Chapter Summaries

Arthur collected news reports about the Human Chair case, wondered how the Countess had concealed the previous night's events, and went to Tate's Cane Shop to collect his canes. There, he found an unfamiliar young man covering for Tate and questioned whether Tate was still alive.

• Amur restrained Freeman in the carriage after he demanded that she respect his father.
• Arthur bought two newspapers and confirmed that reports about James's guilt had earned him XP, while news of Jane and the previous night's events remained concealed.
• Arthur reviewed the previous night's events, secured Lady Anna and Pendragon, and set out to collect his canes.
• Arthur found an unfamiliar young man at Tate's Cane Shop, who said that Tate was ill and that he was covering for his uncle.
• Arthur noticed signs that the young man drank and played cards, then asked whether Tate was still alive.

Arthur stopped a robber at Tate's Cane Shop and found Tate alive, dismissing rumors that the shop was cursed. The police then connected a recent theft to a gambler who had won a fortune before being found dead, leaving Arthur and Maltz facing a new mystery.

• A knife-wielding gambler tried to rob Tate's Cane Shop, but Arthur tripped and kicked him through the shop door.
• Arthur found Tate unconscious but alive in the soundproof lounge and waited for the patrol officers to question him.
• Maltz arrived and found Arthur playing a coin-guessing game with Pendragon, while Arthur secretly used the Athos Box to make the coin disappear.
• Simon reported that the arrested robber had come to steal Tate's luck after Frank supposedly won about 400 Gold Tickets following a cane-shop theft.
• Dico announced that a charred corpse had been found behind Mule Street and was believed to be Frank.

Arthur and Maltz investigated Frank’s apparent death in a haunted waste lot, where Arthur suspected the charred body concealed another corpse. Their discovery left Maltz identifying the buried body as Frank.

• Tate gave Arthur’s canes to the old Chief to pass along, and Arthur left the shop with Maltz.
• Arthur learned Wand Combat Art, chose the cat-handled cane as its vessel, and saw his Spirituality rise to 0.4.
• Arthur and Maltz went to Mule Street, where Cook explained that Frank had been identified by his ring and the witnesses who heard his screams.
• Arthur ordered the officers to move the charred body and dig underneath it.
• The officers uncovered another corpse, and Maltz recognized it as Frank.

Arthur investigated the two corpses and concluded that the buried body was the Frank known to the authorities, while the charred corpse was the Frank known to the gamblers. After finding clues that pointed to a staged killing, Arthur questioned Hunter and Newt, who arrived trembling and immediately apologized.

• Maltz identified the corpse unearthed from the burial pit as Frank, and Arthur confirmed the body had been deliberately buried.
• Cook examined the corpses while Arthur found paint among the dirt and checked the charred body for signs of soot and a precise knife wound.
• Arthur located bloodstains and drag marks where the murderer had hidden the corpse, then pieced together what had happened.
• Arthur played a trick on Pendragon with cat food while Dico went to fetch Hunter and Newt.
• Hunter and Newt arrived before Arthur and confessed, saying they were sorry and had been wrong.

Arthur questioned Hunter and Newt about the stolen canes and used their account to pursue a casino and the broker Faulkner. Faulkner believed his murder plot had succeeded, but a knock interrupted him as he admired gold hidden in a cane.

• Arthur questioned Hunter and Newt, who admitted they had let Frank escape so they could recover the canes he dropped.
• Maltz fined Hunter and Newt three months' pay and ordered them to write twenty-thousand-word self-critiques, while Arthur allowed them to keep their positions.
• Hunter and Newt said the canes had vanished from the area near West Merck Avenue and Garden Street, then identified Faulkner as a longtime broker and confirmed the casino on Garden Street.
• Arthur sent Newt and Dico to raid the casino and took Maltz, Cook, and Hunter to find Faulkner.
• Faulkner removed his disguise and prepared to dispose of an oil pouch, then admired a golden spot on a cane before someone knocked downstairs.

Faulkner tried to kill Officer Hunter, but Arthur confronted him and laid out how he had stolen the golden cane, killed Frank and his accomplice, and impersonated Frank. Faulkner denied involvement in the family massacre after Arthur linked him to Hite and the murders behind Mule Street.

