As much as he wanted to vent his anger towards this unsuspecting spy around him, Emperor Valentin chose to feign ignorance and put on a show.
For sure, the matter would reach Duke Maxim's ears and would trigger another wave of movement on his end.
That's why under the guise of sleeping, Emperor Valentin decided that he will be secretly visiting the Temple grounds and relaying the contents of the mysterious letter to the High Priest.
He also hoped to question the progress of the research and investigations, along with Leon and Eli finally ending their training in seclusion.
Without delaying any further, Emperor Valentin put on a disguise and used his teleportation mechanisms through the secret chamber.
It was such a big blessing that Leon and Eli gifted him a handful of supreme-grade mana stones. With this, he could jump from one location to another, through his teleportation arrays without worrying about the decline of mana stone resources.
Arriving at the Temple, he immediately proceeded to the High Priest's office, where coincidentally, General Farauld was also there, reporting the situation outside and the matters of the interrogation team.
"Young Valentin… You came." The High Priest lightly greeted, he was not surprised as to why the Emperor showed up without any warnings inside the Temple. He just immediately beckoned him to sit and state his case.
"I have received a mysterious letter of threat from a person named Lord Raven. I believe that he is the one behind the Vesalas and he is also the mastermind of all this chaos." Emperor Valentin explained with dark creases on his eyebrows forming deeper and deeper.
The two took the letter and read its contents.
Emperor Valentin watched the immediate change in their expressions - from grave to graver.
"These people are pure evil! They looked at people's lives like mere playthings to get what they want!" General Farauld angrily expressed his mind and couldn't help but curse the perpetrators in his heart.
"This Lord Raven must have been the owner of the spirit fragment that Eli managed to defeat a while back. Seeing that he still asked you to search for her and not directly hand her over meant that he was still unsure if the subject of the oracle had already officially appeared in the Empire." The High Priest remained calm and rational in his tone, but deep inside, a raging anger brewed in his heart.
But as the High Priest and the eldest one in the room, he had to be the one with a clearer mindset than the two people with him. As such, with his deductions, he tried to divert the two's emotions to the crux of the matter.
"It means that all these things are just a gamble to him.." Emperor Valentin clenched his fist, this mysterious person did not even have any idea of the subject of the oracle is in the empire yet he dared to use countless people's lives to coerce him to hand over his future daughter-in-law.
"I have no intention to hand over Eli.." Emperor Valentin declared in a tone that seemed to be not asking the other's opinion.
"Neither do I, that's my daughter/student." The two other men also expressed their decision. When it comes to the idea of handing over Eli to the evil person, there was no question about it, the answer is a big no.
"However, we cannot just sit here and watch our people get killed for no reason." General Farauld continued.
"Yes... We have to do something to stop the killings." The High Priest placed his hands on the table clenching it tightly.
When they were about to discuss the next step, Leon's rushing figure disrupted their thoughts.
Upon seeing his face, the men secretly heaved a sigh of relief but still didn't lose their composure. With Leon now back to fight their attempt to stop the Vesalas and Lord Raven increased.
After a few greetings, they immediately explained to Leon the details of the matter. They also let him read the mysterious letter from Lord Raven.
Leon's face became piercingly cold the moment he heard that some mysterious lord wanted his future wife. "I will never allow this to happen!" He declared resolutely, looking straight into the three elder's eyes.
"We also came to a consensus not to compromise with this matter. Besides, why will we hand over the hope of the Empire?" The High Priest gave an assuring reply to the agitated Leon. "However, we have to do something to cripple the claws of that Lord Raven, to stop the Vesalas from creating chaos in the land!"
"Based on what you have said, the perpetrators seemed to use the cursed weapons more than the cursed magic?" Leon contemplated for a while, before verifying his doubts.
"Yes, the victims all showed signs of being physically attacked by a weapon and not magic." General Farauld answered Leon's question. "However, we still have to keep in mind that the dark knights could use magic as necessary. Another thing was that there were signs of harvesting the life essence of victims. This was the thing captive Hasta explained on the curse."
"In the meantime, I have assigned your elder brothers to patrol throughout the Capital. I am hoping that this move would momentarily disrupt Duke Vesala's momentum and give us time to prepare." Emperor Valentin also added.
"The thing we need to think of the most is the plan to counterattack these perpetrators. As of now, we have no means to retaliate but to use sheer force, using knights that are at least at the level of A-class. But we only have a few…" Emperor Valentin laid out his idea to the rest.
However, his eyes were filled with worries for he would be forcing himself to use the strongest of the Empire to deal with the lowest pawn of the mysterious lord.
Everyone in the room also had the same stifling feeling. There were only dealing with the lowest of low of this sinister organization, it would probably give them a harder time when Lord Raven decides to go all out.
"This raven symbol was also similar to the people from the Spectre we have previously encountered in the silver dew forest! It means that there is a high chance that this Lord Raven was a person belonging to the sinister Spectre." Leon also expressed his deduction regarding the identity of the sender of the letter.
"Perhaps, he is one of the high officials, if not the leader of this organization." General Farauld added.
"It doesn't matter if he is one…" Emperor Valentin replied.
"The clearest fact here was that he could only use the Vesalas to carry out his objective inside the Empire. Notice that he didn't expand his scope of the attack on a large scale. This means that the previous clearing operations were effective and that the moment we are free of the Vesalas, he could no longer get his way inside the Empire." He resolutely declared
"But young Valentin, this move will mean that you will hurt your son and essentially half of your Empire." General Farauld looked at Valentin worriedly.
He understood why Valentin held himself to not punish the Vesalas because he wanted to protect the family he had. However, Valentin's recent actions indicated that he was already willing to sip the bitter wine, holding the guilty people accountable no matter what damage it may cause.
"If this is what it takes for me to give a brighter future for the Empire, then I don't mind being a terrible father…" Emperor Valentin wore a self-mocking expression, looking at Leon helplessly, "Besides, I have been a terrible father for decades now."
"Sigh.." The High Priest no longer convinced Valentin to think otherwise. He could only pray that he would see this Emperor find peace in his heart despite all the mess that happened. "Alright, whatever plan you have in mind, I have already given my word to let the Temple Knights be involved in the matter."
"About that thing…" Leon suddenly interjected.
He looked at them with a respectful expression before continuing, "I would like to politely express my disagreement regarding letting the Temple involve in this matter."
The three elders were taken aback by Leon's refusal to involve the Temple Knights. Everyone in the room knows that the Capital was already shorthanded with very low numbers of A-class knights, how could he still reject the help from the Temple Knights?
"Would you mind elaborating the reason for your disagreement?" The High Priest raised his brows with an interested expression. So far he had been continuously impressed by Leon's abilities, so he couldn't help but take his opinion into account.
"Esteemed High Priest, Father Emperor, Teacher… We must remember the fact that Lord Raven was still testing the waters of the Temple and the Empire regarding the Subject of the Oracle. Involving the Temple too early will basically tell Lord Raven that we already know of the Subject's whereabouts." Leon looked at them and explained his opinion carefully.
"This also meant that we cannot take advantage of the doubts he had regarding our position when it comes to finding the subject!"
