Diplomacy and Escalating Conflicts[]
We learn a little more about the madou koukakus from around a hundred years ago, how they worked together to fight off demon invasions from the north (Lune is kind of scary here desu no).
Next we are greeting by a meeting of the four marshals (plus Lune). The crystalization of the capital is discussed. We learned that the crystal forms a kind of barrier seal around the capital: that it cannot be physcially destroyed nor melted away. South Marshal Orfan suggest the crystalization may be a side effect of the Farar Cara weapon as it goes berserk. He recommends the sealing away of all madou weapons and replacing them with magic techniques over time. The West Marshal Elfilia disagrees, as madou weapons have been the backbone of Melkia.
Back at the keep, Aru infroms Weiss that a cockroach has invaded during his absence.
When prompted about the ceasefire with Yun Gasol, accept it for now. The Yun Gasol territories does not have that many valuable resources as it is heavily polluted. (although the zone to the east does unlock a hidden area which contain some rare high end materials, but we will worry about that much later). We do not currently possess the military strenght to stand toe to toe with Yun Gasol (the three musketeers get significantly stronger), and we will have more trouble on our hands very shortly.
(This choice has no effect on the ending)
We will be asked by Liselle who to contact next. This choice also have no effect on the route we take. Eida rewards us with a madou part for Aru (部位具ナシオ, it grants a skill which lowers enemy casting speed), while Orfan rewards us with the コールラン accessory which grants +2 matk/+2mdef.
Both are relatively weak, but since we can cheaply manufacture Orfan's reward I tend to pick Eida here (top choice): don't worry, there will be better choices sooner or later.
After these long conversaions, we are back to the world map.
First of all, we got promoted to the East Marshal. So head into the organization screen and update Weiss and Liselle with their new titles.
One thing of note is that Weiss's new special costs more moral, but will also hit for a little more.
Two (!)s will open up in the world map. Go ahead and visit Eida where she congratulate you on your promotion, and check out what is going on the Woods in Curve (the mysterious voice belongs to Elfaticia).
Take this chance to move your whole army from Reimres Fort back to Centakus. With ceasefire in place with Yun Gasol, our attention will eventually shift southwards.
New events appear in town, so check them out. We get a scene of Liselle performing maintenance on a naked Aru. We get a glimsp of Liselle turning into...something else... during her maintenance session, though she learns very quickly and does a good job at it. We also get to visit different places in town with Aru, brothel included, when Weiss finds her observing him.
Now that the store in your capital is built, visit Liselle to hand in the quest. The store in your capitial has slightly different inventory from the one in Raimres Fort, and the two stores together should be sufficient in covering all your purchasing needs throughout the entire game. New quests open up at the mediation center, so take those and lets complete the two monster hunting quests in the mission manual.
Note that all "capture" quests can be repeated once per week - if you are bored enough that is. They do not reward you much experience, although you do get a new battalion of monsters from repeating the quest.
Do not worry about repeating the capture quests: soon you will be able to buy all your captured monsters at the mercensary store. Only do them if you are really short on money and want extra monsters for fusion: an option opened up later in the game.
The monster capture quest rewards you with an army of hounds, but we soon learn about the downside of mercenaries: they have an upkeep cost (that includes the ones currently in your army).
Since those hounds are pretty terrible (you get a much stronger, cuter, lolihound soon with no upkeep soon), I like to just bench them in my keep to cut expenses. I also like to bench the spy since she is pretty useless in combat (I normally bench a few more guys too but lets keep them around to make things easier).
Don't worry you can hire them back at any time.
Next I like to stock up on building materials. 10 stones (石材) and 50 earth soils (ドルイ土) should be enough. They can be found at the Reimres Fort. Use them to upgrade each of your mines once.
With your mines in place, go to Tactics mode and lets enhance the mining of Reimres Fort.
That should be all we can do for this week, so end the week.
We would learn more about Yun Gasol and their pollution problem. Meanwhile in Ranaheim, their king ambitiously prepare to expand his territories now that his army of elite magic swordsmen is ready for action.
Next week arrives. More new events should open up on the world map, so lets pay a visit to the other two Marshals we haven't visited yet. Visit Orfan to the south and learn about him taking on the role of an adopted father of Weiss (and biological father of Liselle). He also indirectly tried to sell his daughter by telling Weiss that he is around the age of getting married.
The visit to Garmus at the north is more important. When asked about the crystalization of the capital, answer the bottom option: the crystalization is triggered by a person (vs side effect of madou weapon).
- The japanese wiki states that the answer to this question is irrelavant.
Tell him you will punish the culprit in the second question. This is important to the future plot.
Back in town, Ragiru's mercenary store should be done, so clear the events. None of the mercs are worth hiring at this point at the moment. At the keep, Aru also talks to Weiss about Liselle's photographic memory. Do your usual round around town and check the Mediation center for new quests and turn in the merc store quest to Liselle.
Two new buildings become availble: the mercenary recruitment center and monster cages. To unlock everything, you will eventually want 8 of each building. However mercs are not really worth hiring (cost money+upkeep), and you may not have enough resources for monster cages yet. Go ahead and build a single mercenary recruitment center if you want (we really wouldn't need mercs). More importantly, you can now build a Weapons Lab, a Magic Lab, and a Madou Kokakou Lab. You may need to buy some Corshino Steel (コルシノ鋼) from the shop in Centakus to build those, but have those building ASAP.
Top: Recruitment center
Bottom: Monster cages
Weapons Lab, Magic Lab, Madou Kokakou Lab
Tip: Monster cages and the labs provide a good boost to your Magic and Weapon research point. However multiple of the same building in the same town yield significantly less benefits (usually +1 point instead of +10). Certain buildings, such as monster cages, can only be built in capital cities though.
Back in the world map, move your entire army down to the Wood in Curve. You may also want to enhance the mining production of Reimres Fort or the havested production of Woods in Curve once again (it has a base cost of 800, so it may or may not be worth it for you).
Once all events are cleared and buildings are built, end the week.
The king of China Yun Gasol pays Weiss a visit with his queen. We are also introduced to Canada the Principality of Rumollne, a resource rich rural nation surrounded by several powerful nations.
Mei Mei, an ambassdor of the rune elven nation of Eren de Mail also pays Weiss a visit.
Next week arrives. Not much we can do this week. Clear the event with Eida at the keep and watch Lune get entertained by horrible jokes at the mediation center. Progress another week.
Ranaheim mobilize their army and sends the king's sister to Yun Gasol on a diplomatic mission. The Principality of Rumollne seeks Weiss for help to defend itself against invaders. Accept the offer, this is critical to plot development. War will begin with Ranaheim.
Meanwhile, Ranaheim magic swordsmen forces led by Lacrille has taken Colarim Mountain Path from Rumollne...