Chapter Summaries

Su Qin, a famine refugee in Gulltown, helped Uncle Farn and Luke haul barrels toward the docks before armed attackers clashed with soldiers in the streets. As the battle reached them, Luke knocked out Farn to stop him from rushing back for his horse, and the three retreated into an alley.

• Su Qin woke in a stable and joined Uncle Farn and Luke as they loaded barrels onto a cart for a trip to the docks.
• Luke told Su Qin that the Earl had caught a valuable Crystal Shark, while Farn joked about saving money for Luke to marry.
• Su Qin reflected on his arrival in Westeros as the cart traveled through Gulltown toward the docks.
• A fierce battle erupted ahead as black-cloth attackers pursued iron-armored soldiers and knights fleeing on stolen horses.
• Farn tried to return for his horse, but Su Qin and Luke dragged him toward an alley to keep him safe.
• Luke struck Farn on the back of the head with a fishing spear, and he and Su Qin carried the unconscious man deeper into the alley.

Su Qin, Luke, and Falken sheltered the wounded Farn in the tavern as a large armed crowd surrounded the alley and threatened to attack. Just as they prepared to defend the tavern, Su Qin’s system finished loading and offered him a choice of hereditary talent.

• Su Qin and Luke carried Farn to Falken’s tavern, where Falken and Nack helped treat his head wound.
• Falken realized the attackers had likely killed or taken Luke’s horse, leaving Luke to plan dock work to help replace it.
• Nack spotted hundreds of pursuers closing in on three people in the alley, and Falken armed the group with spike hammers.
• Soli Waxley confronted an old man outside and ordered his guards to attack and the crowd to kill everyone in the four alleys.
• Su Qin and the others prepared to defend the tavern, and Su Qin’s system announced that it had finished loading and asked him to select an initial hereditary talent.

Su Qin chose the Hercules talent and fought his way through the attackers, then reached the Earl of Runestone as he battled in the alley. The Earl killed Soli Waxley, but a refined-steel greatsword swept toward him as his body relaxed.

• Su Qin selected the Hercules talent, gaining immense strength and combat skill.
• Su Qin fought through the men who breached the tavern, then took a greatsword and drove the attackers outside into retreat.
• Su Qin pushed through the alley attackers toward the wounded Earl of Runestone, killing several men and breaking the attackers’ morale.
• Soli Waxley became distracted by his fleeing subordinates, and the Earl of Runestone seized the opening to stab him in the chest.
• The Earl of Runestone pulled out his sword, and a refined-steel greatsword swept into view before him.

Su Qin saved the Earl of Runestone from a sneak attack, then met him after he recovered and was offered Gulltown in exchange for swearing fealty. Su Qin accepted the title and began the knighting oath.

• Su Qin beheaded two attackers who tried to strike the Earl of Runestone, and the Earl fainted after seeing him.
• The recovered Earl of Runestone stripped Baron Fett Dorry of his title, ordered the Gulltown Guard disbanded, and banished Fett and his brother from Runestone Territory.
• Earl Yaron questioned Su Qin with Maester Denwen’s Truth Gem, learned his name and background, and warned him against kinslaying, breaking sworn oaths, and worshipping an evil god.
• Yaron offered to make Su Qin his knight and name him Baron of Gulltown, and Su Qin accepted after the system announced that holding territory would unlock the territory system.
• Yaron placed a sword on Su Qin’s shoulder and began reciting the lines of his fealty oath for Su Qin to repeat.

Su Qin took charge of Gulltown and announced decrees to register residents and refugees, distribute grain, and reward reports of suspected conspirators. He used the reports to expose and punish attackers, leaving the town under his authority as Yaron departed to investigate Runestone.

• Su Qin introduced himself to Gulltown’s crowd as Yaron’s knight and announced that registered households, including refugee groups, would receive thirty jin of grain.
• Su Qin offered grain and a silver coin for reports of suspicious people, and a resident accused timber merchant Kelun of helping the conspirators.
• Kelun implicated Mark and Donner; Su Qin spared Kelun’s life but confiscated his property, then had Mark and Donner beheaded with Yaron’s approval.
• Su Qin ordered Kelun to help identify accomplices, and residents helped arrest thirty-four people who were sent to the castle dungeon.
• Yaron praised Su Qin’s handling of the crowd, then left Gulltown that evening to investigate possible traitors in Runestone.

