Chapter Summaries

Horna exposed Enforcement Officer Daor’s abuse of authority and sentenced him to death after the villagers forced him to swear on the Book of Laws. Horna then told Broge that his family could receive five hundred Gold Coins for their land or refuse the resort plan, and Broge chose to stay.

• Horna identified himself as the Grand Judge and ordered Daor to continue his oath-taking ceremony under the Book of Laws.
• The villagers surrounded Daor and demanded that he swear his claim about Broge’s compensation was true.
• Daor swore that he had followed the law, but Horna judged that he had abused his authority, seized farmers’ land, and intended to profit from it.
• Horna sentenced Daor to death, and azure flames burned him to ashes.
• Horna offered Broge’s family five hundred Gold Coins for their land or the choice to refuse the agritourism resort plan.
• Broge refused to leave and chose to keep living on his land.

After the Book of Laws helped Griffin Territory residents overturn unjust rulings, Claire rejected Regan’s proposal to ease penalties and allow Civil Servants to profit. She intended the legal system to serve residents while filtering for devoted officials, and she left reflecting on how it could strengthen her influence without appearing to be a religion.

• News of Broge’s case spread through Griffin Territory, prompting residents to reopen old rulings and leading Horna to punish corrupt Civil Servants as Claire’s Power of Faith grew.
• Regan told Claire that many Civil Servants opposed the Book of Laws, objected to its harsh penalties, and were submitting resignations.
• Horna emerged from the Book of Laws and defended its impartiality, while Claire stopped it from pestering Regan.
• Regan suggested easing punishments and allowing Civil Servants room to profit, but Claire insisted that resignations were acceptable and officials must not exploit the people.
• Claire ordered Regan to arrange a new recruitment drive and privately considered how strict enforcement would select principled officials and make the legal system function as a hidden religion.

Feiqi and Primo went to Nafu City's Civil Servant recruitment fair after vacancies opened when former Civil Servants resigned. Feiqi waited in line, while Primo—one of the dismissed officials—claimed he had resigned to prove he could earn his position again.

• Feiqi told his wife he was going to the recruitment fair, and she encouraged him before he left for Nafu City.
• At a tavern, Primo overheard patrons mock the former Civil Servants who had resigned and grew angry when the bartender and customers stood up to him.
• Primo left the tavern and headed for the recruitment fair after the patrons jeered at his threat to become a Civil Servant again.
• At Mermaid Plaza, Feiqi told Primo he had just joined the queue, and Primo sneered that someone dressed like him would not pass.
• When Feiqi asked why Primo had resigned if he knew the exam, Primo claimed he had quit to test his abilities and prove his position was deserved.

Feiqi learned that “go home and wait for notification” meant he had been accepted as a law enforcement officer, while Primo was rejected because he had resigned before. The new civil servants filled the vacant positions and helped make public service more efficient and respected.

• Primo mocked Feiqi for believing the interviewers had meant to notify him, then entered the interview himself.
• Regan told Primo that former civil servants who had resigned would never be hired again, and Primo left in anger.
• Horna visited Feiqi at night and delivered a Book of Laws appointing him law enforcement officer for thirteen villages in Jasmine District.
• Feiqi woke his wife to share the news, and they celebrated his appointment together.
• The new civil servants improved the Steward's Office, and residents and children increasingly respected public service.

Claire investigated supportive Divine Arts for her Civil Servants when citizens’ faith suddenly surged after they built a statue of her and Horna in Nafu City. As residents prayed at the statue, Claire realized it had naturally become a place for worship and a powerful source of faith.

• Claire crossed out a high-damage Divine Art and considered developing a Healing Technique, though she felt it did not suit her Church of Laws.
• Claire noticed her Power of Faith had doubled, and Horna told her that citizens had funded a copper statue of them.
• Claire and Horna teleported to the eastern district of Nafu City and watched citizens raise the statue, which showed Claire holding the Book of Laws and Horna in owl form.
• A woman prayed for her husband’s safe return, and other citizens offered their own prayers to Claire.
• Claire received a great wave of Power of Faith and realized the citizens had created a natural place of worship.

Claire transformed her Small Plane into an early Divine Kingdom where summoned souls could live, then began spreading the belief that good people would go to heaven. Feiqi used a Divine Art to ease a dying woman’s passing and told her son that they could meet again in heaven if he remained good and obeyed the law.

• Claire erased the statue’s facial features so people would believe in an ideal rather than her as a specific person.
• Claire returned to the Small Plane and spent half a year adapting it into a world where ghosts could survive and spiritual beings could live.
• A saying spread through Griffin Territory that law-abiding, good people would go to heaven while evildoers would go to hell.
• Feiqi accompanied a farmer to his dying mother and used a Divine Art to help her pass without pain.
• Feiqi told the farmer that his mother would enter heaven and that he could meet her again if he obeyed the law and remained good.

After Feiqi performed an end-of-life ritual and saw the old man's soul enter heaven, he became convinced the rituals were real and urged his colleagues to learn them. The story spread among the people, deepening their respect for civil servants and belief that the dead could reach heaven.

• Feiqi felt the Book of Laws send warmth into him after he guided the old man's soul toward heaven, and he decided to learn the other two rituals.
• Feiqi told his colleagues what he had witnessed, and the civil servants discussed the rituals and speculated that Claire might be the God of Science.
• Feiqi said that Claire was their lord and the god who had saved them, and the civil servants agreed.
• People visited Tommy's home, saw that the old man had died peacefully, and increasingly believed he had gone to heaven.
• The event spread the saying more widely, easing people's fear of death and raising their respect for civil servants.

