Chapter Summaries

Louis toured the newly built castle with Mike, inspecting its defenses, geothermal heating, supplies, living quarters, and reception hall. Mike left Louis in a still-empty office on the third floor, which Louis would furnish himself.

• Mike showed Louis the castle’s sturdy walls, reinforced gate, and red-tiled roof.
• Mike led Louis inside and explained how the Hot Spring geothermal system heated the castle and supplied hot water.
• Mike showed Louis the entrance hall, winter supplies, kitchen, and private Hot Spring pools.
• Mike guided Louis through the soldiers’ and servants’ quarters on the second floor.
• Mike showed Louis the third-floor reception hall, decorated with Red Tide Fief and Calvin Family banners and paintings.
• Mike brought Louis to his bare office, where a desk, blank document, quill, and empty bookshelves awaited.

Louis inspected the completed Tulou fortress and praised Mike’s work, ordering him to finish the details before Louis moved in. Meanwhile, the newly appointed Baron Vira rode toward his fief with drunken companions, boasting about his inheritance and lusting after his stepmother, unaware of figures moving through the woods.

• Louis invited Sif to move into a room in the fortress, and she quietly agreed.
• Mike showed Louis the fortress’s hidden defenses, including arrow slits, catapult positions, boiling-oil outlets, and sheltered firing positions.
• Louis praised the fortress and told Mike to finish the remaining details before he moved in a few days later.
• Baron Vira celebrated inheriting his title and fief after his father and two elder brothers died at Snow Eagle City.
• Baron Vira and his companions joked crudely about his stepmother while unseen figures slipped through the nearby woods.

The Snow Oath ambushed Baron Vira and forced him to help them find five Ironblood Nobles for their sacrifice. Meanwhile, Snowpeak Commandery’s new nobles gathered to decide how to face their newly appointed governor, Louis Calvin, and Viscount Firth urged them to unite.

• The Snow Oath killed or incapacitated Baron Vira’s escort and captured him alive.
• The Snow Oath leader promised to spare Baron Vira if he found five Ironblood Nobles, and he agreed to lead them to nobles.
• Snowpeak Commandery’s surviving nobles resented Louis Calvin’s appointment as Commandery Governor but obeyed because Duke Edmund’s seal backed it.
• Viscount Firth convened the new nobles to coordinate their response before visiting Louis Calvin.
• Viscount Firth argued that the nobles had to unite against the southern governor.

The Snow Oath attacked a gathering of Northern Frontier nobles, and Baron Vera offered to lead them to Louis in exchange for his life. The next morning, Louis woke at Red Tide Castle and opened his daily intelligence system.

• Viscount Firth and the other nobles dismissed Louis and agreed to ignore his orders while keeping their power in Snowpeak.
• The woman leading the Snow Oath ordered her followers to raid the manor, killing some guards and capturing the nobles alive.
• Baron Vera begged for his life and offered to lead the Snow Oath to Louis, claiming nobles would visit the Commandery Governor.
• Louis woke at Red Tide Castle, surveyed his comfortable room, and opened the daily intelligence system.

Louis learned that Northern Frontier nobles were conspiring against him, Baron Vira was leading a Snow Oath attack on Red Tide Fief, and White Sleep Fever had broken out in Cold Fir Fief. He planned to ambush Vira’s force and send Fireback Turtles north to treat the epidemic, accepting that he might have to kill some of the rare creatures.

• Louis learned that Northern Frontier nobles had secretly gathered at Viscount Firth’s summons to unite against him.
• Louis read that Baron Vira had captured twelve nobles at Firth Manor and was leading thirty-five Snow Oath members toward Red Tide Fief to capture him.
• Louis recognized White Sleep Fever as a deadly, cold-activated magical fungal disease and concluded that timely heat could stop it.
• Louis ruled out bringing patients to Red Tide Fief and recalled that Fireback Turtles could produce the heat and steam needed for treatment.
• Louis decided to kill some Fireback Turtles and send their stored heat to Cold Fir Fief to save its people.

