"Clang..."
In the dark cave, only faint light flickered, illuminating an area within a few meters, bathing the Sylph duo in light, making them appear exceptionally radiant.
Rozen called up his main menu out of boredom, checking his equipment durability and his ability stats, glancing occasionally at Leafa beside him.
In Rozen's line of sight, Leafa was lowering her head with closed eyes, seemingly unconscious.
Any ALO player would recognize this status, meaning that the player controlling this character had logged off, and their consciousness had returned to the real world rather than staying here.
Leafa had temporarily left the world of ALO to return to reality.
The reason was simple.
Just a few minutes prior, Leafa had received a message from Rekon.
The message contained the following words:
"Just as I thought! Be careful of..."
The sentence was sent before it was even completed, a clear sign that Rekon had sent this message in an emergency, urgently warning Leafa.
Leafa tried to reply, but Rekon had already logged off and was not in ALO.
The unusual circumstances heightened Leafa's sense of foreboding, and she could no longer resist.
"I'll return to reality to call that guy."
Saying this, Leafa logged off.
As for Rozen, he was left to take care of the empty shell that Leafa had left behind.
"Looks like some trouble is brewing."
Rozen had such a premonition and sighed softly.
Although he didn't know exactly what was happening, he guessed it wasn't a trivial matter.
Combining previous clues, Rozen believed he might be facing a major conflict between the Sylphs and Salamanders.
"I really don't want to get involved in these matters."
If possible, Rozen truly wanted to avoid getting involved.
He had essential things to accomplish in this world and no time to get caught up in inter-racial conflicts.
Maybe if he had some free time, Rozen wouldn't mind meddling a bit, but now he'd just found a clue and needed to hurry to investigate the World Tree in Alne to uncover the truth. With so much at stake, how could he afford to be bogged down by this?
If it weren't for Leafa, Rozen might have simply left, heading straight to Alne to investigate the World Tree, find out the secrets of this world, locate Asuna, and then rescue her.
Once that was done, Rozen could fully enjoy the game, and participating in the racial conflicts might even be fun.
Unfortunately, now was truly not the right time.
"I hope it's just a minor issue, then I can..."
Even though reason told Rozen that this was unlikely, he couldn't help but hope.
Sadly, reality would prove Rozen too perceptive, so much so that he resented his own intelligence for the first time.
"—!"
Leafa, who had closed her eyes, suddenly opened them wide.
With her lips pressed tight, her expression tense, and anxiety and frustration filling her gaze, she looked as if she'd been cornered.
Seeing this, Rozen knew.
Something serious had indeed happened.
"Rozen, I..."
Leafa looked at Rozen.
Her eyes were filled with helplessness and a plea, as if seeing Rozen as her only support.
Seeing this look, what else could Rozen do?
He had always been weak to that look from his little sister in his younger days.
So...
"Not getting involved is no longer an option."
Rozen sighed.
"Tell me."
Rozen said to Leafa.
"—Alright!"
Leafa nodded vigorously as if grabbing onto a lifeline.
...
"The Sylphs are in serious trouble!"
Right away, Leafa said to Rozen.
The root cause of the situation stemmed from one event.
"I mentioned it before; the Sylphs and Cait Siths were planning an alliance."
Running forward, Leafa explained to Rozen.
According to Leafa, today was the day the alliance treaty was to be signed.
"In about forty minutes, the Sylphs and Cait Siths will officially form an alliance in a neutral area, where both races' leaders will meet with a select few close allies in a highly secret arrangement."
But the information had leaked.
Sigurd had leaked it to the Salamanders.
"Just as you said, Sigurd had already betrayed the Sylphs and conspired with the Salamanders."
Leafa gritted her teeth as she said this.
This was something Rekon had discovered.
Rekon noticed that Sigurd would frequently meet secretly with certain people, engaging in discussions or making deals.
So today, Rekon followed Sigurd and saw the people he was meeting with.
They were Salamanders.
Sigurd revealed the details of the Sylph-Cait Sith alliance meeting to the Salamanders, including the venue and time.
As a result, the Salamanders had organized a large force to head to the meeting site, intending to attack the leaders of the two races.
"This way, not only can they prevent the alliance, but with the Sylphs leaking the meeting location, if their leader is killed, the Cait Siths certainly won't let it slide, which could lead to a war between the Sylphs and Cait Siths. That's exactly what the Salamanders want to see."
After all, the Salamanders were currently the dominant force in ALO.
If the Sylphs and Cait Siths united, the balance would be overturned.
So, they were determined to prevent this alliance.
"Additionally, killing the leader of another race grants a huge reward, including an unconditional 30% of the funds stored in the leader's hall and ten days of territorial occupation rights for tax collection. This substantial amount was one of the reasons the Salamanders rose to dominance, as they had previously set traps to kill the first Sylph leader."
For this reason, leaders usually wouldn't enter neutral areas. In ALO's history, there had only been one such leader assassination.
But this time, the opportunity was exceptionally rare.
"If they manage to kill the leaders of the two races, they can secure a massive sum, and from then on, no one in ALO would be able to challenge the Salamanders."
With such significant advantages, the Salamanders were determined to make this plan succeed and had already gathered their strongest force, heading toward the alliance site.
Rekon had discovered this.
However, he couldn't inform anyone in time.
He was detected immediately and paralyzed by a poison, leaving him unable to move, so he logged off to notify Leafa.
And that was how Leafa learned of the situation.
And clearly, Leafa wanted to prevent this from happening.
For the sake of the Sylphs.