After waiving Gulltown’s taxes for a year, Su Qin examined his new territory and realized he had arrived in Westeros during an unfamiliar era, with the Vale’s succession likely to bring conflict. He reached the castle estate and entered the study to search for information.

• Su Qin announced a year without taxes in Gulltown and recruited one hundred soldiers, earning cheers from the townspeople.
• Su Qin checked the territory panel, which listed Gulltown’s population, resources, army, and Han cultural conversion requirements.
• Su Qin learned from Nack that Duke Geda Arryn’s heirs were Elys Arryn and the deceased Slot Arryn, while Jon Arryn was Elys’s nephew and held Redfort.
• Su Qin concluded that Jon and Elys might contest the Vale’s succession and decided to make use of his system despite the danger.
• Su Qin arrived at Gulltown’s castle estate, ordered the maids to resume their duties, and went to the study while Luke guarded the door.

Su Qin examined the manor’s indenture contracts and used the system to learn about its exchange and summoning options. He summoned a white-grade clerk template but chose not to assign it yet, then began assessing his retainers and the manor’s administrators.

• Su Qin found and read the manor’s indenture contracts, then considered the dangers posed by the unsettled political situation and his involvement in the Vale succession struggle.
• Su Qin reviewed the exchange shop, bought a set of antibiotics for 10 gold coins, and discovered that he could summon character templates.
• Su Qin summoned a white-grade local clerk template that could add politics and intelligence, but decided to save it rather than use it on Luke.
• Su Qin learned the settlement-level requirements and considered how the Gull Territory could grow into a city with a large potential army.
• Su Qin checked Luke’s loyalty, invited him to dinner, and asked where Nack had gone.
• Su Qin told the maid to invite the returning administrators to eat with him so he could assess and win them over.

Su Qin held a banquet for Gulltown's officials, reviewed the day's registration and guard recruitment, and then rose early the next morning to inspect the castle's routines. He appointed Yira as his personal maid and food taster before leaving to prepare for the day.

• Su Qin offered Nack rooms in the castle and asked whether he could serve as provisioning officer, then approved him for the role.
• At the banquet, Telang reported registering 2,131 permanent residents in around 500 households, while Aila reported recruiting 100 men for Su Qin's personal guard.
• Su Qin told Aila to have the recruits train with wooden spears and promised to inspect the training grounds the next afternoon.
• Before dawn, Su Qin spoke with two guards about the night watch and learned that one of them, Rick, was unmarried.
• Su Qin helped Yira draw water, learned her name, and ordered her to become his personal maid, handle his clothes and bedding, and taste his food.

Su Qin reviewed Gulltown’s finances, reassigned Yira as his personal maid, and set out to inspect his territory. After greeting residents and holding a child, he reached Gull The Smith's Shop to examine the lord’s smithy.

• Su Qin recorded the March budget and checked the income from the lord’s personal assets, finding that the territory’s resources were limited.
• After breakfast, Su Qin transferred Yira to serve as his personal maid and went to the storehouse, where he remained for a long time.
• Su Qin took four personal guards to inspect Gulltown, while recruits at the training ground made wooden spears from redwood.
• A mother thanked Su Qin for waiving her family’s agricultural taxes, and he gently held her daughter before continuing down the street.
• Su Qin arrived at Gull The Smith's Shop and told his guards to stand watch while he went inside.

Su Qin inspected the smithy and confirmed its reported income, then took control of Kren’s lumberyards and made Kren his intelligence minister. He left with Kren’s youngest son, Kerry, while planning to monitor food distribution and develop the territory’s redwood resources.

• Su Qin visited the smithy, praised Red and Kend’s craftsmanship, and instructed them to take one apprentice each.
• Su Qin checked the smithy’s earnings and found that its monthly profit was roughly twenty gold coins.
• Su Qin met Kren at his lumberyard, ordered him to consolidate three lumberyards and expand redwood logging, and tasked him with recruiting ten informants.
• Kren swore loyalty to Su Qin and became his intelligence minister, with orders to monitor the Master of Coin’s food distribution.
• Su Qin took Kren’s eight-year-old son Kerry with him and collected forty gold coins in earnings from the smithy and lumberyards.

Su Qin strengthened Luke’s loyalty, assigned him to train under Aila, and inspected the militia’s training. He recognized that the troops lacked disciplined order and returned to the study to write down some ideas.

