Chapter 53: Insane find

Absolute silence followed those words.

Inside the underground mine where Evan stood, neither he nor the elderly Paragon Mage spoke.

At the same time, inside House Orlen’s mansion, Alaric sat completely frozen in his study while staring at the communication device.

A full two minutes passed in absolute silence before Alaric took a deep breath and sent another message.

"You’re sure he said a hundred Paragons? Not a hundred Squires? Or maybe a hundred Knights?"

Evan hadn’t even gotten the chance to ask before the elderly man spoke as if he already knew exactly what was going through his mind.

"I, Orwin Vale, have not gone senile yet."

The Paragon Mage gave Evan an annoyed look.

"I remember that incident very clearly because I was inside the Rathen Empire when it happened. It was one of the biggest incidents of that era."

His expression became serious.

"The Rathen Empire spent an absurd amount of resources cleaning up afterward and suppressing information. They practically sealed every information channel they got their hands on."

Evan swallowed in horror as he struggled to even imagine the scale of this event.

A hundred damn Paragons.

Not Squires. Or even Knights.

Paragons.

Even a single Paragon was someone who could become the pillar of a major organization.

Evan couldn’t even properly imagine what a hundred of them gathered together would look like.

On the other side, Alaric was thinking the exact same thing.

Hundred fucking Paragons.

His mother was a Paragon Knight.

Celdric was a Paragon Knight.

The old Mage talking to Evan was a Paragon Mage.

Every single one of them was treated like a major existence wherever they went.

And apparently, there had once been an incident where a hundred such people fell?

What the hell did my mother do twenty years ago?

Evan finally asked the question both of them were thinking.

"What exactly happened?"

Orwin immediately shook his head.

"Even if I knew everything, I wouldn’t share it with you two brats."

He pointed toward Evan.

"The Rathen Empire is extremely strict regarding any spread of information related to that incident. The only reason I told you this much is because you are directly connected to Rowena Orlen."

While Evan looked disappointed, Alaric was even more regretful.

There had been very little information about Marchioness Orlen throughout the first volume of Tales of Golden Era.

Most of what Alaric knew about her was related to House Orlen, the border war and her eventual disappearance.

Now, for the first time, he had stumbled onto someone who knew about her past.

Naturally, he wasn’t willing to stop asking so easily.

"Ask him something else. Why does the Flenn Kingdom treat House Orlen like this if my mother has such a terrifying reputation?"

Evan relayed the question with curiosity. He wanted to know this too.

Young Lord sure asks good questions.

Orwin thought for a moment before answering.

"First, you are overestimating how much these smaller kingdoms know about what happens inside the empires."

He crossed his arms.

"The Rathen Empire suppressed information regarding the incident extremely thoroughly. Even among Paragons, there are many who only know the name of the event, while some have never heard of it at all."

He paused.

"Kingdoms like this don’t dare send their paragons away. So their sources are even more unreliable. No one would talk about this incident to the random information gatherers they send to the empire."

Then his expression became thoughtful.

"There is also another matter."

Orwin continued.

"Rowena Orlen was an extremely strong Paragon twenty years ago, but she was injured extremely badly in that event.

"Due to that, she might have only been able to display combat prowess around Champion Knight level."

"That probably caused people here to underestimate her."

Orwin had already finished speaking but Evan and Alaric had gone into yet another shock when they heard that Marchioness Orlen had been a strong Paragon even twenty years ago.

As far as they knew, Marchioness Orlen had only broken through to the Paragon realm recently, and that is also the reason why House Orlen’s elevation to duchy faced such issues.

It was insane to think that she was already a strong Paragon back then.

That point aside, putting together everything Orwin said made them understand why others had the guts to do to House Orlen what they had been doing so far.

Alaric frowned.

Wait.

"If she was injured that badly, why didn’t her enemies kill her?"

Orwin looked toward Evan strangely when that question was passed along.

"Her enemies?"

He gave a dry laugh.

"Most of the people who had enough reason to call themselves her enemies were already dead."

Evan went silent, offering no reply. Seeing that, Orwin continued.

"As for people like me who were merely bystanders, why would we make an enemy out of someone like her for no reason?"

"What if she was deliberately hiding how much strength she had regained? Or what if — no matter how small the probability — she escaped? No one wanted such an enemy out there for them in that case."

He shook his head.

"No sensible Paragon would gamble their life on that."

Alaric slowly nodded. That made sense.

