to their new home.
• Akali's parents and Sevi were stunned by the villa and learned that the whole family would live there.
• Akali's parents thanked her emotionally, while Sevi rushed inside to explore their new home.

Xu Yi and Servini discussed Bunta City’s swelling population and the challenge of managing newcomers fleeing the Northern Border. At a meeting with the city’s merchant guilds, they secured pledges of public aid, but Xu Yi warned that new arrivals would not automatically solve the labor shortage.

• Servini told Xu Yi that more than fifty thousand outsiders had already arrived in Bunta City, and the yearly total might exceed three hundred thousand.
• Xu Yi said many newcomers were fleeing exploitation near the Sark Kingdom border, based on accounts from relatives of Director Avita and Senior Researcher Akali.
• Servini enlisted Xu Yi to help address the incoming population, and they went to a meeting with Bunta City’s merchant guild representatives.
• Servini praised the guilds’ contributions and urged them to support the city, prompting offers of public transportation, aid, clothing, and care for elderly residents.
• The guild representatives said they could absorb hundreds of thousands of newcomers, but Xu Yi cautioned that population did not equal manpower.

Xu Yi and Servini outlined vocational training and worker-grading plans for Bunta City’s merchant guilds, then Xu Yi discussed expanding trade with the Sark Kingdom with President Lanke. Kowach approached Xu Yi about Ireland United Merchant Guild’s new orders and hinted that it might stop supplying the Xinfei Merchant Guild.

• Xu Yi explained that new arrivals would need vocational training to fill skilled jobs, and Servini proposed a city training college and a detailed vocational skills grading system.
• The merchant guild representatives approved the proposals and heard Servini’s broader commercial plans for Bunta City.
• Xu Yi told President Lanke that he had found a new route into the Sark Kingdom through Sewell City and proposed growing Salank Merchant Guild’s annual sales there from a few hundred thousand to several million gold coins.
• Kowach told Xu Yi that Ireland United Merchant Guild had received many orders from other cities but lacked the capacity to fulfill them alongside Xinfei Merchant Guild’s orders.
• Xu Yi asked Kowach directly whether Ireland United Merchant Guild planned to stop supplying parts to Xinfei Merchant Guild.

Xu Yi accepted the Ireland United Merchant Guild’s decision to stop supplying parts to the Xinfei Merchant Guild and abandon Bunta City’s standards for other customers, while warning Kowach that unified standards would prove valuable. He secured major new machinery orders from Bunta City guilds, then learned from President Cruz that the Amli Merchant Guild was taking heavy losses on its Black Rice Wasteland investment.

• Kowach admitted that he had chosen to suspend the Ireland United Merchant Guild’s parts supplies to Xinfei, despite Freeman’s opposition, and Xu Yi accepted the decision.
• Kowach asked whether the guild could stop following Bunta City’s standards for parts made for other guilds, and Xu Yi permitted it while advising him that unified standards benefited industrial production.
• Xu Yi met with guild presidents and representatives and provisionally secured orders for more than a hundred magic machine tools worth over five hundred thousand gold coins.
• President Cruz discussed the Amli Merchant Guild’s road-building and villa-development profits with Xu Yi, then said its investment in the Black Rice Wasteland was suffering heavy losses.

Xu Yi and President Cruz discussed using noble commissions to equip merchant guild guards with military magic machinery so they could deter orc harassment in the Black Rice Wasteland. As Bunta City’s spring reconstruction and public welfare projects expanded, the Xinfei Merchant Guild announced a product launch hosted by Xu Yi.

• President Cruz told Xu Yi that the merchant guilds’ production base in the Black Rice Wasteland was losing money because orcs repeatedly disrupted its operations.
• President Cruz proposed strengthening the merchant guild guards with better equipment, and Xu Yi explained that military magic machinery was restricted to nobles’ private guards.
• President Cruz gave Xu Yi an order from Baron Kiritsugu for three hundred Magic Repeating Crossbows and three portable Magic-Powered Stone Throwers for a private guard.
• Bunta City’s reconstruction resumed in spring, and new facilities included a nursing home, a relief shelter, and a Vocational Skills Training College.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild announced that it would hold its first product launch in a long time in one week, with Xu Yi hosting it.

