Chapter Summaries

Hafra and Nethers entered Lalu City with their goods, paid the city gate taxes, and reunited with Hafra’s brother Prado. Prado agreed to return to the Lampari Kingdom after the goods were sold, then was astonished by the quality of Hafra’s merchandise and its low cost.

• Hafra bribed Captain Wien to ease the inspection and learned that officials were preparing for an inspection from the provincial Governor's Mansion.
• Hafra and Nethers complained about the Candel Empire’s steep city gate taxes as they drove into Lalu City.
• Hafra brought the goods to Prado’s shop, where Nethers happily greeted his uncle.
• Hafra and Nethers told Prado how much the Lampari Kingdom had changed and urged him to visit their parents; Prado agreed to go home with them after the sale.
• Hafra showed Prado the goods, and Prado was shocked by their quality and asked how Hafra had afforded so many.

Duchess Windsor accompanied an inspection delegation to Lalu City, where a crowded clothing sale caught her attention. After examining the well-made garments and learning they cost only one gold coin each, she and Count Nasapus were left astonished.

• Count Nasapus welcomed Aymadu and learned that Duchess Windsor had joined the inspection delegation.
• Duchess Windsor arrived and told Count Nasapus to skip the formalities as the party entered Lalu City.
• Duchess Windsor noticed a crowd on Commercial Street and asked Count Nasapus to find out what was happening.
• A guard reported that a shop was selling ready-made clothes for fifty silver coins each, so Duchess Windsor asked him to buy some.
• Duchess Windsor and Count Nasapus inspected the garments and were surprised by their quality and craftsmanship.
• The guards revealed that ten garments had cost ten gold coins, leaving Duchess Windsor and Count Nasapus stunned.

After selling five thousand outfits in one morning, Hafra and Prado discovered they had made more than two thousand gold coins in profit. Prado questioned where Hafra had obtained the unusually cheap clothes, and Hafra explained that Lampari Kingdom’s mass production had made them commonplace.

• Hafra, Prado, and exhausted Nethers celebrated their morning sales, while Prado confirmed that their net profit exceeded two thousand gold coins.
• Prado and Hafra discussed their extraordinary business and Prado’s intention to return to the Lampari Kingdom after more than twenty years away.
• Prado asked Hafra where he had obtained the clothes, suspecting they might have come from a dubious source.
• Hafra explained that the clothes cost about twenty silver coins in the Lampari Kingdom and described lilac fabric developed by the Night Song Tribe and Armani Merchant Guild.
• Hafra told Prado that the Armani Merchant Guild produced more than ten thousand basic cotton garments each day, keeping their prices low.

Hafra told Prado about the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s inventions and prosperity in the Lampari Kingdom before City Lord’s guards summoned Prado. Meanwhile, Duchess Windsor secured Count Nasapus’s promise to support Duke Windsor’s plan to block Lampari goods from the Southern Province, then went to meet Prado.

• Hafra explained to Prado that the Armani Merchant Guild’s high garment output came from Xinfei Merchant Guild machinery and described the guild’s many innovations.
• City Lord’s guards arrived at Prado’s shop and ordered him to come meet the City Lord.
• Duchess Windsor told Count Nasapus that Duke Windsor opposed the empire’s trade agreement with Lampari and wanted Southern Province cities to block Lampari goods.
• Count Nasapus agreed to support Duke Windsor’s decision, though he worried that his hesitation had hurt his standing with both the Duke and the Empire Assembly.
• Thorpe reported that Prado had arrived, and Duchess Windsor went to meet him.

Hafra and Nethers were arrested in Lalu City while Prado was held separately, and Captain Wien warned Hafra to accept the charges at trial. Three days later, the men left the city after losing their earnings, Magic Locomotive, and Prado’s business, uncertain whether the Candel Empire would continue to block their trade.

