I Know The Secret To Surpass Level 100

Pouting, Florencia rolled her eyes at the girl. She pulled Elliot to her, leaning in and whispered, "Yeah, I don't like her."

"Calm down, Flo," Viper said. They stood under a broken tree while Elliot was comforting the girl who hasn't stopped crying.

"We all have our problems, but I can't believe Elliot has the worst one," Florencia grit her teeth.

She turned to Elliot and the girl was now crying in his chest. She was still crying and hasn't shown any signs of stopping anytime soon.

This only made Florencia angrier.

"Ugh!"

–

"My name is Christina Drakesharp," she bowed, pinching her dress and pulling it to her side, doing a curtsy. She had now calmed down and Florencia was bein held back by Viper. "I am the daughter of Lord Benedict of Richtown City. But was disowned after I had failed my marriage."

Elliot's eyebrows met after Christina's last words. "Marriage? You seem young for your age. How old are you anyway?"

"I'm 16," Christina said that made the trio's jaw drop. Their eyes widen, wide as saucers and looked ready to pop out of their sockets.

"You're only 16?!" Elliot couldn't help but yell. "And they expect you to be good with you're marriage? How is that even possible?!"

"I heard nobles marrying in young age but I have never expected a 15-year old," Florencia sighed. "How pathetic can those bastards be? I guess I misjudged you."

"You did– ow," Viper groaned after being elbowed to his chest after his comment. "I was just kidding."

"W-Well," Christina stood properly and played with her fingertips. "It's also partly my fault for entertaining men at young age."

Viper raised his hands and took a deep breath, trying to absorb everything. "So, wait. If you're only 16 and you were married, and separated, how old were you when you started accepting men to court you?"

Christina didn't hesitate to answer, "13 years old."

"13?!" Once again, the three chorused.

"That's too young," Elliot said. "Even for a noble, that's too young."

"It's normal for our city to practice such things," Christina said. "The first king had approved of this and it had been in our culture for the past few centuries. Why? What's wrong with marrying at young age?"

"You're definitely missing on a lot," Elliot said. "And not just with messing around with friends and all that, but you're not enjoying your youth. Look at these two, they're about the same age as you and they're enjoying their youth without being chained to a loveless– wait, do you even love the man you married?"

Christina shrugged, "My father wanted me to marry a Lord's son from another city. It would strengthen our own and would benefit the people. That's how it should be, right?"

"Absolutely not!" Florencia scoffed. "That idea is old, ancient even, and pathetic. We're humans too. We're not some token that you give to other lords in other cities or other kingdoms just so you could gain something for your own. Especially marriage. Marriage should be between people who love each other so much, they can't even let a day pass without seeing their better half."

"How come you know a lot of these things?" Elliot pouted. "Have you been reading novels again?"

"I might have or I might have not, but that's not the point here, Elliot the Idiot," Florencia scoffed, her face slightly tinting with a light pink color. "The thing is that she was stuck in a loveless marriage at such a young age."

"But now she's free," Elliot said, placing a finger over Florencia's lips to silence her. "And that's a good thing."

"And I also have nowhere else to go," Christina said in a whisper. 

Elliot heard this and he pouted, looking around the damage of the magic she lost control to. The trees were swayed, some uprooted, and everything was wet. The grass, the leaves that fell on the ground, the grass.

"You wanna come with us?" Elliot found himself asking. "I'll help you train your magic. Plus, we really need a mage in our party as support."

Christina's face lit up with happiness. She eagerly nodded and hugged Elliot, making Florencia's eyes widen.

"How–"

Viper pulled Florencia just before she launched herself at Christina. He shook his head slowly, signaling for her to stop.

'Quest [ Save the Rain Woman ] finished.'

'You can now pull one Piece of the Grass Knight.'

Elliot smiled at the notification, closing his Console and tapping Christina's back. "You can let go now."

"Oh," Christina backed away slowly, her face slightly blushing. "Thank you so much. But I don't have a weapon though."

"I'll give you one soon. We have to catch up to our trail first, is that alright?" Elliot asked.

Christina smiled and nodded, "Yes. That's okay. Thank you."

"Okay, let's go," Elliot said excitedly. He walked to their destination, Christina was beside him while Viper and Florencia behind them.

"Yeah, I don't trust her," Florencia whispered. "Elliot trusts people too easily. What if she's actually Malice pretending to get close to us?"

"You're overthinking too much," Viper deadpanned. "If she was Malice, she would've killed us already. And besides, Malice wants Prince Lance, right? Taking or killing us won't give her any benefits at all.

"That's what you think," Florencia pouted. "What if she kills us and make everyone else panic. That would cause some disturbances, right?"

"Flo, for the last time, she's not Malice," Viper groaned. "You sound like you're being jealous– oh, wait. Are you jealous?"

"Absolutely not!" Florencia immediately gasped. "Why would you even entertain such silly ideas in your head, Vi? I thought you're so much better than that. Oh, lord heavens."

Elliot chuckled after hearing their conversation. He was smiling since he knew that the two had a hidden chemistry that either one of them wanted to take a move on. He could only shake his head and chuckle.

"Oh, young love," Elliot sighed. "By the way, Christina. How did you end up with that pendant? It seemed to be cursed and you don't seem to be the type to play around cursed objects."

Upon hearing this, Florencia and Viper's head had leaned in to listen. After Elliot told them about the pendant himself, they too found it baffling on how the girl ended up with the item in the first place.

"I was in my father's basement," Christina started, recalling her memories. "Then I heard whispers so I investigated. When I arrived there, I saw a well. And–"

"A voice was inside," Elliot, Florencia and Viper finished. 

Elliot sighed, "So, your father is also a victim of the Queen of Hell."