Chapter Summaries

Nausicaä traveled with the Valley of the Wind’s caravan to Mining Town for the Commercial Federation’s trade gathering and learned about the ancient flying-ship ruin beneath the settlement. After meeting Chairman Haideng, she sensed that he and Elder Trudeau secretly disliked each other, leaving her wondering what had happened between them.

• Nausicaä rode with Elder Trudeau toward Mining Town as he explained that the settlement was built over a vast Ceramic Steel ruin believed to be an ancient flying ship.
• The Valley of the Wind’s caravan reached Mining Town, where Nausicaä saw many aircraft, including a distinctive wooden Dorok ship.
• Trudeau introduced Nausicaä to Chairman Haideng, Pejite’s minister of commerce and head of the Commercial Federation, and the caravan completed registration.
• As the caravan entered its assigned camp, Nausicaä sensed that Trudeau and Haideng inwardly disliked each other and wondered whether they had a past grievance.

Nausicaä and Trudeau prepared the Valley of the Wind’s booth at the joint gathering’s nations’ exhibition area. After renting counters and arranging their goods, they opened the display as the morning sun reached the market.

• Nausicaä and Trudeau toured the exhibition hall and viewed goods displayed by several countries.
• Trudeau explained that only a dozen or so countries qualified for the nations’ exhibition area and warned Nausicaä that Haideng held grudges.
• Trudeau paid two gold snake coins to rent counters for the first half of the gathering, despite the attendant’s stated four-coin fee.
• Trudeau told Nausicaä that Haideng had imposed extra fees and had previously ended gatherings early with false warnings.
• Nausicaä and the Valley of the Wind’s caravan arranged their exhibits under Trudeau’s direction, and the booth opened for business.

Nausicaä and Trudeau opened the Valley of the Wind’s stall at Mining Town’s exhibition, showcasing giant Blessed Crops, grape juice, and soybean oil. As merchants gathered to sample the food, a grating voice interrupted them with a warning.

• Nausicaä and her companions arrived in Mining Town on the exhibition’s third day, with many stalls still vacant.
• Trudeau presented the Valley of the Wind’s giant Blessed Crops, grape juice, and soybean oil to attract merchants.
• A goateed merchant praised his own region’s Fruit Vine while dismissing the Valley of the Wind’s wine.
• Trudeau explained the crops’ qualities as merchants speculated about their origins.
• Nausicaä brought out samples of the crops and Blessed grape juice for the merchants to taste.
• An unknown speaker shouted, “Wait!” just as the merchants were about to sample the food.

Nausicaä defended the Valley of the Wind’s Blessed Grape Juice after Muhadi denounced it at the exhibition. The merchants sampled the drink, rejected Muhadi’s claims, and rushed to place orders as he left in disgrace.

• Muhadi tasted the Blessed Grape Juice, spat it out, and criticized its sweetness and quality in front of the gathered merchants.
• Trudeau tried to explain that the product was grape juice rather than wine, but Muhadi accused the Valley of the Wind of cheating customers and selling inferior goods.
• Nausicaä explained that the juice was intended as an affordable drink for commoners and announced that it cost two Gold Snake Coins per barrel.
• Nausicaä arranged for merchants to sample the juice, and they found it delicious and judged Muhadi’s accusations false.
• Nausicaä challenged Muhadi’s belief that only expensive goods were proper business, and he left the booth in anger.
• The merchants eagerly placed orders and asked about the Valley of the Wind’s other Blessed Crops products.

Nausicaä promoted the Valley of the Wind’s products to merchants, and a demonstration of its inexpensive soybean oil and fried potato patties drew an excited crowd. As the stand became the exhibition’s main attraction, Asbel, prince of Pejite, asked Nausicaä to speak privately about an important matter.

• Nausicaä limited grape juice purchases and directed bulk-order merchants to Elder Trudeau to negotiate contracts.
• Merchants inspected the vegetables and grape juice, while Nausicaä recognized that some hoped to plant the crops as seeds.
• Nausicaä introduced soybean oil, and villagers prepared and fried potato and onion patties as a demonstration.
• The crowd praised the patties, and Nausicaä announced that a barrel of soybean oil cost only five silver snake coins.
• Merchants surged around the Valley of the Wind’s stand to secure soybean oil as Asbel introduced himself and requested a private discussion with Nausicaä.

