Chapter Summaries

Horace Loux sought counsel from Miriel at the Church of Vows about finding a safe home for his tribe, while Rellana remained suspicious of him. Miriel spoke of the Carian sisters’ ties to the full moon and the Dark Moon, leaving Horace Loux wondering whether his own moon-related fate was connected to Rellana.

• Rellana questioned Horace Loux’s vague account of being a traveler, while Miriel urged them to set aside their weapons and speak peacefully.
• Horace Loux told Miriel that he had led his people in search of a home and that their unfamiliar arrival might provoke suspicion from Caria and the academy.
• Rellana excused herself to patrol the church grounds, leaving Horace Loux alone with Miriel.
• Horace Loux explained his tribe’s difficulties more frankly, saying they wanted land to recover in peace and bore no ill will toward local powers.
• Miriel described how the elder Carian sister encountered the full moon while the younger was touched by both the full moon and the Dark Moon.
• Horace Loux wondered whether his own moon-related Forge Fate and his resonance with Rellana pointed toward the twin moons.

After Miriel offered Horace Loux and his people sanctuary and warned him about Rellana’s unusual interest, Rellana confronted Horace Loux and attacked him. He fought back, and their battle began as he noticed a possible weakness in her alternating sorceries and pyromancy.

• Miriel advised Horace Loux that Rellana’s fate might be shaped by the twin moons and offered his people temporary shelter near the Church of Vows.
• Miriel warned Horace Loux that Rellana’s wariness might stem from an unusual connection between them.
• Rellana blocked Horace Loux’s path and demanded he prove himself through combat, striking first with Grandeur of Caria.
• Horace Loux dodged the enormous glintstone blade, drew his twin swords, and parried Rellana’s thrust as the fight began.
• Rellana combined Glintstone Sorcery and volcanic pyromancy in her swordplay, while Horace Loux noticed that her two powers seemed to weaken when the other grew strong.

Horace Loux defeated Rellana by interrupting her sorcery and striking her with Bayle’s Tyranny. After admitting defeat, Rellana unexpectedly asked him to kill her, leaving him baffled.

• Horace Loux interrupted Rellana’s attack with a Glintstone strike, then narrowly parried her flaming sword thrust and retreated.
• Rellana summoned her Twin Moons while Horace Loux leaped above them and unleashed Bayle’s Tyranny.
• The lightning struck Rellana as she descended, injuring her and dispersing the powers of her paired swords.
• Rellana admitted defeat and asked Horace Loux to kill her, leaving him stunned by her awkward request.

Horace Loux carried the injured Rellana back to the Church of Vows and tried to arrange treatment for her. When she refused to remove her armor, he began undoing it while Miriel ignored her plea for help, leaving Rellana stunned and feeling abandoned.

• Horace Loux decided Rellana was too injured to leave alone and carried her back to the Church of Vows.
• Miriel directed Horace Loux to medicinal powders and ointments, explaining it could not prepare them with its forefeet.
• Horace Loux told Rellana she needed treatment, but she refused to remove her armor and insisted she could manage alone.
• Horace Loux began undoing Rellana's armor clasps despite her protests, and she called to Miriel for help.
• Miriel gazed at the moon and recited a soothing remark instead of intervening, leaving Rellana frozen in disbelief.

Horace Loux treated Rellana's injuries at Miriel's church, but she remained furious with him. After Horace Loux argued that she owed him gratitude for saving her, Rellana fainted from anger or her worsening injuries, leaving him unable to question her.

• Horace Loux removed Rellana's armor, treated her burns and other wounds with Miriel's medicine, and helped her take oral medicine.
• Miriel suggested Rellana could offer Horace Loux's people a chance to connect with Caria and find a place to settle, but Horace Loux decided the timing was wrong.
• Horace Loux chose to wait until morning before bringing his people through the dangerous woods and tried to speak with Rellana.
• Rellana threatened to kill Horace Loux once she recovered, and he argued that she should thank him for saving her after their fight.
• Rellana grew so enraged by Horace Loux's argument that she fainted before he could ask her anything.

Rellana woke at the Church of Vows after Horace Loux left, regretting that she had ignored her sister Rennala’s advice and refusing to accept any bond with him. When Hesa returned with his people settled nearby, he tended her wounds while she kept her distance, leaving their relationship and his hopes of reaching Caria unresolved.