• Hunter visited Faulkner to exchange five gold coins for Gold Tickets while Faulkner struggled with the urge to kill him.
• Faulkner drew a knife and approached Hunter, but a noise upstairs sent him charging toward Arthur, whose cane blocked the attack on its own.
• Arthur explained how Faulkner had killed Frank and his accomplice, taken the golden cane, and impersonated Frank to conceal the second murder.
• Dico and the patrol officers blocked Faulkner's escape, and Dico identified Arthur as the Police Station's consultant.
• Faulkner taunted Arthur about Nack, but Arthur pointed out that Faulkner had feared someone who remained alive and showed him a report about Hite's arrest.
• Faulkner denied knowing Hite, and Arthur said the family murdered behind Mule Street identified Faulkner, Hite, and a third person as the killers.

Arthur deduced that Fornak, Nack, and Hite had been accomplices in a family massacre twenty years earlier and that they used the supposedly haunted wasteland for illicit dealings. After Fornak described a blood-drinking monster that resembled Arthur, Fornak activated a hidden mechanism, leaving Arthur to face whatever it triggered.

• Arthur connected the two bodies dumped in the wasteland and concluded that the place had served as a secret meeting spot since the Sunk Family massacre.
• Arthur deduced that Nack had recently gotten money from the crime and had threatened Fornak, prompting Fornak to kill him after Hite was arrested.
• Fornak attacked Arthur, who disarmed and incapacitated him with his cane.
• Fornak described a monster with scarlet eyes that had appeared twenty years earlier, killed the Sunk Family, and defeated Hite with a cane.
• Arthur realized someone had impersonated the Blood Scion, and Fornak pressed a hidden mechanism after refusing to reveal more.

Arthur subdued Fornak and sent Muninn to keep watch on Hite, while Maltz stopped Tate from taking his own life and persuaded him to keep working. Tate admitted he had made twenty-three Golden Canes, and the chapter ended with Maltz giving him a way to live with his guilt by caring for stray cats.

• Arthur disabled Fornak’s traps, intimidated him into cooperating, and suspected that Hite knew more than Fornak did.
• Muninn flew to the Shire District Police Department to watch Hite, who was being held there.
• Tate prepared to kill himself over illegally making twenty-three Golden Canes, but Maltz caught and stopped him.
• Maltz asked Tate to make him a cane and urged him to put out food and water for stray cats.
• Tate began considering Maltz’s suggestion, and Maltz noticed something outside.

Amuel pulled Freeman away from Maltz before he could provoke Arthur’s ally, then used a warning about Arthur and Freeman’s father to keep him in line. Maltz sent Tate off with instructions and went to the police department, while Arthur returned to Earta Lane reflecting on Fornak’s surprising revelations.

• Freeman sensed mortal danger when Maltz lowered his long case, but Amuel apologized to Maltz and hurried Freeman away.
• Amuel warned Freeman that Credos the Medium had a close connection to his father, and Freeman began considering how to use Credos to get closer to his father.
• Amuel resumed her search for the Blood Scion, planning to use Nono’s properties and Freeman’s blood to track the target.
• Maltz told Tate to claim he had acted as Maltz’s informant, then advised him to ask Amanda about neutering the stray cats he fed.
• Maltz headed to the Shire District Police Department as Arthur returned to Earta Lane and reflected on what Fornak had told him.

Arthur learned that William had orchestrated the Sunk Family’s massacre with the Blood Scion, using Fornak, Nack, and Hite as accomplices and scapegoats. He suspected William had taken the family’s power and wondered why the Blood Scion had acted, then comforted himself that deceiving and robbing bad people was justified.

• Fornak recounted how William led their group from piracy into a long con targeting the Sunk Family, then vanished during the massacre.
• The Blood Scion forced Fornak, Nack, and Hite to help attack the Sunk Family, killed all six family members, and spared the three accomplices while paying them.
• Arthur concluded that William had likely escaped with the power of the Sunk Family and that the three survivors had been left as scapegoats.
• Arthur questioned the Blood Scion’s motives and connection to the Witch Hunter Sunk before gathering Pendragon into his arms.
• Arthur joked to Pendragon that deceiving people and robbing crooks could be excused as a way to avoid being eaten.