Asbel, the prince of Pejite, met Nausicaä after tasting the Valley of the Wind’s potato pancakes and brought her to Pejite’s vast arms and aircraft exhibition. He proposed buying out the Valley of the Wind’s agricultural products and securing an exclusive supply for Pejite.

• Asbel arrived at the gathering with Haideng, tasted a potato pancake at the Valley of the Wind’s booth, and approached Nausicaä to discuss business.
• Asbel led Nausicaä, Por, and Elphias Doge out of the tent to Pejite’s factory-style exhibition hall.
• Nausicaä saw Pejite’s extensive displays of weapons and aircraft and recognized the nation’s industrial strength.
• Asbel brought the group to a reception room and offered to buy the Valley of the Wind’s agricultural products for exclusive supply to Pejite.

Asbel offered to buy the Valley of the Wind’s Blessed Crops to improve food for ordinary people in Pejite, but Nausicaä explained how merchants and powerful interests could prevent the produce from reaching them affordably. Asbel realized she might have a broader solution when she asked whether he had heard of the Golden Order.

• Asbel described the poor diet and harsh working conditions endured by ordinary people in Pejite and offered to buy the Valley of the Wind’s entire Blessed Crops output at triple the price.
• Nausicaä declined an exclusive deal and asked how much food Asbel needed and who would pay for it.
• Asbel proposed that Pejite’s merchants or royal family purchase the food, but Nausicaä explained that intermediaries and threatened commercial interests could drive up prices or obstruct the plan.
• Asbel recognized that Nausicaä’s objections implied she had another way to address the problem and asked if she could solve it.
• Nausicaä asked Asbel whether he had heard of the Golden Order.

Nausicaä explained the Golden Order to Asbel and Haideng, then demonstrated its power by curing Haideng’s Sea of Corruption Disease and piercing an alloy wall. Asbel and Haideng were left stunned by what they had witnessed.

• Nausicaä told Asbel that the Erdtree’s Golden Order could provide food, strengthen people, heal illnesses, and purify toxins.
• Nausicaä asked Asbel and Haideng whether they sincerely wanted to improve workers’ lives, and both confirmed their positions.
• Nausicaä cast Order Healing, causing Haideng to cough up blood before his diseased hand became healthy again.
• Haideng asked Nausicaä to demonstrate her power again, and she pierced an alloy wall with a golden blade at her fingertip.
• Asbel and Haideng wondered whether they were dreaming after seeing Nausicaä’s display.

Nausicaä demonstrated the Erdtree’s power to Asbel and Haideng, then proposed that Pejite use it to improve workers’ lives and strengthen the royal family’s position. Haideng ended the meeting to consider her offer, while Nausicaä expected him to return.

• Asbel marvelled at Nausicaä’s power, while Haideng moved to protect him and took charge of the conversation.
• Nausicaä offered to help Pejite address workers’ hardships and reduce the influence of wealthy merchants through the Erdtree’s abilities.
• Nausicaä explained the Erdtree’s principles and suggested that Asbel could receive its power, prompting his interest and Haideng’s alarm over threats to royal tradition.
• Haideng called for time to consider the proposal, and Nausicaä asked him and Asbel to keep their conversation and her power secret.
• After Haideng and Asbel left, Por questioned Nausicaä, who said Haideng would return because he had not firmly rejected her offer.

Nausicaä learned that Mu En had guided her negotiations in Pejite and heard his plan to address the city’s crisis while secretly freeing enslaved refugees. As the Valley of the Wind’s food booth drew a growing crowd at Mining Town’s gathering, detailed reports of Pejite’s atrocities began spreading among merchants.

• Mu En praised Nausicaä’s negotiations and told her that Yupa’s situation was stable and research on the Sea of Corruption had progressed.
• Mu En shared Kamlin’s report of Pejite’s violence against refugees, and Nausicaä asked to help them.
• Mu En told Nausicaä that Kamlin would rescue Pejite’s refugees and tasked her with finding and freeing enslaved people in Mining Town and spreading news of Pejite.
• Trudeau ended free food samples at the Valley of the Wind’s booth and began selling limited portions as merchants showed strong interest in its crops and products.
• Merchants at a Mining Town tavern discussed increasingly detailed reports of Pejite’s collapse and worried about delayed Ceramic Steel armor deliveries.

