Event synopsis: The Rides to Lake Silberneherze
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The Rides to Lake Silberneherze highlights the aftermath of the Snowcap Incident as told in Break the Ice, where Kjerag has been undergoing drastic industrial development under Enciodes' leadership, turning the once backwater country into a tourist site within a short span of time. As the inaguration ceremony of its grand statue of Kjeragandr at Lake Silberneherze draws nigh, Kjerag accepts its first foreign diplomat from the Duke of Caster of Victoria. Yet little do the Kjeragians realize that such move is, for the first time, a challenge to Kjerag's sovereignty as Victoria asserts political pressure onto them.
The Wild Ride
Three years after the Snowcap Incident that almost tore the nation, Kjerag finally fully embraces modernization. Under Enciodes' leadership, the Karlan Trade is able to import new technologies from foreign nations, mainly from Victoria. Homemade heavy industries are setting up, and old railroads are now upgraded with the latest train system, which in turn attract foreign tourists to visit the hinterland. In order to thank Kjeragandr's blessing for the prosperity, a giant statue is built on an island on Lake Silberneherze, a sacred lake believed by the locals to be the most precious treasure the goddess has ever left, and Kjerag is preparing for a huge inauguration ceremony that will bring awe to both the locals and foreign tourists.
On the other hand, K.T. must also appreciate their long-term partnership with House Caster. The Grand Duchess dispatches Viscount Harold Craigavon, a seasoned veteran, as her diplomat with a huge band of soldiers that safeguards him. Harold treats the trip as a mere vacation with his fellow comrades, so he relaxes himself and merges with the locals by living alongside them and even helping them in livestock veterinary. Nevertheless, the trip is not without a purpose. Caster has long noticed Kjerag's unnatural high demand for precious metal which K.T. claims it for the statue's construction, and Harold is commissioned to investigate the authenticity of the claim. She also quietly dispatches a Trilby Asher, Lord Bellingham, to further assist the viscount in intelligence work. Enciodes too anticipates the political pressure from Caster, so he orders Degenbrecher the Black Knight to keep an eye on Harold's envoy group.
Meanwhile, Rosalind Larina, a.k.a. Operator Leto of Rhodes Island, is taking her sweet trip to Kjerag as well. Being a half-Kjeragian by blood, she is on her journey to search for the romantic site on Mount Karlan where her mother met her long-lost father, hand her mother's "memento" back to it, and, if possible, meet her father for once. Along the way, Leto acquaints with Harold who shares the same train ride to Lake Silberneherze, and the two happily enjoy the scenery along the railway.
Just then, Degenbrecher suddenly appears in the train with her bloodstained hands and urgently searches for Harold. The viscount also does not expect a Trilby Asher appearing on his side, further bringing confuse and eventually a brief fight in the train. After further explanation, it is revealed that Degenbrecher needs Harold's help in the childbirth of a farmer's burdenbeast; the bloodstained hands are just an accident during the delivery. Although the misunderstanding is cleared, the Trilby Asher suspects that Degenbrecher is originally searching for Leto, hence putting his eyes on the innocent girl.
Bear's in the Cradle
Leto arrives at the construction site of statue, and there she meets an old monk who resembles her. The old monk, turning out to be the old Paleroche, the former clan chief of the family, is surprised of her arrival, so he kindly invites her to stay inside the mansion of the Paleroches, only to find Arctosz being drunk. However, Leto is no hesitant to fall into drunkenness. Together, Arctosz and Leto have a crazy party where they spend the whole evening in alcohol. Despite the craze, the old Paleroche is grateful to see such a warm-hearted moment which he has missed for a long time.
On Enciodes' side, Harold decides to hold a banquet to show his appreciation towards the Kjeragians' kind hospitality. He invites both Enciodes and Enya the Karlan Saintess for the banquet, yet he does not anticipate tension between the siblings. Enya has been unhappy of her brother's harsh method in running the country's economy, but Enciodes rebukes that what he does is for the greater good of Kjerag. Even Harold finds it hard to ease their tension had not he distracts Enciodes. Despite the dispute, the banquet is a success.
