I Know the Secret to Surpass Level 100

Chapter 130: No One Stays

There are four major noble houses fighting for the crown against Alorde. Loacher, Rillia, Sinfonietta, and Baggar. These houses have been in a silent war amongst themselves, waiting for another house to make a mistake so they could bring that house down.

Even the House Alorde had been playing tricks up their sleeves. Originally, there were eighteen major nobilities with equal powers as the others, the Alorde Family took out six of these families. Resulting to two becoming extinct by how rough their play was.

The other families took each other out like they were on a sinking boat. When one was about to fall off, everyone else would gang up on them and would push them out of the boat, raising their chance of survival.

For decades, Solaguer was filled with betrayal, cunningness, and despair. They would present themselves as proper in front of the people but would act like hungry beasts when left together.

Among the four major houses, the House of Baggar has the biggest chance to take over the throne. They have gathered Lords among the cities that rivals the number that of the Alorde's people.

Headed by the only Lady of the major houses, Lady Eliza Baggar, often called Vampire Lady, is a fericious leader that chooses violence and punishment over anything else. 

Her demeanor and sadistic nature would earn her the title Vampire Lady, along with her fondness for blood and torture. Following House Baggar is house Sinfonietta. The house is ruled by Lord James Sinfonietta. The two remaining houses equals to the third spot, but still has a big chance to rule among others.

"Solaguer is no place for fools," Florencia said after she finished. "The families under House Alorde are turning against them due to Prince Lance's desertion for the throne. If this goes on, no one will be left and Vampire Lady will take over the kingdom."

"The House Baggar has a son as an Heir, right?" Francoise asked, placing his finger in his chin and thought. "Among all the other houses, they have the biggest chance to rule since the other houses has girls as their heir. Lady Vampire has a high chance if she uses her son."

Florencia nodded, "Lord Chance Baggar, yes. He will become the Crown Prince if this continues."

"What should we do then?" Elliot asked this time. "Lance will never go back to that palace and he's stubborn as hell. What other things can we do?"

"Well, we have three options. Another heir, marriage, or just give up," Florencia said. "Either we wait until the king produces another heir, let Lance marry someone in a powerful family, or just let Vampire Lady rule. And everything will fall into chaos."

"She's that bad?" Elliot sighed.

Florencia nodded and also sighed, "Yeah. She's ruthless, and so evil. Her leadership is top notch though, that's inevitable. But she'll make our kingdom battle other kingdoms if she's going to rule. Not a good idea."

They proceeded with their conversation but Elliot kept zoning out. Ed's words were bugging him, irking his every thoughts until it was almost dusk.

"I'll go home now," Florencia said and smiled. "I'm so sorry again, Elliot. Hope you can forgive me."

"I already told you, I don't let anyone bug me with silly mistakes. Besides, if you're really sorry, try going to Nefantine and ask around for Lilith. She'll tell you what to do next," Elliot said and ruffled her hair. "And if you like someone, you should never resort to hiring slaves to get them. Talk to them and then maybe they like you too, who knows, right?"

The girl smiled and walked out of the shop. Elliot, Viper and Francoise decided to leave the room and go home. They will decide what to buy for Viper the next day.

"When can I join a guild?" Viper suddenly asked.

"Soon," Elliot replied. "If we can get you a good equipment, I will train you personally. That is after we resolve our problem at Solaguer."

"You really have a big problem there, huh?" Viper asked and Elliot just nodded, ending their conversation.

After Elliot left Viper in front of his grandmother's shop, Viper hugged Elliot. "Thank you for everything, Mr. Elliot."

"No problem, kid," Elliot muttered, hugging the boy back. "Sooner or later, you will become a strong Adventurer and will make your grandmother very proud."

"I hope so I mean, I will," Viper grinned and let go of the hug. He waved at Elliot one last time before entering their shop, leaving Elliot outside.

He turned and walked two steps down the stairs of the shop's patio before he stopped.

"I know you're there," Elliot said. "Come out."

A black cloak was unveiled beside the door, revealing Lance who had a sad smile on his face.

"What happened to you?" Elliot chuckled. "You look in distress."

"Let's walk," Lance said and leaped to the opposite building's roof. Elliot followed him and they strolled through the roofs slowly, watching everything below.

"You're considering taking the throne, right?" Elliot confroted Lance. The latter did not looked surprised. He somehow knew that Elliot was going to say it, expecting the words to come from his friend's lips.

"Do you think I should take it?" Lance asked, his face getting sadder. "I mean, if there was another choice, I'd choose that. But there isn't. My father can't produce another prince and you know thay won't happen and argh. Elliot, what do I do?"

Elliot was silent for a short while. They continued to walk and climb up the bell tower where they sat on the edge, overlooking the city and the sun sitting on the horizon.

"Have you asked the others about this?" Elliot broke the silence that was clouding over them.

"No," Lance replied with a heavy sigh. "But I know only Ed would not want me to not take the throne. He had talked to me before about everything that's gonna happen and maybe soon, he said, that our party would be disbanded."

Elliot turned to his friend with a confused look, "And why would that happen?"

"Our friendship our bond, seem strong, right?" Lance started. "Our differences made our group look strong. We somehow made everything work out in the end. Like we're different pieces of the puzzle fitting each other perfectly. But that's what makes us fragile. We have different origins, different upbringings, different everything and now that the outside world catching up to us, the strings that attached our friendship is slowly being severed."

"And we're letting that happen?" Elliot asked. "Why are we letting it happen?"

"When Biankka attacked us and Ed received the Eternal Chaos Sword, our friendship had slowly deteriorated," Lance said. "We're just too different, Elliot."

"I thought we were going to make everything work out in the end? What happened to that?" Elliot said with a higher voice than expected.

"Maybe not everything was meant to be?" Lance sighed. "Maybe we walk our own paths separately, after all?"

Elliot nodded and gave up. He laid his head back and watch the skies exploding in an orange color.

"Maybe Ed was right," he said. "No one stays."