Chapter Summaries

Lorry made a deal with Lanevus, receiving the Sequence 7 Mystery Pryer and Sequence 6 Fire Thief formulas in exchange for helping him evade pursuit. After Lanevus fled, a Clown-masked attacker ambushed him in the sewer, and Lorry’s voice suddenly sounded in Lanevus’s mind during their fight.

• Lanevus offered Lorry the Mystery Pryer and Fire Thief formulas, plus later formulas, in exchange for help obstructing his pursuers and escaping.
• Lorry accepted the deal, memorized the two formulas, and told Lanevus to mail the Sequence 5 and Sequence 4 formulas within a month.
• Lanevus ran deeper into the sewer, while Lorry realized the encounter had helped him digest his Swindler potion and learn two acting rules.
• A Clown-masked attacker ambushed Lanevus and wounded him with flying Tarot Cards.
• Lanevus covered himself in fleshy lumps, fought back, and tried to escape, but a voice from Lorry suddenly rang inside his mind as Lanevus attacked the Clown-masked man.

Lorry watched Klein kill Lanevus after using Distortion to help turn the fight, then returned home with Lanevus’s Marauder potion formulas. He reflected on how he had outmaneuvered Lanevus and concluded that successful, difficult swindles advanced his potion digestion.

• Lorry watched Lanevus miss Klein with a punch after Lorry’s Distortion altered the attack.
• Klein gained the upper hand and killed Lanevus, while Lorry left the scene using a Traveler’s Teleportation.
• At home, Lorry examined the formulas for the Marauder pathway’s Sequence 7 and Sequence 6 potions and planned to verify them.
• Lorry found that swindling Lanevus had greatly advanced his Swindler potion digestion and concluded that harder swindles brought greater progress.
• Lorry reviewed how he had trapped Lanevus and warned himself to guard his information advantage against future opponents.

After Lanevus’s death, Lorry considered the advantages he had gained and discovered that a General Knowledge charm might let him recall what he knew about the original novel. He asked the White Bone Ring to teach him how to make the charm and offered knowledge in exchange, ending by asking about the secret at the very top of the Sequences.

• Lorry reflected that he had secretly used Distortion to alter Lanevus’s attack and had gained a badge for joining the Hermits of Fate.
• Lorry fed the hungry black dog Albert and read that a memorial exhibition for Emperor Roselle would open at the Royal Museum.
• Lorry remembered that the exhibition might contain Roselle’s diary and considered collecting entries to trade with the Tarot Club.
• Lorry asked the White Bone Ring about charms for improving memory and learned that a General Knowledge charm could recover forgotten knowledge.
• Lorry asked the ring to teach him how to make the charms and chose to pay with knowledge of equal value.
• Lorry asked the White Bone Ring whether it knew the secret at the very top of the Sequences.

Miles told Lorry that he had discovered a warehouse where people were imprisoned and abused, and feared the traffickers had recognized him. Lorry advised him to stay in a secure hotel while Lorry investigated the den.

• Miles apologized to Lorry over the danger caused by the manor incident, then said he planned to leave Backlund after getting into trouble.
• Miles explained that he had stumbled upon a secluded warehouse in Harbor Borough, where captives were held in cages and abused.
• Miles admitted that he had cried out and feared someone at the warehouse had seen his face.
• Lorry urged Miles to stay in West Borough for a few days instead of fleeing to the countryside, so Lorry could watch for anyone searching for him.
• Miles agreed with Lorry's plan, praised his detective-fiction skills, and suddenly felt sleepy.

Lorry infiltrated Miles’s dream and confirmed the brutal crimes inside the warehouse, then used a false face to disguise himself. He tracked the gang to an abandoned dock, where he subdued its men and began questioning their leader about Lord Hayes and the captives’ whereabouts.

• Lorry entered Miles’s dream and saw prisoners, chained women, and tortured men in the warehouse.
• Lorry put a false face on Miles, who woke from a nightmare and left for the West Borough.
• Lorry went to the Harbor Borough and found gang members waiting outside the warehouse for Miles to return.
• The gang’s leader explained that Lord Hayes had ordered them to identify where the intruder lived.
• Lorry put the gang members to sleep and used Mind Reading on their leader, asking why they had imprisoned the victims, where they had moved them, and who Lord Hayes was.