• Horace Loux left the Church of Vows at dawn to bring his people near it, while Rellana pretended to sleep beneath a blanket.
• Miriel spoke to Rellana about fate and unexpected bonds, and Rellana admitted that she regretted coming and not listening to Rennala.
• Hesa returned after settling his people near the church and tried to reach an understanding with Rellana, who rejected his overtures.
• At Miriel’s suggestion, Hesa changed Rellana’s wound dressings, and she endured the treatment in silence.
• Uncle Uge reported that the camp was stable, while Hesa considered using Rellana to open communication with Caria.

Horace Loux used the shamans’ possible Numen ancestry to open negotiations with Rellana, who agreed to a cautious, restricted stay for his tribe near the church. The chapter ended with a tentative handshake and an unrelated note questioning why Queen Yadira forbade research into the primeval current.

• Horace Loux told Rellana that rescued shamans among his people called themselves Numen and suggested they might share distant ties with Caria.
• Rellana reconsidered the tribe’s intentions and agreed that the Carian Family could not leave the shamans to fend for themselves.
• Rellana allowed Horace Loux’s tribe to stay near the church while Caria verified their origins and restricted their movements.
• Horace Loux offered Rellana his hand, and she briefly accepted, saying the reconciliation was only for her family’s interests.
• The narrator noted that Azur, Lusat, and Sellen had been expelled after pursuing the primeval current, and questioned why Queen Yadira forbade that research.

Rellana returned to Caria Manor with Horace Loux, a tribal leader she had met and fought, and Rennala questioned her about their encounter and the mysterious pull connected to the moon. Rennala considered the tribe’s possible ties to Caria and teased Rellana about marrying Hesa, leaving her sister flustered and suspicious.

• Rennala worried when Rellana returned late from investigating the pull, then hurried to greet her and found Horace Loux accompanying her.
• Rennala welcomed Horace Loux to Caria Manor and invited him to discuss his tribe’s circumstances and Rellana’s report.
• After Horace Loux went to rest, Rennala took Rellana to her study, where Rellana recounted meeting, fighting, and being defeated by him, along with the tribe’s situation and its Numen shaman.
• Rennala learned that Rellana’s moonlike pull had reacted strongly to Horace Loux and considered whether his tribe might naturally favor Caria over the Academy.
• Rennala teased Rellana by suggesting a marriage alliance with Horace Loux, prompting Rellana to angrily deny liking him.

Rennala assigned Rellana to handle further contact with Horace Loux and his tribe as Caria investigated their background. Horace Loux learned that the Formless Mother had sensed the sealed Scarlet Rot beneath Liurnia, and he placated her curiosity while putting off any visit to the seal.

• Rennala told Rellana to coordinate with Horace Loux while Caria investigated his tribe and discussed their settlement.
• The Formless Mother contacted Horace Loux and revealed her excitement at sensing rot beneath Liurnia.
• Horace Loux recognized the presence as the sealed Scarlet Rot in the underground Lake of Rot and explained its danger to the Formless Mother.
• The Formless Mother asked to see the rot's wounds, but Horace Loux urged careful preparation and long-term consideration to delay her request.
• The Formless Mother rewarded Horace Loux with a surge of cursed-blood, which he channeled into the Gate of Myriad Laws.

Horace Loux secured Caria’s support for his tribe in exchange for opposing the Academy of Raya Lucaria and providing Caria with a rune-enhanced force. He began forming the Order of the Great Rune Knights, binding its members to virtues and a strict prohibition on killing in return for powerful collective combat abilities.

• The Carian Family granted Horace Loux’s tribe territory on the Eastern Tableland, access to True Magic and practical skills, and asked them to draw the Academy into costly negotiations while supporting Caria’s operations.
• Horace Loux accepted the arrangement and returned to the tribal camp, where he announced cooperation with Caria and began selecting recruits as Carian mages and artisans arrived to teach.
• Horace Loux named his planned force the Order of the Great Rune Knights and attempted to place Great Runes on the organization itself rather than on individual warriors.
• With energy supplied by the Formless Mother, Horace Loux established the [Uphold the Knightly Virtues] Great Rune, which strengthened the order as members practiced its eight virtues.
• Horace Loux also established the [Never Take a Life] Great Rune, forbidding members from actively killing in battle in exchange for exceptional defense, poise, and regeneration.

Horace Loux established a nurses' corps to support his growing force and continued building the Eastern Tableland settlement while learning Carian True Magic from Rellana. The first fifty recruits developed into a disciplined, heavily armored Inquisitor Knight Order, though Horace Loux had to postpone his plans to equip them with greatbows.