After the banquet, Enciodes, Degenbrecher, and Gnosis return to K.T. headquarters to have a private chat. Enciodes and Degenbrecher are bemused of Gnosis' heavy drunkenness, so they try to sober him up. The trio then laugh over such moment is still the same ten years when Enciodes attended the banquet of Walden Caster. The two then proceeds to offer a hangover medicine to Gnosis along with a funny prank, and the convention immediately burst into laughter.
The next day, Leto leaves the mansion early and personally climbs up Mount Karlan. Without her notice, the Trilby Asher is quietly stalking after her starting from yesterday when he infiltrated the Paleroches' mansion. Funnily, even the greatest spy could accidentally fall into a hunter's trap, prompting Leto to rescue him. Upon their first encounter, Leto suspects the Trilby Asher's intention and tries to distance herself from him. The conversation is soon interrupted by both Arctosz and Degenbrecher who are chasing after their respective targets, but an avalanche suddenly pushes both Leto and Arctosz down to the valley, leaving Degenbrecher to have a fierce fight with the Trilby Asher.
Waking up from the tick pile of snow, Leto and Arctosz search their way out from the valley. Coincidentally, the romantic site where Leto is searching for, a pair of conjoined trees, is located down the valley. Upon hanging her mother's "memento" up on the trees, Arctosz decides to reveal the truth to her – he is in fact Leto's long-lost father. More than twenty years ago, Arctosz risked himself in marrying Leto's Ursine mother, Tatyana Larina. But following the railway accident that killed the old Silverashes, the Paleroches were under great scrutiny from the allying Browntails as they represented the conservative faction who opposed Kjerag's opening up. In sorrow, Arctosz had to banish both Lariana and infant Leto from Kjerag, and the banishment is the deepest grievance Arctosz has ever experienced. Furthermore, when he later learns from Leto herself that Tatiana is "gone" forever, he blames himself for such unfortune.
However, Leto does not buy in Arctosz's sympathy. Rather, she angrily punches Arctosz and mocks his cowardness. She never anticipates her father to find her, for she has spent most of their lifetime in bitterness together with her mother. Most importantly, she clears Arctosz's misunderstanding in laughter—Tatiana is still alive, and it is just that Leto misspeaks "memento" in Kjeragian. Even after the two manages to leave the valley, Leto still bears a grudge against Arctosz.
Decisions, decisions
Faith...
The Trilby Asher could not withstand the physical might of the Black Knight, so he flees in deep panic. But his escape immediately turns into many hilarious moments. Firstly, he tries to hijack a burdenbeast, but the beast does not listen to his order. He then attempts to escape via the frozen lake, only to find himself falling on the slippery ice. The fight even reaches up onto the Kjeragandr statue where Degenbrecher smashes parts of the face, which ironically amuses Kjera who has been complaining over the statue's cubby face. The cat-and-mouse game ends with Degenbrecher giving a hard kick onto the Trilby Asher, causing him to fall into the cold lake and almost froze to death had not Harold rushes to save him. By the time the Trilby Asher tries to reach the statue again, he is immediately teleported by Kjera, and the spy is completely bewildered by the "existence" of the "goddess."
Despite the comical failure, the Trilby Asher does gain an important intel: all the precious metals K.T. purchased are directly transported to the train station at Lake Silberneherze where all the Kjeragian railway ends. Furthermore, he finds out the "wine" the Paleroches purchased for the inauguration ceremony are those imported metal. The Kjeragandr statue could possibly be a fraud to the outside world where Kjerag hides its secret weaponry factory. This time, the Trilby Asher strongly pressures Harold to take action over Kjerag's deception to Victoria. Harold is unwilling though as he fears the vacation will soon turn into an unnecessary bloodshed.
...or Loyalty?
