Hearing her friend's question, Elen sighed as she closed her eyes for a moment. She then said. "Well, previously, we were expecting a big battle to occur any moment now since the enemy side was taking losses greater than ours."
"However, in the last few days, the enemy side's actions have suddenly decreased in intensity, almost as if they were retreating..."
"Impossible! The Allens would never act in such a way without the war being lost." Elena said promptly.
"Hmm, I think so too... That's why it's so strange. Maybe they took one step backward to take two steps forward."
"But regardless of what the Allen family allies are planning, our side is ready to fight at any time!"
"So, don't worry about that at the moment. Just continue leading your life and business in the Neel family as you had been doing these weeks since your return from the Black Plain."
"OK. But do you have an estimate of what the Allens are doing? Haven't the spies uncovered any valuable information?" Elena asked as she sat down next to Elen.
"Nothing very significant has been discovered. The only thing we've discovered is that this seems to be related to some kind of deal they have with the families of Farmland."
"Farmland?" Elena repeated Elen's last word, as she remembered that previously some of the Allen family elders had visited that region to look for support.
"Yes. Some of the elders of the three families of that region were detected traveling recently, around the same time that the Allen family allies had started this recent move."
"And where did these elders go?"
Elen then shook her head and said. "We don't know. We lost contact after that information reached headquarters..."
"So, that's how it is... I just hope those people don't go through Dry City, or that place might be discovered by enemy forces too soon." Elena said, not knowing that such a thing had already happened...
She had been on Stone Island for weeks, and since her arrival here, she had received only one piece of information from the Black Plain through Elen. However, such a thing was nothing so relevant to her, being only something related to Dry City's dealings with Stone Island.
As such, she had no idea of the problems caused by Ralf and Railan's visit and the discovery made by Urban's group.
"Anyway..." Elen sighed deeply before changing the subject and asking something regarding that woman. "By the way, how much longer will you stay here on Stone Island?"
Upon hearing that question, Elena thought for a second and then said with a sincere expression. "Less than two months. Since I have to take several precautions during my return trip to the Black Plain, I won't be able to stay here for long."
"I see..."
"On the other hand, I want to prepare a blacksmith to take to Dry City with me."
After having her status increased within the Neel family, Elena had earned the right to lead three Spiritual Kings, two of whom were blacksmiths and one of whom specialized in combat.
But as much as she had these people at her disposal, she could not take all of them to Minos' territory. Because of those people, two of them were responsible for ruling one of the cities in the Neel family's territory.
Hence, only one of them was free to accompany this woman in this plan she wished to follow. And by coincidence, such a person was one of the blacksmiths and not the warrior.
"Haha, are you trying to get the Neel family to become Minos' subordinate?" Elen asked with a curious smile on her beautiful face.
Upon hearing such a thing, Elena was not bothered by such teasing and just said confidently. "I am making my Neel family become the largest blacksmith organization in our region."
...
While those two women talked during their rest, two old men in the Allen family were chatting in another part of Old Stone.
They were sitting on what seemed to be a large balcony, where several ornamental plants embellished the place, and some paintings and porcelains were distributed there.
But neither of them was paying attention to the items or this place. Instead, both were sitting on opposite sides of a table while playing chess.
One of them had a beard and long hair, entirely white as if he was already at the end of his life. As for the other, although he was old, he was the complete opposite, as he didn't have a single hair on his head.
But since the two were Spiritual Kings, they were not so close to the day of their deaths. On the contrary, they would still have a few centuries before they reached the average life expectancy of a person at that stage.
"Rolf, are the envoys from Farmland already on Stone Island?" The bearded man asked while having his two hands crossed at the height of his nose.
"No. They are waiting on a boat that is 30 kilometers from the west part of Stone Island. They will only act when the signal of our mission is given." The bald man answered as he looked at the level 58 Spiritual King in front of him.
These were obviously the two strongest cultivators of the Allen family, patriarch Duncan Allen, and supreme elder Rolf Allen.
Both had had a lot of trouble getting allies to fight the group that Elen had formed at the beginning of this war. And after some failures, including that attempt to involve the Spiritual Church, these two had finally gotten outside help, and their plans were already in full effect!
After planning to act against the Black Plain Army naval base and the Nash family, the groups of the three noble families of the Farmland region and the Allen family alliance had found the perfect bait to challenge Minos' forces.
They had taken several months to do such a thing since they could not put their hopes on families from Stone Island or the Cromwell Kingdom. After all, these two states were experiencing the uncertainties of war, and few powers would want to risk themselves externally during such a period.
On the other hand, they could not simply say to some great noble family something like, 'go and risk your lives for us!'
Nor could they bring good news about some kind of treasure or resource that might be in that naval base. After all, that would be very suspicious.
Hence, the alternative left was to 'let' some great regional power 'discover' that there was something valuable in that area of the naval base of young Stuart's army.
And with such an action, it would not be so complicated that an outside power would find it worthwhile to invade the impoverished and unwanted Black Plain.
Finally, after some time working on it, these powers had managed to get one of the noble families of the Kingdom of the Waves interested in such a place.
Anyway, after hearing Rolf's answer, the patriarch Duncan said in a low voice. "I understand... But do we already have a date for the mission to begin?"
"More or less. We have just received information from the spies acting on the continent that the Collins family will be sending a group to that base in the next few days. After that, the navy from that noble house should reach its destination in a month at the most." Rolf replied promptly.
"Oh? Hehehe, I just hope the Collins has what it takes to storm that place, or our old 'friends' will be red with rage." Duncan laughed and said, as he remembered some of his old 'buddies,' with whom he had competed in the Spiritual Tournament hundreds of years ago.
But the choice of the Collins family for this scheme was not for nothing. Besides having an old rivalry, it was a fact that the Collins family was one of the strongest noble families in that kingdom. They even have one of their descendants as the crown prince...
How magnificent would it be to involve the powers of that state in the fight against an enemy that did not exist just for the sake of the Allen family?
It was indeed ingenious to get others to fight for you, especially in a big bet, like this one these two men were making...
"Hehe, that might be the prelude to a great regional war...."
