A middle-aged man entered the throne room with his wife. He was well-respected among nobles, and his reputation was once at its peak in the past due to the influence of his family, including his daughter.
Yes, this man was none other than Evelynās father, William Lavender. Besides him stood his wife, coming from another marquis family, Ellia Crestine.
Normally, they would be summoned here because something big had happened. This big thing should be good news.
However, the atmosphere of the throne room was weird. It was strangely suffocating. People directed their gazes at them as though they were judging them. Whispers caused their bodies to tense up.
More importantly, the Commander of the Summoner Division, Mattheus, was standing next to the prime minister.
Unlike other divisions, the Summoner Division had a special right that allowed them to bypass all the necessary ranks and report directly to the king. Even the prime minister had to lower his head in an emergency.
That was why Mattheus rarely attended this kind of event. Yet, Mattheus was not only attending this summons, but he also stood next to the prime minister, showing that the matter had forced him to come with a status similar to or even surpassing that of a prime minister.
In other words, the reason for this summons must be concern about the fate of their nation.
"William Lavender greets Your Majesty." William went to his knees along with his wife.
"It looks like everyone has arrived." The king stood up, not letting William and his wife rise. He turned to Mattheus and asked, "Have I done this appropriately, Commander Mattheus? However, donāt forget that you are currently using your special right. If this is not a matter concerning our nation, Iām going to punish you accordingly."
Only the king, the prime minister, and several nobles knew about this. When Mattheus returned, he didnāt report anything to them. Instead, he just requested that they should summon as many nobles as possible, especially Marquis Lavender. Only after it had been achieved would he report this matter.
Mattheus nodded and walked down the platform before turning around and kneeling before the king.
"I would like to report everything I have seen as well as the conclusions Iāve made from the incident related to the Divine Hand.
"Iām sure that all the people here have been aware of the crisis we experienced yesterday. Thanks to the information from the Azilia Kingdom, we have managed to pass that crisis without any real impact."
The king squinted his eyes. "Indeed. I have to thank the Summoner Division for managing that problem."
"However, thereās one problem. In my previous report, I stated that theyāre being assisted by another force."
"Do you mean the organization that has been backing that unique summoner?" The king squinted his eyes. "If Iām not wrong, you have mentioned a single name, who is most likely the leader. Her name is... Evelyn Lavender..."
The king suddenly looked down, noticing something weird.
"!!!" The people were shocked. They had never thought the genius they were once proud of was still alive.
During their reaction, several people couldnāt help but utter her name. Yet, they experienced the same thing.
The most noticeable reaction came, obviously, from William Lavender and Ellia Crestine.
"What? My daughter? Why havenāt I been told about this? If my daughter is still alive, you should have told me." William gritted his teeth, glaring at Mattheus.
"Mattheus..." The king squinted his eyes, demanding an explanation for what had happened earlier.
"Yes, Your Majesty. Please allow me to explain." Mattheus nodded. He started his explanation by turning to William. "Marquis. If I may ask, whatās your daughterās name?"
"Huh? Why are you asking such a foolish question? Everyone here knows her name already." William gritted his teeth.
"I am not asking you. Iām ordering you. State the name of your daughter now!" Mattheus glared at him, pressing him to do as he instructed.
Although reluctant, he answered, "Evelyn Lavenderā!"
His expression turned to shock when he noticed something was wrong.
"It looks like you have noticed it as well." Mattheus narrowed his eyes.
"Whatās going on, Mattheus?" The kingās expression turned grim.
"To be honest, everything is just speculation right now. First, I will explain the whole story first." Mattheus raised one finger. "Once I had received the words regarding her name, I, too, had called her name several times. At that time, it felt normal.
"Well, I didnāt expect that Evelyn Lavender was alive this whole time, so, with my judgment, I proceeded to let Vice Commander Roodie take action in this country on my behalf. Meanwhile, I headed straight to help Evelyn Lavender, who had been working together with Nathan.
"They had figured out the enemyās location and proceeded to eliminate their enemy.
"Although I couldnāt examine the battlefield immediately, I noticed that their groups had at least 3 arcane level summoners and two grandmasters, as well as Evelyn Lavender, a world class summoner, as their leader."
"What? A world class summoner?"
"She has become a world class summoner?"
The people couldnāt contain their shock. Evelyn was only 26 years old, so she was currently the youngest world class summoner in the world.
Mattheus nodded and continued, "She has indeed become a world class summoner. Her subordinates are quite famous as well. Of course, she has her childhood friend with her.
"Iām assuming all of you already know about her best friend, Isabella Slavina from the Slavina family. They might be gone now, but Isabella herself is one of the arcane level summoners I mentioned previously.
"Next to her is someone who was once known as a mercenary king whose talent was said to rival the Dragon King... If Iām not mistaken, he is the former captain of the Blue Destroyer Group, the Lightning Berserker Revon Damstar."
"What?" Mattheus kept dropping one bomb after another, making it hard for the people to swallow everything.
"But the enemy couldnāt be underestimated either." Mattheus shook his head helplessly. "It looked like the enemy had 1 world class summoner, 4 arcane level summoners, and several grandmasters. Most of their people were summoners as well... according to the information extracted by Nathan."
"Equal number... Whoās dead? Donāt tell me..." The prime minister took a step forward in disbelief.
Mattheus nodded. "They crushed the Divine Hand cleanly. No one was dead or severely injured. In other words, Evelyn had taken down their leader, Garam Haygaiden, by herself."
"!!!"