Chapter Summaries

Nausicaä realized that the Valley of the Wind might be infiltrated by people behind Pejite’s downfall and warned Yupa that explorers among the refugees could be planning to seize the valley. With the refugees still seven or eight days away and the valley’s militia outmatched, Mu En said there was enough time to prepare.

• Nausicaä feared that hidden agents might provoke the people of the Valley of the Wind into fighting one another, and Mu En reassured her that her family’s standing gave her strong support.
• Nausicaä asked Yupa how many refugees were coming and learned that about two hundred were on the way, roughly a third of them former explorers.
• Nausicaä explained her suspicions to Yupa, connecting strange incidents in the valley to the events that led to Pejite’s downfall.
• Yupa questioned whether Tolmekia or the refugees had a clear motive, but Nausicaä argued that the explorers’ departure from the Sea of Corruption was suspicious.
• Yupa warned that the explorers’ weapons and experience would overwhelm the valley’s lightly armed militia, while Nausicaä could not find a sure plan.
• Yupa estimated that the refugees would arrive in seven or eight days, and Mu En said that was enough time.

Nausicaä told Yupa about Mu En, the Erdtree, and the plan to create Blessed fighters to defend the Valley of the Wind from invaders. Yupa agreed to meet Mu En and saw the valley’s contaminated fields and militia, while worrying that the inexperienced defenders would be outmatched.

• Mu En reassured Nausicaä that he could create Blessed fighters by gathering faith and teaching them healing incantations.
• Nausicaä introduced Yupa to the Erdtree and demonstrated Erdtree's Favor, asking him to help save the Valley of the Wind.
• Mito saw the giant weed that had damaged the castle wall and went to find a stonemason.
• Yupa agreed to meet Mr. Tree because Nausicaä was his student and the Valley of the Wind was his homeland.
• Yupa and Nausicaä passed the contaminated farmland and saw a patrol of female militia members carrying rifles.
• Yupa worried that the inexperienced militia would be unable to withstand the expedition teams.

Yupa witnessed the Erdtree’s blessing rapidly grow a wheat field, but learned that the miracle depleted the soil. When Mu En offered him power and long life in exchange for fighting for the Erdtree, Yupa refused, wary that the blessing might carry a hidden cost.

• Beruto used Erdtree’s Favor to grow a field of wheat in minutes, leaving Yupa awed by the harvest.
• Yupa examined the depleted soil of a recently harvested potato field, and Nausicaä explained that the rapid growth required the land to recover.
• Nausicaä brought Yupa to Mu En, who assessed his strength and offered him a powerful blessing in exchange for fighting for the Erdtree.
• Yupa declined Mu En’s offer because he suspected the blessing had a hidden price and wanted to learn more first.

Nausicaä challenged Yupa to a duel, wagering that he would reconsider the Erdtree’s proposal if she won. Their fight revealed her extraordinary strength, but Yupa shattered their ceramic steel sword before the duel’s outcome was settled.

• Nausicaä offered Yupa a duel to show him the Erdtree’s power, and he agreed to reconsider the proposal if she won.
• Mu En agreed to protect both fighters from serious injury and told Nausicaä to fight without holding back.
• Yupa attacked Nausicaä with a ceramic steel sword, but she caught its tip with her fingers and endured his kick without yielding.
• Nausicaä overpowered Yupa in a contest of strength, forcing his feet into the soft ground.
• Yupa twisted with all his strength, warping and shattering the ceramic steel sword.

Nausicaä and Yupa began a full-strength spar beneath the Erdtree, whose blessing healed their injuries. Yupa’s ghostly footwork overwhelmed her at first, but when he could not pierce her defenses, Nausicaä charged him with sheer force.

• Nausicaä explained that the Erdtree could heal injuries sustained beneath it, and Yupa prepared to fight her seriously.
• Yupa used deceptive footwork and rapid sword strikes to keep Nausicaä in his blind spots and force her onto the defensive.
• Nausicaä retreated after a fierce exchange, and her shallow wounds began healing while Yupa reconsidered his tactics.
• Nausicaä abandoned elaborate sword techniques, channeled her strength into her legs, and charged Yupa like a cannonball.