• Captain Wien led City Defense Army soldiers to arrest Hafra and Nethers and take them to the garrison prison.
• Hafra calmed Nethers with food and inferred from Captain Wien’s behavior that their lives were not in danger.
• Captain Wien warned Hafra that important people wanted them to admit the charges at trial and said Prado was being held temporarily by the City Lord.
• After three days in custody, Hafra, Prado, and Nethers left Lalu City after being convicted of commercial fraud and concealing taxable income.
• The authorities confiscated their sales proceeds and Magic Locomotive, closed Prado’s shop, and barred him from doing business; the men wondered whether the case reflected a wider Candel Empire policy.

Xu Yi and Servini discussed the Candel Empire’s crackdown on Lampari merchants and agreed to organize approved guilds to invest alongside the Xinfei Merchant Guild there. Xu Yi reassured Servini that his guild could handle the hostility and revealed its weapons deal with the Malo Empire, while Servini demanded compensation for the delayed airships.

• Lampari merchants faced arrests and confiscations in the Candel Empire’s Southern Province, and Marquis Descartes dismissed Servini’s request for an explanation as a matter of isolated incidents.
• Xu Yi told Servini that Duke Windsor’s personal grudge against the Xinfei Merchant Guild likely motivated the Southern Province’s actions against Lampari merchants.
• Xu Yi proposed bringing officially approved Lampari guilds to the Candel Empire to invest in factories alongside the Xinfei Merchant Guild, and Servini agreed to vet them and include thirteen previously selected guilds.
• Xu Yi assured Servini that the Candel Empire had invited the Xinfei Merchant Guild and revealed that the Malo Empire had agreed to buy weapons, locomotives, and five mana airships.
• Servini protested that Xu Yi had not yet delivered her hundred mana airships, then laughed and demanded compensation.

Xu Yi sent the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s first fleet on a northern voyage to establish a shipping route to the Malo Empire, stressing that the crew’s safety mattered more than the cargo. After the fleet disappeared into the Endless Sea, a little girl asked when they could begin exploring its deepest reaches.

• Household Magic Machinery spread into the Malo Empire and the Candel Empire as trade expanded, while the Amli Merchant Guild agreed to build roads connecting the Malo Empire with the southwestern countries.
• Xu Yi inspected the calm sea at Black Rice Port and spoke with Nevall about the risks of the voyage north.
• Xu Yi ordered Nevall to prioritize bringing everyone home safely, even if that meant abandoning the cargo, and assigned two Mana Airships to support the fleet.
• Nevall led three cargo Mana-Powered Ships and ten Guard Frigates out of Black Rice Port toward the northern Malo Empire, accompanied by the two Mana Airships.
• As Xu Yi watched the fleet vanish, a little girl tugged his clothes and asked when they could explore the deepest reaches of the Endless Sea.

Xu Yi explained to Lumi that mana airships and island supply bases could make searching for a new continent safer than a deep-sea voyage, prompting her to offer the elves’ old mana warship blueprints. He then visited the Moon Shadow Tribe’s territory and asked Elder Elusia where Anise was.

• Xu Yi refused to let Lumi pursue a deep-sea expedition and suggested that mana airships could eventually reach new continents with support from island bases.
• Lumi revealed that she had mana warship blueprints designed by her people for the elves and offered to retrieve them for Avita’s research.
• Lumi returned to the Stantin Duchy while Xu Yi drove from Black Rice Port toward the Moon Shadow Tribe’s territory.
• Xu Yi entered the forested territory and met Elder Lysania and Elder Elusia after the elves welcomed him.
• Xu Yi asked Elder Elusia where Anise was.

Xu Yi reunited with Anise and met their newborn son, then challenged the elves’ plan to raise the child in their tribe. The elders explained that they wanted the child to help preserve their relationship with Xu Yi, leaving their disagreement unresolved.

