I return to the mansion once.

　It's rude to go to Lysia's parents' house suddenly, so I decided to write a letter and tell them of my intention to come to the house, and after hearing their reply, I'll head there.

　The content of the letter is that there is no need to entertain me, I want to talk with Lysia once because I have an important story about the war. By the way, it was not Lysia who was sent to me, but my father Hamand.

　If anything, I thought there would be opposition from Hamand to send Lysia to the Imperial City.
　Well, even if he said no, it wouldn't cause a big drop in his reputation from the Clan, so there was no problem. Besides, it's unknown how useful Lycia will be in negotiations. There would be no need to persistently bite back and try to convince her.

　Waiting for a letter of reply.

'Master Ars, it appears that Ben of The Shadow has brought a report.

　The retainer came to report to me.
　As I would not be able to receive a report from Ben if I were to leave time to go to Sempra, I had decided to leave it to the vassal who had been sent to Canale to receive the information and to pay the gold, rather than to me directly.
　That vassal brought me a letter from Ben.

'Thank you,'

　I received the letter and read the contents.

　The contents of the letter stated first of all that I had been able to obtain information about the enemy, albeit gradually. The method is completely unknown.

　I can't see any nobles that could be orchestrated. Basamark believes that the more time passes, the more advantageous he will be in control of Alcantes Castle, and it is unlikely that he will be able to initiate it himself.
　However, it seems that one of his vassals is claiming an invasion of Perena County, and discussions are currently taking place about it.

　Then they are trying to form an alliance with the Saitu Province.
　There is also a plan to call for an attack on Klan territory from Saitu State.
　This one hasn't been successful yet, but they're getting a handle on it.
　They've also gone to the Paradile Province and the Emperor's House to negotiate in the background, but this didn't seem to work either.
　Basamark also expects the Clan to come up with a strategy to form an alliance with the Paradile State, but he thinks this is likely to be unsuccessful.

　And so on.
　He added at the end that he had heard from one of his vassals and that he could not be one hundred percent sure that he was correct.

　Even so, Shadow seems to be quite good at researching so many different enemy strategies. I'm glad I signed the contract.

　An alliance with Saitu State would be a big deal if it succeeded.
　Especially the county of Canale, which is on the border of the state, will be the most affected. Lumberk, of course, would not be safe.

　Let's report this information to the Clan once.
　Perhaps the Clan also employs clandestine mercenaries like the Shadow and may have this information, but just in case.

　I copied the information brought to me by The Shadow into a letter and sent it to the Clan.

　A few days later, I received a letter of permission from Hammand.
　I took my guards and headed for Tolbequista, where the Plaid family's mansion was located.