Baron Lee and Lady Bala are headed to Denshu, his gift from the King.
There is an imposter mage who has taken over his province and he must woo the residents to support him while taking down the imposter. The town is seventeenth century in most of its infrastructure and trade. Lee knows the new king put his strongest mages in the southernmost town in the kingdom - adjacent to Darvist. Lee knows the King plans to abscond with the remainder of the huge loan it had obtained from Darvist and Lee's 'gift' of nobility and the Denshu province was to give the king time to get away from a follow-up invasion.
Lee has to upgrade the town and raise the standards of the people he has come to respect before they can assist him. He is experimenting with the two portals he confiscated during the last invasion to see if he can stop the next attack or give him the means to respond. He thinks he has some of the keys to using the magic in portals since he can't do it with twenty-fourth century electronics. He is mastering the ability to create matter from the zero-point mana energy he can produce. This nearly inexhaustible supply of mana may give him the means if he can learn to control it and teach his closest associates. Anna is staying by his side now and the town has become accustomed to her presence but she has limited powers. Bala is training the townspeople with magical abilities to support the defense of the town.