• Su Qin told Luke to train at the manor and study Westeros’s written language, and Luke’s loyalty rose to 95.
• Su Qin asked Yira to identify dependable maids and servants for him within three days.
• Su Qin brought Luke to the training grounds and asked Aila to take him as an apprentice.
• Aila tested Luke, accepted him as an apprentice, and Luke began training under him.
• Su Qin watched the militia drills, judged their training methods outdated, and returned to the study to write on a sheet of paper.

Su Qin held his first lord’s council meeting, appointing ministers and setting wages while directing Kelun to build an intelligence network. The meeting ended with Telang reporting on Gulltown’s residents and Su Qin left with little money after distributing funds.

• Su Qin entered the meeting room in ceremonial dress and assigned Aila, Kelun, and Telang their seats.
• Su Qin appointed Aila commander of the Seagull Guard, made Telang Right Master of Coin, and named Kelun Minister of Intelligence.
• Su Qin set monthly wages for the ministers, subordinate officials, Guard members, and militiamen.
• Su Qin allocated Kelun five gold coins each month to recruit ten people for an intelligence network, and Kelun pledged his loyalty.
• Telang reported on Gulltown’s residents as the meeting continued late into the night, and Su Qin distributed gold coins before noting that only fifteen remained in his pocket.

Su Qin inspected Gulltown’s resources and heard Yira recount how a nobleman had caused her mother’s death. He promised Yira a chance to take revenge, planned to expand his forces against the mountain clans, and was summoned the next morning to meet Earl Yalun’s special envoy.

• Su Qin surveyed Gulltown’s farmland, stores, businesses, and unsanitary streets, weighing the town’s wealth and the local families’ fiefs.
• On Moonwatch Terrace, Yira told Su Qin that mountain clansmen had killed her father and a nobleman had fought her mother, who later died; she recognized that nobleman as someone who had entered the castle with Telang.
• Su Qin promised Yira she could spear the nobleman herself and decided to bring Telang and Aila to meet her the next day.
• Su Qin resolved to expand his army and establish outposts after learning that mountain clans lived in the Gull Mountains, then wrote late into the night and rigged bells on his window and door.
• The next morning, Nack told Su Qin that Earl Yalun’s special envoy was waiting in the reception room.

Su Qin received a raven and a summons to attend Pute Runestone’s burial at sea, then chose a yellow dragon for his house sigil and named his house House Hercules. After the system revealed his Yellow Dragon Bloodline and presented a divine image, Su Qin ordered banners made and went to inspect the docks.

• Su Qin met Pujin Etching, who brought a raven and its mute keeper Ya San, and told him to prepare his house symbols and seal before returning to Runestone for Pute Runestone’s burial at sea.
• Su Qin assigned Ya San to care for the raven and accepted the invitation to attend the burial.
• Su Qin struggled to choose a house sigil until the system recommended a yellow dragon and revealed that he possessed the complete Primordial Yellow Dragon Bloodline.
• Su Qin sensed someone watching him, saw a golden flash strike the floor, and suspected that Bran(don) Stark was observing him through the Three-eyed raven.
• The system gave Su Qin a divine image of the Dragon God and announced it would enter dormancy, while Su Qin chose the house words “Strive unceasingly for self-improvement!” and named his house House Hercules.
• Su Qin gave Nack the house banner and ordered hundreds of yellow dragon banners made before leaving to inspect the docks.

Su Qin visited Gulltown’s docks, where merchant Banli described the harbor’s disorder and shared news of Prince Rhaegar’s engagement to Princess Elia Martell. Su Qin learned the engagement and tournament would take place in November, six months later, and said he would attend.

• Su Qin traveled to the docks with four militiamen and rewarded his elderly carriage driver with ten copper coins.
• At the harbor, Su Qin met shipowners Banli, Kuyang, and Matt, and noticed Kuyang was coughing blood.
• Banli told Su Qin that Gulltown’s docks were chaotic, unsafe, and filthy, and Su Qin thanked him for the information.
• Banli said Prince Rhaegar would become engaged to Princess Elia Martell in November, when a knights’ tournament would bring Westeros’s great nobles to King’s Landing.
• Su Qin said he would attend the tournament and gave Kuyang a capsule that might ease his cough.

