There's a nation that has spent a thousand years shut away in the snowstorm, serving its god. Neither catastrophe nor war ever reached this snowy peak. Instead, the people of Kjerag slowly stiffened inside a stagnation called peace.

The Doctor's group visits this nation at the invitation of Ensiodes, the young head of the SilverAsh family. It was meant as thanks for Rhodes Island's help suppressing his sister Ensia's Oripathy.

But the moment they arrive, this so-called older brother announces he'll hand over all the power the three clans share — to the Saint. And he says it with the most devout expression.

1. The Chairman Suddenly Repents — Right in Front of the Three Clans

Ensiodes is the reformer who built trade ports and laid down railways to transform Kjerag. But to the other two clans — Aktoz of House Paleroche and Latatos of House Browntail — he's nothing but a nouveau riche trampling the faith. Today, at the Council of the Three Clans, the two of them finally corner him.

But cornered, Ensiodes is the one who kneels first. He offers up the valley and the mines to Manjuwon, and hands over all the power of the three clans to the Saint.

The diligent hold power, and the idle suffer.

— Ensiodes

The Saint's name is Enya, Ensiodes's older sister. After their parents died in an accident, a young Ensiodes led the family and raised his two younger sisters. But five years ago, when Enya became the Saint and left for the mountain, a slow rift opened between the once-close siblings.

The one who actually invited the Doctor's group on this trip is the youngest, Ensia. She loves climbing and getting into trouble, and she's the only one who's noticed her brother and sister aren't the way they used to be.

2. Barely Arrived as a Guest, and Already a Hostage

Aktoz drags the Doctor off to the Paleroche mansion by force, saying he'll keep 'Ensiodes's guest' under his own watch. Ensia draws her blade the moment the soldiers barge in, but it's Ensiodes's bodyguard Degenbrecher who actually settles the whole rude affair.

Think carefully, outsider. Lord Aktoz said to 'bring you along.' Not everyone gets treated this well.

— Gulo

Meanwhile, Aurora, back in her homeland, feels conflicted — she's the one who joined Rhodes Island with the SilverAsh family's backing, and now she's the one standing against the very family she owes it all to. Sharp tells her flatly.

From now on, you'll have to treat Ensiodes as an enemy. Can you do that?

— Sharp

And so the Doctor suddenly ends up an 'honored guest' — and hostage — of House Paleroche, saddled with the practical work of handing over rights to the valley and the mines. For such a cutthroat country, the hospitality, at least, isn't bad.

Meanwhile, Aurora's neighbors are actually thrilled at the news that the SilverAsh family is handing power to the Saint — even her father, who's opposed the open-door policy for years, breaks into a wide smile. Aurora alone feels the weight of having to stand against the person she owes a debt of gratitude to.

3. A Protest Breaks Out in Front of the Factory, and Someone's Laughing From the Shadows

A mob of laid-off workers from the valley surrounds the Doctor, blaming him for everything. House SilverAsh's steward Weiss barely manages to calm them down, but then the Doctor abruptly points out the factory's safety problems, flipping the whole mood.

......So this is what you meant by 'help.'

— Weiss

And then the real mastermind is revealed. Gnosis — the former Chief Technology Officer, fired from Karlan Trade CO., LTD half a year ago. Hiding behind a wall at the Browntail mansion, eavesdropping, Latatos hears Gnosis drop one loaded line.

Why do you think Ensiodes brought up handing over power? Here's a hint...... the Grand Hunt.

— Gnosis

4. In a Ravine Without Even a Bridge, an Entire Train Vanishes

Gnosis takes Latatos to an abandoned road in the gorge and activates a hidden bridge — the secret rail line Ensiodes had been using to quietly ship troops and supplies. Before Latatos can even collect herself, Gnosis blows the entire train sky-high with a flick of his fingers.

Gnosis now declares that Latatos is an accomplice too — whether she wanted to be or not, she's on the same boat now. Latatos's cheerful younger sibling Sirus is simply bewildered by the whole situation.

5. A Sacred Hunt, But the Prey Isn't What Anyone Expected

Kjerag's greatest festival, the Grand Hunt, begins. Saint Enya, unprecedentedly, joins the hunt herself, loosing an arrow to save a warrior's life. Even Aktoz and Latatos are struck speechless before her.

During a break, Aktoz, calling her 'friend,' opens up to Enya — how is it that, born a SilverAsh, she walks such a different path from Ensiodes? Enya doesn't deny that SilverAsh blood runs in her too, but she answers like this.

Ever since I became the Saint, everything about me has simply drifted far from the mundane world. And it was Lord Ensiodes who made the name 'SilverAsh' stop meaning anything to me.

— Enya

In that opening, Ensiodes is attacked by an unidentified assassin. The assassin turns out to be none other than Latatos's attendant, Mönch — a pawn Gnosis had planted. Wounded, Ensiodes doesn't even bother hiding the injury and calmly continues the hunt.

6. A Poisoned Cup for the Grand Elder, and Two Perfectly Framed Traitors

During the Grand Hunt's final rite, the Grand Elder collapses. Poison, in his cup. Ensiodes immediately points the finger at Aktoz, and Sirus, who'd been shielding the captured assassin Mönch, is framed as an accomplice too.

Judge them! Judge them!! Judge them!!!

— the crowd

And Aktoz's confidant Vale learns something else — that the wound his own father supposedly took from the legendary 'Snowmount Fiend' during the sacred hunt was actually a poison herb the Grand Elder had used. The moment he realizes his father's death was Aktoz's own mistake, a crack forms in Vale's loyalty.

In the chaos, Gnosis appears in person to deliver Latatos an ultimatum, but Degenbrecher's blade blocks him and he's dragged away. Enya, confined in Manjuwon, offers no resistance at all and simply walks out quietly.

