Chapter Summaries

Oakland attended a banquet in Minisia hoping to secure help in restoring Bagnia, while five disguised players waited to assassinate the arriving king. When Albert III sat down, Oakland recognized the musicians as Bagnians and realized the danger.

• Oakland set aside his crown because he needed to show deference to Minisia's ruler at the banquet.
• Oakland entered the hall and noticed a scar on the lute player's finger that suggested he was not really a musician.
• Albert III arrived with elite Royal Guards as Alibaba and Ye Ao Nai He discussed when and how to attack him.
• Oakland felt growing unease as Albert approached and realized the five musicians were the source of the danger.
• Ye Ao Nai He struck the lute strings, and Oakland shouted, "Bagnians!!!"

Valentin waited outside Tavitsky City as Ye Ao Nai He and the other players launched an attack during the banquet, fighting through the guards to reach Albert III. The players reached the king at terrible cost, and the final attacker was five meters away with a table knife raised.

• Valentin wondered whether the five young men would return to Bagnia alive.
• Alibaba and the other players attacked the banquet guards, seized weapons, and moved toward Albert III as Leonard and the king fled toward Rose Hall.
• Ye Ao Nai He knocked down one Full-Armor Knight, wounded another, and held off three more to block the entrance.
• The other four players fought through the guards protecting Albert III while the guards outside raced to enter the hall.
• Alibaba wounded a knight and tried to strike Albert III, but a knight stabbed him; another player killed that knight before being struck down.
• The last player dropped his longsword and charged the five-meter gap toward Albert III with a table knife raised.

Chris planned roads and railways to strengthen his rule over Bagnia and decided to raise the closed beta cap to ten thousand. Meanwhile, Oakland remained under house arrest in Minisia, convinced that Albert III had likely died in the assassination attempt and that Chris had sent the assassins.

• Chris reviewed the spring sowing effort and planned infrastructure work to connect Bagnia's three major cities with roads and railways.
• Chris decided to hold a player-only bidding session for construction work and raise the closed beta cap to ten thousand.
• Chris saw Ye Ao Nai He's update claiming the players had completed their mission, but his system showed that they had not.
• Oakland recalled that five assassins disguised as musicians had attacked the banquet and that one had struck Albert III in the neck with a projectile.
• Oakland concluded Albert III was probably dead after losing a great deal of blood, but he could not confirm it while under house arrest.
• Oakland believed Chris had sent the assassins and hoped to return safely to Bagnia.

After discovering they had killed the wrong man, Ye Ao and Alibaba gathered more than two hundred players to pursue the main quest and assassinate Oakland. They reached the Bagnian border amid a siege, stayed overnight in Major General Marlow's camp, and set out despite a warning that Minisians were hunting nearby.

• Ye Ao Henai learned from Alibaba that the players had killed Oakland instead of Albert, the King of Minisia, and they decided to try the assassination again.
• Ye Ao Henai and Alibaba recruited more than two hundred players, who set out for Tavitsky City to kill Oakland.
• The group reached the border and found Bagnian regiments and player warbands besieging a Minisia-held castle.
• Major General Marlow let the players camp in his military camp without questioning their mission.
• The players left the camp the next morning, and an exhausted player warned them that Minisians were chasing people nearby.

Ye Ao Henai, Alibaba, Barbarossa, and the players force-marched across Minisia and launched a surprise attack on Tavitsky City. They seized the gate and walls, while the city remained in chaos after King Albert III’s assassination and the fate of the assault remained unresolved.

• Ye Ao Henai and the other player leaders voted to force-march toward Tavitsky, and every player agreed.
• Barbarossa shot the Minisian Scouts from long range as the column advanced, while the players rotated fresh riders into patrol duty.
• More than five hundred Minisian Light Cavalry found the players’ trail but broke off the pursuit because of an earlier player raid that had destroyed their camp and seized its horses.
• At Tavitsky’s gate, Eugene and the defenders cleared away vendors as the armored players approached; Ye Ao Henai killed Sergeant Eric and led the charge through the entrance.
• Alibaba led players up the wall while Barbarossa’s men seized the cannon positions, and the alarm sounded as the players pushed into the city.
• The Minisian troops outside began gathering after hearing cannon fire, while Tavitsky’s nobles remained preoccupied with hiding the circumstances of Albert III’s assassination.

Ye Ao Henai and the players stormed Tavitsky City's castle to find and kill Oakland, but learned he had been taken toward the capital. As they left to fight in the streets, they discovered Bagnian mercenaries had risen against the Minisian army.

