Mariana spoke calmly, yet her words carried undeniable weight.
"You want to push the front lines? Arcane Society can take you deep into the heart of the plains. Are you worried about the rise of the Abar? We know better than anyone what an awakened orc regime means— Gabella has fought fiercely against the Abar."
The candlelight cast a long shadow of hers, making her look like a lurking beast.
"The choice is yours," the witch concluded. "Will you remain subject to the power struggles of the royal family, or will you cooperate with the one who truly holds the power?"
Paul looked at her, momentarily at a loss for words.
His mother, however, stood before him with the demeanor of a cold and stern persuader, suggesting that Northwest ally with the Arcane Society —a wizarding organization controlled by Antonio that had once plunged the Kingdom of Aldor into chaos and was even involved in the orcish invasion.
As a high-ranking member of the Arcane Society, she personally appeared to lobby, speaking with certainty as if it were all a matter of course.
Countless questions swirled in his mind: Was this an act? Was it a test for Alvis? Or did she truly intend to do so? But if it was an act, why choose this occasion and use such dangerous words? If Alvis actually believed it and then leaked it, the relationship between Northwest and the royal family would immediately deteriorate.
The air in the study seemed to freeze. Alvis stood to one side, still shaken, while Mariana remained calm, as if she had just offered a routine strategic suggestion.
Paul took a deep breath and finally spoke, trying to keep his voice steady: "Mom... Ms. Marianna... the direction you've suggested is of great importance. I can't respond immediately; I need time to think it over."
He paused, then added, "Please return to your lodgings and settle in first. We can discuss this further tomorrow."
Mariana glanced at him, her eyes seeming to hold a deeper meaning, then nodded slightly: "Alright, we'll talk again when you've thought it through."
She turned around, her long robe fluttering, and silently left the study.
As soon as Mariana left and the door closed, Alvis rushed to the door, pressed his ear to the crack, listened for a moment, then turned around and said in a low, urgent voice, " Lord Glaeman, are you sure she won't suddenly come in again? A witch of this level can appear silently at any time... If she comes in like this again, I'm afraid my heart won't be able to take it."
He glanced around warily: "And what about that guard at the door... has he already been controlled by her? The witch has too many tricks up her sleeve; a single look or a whisper can turn someone into a puppet. Could our conversation have already gotten out?"
Paul knew perfectly well—he had personally instructed that Mariana should be allowed to pass without being notified. But he couldn't tell Alvis the truth, otherwise it would inevitably lead to more questions about his relationship with Mariana.
He nodded, putting on a serious expression: "You're right. We can't be careless about safety."
With that, he got up, walked to the door, opened it, and said to the guard outside in a deep voice, "Change shifts, change them now. You go and rest, and let Sean come and take over."
The guard was taken aback. He wanted to say something, but just then he saw the lord wink at him. He could only bow his head and retreat, bewildered.
Paul closed the door and said to Alvis, "No outsiders will be coming near anymore."
Alvis breathed a sigh of relief and nodded reluctantly.
" Lord Glaeman," he leaned closer to Paul and said in a low voice, "you must not listen to her advice."
"Leaving aside the question of whether it is morally right for you, as the lord of Aldor, who holds military and political power, to openly pledge allegiance to the Arcane Society —a secretive Spellcaster organization outside of Aldor —or whether the kingdom would consider it a betrayal, let's just say this: you are a mortal, while the Arcane Society is the temple of Spellcasters."
He warned: "In their eyes, mortal rulers are nothing but pawns, arms that carry out their will. They provide the power, you are responsible for the conquest, and when you have exhausted your value, or when the situation changes, they will withdraw as if they had never been involved."
He cited a stark example: "Think about Giles. When he rebelled, wasn't it the Arcane Society that supported him? They provided intelligence, magical potions, and even secretly interfered with the royal family's actions. But once Giles had severely weakened Aldor and achieved their goal of diminishing the monarchy, the support was immediately cut off. Without supplies, without reinforcements, and even the most basic communication was cut off, Giles fought alone and was ultimately defeated."
Alvis leaned forward, lowering his voice even further: "That's their method—use, exploit, and discard. If you agree to do things for them today, tomorrow they will demand that you carry out their will—perhaps by suppressing dissent internally, or by launching a war they want to fight but are unwilling to show themselves to. Once you refuse, or once you are no longer of use, they will discard you just like they discarded Giles."
He stared at Paul: "The military and political system you built in Northwest Bay will no longer be your own business, but will become a knife that the Arcane Society has planted deep in Aldor —used and discarded."
Paul looked at Alvis and suddenly asked softly, " Mr. Alvis, I have some questions."
"Please speak."
"You once said that you left Gabella because you couldn't accept Antonio's cooperation with the orcs. But now, judging from your words, it seems you also harbor resentment towards the Arcane Society. Logically speaking, you worked closely with them when you were in Gabella, so why do you speak of this organization with such disdain now?"
Alvis paused for a moment, a weary, bitter smile appearing on his face.
"You're right. My departure from Gabella was ostensibly due to Antonio's alliance with the orcs, but that was only one of the reasons," he said slowly. "There were other reasons, namely the transformation of the Arcane Society itself."
He looked up. "You know what? The Arcane Society wasn't always so high and mighty. It was born out of persecution—when Spellcasters were burned at the stake as heretics and banished as monsters. They organized themselves to protect themselves and to fight for the right to study magic freely and not be arbitrarily executed. Even if their methods were sometimes a bit extreme, their demands were essentially just—equality and survival."
His voice lowered: "But when they gained a foothold in Gabella, when Antonio —a Spellcaster emperor—ascended the throne, everything changed. They were no longer the oppressed, but the powerful, and power amplified the traumas they had suffered."
"Because of the long-term oppression from the secular world, many Spellcasters harbor a kind of reactive sense of superiority deep in their hearts—they possess magical abilities that mortals do not have, and are naturally superior to mortals, which is why they are envied by ignorant mortals. It is this envy that leads to persecution—it's just that this idea was suppressed by the pressure of survival in the past."
"As the Arcane Society grew powerful, this mentality began to spread." Alvis used a peculiar word, yet it was remarkably accurate. "From what I've observed, there's been a tendency within the Arcane Society to no longer be satisfied with 'equality,' but to take it for granted that Spellcasters should be superior to mortals, and that ordinary mortals should be subject to their rule."
"I pessimistically predict that since the Arcane Society has already tied itself to the monarchy, its position in Gabella will only become more and more secure, and its continued success will only make this tendency more confident. Their goal will no longer be satisfied with [we should be treated equally], but rather [we deserve to be superior]."
Alvis looked Paul straight in the eye: "This is the second reason I left. An organization that was originally fighting for [equality] has lost its way on the road to success and has turned to pursuing [privilege]. Gabella's Spellcaster community is likely to evolve into a kind of aristocracy above aristocracy."