An Owl's Rise

Chapter 492: Chapter 492

Evelyn reunited with her companions and the six of them headed back to Maeve’s residence.

Luckily, they had all left quickly enough that no one had tried to stop them, so they made it back without any delays.

As soon as they were through the doors and safe from any potential eavesdropping, Aralee said, "Sister, that last bit at the end was not planned. Was it really necessary for you to go out of your way to make more enemies? What are you going to do if more challenges come in and keep you too busy to help the rest of us?

It was clear that Aralee was not happy that Evelyn had gone a bit off script.

Truthfully, she had not planned on making such an antagonistic declaration, but being meddled with by outside magic during the duel had pissed her off a bit and she had lost her temper.

Still, she had at least considered the repercussions a little and believed that her actions and words would not end up being a detainment to their mission.

"Aralee, its fine. In fact, this may help us a bit. Had Evelyn challenged everyone in my family, it could have been a problem. But she only extended it to my cousins." Maeve said, putting her hand on Aralee’s shoulder to calm her down.

While Evelyn had definitely made some enemies, the stronger members of the Taidale family would have trouble going after her.

From what anyone could tell, Evelyn was just a mid-tier mage.

A lot of her more dangerous aunts and uncles had all reached the arcanist rank.

It would be shameful of them to fight her when they were an entire rank above.

The same could not be said for most of Maeve’s cousins.

Those that had been given resources to grow or had talent were all at the mage rank expect for one. But it was unlikely that the single outlier who had made it to the arcanist rank would risk her reputation to duel Evelyn.

As for the others, there would be no problem with them challenging Evelyn, but she would never lose to any of them.

"This is not a bad play, as it will put more attention on you than Maeve, so she can meet with members of her family without being disturbed as much. However, we do have a problem." Lucia said.

She explained that she had been able to discern who was casting magic on Evelyn during the match.

Yet, when she pointed the individual out to Maeve, she did not recognize them.

"There are others present that are not members of the family as well. They are also not all working together from what I observed. But it seems that nearly all of the front runners trying to take the position of head of the family have brought in outsiders to assist them."

This was definitely disconcerting and muddy things up.

They had not planned to deal with outside forces that had their eyes on the Taidale Family.

"How strong are these people? Are there any we need to be worried about?" Evelyn asked.

"From what I could see, only three of them were at the low tier of the arcanist rank. Various others were mages spanning every tier. Collectively, they do pose a bit of a threat, but not too much. The problem is that we don’t know if all of the outsiders were at the duel, or if there are more hidden throughout the estate. Depending on how many there are, it might be impossible to achieve our goals."

"I suppose that I’ll just have to figure out who these people are and what they’re after. It should not be long before the few friendly members of my family try to contact me. I’ll learn everything I can about the current situation."

Unfortunately, when asked, her servants did not know much about the outsiders.

They were mostly busy keeping Maeve’s residence maintained, and the only sources of information that they had was through meeting with other family members’ servants.

"I had heard rumors that some of the family members had invited guests over, but that is all I know. I’m sorry that I could not be of more use to you, Lady Maeve." Meredith said, bowing her head.

"It is fine. You maintained my home even while I was gone and missing for so long. There is no reason for you to apologize for something you could not feasibly know."

After that the six of them had a meal together and planned what they would be doing the next day.

They had certainly run into some unexpected obstacles, but nothing that was enough to take them off track. At the end of the day, they still had the option to flex their power and make the Taidale Family submit.

Nevertheless, that was an extreme course of action that everyone except maybe Evelyn wanted to avoid.

Though, even if she wanted to solve this with violence, she understood that doing so would ultimately be more difficult and lead to a suboptimal outcome.

If they just killed everyone the family would obviously lose a great deal of its power and end up more of a liability than a boon.

"I suppose that that’s all we can do for today. Tomorrow we’ll aim to gather more information before figuring out what our next moves will be." Lucia said, bringing their meeting to a close.

With the day nearly over, they all retired to their rooms.

Evelyn had slept in the bed last night, but she had not really looked the place over since her mind had been on the duel against Wilfried.

She had not been worried about the match, but coming up with strategies on how to make it seem close while causing maximum pain to the annoying manchild had take some time.

Things had not gone exactly as she expected due to the outside interference, but well, all was well that ended well.

’I do hope that some more of them decide to accept my challenge. I’ve still got five years of frustrations to work through, and they serve as good punching bags.’

Attached to the room she had been given, Evelyn found a beautiful bathroom that had hot running water.

This was not something they had access to in the Verdant Warlord’s Domain, so Evelyn took full advantage of the luxury.

Once she had finished showring off, she took off the magic tool that concealed her bestial features and let her wings out.

"Ah, now this is the life. I forget how cramped that thing makes me feel until it take it off." Evelyn muttered as she soaked in the near boiling hot water.

Slowly dan methodically, she cleaned her wings. Not because they were dirty, but just because she found the process relaxing.

Like that she spent the evening until it was time for bed.

The next morning, she was unsurprised to have found a slew of latter of challenges waiting for her.

It seemed that the young scions of the Taidale Family did not enjoy being called out and seen as mockeries due to one member’s poor showing.

Naturally, Evelyn had no problems accepting all of them, though she got Maeve’s input on who she should fight first .

"From what I remember this should order them from weakest to strongest. Some things might have changed since I left, but I doubt that it will be off by too much."

Evelyn did not want anyone getting scared off, so she made sure to save Maeve’s more talented cousins for last.

If she crushed any of them, the weaker ones would be less likely to go through with fighting her.

The challenges also served as a list of those that almost assuredly were against Maeve.

Part of the reason that they wanted to fight and beat Evelyn was to make Maeve look bad.

Although, the more of them Evelyn defeated, the higher Maeve’s standing would rise. Having powerful allies was proof of one’s own prowess as well.

While Evelyn was still organizing and writing responses to the challenges she had received, Maeve came flying in with a letter in her hands.

This one was for her, and it was something that all of them had been anticipating since their arrival.

Hastily, she ripped it open and began reading the contents.

"Judging from the smile on your face, I’m guessing that its good news?"

"Most definitely. My great grandfather has agreed to meet with me. And from the contents of the letter, I believe he is happy about my return. If I’m lucky, he will publicly support me for the next family head."

"This is good news." Lucia said, suddenly walking into the room. "When is this meeting and can anyone accompany you?

Maeve told them that it would be tomorrow in the morning, and that she had been permitted to bring one person along with her.

Naturally, that was going to be Lucia as she was the strongest amongst them.

"Good, then let us get ready. How this meeting goes will impact how we proceed going forward."