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Here we go:

1st place Ksandr-san

Walkthrough:

First, I went to the village — took quests from the elder for the thorns and cleared the garden. Galloped to the Bandit for plows. After handing in the plows, I rode to the royal thorns and cleared the area around the lake. Returned to the village, captured a cow, back to the thorns and back again. Handed in the quest, took one for the miller. Descended to the miller. Trudged to brother Carl; on the way, I stopped by the count, grabbed quests for frogs and griffins. Returned to Greenwort, rode to the coast. Cleared everything along the way, took quests (for the bear — for +2 rage, but didn't complete it), bought a boat, went to the ataman. Took the ring, on the way back stopped by the island, beat the pirates, dug up a chest with a magic rune. Docked on the mainland, finished off monsters on the coast, rode to the king. Told him about the fishermen, completed Zerok's test. Returned to the fisherman, handed it in, took a new quest. Cut off Beardless's ears, returned them to the fisherman, trudged into a nearby cave. Killed everyone (demonic laughter). Rode to the village, took the werewolf quest. Struggled with the desire to wait until midnight, as I had never seen a werewolf. Killed everyone, including the werewolf boss. Wept over the corpse, swore revenge on that scoundrel because of whom I destroyed an animal listed in the Red Book. Rode into Verlon Forest. Went to the academics, fought in the Doomsday Arena (save Arena). Won and felt pride in my own coolness. Then trudged toward the castle, slaughtering monsters along the way. Decided it was time to get down to business. Rode to Morshan Swamps, sailed by raft to the frog, chatted, and returned the same way. Rode to Arlania. Spoke with the Count, went into the snake cave. Killed monsters before the cave, just ran through inside. Upon exiting the cave, ran to the tavern and took a quest. Went to the Dragon, killed mobs on the way, took the fang, handed in the quest, and went to the count. Trudged into the dungeon. It seemed there was a difficult fight with necromancers (save Count's Dungeon). Rode home. At the school of magic (near the capital), I passed the spirit test. Went through the marsh to the frog via the swamp. Beat mobs, married the frog. Followed quests — took one for the alchemist and one for the chronicles of the lost city, smashed a flask, took a quest for the zombie, and a quest for frogs (but didn't complete it). Returned to the capital, bought troops, back to the swamps. Took the furious paladin's quest and began clearing the cemetery and crypts. One of the hardest fights was almost the very first one (save Ghost). Along the way, I killed the quest zombie and farmed exp up to level 7. Curtain.

2nd place wolf64

Some thoughts on the walkthrough.

Even from the very first battle, I thought about experience. Therefore, I first picked up a spirit rune, upgraded — level 1 training, and only then started fighting the dragon.
I didn't pick up gold at all; it's extra movement and a waste of time (the money piles are too small).... I didn't even kill all the spiders... not enough experience. In the end, I left the training hall in slightly less than an hour (54 minutes).

Since picking up chests on the battlefield was forbidden, only one good method remained (besides the money given after any battle) — buy marauders so that they could search corpses twice per battle — and get gold... moreover, the number of marauders and the number of killed neutrals almost don't play a role in the amount of gold received during searching.
Furthermore, to avoid frequently buying new troops instead of those killed — it is better to use vampires in battles; I went with them until the end. Therefore, presumably, there were no losses in 98-99% of battles. Vampires can always be obtained from carved coffins. In Morshan Swamps, there are always 3 such coffins.

As it turned out, marauders could only be bought in the swamp (swamps) (in this tournament version). Usually, they can also be bought in Greenwort — from Rotten Heck, or in Verlon Forest at the bandits' hideout (near the Dragon's castle), or in Arlania — from the innkeeper Drin (the one who gives the dragon tooth quest).

I left only archers in my army, took the airship quest, then went left, took the talking stone quest and the fishermen's small request, and immediately back. Then straight to Morshan Swamps. Picked up three carved coffins (picked up gold from skeletons and graves), bought marauders (16 units)... went to the temple of departed spirits and gave money to the superior, then bought inquisitors. (Exactly in this sequence — first collect gold and buy marauders, and only then incs.... otherwise there won't be enough money). Picked up a magic recipe (it is always in the same place in a grave), and ran back to Greenwort.

There is a certain nuance with vampires — from one coffin you can get from one to four vampires, depending on luck. For example, in the swamps, we raise 1 vampire from one coffin, but if you don't do that and cross the veil to another map — Greenwort — then you get three. Moreover, we can get different results if we try to raise vampires one coffin at a time or raise them from all three coffins at once — the result will be different. On this save, I had a version where I simultaneously got 12 vampires from three coffins, but this walkthrough variant was worse than the final one. (By the way, I should have such a save... I did that in the very first test run, later I couldn't tune it like that). In the final version — I got 10 vampires, first 6, and then another 4.
I forgot to mention that I tried not to touch any neutrals until I got the spirit box.

