Recaps

Claire met Baron Shane, the young leader of a merchant caravan from the Ansell family, and bought enchanted armor and weapons for Nafu City's growing forces. Shane left with a major sale, while Claire continued investing her accumulated wealth in the territory.

• Regan told Claire that a merchant caravan had arrived in Nafu City, and she went to inspect its goods.
• Shane introduced himself as Count Ansell's third son and showed Claire enchanted armor that resisted sword and hammer strikes.
• Claire lifted the armor easily and examined Shane's other goods, including enchanted weapons, Magic Scrolls, and rare materials.
• Claire bought one hundred sets each of armor and greatswords and ten sets of spears for forty-five thousand Gold Coins.

Claire recognized Shane’s goiter as a potential opportunity to sell iodine-enriched salt and showed him Nafu City. Shane became excited by the prospect, agreed to stay while Claire prepared a sample, and left hoping the discovery would help him become the next count.

• Shane told Claire he had goiter and asked where he could find a church for treatment, prompting her to consider adding iodine to salt.
• Claire took Shane through Nafu City, where he praised the residents, the clean streets, and the planned sewers.
• Claire pointed out that no one in Nafu City had goiter and offered to show Shane a cheap treatment for the illness.
• Claire explained that she planned to make iodized salt from seaweed, and Shane eagerly asked to see some.
• Claire told Shane to rest for a few days while she prepared the salt, then pointed out the hospital where his injured guards could receive treatment.
• After Claire left, Shane celebrated the opportunity, believing it could help him surpass his rivals and inherit the count’s title.

Claire produced nearly a ton of Iodized Salt and persuaded Shane of its value in preventing goiter. She offered him the salt on consignment with a seventy-thirty profit split, then asked how he planned to sell it.

• Claire ordered Regan to buy kelp and laver and commission several hundred branded wooden boxes for salt.
• Claire extracted iodine from kelp and spent two days producing nearly a ton of Iodized Salt.
• Claire showed Shane the Iodized Salt and explained how iodine deficiency caused goiter and other health problems.
• Shane accepted Claire's offer to take the salt for free and share the profits after selling it.
• Claire asked Shane how he planned to sell the Iodized Salt.

Claire persuaded Shane to market iodized salt in the royal capital through a lavish shop, paid doctors, and a public newspaper debate, then set the first five hundred boxes at one hundred Gold Coins each. Shane embraced the plan, which Claire intended to scale up and eventually make accessible enough to support Nafu City’s industry.

• Shane proposed slowly proving iodized salt’s benefits across the kingdom, but Claire said his plan would take too long.
• Claire chose the royal capital and proposed targeting wealthy customers with an extravagant shop selling iodized salt in luxurious boxes.
• Claire advised Shane to pay doctors to publish claims about iodized salt, then fuel a public dispute between doctors to attract attention.
• Claire told Shane to spread information about iodine deficiency and exaggerate the risks of going without iodized salt.
• Shane proposed increasingly higher prices, and Claire approved selling the first five hundred boxes for one hundred Gold Coins each before lowering prices as production grew.

Claire sent Shane off with an escort of sixty knights, and Shane learned how deeply Hant and the other soldiers revered her. Bandits attacked the merchant caravan, but Hant stopped Shane from using a magic scroll and insisted that Nafu City's knights handle the threat.

• Claire offered Shane an escort of sixty knights and said she planned to clear the bandits from her territory.
• Shane asked Hant what he thought of Claire, and Hant described her as godlike and said his faith now rested with her.
• A bandit leader gathered more than two hundred men and twenty-one Bronze Knights to ambush Shane's caravan for its valuable cargo.
• Hant spotted the approaching bandits, and the Nafu City knights formed up as Shane's guards prepared to fight.
• Shane readied a third-tier magic scroll, but Hant told him to leave the battle to the knights because the trouble had begun in their territory.

Hant and the Griffin Barony knights crushed Big Beard’s bandits with their superior armor and weapons, then pursued them as they fled. The bandits shot down the knights’ Warhorses, but the armored knights kept closing in on foot as Hant leapt to strike.