Nausicaä fought Yupa until he used one of the Ohmu Twin Swords to defeat her, then accepted his lesson about experience and hidden techniques. At a welcome banquet, Nausicaä prepared to discuss Mu En's plan to break with the Valley of the Wind's traditions and prepare for the coming crisis.

• Nausicaä and Yupa continued their exhausting duel until Yupa drew his shortsword and cleanly cut through her ceramic steel sword and sleeve, lightly wounding her arm.
• Nausicaä admitted defeat, and Yupa praised her strength while reminding her to use the combat techniques he had taught her.
• Nausicaä and Yupa returned to the castle, where elders had prepared a modest welcome banquet for Yupa.
• Nausicaä gathered the Valley of the Wind's leaders at the banquet to discuss combining Yupa's welcome with a festival and following Mu En's plan to break with tradition.

Nausicaä hosted Yupa and his companions to a remarkable meal made from vegetables grown with Erdtree’s Favor, then announced a celebration to reveal the Erdtree and honor those who helped the Valley of the Wind. She explained that the celebration was also tied to a grave danger revealed by Yupa’s news about the Kingdom of Pejite.

• Yupa, Eliana, and her son praised the meal, while Yupa declared the roasted vegetables better than anything he had eaten recently.
• Mito paid Beruto their wager after Yupa’s praise confirmed that Beruto’s dishes had won.
• Beruto explained that Erdtree’s Favor had produced giant, unusually sweet vegetables, and Nausicaä asked him to prepare food for a celebration banquet.
• Nausicaä said the celebration would reveal the Erdtree’s role in saving the valley and recognize people who had helped protect it.
• Nausicaä told the elders about the tragedy of the Kingdom of Pejite, leaving them alarmed that someone was secretly attacking northern nations and seizing their homes.

Nausicaä, Mu En, and the Valley of the Wind’s elders planned a celebration to strengthen faith in the Erdtree and reward villagers who had helped the territory. They named it the Festival of Grace and outlined a ceremony meant to mark the end of the famine.

• Nausicaä explained the celebration plans and a new system of commendations, and the elders supported the changes to the Valley of the Wind.
• Gol suggested giving the celebration an official name, and Mu En proposed the “Model Worker Commendation Conference,” which Nausicaä and the elders found unsuitable.
• After discussing names, Nausicaä and the others designated September first as the annual Festival of Grace, with awards of food, blessings, money, and wishes for outstanding contributors.
• Yupa urged the planners to make the celebration memorable, and Nausicaä described a ceremony with a platform, speeches, Erdtree Marks, and rewards.
• Nausicaä said Beruto would plant seeds beside the gathering site so Mu En could ripen the crops during the festival and let the villagers witness the end of the famine.

As the Valley of the Wind prepared for the Festival of Grace, Mu En watched his followers organize the celebration while secretly plotting residents made plans to act. The next morning, an explosion set the southern granaries ablaze, and Nausicaä rushed out to protect the grain.

• Yupa, Gol, Mito, Beruto, and Nausicaä organized the Festival of Grace, assigning the venue, security, banquet, and ceremonies.
• Gol, Beruto, and Nausicaä’s teams began preparations while Mu En watched and wondered when he could move freely again.
• Several residents met secretly in the tavern and agreed to act the following day, with outside support expected in a few days.
• An explosion started a fire near the village’s southern granaries the next morning.
• Nausicaä heard a call for help, learned from Mu En that the granaries were burning, and rushed outside in her nightclothes.

Mu En discovered that someone had soaked the Valley of the Wind’s granaries in fuel oil, causing the fire to spread in explosions. As Pao remained trapped inside, Beruto and Gol used the Law of Regression to extinguish the flames before they could consume the remaining grain.

