Chapter Summaries

The Xinfei Merchant Guild recruited five hundred displaced people in Nixi City for overseas island-base work after adjusting its hiring requirements. The Third Transport Fleet departed with the workers and supplies, but encountered trouble less than three hundred kilometers into the Endless Sea.

• Rodick and Sko argued over why displaced Rulson people were not applying for the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s jobs until Bayard explained that he could not read the recruitment notice.
• Sko persuaded Supervisor Aldrich to relax the literacy requirement, and Aldrich hired Bayard as a temporary worker at reduced pay during a two-month probation.
• With help from Nixi City's City Lord's Manor, Aldrich recruited five hundred temporary workers in three days.
• The Third Transport Fleet departed Nixi Harbor, with three ships carrying iron ore toward the Stantin Duchy and two carrying workers and supplies toward the island bases.
• The fleet planned to deliver aid, bring Rulson Kingdom minerals back, and develop seventeen islands with bases and mana signal towers.
• Less than three hundred kilometers into the Endless Sea, the Third Transport Fleet ran into trouble.

Supervisor Aldrich’s transport fleet was stopped by the Candel Empire Navy, which had blockaded the Rulson Kingdom’s Southern Waters and demanded to search his ships. Aldrich stalled for time by claiming he could contact President Xu, and sent a Mana Airship away while the fleet remained surrounded.

• Commander Mark Lewis warned Aldrich that the Candel Empire Navy had blockaded the Rulson Kingdom’s Southern Waters and ordered his fleet to turn back.
• Aldrich agreed to withdraw toward Nixi Harbor, but Lewis then accused the fleet of carrying people and supplies from the Rulson Kingdom and demanded to board and search it.
• As the Candel Empire Navy moved to surround the fleet, Aldrich ordered his deputy to have the ten Guard Frigates escape if necessary, abandoning the two cargo ships.
• Aldrich told Lewis he would accept the search after consulting President Xu, and Lewis granted him half an hour while keeping the fleet surrounded.
• A Mana Airship rose from Aldrich’s cargo ship and sped northwest across the Endless Sea.

Supervisor Aldrich received Xu Yi’s order to refuse the Candel Empire Navy’s demands and fight back or retreat if attacked. When the navy opened fire, Aldrich ordered the fleet to return fire with everything it had.

• Commander Lewis doubted that the Xinfei Merchant Guild could contact Xu Yi quickly, while Count Russell warned him not to underestimate the guild.
• Lewis expected to seize the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s ships and add them to the Candel Empire Navy’s First Fleet.
• A Mana Airship returned with Xu Yi’s recorded orders for Supervisor Aldrich to reject the navy’s demands and fight back or withdraw if necessary.
• Aldrich questioned Ulysses about the order, but Ulysses told him to carry it out.
• After a blast signaled that the Candel Empire Navy had begun attacking, Aldrich ordered the fleet to open fire.

Emperor de Boer XVII threatened to disband the Imperial Navy after its defeat by the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s fleet, but Marquis Hastrey cited the navy’s role in clearing pirates and boosting southern tax revenues. Duke Warner revealed that the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guards Fleet had chiefly enabled the navy’s recent success, and Hastrey began explaining why the guild deserved the empire’s attention.

• Emperor de Boer XVII angrily threatened to disband the Imperial Navy after its ships were routed by the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s fleet.
• Marquis Hastrey opposed the emperor’s decision and reported that the navy’s recent attacks on pirates had helped southern ports collect over seven million gold coins in taxes.
• De Boer XVII questioned Duke Warner about why the navy had only recently cleared the Southern Waters of pirates.
• Duke Warner admitted that the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guards Fleet had mainly helped the navy drive out pirates from the Southern Waters and nearby waters.
• De Boer XVII asked about the guild’s fleet, and Marquis Hastrey began introducing the Xinfei Merchant Guild and urging the empire to take it seriously.

Xu Yi accepted Heinz’s retirement from the Xinfei Merchant Guild after its expansion into the Malo and Candel Empires, and promised him a mana motorhome for his travels with Rhea. As Heinz left, Xu Yi reflected on their partnership and then summoned Alex, whose unusually immaculate appearance made Xu Yi suspicious.

• Xu Yi and Heinz discussed the Candel Empire’s approach to the Xinfei Merchant Guild and its sudden recognition of the guild’s influence.
• Heinz told Xu Yi he was retiring as vice president, and Xu Yi accepted his decision despite valuing Heinz’s experience and connections.
• Heinz planned to travel with Rhea using their Mana Airship, while Xu Yi promised them the first mana motorhome once development was complete.
• Heinz said farewell and left, prompting Xu Yi to reflect on the guild’s growth and feel the loss of his longtime partner.
• Xu Yi called for Twisti, then asked her to bring Alex to him.
• Alex arrived in a meticulously neat work uniform, and Xu Yi responded with a cold snort.