• Hant fought Big Beard and damaged his greatsword, while Big Beard’s Battle Aura-powered attack tore Hant’s armor but left Big Beard’s own blade severed.
• The knights’ armor turned aside the bandits’ weapons, and the Bronze Rank bandits realized all the opposing knights were their equals or stronger; dozens of bandits were killed without a knight being injured.
• Big Beard ordered his men to retreat, and Shane offered to use a Magic Scroll, but Hant said the knights would handle the pursuit.
• Hant led the knights after the fleeing bandits on their faster Warhorses, while the bandits’ arrows and thrown weapons clanged harmlessly off their armor.
• Big Beard ordered the bandits to shoot the Warhorses, bringing several down, but the knights continued their pursuit on foot and Hant leapt forward with his greatsword.

Claire publicly executed Big Beard and his captured bandits, then ordered Hant and the Knight Squad to patrol the domain. She redirected construction crews to build a Salt Factory in Nafu City's northern district and prepared to finish the salt-making machinery herself.

• After Hant brought the captured bandits back to Nafu City, Claire posted a notice inviting the people of the viscount's domain to watch their execution.
• At the execution, Claire accused Big Beard and his men of numerous crimes, including robberies, an assassination attempt, and the murder of a former administrative officer, while Big Beard tried unsuccessfully to protest.
• Claire executed the bandits by firing squad, ordered their bodies hanged on the main road, and sent Hant and the Knight Squad to patrol the domain for more bandits.
• Claire considered obtaining magical-beast mounts for the knights after learning their Warhorses had been too slow to catch the bandits.
• Claire ordered the construction supervisors, including Iron Hammer, to build a Salt Factory in Nafu City's northern district and urged them to complete it within four days.
• Claire told the supervisors to get Magic Lamps from Regan for night work, while she continued working on the salt-making machinery after two days without sleep.

Claire finished the magic-powered machines for producing Iodized Salt, while Shane prepared to sell it in the royal capital as a luxury product for great nobles. He planned to use doctors’ reports, fear-based marketing, and limited supply to make the salt’s steep price seem worthwhile.

• Claire completed the semi-automated salt-making machines, using Magic Ore and Monster Cores to power their furnaces and conveyor belts.
• A restaurant owner visited Shane’s new royal-capital shop, balked at the price of one hundred Gold Coins per box, and left without buying.
• The clerk urged Shane to lower the price, but Shane told him to keep serving customers because the salt was meant for wealthy nobles, not ordinary buyers.
• Shane planned to pay doctors to publish reports about Iodized Salt and spread claims linking it to intelligence, pregnancy, and health.
• Shane relied on the product’s luxury image and a limited stock of five hundred boxes to create demand among the royal capital’s great nobles.

Claire prepared to open the Salt Factory and later found Rona gravely wounded at her hospital, where she used healing potions to stop the bleeding. Rona recovered enough to treat herself and fled to change after noticing Claire’s gaze.

• Claire traded two Basic Healing Potions for a mysterious Black Seed and planned to have Rona grow it.
• Claire visited the Salt Factory, taught its newly hired workers to operate the machines, and explained how to separate heavy-metal wastewater.
• Claire went to Rona’s hospital and found her alone, badly injured and trying to treat herself.
• Claire used Basic and intermediate Healing Potions to stop Rona’s bleeding and stabilize her.
• Rona thanked Claire, then hurried to change clothes after realizing Claire had noticed her soaked, torn clothing.

Claire joined Rona and Hant to hunt the Gale Wolf Pack, hoping to capture the wolves as mounts. After trapping much of the pack, they confronted the Gale Wolf King, whose powerful attacks forced Claire and Hant to fight defensively.