Arthur explained that he had helped Tate because the young man reminded him of an old friend, then planned to profit from the Golden Canes by selling information to Malinda and Harris. As Arthur sat down to eat, he sensed that Malinda had arrived.

• Arthur told Maltz that Tate’s sincerity reminded him of an old friend and revealed that they had found twenty-three Golden Canes.
• Arthur asked Simon to discreetly summon Malinda to the police department so he could charge her for information about the Golden Canes.
• Arthur reasoned that Harris had likely searched Tate’s Cane Shop and planned to sell the information to both Malinda and Harris.
• Arthur questioned the police station’s repetitive meals and mocked the aristocratic commanders whose wartime menu had become tradition.
• Arthur sensed that Malinda had arrived.

Arthur signed a contract granting him a 1% dividend from Malinda’s restructured South Los trading companies, then told her about a Blood Scion, the Sunk Family massacre, and possible Witch Hunters. He and Malinda planned to use the revelations to send Harris against the Blood Scion, and Malinda invited Arthur to name his next request.

• Malinda emerged from a smoke ring, ate Arthur’s food, and presented him with a contract promising a 1% annual dividend while forbidding him from deliberately harming her financial interests.
• Arthur examined the contract, signed it, and returned the Golden Cane to Malinda.
• Arthur told Malinda that a Blood Scion was connected to the Sunk Family massacre twenty years earlier and that Witch Hunters and pirates might also be involved.
• Arthur and Malinda agreed to tell Harris about the accusations and give him a chance to prove his innocence by fighting the Blood Scion.
• After finishing the roast beef, Malinda asked Arthur what he wanted, promising not to refuse if she could grant it.

Arthur asked Malinda to help establish Miss Qiu Security Company, presenting it as a response to South Los's poor public safety and the Police Station's shortage of staff. He planned to recruit and train Maltz's old friends, who were actually Death Warriors.

• Arthur drank the sweetened mint tea himself, frustrating Malinda's attempt to prepare a response.
• Arthur proposed starting a security company and asked Malinda for help with the paperwork, premises, and initial funding.
• Arthur said the company would begin with twenty to thirty people and stay around fifty, with Maltz's old friends serving as instructors.
• Malinda asked who Miss Qiu was, and Arthur described her as dazzling and breathtaking.
• Malinda guessed that Arthur was creating the company to win Miss Qiu's favor, while Arthur kept his true purpose to himself.

Arthur planned to build the Black Cat Followers into a force backed by a trading platform, a fleet, and eventually a commercial bank, though he treated the grand scheme as a response to fear. He invited Malinda to watch Hite’s interrogation, where Dico beat Hite until Hite was close to using his emergency mark.

• Arthur outlined a plan to form the Black Cat Followers from Death Warriors and people from Rat Street, then expand into trade, armed ships, and a South Los Commercial Bank.
• Arthur invited Malinda to watch an unusual interrogation, and she accepted.
• Hite waited in his cell, planning to bribe Hunter and Newt and save his single emergency mark for later.
• Hunter and Newt brought Hite to Officer Dico, and Hite offered him a house and its contents to avoid trouble.
• Dico whipped Hite repeatedly, striking the same wound and using an alcohol-soaked whip until Hite nearly resorted to his mark.
• Dico told Hite that the punishment was not enough.

Arthur and Malinda discussed Hite’s interrogation and the Blood Clan while arranging to keep Hite under control. Arthur went to Rat Street to collect his payment and met Harris, whom he warned was in serious trouble.

• Dico whipped Hite until he revealed more cheap houses on Garden Street, while Hite secretly plotted revenge.
• Arthur and Malinda discussed the Blood Scion, the Countess of South Los, and how to prevent Hite from escaping South Los.
• Arthur left the Police Station with Lady Anna and Pendragon and traveled to Rat Street without using a Police Station carriage.
• Wiggins came to greet Arthur, but Arthur waited for Harris, Rat Lane’s new overseer, to arrive.
• Arthur shook Harris’s hand and quietly told him that he was in serious trouble.

Arthur brought Harris to the Worry-Relief Grocery to protect Wiggins and establish his influence on Rat Street, while hinting at a connection to Tate's Cane Shop. Harris followed Arthur inside after realizing he might have uncovered something valuable, and murderous intent rose in him.

