Chapter Summaries

Chris met Count Dirac, who recognized him as the genuine Prince Chris and questioned why he had returned to Bagnia. Chris explained that he had fled after an assassin from his group attacked Prince Flower and had come back to help starving people, while Dirac mistakenly interpreted his words as evidence of a royal power struggle.

• Dirac initially believed Chris was a fake, but recognized his resemblance to the Bagnian king and greeted him as a prince.
• Dirac explained that he had served as master of ceremonies during Chris's first five years and identified the royal mole and dark brown eyes.
• Chris told Dirac that he had fled Inyama after an assassin from his group attacked Prince Flower, then returned to help Bagnia's starving people.
• Dirac interpreted Chris's account as a confession of an attempted assassination and concluded that Chris had secretly returned to pursue power.
• Chris wondered whether Dirac had read more into his explanation than he intended.

Chris learned that the Restoration Army was divided, the Revolutionary Party’s republic had fallen under the control of former nobles, and Count Dirac was wounded by grenade shrapnel. Meanwhile, Little Knife finished cleaning his Flintlock and prepared to meet the person the middle-aged man in a yellow robe had asked to see.

• Chris spoke with Count Dirac, learned that First Prince Flower remained in Inyama, and turned down repeated invitations to join the Restoration Army.
• Count Dirac described the Restoration Army’s internal power struggles and the corruption of the republic established by the Revolutionary Party.
• Count Dirac was carried back to camp on a stretcher, revealing that a grenade had injured his backside.
• Chris considered ways to obtain explosive materials and worried that using technology unfamiliar to the world might draw the gods’ attention.
• Little Knife cleaned his Flintlock while the middle-aged man in a yellow robe criticized its craftsmanship.
• Little Knife stopped the conversation when someone approached, telling the middle-aged man that the person he wanted to see had arrived.

Chris questioned Aranka Doran, a priest of the Earth Mother Goddess, and the goddess briefly possessed him to ask what Chris wanted. She called Chris ambitious and destined to shatter the world’s order before time resumed and Aranka collapsed.

• Chris examined Aranka Doran’s expensive silk robe and asked how to address him.
• Aranka identified himself as a priest of the Earth Mother Goddess and asked whether Chris had come for survival, dominion, or subversion.
• The Earth Mother Goddess descended through Aranka and questioned Chris about his purpose.
• Chris said his return had been accidental and that he was acting because someone wanted him to.
• The goddess called Chris ambitious and said he would shatter the world’s order, then ended the encounter without letting him reply.
• Time resumed, Aranka returned to normal and collapsed, and Mia urged Chris to leave.

After considering the gods’ hostility and the information he had learned, Chris focused on strengthening his position after taking Bolas Fortress. He rewarded soldiers and laborers for their service, leaving Jacques newly rich in land and silver.

• Chris wondered why Gaia seemed hostile toward him and decided to focus on building his strength despite his unanswered questions.
• Count Dirac withdrew the Restoration Army and left Chris a large supply of food, weapons, and armor at their abandoned camp.
• Chris held an awards ceremony and gave Jacques five hundred silver dollars, the Copper Heart Medal, and fifty mu of land for killing two enemies.
• Chris awarded the other seven honored militiamen for battlefield merit and gave wounded soldiers a Wound Medal and five hundred silver dollars.
• Jacques realized his rewards brought his total landholding to a hundred and twenty mu, while his squad leader also received silver and land for his commander's share of the merit.

Chris established Civil Affairs and Military Affairs departments, expanded Bich Town’s jurisdiction, and announced examinations to recruit a mayor and an Arbitration Officer. After reading the announcement, Diumu realized becoming mayor might let him decide how county land was used.