• Rona told Claire that a Gale Wolf King had wounded her, and Claire decided to lead an expedition to find the pack.
• Claire gave Rona a Black Seed to investigate, and Rona identified it as a Magic Plant with magic flowing inside it.
• The next day, Claire, Hant, and over thirty knights followed Rona into the mountains and laid traps and Magic Arrays for the wolves.
• More than half the pack fell into the traps, and the Gale Wolf King charged Hant as the knights engaged the remaining wolves.
• The wolf king wounded Hant and then attacked with a wind blade, which Claire deflected after warning Hant to dodge.

Claire and Hant defeated the Wolf King and captured its pack. After establishing a Mental Connection with the Wolf King, Claire offered it three choices, and the chapter ended with it reconsidering its demand for freedom when Claire threatened to castrate it.

• Rona used Claire’s defensive Magic Scroll to shield the knights from the wolves’ Wind Blades.
• Hant and Claire fought the Wolf King, but its natural speed ability let it wound Hant and charge at Claire.
• Claire shot the Wolf King, struck it with Lightning Strike, and helped Hant subdue it, prompting the other wolves to surrender.
• Claire established a Mental Connection with the Wolf King and learned she could hear its thoughts.
• Claire offered the Wolf King submission, death, or freedom on the condition that she castrate it, and the Wolf King backed down.

Claire forced the Wolf King to submit, bound it with an unequal contract, and took control of its pack. Several hours later, she rode the injured wolf out of the forest while threatening it whenever she sensed its thoughts.

• Claire threatened the Wolf King with her greatsword until it chose submission over death.
• Claire made the Wolf King sign a contract that let her torture it, then punished it when it bared its teeth after being released.
• The Wolf King gave its name as Fenrir and ordered the trapped wolves to quiet down at Claire’s command.
• Claire had Rona treat Fenrir’s injuries after the Wolf King had been shot, struck by Lightning Strike, and tormented through the contract.
• Several hours later, Claire rode on Fenrir’s back with the wolf pack following, and threatened to castrate him for thinking about mating.

Claire brought the Gale Wolf Pack to Nafu City, trained the knights to ride the wolves, and helped the salt business prepare for expansion. After tasting Yuna’s dried shredded squid, Claire saw a chance to create work for women and took Yuna to meet her mother.

• Claire reunited with Shane’s manager, learned that iodized salt shops had opened in several major cities, and brought the caravan to Nafu City.
• Claire delivered nearly ten tons of iodized salt to the factory, then trained the knights and wolves until the knights could fight from wolfback.
• Claire kept the Wolf King as her mount and maintained their Mental Connection, using rewards and beatings to enforce its obedience.
• Claire found Yuna eating dried shredded squid in the kitchen and tried some after Yuna offered it to her.
• Claire realized the snack could become a source of income for female workers, then took Yuna on the Wolf King to meet Yuna’s mother.

Claire visited Yuna’s home to learn how her family made dried shredded squid. After seeing the process, she arranged for the Baronial Manor to buy high-quality sun-dried squid, planning to create steady work for women in the barony through family workshops.

• Claire and Yuna arrived at Yuna’s home, where Yuna introduced Claire to her mother.
• Claire asked Yuna’s mother about making dried shredded squid and brought squid from a local shop for her to prepare.
• Claire watched Yuna’s mother make roasted dried squid and learned that sun-dried squid took three or four days to produce.
• Claire returned to the Baronial Manor and ordered Regan to post a notice seeking long-term purchases of the best sun-dried shredded squid.
• Claire planned to sell the snack and give women in the barony stable work producing it through family workshops.

Claire planned a free market in Nafu City and received the profits and shop deeds from Shane’s Iodized Salt trade. When Shane reported that rivals had begun selling cheap Iodized Salt in the royal capital, Claire calmly prepared to respond.

• Claire ordered an open market built in Nafu City’s eastern district and told Regan to move her shops there.
• Shane gave Claire deeds to shops in the royal capital and six other major cities, along with a Purple Crystal Card holding 320,000 Gold Coins in profits.
• Shane told Claire that their Iodized Salt had sold out and fetched prices as high as five hundred Gold Coins per box in the royal capital.
• Shane reported that competitors were selling identical Iodized Salt for three or four Gold Coins per box.
• Claire said the rivals would lower their price further and asked Shane whether he knew anyone in the royal palace.