A white-robed merchant learned that Pejite's king had vanished and a resistance army had overthrown the royal family, then carried the news to Mining Town's secret leaders. The mayor dismissed fears that their conspiracy had been exposed and confirmed plans to seize Pejite's prince and eliminate the foreign delegates.

• A young merchant told tavern patrons about Deus's disappearance, Pejite's collapse, the resistance army, and the refugees.
• The white-robed merchant left the tavern and entered an underground chamber where chained laborers were widening a vast pit.
• The white-robed merchant reported the Pejite rumors to the mayor, Muhadi, and the assembled merchants.
• Muhadi and the merchants worried that Pejite's events resembled their own plan and that someone had exposed it.
• The mayor argued that the rumors were likely bait and said the prince would be brought to the ruins in two days, where they would take control of him and kill the foreign delegates.
• The mayor credited the Kabu Tribe's Upper Ones and Dorok with supporting the plot, and the merchants toasted the new order.

Por infiltrated Mining Town's mine to find the hidden slave laborers, but two guards led him into the largest pit and exposed his disguise. They disarmed him and threatened to make him stay in the slave mine.

• Por used a map he had obtained from a drunken miner to search the mine for hidden slave laborers.
• Por found a brightly lit cavern where hundreds of workers were mining ceramic steel, but the guards caught him exploring.
• Por pretended to be an explorer, and the guards offered to show him the mine and guide him out after their shift.
• The guards led Por to the engine room, where he saw ragged, skeletal workers suspended high above the cavern and recognized a slave labor mine.
• One guard pressed a gun against Por's back while the other took his longsword, and they told him he might as well stay.

Por infiltrated an illegal mine by posing as a captured adventurer and learned from an imprisoned former adventurer that Mayor Gore was smuggling resources and might be plotting against the Pejite royal family. The old man begged Por to warn King Deus, but Por revealed that the royal family had already disappeared and the prince had fled to the Valley of the Wind.

• Por allowed the mine guards to confiscate his gear and lead him underground so he could investigate the mine.
• Por joined the slave laborers and mined efficiently until an old man warned him to slow down and explained that they were forced to work twelve-hour shifts.
• The old man suspected Por was an investigator and said he had been imprisoned while looking into Mayor Gore.
• The old man accused Gore of smuggling ceramic steel, rare metals, and ancient engines, and suspected he was stockpiling weapons to overthrow the Pejite royal family.
• The old man asked Por to tell King Deus about Gore's plot, and Por revealed that the royal family had been gone for months and the prince had fled to the Valley of the Wind.

Por spoke with an old slave laborer about the events in Pejite, but an overseer interrupted and whipped them both. During their rest break, Por healed the old man and the other workers, then revealed that he was a Blessed Warrior of the Erdtree who had come to free them.

• Por told the old man that his brother Kamlin was helping refugees outside Pejite City, and the old man questioned how the Pejite incident involved bug handlers and Tolmekia.
• An overseer whipped the old man and Por for talking, and the old man warned Por not to resist the guards.
• During the workers’ break, Por used a golden light to heal the old man’s whip wound and ease the laborers’ aches.
• Por told the stunned old man that he was a Blessed Warrior under the Erdtree and had come to get them out.

Por learned why the slaves feared escape and heard the old man explain that Gore was conspiring with the Dorok. The old man warned that Gore planned to seize Prince Asbel, but Por revealed he had already sent a warning through his special way of communicating.

• The slaves rejected Por's offer to save them, and the old man calmed them before explaining that escape attempts were punished brutally and informants were rewarded.
• The old man questioned Por about the Forest People, and Por said his healing power came from Lord Divine Tree.
• The old man identified the foreign soldiers as the Dorok regular army and said Gore had long cooperated with the Dorok principalities.
• Por told the old man that Prince Asbel and Haideng had come to the joint gathering, prompting the old man to suspect Gore planned to take Asbel hostage.
• The old man begged Por to warn Asbel, but Por said he had already sent the information through his special way of communicating.

