Supreme Magus novel Chapter 3409

"Young, handsome, noble, and with those big brown eyes that sparkled like stars when he talked about his dream of building a Kingdom for everyone. Lochra and I took interest in him but sadly, he was already taken." Menadion shook her head in disappointment. _{frёewebηovel.cѳm}

"Sadly." Tyris echoed, her voice oozing mockery and sarcasm.

"Win some, lose some." Menadion shrugged, completely missing the Guardian's point.

"Mo-enadion!" The dreamy way Ripha talked about the First King sounded like a betrayal to Solus. No matter if her father wasn't even born back then, Solus found it an insult to Threin's memory.

"What?" Menadion replied in confusion.

"Go back to the story and please skip useless details." Solus' voice was calm, but the fire in her eyes told Menadion that she was in trouble for some reason.

"As I was saying, Valeron had come to us to get his hands on some decent equipment for his most trusted generals." Menadion said. "While he waited, he went on and on about what he would have done when the war was over and how everyone would have been better for it.

"With her usual bluntness, Lochra mocked Valeron, claiming he was delusional and that he would never win. Valeron took offense and dared Lochra to put her money where her mouth was.

"She of course accepted and the bet was sealed. If Valeron won, Lochra would build the Royal Palace out of her own pocket. If Lochra won, Valeron would give her all the war funds he had left and serve as her apprentice for a hundred years.

"You know the rest. What you may not know is that after the situation stabilized, Valeron built the six great academies, and that time he actually paid us. Also, by teaching Lochra's legacy and giving her the title of Magus, she earned more than she spent on the castle just with her book, The Basics of Magic."

"You know, I've never understood why Valeron chose this city as the capital." Elina asked. "It doesn't hold a central position, it has no strategical relevance, and it has no abundance of food or magical resources."

"Good question." Menadion looked at Sylpha who in turn looked at Tyris.

"Because this is where everything started." The Guardian replied. "Valeron was born here over a thousand years ago. His house stood right at the foot of this hill, surrounded by his family's fields.

"On this hill, I watched a young Valeron getting almost beaten to death by bandits to defend an old merchant he didn't even know. The old man managed to get away with his money and merchandise but never bothered to send help to his savior so I did.

"Here I healed Valeron's wounds, turned down his marriage proposal, taught him about Awakening, turned down the second marriage proposal, and then taught him the basics of Spirit and elemental magic.

"There were many other marriage proposals in between but it would be too long to enumerate them all. Long story short, I expected Valeron to become your average Awakened. Happy, self-centered, and obscenely rich.

"Instead, he never craved more power than he needed to keep his village safe. He accepted the role of village chief only because the other candidates were corrupt and he never took more money than he considered fair for his work.

"Valeron never struck first. He simply annexed the territories of those he defeated, and only because he was appalled by the living conditions of their people. You can't imagine how surprised I was when small kings and petty lords attacked Valeron's fiefdom and lost.

"They felt threatened by his growing power or enticed by his alleged riches and invited disaster into their homes. Valeron was an incredible mage and warrior, but that wasn't the secret of his strength.

"Nor was the fact that he always took the weapons of his fallen enemies and used them to reinforce his army. His secret was his voice. When he talked, he made you feel as strong as he was, see within your reach goals that you had always considered impossible.