After his mother's funeral, Tommy found comfort in believing she was in heaven and received a vivid dream that strengthened that belief. He sent her a letter by burning yellow paper at her grave, and she read its contents in the Small Plane, learning of Tommy's plans for his future.

• Tommy accepted his mother's death by believing she had gone to heaven, and resolved to obey the law, find a wife, and live well.
• Tommy dreamed that his mother urged him to live happily, find a wife, and have a son, then told his neighbors about the dream.
• Tommy bought three sheets of yellow paper and flowers, wrote messages to his mother, and burned the letters at her grave.
• Tommy's mother received the letters in the Small Plane, where a young man read them aloud and she learned Tommy planned to confess to a girl and go to Mermaid Port.
• More people in the Small Plane began receiving letters from their living relatives.

Irene faced a noble faction’s attempt to revoke Claire’s ducal title and decided to visit Griffin Territory herself to warn Claire. In Nafu City, she was struck by its transformed streets and civic spirit before someone she knew appeared to meet her.

• A minister urged Irene to revoke Claire’s ducal title, claiming Griffin Territory’s wealth deprived the royal treasury of taxes.
• Sophia told Irene that nobles backed by Sword Saint and Archmage families were using Claire to test her, and Irene agreed to the proposal for now while planning to delay it.
• Irene decided to travel to Griffin Territory and told Sophia to watch the nobles in the royal capital while she was away.
• Irene arrived incognito in Nafu City and was surprised by its prosperous appearance and the cheerful people living there.
• A young volunteer offered to guide Irene around Nafu City, but someone who knew her arrived and offered to take his place.

Claire reunited with Irene and took her to Mermaid Port, where Irene shared her worries about restless nobles. Claire reassured her that she would help, leaving Irene feeling safer as she faced the pressure of ruling.

• Irene visited Claire in Nafu City, and Claire took her around town.
• Irene asked to see mermaids, so Claire took her aboard Isaac’s newly developed magic ship and traveled to Mermaid Port.
• Irene tossed Gold Coins into the sea to pray for blessings after Eve leaped from the water.
• Claire noticed Irene’s worry and encouraged her to explain what was troubling her.
• Irene told Claire that the nobles were growing restless and might target Claire to pressure her, and Claire promised to stand behind Irene and help her.

At court, Irene agreed to revoke Claire’s right to establish a duchy after nobles argued it would bring the kingdom more revenue. She then announced the Rich Man’s Tax, raising taxes on anyone earning over five hundred thousand Gold Coins annually.

• Nobles gathered at a villa and planned to use Peter to press Irene to revoke Claire’s ducal privileges.
• At court, Peter asked Irene to revoke Claire’s ducal title, then proposed revoking her right to establish a duchy instead.
• Sophia argued that revoking Claire’s right would punish her for developing Griffin Territory and discourage other nobles.
• Count Locke and other nobles backed Peter’s proposal, claiming that dissolving the Duchy of Griffin would increase kingdom revenue.
• Irene accepted the proposal, then announced a tax increase from twenty to thirty-five percent for anyone earning over five hundred thousand Gold Coins a year.

At Irene’s court, the nobles resisted her proposed Rich Man’s Tax until Claire backed her and killed Peter when he objected. Claire confronted Locke and the heads of the Archmage and Sword Saint families, then challenged their assumption that she was only an Archmage.

• The nobles protested Irene’s proposal to raise the Rich Man’s Tax, while Locke signaled Peter to object.
• Claire emerged from the shadows, endorsed the tax, and silenced the nobles by invoking her reputation.
• When Peter objected, Claire killed him, and the nobles fell silent.
• Locke accused Claire of rebellion, then called on the heads of the Archmage and Sword Saint families to stand against her.
• Claire dismissed the family heads’ threats and revealed that they had mistaken her strength.

Claire forced the nobles to accept Irene’s tax increase after Dolly, an Archmage of the Bunir Family, chose to negotiate rather than oppose him. The chapter left the kingdom’s great families backing Irene’s decision after learning Claire was an Archmage, while Merlin lamented that Edith had missed her chance to get close to him.

• Claire prepared to kill Locke, but Dolly appeared and asked Claire to let the dispute end.
• Dolly tried to negotiate down Irene’s fifteen-percent tax increase, but Claire said it was the Queen’s will and could not be reduced.
• Dolly withdrew with Locke and declared that the Bunir Family had no objections.
• The other great family heads received word from their ancestors and knelt to support Irene’s decision.
• At the Royal Capital Magic Academy, Merlin told Edith she had let her chance with Claire pass, then wondered how Claire had become an Archmage at twenty-one.

Melly prepared to leave for the Royal Capital Magic Academy, and Claire said goodbye as Kellan took her toward the capital on the Wolf King. Alone afterward, Claire reminisced about the past and welcomed the coming rain.

• Melly packed her maid uniform and told Claire she still hoped to become her maid after graduating from the Royal Capital Magic Academy.
• Claire gave Melly contact information for Shane and Sophia, then arranged for her to travel with Kellan on the Wolf King.
• After Melly left, Claire walked through Nafu City and met a former schoolboy who had become a teacher.
• The teacher recalled Claire’s past efforts at the school, and Claire reflected on how much time had passed.
• A passerby warned Claire that rain was coming, but she said she liked rainy days because the sky cleared afterward.