An Owl's Rise

Chapter 484: Chapter 484 The Taidale Family’s Estate

Atop of the raised, open-air carriage, Maeve waved at the crowds of people that had gathered to see her procession as she returned home.

She knew that any adoration that they sent her way was mostly hollow or manufactured.

While she might have been known as a member of the Taidale Family, she had not really accomplished much to garner people’s attention other than earning her great grandfather’s favor.

Certainly, a lot of people in the city might have heard of her before, but she had made very few public appearances. With none even coming close to the scale of what she was doing right now under Lucia’s direction.

Most of her time up until she had left for the Miris Sect had been spent growing her magical abilities or studying important topics.

Still, with her aim being to take over as head of the family and become the highest power in the city, it would make it easier for her in the future if the people of Taidale City associated her with wealth, good fortune, and enjoyment.

From the faces of the people in the crowd, Maeve could tell that most were enjoying themselves.

There were performances all around and food being given away freely. Very few people were going to have any complaints about the event.

Of course, there were some people skulking about that did not look enthused about the spectacle that Maeve’s return had become.

She recognized some of them as people that worked for members of her family.

After five years of hearing nothing about her, they likely assumed that she had died during the conflict between the Miris Sect and Deamhain Sect.

Or at best, she might be hiding out somewhere with Vivienne.

Yet, after all this time, she had reappeared. And not quietly by any means.

The thought that she had ruined a lot of her traitorous family members’ plans did bring a smile to her face.

She already knew from intelligence that Lucia and Rehni had collected that her great grandfather was still alive and had not publicly chosen a successor yet.

No doubt many of her aunts, uncles, and cousins had tried to sway him towards picking one of them.

Some might have thought themselves close, but Maeve showing back up was certain to muddy things up.

There was no telling if the patriarch might have already changed his mind about her. It was certainly a distinct possibility since she had been gone for five years without sending a single letter back home.

Still, she was hoping that he would continue to support her. That would make securing her position much easier.

’If he doesn’t. Well, we’ll have to be a bit more forceful.’ Maeve thought, glancing at her companions.

They were all intent on installing her as the next matriarch of the Taidale Family. Even if they had to kill everyone in the way. Including her great grandfather.

Not only so that Maeve could allow them free reign of the family head’s treasury, but also for the political influence Maeve would obtain.

With Taidale being the closest major city to the Tyrannis Union within the Urstug Federation, she would be in the best position to gather intelligence on their northern neighbor.

She knew that Lucia, Evelyn, Rehni, and Bylur still planned on enacting revenge against the Deamhain Sect, and freeing the captured owls spread throughout the entire Union.

Maeve was perfectly fine with this.

She had no love for the Tyrannis Union.

The only thing that had tied her to the superpower was that her grand-aunt was the second-in-command of the Miris Sect.

With that no longer being the case, she really had few connections left anywhere. With the immense progress she had made over just a short amount of time, she knew that throwing her lot in with her current bestial companions was her best bet at continuing to advance.

’There it is. It’s only been a few years, but it feels like I’ve been away for a lifetime.’

The grand walls of the Taidale estate had just come into view, and while only the central palace stood above them, Maeve could still recall the entire layout.

The grounds were around three hundred thousand square meters, and there were numerous buildings and gardens spread throughout.

Before her departure, she had never left the first district of the inner city. It was only afterwards that she realized the opulence of her home had been and how lavish her life had been.

She truly had been the epitome of a sheltered young lady. Not anymore though.

It might pale in comparison to many, but she had some real-world experience now.

When they finally were within just a few hundred meters of the gates, Maeve saw that there were twice as many guards posted as normal.

One of them she recognized as the vice-captain.

He had been at the high tier of the mage rank when she left, and from what she could sense, he still was.

That really put her progress in perspective.

During her departure, they had been at the same level, but while he had remained stagnant, she had moved up to the next rank.

For nearly a minute, Maeve wondered if the added guards had been posted to block her way.

It was possible that someone high up in the family would pull such a trick.

After all of the fanfare that had been created for her return, it certainly be a blow to her reputation if the gate to her family’s estate did not open for her.

Thankfully, it appeared that the added guards were only there for crowd control, and as her carriage approached, the large gate doors began to swing open.

"""Welcome back, Young Mistress!"""

With the vice-captain in the lead, the guards all loudly and exuberantly shouted out their approval for Maeve.

She was both surprised and touched.

During her teens, she had spent time training with the guards and getting to know them. All at her parents’ insistence.

This had given her a better reputation among them than most of her extended family.

Only now that she was receiving such a warm welcome did she realize why her father and mother had gone out of their way to treat the estate’s guards well, despite the majority of her cousins always looking down on them.

They might have been only seen as lowly servants by some of her family, but they did serve an important and essential role in running the place.

’I see that I’m still benefiting from all of the groundwork my parents laid for me decades ago. I won’t let them down this time.’ Maeve thought, feeling a warm feeling in her chest.

Once the gates closed behind them, only the carriage that Maeve was on had come through.

The rest of the procession had stayed behind and were spreading out to spread the festivities and Maeve’s name throughout the entire city.

"Vice-Captain Damari, I wish to reward you and your men for your exemplary work." Maeve said, beckoning to the man to approach the carriage.

When he was close enough, she pulled out a pouch from her spatial ring and dropped it down to him.

Inside were eight dozen red magic crystals along with three purple ones.

It was not a small sum for the guards and Damari went wide-eyed when he saw what Maeve had just so casually handed him.

"Please, share those with you men and enjoy yourselves whenever you next have time off. I’m sure that my unexpected arrival caused you all no small degree of extra work. Consider this a show of my appreciation and an apology for the trouble."

After standing there stunned for a couple of seconds, Damari dropped to one knee and bowed his head.

"Your kind words honor us. Truly, we are grateful for your return, Young Mistress Maeve. Many of us have been waiting for you to come back."

Though he had not come right out and said it, his opinion was clear. He wanted her to become the next head of the family and would support her.

It was heartening to know that there were still some that thought highly of her.

Of course, while Vice-Captain Damari was not a nobody within the Taidale Family’s hierarchy, he was still only considered to be a mid-level officials.

His support would not hurt, but it was not going to be swinging any scales either.

"I assume that my residence is still being maintained. If there are no problems, I would like to head there and pay my respects to my parents." Maeve said, hiding the hint of fear inside of her that the building had been left in disrepair, or worse, given over to another family member in her absence.

"Naturally, it is just as you left it young mistress. There were some that voiced their opinions that the staff should be transferred away or that one of your recently married cousins should be given the buildings, but the patriarch and a few of the elders would not allow it."

Maeve internally sighed in relief when she heard this and thanked Damari.

"Also, I believe that I might have gotten a bit too old to still be being called Young Mistress. From now on, I would ask that you address me as Lady Maeve."

"Understood, lady Maeve." Damari said, his lips turning up into a smile.

Maeve tried to dismiss the man so that he could return to his duties, but he insists on escorting her back to her residence.

His reason for doing so was that no potentially misguided individuals that did not recognize her impeded her path.

Obviously, Maeve understood what he was really getting at. It was quite possible that one of her family members might show themselves and try to make a scene.

If that did occur, he would at least be there to offer some assistance.

"Very well, you may accompany me. Lead the way, Vice-Captain Damari."