Xu Yi waited anxiously as Stille went into labor, then welcomed their newborn daughter and reassured Stille that he did not blame her for having a girl. The chapter ended as he raised the baby and began to make a declaration.

• Xu Yi waited outside the bedroom while Stille labored, and the nurse assured him that Stille was healthy.
• Anise told Xu Yi that she preferred him as a partner, but he said humans and elves could not join together and sent her inside to watch over Stille.
• Anise, Vivian, and others relayed updates as the baby was born, and the nurse told Xu Yi he had a daughter.
• Stille apologized for giving birth to a girl, and Xu Yi reassured her before taking their daughter into his arms.
• Xu Yi raised his daughter before everyone in the room and began to declare something.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild unveiled its new Large Passenger and Cargo Magic Locomotives and an opulent Mana Sedan at a public-square product launch in Bunta City. Baron Billier, who had arrived intending to embarrass Xu Yi, became captivated by the sedan and explored its luxurious features.

• Visitors arrived at the launch and admired the Large Passenger Magic Locomotive, which seated thirty-seven people and could carry up to fifty.
• A hostess introduced the Large Cargo Magic Locomotive, explaining that it carried ten tonnes at more than forty kilometers per hour.
• Baron Billier learned that the Mana Sedan cost 9,999 gold coins but decided its refined appearance made the price reasonable.
• The hostess let Baron Billier sit in the Mana Sedan, where he praised its leather seat and adjusted it to reach the steering wheel comfortably.
• Baron Billier asked about the controls, and the hostess explained that the sedan included a Magic Air Conditioner, interior Magic Lamps, and remote trunk controls.

At the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Product Launch, Xu Yi explained why the guild had unveiled so many kinds of Magic Locomotives and argued that they surpassed horse-drawn carriages in safety, capacity, cost, and speed. The chapter ended with a reporter asking whether Xu had named his newborn daughter his sole heir, and Xu agreed to answer.

• Xu Yi told reporters that the guild had introduced many Magic Locomotives to show their potential for varied uses and future improvements.
• Xu Yi explained that the Mana Sedan used new alloy steel and was safer than a horse-drawn carriage.
• Xu Yi defended his criticism of horse-drawn carriages by comparing their cargo capacity, purchase price, operating costs, and speed with the Large Cargo Magic Locomotive.
• A tabloid reporter shifted the questions to Xu Yi’s newborn daughter and asked whether Xu had named her his sole heir.
• Xu Yi said he was in a good mood and agreed to answer the reporter’s question.

Xu Yi clarified that his daughter would inherit his noble title and admitted the choice partly signaled support for Princess Royal Servini. King Lampari the Thirteenth rejected Derma’s plea to settle the succession quickly out of concern for his health and turned his attention to a report on Prince Eric.

• Xu Yi told reporters that his daughter alone would inherit his noble title, while the Xinfei Merchant Guild presidency would go to whoever was most capable.
• Xu Yi said he would not change his choice even if he later had a son, and he acknowledged that supporting Princess Royal Servini was part of his reasoning.
• King Lampari the Thirteenth told Derma that he would choose his successor based on who could best serve the kingdom, not personal preference.
• Derma urged the king to name an heir soon because the king’s health was failing, and Lampari the Thirteenth slapped him for speaking as if he were already dying.
• Lampari the Thirteenth insisted that choosing the kingdom’s most suitable heir was his duty for as long as he lived, then ordered Derma to bring him the report from the North Province about Prince Eric.

Prince Eric reviewed the Northern Garrison and his poorly equipped Private Guard before his campaign against the Sark Kingdom, regretting that he had rejected cooperation with the Xinfei Merchant Guild. Earl Stark likewise doubted the decision as Eric prepared to address the troops, while recognizing that Eric’s stubbornness had ended any prospect of cooperation.