• Chris expanded Bich Town’s jurisdiction to a thirty-kilometer radius and made it the county’s administrative center.
• Chris announced civil service examinations for a Bich Town mayor and an Arbitration Officer to oversee security.
• Chris outlined a simplified twenty-four-grade civil service system and separated the Arbitration Officer’s authority from the mayor’s.
• Diumu forged a Wokou-Repelling Long Saber in the military camp’s smithy while considering how to build a water-powered hammer.
• Diumu read the examination announcement and realized that becoming mayor might give him control over the county’s land use.

Chris appointed Isaac and Connie to military roles, expanded the closed beta to 2,000 players, and renamed the game Rise of the Empire. At Bolas Fortress, Cool Guy and other players tortured captured Minisian officers for information and revenge, and Cool Guy chose Bernal Bowen as his next target.

• Chris made Isaac a colonel and recruiting officer, while Connie became an intelligence officer after rejecting a logistics position.
• Chris announced that the closed beta would expand to 2,000 players and the game would be renamed Rise of the Empire.
• Chris planned to set the players’ respawn point at Bolas Fortress and considered how to reward them for capturing it.
• Cool Guy whipped a captured Minisian officer while recalling the village massacre and the civilian laborers who had died.
• Cool Guy dragged the starving colonel Bernal Bowen from his cage after Bowen pleaded that he could provide intelligence.

Chris held Bich Town’s first civil service examination in public to build trust and recruit officials, while Alanka observed the process after conducting funerals for the dead. The chapter left the exam underway, with Chris’s proctors instructed to overlook cheating so long as candidates could pass.

• Chris set up an outdoor examination at Bolas Fortress for 147 applicants to choose Bich Town’s mayor and recruit clerks.
• Alanka stayed under Chris’s rule and spent two days conducting funeral rites for the militiamen, laborers, and others killed in battle.
• The militiamen and laborers respected Alanka’s work and provided him with supplies, a place to stay, and meals.
• Alanka watched a young militia candidate cheat during the exam and saw Bainian Shuren pretend not to notice.
• Chris had instructed Bainian Shuren to ignore cheating because candidates who passed could become clerks, and he needed more people to serve in his administration.

Chris reviewed the civil service exam papers and found an essay proposing industrial development and a cheap narrow-gauge railway between Bich Town and Bolas Fortress. Convinced the plan was worth trying, he chose its author as Bich Town's mayor, then reacted with surprise at the player's name.

• Chris assigned two humanoid clerks to grade the mathematics and language papers while he read the candidates' essays.
• Veteran players and newcomers argued on the forums after Chris limited exam registration to reputable veterans.
• Chris found an essay proposing a water-powered forge, more workshops, and an embedded iron-pipe railway linking Bich Town and Bolas Fortress.
• After estimating the railway's potential costs and benefits, Chris decided to appoint the essay's author as mayor of Bich Town.
• Chris checked the author's name and exclaimed in surprise: Diu Ni Leimu.

Jacques discovered that he had passed an exam and been appointed a civil servant, despite having cheated on much of his test. Troubled by his dishonesty, he ran to find his teacher and confess.

• Jacques went to the fortress gate to see the posted exam results while the militiamen gathered around the noticeboard.
• The militiamen recognized Jacques and cheered for him as a master, then helped him find his name at the bottom of the list.
• Jacques read that everyone on the list except the top-ranked candidate would become a civil servant and realized he had earned an appointment.
• The militiamen celebrated Jacques’s success as proof that ordinary people could rise in rank, but Jacques felt guilty because he had cheated.
• Jacques hurried to the Night School headmaster to report his cheating and ask to have his place on the list revoked.

Jacques confessed to cheating on the civil service exam, but Bainian Shuren let his passing result stand because the exam had been unfair to local candidates. Bainian Shuren returned to his work and considered asking Chris for clerks to help with education.

• Jacques told Bainian Shuren that he had peeked at other candidates’ papers during the civil service exam.
• Bainian Shuren asked Jacques for evidence, then sent him away with the civil service oath and instructions to collect his uniform.
• Bainian Shuren reflected that the exam had been unfair because the local candidates had only studied for a month and could barely understand the questions.
• Bainian Shuren revealed that Jacques had been the only local candidate to pass, and that he had added a point to Jacques’s math score.
• Bainian Shuren decided to uphold Jacques’s result and thought about asking Chris for clerks to help with education.