• Xu Yi visited Anise and learned that their newborn son was being observed in the Moonwell because the elders considered his condition important to monitor.
• Xu Yi, Anise, Elder Elusia, and Elder Lysania went to the Moonwell, where Xu Yi met his son and saw the baby’s elven features.
• Elder Lysania and Elder Elusia told Xu Yi that the child was meant to grow up among the elves, but Xu Yi insisted that his son and Anise should live with him.
• Xu Yi argued that cooperation between humans and elves already grew through mutual benefits, such as fertilizer, plastics, landscaping, and beauty products.
• Elder Elusia told Xu Yi that the elders wanted to keep the child because they hoped to maintain a good relationship with him.

Xu Yi offered military magic machinery technology to the Night Song Tribe and Twisti’s tribe as belated betrothal gifts, while discussing his loyalties and the Sark Kingdom’s copied weapons with Elder Lysania. He promised to send Xinfei Merchant Guild guards to help drive back the Sark Kingdom’s Spirit Tortoise Legion.

• Xu Yi presented Elder Elusia and Elder Lysania with an agreement transferring military magic machinery technology, calling it a belated betrothal gift for Anise.
• Xu Yi asked Elder Lysania to let Twisti court him with the hope of marrying her, and she agreed to his request and signed the agreement.
• Xu Yi told Elder Lysania that he would decide whose side to take in any future conflict based on his relationships, not simply on race.
• Elder Lysania showed Xu Yi drawings of the Sark Kingdom’s military magic machinery, which he recognized as a weak copy based on information he had deliberately leaked.
• Xu Yi said he would send five hundred Xinfei Merchant Guild guards to help drive the Spirit Tortoise Legion from the elves’ territory.

The Moon Shadow Tribe struggled to meet growing fertilizer demand because Elder Lysania refused to let humans work in its factories, while the Night Song Tribe expanded its plastic business by recruiting human workers. Delier asked Xu Yi to take her to the Candel Empire so she could seek investment in a Night Song plastic factory there.

• The Moon Shadow Tribe limited the Malo Empire's fertilizer order to ten thousand tonnes while prioritizing the Lampari Kingdom and the Stantin Duchy.
• Xu Yi arranged for nobles to grow fertilizer ingredients and for three new processing factories to be built, but he believed the tribe would still be unable to meet future demand.
• The Night Song Tribe grew its plastic business by hiring human workers, opening factories across three countries, and earning more than two million gold coins in annual net profit.
• Delier asked Xu Yi to take her to the Candel Empire so she could pursue investment in a plastic processing factory for the Night Song Tribe.
• Xu Yi agreed to bring Delier, leaving her to persuade the Candel Empire's people to accept her and support the investment.

Xu Yi learned that ordinary people in the Candel Empire could barely afford even outdated Magic Fans, and warned merchants against sacrificing the industry’s reputation for quick profits. He then told President Cruz that while he was confident he could persuade Prince Frank and the Southern Province to build highways, he had little confidence in persuading the entire empire.

• Xu Yi saw people in Canberra City competing to buy secondhand Magic Fans and realized many could not afford new ones.
• President Doyel admitted that merchants had bought phased-out fans for less than twenty silver coins each and sold them in the Candel Empire for more.
• Xu Yi warned President Doyel that selling substandard goods could damage household magic machinery’s reputation in the empire.
• President Cruz said small merchants focused on immediate profits, and Xu Yi noted that Cruz took a longer view because of his own major projects.
• President Cruz asked how likely Xu Yi was to persuade the Candel Empire to build highways, and Xu Yi estimated ninety percent for Prince Frank and the Southern Province but only thirty percent for the whole empire.

Lampari Kingdom merchants explored investment and sales opportunities in the Candel Empire’s Southwestern Province, while Xu Yi and President Cruz met Governor Duke Mogudu. The governor welcomed investment under the condition that the guilds obey Candel Empire law, leaving Xu Yi’s separate plans for the Xinfei Merchant Guild as the main unresolved matter.