• Gol recognized fuel oil near the burning granary, but an explosion engulfed two guards when the fire reached the second building.
• Gol and a surviving guard dragged the injured men away from the blaze as villagers gathered at the granaries.
• Beruto ordered the farmers to save the remaining grain, then learned that Pao had rushed inside and was still trapped.
• Beruto tried to enter the burning granary, but Gol stopped him and warned that fuel oil made the fire too dangerous.
• Mu En taught Beruto and Gol the Law of Regression, and the two used its golden light to extinguish flames across much of the granary.

Nausicaä arrived at the burning barns and used the Law of Regression to extinguish the fire, revealing Pao badly burned but still alive. Beruto collapsed from exhaustion, and Nausicaä promised to save Pao as her anger began to press upon those nearby.

• Beruto and Gol took turns using incantations to suppress the flames as they entered the smoke-filled barn to search for Pao.
• Nausicaä rushed through the fire unharmed and used the Law of Regression to extinguish every flame across the barns.
• Nausicaä, Gol, and Beruto emerged from the ruins and found Pao gravely burned and missing an arm.
• Beruto collapsed while trying to heal Pao and begged Nausicaä to save him.
• Nausicaä promised to save Pao as her palpable anger spread, causing Gol and Yupa pain.

After the barn fire, Nausicaä used the Erdtree’s power to heal Pao, two injured guards, and the gathered villagers. The villagers witnessed the miracle, and faith in the Erdtree began to grow among them.

• Nausicaä carried the badly burned Pao from the barn and asked the Grannies to tend the injured firefighters.
• The Grannies recognized that the two guards’ burns were beyond their ability to treat, so Nausicaä stepped in.
• Nausicaä used the Erdtree’s power to heal Pao, restoring his burned skin and saving his life.
• Nausicaä invoked the Erdtree’s blessing, and its golden light healed the guards and everyone gathered in the square.
• The villagers wondered whether the Erdtree’s arrival was real, and seeds of faith began to take root among them.

After a fire destroyed the granary, Nausicaä calmed the villagers by revealing that the Erdtree had provided the grain and promising that their food crisis was over. She announced a celebration that night as the villagers cheered and lined up for food.

• The villagers gathered at the burned granary and feared that the loss of its grain meant famine was coming.
• Nausicaä told the crowd that the Erdtree had healed them and provided the grain to help the Valley of the Wind through the crisis.
• Yiduo secretly signaled agitators to question the Erdtree and spread fear, but villagers challenged them and Mu En identified the ringleaders.
• Nausicaä admitted that she had failed to take precautions, then announced a celebration at the forest's edge that night.
• Nausicaä reassured the villagers that the burned grain was only a small portion of the supply and told them to line up for food, prompting cheers for her.

Nausicaä restored order after the granary fire and decided to watch the suspected agitators rather than arrest them, while Mu En explained that he had suspected a plot to destroy trust between the rulers and the people. At the granary, Gol’s investigation uncovered a damaged fuel-tank safety seal, raising the question of where the arsonist had obtained fuel.

• Mito and the militia distributed the rescued wheat, giving everyone in the valley a full meal.
• Nausicaä told Mito not to arrest the suspected agitators yet and said Master Yupa could help track them down.
• Mu En told Nausicaä that he suspected a mastermind was deliberately undermining trust between the rulers and the people.
• Gol and the foremen searched the burned granary and found a fuel-tank safety seal with fresh scratches.

Yiduo berated his accomplices after their plot against Nausicaä failed, but they planned to join the arriving reinforcements and seize the castle. As the group prepared to attend the celebration, Lord Yupa confronted them at Yiduo’s door.

• Yiduo blamed Barton, Huo'er, Huomu, and Jijinsi for botching the fire and the attempt to turn villagers against Nausicaä.
• Barton, Huo'er, and Huomu defended their actions, while Jijinsi argued that Nausicaä’s apparent powers had left them helpless.
• Huomu suggested killing Pao, but no one volunteered to carry it out.
• Jijinsi proposed that they join the reinforcements arriving in a few days, capture Nausicaä, and earn the lord’s favor.
• Yiduo opened his door and found Lord Yupa waiting, calling them traitors of the Valley of the Wind.

