Half a century before Grado's invasion, the merchant republic of Carcino won independence from Frelia, sparking a commercial revolution that gave rise to dozens of new companies, including the Taylor Textile Merchant Company. Its founder — the enigmatic Master Taylor — carries the weight of someone history has its eye on. His young heiress Isabelle, ambitious and energetic, is present when Grado's first strikes land and recognizes the moment as an opportunity. Meanwhile, in the company's sharecropping village, a quiet young woman named Jeanne forms an unlikely friendship with an ancient spirit and discovers what grief, guilt, and love feel like for the first time. A plague without clear origin sweeps through the countryside. Renais's bandits are not what they appear to be. Something is being pulled from deep underground in secret. Before the Demon King, there was Lagdou — and what Lagdou's leaders did is still waiting to be accounted for.