Louis ordered an ambush against the Snow Oath elites and sent aid to the Cold Fir Fief to contain an illness, then agreed to receive Baron Vira. Vira and two Snow Oath members entered Red Tide town unaware that their accompanying force had been wiped out, and they were escorted to Louis's castle.

• Louis ordered Lambert to ambush the Snow Oath force and sent knights and physicians to the Cold Fir Fief with isolation and hygiene instructions.
• Louis dispatched hunters and knights to obtain six or seven Fireback Turtles from the Red Tide Hot Spring Geothermal Zone.
• Vera arranged with the Snow Oath leader to lure Louis out, then entered town with her and another Snow Oath Knight.
• About a hundred Red Tide Knights ambushed and killed the Snow Oath force, while rescuing twelve bound nobles.
• Vera and the two Snow Oath members were escorted through Red Tide town toward Louis's castle, where the Snow Oath leader resolved to kill Louis at the next opportunity.

Louis captured Vera and two members of the Snow Oath, failed to learn what the group made sacrifices to, and ordered them killed. He then had the captive nobles, including Viscount Firth, executed and disguised their deaths as the Snow Oath’s work before heading to check on the Fireback Turtle.

• Red Tide Knights ambushed Vera and the two Snow Oath members, subdued them, and brought them before Louis.
• Louis revealed that he already knew about the Snow Oath’s forces outside the city, then ordered Vera gagged and asked the female leader what the Snow Oath sacrificed to.
• When the female leader refused to answer, Louis ordered all three prisoners killed and went to check on the Fireback Turtle.
• Lambert brought Louis the bound nobles led by Viscount Firth, and Louis ordered them disposed of so their deaths would look like the Snow Oath’s doing.
• Lambert carried out Louis’s order as Louis walked away from the screams.

Louis devised a baiting scheme to capture male Fireback Turtles in the Red Tide Fief’s geothermal zone and sent four to Cold Fir Fief for eventual domestication. The convoy began its four-day journey, with Louis hoping the turtles would arrive safely.

• Louis found that the Red Tide Knights could not approach the wary Fireback Turtles and ordered them to observe rather than provoke the creatures.
• Louis noticed the turtles were in mating season and used female urine, an Alchemist’s mixtures, and fake shells to lure the males.
• Louis and the knights captured four agitated male Fireback Turtles in sturdy iron cages over two days.
• Louis arranged protective transport devices and mild sedatives, then sent the turtles toward Cold Fir Fief.
• Louis watched the convoy depart from Red Tide Castle and hoped it would reach its destination soon.

As the Snow Spirit's Curse ravaged the camp, Ian feared he would die before he could protect his daughter, Mia. Lord Louis's Fireback Turtles arrived and were activated to fill the steam rooms with heat, offering the critically ill a chance to survive.

• Ian lay gravely ill in isolation, hallucinated his wife Erin, and worried about what would happen to Mia if he died.
• White Sleep Fever spread through the camp despite protective measures and strict isolation under Lord Louis's orders.
• A Knight announced that Lord Louis had caught Fireback Turtles and that the steam rooms were ready.
• More than a dozen Knights delivered the sedated Fireback Turtles, and the camp's people rejoiced at the prospect of hope.
• Mario struck a Fireback Turtle with his Battle Aura, waking the turtles so they could release hot steam.
• Doctors carried the most critically ill patients into the heated steam rooms, where the warmth eased their suffering.

Ian and the other residents of Cold Fir Fief recovered from White Sleep Fever after Louis arranged Fireback Turtle steam treatment, though the outbreak claimed twenty-six villagers and five children. Louis considered the beast’s broader uses before Baron Harvey requested an audience, and he went to meet him.