The 209th Joint Conference of the Border Nations gathered representatives in Mining Town, where Nausicaä and her attendants prepared to take part. Mayor Gore opened the conference and hinted at entertainment for the delegates between sessions.

• Representatives from the nations assembled in Mining Town's conference hall, where Nausicaä sat with Elphias Doge and Elder Trudeau as attendants.
• Asbel noticed Nausicaä and started to greet her, but Haideng stopped him from acting improperly.
• The delegates discussed Tolmekia's conscription and plundering, the unrest in Pejite, and the arrival of Dorok warrior monks.
• Gore entered the hall, welcomed the representatives, and announced diversions he had arranged for them.
• Gore declared the 209th Joint Conference of the Border Nations officially open.

At the nations’ conference, small settlements described how Tolmekia’s conscription and disrupted trade had left them facing famine, but the other representatives stayed silent. Nausicaä offered the Valley of the Wind’s food at low prices, leaving the hungry nations with a possible source of relief.

• Gore opened the conference and invited the representatives to speak.
• Hassan of Waji Valley pleaded for food after Tolmekia took the settlement’s grain and cattle, but no one answered.
• Representatives from other small settlements described shortages caused by conscription and disrupted trade routes.
• The Valley of Sand representative displayed valuable gemstones and jewelry, showing that his wealthy, well-connected nation had avoided the food crisis.
• Nausicaä introduced herself as the Valley of the Wind’s representative and offered low-priced food to nations in crisis.

Nausicaä used the Valley of the Wind’s grain offer and claims of ancient technology to draw nations into closer partnership. Haideng publicly supported her, and the meeting ended with several representatives interested in cooperation.

• Nausicaä offered discounted Blessed Crops to famine-stricken countries and presented a list of industrial equipment the Valley of the Wind wanted to buy.
• A trade-route nation’s representative accused the Valley of the Wind of driving down grain prices and making impossible supply promises.
• Nausicaä explained that ancient technology discovered in the Sea of Corruption let the Valley grow crops quickly and in high yields.
• Nausicaä claimed the Valley had technologies for strengthening bodies, healing injuries, and treating Sea of Corruption Disease, while reserving access for close partners.
• Haideng endorsed the Valley’s caution and expressed Pejite’s interest in its equipment list, prompting other representatives to consider cooperation.
• Nausicaä privately reflected that her claims about ancient technology were divine powers of the Erdtree intended to spread faith.

At the nations’ conference, Gore recounted how he had compromised with criminals to advance his career in Mining Town, then revealed his ambition to rule the nations of the Sea of Corruption. He had Dorok warrior monks seize the conference hall and declared that Pejite’s industry and the Valley of the Wind’s ancient technologies would be his.

• Gore interrupted the conference proceedings and described his rise from a minor official to Mining Town’s mayor.
• Gore admitted that he had joined forces with underworld criminals after pressure discouraged him from investigating them.
• Gore said he no longer wanted to be mayor and announced that he would become the true ruler of the nations of the Sea of Corruption.
• Dorok warrior monks burst into the conference hall and aimed their rifles at the representatives and attendants.
• Gore claimed Pejite’s industrial system, its exploration industry, and Princess Nausicaä’s ancient technologies for himself.

Gore revealed his alliance with the Dorok and ordered the representatives killed, but Nausicaä, Doge, and Trudeau defeated the warrior monks. As Gore called on Master Kabo, Nausicaä sensed a powerful mental-force attack surging from the side hall.

• Gore exposed his resentment toward Pejite and revealed that powerful merchants and Explorers' Association figures supported him and the Dorok.
• Gore ordered his warrior monks to spare Nausicaä and Asbel but kill the other representatives and attendants.
• Nausicaä threw an attacker, then Doge and Trudeau joined her in fighting the Dorok warrior monks.
• Nausicaä used the Golden Power Hammer and her martial skills to defeat most of the monks, while Doge and Trudeau incapacitated the rest.
• Gore refused to surrender and called for Master Kabo, prompting Nausicaä to sense a dangerous mental-force attack coming from the side hall.