• Prince Eric inspected the thirty thousand Northern Garrison soldiers and resolved to win limited military victories against the Sark Kingdom to strengthen his claim to the throne.
• Prince Eric compared his weak five-thousand-man Private Guard with Servini’s well-equipped force, which had received military machinery from the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Prince Eric regretted rejecting Viscount Leslie’s and Count Michelle’s advice to cooperate with the Xinfei Merchant Guild after Xu Yi declared support for Servini.
• Earl Stark recalled that Prince Eric had rejected his own proposal to cooperate with the Xinfei Merchant Guild and questioned whether the decision had been wise.
• Earl Stark told Prince Eric it was nearly time to address the troops before battle.

Prince Eric's refusal to buy Xinfei Merchant Guild military machinery gave Shalong Li Nuer confidence that the Northern Garrison would be easier to repel. Chief of Staff Aiwei Ruoang showed Li Nuer smuggled household magic machinery and explained how the Sark Kingdom could use it for research and military logistics, leaving Li Nuer tempted despite calling the trade aid to the enemy.

• Shalong Li Nuer celebrated Prince Eric's refusal to equip the Northern Garrison with Xinfei Merchant Guild military machinery and vowed to defeat its counterattack.
• Aiwei Ruoang entered the War Room with a Magic Air Conditioner and demonstrated its cooling breeze to Li Nuer and the officers.
• After sending the officers away, Ruoang revealed that merchants had smuggled Xinfei Merchant Guild goods into the Sark Kingdom and that the Military Department's General Staff supported the transactions.
• Ruoang explained that the household machinery would help the Magic Academy study Xinfei technology and establish closer contact with the guild.
• Ruoang urged Li Nuer to consider acquiring Magic Lamps, Magic Iceboxes, Cargo Magic Locomotives, Magic-Powered Stoves, and other products for the legion.
• Li Nuer continued to worry that the purchases aided the enemy but found himself impressed by how useful the machinery was.

Xu Yi refused President Sampson’s request for magic locomotives but arranged for the Merlda Trading Guild to buy household magic machinery from several guilds, with Xinfei products priced above competing brands. After leaving Kennard to finalize the orders, Xu Yi headed to Bunta City for more urgent business.

• Xu Yi rejected President Sampson’s offer to buy magic locomotives for the Sark Kingdom, citing unmet local demand and limited production capacity.
• President Sampson requested large quantities of household magic machinery, and Xu Yi proposed allocating part of the orders to other guilds while keeping Xinfei products more expensive.
• President Sampson accepted Xu Yi’s proposal, and Xu Yi gave him a vetted list of guilds whose products he could consider purchasing.
• Xu Yi promised to accompany President Sampson on spot checks the next day, then left Kennard to continue discussing Xinfei orders and departed Falling Rain Valley for Bunta City.

Xu Yi worried that the Xinfei Merchant Guild could not keep up with demand for its Mana Sedans, then discovered that Great Mage Camilla wanted another one after wrecking hers. Camilla offered to join the Fire-Type Mana Engine research team, leaving Xu Yi thrilled—and regretting his offer of more cars.

• Xu Yi reflected on the Mana Sedan orders and the guild’s limited production capacity as he returned to Falling Star Manor.
• Xu Yi reunited with Stille and held their month-old daughter while they discussed who she resembled.
• Great Mage Camilla told Xu Yi her battered Mana Sedan had stopped working and demanded a replacement.
• Xu Yi suggested Camilla try a Mana-Powered Ship, but she rejected it as too slow and agreed to be more careful with another sedan.
• Camilla said she would join the Fire-Type Mana Engine research team, and Xu Yi celebrated by offering to arrange ten or twenty Mana Sedans for her.

Xu Yi discussed the planned operation against the orcs on the Black Rice Wasteland with Stille, promising to spare friendly tribes while warning against aiding attacks on the guild’s base. Before meeting Servini, he encountered Liss bathing and agreed to be with her that night.

• Stille asked Xu Yi how far his planned expedition with President Cruz and the others would go against the orcs harassing the Black Rice Wasteland base.
• Xu Yi said the operation was meant to deter hostile orcs, spare tribes friendly to humans, and warn any tribes tied to the attacks that he would show no mercy.
• Xu Yi explained that he wanted the races to cooperate in developing magic machinery and could not abandon the Black Rice Wasteland because of its rich metal deposits.
• Stille told Xu Yi that Avir and the other orc girls were studying human culture and training diligently for the New Moon Song and Dance Troupe.
• Xu Yi entered the bathroom to bathe before meeting Servini and found Liss bathing there.
• Liss asked whether Xu Yi wanted her, and he told her to come to his room that night.

