"The pace of the war is starting to increase, so we need to be careful. One day ago, two attacks happened at the same time: one in the western region and another in the north."
At that moment, a meeting was taking place around the council table. Besides the councilors, the king, the prince, and the Five Elementals were also present. Since Leon was part of that group, he had been summoned to the meeting and arrived as quickly as possible. He had also brought Rebecca with him, who was being protected by Trevon and the mansion's main combat maids.
The one leading the meeting was the kingdom's chief councilor, Normero Ventaril.
"This morning, another attack took place in the western region. Since it is the area that has suffered the most attacks, there are two possibilities."
The first was that the region was the enemy's primary objective. The hypothesis made sense because the west possessed the kingdom's greatest natural defenses, in addition to being home to countless magical beasts. Normally, these creatures could not be controlled by people from other continents. However, if the enemy possessed someone capable of controlling them, conquering that region would become an even greater priority.
"But it could also be nothing more than a distraction to make us move more troops to the west, weakening the other regions as we redistribute our soldiers."
Normero spread a large map of the kingdom across the table. Everyone knew the territory well, making it easy to follow his reasoning. Several locations were marked on the map, but one in particular caught Leon's attention: Senial, the city where the Everhart family—his adoptive family—lived. His eyes narrowed as he spoke.
"If you marked that location, it's because there has been some suspicious activity near the southern region."
"As always, you understand quickly, Leon."
Normero gave a faint smile at Leon's words. He had always been pleased with the way Leon assisted the prince, and for that reason, he had long considered him the ideal candidate to become the kingdom's next chief councilor. That thought had only grown stronger after Leon revealed the existence of the Seven Councilors.
"We received information from some guards after Elara returned to the city a few days ago. Apparently, she noticed some suspicious movements around the city."
Leon slightly raised one eyebrow. After the kidnapping, Elara had said she wanted to stay by his side, but she had needed to return home after receiving a message from her mother. At the time, she had seemed quite sad, so Leon promised he would visit the Everhart family as soon as he dealt with the Valtor family. Hearing that, she smiled a little more happily and replied that she would be waiting for him.
'It's a good thing she returned safely before anything happened... It seems I'll have to visit her sooner than I expected.'
"Based on the places where she spotted those movements, a small group of merchants arrived yesterday and has remained there ever since."
Normally, that would not be a cause for such concern, which was why some of the councilors looked rather doubtful. After all, they were just merchants. Of course, if Elara had noticed suspicious activity before they arrived, that could indicate something unusual, but it still seemed like a situation the city's leader could investigate quickly.
"What kind of suspicious movements were they? Depending on the answer, we really should be concerned."
The question came directly from one of the Five Elementals. Leon turned his gaze toward him for a moment. It was exactly the same question he would have asked. Apparently, some of the councilors still hadn't grasped the seriousness of the situation, so clarifying that point would make the meeting progress more quickly.
'Kae Volthar... the Lightning Elemental and the reincarnated protagonist's romantic partner.'
At present, he spent quite a bit of time with Valeria, but he still wasn't in love with her. In fact, since the war had begun much earlier than expected, the two of them hadn't had enough time to truly grow close, even though they spent more time together than before.
'If things are really still unfolding this way... then he still likes that other girl.'
In the original story of that world, Kae was much more interested in a girl named Daniela Bonis. When Elara was the protagonist, Daniela played the role of her romantic rival. However, now that Valeria had taken over as the protagonist, that rivalry had naturally shifted between the two of them.
"She sent a recording along with the letter. She was quite clever to record everything using a magic stone."
Normero placed the stone in the center of the table. Even Leon was surprised by Elara's initiative, and it immediately awakened a suspicion in his mind.
'I'll ask her about it later.'
The recording began by showing several people behind an inn. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. However, moments later, one of the men discreetly buried a small stone in the ground.
"This is the exact inn where those merchants are staying."
The first recording ended, but others immediately followed. In every one of them, the same thing happened. Different people buried stones at specific locations throughout the city and then walked away as if nothing had happened. It was an extremely suspicious pattern of behavior. Before taking action, they always carefully checked to make sure no one was watching, which made several councilors wonder how Elara had managed to record everything without being noticed. Leon, however, immediately thought of a specific technique.
'Elara has an ability called Veil of Light, based on the Deception of Light.'
That magic absorbed the sunlight around the user and reorganized it. Instead of reflecting light normally, the user's body emitted exactly the same intensity and direction as the surrounding light. To any observer, it was as though no one was occupying that space, since their eyes continued receiving the same amount of light they would have received if the user had not been there.
The stronger the sunlight, the more perfect the camouflage became. However, in dark environments, caves, or at night, the magic practically lost its effect. In addition, shadows could reveal her position if her control over the light was not perfect.
'She also has to control every sound precisely, or her location can be discovered.'
[...Enrico, that's an excellent technique, but...]
'I know...'
Leon grew serious for a moment before turning his attention back to the recording. After the merchants arrived, the five people responsible for burying the stones all stayed at the same inn and completely stopped moving around.
"So it really... is part of their plan."
"There's no way these recordings are fake. We need to stop them immediately."
The councilors finally understood the seriousness of the situation. Those who had already suspected something—the king, the prince, Leon, and the other four Elementals—simply had their concerns confirmed. The situation was even worse than they had imagined.
Before anyone else could speak, Leon raised his hand and, with a serious expression, spoke calmly.
"Leave it to me. I'll handle it."