In Mia's memory, present-day Orario simply shouldn't have anyone capable of standing toe-to-toe with Zard.
It was like Zhang Sanfeng knowing the legend of The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber didn't somehow extend for decades—Mia knew Orario's past too.
If someone that strong really existed, they should have become famous eight years ago.
So when Mia asked about "Shadow," she wasn't just curious—she was trying to confirm what side this unknown powerhouse was on.
Even if she and Ottar fought together, with the entire city providing external support, they still might not be able to stop a Zard burning with fighting spirit.
And the enemy had two Tyrants.
Meaning: if Orario wanted to win, they had to place their hopes on someone whose background they knew nothing about.
To erase that gnawing unease, Mia needed a coherent explanation—anything that made sense.
Plenty of people in the room felt the same unease.
"Yeah… can we really trust him?"
"What if he's Evilus too, and this is just a long con—getting close as a spy?"
"Hiding his face like that… he looks like an Evilus adventurer."
Unlike Finn, most of them didn't have the composure to "just trust" a stranger.
Normally, fine. But if they lost this time, they wouldn't just lose their lives—they'd lose Orario.
And the worst part was that the decisive factor wasn't their morale, or Finn's command ability.
It was whether a single unknown individual chose to show up—or not.
Under normal conditions, no one could accept that.
If last night's battle hadn't happened, many would have picked Ottar—believe in Ottar, and hope the next battle could still rest on him.
Whether he'd been one-shot before didn't matter.
Belief doesn't require reasons.
But now?
Look at the city—look at the ruins.
Send Ottar to duel a Tyrant like that?
If that could win, it wouldn't be personal effort.
It would be protagonist plot armor.
So compared to concrete tactics, what everyone wanted most right now was information about "that lord."
They needed a psychological anchor—something to stabilize them.
As for battle plans?
They'd just do what Finn said. Nobody wanted to think.
"I've considered many possibilities. Here are my preliminary judgments—take them for what they're worth."
Finn smiled lightly and began to share his analysis.
Everyone else straightened up.
After all, that "lord" had appeared for the first time last night—there shouldn't have been time to gather much intel.
But if Finn had a theory, it was worth hearing.
"Two main possibilities," Finn said.
"Either he's an apex-tier powerhouse from outside Orario, a lone wolf who only arrived recently…"
"Or he's very young. Eight years ago he was still a child; he's spent most of the last eight years in Orario, becoming extremely strong—but because he looks down on our talent, he kept himself hidden. Only a Tyrant like Zard was 'worth' making him act."
Finn stated it without embarrassment.
Past experience had thickened his skin. Getting "looked down on" wasn't that bad compared to what the two great Familias used to pull.
But the room's faces still darkened.
The first possibility was tolerable.
The second was basically a slap in the face.
After a brief flash of anger, everyone swallowed it.
Not only because it wasn't confirmed—but because of a simple, brutal truth:
If a Tyrant wants to slap your left cheek… wait for it, then offer the right one too.
"Haha… Lady Riveria, do you think the 'young' possibility is real? Even your little doll princess isn't that talented, right?"
Hedin couldn't help asking Riveria.
He wasn't talking about "eight years ago a kid, now under twenty."
He meant "maybe eighteen… sixteen…"
That age, and he solo'd a Level 7 Tyrant?
Hedin had never even heard of something that absurd.
"You forgot," Riveria said, shaking her head. "Alfia was Level 7 when she was fifteen or sixteen."
In terms of sheer talent—even with little Ais's fame—Riveria still believed Alfia was a cut above.
With Ais's growth rate, reaching Level 7 at fifteen or sixteen was… doubtful.
"Yeah. That's Alfia…"
Hegni's voice came out almost like a whimper.
"I want to go home…"
Before, he'd heard Riveria got instantly defeated by some mage and couldn't quite process it.
In his mind, Riveria was slightly stronger than both him and Hedin—an elf royal-line mage worthy of respect.
Someone like that getting crushed in her own specialty? How could that be reasonable?
Then he heard it was Alfia—and it all clicked.
And Hegni's fear had a very practical reason:
Hedin had brought up a grim possibility.
If that hidden adventurer didn't appear, then the ones most likely to face Alfia…
…were Hedin and Hegni.
Because the twin demon sisters were missing, and the two of them didn't have any "must-handle" opponent assigned.
And the two of them had taken almost no damage last night—meaning they were in top condition.
So from a cold command perspective, it would be "reasonable" to let two coordinated Level 5s—with magic item support—stall a Tyrant.
After all, you can't send a bunch of Level 4s and Level 3s to fight "Silence."
That would just be throwing bodies into a grinder.
But Hegni felt like…
If he went, that was also throwing bodies into a grinder.
"Second question: his Familia," Finn continued.
"Why didn't his deity announce him publicly? Again, two possibilities."
"Either his deity is also the type who likes to stay hidden…"
"Or his deity doesn't even know he possesses concealment."
Finn ignored the side talk—and ignored Hedin actively beating Hegni—and kept going.
And just like last time, he floated a terrifying hypothesis.
"Even a god can't see through his blessing? That's impossible."
Shakti frowned hard.
Human blessing power comes from the deity.
Even if your status rises, even if you awaken skills or magic—those still require your deity to engrave that power. Only then do you obtain it.
Put simply: if the god doesn't update your status, you don't get stronger.
Finn's second guess was effectively saying:
He can upgrade his own blessing.
That's the domain of gods. It shouldn't even be on the table.
"Not necessarily," said Tsubaki Collbrande, the one-eyed woman with an eyepatch. She smiled, her remaining eye glittering with curiosity. "Did you forget Mystery?"
If someone truly could grow while hiding it from the gods…
She wanted to build weapons specifically for that kind of existence.
Because someone capable of something that outrageous might be the hero this era was waiting for.
Tsubaki's dream was to forge a divine weapon—something only gods should be able to create.
And now, it looked like someone might already be walking that path ahead of her.
How could she not yearn for it?
And if she really did forge a divine weapon—other than a god, who would even be qualified to wield it?
She wanted that person to be a warrior strong enough to make even gods feel shock.
(Also: Tsubaki Collbrande is a mixed-blood half-dwarf, 170cm tall. This world really does enjoy bullying "normal dwarf" Gareth.)
"Third question: his position."
"First: he's definitely not Evilus. If he were, he wouldn't have challenged Zard last night. You also wouldn't need to fear him joining the Tyrants—true strong ones have pride."
"Second: he's most likely not on Orario's side either—at least not someone who will coordinate fully with us. Unless something changes, he's a third-party force with his own unique objective."
This time Finn didn't offer two options.
He delivered a fairly firm conclusion.
The room erupted into discussion, and many realized they'd fallen into a mental trap:
In a war between Orario and Evilus, everyone unconsciously sorted the world into two camps.
Black or white.
No space for a third faction.
But once someone is powerful enough to defeat a Tyrant…
That's a different category altogether.
He is a faction.
"A third party…"
Alise's curiosity spiked.
If someone that strong insisted on staying hidden, did that mean they had some special mission?
She decided she'd go back and ask Cid.
At the end, Finn summarized:
"Based on all that: that individual poses little threat to us—or rather, he has little interest in us."
"So don't go digging into his secrets. We don't need to… and we aren't worthy of it."
....
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