Victor Varen.
Considering all the knowledge Elias had from the novel, he now had the primary suspect for the revolt instigated by the commoners of the Varen barony.
Why did Elias now absolutely suspect Victor had reasons?
The sense of uneasiness towards this person started the moment Elias looked through the previous Elias's memories.
Victor being taken as a good face and Elias as the bad face of the barony made him suspect Victor. The knowledge he had from the novel only increased the reason for suspicion, as Victor was the person who had seized the throne after Elias.
However, these were still not things that made his suspicion nearly 100 percent.
But that didn't last for long.
When Elias was out on the balcony for some fresh air, realization hit him.
How could commoners—people of the barony—instigate a revolt against the baron, who had a literal army?
An army of mana users.
In this world, Lasthaven, mana was the source of power. People capable of wielding it could perform superhuman activities.
However, mana could not be wielded from birth. Exceptions were always there, but the average time of awakening was from 7 to 15, with nobles often awakening early and only a minor population of commoners awakening.
So, when the time came, they could wield mana; their potential was also known. Which was classified from F—like Elias had—to SS+, being the max known ever.
Stories and folk tales of people being SSS were known, but hard evidence of them was nowhere to be found, resulting in these stories being known only as stories.
Anyway, the question remained: how could commoners, who were mostly normal people with no trace of mana-wielders, instigate revolt?
And Elias answered the question himself.
'They had support.'
To Elias, it seemed—no, it was true—because how else could commoners fight mana users? People who could level the town if they wanted to.
Maybe there were some people capable of using mana among commoners, but even then, fighting against an army was hard. No, it was nearly impossible.
Very few commoners were those who could wield mana. And even if many in the barony could wield mana—which, being true, was nearly zero—a fight, no, a brutal chaos would have taken place, which would not have left much of the barony left to rule.
So, their having support was the right answer.
And Victor, being that support, was quite prominent.
Because he was the person who had the full support of the people of the barony.
To people, he seemed like someone who was fighting in his own way to control his nephew.
And he was also the one who ruled after Elias was thrown out.
Maybe Elias was wrong. The gap in information about the Varen territory was a huge setback for him, but he still thought he was almost correct, or somewhere near the truth.
The presence of someone else, a more powerful person, also stood, but Elias thought differently.
'Step by step.'
First came the barony and his safety; second came other things.
And so the thought came to him: he wanted to meet Victor. From the memories, he knew that the previous Elias, after the death of his parents, sometimes went to meet his uncle and talked about random things, as he was the only blood relative he had left.
So, Elias going to meet him was not going to be something surprising and suspicious.
And...
He had some other goals too. A plan was forming in his mind.
As Elias could not do anything against him or change himself because he feared his changes might bring trouble to him.
Elias thought of acting as the previous Elias and gauged out things before acting on the plan forming in his mind.
***
'Let's not think much.'
Elias thought as he calmed himself down.
'I am only going to meet him.' He thought, controlling his anxiety and pacing his heartbeat. 'And there's a chance, a little bit of a chance, that he may not be what I think.'
"Yeah, not everyone is a villain."
His words felt hollow to him, causing a rueful smile to appear on his face.
However, Elias shook his head, clearing any negative thoughts from his head.
'But, how should I act? So he doesn't suspect me.'
He wondered as he trudged towards the door to his room.
'Depressed, a druggy... and something like that, no?'
Talking to himself, Elias reached the door and opened it.
Click
As the door opened, his eyes first went towards the knights standing on both sides before a beautiful maid came into his vision.
'What the fuck? Doesn't she have work to do? She is the head maid, no?'
"My lord!" The maid said, coming running towards him. "Did you need something? You could have simply rung the bell; I would have come running for you. Why trouble yourself?"
Listening to her rambling, Elias remembered.
'Oh, she is my butler too.'
Sylphie, who was appointed as head maid by Victor, had caught the eye of the previous Elias. Who, after getting infatuated by her beauty, appointed her as his butler too, this morning, nonetheless. While firing the last one, who was an old man.
"No, I didn't need anything," Elias replied, cutting through her rambling as he glanced at her.
'Act depressed. Act depressed.'
"I wanted to meet Uncle."
As his words registered, Sylphie went silent. Only after a moment did she speak up.
"... My lord, Lord Cestallan would have come himself if you had simply spoken about your wish to meet him."
'Ah! Oh yeah, he would have come; I am the damn baron.'
Elias thought about it, but rejected this notion the next second.
'It would be much better to meet him in his room, and Elias used to do it too, generally.'
"It's okay; I am already troubling him with all the work of the barony."
Elias said, shaking his head.
And the next moment, he felt as if the knights standing next to him were sneering.
'Whatever.'
Dismissing the thought, he started walking, moving towards the private chamber of Victor Varen.
Seeing Elias walking, Sylphie followed him from behind as the emotions she always felt due to the creature—after just hearing the name of Victor Varen—started to come crashing down on her once more.