Recaps

Claire defended Nafu City from a beast tide, defeated the neighboring lords who had hired the Black Robe Mage, and strengthened her forces before a void encounter brought her together with Merlin. She then joined Sophia’s plans for the Blazing Flame Plane and traveled to the royal capital, where she began meeting influential nobles.

• Claire traded magical beast specimens to Nie Tan for fusion medicine and gave Daren a potion to test on imprisoned wizards.
• A controlled beast tide attacked Nafu City, but Claire returned, helped the defenders defeat it, and captured the Black Robe Mage, who named the lords who had hired him.
• Claire confronted the allied lords, defeated their knights with Hant and the Knights of Nafu City, and secured mines and other concessions through negotiations.
• Claire made the Gale Wolf King a fourth-tier beast with a bloodline potion, advanced the Gale Wolves, and named the new agricultural town Flower Town.
• A collapsing Space Channel left Claire in the void, where Merlin attacked her before she named his granddaughter Edith and restored his reason.
• Merlin healed Claire and used her Magic Artifact to open a stable route back, then returned to see Edith while Claire considered the consequences of his return.
• Sophia recruited Claire to help with potion supplies for a possible campaign in the Blazing Flame Plane, and they agreed to cooperate in exchange for academy graduate slots and business opportunities.
• Claire traveled to the royal capital, met Shane, and attended Sophia’s gathering, where she was introduced to nobles and approached the salon for the kingdom’s highest-ranking nobles.

Claire managed supplies for the Blazing Flame Plane, secretly sold stolen Guen Family equipment to the Blazing Flame Orcs, and profited from their need for Blazing Flame Essence Ore. After Merlin wounded their Ancestral Spirit, Claire learned it contained a Godhead Fragment and prepared to restrain it.

• Claire took charge of supplies bound for the Blazing Flame Plane, stood up to First Prince Vito, and met Yana while overseeing the convoy.
• Claire discovered a Seed of Wisdom in Yana’s earring, bought it, and gave Yana the rest of the jewelry she had purchased.
• After the human army defeated its rival nation, Claire faced accusations over inferior potions and was dismissed from her supply post.
• Claire recruited Yana to help rob the Guen Family’s supply convoy, then sold the stolen equipment to Del in exchange for Blazing Flame Essence Ore.
• Claire used the ore and a potion formula to advance her wizards, while the Blazing Flame Orcs used the equipment to force the human campaign into a stalemate.
• After Merlin severely wounded the Orcs’ Ancestral Spirit, Claire learned it contained a Godhead Fragment and chose a Netherworld Soul-Locking Hook to help restrain it.

Claire gathered powerful allies to support Irene’s claim after King Norris died and helped Irene enter the succession contest as the first female candidate. The princes turned to a plan to eliminate Irene, while Klee arranged for the Church of Light to restrain Hubert in exchange for Claire.

• Claire traded a Seed of Wisdom for Qu Rong’s Netherworld Soul-Locking Hook, then used it to weaken the Blazing Flame Orcs’ Ancestral Spirit and extract its godhead fragment, which merged into her brow.
• Claire escaped the Blazing Flame Plane as the human army captured most of it, while the High Priest sacrificed himself, cursed King Norris, and became the orcs’ new Ancestral Spirit.
• Claire organized Nafu City’s knight recruitment and training, then rushed to comfort Irene after Norris died and Irene feared being forced into a marriage after losing her royal status.
• Claire persuaded Sophia, Yana, Shane, Count Norton, and Hubert to support Irene, while Yana seized leadership of the Guen Family and Edith agreed to join the effort.
• Irene agreed to seek the throne, and Claire presented her as a candidate during the succession proceedings, where Joseph confirmed that royal blood entitled her to compete regardless of age or gender.
• Claire brought Sophia, Yana, Shane, Norton, Hubert, and Edith forward as Irene’s supporters, forcing Vito and Klee to face a powerful rival coalition at the ceremony.
• After Pran joined Irene’s side, Klee and Vito agreed to make Irene disappear, and Klee secured the Pope’s promise to hold Hubert back in exchange for Claire being handed over to the Church of Light.

After Irene became Queen, Claire recruited mages and workers to develop Nafu City and Gilded Rose Town. The arc ended with the new Magic School testing applicants as Claire’s plans for farming, brewing, and education began to take shape.

• Claire killed Prince Klee after exposing his role in the attack on Irene, and Irene was crowned Queen and granted Claire the title of Duke Tulip.
• Claire recruited researchers, teachers, and combat mages from the capital, then brought them to Nafu City to expand its Academy of Sciences and establish schools.
• Claire visited Gilded Rose Town, heard residents’ concerns about low incomes, and worked with Isaac to develop farming machinery and plans for cash crops and brewing.
• Claire recruited Kirk and all seventy-six brewery workers with promises of wages, homes, land, and schooling, then brought them and their families to her territory.
• Isaac demonstrated a Magic Array-powered Tilling Machine, and Claire and Rona accelerated test crops to identify plants suited to Gilded Rose Town.
• Claire organized the construction of a brewery and other factories while Nafu City announced its new Magic School and recruited teachers.
• Victor tested nearly three thousand applicants, accepted just over fifty students, and confirmed Roland had strong magical talent.