• Robin Sheng learned that Minisian troops had entered Tavitsky City and ordered the Morning Glory Mercenary Corps to gather supplies and break out.
• Ye Ao Henai and the players blasted through the castle gate, overwhelmed its knights and guards, and searched the castle for Oakland.
• Ye Ao Henai interrogated the castle's occupants and learned from an attendant that Oakland had been escorted toward the capital the previous night.
• After failing to find Oakland, the players left the castle and encountered Bagnian mercenaries fighting Minisian troops in the streets.
• Alibaba identified the light-blue-uniformed fighters as Bagnian mercenaries, and the players decided to help them.

Chris learned that the players had killed his Minisian uncle and were helping turn Tavitsky City into chaos, while the leaderless army outside struggled to respond. Ye Ao redirected the players to seize and hold the west gate until dawn, with the city itself offered as the mission reward.

• Chris confirmed that Ye Ao, Alibaba, and the other players had killed his Minisian uncle during their earlier operation.
• Players and Bagnian Mercenaries rampaged through Tavitsky City as the Minisian Army hesitated to intervene without orders from the dead officials.
• The army's deputy commander ordered troops into the city, ordered the gates sealed, and sought contact with City Hall.
• Barbarossa waited on a rooftop, shot a decorated Minisian cavalry officer, and escaped with his assistants after an explosion shook the city.
• Barbarossa returned to Ye Ao, who told him to help capture the west gate and hold it until dawn, with the city as the mission reward.

Lieutenant General Norton learned that Bagnian forces were moving toward Tavitsky and ordered the Third Regiment to pursue while warning the Seventh Legion. Meanwhile, Chris’s players attacked Minisians inside Tavitsky and marched through the night toward a firefight, where newcomer Dorok learned how to target matchlock soldiers by their fuse sparks.

• Lieutenant General Norton studied reports of Bagnian cavalry and infantry crossing the border, then ordered the Third Regiment to pursue and sent a warning to Tavitsky’s Seventh Legion.
• Chris committed players to exploiting an opportunity at Tavitsky, where the players had turned against the Bagnian mercenaries and were working toward the western gate.
• Players ambushed the Minisian company guarding the western gate, killing its captain and beginning a chaotic slaughter in the darkness.
• Dorok, a new player marching with the Little Erlang, Bookish Lad warband, encountered gunfire and learned from a veteran player to aim at the sparks of enemy matchlock fuses.

Dorok and the players marched through the darkness while a Minisian advance force tried to harass them with muskets and then arrows. The players used armor, traps, and mines to drive the attackers off, and the column continued toward its planned route as Dorok urged his companions to save their stamina for the coming city assault.

• A Minisian advance force attacked the players with muskets, but the players returned fire while continuing to march and forced the riflemen to retreat.
• The Minisians switched to bows and shot at the rear of the column, hitting several players and disrupting the march.
• Dorok and the other players laid iron-skewer traps, mines, and other obstacles as they moved, then fired on the Minisians when traps exposed them.
• A tripwire mine exploded among the pursuing soldiers, inflicting casualties and breaking the advance force's morale.
• The Minisian Second Lieutenant ordered his men to clear traps and keep firing rather than advance or retreat, while the players' column moved away.
• Dorok dismissed his companions' idea of turning back to fight more enemies and focused on conserving stamina for the coming battle.

Chris's reinforcements reached Tavitsky and met a prepared Minisian interception force outside the city. The players endured heavy cannon fire, suppressed the enemy artillery, and fought off infantry and cavalry charges as the battle continued.

• Chris's roughly two thousand reinforcements arrived outside Tavitsky after a forced march that left more than two hundred players lost and over a hundred casualties.
• Ye Ao and fewer than fifty defenders continued holding Tavitsky's western gate while the Seventh Legion deployed an interception force against the approaching players.
• The Minisians opened fire with twelve Bronze Field Guns, but the players formed ranks under veteran guidance and advanced despite heavy losses.
• The players' ten Crouching Tiger Cannons devastated the Minisian artillery position and forced its gunners to pull back.
• Minisian riflemen and Sword-and-Shield Fighters charged the players, while light cavalry attacked their flank; the players used volleys and a defensive formation to break both attacks.

Ye Ao and Alibaba watched reinforcements fight the Minisians while conserving gunpowder, as Dorok endured the battle in a numb cycle of firing and reloading. Hearts of Iron led the players through a bloody, methodical advance into Tavitsky, where he finally died from his chest wound.