• Horace Loux formed the Blood Sorcerer Order, publicly presenting the rescued Numen witches as battlefield healers while they secretly used enemy blood to heal warriors and sustain the Great Runes.
• Horace Loux oversaw the Eastern Tableland camp's construction and began training young tribesmen as knights under the influence of the [Observe Knightly Virtues] and [Never Kill] Great Runes.
• Rellana reluctantly taught Horace Loux Carian True Magic beside the lake, but his quick understanding and questions frustrated her attempts to make him struggle.
• The first fifty recruits became disciplined shield-bearers and spearmen, impressing Carian observers with their heavy armor, formations, and resilience against arrows and True Magic.
• Horace Loux shelved his plan to equip the knights with greatbows because the tribe lacked skilled bowyers and Caria could not provide a quick solution.

Horace Loux negotiated with the Academy of Raya Lucaria for glintstone artisans, using Caria’s support to pressure the academy into lending five artisans to his tribe. He signed a restrictive magical contract, though the contract’s true power remained uncertain.

• Horace Loux demanded sorcery knowledge and ten glintstone artisans from the academy’s envoy, who refused and returned to report.
• Horace Loux urged Rellana to have Caria increase its support, and Rennala supplied combat sorcery scrolls while Caria sent artisans and helped plan fortifications.
• The academy offered increasingly generous terms, but Horace Loux continued to insist on glintstone artisans and hinted that he might accept a politically significant marriage proposal from Caria.
• The academy agreed to lend five artisans for a year under a contract restricting the tribe’s use of their techniques and requiring neutrality in conflicts between Caria and the academy.
• Horace Loux signed the magical contract, which took effect, while the narrator noted that its actual force was unclear.

Horace Loux used the Great Runes System to weaken the True Magic contract’s binding and burned it without triggering backlash. Rellana left in a fury and embarrassment, while Horace Loux still expected to receive five Glintstone Artisans.

• Rellana confronted Horace Loux for signing a contract that promised her sister, but he said it had secured five Glintstone Artisans.
• Horace Loux briefly overrode the contract’s rules with a Great Rune, damaging its binding link and weakening its ability to punish him.
• Horace Loux burned the contract, and no True Magic backlash occurred, leaving Rellana stunned.
• Horace Loux teased Rellana about her anger, and she hit her head on the doorframe while trying to storm out.
• Rellana rushed away in embarrassment, and Horace Loux remarked that she had not changed as he anticipated receiving the five artisans.

Several years passed as Horace developed Lakeside Town, studied sorcery with Lusat, and refined rituals that shaped the Formless Mother's response. His companionship with Rellana grew less hostile, while the chapter also noted Rennala's close ties to the academy's sorcery masters.

• Horace transformed the Eastern Tableland into Lakeside Town and sent promising tribal youths to the academy to train as future Great Rune Knights.
• Lusat gave Horace the scroll for Ruinous Stars, a sorcery linked to the Primeval Current that Lusat had never taught anyone.
• Horace developed healing bloodletting rituals to redirect the Formless Mother's attention, and he sensed Her Grace becoming gentler and Her power more freely given.
• Over several years, Rellana watched Horace lead Lakeside Town and gradually became accustomed to living and working alongside him, though neither addressed their unspoken feelings.
• The chapter described Rennala's knowledge of sorceries from the Karolos and Olivinus Conspectuses as evidence of her good relationships with Azur and the academy's primeval sorcerers.

As Lakeside Town prospered, the Academy and Caria grew more wary of Horace, while tensions between them intensified. Horace and Rellana discussed the coming conflict and their loyalties, leaving Rellana to reaffirm her duty to Caria.

• Lakeside Town's trade brought wealth and growth, but the Academy tightened controls on knowledge and sensitive supplies.
• Caria's rising ambitions and fear of Horace made his position as an ally to both sides increasingly precarious, while Rennala sent Rellana more frequent and specific instructions.
• Rellana warned Horace that the Academy was investigating his contact with Master Lusat and that the masters faced pressure over Primeval Current True Magic.
• Horace told Rellana he would support whichever side let Lakeside Town and its people survive, or leave to build a new home.
• Rellana said a decisive conflict was near and declared that, as Rennala's sister and a knight of Caria, her duty and path were already chosen.