Near the castle, I lure out a slow squad and take the banner.
We buy archmages at the school of Magic and get the password for unlocking the stone.
To complete the quest with plows, you have to fight several enemies
Hand in the donation quest, quotas for fishermen, and plows. Receive a new royal quest from the king's brother. Hurry to complete it, as only after that can you receive the task for the box.

In Arlania, we take the dragon tooth quest, trick the cyclops and take the black box, speak with the king's brother, hand the tooth to the innkeeper. In Netville castle, we take the frog quest.

Next — to the swamps. Cross by ferry via the ferryman. We don't touch anyone, only complete tasks, chat with Chvakha, collect lilies, make a potion, give it to Martha (the king's brother's friend), slip the junk elixir to the dwarf...

Run to Arlania, get a task from the count to bring a love potion, obtain it in the snake dungeon, bring it to the count, descend into the same dungeon, lure out the necromancers, pick up the cage with frogs and successfully return to the count (without ever fighting the undead). Hand in the quest to the king's brother.

From the king, we get a new quest — secret weapon.
Go to the forest. Get the box. In Verlon Forest — at the castle, buy 34 poisonous rations and feed them to the spirit — Slim. Then immediately fight the mages and activate Zerok.
This is exactly where the battles begin. (Before this, I only fought for plows and with a wolf in Arlania). Level up training to level 3 (+20% exp). The hero just reached level 4 and activated both spirits. Time: 20.47.

Return to the swamps, beat snakes and spiders, marry a frog, and immediately make a proposal for a child.
Then everything is simple — Greenwort, forest, spider dungeon... Sail by ship (from the forest) to Arlania. There we beat nearby griffins, cyclops, etc. Return to Greenwort.
At the very end, fight twice in the arena with heroes of levels 3 and 6.
In the end — on the 2nd day at 2 hours and 53 minutes, reach level 7.

Saved on movement — tried not to pick up gold and scrolls, didn't dig treasure chests from the ground, didn't even pick up all leadership flags...
But it can still be done faster.
Wanted to tame the bronze ring — but that battle was borderline. In the end, I didn't.

In all battles, I tried to use spirits 3-6 times... which is why I leveled Zerok up to level 6 and Slim up to level 8.
At the end of each battle, I left 1-2 enemy shooters and restored rage (inquisitors).

In the middle of battles, if there were losses — used restoration magic and the inquisitor could resurrect once.
By the end of the game, my wife had four children; the last one was the most useful — gave +5% exp.
I didn't check what bonuses pirate-wife children give.
By the way, I didn't do the easiest quests in Greenwort — you waste time running around and get little experience....

It is very tempting at the very end to fly on an airship to hit the turtle, but some time is lost there.... the computer thinks twice (hourglass), the shaman casts a spell, nothing can be done while time passes, and after the battle too.....
By the way, it's easy to kill the turtle without losses... I can tell you how — there are two ways to keep 100% of your troops.

General thought in battles — if there are few troops, then spirits are needed.... that's why I tried to get them first.... moreover, this coincided (in terms of the hero's movement trajectory on the map) with the task of getting a frog-wife.
Vampires held them back, archmages could apply shock and move once (plus 50% defense), fire spiders could web twice, inquisitors built up rage + resurrection, archers slowed movement by 1 cell... in the beginning and middle of the game — marauders extracted gold from corpses. Additionally, the hero himself knew how to resurrect units and accelerate (slow down).

4th place Aivengo

Walkthrough as Katаuri.

I chose the walkthrough strategy based on my own strengths and capabilities. Of course, a paladin can get additional experience for destroying same-type undead. However, I decided to do without complex battles, so I didn't take the "Lightbringer" skill at all; instead, I strengthened attack parameters against undead.

In the end — 4th place.
Nevertheless, many will probably be interested in this walkthrough. I think any fan of "КВ" can repeat and perhaps even improve it, as no special combat tactics need to be invented for this. I mainly used healing, resurrection, and phoenix summon.

So, I started in the training center for mercantile reasons. Completed all tasks; at 13.41 I was in Greenwort, having a bowl, iron tooth, sword, wheel, and dwarven beer to stir up spirits. Gold — 4120. Development: took "training" and "holy wrath".
Took the quest to find plows. Hired an army consisting of 6 archers, 6 monks, 62 peasants, 8 swordsmen. Beat baby dragons near the castle (losses — 30 peasants). Replenished losses, took a quest for donations to the temple, from the dwarf — for the black box, at the school of magic — for lost scrolls, ran to the talking stone.

From Kitano, I took the quest for fishermen's quotas, completed it, and took the quest for fishing gear. Ran to the school of magic, told them about the stone, bought two archmages, beat peasants near the school.