Chris prepared a victory banquet after Bolas Fortress’s capture and the civil service examination results, but the arrival of a refugee group interrupted the celebration. Players had brought more than a thousand starving people from Hegrande to the area near the fortress, and their food had run out.

• Chris bought food and drink and prepared to hold a victory banquet for the militia.
• News arrived that a large wave of refugees was approaching Bolas Fortress.
• Players found more than ten thousand war refugees gathered outside Hegrande, where city leaders distributed too little porridge to keep them from starving.
• The players failed to persuade the refugees to head toward Bolas Fortress because they feared entering a war zone.
• The players worked with Hegrande’s powerful figures and obtained food and permission to recruit laborers for a Restoration Army grain convoy.
• The players used deception and coercion to lead more than a thousand refugees toward Bolas Fortress, arriving when their food ran out.

Irina and her feverish son Misha struggled through the woods with a starving refugee procession until Prince Chris’s cavalry arrived and gave them food, warm water, and a cloak. A knight sent the refugees toward Chris’s camp, where shelter, food, and doctors awaited.

• Irina carried Misha through the woods with a starving group of refugees fleeing the ruins of their village.
• Cavalrymen bearing Prince Chris’s banners stopped the procession, and the refugee leader cursed them before taking a sack of potatoes.
• A knight gave Irina food, honeyed water, and his blue cloak for Misha, then asked about the child’s fever.
• The knight directed the refugees to follow another rider to Prince Chris’s camp, where cooked food, shelter, and doctors were waiting.

Chris organized the arrival of scattered refugees at Bolas Fortress, where they received food, medical care, and shelter under strict rules. A doctor treated Irina’s feverish son Misha, while the camps settled into order as Chris’s next arrangements remained uncertain.

• Chris sent armored players on workhorses to find and escort refugee groups, while militia prepared stew and tents at Bolas Fortress.
• The arriving refugees received warm porridge and medical examinations before militia separated women and children from able-bodied men.
• Chris ordered strict punishments for anyone who assaulted refugees or stole their belongings, and the refugees were made to bathe and wash their clothes.
• A doctor examined Misha and treated his high fever with an injection, then instructed Irina to keep him warm and clean.
• Irina followed the doctor’s instructions as the refugee camps housed more than three hundred people and players killed troublemakers to maintain order.

Chris enforced strict refugee camp rules at Bolas Fortress, ordered surveillance and informants to prevent unrest, and rewarded players who brought refugees to safety. The chapter ended with a militiaman publicly punished for attempting to assault a woman.

• Isaac inspected male refugees for strength and killed one who challenged him while selecting men to send to Bich Town.
• Chris ordered Bruno to watch for groups forming in the camps and told Connie to recruit refugee informants and eliminate gangs.
• Chris awarded the players who had led refugees to Bolas Fortress medals and mission rewards, then agreed to post a quest to deal with bandits along the mountain trails.
• Chris explained that Mia had stopped a militiaman from assaulting a female refugee and that the Military Police Unit was publicly punishing him.

After a militiaman named Duke tried to enter the women’s refugee camp to assault someone, Chris’s forces publicly punished him to enforce the camp’s rules. Yixiu removed one of Duke’s testicles and ordered the jar passed among the militiamen as a warning.

• Duke slipped past the Military Police patrols into the women’s refugee camp, but Aisha caught his scent and helped Mia find him.
• Yixiu questioned Duke before the refugees and militiamen, rejected his pleas, and ordered guards to tie him to a cross.
• Yixiu exposed Duke and prepared him for the punishment while the crowd watched.
• Yixiu removed one of Duke’s testicles and raised it in a jar, warning the militiamen that attempted rape meant losing a ball.