Xu Yi gave Alex another chance by appointing him to lead the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s new office in Wimbledon City, then opened the guild’s year-end review meeting. The meeting ended with Xu Yi setting a target of one hundred million gold coins in profit for the next year.

• Xu Yi summoned Alex and offered him the chance to head the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s office in Wimbledon City, which Alex eagerly accepted.
• Xu Yi told Twisti that he was giving Alex another chance partly for Heinz’s sake, while Twisti warned that Alex gave her a bad feeling.
• Xu Yi and Twisti joined Kennard and the guild’s managers for the year-end review meeting.
• Kennard announced that the guild’s annual profit had exceeded fifty million gold coins, prompting thunderous applause.
• Xu Yi declared a profit target of one hundred million gold coins for the next year, leaving the meeting room silent.

Hogan and Dicardo waited at Stansome Harbor for the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s delayed First Fleet, which was due to arrive after a long voyage through the northern seas. A Mana Airship brought Captain Ian with word that the fleet was close, and the chapter left Hogan preparing to receive it while Dicardo learned about the airship’s stabilizer.

• Hogan and Dicardo discussed the fleet’s delay and the difficulty of receiving and transporting its cargo in Stansome’s bitter winter cold.
• Hogan and Dicardo reflected on the harbor’s ice and their growing sense that the Malo Empire lagged behind the Lampari Kingdom and Stantin Duchy.
• A Mana Airship landed at Stansome Harbor, and Captain Ian told Hogan that the fleet would arrive within an hour.
• Hogan organized the preparations while Dicardo asked Captain Ian about the fleet’s needs and the planned unloading and sales.
• Captain Ian explained that the Mana Airship used an Aerodynamic Stabilizer to counter strong winds, though he did not know how it worked.

Nevall’s fleet reached Stansome Port after selling all its cargo in five countries along the way, prompting Hogan to arrange replacement goods for Count Jossius. News of the northern shipment triggered a massive mobilization of household magic machinery, while a separate report about the foreign representatives slowly traveled toward the Malo Empire’s capital.

• Nevall arrived at Stansome Port with all thirteen ships and explained that he had sold their cargo in five countries while establishing contact with them.
• Hogan arranged for replacement household magic machinery and asked Nevall to accompany him to explain the shortage to Count Jossius.
• Hogan brought Nevall and the foreign representatives to Stansome City, where Count Jossius hosted them and accepted the guild’s promise to replace the goods.
• News of the fleet’s arrival reached Marquis Southgate’s fief, the Lampari Kingdom, and Xinfei Merchant Guild headquarters, prompting factories and convoys to ship machinery north.
• Within five days, more than a hundred thousand units of household magic machinery had been dispatched to the Malo Empire, while Count Jossius’s report continued toward Angelo City.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild’s factories and aid revived the Rulson Kingdom, though King Trutz worried about the guild’s growing influence and mineral demands. Xu Yi then offered technology and help building two farmland magic machinery factories, leaving Trutz grateful but uncertain about the guild’s intentions.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild opened twenty-three factories in the Rulson Kingdom, employing over seventy thousand workers and helping revive the kingdom’s industries.
• King Trutz felt grateful for the aid but feared the guild’s growing influence and its demands for the kingdom’s mineral resources.
• Xu Yi offered to help the Rulson Kingdom establish a complete magic industry system and signed an agreement transferring farmland machinery technology.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild delivered the technical documents within half a month and planned to help build two farmland magic machinery factories.
• King Trutz recognized that the Rulson Kingdom depended on the Xinfei Merchant Guild, whose transport fleet alone could use the kingdom’s remaining open sea route.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Second Fleet delivered ships to the Candel Empire Navy while carrying supplies and workers for the Nozdormu Commercial United Kingdom. Tom Markens relayed Xu Yi’s demand that the empire clarify its stance before the guild pursued further cooperation, and General Osborne recognized the conflict within the empire over how to treat Xinfei.