Lorry used Mind Reading on a gang guard and learned that Hayes was an Arbiter with a magical revolver, then tracked him to an apartment on Black Palm Street. Lorry entered the target’s room, but the sleeping man woke and shot an apparent decoy, leaving Lorry’s next move unresolved.

• Lorry questioned the bald, tattooed man and learned that Hayes’s men guarded kidnapped people while others handled their transport.
• Lorry learned that Hayes was a generous gang leader, lived among several hideouts, and was known as an Arbiter who carried a magical revolver.
• Lorry killed the bald, tattooed man and the other sleeping guards, then teleported to Black Palm Street.
• Lorry used Exceptional Observation to locate Hayes’s room and Dream Infiltration to make sure the target entered a dream.
• Lorry picked the lock of apartment 403 and approached the sleeping couple, but the man awoke, called him a brainless fool, and fired at him.
• The figure hit by the shot burst into a firework as Lorry’s hydrosol-holding decoy was revealed.

Lorry killed Hayes, an MI9 operative, and learned that abducted people had been handed to the trafficker Capim. After Hayes’s spirit was destroyed before it could name his superior, Lorry escaped with the revolver and an Arbiter Beyonder characteristic, but was left uncertain how to face Lieutenant Colonel Vera.

• Lorry used Mental Interference and a real wind blade to outmaneuver Hayes, who used his sleeping mistress as a shield before his Sure-Hit Revolver misfired and Combat Hypnosis let Lorry kill him.
• Lorry questioned Hayes’s remnant spirit and learned that Hayes was an MI9 Sequence 9 of the Arbiter pathway who had ordered captives handed to Capim’s people.
• Hayes described the Sure-Hit Revolver’s abilities and alcohol-related drawbacks, but his spirit exploded when Lorry asked who his superior was.
• Lorry escaped into the Spirit World as police arrived, then retrieved Hayes’s Beyonder characteristic and threw his corpse into the Tussock River.
• At home, Lorry realized MI9 might be behind the abductions and wondered how he could face Lieutenant Colonel Vera.

Lorry visited Fors to report that he might obtain the Trickmaster formula and to discuss his discovery about the lieutenant colonel and MI9. Fors advised him to approach his friend directly, prompting Lorry to consider indirectly testing the lieutenant colonel’s attitude before deciding what to do.

• Lorry visited Fors and said he had found a way to obtain the Trickmaster formula for around four hundred pounds.
• Fors insisted on paying, and Lorry asked her to listen to a troubling situation and offer advice instead.
• Lorry described his suspicions about the lieutenant colonel, MI9, and the Arbiter he had killed.
• Fors advised Lorry to ask the lieutenant colonel directly if he trusted him, and Lorry decided he could first test the man’s attitude indirectly using a Psychiatrist’s Mind Reading.
• Fors invited Lorry to stay for dinner, then told him Xio had stopped reading Young Roselle after learning the author’s identity and finishing its first volume.

Lorry shared Feynapotter noodles with Fors, then teased Xio and revealed he had advanced to Sequence 8. He left Fors a cryptic message about praying to a god and went to visit Vera, whose arrival coincided with the red moon disappearing behind clouds.

• Fors served Lorry Feynapotter noodles, and he praised her cooking before Xio returned home.
• Xio mistook the noodles for takeout, ate them, and ordered Fors to change seats before realizing Fors had cooked them herself.
• Lorry told Xio he was courting Fors, claimed he had advanced to Sequence 8, and left her to decide which of his statements was true.
• Lorry asked Xio to tell Fors that she might try praying to a god when there was no way out, then left for West Borough.
• Lorry waited outside the lieutenant colonel's residence until Vera appeared behind him and asked why he had come.

Lorry learned that MI9 was nominally attached to the Military and loyal to the King, while Vera described the hunt for a missing MI9 Arbiter accused of running a trafficking ring. As Lorry accepted Hayes's file, a book in an East Borough apartment began recording a story about writer Miles stumbling upon a trafficking base.

• Lorry asked Vera who MI9 served, and Vera answered that they were loyal to His Majesty the King.
• Vera told Lorry that a missing MI9 Arbiter named Hayes was suspected of trafficking people and that the Nighthawks had dismantled the gangs he controlled.
• Vera gave Lorry copies of Hayes's information, and Lorry realized Vera knew nothing about the case's deeper implications.
• A book in an East Borough apartment turned to its final page and described Miles encountering a human-trafficking base at an abandoned harbor.