Little Knife refused Ye Ao Nai He's request to help suppress bandits, choosing instead to prepare the Mountain Tiger warband for a campaign to seize knights' castles. He planned to spend his monthly cigarette and alcohol budget on supplies before leading the warband south.

• Ye Ao Nai He asked Little Knife for help with bandit suppression, but Little Knife refused and said the Mountain Tiger warband was preparing to explore Republic territory.
• Ye Ao Nai He described the deaths he had witnessed while escorting refugees to Bolas Fortress, and a man in yellow robes secretly observed their conversation.
• Little Knife considered the Mountain Tiger warband's freedom to join and leave, and preferred fighting over castles to escorting refugees.
• Little Knife reviewed Bagnia's military standoff and planned to lead the warband south after crossing the suspension bridge behind Bolas Fortress.
• The Mountain Tiger warband's new level-two base allowed it to occupy land and establish a territory, so Little Knife prepared to spend his monthly budget on supplies.

Bolwen recovered in Prince Chris’s fortress after nearly exhausting his life force in battle, while Chris questioned him about a priest’s accusations and offered him work as a magic consultant. Bolwen was offered a potion to restore him in exchange for helping Chris research an unusual spellcasting system.

• Bolwen remained in the fortress, too weak to escape or cast spells, while soldiers and onlookers watched him.
• Prince Chris visited Bolwen and asked whether he held a grudge against Alanka, a priest who wanted him disposed of for alleged blasphemy.
• Bolwen denied ever blaspheming or having dealings with the Earth Mother Goddess Church and said he did not know why Alanka hated him.
• Chris explained that he had figured out how Bolwen cast spells by using his health in place of mana.
• Chris offered to hire Bolwen as a magic consultant, promising a potion that could restore him to normal.

At Doro Town’s prayer gathering, Rob learned that Councilor Zurich had imposed several new wartime taxes on the cattle herders. Realizing he could not pay without selling Heidi, Rob tried to flee as the bells rang urgently.

• Rob worried that the rising taxes would consume the cheese he had brought to town.
• Rob led Heidi and his grandson Tofer into the square for the weekly prayers.
• After the prayers, the tax collector announced a wartime levy on milk-producing cows, higher pasture fees, and a shield tax on every herding household.
• Rob realized he could not afford the new taxes and turned to flee with Tofer and Heidi.
• Doro Town’s prayer bell rang again with frantic urgency.

Rob and Tuofo survived the attack on Doro Town as green-uniformed soldiers arrived and defeated the town militia. The town fell, and Rob followed the occupying soldiers back toward it with Heidi and several other herders.

• Rob fled the panic with Tuofo and Heidi, while tax soldiers cut down herders and cattle stampeded through the square.
• The attackers killed the tax collector and his soldiers, then advanced toward Doro Town as Gaston and the militia prepared to defend the windmill.
• A girl riding a white pig and her green-uniformed soldiers reassured Rob that they had come to liberate the herders, and Rob followed them toward town.
• More than fifty green-uniformed soldiers fired on the windmill, killing Gaston and forcing the remaining militia to surrender.

Little Knife led the Mountain Tiger warband across the Kaslo Mountains in a costly surprise raid and captured Doro Town. The surviving players secured the town, and Little Knife began organizing its resources.

• Little Knife asked Barbarossa about the warband’s casualties, and Barbarossa explained that Alibaba was the adjutant and had gone to protect Doro Town’s artisans.
• After studying a map and learning about Bagnia’s roads and mountains, Little Knife decided to cross the low tail of the Kaslo Mountains and attack the prosperous southeastern region.
• Little Knife asked Prince Chris for a guide, and Mia agreed to guide the warband with Aisha after negotiating for candy and other terms.
• More than a hundred of the roughly two hundred players died during the three-day mountain crossing, but the survivors reached Doro Town while it was unprepared.
• The Mountain Tiger warband captured Doro Town without any of its hundred participating players being injured, and Alibaba and Little Ghost went to gather the artisans.