Blazing a Trail

Kaja, daughter of Amigo Trade Corps leader Baja, overhears her father's conversations and realizes the guild needs a new route to the east. Her retainers Maharajah and Lloyd can't talk her out of it, and reluctantly join her journey.

Shuri, a knight-in-training, and Maha, a priest, step in to help Kaja out of trouble on the road; once they catch their breath, the two groups agree to travel together for a while. After a long journey they reach the home of the renowned navigator Largo — only to find him in a state of despair.

Through Kaja's persistence, Largo's memories of his late wife resurface, and he finds the strength to sail again. (Maha can't resist teasing Shuri about his obvious interest in Kaja.)

On the road, Kaja's party finds the mercenary Zeke Stafford fighting off a monster and steps in to help; catching his breath afterward, Zeke opens up to Kaja about his past as a Paladin of House Pandragon. Following Largo's advice, the party then meets the great captain Penelo, learning they'll need a Sun Stone to chart a route east.

Separately, Zeke's path back to knighthood is set in motion here: Lady Margaret Beaumont, a proud noblewoman taken with his abilities, personally guides the mercenary-exiled Paladin back toward Pandragon.

En route to the Temple of the Sun, Kaja's party fights off bandits and successfully recovers the Sunstone. Handing it to Penelo to have a compass made, Kaja decides to head back to the Trade Corps to wait — but her father Baja, who's spent the nights worrying, lashes out at her plan, and a hurt Kaja leaves the guild for a while. Alone and lost in thought at the harbor, she's approached by Shuri, whose slip of the tongue in a good mood gets badly misread.

This is the guild's introduction proper — the wider world beyond the war, opened up by Largo's eventual willingness to sail again. Several nice connective payoffs surface here: Maha is Priest Yurix Maha of Astania, and this is also Shuri Stamgard's first on-page meeting with Kaja. Penelo's appearance here is his first in the story, well before his established role piloting the ship during the Chapters 24–25 southern-sea voyage.

Baekokdang and Baja are separate people — Baekokdang is a celebrated swordsman and member of the Amigo Guild, while Baja is Kaja's father and the guild's leader.