Inside the back room of Scoville's Shop, Sean flipped through the books Igniya had brought.
A thick, classical tome—likely only in Elinta could one find such a worn-out book. The text was nearly illegible, with some ink stains even bleeding onto the folded pages.
"Did you find this in Elinta?"
"Yeah, I remember when the mentor was still around, he often told us to learn more about wizard organizations from all over the world. He made us study a lot back then... but my senior and I weren't really into researching this stuff, so it just sat there. There are plenty more books like this in the tower," Igniya said.
Sean had seen Aishu's knowledge in action once before. Back then, even Freya couldn't figure out the Chaos Eye, but Aishu could explain it clearly... though it turned out to be the Ghehros Eye in the end, still, for someone unfamiliar with it, being able to trace its origins was impressive.
The hidden side of magic's depths...
Warnings against prying into unknown realms...
Now, as Sean read, he saw these as remarkable insights. People like that were the ones who survived the longest.
"Did Aishu organize all this?"
"Not entirely. Some of it was recorded by the mentor during his studies, but most of it was left behind by the successive keepers of Elinta."
The Elinta organization was a wizard group that existed since the early days of the Basharan Empire's founding, one of the first to align with the state. It likely received plenty of resource support, and now it had spread across every region of the country. Even here in the South, it held such a vast collection of wizard-related records.
Sean turned to a folded page...
The most striking feature was the pattern of six birds supporting a radiant sun, identical to the painting he'd found in the room of the previous Viscount Weigel back home.
The text below was far more detailed than what he'd seen before.
The Sun Crown.
Pearl of the Yellow Sands, Heavenly Fire's Flame, Flame of Life... a series of titles.
It was one of the earliest renowned wizard organizations in the Adak region, worshipping the Heavenly Fire Sun, believing the sun to be the supreme existence atop this world. So in the Adak language, there were many interpretations, but the most widely spread was the Sun Crown, which eventually became their commonly known organizational name.
Sean flipped another page...
There was plenty of material about the Sun Crown here, but it was all fragmented records, and some of it came from hearsay by merchants and scholars—not accurate. So the annotations all bore the word "allegedly."
For instance, in such-and-such a year, the Sun Crown used ancient magic to possess humans, turning them into beings coexisting with Heavenly Fire.
Or in xxx year, the Sun Crown tried to seize privileges in the Jagon region and even waged war against the royal family...
These were just records of years and events, and none of them held up to scrutiny. Sean figured that stories brought over from the Adak region had muddled the original accounts.
Still, he could find common threads across so many events.
That was the Sun Crown's long history, and during specific periods, it had held unmatched prestige and power in the Adak region, lasting for centuries. It only faded into obscurity in the last hundred years, and the main reason was the rise of the Wizards' Association, which brought changes to the Adak region.
"I didn't expect the Wizards' Association to spread its influence all the way to the Adak region," Sean said as he read.
Other wizard organizations might not matter, but the Wizards' Association was too sensitive for him... buried in the mountains of Taylemian Town was one of its members.
"The Wizards' Association is the fastest-growing wizard organization in recent decades. Its headquarters was originally on the continent south of the great sea, but somehow it expanded all the way here!"
"Fast growth means the organization has capability," Sean remarked casually.
Back when he first clashed with Weissman in the Count's mansion in Koga City, he'd thought the other man was from the Wizards' Association, but later found out he belonged to a different group. Aside from that wizard who fell in the town, Sean hadn't encountered anyone else from the Association.
He read several more pages, all recording similar things.
After all, these were wizard organizations from other countries. In an era with underdeveloped transportation and communication, it was no small feat to document so much.
"How is it? Found anything useful?" Igniya, who had been waiting, finally asked after Sean finished reading.
"There's quite a bit recorded here. Later events mention that the Sun Crown eventually split and weakened due to internal reasons. It broke into many factions fighting each other, and there's speculation that some factions might have entered the Zambutar region."
The Zambutar region...
That was the region where Sean's Basharan Empire was located.
Since this world didn't have the concept of continents, Sean would rather call it the Zambutar Continent.
Within the entire region, Basharan was the central country—a land surrounded by potential enemies. So launching external wars was difficult, and in recent years, it had focused on economic development. That was how nobles like him, living on state relief grain, could thrive!
"So... if that's the case, could it be connected to your mother?"
"Maybe, but I'd rather know where she ended up!" During his recent investigations, Sean had discovered that the previous Viscount Weigel's death was no accident.
And the evidence he'd gathered increasingly pointed toward the Adak people.
That naturally led to thoughts of the Sun Crown...
Both from the Adak region, both Adak people!
"How about we find an Adak person in the city to ask?" Igniya suggested.
"What could you get out of them? Merchants who make it to Koga City have long since cut ties with that region. The Basharan Empire has no airships directly to the Adak region—everything relies on walking. Letters are hard to circulate across multiple countries..."
Without airships, the fastest means of communication was cut off. The next option was sending letters, and the fastest way was by messenger hawk. These animals were protected within a country, but not necessarily when crossing borders.
The final method was human couriers. There were professional couriers within a country, but they couldn't freely travel to other nations, so aside from them, only merchants and travelers could deliver messages.
Getting a letter through so many countries was too expensive for most people to afford.
That was why news rarely came from beyond the continent, and it also showed how rare this thick book in his hands was!
"So we can't just go there ourselves, can we? The Adak region is so far..."
Seeing Igniya's expression.
Deep down, Sean actually wanted to go and see for himself. After all, it concerned his family.