Chapter Summaries

Xu Yi considered the effects of the boycotts against the Xinfei Merchant Guild and visited the Magic Research Institute to inspect its new protective equipment. The chapter ended as he suddenly tested the equipment by jabbing a guard in the chest with an electrified finger.

• Kennard told Xu Yi that thirteen cities had boycotted the guild, while sales of its household magic machinery and machine tools had nevertheless risen.
• Xu Yi noted that the boycotting cities supported Prince Eric and viewed Basaru City’s silence as a promising sign, while Kennard warned that Dulakton City might soon join the boycott.
• Kennard reported that mobs had looted Walmart Merchant Guild stores, costing it at least three hundred thousand gold coins, and Xu Yi asked him to apologize to President Lundes.
• Xu Yi entered the restricted research area in Falling Rain Valley and asked a guard about the guild’s new protective equipment.
• The guard said the equipment let him defeat most dwarven guards in single combat, and Xu Yi abruptly jabbed his electrified finger toward the guard’s chest.

Xu Yi tested the protective enchantment on a guard’s new armor, then reprimanded the Magic Machine Tool Research Center engineers for using Yildan in a Mana Sedan crash test. He left the engineers preparing to adapt their designs for a Fire-Type Mana Engine after revealing that its development had made a major breakthrough.

• Xu Yi confirmed that the guard’s armor could repel lightning and a sword strike, then promised he would get a chance to join a future trip to the Black Rice Wasteland.
• Xu Yi arrived at the Magic Machine Tool Research Center as Yildan climbed out of a Mana Sedan that had crashed into a wall during a successful safety-device test.
• Canby explained that the engineers had used Yildan for their tests, and Xu Yi forbade them from risking living people when they could use measured, human-shaped dummies instead.
• Xu Yi warned the engineers that future, faster vehicles could make crashes far more dangerous and told them Great Mage Camilla had made a major breakthrough on the Fire-Type Mana Engine.
• The engineers eagerly began discussing how to adapt their Magic Locomotive designs for the new engine.

Xu Yi discussed safety improvements for vehicles and airships with the guild’s researchers, then learned of progress on the Magic Airship and Akali’s resonance technique. The chapter ended with Avita hinting that Great Mage Camilla’s safety habits were another concern Xu Yi could not control.

• Xu Yi explained that Servini’s accident had prompted research into collision protection, which also led to Magic Barrier Armor for caravan guards.
• Xu Yi learned Akali had gone to support her fifteen-year-old brother at his driving test and objected to the boy becoming a freight driver so young.
• Avita told Xu Yi that a new lightweight alloy had enabled several successful manned Magic Airship tests, which she had conducted herself using safety devices.
• Xu Yi warned Avita to put her safety first, and she quietly acknowledged his concern for her as a friend.
• Avita reported that Akali’s Magic Array Resonance Technique could reach nearly a thousand meters and control two arrays at once, while Xu Yi asked her to develop countermeasures.
• Avita joked that Great Mage Camilla was the person Xu Yi most needed to warn about safety, and he admitted he could do little about her.

As Lampari the Thirteenth prepared to summon his children and arrange the kingdom’s defenses, he revealed that he had chosen Servini as his heir and trusted Xu Yi to help her. Derma secretly poisoned the king, then received Duke Stark after Lampari died.

• Lampari the Thirteenth ordered Derma to summon Eric, Miham, and Servini, reinforce the northeastern border, and send the Second Army north to defend the northwestern province.
• Lampari the Thirteenth told Derma that Servini was best suited to inherit the throne and that he valued Xu Yi as her supporter.
• Derma said he planned to die after Lampari, and Lampari accepted his pledge of companionship.
• Derma gave Lampari the medicine, and Lampari drank it before collapsing in agony and dying.
• Derma closed Lampari’s eyes and summoned someone, then exchanged words with Duke Stark, who thanked him for his efforts.

Shalong Li Nuer and Aiwei Ruoang learned that Prince Eric had not seen through their trap, but the Northern Garrison had already retreated beyond reach. Xu Yi returned to Bunta City and found Servini grieving after her eldest brother took the throne; he asked whether she had cried.

• Shalong Li Nuer refused to pursue the retreating Northern Garrison because he feared it might be a trap.
• Aiwei Ruoang received Military Intelligence’s report, and Li Nuer learned Prince Eric had not discovered their ambush plan.
• Li Nuer and Ruoang decided to wait as their enemies fought each other, while Ruoang said they would intervene when necessary.
• Xu Yi returned from the Black Rice Wasteland to the City Lord’s Manor after hearing shocking news.
• Xu Yi found Servini alone and sorrowful, and she asked if he had come to persuade her to fight her eldest brother for the throne.
• Xu Yi told Servini he had come to ask whether she had cried.

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.