Altair’s written plan for Lorry and Vera to pursue the disappearances was altered when Lorry chose not to share his clues, leaving Altair shocked and furious. On his way home, Lorry decided to step back from the investigation and focus on making charms and preparing Albert’s Arbiter potion.

• Altair’s account of Lorry’s intended cooperation with Vera was changed, and he realized his Mystical Item had not made his writing come true.
• Altair cut his wrist and used his blood as ink to write again.
• Lorry decided not to give Vera the clues from Hayes or pursue the mission to locate him, so he would not draw the lieutenant colonel into danger.
• Lorry reviewed his plans to make money, advance Albert with an Arbiter potion, and prepare General Knowledge charms.
• Lorry arrived home and chose to study how to make General Knowledge charms.

Lorry prepared and administered the Arbiter potion to Albert, who grew larger and stronger without losing control. He then disguised himself as a wealthy merchant and met Qiao, hiring him as his first manager.

• Lorry bought the ingredients for the Arbiter potion, including scarce White-Maned Hunter Blood, and mixed the potion using Hayes's stone tablet.
• Lorry let Albert decide whether to drink the potion, and Albert drank it, grew larger and stronger, and remained obedient.
• Lorry practiced making General Knowledge charms, then disguised himself using identity documents and dressed to meet Qiao.
• At Savani Restaurant, Lorry told Qiao he needed a capable assistant and congratulated him on becoming the First Manager.

Lorry hired Qiao to manage the Ceramics Factory and sell forged Roselle diary manuscripts, then noticed the blood moon as Fors prayed to the Fool for help. After creating a General Knowledge charm, Lorry used it to recover forgotten memories and began searching for the original novel’s contents.

• Lorry gave Qiao the Ceramics Factory paperwork and employment contract, asked him to sell the forged Roselle manuscripts, and Qiao signed on as manager.
• Lorry and Qiao discussed the factory’s business transition over dinner, agreeing that Qiao would take over at the Harbor Borough factory the next day.
• Lorry saw the blood-red moon from his carriage and hoped Fors remembered his hint, while Fors, suffering through a crisis, prayed to the Fool to save her from becoming a monster.
• Lorry spent two days studying ritual magic and created a General Knowledge charm that let him recall forgotten things for ten minutes.
• Lorry activated the charm on his terrace, recovered memories from his past, and searched them for the original novel’s contents.

Lorry discovered that his memories of several Tarot Club pathways’ potion formulas had been blocked, though he could still recall the “Trickmaster” formula he had promised Fors. In the Saint George District, Fors avoided Xio’s invitation to a Beyonder Gathering and privately resolved to invite her and another person once she was allowed to bring new members.

• Lorry found the “Seer” formula missing from his memories and realized that formulas for several Tarot Club members’ pathways were also blank.
• Lorry reasoned that a powerful being had interfered with his memories, then decided to write down the “Trickmaster” formula for Fors.
• Xio urged Fors to get up and work on a new book, while Fors claimed she was still digesting her “Apprentice” potion.
• Xio invited Fors to a Beyonder Gathering, but Fors declined until she obtained the “Trickmaster” formula.
• After Xio left, Fors thought about the new gathering she had joined and planned to invite Xio and another person when she could.

Lorry proposed using private detectives to help MI9 investigate the serial murders, earning Vera’s approval and the promise of substantial merits. At the Tarot gathering, Audrey’s questions about Beyonder knowledge left her stunned when Fors already knew the Acting Method and the Law of Indestructibility of Beyonder Characteristics.

• Vera asked Lorry about the search for Hayes, then assigned him to help solve the serial murders.
• Lorry suggested requisitioning private detectives to assist MI9, and Vera agreed the plan was worth trying.
• Vera told Lorry his share of the merits could be worth at least one or two thousand pounds, then complained that the Old Gentleman kept mocking him and asking to be sent back to Lorry.
• Lorry stayed home researching Knowledge charms, studied Albert, and sold Fors the Trickmaster formula for four hundred pounds.
• At the Tarot gathering, Audrey asked Fors about the Acting Method and the Law of Indestructibility of Beyonder Characteristics.
• Fors correctly described the law, leaving Audrey frozen as the World, the Sun, the Hanged Man, and Mr. Fool stared at her in silence.