Took plows from the bear and bandits, reached level 2. Took "wisdom". Collected plows on the road, ran to the king, received a reward. Took the quest for the royal seal.
14.48. In army — 8 archers, 8 monks, 87 peasants, 12 swordsmen, 2 archmages. Gold — 2180.
Took the quest from the headman to get rid of thorns.

15.13. Thorn quest completed, took the quest for the miller. Reached level three. Development: took "Order magic" (now can use resurrection), "training".
16.17. Completed the seal quest and took the secret weapon quest. Army: 12 archers, 12 monks, 120 peasants, 17 swordsmen, 3 archmages.
Ran to Arlania, took the quest to find a frog.
16.31. Verlon Forest. Now I am the master of the box. Run for spiders for Slim. Along the way, took a non-aggression pact quest from the marquess.
Of course, it was possible to take the box an hour earlier, but in my opinion, this doesn't give any particular advantage.
Convinced the ghost to vanish, took the quest to find the talker.
Bought a symbol of valor. Army — 14 archers, 14 monks, 141 peasants, 20 swordsmen, 3 archmages. Gold — 3040.
Took the quest from the shepherd boy to save the village. Fed Slim, developed him to level 3, subdued Zerok. (Slim has a spit and a hellish blow).
Bought leather armor (+1 defense).
18.15. Reached level 4. Development: Took "glory", "healer", "training" level 2, "rage control" level 1.
Took the quest to find a bear at the menagerie. The bear, as expected, was "glitched" and didn't want to go for the herb; well, at least I added rage herb (rage — 27, mana — 43).
Leadership — 920, gold — 4100.
Cleared surroundings around the castle.
19.36. Completed fishing gear quest. Leadership — 992, gold — 6590.
Ran to the swamp. Sailed to the witch, caught a frog, put her in a bag (she was offended, of course, but whatever).
20.16. Ran to the cemetery. Took the quest from the paladin to consecrate crypts. Fought through to the temple. Gave the purse. Partially cleared the cemetery; didn't fight undead in crypts, exiled them with prayer (touching the cross). It is easy to approach crosses if you pause at turns.
22.11. In the enchanted crypt, bypassed the undead and dug up "phoenix summon". Grabbed chronicles — and out.
Leadership — 1216. Gold — 22510.
Visited 4 out of 6 crypts, which is undoubtedly negligence on my part, as strong squads at the entrance to a crypt can be bypassed by making a side maneuver. Thus, I missed 170 exp and lost the chance to take the next quest from the furious paladin (240 exp).
Returned to Greenwort. And here I made two mistakes immediately: forgot to report to A. Demion about the transfer of donations (-131 exp, -2 magic runes), and didn't pass the test of will at the school of magic, although leadership now allowed it (-5 magic runes). Passing the test with a phoenix is a piece of cake. The battle lasts no longer than 5 rounds. Having received magic runes, one could optionally improve meditation, wisdom or concentration.
23.01. Arlania. Gave away the frog.
Development: took "trade", level 3. Sold everything unnecessary. Gold — 24610.
23.22. Completed dragon fang delivery quest. Reached level 5.
Cleared surroundings.
Leadership — 1326. Gold — 26910.
Took the floating chest search quest from Heck. Traveled by sea to Verlon Forest and back. Found chests and collected everything lying on the shore along the way. Concluded a non-aggression pact with the barbarian. Gave own chests to Heck. Ran to the academy, ordered scale armor, bought a knight's helmet, round shield. Unspelled the village, found the talker.
Day two. 1.28. Passed the Doomsday Arena (510 exp).
Leadership — 1774, gold — 13850. Zerok — level 3, Slim — level 5.
2.25. Fought the first duel in the tournament at the knight's temple.
Sailed to Heck, clearing shores along the way, took the ring from Rina. Returned to Greenwort. Tamed the cursed ring. Finally passed the test of will.
3.06. Reached level 6. Bought a banner of heroism. (Prepared to fight the turtle, but it wasn't necessary. It turned out faster to finish everything in Greenwort).
Development: took "training" level 3. Leadership — 2384, gold — 60.
Army fully equipped.
Unspelled the miller.
Development: took distortion magic.
Ran to own one and cleared the first floor. Finished off remaining neutrals. Picked up black box.
Development: took "spirit master" (wanted to get Glot's armor as soon as possible).
4.15. In Verlon Forest, took quests to find poor Ilic and the dragon heart. Completed both.
5.28. Gave the dwarf the black box. Drank a rage potion, entered the second tournament fight.
5.33. Reached level 7.

Remaining — 1 unused mana potion, 2 — rage potions. (Unnecessary economy). Two more mana potions remained in the knight's temple.
Gold — 21680. Rage — 32, mana — 52, leadership — 2426, attack — 5, defense — 9, intelligence — 3.
Regarding spirits: Zerok — level 4 (sword, rockfall and wall), Slim — level 7 (full set of skills).

Respectfully, Aivengo.