Su Qin sold four antibiotic capsules to the timber merchant Kuyang for 600 gold coins, believing he had made a fortune. Kuyang left Gull Manor delighted, having deceived Su Qin and planning to resell the medicine for far more.

• Yira cared for the drunken Su Qin, who asked whether she had avenged her mother, and she told him she had killed the man herself.
• Su Qin discussed recruiting maids with Yira and learned the former head maid and the other maids were content at the tailor’s shop.
• Kuyang visited Su Qin, thanked him for medicine that eased his cough, and asked to buy more capsules.
• Su Qin sold Kuyang four capsules for 150 gold coins each, thinking the medicine was valuable but unaware of its true market price.
• After leaving Gull Manor, Kuyang revealed he had brought 2,000 gold coins and planned to resell the capsules to nobles or at auction for a large profit.

Su Qin spent his new wealth on building blueprints and summoned Mohist craftsmen to develop Gulltown’s industry. He began recruiting loyal young servants at Gull Square, where a desperate boy applied to earn money for his sister.

• Su Qin stored 605 gold coins and bought blueprints for a farm, logging camp, and smithy from the April shop refresh.
• Su Qin approved the Qilin family banners Nack had commissioned and ordered one hundred made within a month.
• Su Qin used targeted summons to obtain two blue Mohist craftsmen and ten white craftsmen, then planned to build a level 2 smithy.
• Su Qin announced generous terms for recruiting maids and manservants in Gull Square, requiring loyalty from applicants aged sixteen to twenty.
• A frail boy applied for work because he needed the advance wages to keep his younger sister alive.

Su Qin recruited loyal refugees, staged a Dragon God ceremony that gave twelve servants new skills, and organized them to build a smithy. As he prepared to travel to Runestone for a funeral, Yira asked why she and Luke had not received a miracle, and Su Qin told her to wait for a better one.

• Su Qin recruited a hundred servants, rejected applicants with low loyalty, and marked those with negative loyalty for Kelun to investigate.
• Su Qin arranged lodging for the new servants and placed Nack in charge of the male servants.
• Su Qin gave twelve loyal young men gold coins, led them in swearing loyalty to him and the Dragon God, and granted them skills through a miracle.
• Su Qin appointed Gery and Downton as artisan officers and ordered them to study the plans for a level-two smithy.
• Su Qin chose a site for a large smithy and prepared to leave for Runestone the next day with Ser Pukin.
• Yira offered to accompany Su Qin and asked why she and Luke had received no miracle, and Su Qin said their better miracles would come later.

Su Qin set out from Gulltown for Runestone and diverted to rescue a village attacked by mountain clansmen. He killed the clan leader and thirty-five raiders, but the village’s devastation left him determined to eliminate the clans in the Gull Mountains.

• Su Qin left Gull Manor for Runestone, giving Yira the manor’s remaining funds and leaving fifty gold coins for the craftsmen’s research.
• Near Augustus Castle, Pujin urged Su Qin to ignore smoke rising from a distant village and continue toward the next fortress.
• Su Qin rode to the village, killed a clansman about to impale a child, and charged into the raiders.
• Su Qin fought through the mountain clansmen, killed their leader, and searched the houses to kill raiders still assaulting villagers.
• Su Qin realized that despite killing thirty-five raiders, he had failed to prevent the village’s suffering and resolved to eliminate the Gull Mountain clans.

Su Qin left the survivors of the Mountain Clans’ raid in the care of Gull Manor and traveled to Runestone to meet his liege, Earl Yaron. After rejecting Delia Runestone’s apparent advances, he wore the knight’s attire she had made for him at his welcoming feast, leaving Delia pleased.

• Su Qin comforted Alice’s grieving mother, reprimanded Alice for blaming others, and told the survivors to go to Gulltown and seek help from Yira at Gull Manor.
• Su Qin parted from the survivors, and Alice’s mother led the women and children toward Gulltown with money and axes he had provided.
• At Runestone’s gates, Su Qin identified himself as Baron of Gulltown and entered the city after showing his silver knight’s plume.
• Earl Yaron welcomed Su Qin to the manor and arranged a room and a welcoming feast for him.
• Delia Runestone brought Su Qin clothes she had sewn, but he told her he did not yet have feelings for her, hurting her.
• Su Qin wore Delia’s embroidered gull attire to the welcoming feast, and Delia watched him happily from behind a screen.