• Ye Ao and Alibaba decided to save the wall guns' gunpowder while the reinforcements fought beyond their range.
• Dorok mechanically fired and reloaded through choking smoke, wondering how he had survived without being shot.
• Hearts of Iron, wounded and carried on a wheelbarrow, ordered the players to hold formation and keep firing rather than charge.
• Colonel Cobert sent sword-and-shield fighters against the players, but repeated volleys devastated them and forced the Minisians to retreat.
• Hearts of Iron refused to pursue, leading the players forward in formation while they gathered the dead, treated the wounded, and exchanged fire with Minisians and their artillery.
• The players entered Tavitsky after three in the afternoon, and Hearts of Iron finally died from his wound.

After the battle at Tavitsky left both the Bagnian players and Minisia’s forces badly depleted, Chris reviewed Bagnia’s need for stronger weapons and attended a military procurement demonstration. Little Knife’s Mountain Tiger Arsenal won a major order for rockets, including a man-portable explosive weapon, as Chris used the purchases to support Ankandela’s industry.

• Ye Ao and the veteran players assessed their heavy losses at Tavitsky, while Colonel Cobert confronted the devastating casualties and shortages in Minisia’s medical camp.
• Chris learned that the players had entered Tavitsky and considered the need for improved artillery and weapons against heavy infantry and cavalry.
• Chris attended the weapons tender outside Votradnoi, where Little Knife demonstrated the inaccurate but disruptive Hundred Tigers Charging Arrows and Ten Tigers Leave the Forest rockets.
• Little Knife fired the Tiger Descending the Mountain Rocket, and Chris inspected its damage to armored targets and negotiated a lower price.
• Chris ordered ten thousand Tiger Descending the Mountain Rockets at thirty silver dollars each, along with three hundred launchers each of the other two rocket types, to support the Mountain Tiger Arsenal and Ankandela’s economy.

Chris inspected players’ experimental weapons and placed trial orders for promising designs while rejecting or redirecting others. The demonstrations ended with players unveiling a steam-powered repeating ballista that they claimed could fire five hundred arrows a minute.

• Old Sheep demonstrated a powerful but dangerous flamethrower, and Chris ordered twenty safer firefighting versions for Votradnoi’s fire brigade.
• A player presented an unreliable steel-wheel mine, and Chris ordered one hundred trial units with simpler, safer mechanisms and added the project to the long-term watch list.
• Lighting Firecrackers for Spring Festival demonstrated a cheap but heavy paper-cased grenade, which Chris declined to buy unless its weight could be reduced.
• Tiezi demonstrated a three-pound field gun, and Chris directed him to arrange a test batch through the quartermaster.
• Astro Boy demonstrated a Great Wall Gun, and Chris ordered twenty for frontline combat trials.
• Players brought in a steam-powered repeating ballista called Steel Rain and claimed it could fire five hundred arrows per minute.

As rain fell over Tavitsky, Ye Ao and Barbarossa learned that a Minisian envoy had arrived while the players fortified the city and dealt with shortages. Meanwhile, Mia led more than a thousand Mountain Savages through the Kaslo Mountains toward Tavitsky, nearing the city after five days of travel.

• Ye Ao and Barbarossa heard gunshots but stayed beneath the eaves until players arrived to summon Ye Ao to meet the Minisian envoy.
• The chapter recounted how residents fled Tavitsky, players fought at the gates, and Minisian soldiers extorted and abused people trying to escape.
• Veteran players returned from a nighttime raid with three imitation Crouching Tiger Cannons and five barrels of black powder.
• The players established defenses in Tavitsky, but faced shortages of food and gunpowder and needed to handle their dead.
• Mia led over a thousand Mountain Savages through the Kaslo Mountains and began the final march toward Tavitsky.

Marquis Dirac Siso visited Prince Chris and found him exhausted amid the kingdom’s prosperity and the palace’s neglect. Chris ordered Dirac’s reorganized Hegrande Legion to the Tavitsky front, revealing plans for an offensive into Minisia at the start of autumn.

• Mia delivered supplies to the players in Tavitsky without encountering Minisians, while Minisia’s leaders focused on the royal succession after Albert III’s death.
• Marquis Dirac Siso observed the contrast between Bagnia’s thriving economy and its neglected palace as he went to meet Prince Chris.
• Dirac urged Chris to rest, then reported that the Hegrande Legion had completed most of its reorganization and could field eighty percent of its strength.
• Chris ordered the Hegrande Legion to reach the Tavitsky front before autumn, explaining that Bagnia planned to invade Minisia once autumn began.