• Arthur warned Harris about the danger facing Wiggins and the Worry-Relief Grocery, then led him to inspect the shop.
• Arthur considered how Wiggins's death could force him into a public confrontation and expose his secrets, so he acted before rival factions could strike.
• Arthur and Harris followed Wiggins through Rat Street's cramped Middle Street, attracting the attention of hidden onlookers.
• Arthur identified the Worry-Relief Grocery as Tate's Cane Shop, prompting Harris to hurry after him.
• Harris noticed the watchers might see him as Arthur's follower, but Arthur mouthed the word "Gold," and Harris's murderous intent surged.

Arthur met with Harris in the Worry-Relief Grocery to trade information about someone using Tate's Cane Shop to make Golden Canes. Harris offered Herke's [Gliding Art] and another object as payment, and Arthur's attention sharpened when he examined the second item.

• Arthur suspected Harris had embezzled some of Isidore's gold and lured him upstairs by pointing toward the Worry-Relief Grocery.
• Harris followed Arthur inside, causing Rat Street's covert watchers to reconsider their plans and seek to repair their relationship with Wiggins.
• Arthur told Harris that someone was using Tate's Cane Shop to make Golden Canes, then delayed naming his price while Harris asked for the information.
• Harris offered Arthur a parchment containing Herke's [Gliding Art], which required 500 XP to learn and was notoriously difficult to advance.
• Harris placed another object on the coffee table, and Arthur checked it before his gaze sharpened.

Arthur discovered that the Blood Bat Ring could summon a powerful creature, and he used information about a gold-smuggling scheme to pressure Harris into cooperating with Malinda. After Harris left with plans to betray Arthur and Malinda, Arthur sent Fuginn to follow him and realized he had uncovered a major opportunity.

• Arthur examined the Blood Bat Ring and learned that summoning its Blood Bat required sacrificing half the user's blood, or all of it for someone outside the Blood Clan.
• Arthur told Harris that Tate's Golden Cane was tied to an earlier Blood Scion's gold-smuggling operation, and that Harris had encountered the cane three days earlier.
• Arthur directed Harris to discuss cooperation with Malinda, warning him that the Countess and pirates were involved.
• Harris agreed to a partnership but secretly decided to blame Arthur and Malinda when the time came to protect himself.
• Arthur sensed Harris was plotting, sent Fuginn to follow him, and laughed when what happened next revealed that he had hit the jackpot.

Arthur followed Harris and inferred that he had taken the Rat Council’s gold to buy something at Mouse Tail Alley’s Secret Gathering. After examining three scrolls Harris left behind, Arthur considered using the Wraith Spell to question the dead and sought a way to study mystical knowledge under another identity.

• Arthur watched Harris disguise himself, verify something at the Hite Furniture Store, and load two heavy trunks onto a carriage from number 81 Moir Street.
• Arthur suspected Harris had pocketed Isidore’s gold and planned to use it to buy an item at the Secret Gathering.
• Arthur decided he could learn what Harris wanted through Freeman after Harris’s death and the Countess sent someone to take over Mouse Tail Alley.
• Arthur collected a Fireball scroll, an Illusion scroll, and a heroic-grade Wraith Spell scroll that Harris had left behind.
• Arthur considered using the Wraith Spell to seek knowledge from dead experts and resolved to find another alias for studying mystical lore.

Drake Credos had become the Western Sea Pirate General while searching for Old John’s treasure and planning to investigate Winters’s disappearance. Back in South Los, Arthur devised a plan to obtain more of the Blood Clan’s legacy, but a letter from Ymir Manor surprised him.

• Drake Credos reflected on how his treasure hunt had made him commander of twenty-nine pirate ships and six thousand men.
• Drake remembered Winters’s disappearance and resolved to investigate the “demon haunting Baker Farm” despite Old Charlie’s warning.
• Two naked men fell from the sky into Drake’s fleet, and one shouted a threat against Arthur Credos.
• Arthur decided to seek the Rebel Robin’s Alchemy by approaching a Blood Scion and began refining Auben’s persona for the plan.
• Arthur considered traveling into the mountains to create a Blood Bat, then hesitated because leaving South Los might attract suspicion.
• A postman delivered Arthur a letter from Ymir Manor, and Arthur cautiously read it with surprise.