Chapter 39

A sleep-deprived Damian barely makes morning muster, and Housemaster Henderson, spotting the dark circles under his eyes, sentences him to chore duty under the dorm mother with orders to stay on campus until it is finished. Damian has been studying through the night, chasing additional Stella Stars in hopes of earning his father's praise a second time, and refuses to join the dorm outing to the movies. Ewen and Emile deliberately loiter around the halls looking scruffy so Henderson will punish them too, then join their friend at the chores, clowning in bedsheet capes as make-believe Imperial Scholars while Henderson privately savors the elegance of youthful friendship.

Catching Damian staring wistfully at the sky, the school custos Mr. Green teases him about wanting a picnic, and Henderson hands the trio a fresh punishment for their fooling around: a field research excursion under Green's supervision. It begins with a breakneck canoe run during which Damian tumbles into the river; Ewen and Emile leap in after him and theatrically entrust him with their dreams before Green points out that the water barely reaches their knees.

Ashore, the boys dig up earthworms for bait, revealing Damian's terror of the creatures, then catch a fish apiece and eat around a campfire, where Green tells Damian there is nothing wrong with enjoying himself now and then. That night Green leads them to Stella Lake, so named because the stars mirrored on its surface seem close enough to touch. Walking there, the boys trade dreams, and Damian says he intends to follow his father into politics. Lying beneath the sky, the three dissolve into laughter at Emile comparing the stars to sugar scattered above them. Back at the dorm, Henderson thanks Green for letting the boys loose, though he judges Damian's terse field report in need of work.

Henderson punishes the exhausted Damian with chores, and Ewen and Emile get themselves punished on purpose to stay by his side.

Mr. Green's excursion pulls the overworked Damian away from his books for fishing and stargazing at Stella Lake, where he voices his ambition to become a politician like his father.

The trip is revealed as a kindness in disguise: Henderson and Green quietly arranged it to give the boys room to unwind.

Mission 39 covers 23 pages in Volume 7 and adapts into Episode 27, with the three boys sharing the cover. The surnames Egeburg and Elman appear here for the first time, and the chapter establishes Damian's fear of worms.

Mr. Green returns from Chapter 27 with a redesign, now sporting a small patch of hair instead of a bald head. His mention of southern Ostanians defecting through a third country to reach Westalis references how East German defectors circumvented the inner German border. Endo scrapped a planned chapter illustration of Ewen and Emile, joking that the pair were unfit to headline the year's first chapter.