Fors joined the Tarot Club and revealed that she had paid over 1,000 pounds for the Acting Method and the Law of Indestructibility of Beyonder Characteristic, unsettling Justice and Klein. Klein allowed her to keep attending, and the gathering ended after Fors reported rumors about Capim’s human trafficking in Backlund.

• Justice questioned Fors about how she had learned the Acting Method and the Law of Indestructibility of Beyonder Characteristic, while Klein concealed his surprise.
• Fors said she had purchased the knowledge for over 1,000 pounds and refused to reveal the seller, but offered to leave the gatherings if Klein considered her a threat.
• Klein told Fors that the matter was minor and allowed her to remain in the Tarot Club.
• Fors shared rumors that the wealthy Backlund man Capim was involved in human trafficking and connected to missing girls.
• Klein ended the gathering as his spirituality ran low, then admitted that maintaining his godly image was becoming harder as the group grew.

Lorry skipped the Roselle Memorial Exhibition and spent the day studying mysticism before meeting Qiao to discuss the ceramics factory. He decided to keep its female workers employed while transforming the factory to produce protective masks on a massive scale.

• After reading that Klein had visited the Roselle Memorial Exhibition, Lorry decided to go another day and studied mysticism and charms instead.
• Lorry met Qiao at Savani Restaurant to discuss the ceramics factory and the results of a test.
• Qiao reported that the factory's backlog could take two years to fulfill and recommended selling the orders and changing production.
• Lorry ordered Qiao to retain as many female workers as possible and sell the existing orders and production equipment, while keeping the workers paid during the transition.
• Lorry revealed plans to produce dust- and germ-filtering masks inspired by Roselle's manuscripts and told Qiao to build up enough stock for five million people before year's end.

Lorry planned ways to use the Tarot Club to obtain Beyonder characteristics safely while considering how he might help save lives during the Great Smog. His thoughts were interrupted when a bloodied figure burst from a house as a crimson fireball exploded nearby.

• Lorry urged Qiao to buy production equipment and promised him a bonus if he met the goal before the end of the year.
• Qiao reported that his people had begun selling Lorry's test copies in busy port cities, with one already sold at the docks.
• Lorry considered asking Fors to help buy Mystery Pryer Beyonder characteristics and decided he might need Klein's help to reach Sun, Derrick.
• Lorry recalled that Amon hunted Marauder Beyonders and grew wary of the High Sequence Marauders in Backlund, so he considered obtaining characteristics through the Tarot Club or asking the Fool to cleanse them.
• Lorry sensed danger, put on the Shadow Ring, and saw a bedraggled figure escape through a bay window as a crimson fireball exploded and people cried for help.

Lorry was caught in the aftermath of a murder and warned by Bernadette to stop writing Young Roselle, while Klein also spoke with her about the serial murder case. Lorry decided to plan a new book instead, then went about his usual business the next day and began writing it.

• Lorry saw Klein flee the Devil Hound’s murder scene and was led by pea vines to Bernadette, who warned him not to write another volume of Young Roselle.
• Klein told Bernadette he was investigating the recent serial murders with his friends, and she warned him not to use a cursed key unless necessary.
• Lorry went to a nearby hotel, considered abandoning Young Roselle, and developed a plan for a new book before burning his notes.
• The next morning, Lorry attended the Roselle Memorial Exhibition and used a Knowledge charm to memorize two diary pages.
• Lorry visited a publishing house and the Backlund Morning Post, then returned home and began writing his new book.

Audrey joined Xio, Fors, Viscount Glaint, and Lorry on their way to a gathering that might offer a Spectator formula and clues about the Psychology Alchemists. On the carriage ride, they discussed the cliffhanger ending of Young Roselle, while Audrey grew curious about Lorry and the strained reactions between him and Xio.

• Klein read that the second volume of Young Roselle was nearing publication and agreed to help someone.
• Xio told Audrey that the gathering was taking place that afternoon and asked whether Fors could bring her friend Lorry.
• Audrey and Viscount Glaint met Lorry, who said he had obtained the Apothecary main ingredient information but lacked the supplementary ingredients.
• Audrey, Xio, Fors, Glaint, and Lorry boarded Glaint's carriage and set off for the gathering.
• Glaint brought up Young Roselle, and Xio called its author a bastard before Lorry noted that the second volume was about to go on sale.