Yupa captured five villagers conspiring with an unknown Tolmekian agent, then turned his attention to the celebration and the threat of incoming reinforcements. At the gathering, Nausicaä celebrated the end of the famine and blamed Tolmekia’s plundering for the Valley of the Wind’s suffering.

• Yupa confronted Yiduo and knocked out Barton, the Huo brothers, and Jijinsi after they threatened him and revealed their contact with a “lord.”
• Yupa inferred that a Tolmekian agent was behind the plot and that the rumored reinforcements were likely the group of explorers.
• Villagers gathered beneath the Erdtree for a celebration featuring a large grain reserve, with rewards promised to outstanding performers.
• Nausicaä welcomed the villagers, celebrated Yupa’s return and the end of the famine, and declared Tolmekia’s plundering the cause of the Valley’s suffering.

Nausicaä rallied the people of the Valley of the Wind against Tolmekia and credited the Erdtree with saving them from hunger and disaster. Mu En used Erdtree's Favor to heal the villagers and transform an empty field into a thriving vegetable garden, leaving them cheering for the Erdtree.

• Nausicaä condemned Tolmekia's oppression and urged the people to recognize the suffering it had caused.
• Nausicaä presented the Erdtree as the source of the Valley's healing, abundant crops, and rescue from the fire.
• Nausicaä pointed to an empty field and asked Mu En to demonstrate what the Erdtree could provide.
• Mu En swept the crowd with golden light, healing their aches and hidden injuries before turning the field into a vegetable garden.
• Nausicaä promised rewards to those who believed in the Erdtree and helped the Valley prosper, and the villagers cheered as faith flowed to Mu En.

After the villagers’ faith replenished Mu En’s depleted Rune reserves, a new domain formed within his Erdtree body. Inside it, he discovered a Stone Platform resembling the Elden Ring battlefield, where an enormous Golden Seed had begun to take shape.

• More than three hundred villagers began producing faith after witnessing Mu En’s miracles, and their belief rapidly replenished his Rune reserves.
• Mu En sensed a new space forming inside his trunk and soul as it absorbed a small amount of Rune energy.
• Mu En entered the completed domain and recognized it as the Stone Platform from his previous life’s battle with the Elden Beast.
• Mu En searched the empty, bounded domain but found no Elden Beast or other signs of life.
• Mu En noticed Runes gathering beneath the water at the domain’s center and discovered a gigantic Golden Seed forming there.

Mu En discovered a Golden Seed growing as part of his body and considered how it might let him expand beyond the Valley of the Wind. At the celebration, Nausicaä honored the villagers who helped during the disasters, promised future rewards for their work, and opened the banquet.

• Mu En found a Golden Seed beneath the water and sensed it might let him grow a new body elsewhere.
• Nausicaä and Yupa recognized fifty-three villagers for helping fight the forest disaster, the granary fire, and the famine.
• Mu En bestowed Erdtree Marks on the honored villagers as signs of recognition and possible future eligibility for divine power.
• Nausicaä promised the villagers more opportunities to earn rewards and improve their families' lives through their work.
• Nausicaä raised a cup and declared the celebration's banquet open.

At the Valley of the Wind’s banquet, villagers and Nausicaä tasted dishes made from blessed crops and celebrated the abundance Mu En had brought them. The feast won Mu En nearly two hundred new believers, but as the village settled for the night, he resolved to hurry their preparations because the enemy would not wait.

• Beruto organized the villagers to roast blessed vegetables and serve them with wheat flatbreads, vegetable porridge, and fresh grape juice.
• Nausicaä tasted the feast and marveled at the flavors, while hungry villagers praised the food and eagerly ate their fill.
• Mu En watched the celebration as nearly two hundred people became new believers, bringing the Valley of the Wind’s believers to eighty percent of its villagers.
• The food ran out quickly, so Beruto hurriedly ripened more crops to supply the demand for vegetable skewers.
• Villagers played instruments and danced late into the night, and Mu En decided they needed to pick up the pace because the enemy would not wait.