• Medical staff brought Ian into the Steam Chamber, where the Fireback Turtle’s heat helped him regain consciousness and recover.
• The other patients and residents woke in the steam, and the medical staff told them that Lord Louis had saved them.
• Louis received a letter reporting that Cold Fir Fief had contained the outbreak and that most patients had recovered, while twenty-six villagers and five young children had died.
• Louis reflected on the Fireback Turtle’s potential to provide heat, support greenhouses, and improve people’s health, and considered taming and breeding the beasts.
• A guard told Louis that Baron Harvey had requested an audience, and Louis went to meet him.

Joern visited Louis’s Red Tide Fief and was astonished by its prosperity, orderly streets, and imposing castle. Louis explained that he had improved the fief by treating its people like human beings, and Joern left impressed but thought the castle was ugly.

• Louis considered building a perimeter wall as the growing Red Tide Fief began to resemble a town.
• Joern arrived with knights and wagons of grain sent by his father, and offered Louis a share.
• Joern marveled at the residents’ comfort and the fief’s orderly streets, then asked Louis how he had made it so prosperous.
• Louis told Joern to treat his people like actual human beings.
• Joern admired Louis’s rugged castle but called it ugly, and Louis insisted it was hardcore industrial style.

Louis and Joern soaked in a hot spring and discussed Joern’s duty to his own fief, Louis’s authority in Snowpeak Commandery, and the Empire’s plans to send more nobles to the Northern Frontier. Louis remained confident in his position as Commandery Governor and wondered whether any of Calvin’s brothers would arrive next spring.

• Louis invited Joern to stay in the Red Tide Fief for the winter, but Joern refused, saying he had to protect his own territory and its people.
• Joern advised Louis to hold a ceremony to establish his authority as master of Snowpeak Commandery, but Louis said winter and the war’s aftermath made it impractical.
• Louis recalled that Duke Edmund had dismissed his report about the twelve nobles killed by the Snow Oath and concluded he would not need to hold back in the future.
• Joern told Louis that the emperor planned to expand the Northern Frontier Reclamation Edict and send more carefully selected noble offspring north next spring.
• Louis judged that his established foothold, self-sufficient fief, and battle-tested army would let him handle the incoming Frontier Nobles.

After Joern left the Red Tide Fief, snow signaled the start of winter, and Louis oversaw a fair distribution of food and heating supplies. The residents received warm clothing, blankets, firewood, and charcoal, strengthening their trust in Louis as the fief faced the cold season.

• Joern traded with Bradley for smoked fish, then left and told Louis he would return next spring for another bath together.
• Snow covered the Red Tide Fief, and Louis prepared for the harsh winter by arranging fair shares of grain, clothing, blankets, firewood, and charcoal.
• Louis personally checked the heating supplies and joined the staff to distribute them to residents.
• A child told Louis he hoped to become a knight and protect everyone, and Louis encouraged him to grow up.
• Residents accepted their supplies with gratitude, and the distribution continued without complaints.

Louis received intelligence that an Ice-veined Giant Snake was hibernating near the Red Tide Fief, his promotion to Viscount had been approved, and Archmage Jurgen Loken had fallen unconscious nearby. He led his knights north to hunt the snake and investigate, and they found an enormous serpent at the rocky valley.

• Louis learned that the emperor had approved his elevation to Viscount and that Archmage Jurgen Loken was unconscious north of the Red Tide Fief.
• Louis ordered Lambert to assemble the knights and hunting squad for a hunt.
• The hunting party traveled north, taking game and low-ranking magical beasts along the way.
• A hunter reported finding a huge snake near the rocky valley, and Louis led the knights toward it.

Louis led his knights to a valley and found an Ice-veined Giant Snake asleep beneath the ice and snow. He planned a single coordinated strike, and Lambert led the elite hunters into the valley as the others took up positions.

• Louis ordered everyone to retreat from the valley after they spotted the sleeping Ice-veined Giant Snake.
• Louis rallied the knights by promising them snake soup and explained the creature’s valuable parts and potential benefits.
• Louis outlined a plan to kill the snake with one strike to the nerve center behind its neck.
• Louis gave Lambert and the hunters Armor-Piercing Explosive Flame Spears and ordered them to withdraw if the attack failed.
• Lambert led the hunters down the valley toward the sleeping snake while the other knights took up positions.