Xu Yi accompanied Servini on an inspection of Bunta City's fertilizer factory, where they reviewed its expanded production and growing stockpile ahead of spring plowing. Servini prepared to decide how much fertilizer Bunta City needed, and Xu Yi affirmed that she had final authority over its allocation.

• Servini praised the comfort of her custom Mana Sedan, and Xu Yi offered to arrange one for the king and her brothers.
• Servini and Xu Yi visited the fertilizer factory as part of her focus on Bunta City's agriculture ahead of spring plowing.
• Yalado showed Servini and Xu Yi the expanded factory, where elven workers operated two new production lines and made several types of fertilizer.
• Xu Yi explained that the factory's specialized fertilizers improved fruit yields and quality, while Servini questioned whether that diverted resources from staple crops.
• Yalado reported monthly production exceeding 300,000 tons, including over 250,000 tons for ordinary crops, and a stockpile exceeding one million tons.
• Servini said she would calculate Bunta City's fertilizer needs before considering supplies for other cities, and Xu Yi told her she had the final say in allocation.

After discussing the kingdom’s grain shortage and possible ways to expand fertilizer production, Xu Yi and Servini were struck by Baron Billier’s overturned Mana Sedan. Billier woke up drunk and learned he had crashed into the Princess Royal’s car, leaving him in serious trouble.

• Servini told Xu Yi that the Lampari Kingdom still lacked enough grain to meet its population’s basic needs, and urged him to expand fertilizer production.
• Xu Yi proposed bringing more Moon Shadow Tribe elves to Bunta City or opening a larger fertilizer plant in the Stantin Duchy, and Servini considered both options.
• Xu Yi shielded Servini when another Mana Sedan hit their car, sending it off the road into a field.
• Xu Yi found the other car overturned and pulled its unconscious driver, Baron Billier, from the wreck.
• Baron Billier woke up smelling of alcohol, insulted Xu Yi, and then realized he had crashed into Princess Royal Servini’s pale gold Mana Car.

After Baron Billier escaped serious punishment for crashing into Servini, Xu Yi and Servini discussed the lack of laws governing Magic Locomotives and her efforts to establish traffic regulations. Outside the City Lord’s Manor, Xu Yi confronted Baron Billier and his companion by destroying their Mana Sedan with a fireball.

• Servini explained that the Stark Family’s compensation and apology had secured Baron Billier’s release, while the kingdom had no laws regulating Magic Locomotives.
• Xu Yi urged Servini to use the incident to establish traffic regulations, and she said the proposals were progressing without opposition.
• Servini thanked Xu Yi for protecting her, and they spoke warmly about how he saw her as a woman as well as the Princess Royal.
• After Xu Yi left the City Lord’s Manor, Baron Billier sped toward him, stopped nearby, and taunted him.
• Xu Yi recognized the minor noble who owned the Mana Sedan and smashed a fireball into the vehicle.

Xu Yi destroyed Peral’s Mana Sedan outside the City Lord’s Manor, citing violations of driving regulations after Baron Billier had driven drunk and struck Servini. The incident became a kingdom-wide sensation, while Xu Yi left his motives unexplained.

• Xu Yi blasted the front of Peral’s Mana Sedan and declared it scrapped because Peral had let an unlicensed driver use it.
• Xu Yi told Baron Billier that his license was invalid because he had driven drunk and that he could not apply for another for five years.
• Baron Billier threatened Xu Yi and left with Peral, while Xu Yi later assured Servini that he had acted to stand up for her.
• Servini warned Xu Yi that the Stark Family might treat his actions as a provocation and urged him to be careful.
• Newspapers across the kingdom reported the incident, and tabloids speculated about the feud between Xu Yi and Baron Billier.
• Kennard asked whether Xu Yi had anticipated the publicity, but Xu Yi gave no answer.