• The Second Fleet sailed toward the Nozdormu Commercial United Kingdom with goods, construction materials, and 340 Amli Merchant Guild workers for planned projects.
• The fleet reached a Xinfei Merchant Guild island where Candel Empire Navy ships were waiting to receive Guard Frigates.
• Tom Markens greeted Reno Osborne and arranged for Candel officers to inspect the ships and take them over.
• Markens told Osborne that Xu Yi conditionally agreed to jointly develop waters south of the Candel Empire but wanted the empire to show sincerity and end its ambiguous stance toward Xinfei.
• Osborne understood that the empire was divided between those who opposed Xinfei and those who favored cooperation, while the emperor’s recent actions suggested a subtle shift toward the guild.

Osborne and Markens completed the Candel Empire Navy’s purchase of five Guard Frigates, disguising them as battle-captured ships to protect the deal from domestic criticism. The Candel fleet departed for home, while Markens led the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Second Fleet toward the Nozdormu Commercial United Kingdom.

• Osborne asked whether the Xinfei Merchant Guild would sell its Mana Warships exclusively to the Candel Empire, but Markens replied that the guild was a merchant guild and would sell to other buyers.
• Osborne recognized that the Candel Empire could neither invade the Stantin Duchy by land nor defeat the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s fleet at sea, making cooperation more practical than war.
• Osborne and Markens inspected five Guard Frigates that had been scorched and battered to look as though the Candel Empire Navy had captured them in battle.
• Osborne confirmed with his subordinate officers that the five ships’ interiors were intact, accepted them, and thanked Markens for the transaction.
• The Candel Empire Navy departed for home, and Markens led the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Second Fleet toward the Nozdormu Commercial United Kingdom the next morning.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild began planning a Magic Industrial Base around Stansome Port, where rich mineral deposits and a new sea route offered strong advantages. Hogan found Franklin Sosgate a capable partner, and Franklin identified the base’s main obstacle as a shortage of manpower.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild's First Fleet returned to the Stantin Duchy with ore after establishing a sea route to Stansome Port, and supplies began flowing north for the planned industrial base.
• Hogan explained to Seymour Macalose and Franklin Sosgate that Stansome had valuable mineral deposits and that the guild planned to use geothermal heat and a Magic Machinery Heating System to keep the base warm.
• Seymour dismissed the plans and left to nap, while Franklin offered to help Hogan manage the project on behalf of their families.
• Hogan described the base’s advantages and hinted at a serious problem, and Franklin correctly guessed that it lacked enough manpower.

Hogan and Franklin discussed the shortage of workers for the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s planned industrial base near Stansome City, where the local population was far too small. Franklin proposed capturing nearby orcs to make up the labor shortage, and Hogan said he needed to consult the President.

• Hogan told Franklin that the planned factories needed more than two hundred thousand workers, while Stansome City had only about fifty thousand residents.
• Franklin and Hogan considered recruiting workers from elsewhere in the empire, but Hogan said the region’s harsh climate and workers’ reluctance to leave home made that difficult.
• Franklin suggested buying slaves, but he explained that the empire had too few slaves to meet the factories’ needs.
• Franklin proposed capturing orcs instead, noting that more than a million lived in the empire’s north, including tribes near Stansome City.
• Hogan considered the proposal but said he would consult the President before deciding.

Xu Yi considered how to respond to a proposal to attack orc tribes in the northern Malo Empire, then visited the Azshara Tribe with his family. Elder Windini rejected expanding the elven-themed town broadly but proposed investing in one in the Stantin Duchy in exchange for valuable elven goods and secrets.

• Xu Yi doubted Franklin's motives for proposing an attack on northern orc tribes and decided to consult the Magic Industrial Base's investors and Marquis Southgate before sending Hogan his decision.
• Xu Yi traveled with his family to the Azshara Tribe, where he reunited with Stille and met Elder Windini.
• Xu Yi and Elder Windini discussed the decline in visitors to the elven town and his idea of creating a chain of elven-themed parks.
• Elder Windini said the tribe lacked funds and feared human instability, but she would consider a park in the Stantin Duchy because the Xinfei Merchant Guild controlled the area.
• Elder Windini gave Xu Yi her investment proposal and offered to exchange special elven possessions and secrets for funding.

Xu Yi examined the unusual items he had bought from Elder Windini and read the Azshara Tribe Elder Notes, which offered an elven account of the continent’s history. He found a warning that the elves might one day flee to another continent and live alongside the Demon Race.

• Xu Yi explained to Stille that he had bought a mana-rich Magic Crystal and other uncertain research materials from Elder Windini for a total of eight hundred and fifty thousand gold coins.
• Xu Yi and Stille discussed Elder Windini’s conditions for sharing illusion magic, and Stille agreed that involving the elves in the New Moon Merchant Guild could benefit both sides.
• After Stille fell asleep, Xu Yi read the Azshara Tribe Elder Notes and compared the elves’ account of the Race War with human histories.
• Xu Yi read an elder’s explanation that the elves declined because they lacked ambition while humans continually sought to grow stronger.
• Xu Yi focused on a warning that the elves might flee to another continent and live alongside the Demon Race.