7. The Room Grandfather Built to Burn His Enemy Alive

Latatos lures Ensiodes to the old villa of House Edelweiss and triggers a fire trap her grandfather left behind. Die together, that's the plan. Trapped in the burning room, the two of them finally start being honest with each other.

Latatos confesses it wasn't greed but fear that made her turn on him — Ensiodes hadn't looked like someone trying to unite the three clans, but like someone trying to make all of Kjerag his own. That's what frightened her.

It looked less like you were trying to bring the three clans back together, and more like you were trying to make Kjerag your own. That's what scared me.

— Latatos

Latatos also lets slip an old truth on top of it — that Gnosis's parents were actually driven out on a false charge, and that it was Latatos's own grandfather who'd targeted Ensiodes's parents. Just before the two of them are about to die, Degenbrecher smashes through the wall and drags them out. Without a word, Ensiodes takes off his own coat and drapes it over Latatos.

8. There Was More Than One Chess Piece

Ensiodes visits the imprisoned Gnosis to discuss what comes after the Grand Hunt. Only then does it come out — Gnosis's dismissal, his betrayal, even the assassination plot using Sirus — all of it was a play the two of them had scripted together from the very start.

I'm not your chess piece. Much less your subordinate. I'm your partner.

— Gnosis

Before their years studying in Victoria, young Ensiodes and Gnosis once promised each other that someday they'd make Kjerag the strongest nation of all. Gnosis, driven out of Kjerag on a false charge, had been paying back that old promise this way all along.

His attendant Mönch, who had believed Gnosis's trust in him was genuine, is left speechless upon learning he was never more than a piece of the plan.

9. The Doctor's Final Move — Gulo Takes the Station, Sirus Takes the Village, and the Little Sister Takes the Mountain

The Doctor secretly frees the imprisoned Aktoz and Latatos. Having been framed as traitors by Ensiodes, they now have no choice but to take Rhodes Island's — their enemy's — hand.

Here's the plan. Aktoz's general Gulo seizes the train station, Latatos's sibling Sirus rescues her husband Yucatan and stirs up the village, and in the chaos that follows, Aktoz's real army advances on the sacred mountain — while Ensia climbs the cliff alone to meet her sister.

Skirting around the mountainside, Ensia finally reaches Manjuwon and sits face to face with her sister once more. They exchange nothing but small talk at first, until Enya notices the worn bracelet her sister still wears.

Ensia, instead of that...... stay with your sister.

— Enya

Ensia recalls how, as a child, she used to beg her sister — who never much cared for mountains — to go climbing together. Now that Enya has become the Saint, she's ended up trapped on this very mountain, and Ensia grew up always imagining herself rescuing her. Now, that fantasy has finally come half true.

Meanwhile, Sharp stands against Ensiodes's final line of defense, Degenbrecher. Neither one wins, but Sharp manages to hold him back for a full ten minutes.

Letting personal feelings into a mission is something only an amateur would do.

— Sharp

10. The Saint Walks Out Alone

The dying Grand Elder gathers his last strength for a final word — protect the faith, defeat Ensiodes, and restore Kjerag to what it once was. Enya refuses, quietly but firmly.

I am the Saint. Not the Saint of Manjuwon — the Saint of Kjerag.

— Enya

As Aktoz's army pushes right up to the sacred mountain, and the two armies stand facing each other, the handmaid Kiyar smiles an unreadable smile and claps her hands twice. Every last guard protecting Manjuwon crumples to the ground on the spot, and only Enya walks out alone.

The blizzard stops, the black clouds part, and light lights her path. Every warrior lays down their weapon and kneels. Not the enemy, not even her own brother, is exempted.

In the name of Manjuwon, Enya declares that foreign faiths and new ways of life are now permitted. Without a war, Kjerag has opened its own doors.

On the way back to Manjuwon, the handmaid Kiyar quietly recalls the past. Watching over the children who came to Manjuwon each year as Saint candidates, enduring their trials, had long been her private habit — and among them all, Enya had been the one she found most fascinating.

Congratulations, my child and my proxy, my friend, my sister.

— Kiyar

Epilogue. Chess Ends in a Draw

With everything settled, Ensiodes sits down across from the Doctor for a game of chess. His victory had been all but certain, he admits — except for the one variable he never saw coming.

A draw, huh...... Seems like my luck really hasn't been on my side lately.

— Ensiodes

He also admits why he had to rush things. Outside Kjerag, nations were already at war, trading, swallowing each other whole. Nowhere was it guaranteed that the peace of these snowy peaks would last forever.

And he keeps one promise: that Rhodes Island will be free to come and go from Kjerag from now on, and that no record of this whole affair will ever bear the Doctor's or Rhodes Island's name.

Aktoz steps down as clan head, taking responsibility for the Grand Elder's poisoning, while Latatos manages to keep her place, if only as a minor branch of the SilverAsh family. Gnosis, acting as Ensiodes's proxy, volunteers to leave for Rhodes Island, and Mönch vanishes without a word — leaving behind nothing but a knife Gnosis had once given him.

Weiss and Matterhorn stand before the Doctor together and bow their heads. They may have served Ensiodes, they say, but they were Rhodes Island operators all along. The Doctor doesn't blame them, but Sharp swears to write every detail of this affair into her report.

At a shop in front of the city gate, Ensia finds a painting of her brother and sister shaking hands — but in the end, she doesn't buy it. She's already realized the reconciliation in that picture is a fake.

Someday, I'm going to put my brother's and sister's relationship back the way it used to be.

— Ensia

Kjerag has broken free of the stagnation called peace. Whether the peace it's earned in exchange is just the beginning of another stagnation, though — no one knows yet.