• Lampari Kingdom merchants sold goods and surveyed the Canberra City market, while Delier gathered feedback on the Night Song Merchant Guild’s plastic products.
• Viscount Turell met Xu Yi and President Cruz, then guided the merchant delegation to the Governor’s Mansion.
• Xu Yi told Viscount Turell that the Xinfei Merchant Guild hoped to open a magic locomotive sales center in Canberra City, pending talks with the governor.
• Duke Mogudu hosted Xu Yi, President Cruz, and Count Andy Cole and welcomed Lampari Kingdom guilds investing in the Southwestern Province, provided they obeyed Candel Empire laws and paid taxes.
• President Cruz promised that the Lampari Kingdom’s merchant guilds would comply, while Xu Yi’s Xinfei Merchant Guild remained the exception to the delegation’s already negotiated plans.

Xu Yi negotiated with Prince Frank’s representative, Baron Yurian, over a factory and racetrack in the Candel Empire, then agreed to sell the empire a limited selection of military magic machinery. He expected the empire to struggle to copy Xinfei’s technology and eventually seek the guild’s help.

• Xu Yi met Baron Yurian after agreeing to build a magic locomotive factory and motor racing track on Prince Frank’s fief.
• Baron Yurian asked Xu Yi to provide information on all thirty-nine types of Xinfei military magic machinery for Prince Frank to consider.
• Xu Yi explained that twenty-three types were unsuitable for Prince Frank’s private guard, and Baron Yurian offered to order the remaining sixteen.
• Xu Yi agreed to sell the sixteen types and discussed delivering them as components alongside the factory project.
• After Baron Yurian left, Xu Yi compared the Candel Empire’s limited request with the Malo Empire’s larger purchase and anticipated that both empires would fail to copy Xinfei’s machinery easily.

After the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s tentative dealings in the Candel Empire, Xu Yi set out a strategy centered on expanding civilian magic machinery, controlling islands, and greatly strengthening the guild’s forces. In early September, a clash on the Sark Kingdom’s southwestern border began to suggest why Xu Yi wanted a Guard Corps capable of striking beyond the guild’s defenses.

• The Lampari Kingdom’s chambers of commerce signed investment agreements with the Candel Empire, while the Xinfei Merchant Guild made a tentative factory deal with Prince Frank and sold military machinery to his Private Guard.
• Xu Yi judged that the guild could grow steadily by expanding civilian sales and strengthening its technology and core capabilities, rather than rushing to exploit a huge new market.
• The Malo Empire placed a major order for farmland machinery and discussed a broad farmland renovation with the Cantona Chamber of Commerce.
• Xu Yi planned to expand the guild’s maritime control by establishing bases and Mana Signal Towers across islands in the Endless Sea, investing at least ten million gold coins over five years.
• Xu Yi overruled the guild’s senior managers and doubled the annual Guard Corps investment to three million gold coins so it could carry out strikes as well as defend the guild.
• In early September, a clash on the Sark Kingdom’s southwestern border appeared to answer why Xu Yi wanted a more powerful Guard Corps.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps drove the Spirit Tortoise Legion from its fortifications, forcing Legion Commander Thomas to order a retreat. Chief of Staff Durank feared that the guild might wage war on the Sark Kingdom, whose armies he believed could not defeat it.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps bombarded the Spirit Tortoise Legion's fortifications, and Legion Commander Thomas ordered his troops to retreat.
• Chief of Staff Durank warned Thomas that the Sark Kingdom would be in danger if it could not find a way to counter the guild's weapons.
• Durank reflected that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had helped the Sark Kingdom through improved agriculture, increased food production, and new jobs, even as it weakened the kingdom's military position.
• Durank doubted that the guild's attack was merely meant to drive the Spirit Tortoise Legion away and wondered what Xu Yi intended.
• Durank concluded that no Sark Kingdom legion, even combined, could withstand the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps, and feared the consequences of an all-out war.