Xu Yi proposed moving the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s distribution hub beyond Xinfei City to keep pace with the guild’s expansion across the continent. As he began outlining a new distribution department, Sandiko arrived in a panic with news of a serious problem.

• Elder Windini brought Azshara Tribe elven Mages to Xinfei City to support the New Moon Merchant Guild’s planned entertainment center and Illusion Film broadcasts.
• Xu Yi met with distribution center officials and explained that Xinfei City’s remote location made it inefficient as the guild expanded into distant countries.
• Xu Yi proposed creating a specialized distribution department that would route goods according to customer needs and minimize time and costs.
• Sandiko burst into the meeting room, handed Xu Yi a crumpled sheet of paper, and said something had gone terribly wrong.

After the Sark Kingdom announced that it had developed Mana Cannons, Xu Yi reassured the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s worried managers and chief executive that the news was not a disaster. He then told Avita that the time had come and asked her to bring Teresa to the director’s office.

• Sandiko reported that the Sark Kingdom’s Magic Research Institute had developed Mana Cannons and planned to begin mass production.
• Xu Yi’s managers feared the announcement would break the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s dominance in Military Magic Machinery, but Xu Yi dismissed their concerns and assigned work on a new distribution center.
• Xu Yi advised Sandiko to coordinate with the New Moon Merchant Guild about plans for Xinfei City’s development.
• Kennard called Xu Yi to discuss the announcement, and Xu Yi said competition would help the Magic Industry and promised to handle the matter within two days.
• Xu Yi called Avita and asked her to bring Teresa to her director’s office, saying the time had come.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild rejected the Mages' Guild Headquarters' demand to stop creating the Magic Machinery Patent Protection Federation. A researcher challenged the basis of headquarters' authority by pointing out that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had introduced the concepts of patents and magic patents.

• The Sark Kingdom announced that it had developed Mana Cannons and planned a public exhibition of its Military Magic Machinery.
• Great Mage Ferguson arrived at the Xinfei Merchant Guild's Main Base to deliver headquarters' warning about the Magic Machinery Patent Protection Federation.
• Xu Yi told Great Mage Ferguson that the guild had decided to reject headquarters' demand.
• A Level Nine Mage researcher asked why headquarters had the right to stop the guild from establishing the federation.
• Great Mage Ferguson claimed that only headquarters could protect and use magic-related patents, and the researcher replied that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had introduced patents and magic patents to headquarters.

Xu Yi challenged the Mages' Guild Headquarters for failing to protect the Xinfei Merchant Guild's magic machinery patents while collecting large fees. After presenting evidence of widespread infringement, he defended the guild's right to establish its own patent protection federation, leaving Great Mage Ferguson furious and storming out.

• Great Mage Ferguson argued that the Mages' Guild had authority over magic patents, while Xu Yi said patent protection fees were voluntary and the Xinfei Merchant Guild could seek another way to protect its rights.
• A researcher and other witnesses presented magic machinery from unknown merchant guilds, which the researchers identified as infringing on Xinfei patents.
• The researchers said the Xinfei Merchant Guild had reported infringement to headquarters more than six months earlier but had received no effective protection.
• Xu Yi told Ferguson that the Mages' Guild took the guild's money without doing its work and had no reason to exist if it stripped mages of their rights.
• Ferguson warned Xu Yi not to regret rejecting headquarters' decision, then stormed out.

After Great Mage Ferguson left the Xinfei Merchant Guild's Main Base, Archmage Camilla explained to Archmage Arista why ordinary mages might not follow Mages' Guild orders. She showed him the guild's Mana Signal Tower and Communication Magic Array, then brought him to meet their designer, Akali, who refused to answer his questions.

• Archmage Camilla dismissed Archmage Arista's fears that Mages' Guild headquarters could cripple the Xinfei Merchant Guild by ordering its mages to leave.
• Archmage Camilla showed Arista a Mana Signal Tower and explained that the guild used the Magic Array Resonance Technique for long-distance communication.
• Arista examined the Communication Magic Array and asked Camilla to introduce him to its designer so he could seek guidance.
• Camilla took Arista to a Mana Signal Tower, where they found Akali and other Magic Research Institute staff carrying out maintenance.
• Arista complimented Akali's magic array and asked her questions, but Akali said she could not answer them.