Horace sent one hundred Inquisitor Knights to Caria Manor as hired, temporary support for Rellana, strengthening Rennala’s plans against the Academy while preserving Lakeside Town’s deniability. Rennala teased Rellana about her ties to Horace, and rumors about their relationship spread through the manor as Rellana focused on the coming operation.

• Horace reasoned that many Academy sorcerers might stay neutral or secretly favor Rennala, then sent Uriel and one hundred Inquisitor Knights with Rellana to Caria Manor.
• Uriel explained that the knights were hired for temporary assistance and would have no knowledge of Caria’s plans until it officially acted.
• Rennala welcomed the support, arranged for the knights’ deployment, and teased Rellana about whether she had given in to Horace.
• Rumors about Horace and Rellana’s relationship spread through Caria Manor, frustrating Rellana as she concentrated on planning the operation.
• A note cited Sellen’s words about fate moving with the stars and suggested that she might belong to the Carian royal family.

Horace watched Rennala’s forces take the Academy of Raya Lucaria with almost no resistance, then weighed whether to accept her offer of a noble title and bring Lakeside Town under the Kingdom of Caria. The chapter left him considering the terms of joining, while raising questions about Sellen’s place in Caria’s succession and who controlled the academy.

• Horace watched moon-white light rise above the Academy of Raya Lucaria as Rennala’s takeover began.
• Uriel returned with the Inquisitor Knights and reported that the academy’s defenders offered almost no resistance and suffered no casualties.
• Uriel told Horace that Rennala had declared the Kingdom of Caria and invited him to an investiture ceremony.
• Horace considered how accepting or refusing Rennala’s title would affect Lakeside Town’s independence and security.
• Horace reflected on Sellen’s succession rights and wondered who had silenced the sorcery professors and held the academy’s supreme power.

Horace Loux was invested as Marquess Horace of the Eastern Tableland and Lakeside Town at Raya Lucaria, where Rellana unexpectedly embraced him during the celebration. After leaving the banquet, Horace saw Rellana waiting by a courtyard fountain but chose not to approach her, while Rennala arranged further talks for the next day.

• Horace Loux traveled from Lakeside Town to Raya Lucaria for his investiture.
• Rennala granted Horace Loux the title of marquess, the Eastern Tableland and Lakeside Town as his domain, and authority to maintain a knightly order.
• Rellana embraced Horace while returning his toast, then blushed and fled the hall after Rennala teased her.
• Rennala gave Horace permission to leave the banquet and said she would meet with him for more in-depth talks the next day.
• Horace passed Rellana sulking beside a fountain but continued on to his guest room without speaking to her.

Horace and Rellana reconciled after she thanked him for supporting Caria, and he prepared to negotiate the terms of his vassalage. The next morning, Horace asked Queen Rennala for broad autonomy over his troops and territory, especially the power to establish local laws and courts, leaving Rennala to weigh his demands.

• Horace reassured Rellana that her gratitude had reached him and thanked her for helping his knights serve in Caria.
• Rellana welcomed Horace as Caria’s new marquis, while he said he would accept vassalage only if the terms suited Lakeside Town and his people.
• Horace met Queen Rennala privately and asked for military autonomy, with command of the Order of the Great Rune Knights under his control.
• Horace sought authority over civil administration, taxation, territorial courts, and local laws in Lakeside Town and the Eastern Tableland.
• Rennala considered Horace’s request for independent judicial and legislative authority, recognizing both its risks and its potential value to Caria.

Horace secured provisional Judicial Authority for Lakeside Town under a three-year royal review, while Rennala pressed him about Rellana and hinted at a future royal marriage. After leaving the meeting, Horace focused on his duties as the chapter shifted to speculation about Radahn’s horse and possible interference in Rennala’s and Blaidd’s minds.

• Rennala granted Horace Judicial Authority subject to royal legal oversight, approval of death sentences, and a three-year assessment.
• Rennala asked Horace how he felt about Rellana, and he said he had no time to pursue romance; Rennala revealed that the royal family had begun forging a Moonlight Greatsword.
• Rennala told Horace that his investiture document and agreement would be ready within three days, and Horace left the council chamber focused on Lakeside Town’s reforms.
• The narrator speculated that Radagon had given young Radahn his frail red-maned horse and that Radahn soon learned gravity magic.
• The narrator questioned who had allowed the White King to come to the academy and suggested that light might have been used to interfere with Rennala’s mind and drive Blaidd mad.