Chief of Staff Durank returned to the Sark Kingdom capital after the Spirit Tortoise Legion was driven from its blockade, then shared what he knew about the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps with the kingdom’s military machinery researchers. Great Mage Moyev realized the guild’s cannons had struck with extraordinary range and precision, and brought Durank to watch a test of the center’s own mana cannon.

• The Sark Kingdom’s Military Department summoned Chief of Staff Durank to gather firsthand information about the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps rather than punish the defeated Spirit Tortoise Legion.
• Durank visited the Military Magic Machinery Research and Development Center, where he saw an imitation magic locomotive made largely from parts purchased from the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Great Mage Moyev questioned Durank about the range and accuracy of the guild’s mana cannons and concluded their attacks were not forbidden spells.
• Durank realized the guild’s shells had destroyed the Spirit Tortoise Legion’s fortifications while causing no casualties, showing an alarming level of precision.
• Moyev led Durank to a testing ground to observe the center’s own imposing but cumbersome mana cannon.

After witnessing the Sark Kingdom’s failed Mana Cannon tests, Chief of Staff Durank learned that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had negotiated permission to open an overland trade route through the kingdom. The chapter ended with Durank confronting the economic benefits and military humiliation of letting the guild’s caravans cross Sark territory.

• Chief of Staff Durank watched the Mana Cannon perform poorly and explode, confirming that Sark’s military machinery research lagged far behind the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s.
• Chief of Staff Durank spotted a Xinfei Merchant Guild convoy leaving Luodunlun City and went to ask Commerce Office Director Paula Elwin about its negotiations.
• Director Elwin told Chief of Staff Durank that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had asked Sark to open its western coastal territory for a route connecting the Stantin Duchy, the Black Rice Wasteland, and Northern Continent countries.
• Chief of Staff Durank realized that the Guild’s earlier attack alongside the Moon Shadow Tribe had helped secure access that Sark might otherwise have refused.
• Director Elwin defended cooperation by explaining that the Guild had greatly increased Sark’s commercial tax revenue, while Chief of Staff Durank struggled with the cost to military pride.

Xu Yi reviewed the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s planned trade routes and its growing need for mineral resources, while the Candel Empire’s reluctance to build roads remained an obstacle. He considered the guild’s resource deals and overseas exploration, then turned his concern to a country near the Stantin Duchy.

• Xu Yi traced a planned overland trade route from the Stantin Duchy through northern countries to the Malo Empire, then imagined extending it to the Nozdormu Commercial United Kingdom.
• Xu Yi noted that the Candel Empire’s lack of road construction was obstructing his plans, while its nine Archmages ruled out resolving the problem by force.
• Xu Yi reviewed the fleet’s exploration of the Endless Sea and the islands’ resources, but recognized that extracting them remained too costly.
• Xu Yi considered the guild’s growing difficulty obtaining minerals and magic crystals from the Lampari Kingdom and other nearby suppliers.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild secured mining rights in the Falk Kingdom and agreed with the Nozdormu Commercial United Kingdom to establish a mineral resource center, share machinery technology, and sell military magic machinery.
• Xu Yi felt confident about the guild’s prospects in the continent’s southeast but worried about a country close to the Stantin Duchy.

Duke Boris and his delegation described how the Candel Empire’s blockade had isolated the Rulson Kingdom and caused severe shortages, including medicine amid a plague outbreak. Xu Yi offered personal relief aid, then heard the delegation’s proposal for broader Xinfei Merchant Guild assistance as Duke Boris presented a king-signed agreement.

• Duke Boris, Count Gandor, and Count Angke explained that the blockade had devastated Rulson Kingdom trade and tax revenues and left essential supplies scarce.
• Count Angke said flooding and plague in the kingdom’s southeast had killed more than two hundred people, and medicine shortages threatened further deaths.
• Xu Yi promised to send medicinal herbs and daily necessities as free personal aid, clarifying that the donation did not represent the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Duke Boris asked the Xinfei Merchant Guild for broader assistance and presented Xu Yi with an agreement bearing the king’s signature.