Louis and Lambert’s knights killed the Ice-veined Giant Snake with a coordinated spear attack and began harvesting its valuable parts. After securing the snake’s gallbladder, Louis asked Lambert to send knights with him to the north, where he planned to find a legendary archmage.

• Lambert led twelve elite knights through the snow to their positions while Louis prepared the attack signal.
• At Louis’s signal, the thirteen knights threw Armor-Piercing Explosive Flame Spears at the Ice-veined Giant Snake’s weak point, blasting apart its neck.
• Lambert ordered the knights to retreat as the dying snake thrashed, then the knights confirmed it was dead and celebrated with Louis.
• Louis praised Lambert and ordered the knights to process the corpse, including extracting its magic crystal, scales, and gallbladder.
• Louis asked Lambert to assign knights to accompany him north, intending to pick up a legendary archmage.

Louis was struck by a blast from the dying Archmage Loken and experienced fragmented memories before waking at his estate. He dismissed everyone except Lambert to discuss what had happened.

• Louis's party found the dying Archmage Loken with a strange, widening fissure in his chest.
• Loken said to tell Saint John that someone had violated the Primordial Oath, then blasted Louis with dark purple energy and vanished, leaving only his robe.
• Louis lost consciousness and saw fragmented memories of a young teacher, a man holding an infant, and an old man undergoing a ritual.
• Louis woke in his estate with Sif, Bradley, and the Knights gathered around him.
• Louis asked everyone but Lambert to leave so they could speak privately.

After waking from his encounter with Archmage Jurgen Loken, Louis learned that Loken had passed him the Primordial Heart and Primordial Meditation Art before a Void Worm devoured him. Louis successfully practiced the meditation art for the first time and decided to study it alongside his battle aura techniques.

• Lambert told Louis that an old man had been consumed by a strange fissure, vanished, and left behind a robe, while Louis had been unconscious for about a day.
• Louis ordered Lambert to keep the mage's appearance secret from everyone except the knights who had witnessed it.
• Louis read the system's notice that Jurgen Loken had passed him the Primordial Heart and Primordial Meditation Art before dying to a Void Worm.
• Louis recalled a meditation lesson from his vision and successfully practiced the Primordial Meditation Art, causing the heart-shaped mark in his mind to glow.
• Louis decided to practice the Primordial Meditation Art alongside the Tidal Battle Aura Art.

After waking from his mysterious collapse, Louis reassured his retainers and held a victory feast to calm the knights. The feast lifted everyone’s spirits and helped several young knights break through, while Louis arranged to consume the Ice-veined Giant Snake’s gallbladder to improve his Bloodline.

• Louis told Bradley, Sif, and the others that he had merely taken a tumble, then ordered Bradley to prepare a feast using the Ice-veined Giant Snake’s meat.
• Louis ordered a portion of the snake’s gallbladder made into soup for him each morning and teased Sif, who admitted she had worried about him before fleeing.
• At the banquet, Louis repeated his excuse that he had taken a tumble, making the knights laugh and easing their fears.
• The knights ate the snake meat and circulated their Battle Aura, and at least three young knights broke through their bottlenecks.

Sif realizes she has fallen for Louis and goes to his room to confess, threatening to leave if he does not respond. Louis admits he has liked her for a long time, and they kiss before the bed curtains close around them.

• Sif recalls her mother's advice about how women of the Cold Moon Tribe pursue love and admits to herself that she likes Louis.
• Sif visits Louis late at night and confesses her feelings, insisting she will leave if he does nothing.
• Louis teases Sif about official business, then tells her he has liked her for a long time.
• Louis draws Sif into his arms and kisses her, and she kisses him back.
• Sif says she will not run away and warns Louis that he will not get away either; they draw close as the bed curtains fall.