Prince Chris revealed that Albert III had died and planned to invade Minisia while it was vulnerable, prompting Marquis Dirac Siso to commit his corps and endorse the campaign. Chris also arranged a military land-grant system to motivate the troops, then received a request to meet with Diu Ni Leimu.

• Chris told Dirac that Albert III’s body had been found in Tavitsky and explained that he intended to exploit Minisia’s weakness by attacking.
• Dirac agreed to lead his Hegrande Corps in the autumn offensive after Chris outlined the forces assigned to the campaign and the defenses left at home.
• Dirac suggested postponing Chris’s coronation until a victorious return, and Chris ordered both churches to hold Harvest Festival celebrations near their own churches.
• Chris showed Dirac a new military merit land-grant proposal and asked him to explain to the soldiers that they would fight for land and their futures.
• After Dirac left, a clerk announced that Diu Ni Leimu had requested an audience, and Chris ordered him admitted.

Chris approved the newly registered Mechanicus Cult’s request to participate in the Harvest Festival and authorized railway construction priorities ahead of the planned war with the Minicia Kingdom. Marquis Dirac then urged Chris to marry Elena Tia, and their discussion of her family’s predicament strengthened their belief that Minisia was nearing civil war.

• Diu Ni Leimu asked Chris to let the Mechanicus Cult preside over the Harvest Festival, and Chris approved the request while arranging for the cult to build a church.
• Diu Ni Leimu asked whether railway construction should prioritize a line to the Minicia Kingdom’s border, and Chris gave him discretion to adjust the schedule without disrupting the overall plan.
• Marquis Dirac returned to press Chris to marry and introduced Elena Tia, whose family controlled valuable iron-mining rights and merchant ships in Minisia.
• Dirac realized the Tia Family was seeking an escape route because the Minicia Kingdom was approaching civil war, and he proposed delaying an alliance until the family needed protection.
• Chris told Dirac to handle the marriage matter and, if possible, use it to establish a reliable intelligence channel into Minisia.

The Fifth Legion ambushed the retreating Seventh Legion and Marquis Norton accused Prince William of murdering King Albert III, using the king’s coffin to turn the battle into a political purge. The Seventh Legion collapsed, while the players realized that the NPCs were framing William for a killing they had committed.

• The Seventh Legion retreated from Tavitsky City, but the Fifth Legion ambushed its exhausted soldiers outside the city.
• Marquis Norton accused William Stuart of murdering Albert III and pointed to a black carriage carrying the king’s body.
• The Fifth Legion attacked the carriage, exposed a coffin bearing the Stuart royal crest, and shattered the Seventh Legion’s resolve.
• Alston insisted Bagnian assassins had killed the king, but the Seventh Legion routed and the Fifth Legion seized the initiative.
• Ye Ao Henai and Barbarossa realized the players were being blamed for the king’s death and complained that the NPCs were stealing their kill.

Chris ordered the Bagnia Defense Force to march despite incomplete preparations after learning that civil war had already erupted in Minisia. At the First Legion camp, Military Judge Jacques inspected the troops and supplies, found suspicious canned pork, and left with evidence as the legion prepared to depart.

• Chris decided that the Bagnia Defense Force had to march before its preparations were complete because Minisia's civil war was already underway.
• Jacques surveyed the First Legion and found its riflemen, spearmen, and sword-and-shield fighters ready and in high spirits.
• Jacques inspected the legion's uniforms, equipment, provisions, and medical supplies with his attendants.
• Jacques discovered foul-smelling canned pork that appeared to be unfit for soldiers and secretly kept the meat and can as evidence.
• Jacques found no other major supply problems, and the First Legion continued preparing to march.

Thousand-Blade Butcher sought cheap wild boars from Vladimir to supply his food factory, but the deal was interrupted when the Tax Bureau raided the warehouse. He was left facing arrest for smuggling and tax evasion.

• Thousand-Blade Butcher expanded his pig farm and food factory, then searched for cheap meat to meet rising production demands.
• Thousand-Blade Butcher met Vladimir at the Old Sailor Tavern and inspected a piece of wild boar meat offered for sale.
• Vladimir led Thousand-Blade Butcher out of Hegrande to a barn filled with caged wild boars.
• Thousand-Blade Butcher agreed to buy all the pigs, but Tax Bureau players burst into the barn and accused the group of smuggling and tax evasion.