Harold has to make a tough choice: either to obey Caster's order, or to turn a deaf ear for the sake of his love over Kjerag. But the stern veteran puts Victoria's interest first and foremost, so he organizes a troop of two thousand armed soldiers to destroy the Kjeragandr statue the next day where the inauguration ceremony begins. All of a sudden, the once playful soldiers become serious and harsh as they threaten the civilians to stay out of the matter. They even kidnap Matterhorn and Courier to prevent them bringing intel to Enciodes. Nevertheless, Enciodes already expects the troop's arrival, and he is waiting for a "special guest" to arrive for the ceremony. But Sciurus is sceptical over Enciodes' "plan B," so she brings out her backup plan by ordering the railway station to immediately bring her arriving "guests" as well.
While the Tri-clans are impatiently waiting for the "guests," Degenbrecher offers herself to stop the Victorian troop on the frozen lake. Being a fan of the Black Knight, Harold is honoured to have a fight with her, but he warns her not to underestimate the two thousand soldiers. Still, those superior weapons are no opponents to the Black Knight's might. Even as she suffers from severe wounds, she makes her last stand to halt the soldiers from trampling her beloved country.
Back on the arriving train, the Trilby Asher, now gaining the latest intel, is ready to assassinate Enciodes' "guests." After search up the cabinets, he is completely dumbfounded. It turns out those "guests" are not just some important business partners, but diplomatic envoys from Kazimierz. Mob, who is now a spokesman of the Kazimierz General Chamber of Commerce, is invited to take part of the statue's inauguration, and along with him come Sciurus's "guests"—several Kazimierzian campaign knights who are current serving as Mob's bodyguards. In the meantime, the Doctor and Sharp of Rhodes Island and Muelsyse of Rhine Lab are invited by Enciodes for the ceremony, hence their presence in the train. The Doctor immediately recognizes Lord Bellingham, and the Trilby Asher realizes his infiltration is destined to be doomed.
The important guests have finally arrived at Lake Silberneherze, and Enciodes has Mob to publicly announce K.T.'s partnership with the K.G.C.C. with his advance microphone. Upon hearing the announcement, Harold immediately orders the troops to stop the fight and treat Degenbrecher's injury; he fears his military operation will both accidentally harm Columbian civilians and offend Kazmierzian government, which in turn further complicates Victoria's geopolitics. Despite their offence, Enya forgives them and even invites to take part of the ceremony. Both Harold and the Trilby Asher humbly admit their failure and abandon Caster's order because they realize that Kjerag's "goddess" is real who really protects her people and that Kjerag's potential must not be underestimated. Still, the Victorian envoys are glad to return to the happiness they enjoy.
Preparing For the Storm
In the aftermath, both Victoria and Kjerag clear their misunderstanding. Enya dismisses the locals' mistrust by painting Harold's military operation as a brief training exercise between the two nations. Having a positive image on the Snowy Realm, some of the Victorian soldiers even decide to retire and settle in Kjerag afterwards, including Lord Bellingham himself.
K.T. also makes some progresses as well. Enciodes invites R.L. to replicate the S.H.A.F.T. of Trimounts on Mount Karlan so that they could launch spacecrafts and penetrate the Starpod once again thanks to its close proxy. In turn, the launch site will provide Columbia's protection onto Kjerag. His partnership with the K.G.C.C. is an act to counter-balance Victoria's and Columbia geopolitical influences. Enya is worried that Enciodes' plan will bring greater danger to this small country, but Kjera is glad of it, and she is even very excited to have "cannons" installed on Kjeragandr's back. As to R.I., Enciodes admits that he allows Leto to be here as a bait to fool the Trilby Asher, but the Doctor acknowledges their participation so that Leto could have a chance to reconcile with Arctosz. As to Leto's side, she lets go of her unhappy past and is willing to take time to reconcile with her father, though this comes with the cost of demanding excessive "financial compensations" that Arctosz is willing to pay.
The dust has finally settled, and it is great that Kjerag's national secret is not leaked. Gnosis and Ratatos quietly enter the hidden basement beneath the Kjeragandr statue. It is true that beneath the statue lies a weaponry factory, and there, the Kjeragians are accomplishing the greatest national project—the construction of Kjerag's first homemade high-speed landship dubbed "Walnut." Harold's failed operation is just a wake-up call to Kjerag, and Kjerag has to prepare for the worst scenario in the future.