Claire explained how Shane could position Nafu City's iodized salt as a prestige product with tiered prices and advertising, then introduced dried shredded squid as another shop product. Shane agreed to the plan and revealed that he had come back for another reason.

• Claire gave Shane refined salt and told him to present it to palace contacts as one-thousand-Gold-Coin “Royal Exclusive” salt, using it to make cheaper iodized salt seem reasonably priced.
• Claire outlined three iodized-salt price tiers, an advertisement about its optimal iodine ratio, and new packaging, including a specially crafted Royal Exclusive box.
• Claire served Shane dried shredded squid and proposed selling it for five Silver Coins per pound, which he understood as a way to raise income for Nafu City's residents.
• Shane accepted the dried squid plan and said he had returned for another reason.

Claire introduced MSG as a new product for Shane to sell and prepared to take it to the royal capital. When citizens hesitated to use Nafu City’s new market, Claire’s reward to its first vendor drew them in and left the market bustling.

• Claire told Shane that Lady Sophia of the August Family wanted to cooperate in selling their shop’s goods, and Shane agreed with Claire’s plan to work with her.
• Claire gave Shane a taste of MSG and agreed to sell it at the same price as Iodized Salt once it entered mass production.
• When citizens refused to pay three Copper Coins to set up stalls at the newly completed market, Regan sent for Claire.
• A single mother paid to enter the market and offer her corn, and Claire bought three ears for three Gold Coins as a reward for trusting her.
• After Claire rode away, the crowd rushed to Regan to pay for stalls, and the market became lively.

Claire spent the weekend with Melly, Kellan, and Yuna as they visited the manor and headed home to see their families. After a market vendor returned Claire’s three Gold Coins and described her improved sales, Claire pointed her toward renting a shop in the eastern district, then reflected that Nafu City still had a long way to go.

• Melly came home from school, told Claire she had learned addition and subtraction, and mopped the manor floor before Kellan arrived to take her home on horseback.
• Kellan told Claire he had leave from the military camp and had bought food with his pay to bring to his family, then he and Melly left the manor.
• Yuna told Claire she was taking her monthly rest day to visit her family and bring home the twenty-five Silver Coins Regan had paid her.
• Claire set out for a walk with the Wolf King, but a woman from the market stopped her and returned the three Gold Coins Claire had given her.
• The woman explained that Claire’s purchases had drawn customers and helped her sell her goods, then showed Claire the three Silver Coins she had earned and bought brown sugar for her children.
• Claire advised the woman to ask Regan about renting a shop in the eastern district and reflected that developing Nafu City would take a long road ahead.

Claire visited Rona’s hospital, where she learned that the Black Seed had grown into a Magic Plant that would bear fruit in a little over twenty days. She told Rona she was heading to the royal capital for business and announced that they would leave the next day.

• Claire rode the Wolf King through Nafu City and overheard citizens discussing their studies at Night School.
• Claire arrived at the hospital and heard from an injured worker that Rona had treated his broken arm.
• Rona showed Claire the Black Seed’s fast-growing sapling and estimated that it would bear fruit in a little over twenty days.
• Claire told Rona she was going to the royal capital to discuss business.
• Claire left to pack and announced that they would depart the next day.

Claire returned to the Royal Capital with a caravan of goods and headed into the Inner City to find Shane’s shop. He avoided a cat-eared girl’s tavern scam, but still had to locate the shop.

• Claire recognized a Light Chasing Bird carrying noble youths who were likely traveling to enroll in the Magic Academy.
• Claire reached the Royal Capital, left his caravan to undergo inspection, and entered the city on the Wolf King after it was fitted with a restraining collar.
• Claire rode into the Inner City but realized he had forgotten to ask where Shane had opened his shop.
• Claire asked a cat-eared girl where iodized salt was sold, and she tried to lure him into a tavern.
• Claire refused the scam and left after the Wolf King frightened the girl into stepping aside.