But another thought immediately appeared.

A hundred Paragons wouldn’t die over absolutely nothing, right?

He hesitated before sending the question anyway.

"Ask if my mother obtained anything from the incident. Some treasure or inheritance or something. If that many Paragons were involved, surely there had to be something valuable."

Orwin’s face immediately darkened.

"Brat, stop asking about that event."

He sounded genuinely annoyed this time.

"I already told you I don’t know everything, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.

"As for whether Rowena obtained some treasure, I have no idea."

Then his voice lowered.

"But I can tell you one thing. Some people became greedy afterward, and they all disappeared."

He stared at Evan and shrugged.

"So you have your answer."

Alaric immediately stopped asking.

Fair enough.

Then an idea suddenly occurred to him.

It was unlikely to work, but there was no harm trying.

"Senior Orwin, Evan mentioned that you are currently staying inside a mine. How about joining House Orlen? We can definitely provide you with better living conditions."

Evan read the message twice.

Young Lord really tries recruiting everyone he sees. Balls of steel I must say. Is it because he saw that Orwin wasn’t willing to provoke House Orlen?

Still, he relayed it.

When Orwin heard the offer, he stared at him speechlessly.

"Do you think I, a Paragon Mage, cannot find better living conditions if I wanted them?"

He gestured around the mine.

"I’m here because I’m conducting research.

"Give me that communication artifact, I’ll make some changes to it, don’t worry it’s not harmful."

Evan didn’t mind. It wouldn’t matter if he rejected the mage anyway, because Orwin could steal it from him very easily.

In a few minutes, Orwin, as a Paragon Mage, had easily modified the communication magic item. Now one could talk through it instead of only text messages.

Alaric didn’t waste any time to immediately start speaking to press on his previous offer.

"House Orlen will most likely become a duchy soon. No one would casually disturb our territory. Sir Paragon Mage, you can conduct your research here."

Orwin snorted.

"And leave my Magic Tower in the Rathen Empire?"

Then he shook his head harder.

"And live in the same territory as Rowena Orlen?"

"Absolutely not."

Alaric clicked his tongue and replied.

"Senior, you are here researching something without your magic tower anyway. Why does it suddenly matter when you want to conduct your research in my territory?

"As for my mom, I’m her son. I can try to talk to her about it. If you’re not her enemy, I don’t see why you should reject contact with her."

Orwin only chuckled, but didn’t say anything.

Alaric’s eyes lit up.

I was just trying for the sake of it. I didn’t actually hope to recruit him anyway. But it looks like he is getting interested for real?

"Senior, you’ll get to teach Evan if you consider joining House Orlen."

Orwin looked toward Evan.

His eyes lingered on the young Squire for a long time.

The Paragon Mage had personally watched Evan cultivate in the mine.

He had seen the speed at which Evan understood his own body, corrected mistakes and absorbed the resources he had secretly sent his way while testing his talent.

This was an absolutely rare talent! Something he hadn’t seen or heard of anywhere in his entire life!

That was exactly why he wanted him.

Even though Orwin didn’t practice the Body Path, that hardly mattered.

"I have a wide network of connections."

He told Evan directly.

"And I’m a Mage. Resources are the least of my concerns.

"If you run into problems with the Body Path, I can bring you to Paragon Knights I know personally. You wouldn’t lack anything."

He was trying one last time. If Rowena was offended by his poaching, he would simply apologise, give gifts, or even run away with Evan.

But the young squire had to be nurtured by him!

He wanted the honor of being known as the master of a person with boundless talent!

Unfortunately, Evan still shook his head.

"Thank you, Senior. But I’ve already decided."

Orwin’s jaw tightened.

He stared at Evan for several seconds before exhaling heavily through his nose.

Then, seemingly after making some extremely painful decision, he spoke into the communication artifact.

"What if..."

He stopped, then gritted his teeth after a moment of thought.

"What if I bring my Magic Tower to House Orlen’s territory?

"But let me make it clear in case you are thinking of agreeing.

"My daughter is the holy maiden of the Rathen Empire, you’ll have to deal with the aftermath since she’ll be shifting here with me."

Evan froze.

Inside House Orlen’s mansion, Alaric stared blankly at Orwin’s question.

What?

He had just been asking for the sake of asking.

He definitely had not expected to accidentally recruit a goddamn fucking Paragon with his own Magic Tower which could be counted as a top organization in itself.

Should I skip duchy and directly replace the royal family?