I Know The Secret To Surpass Level 100

Before the guards could lay their hands on Viper, Elliot immediately got in between them.

"O-Officers, there must be some kind of mistake," Elliot said, keeping Viper behind him.

"Stay away from the Lord's business, barbarian," one of the guards said sternly. "If you meddle with this, we are allowed to put you to Aberdaine Dungeon."

Elliot glared at the guards, slowly lowering his hands and turning to Viper, "Kid, do you want to go?"

Viper shook his head vigorously, fear crept in his eyes, slowly wetting with tears. He clutched Elliot's sleeve tightly, not wanting to let go.

"I don't want to leave," Viper whispered. "Why are they even here? I don't want this. This must be a dream."

"Adventurer APRIL," the guards hopped from their mount and brandished their swords. "For getting in between the order of the Lord Aberdaine, we the Royal Guards, will send you to prison."

Elliot smirked and brandished his own sword, "As if."

Just when he was about to launch himself and knock all the guards out, Florencia leaped behind him and hit her pommel on Elliot's nape. The older boy fell unconscious not long after, falling to his knees and falling face down on the ground.

"Stop with your recklessness," Florencia said. As she returned her sword back in her scabbard, she turned to Viper with a smile. "You go and discuss things there. If Elliot is in trouble, it would be worse. Stop acting like a brat and go. I'll take care of him."

"We will now take Adventurer APRIL with us," one of the guards said that was promptly stopped by Florencia. "Lady– err, Adventurer Flo, you're not planning on interfering, are you? You're not noble anymore, therefore you have no rights to–"

"Why do you keep talking?" Florencia grunted. "Take Viper with you and leave Elliot. I'll take care of him."

"But we have made the arrest–"

"Oh, grow up," Florencia groaned. "Go. Viper, go with them. I'll tell your grandmother and Elliot. But remember," she leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Trust no one."

Viper's eyes was filled with dread as he gulped, looking at the guards who had expressions of stone.

"Okay," Viper took a glance at the unconscious Elliot. "I will go with you."

They proceeded to guide Viper to the horses, walking away as though nothing had happened. As though they didn't take someone with them.

Someone who had lived his life out of poverty and was actually a noble.

Little did they know, it was only the start of all their twisted fate.

–

"Viper!" Elliot sat up, immediately feeling the pain from his nape. "Ouch."

"You're up, good," Florencia said, face stoic. She was sitting on a chair beside Elliot's bed in the guild dorms. "They took him."

"He said he didn't want to go," Elliot muttered. "Why would you do that?"

"Keeping him would only cause more problems," Florencia sighed. "I don't know why you fail to see the capabilities of the nobles. If they take you, who will save Viper then?"

"They can't take me. I'm fast, quick, and I'm strong. I will easily–"

"But you're not the only one close to Viper are you?" Florencia crossed her legs, eyebrow quirking up. "They can easily take Josephine with them. Then they'd use her as bait to get you and Viper. And in that case, they can also ruin the guild's reputation. It will be a breeze considering the guild doesn't have much reputation in the first place."

"Why are you telling me this as if you know a lot of things more than me?" Elliot crossed his arms.

"I may not know a lot about what happens in a battle, but I know the politics of the nobles and how sh*t works," Florencia said, leaning in. "I will act as your brain since you clearly don't have one. You're all brawn, Elliot."

Elliot sighed, feeling the irk of other people's presence just outside his door. "If you want to enter, you can just enter and not sneak like crazy creeps."

The door immediately flung open, four figures walked towards him and plopped in his bed.

"You should listen to the kid, kid," Ed said. "We actually talked to her earlier and she seems to know a lot more than she made it look."

Elliot turned to Florencia with a confused expression, "You already knew?"

The girl chuckled and shrugged, "After a while, I realized I don't fit in any branch of the family tree. It seemed like I was a daughter of a previous guard. My mother had died and she was the one who had mirror magic like me and her older brother. Which is currently a mage in Solaguer."

"A mage in Solaguer?" Elliot gasped. "You mean the one who pretended to be like us to break us apart? That was your uncle?"

Florencia shrugged, "I guess so."

"But wait," Lance walked to them and made them turn to him. "You knew you weren't Lord Damian's daughter all this time?"

"You don't have to be a Royal Detective to see how he treats me differently from my older brother– I mean, his firstborn," Florencia looked down, pain etched in her face. "He never loved me. He loved my mother."

"Holy sh*t," Ed cursed that earned him a smack on the back of his head from Elliot. "Sorry, but damn. Lord Damian liked your mother, then she died? So, she took care of you and then– wow. Just– wow."

Florencia sighed and looked at the window, listening to the birds chirping outside. She thought deeply before returning her gaze to the men in front of her.

"If you want to save Viper, I know a way," Florencia said. "But you have to promise me that you're not going to get caught."

"Why do I feel like this plan involves pretending to be escorts?" Elliot tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "It seems odd that– ohh."

He stopped himself after seeing the smirk on Florencia's lips. "That's because this plan does involve escorts."

"I'm out," Elliot immediately said. "I've been traumatized by Lord Caezar and all that. This is crazy. I don't want to do it again."

"But you have to," Florencia said. "For the sake of Viper. Besides, I have my mirror magic and I can just copy my mother, duplicate her into each of you. I only need a bit of tweaking in your faces just so the lord will not panic after seeing so many of her."

"Are you sure this is going to work though?" Elliot sighed. "We did something like this before and it did not go as planned."

"Why are the lords in this kingdom seems to be so perverted?" Hope asked, making everyone turn to him.

"Men are trash," Florencia said that made the boys scoff. "Deal with it. But you have to know a thing or two about the history of our city first.. And why Viper won't be taking the title of Lord Aberdaine."