Claire went to an iodized salt shop and baited a mustached baron into spending thousands of Gold Coins on expensive salt. She then hinted that his purchase had revealed he was no great noble, leaving him stunned.

• Claire rejected a guide’s offer of cheap iodized salt from Aubin City and entered a shop that sold Nafu City salt.
• A mustached baron insulted Claire and claimed she could only afford cheap iodized salt, so she challenged his ability to buy the most expensive kind.
• Claire and the baron escalated their competing purchases until he bought three boxes of royal-exclusive Snow Salt for three thousand Gold Coins.
• After the baron paid, Claire told him that great nobles sent butlers to buy salt instead of visiting shops themselves, and he realized what she was implying.

Claire exposed the mustached baron’s attempt to curry favor with a powerful noble, then revealed she was the lord of Nafu City and the supplier of Iodized Salt. After arranging for Shane to receive shipments of MSG and dried shredded squid, Claire asked him about Lady Sophia and her family’s business.

• The mustached man confronted Claire, but she dodged him and called out his attempt to meet a great noble at the store.
• The mustached man mocked Claire for not buying Iodized Salt until she showed him a Purple Crystal Card, and Shane revealed she supplied the salt as lord of Nafu City.
• Shane had the clerk escort the humiliated mustached man from the store, then brought Claire to the reception room.
• Claire told Shane to arrange the arrival of MSG and dried shredded squid shipments, and asked him about Lady Sophia’s family.
• Shane explained that the Auguste Family ran a kingdom-wide store chain and was one of the kingdom’s three major magic-shop businesses.

Claire and Shane discussed Countess Sophia’s beauty and business success before Claire proposed that Sophia had strategically married a baron into her family to preserve her inheritance and gain power. Shane left the conversation alarmed that his own sister might be copying Sophia’s strategy.

• Shane described Sophia as a stunning, capable businesswoman whose useless ex-husband had married into the August Family.
• Claire questioned the circumstances of Sophia’s marriage, her place in the succession, and her brothers’ fates.
• Claire theorized that Sophia used her husband’s poor reputation to lower suspicion while she built influence within the family.
• Shane revealed that Sophia’s eldest brother had died, her second brother remained away from the capital, and the family head had transferred the family’s assets to Sophia shortly afterward.
• Claire concluded that Sophia might have deliberately maneuvered her way to power, and Shane became frightened that his eldest sister was imitating her by bringing a knight into their family.

Claire and Shane met with Sophia to discuss cooperation over Iodized Salt, and Sophia exposed Claire’s tactics for making it profitable. The meeting ended with Sophia telling Claire that she had taken a fancy to her.

• Shane arranged a meeting with Sophia after Claire suggested they could safely cooperate with her.
• Claire and Shane arrived early at Sophia’s restaurant, where Claire noticed a beggar in the alley.
• Sophia arrived with guards and greeted Claire and Shane before questioning Claire about her role in the Iodized Salt business.
• Claire and Sophia discussed Iodized Salt’s production costs, profits, and the royal-exclusive supply idea.
• Sophia leaned toward Claire and said she had taken a fancy to her.

Claire rejected Sophia’s offer to work for her, so they negotiated a business partnership to sell Claire’s products. After agreeing to a seventy-thirty profit split, Claire asked Sophia for help with a connection at the Magic Academy.

• Sophia offered Claire wealth, power, and a possible earldom if she came to work for her, but Claire declined because she valued her freedom and wanted to develop her territory.
• Claire proposed that Sophia sell iodized salt under the Nafu City shop’s name, and they negotiated a seventy-thirty profit split.
• Claire introduced MSG by adding it to meat soup, and Sophia tasted it and recognized its potential as another product.
• Sophia agreed to Claire’s proposed split, then offered to change it to fifty-fifty if Claire wanted her help with a Magic Academy connection.