Chapter 385 - New Guild
It took them a couple more hours of rest before Elliot and his friends decided to start their plan. They want to go home, but they were lost.
They didn't know the navigation as to where to start looking for Avancia. They didn't even know where the Western seas were.
"How will we get back?" Hope asked. "It's not like we could go back there and ask them for help."
"Of course, not," Connor sighed. "What we need to do is infiltrate them and find a map."
"True," Lance agreed. "We can't just fly back West and then aimlessly fly to try and cross the sea. Though we need navigation either we have a direction or not, the latter is just too risky. We can't just depend on Hope to carry us."
"The sea is thousands of miles long," Elliot said. "We can't possibly cross it in our current state."
"I-I can navigate," Christina said. "But I still need the map as a general direction."
"What do you need a map for?" Ed asked out of curiosity. "Aquarius could touch the sea and locate all the islands in a wide range. Can't you do that?"
He received a smack on the back of his head from Connor. The blonde fire boy scoffed, "You're comparing a 16-year old to Aquarius. Are you that stupid?"
Ed rolled his eyes, "Yes. I'm that stupid. Idiot. I was just curious, you know."
"Well, my range isn't big," Christina said. "If we could get in the middle of the sea and go West a couple hundred miles more, I surely will sense Avancia. But I couldn't possibly do it from here."
"How will we go back, then?" Lance asked. "We need a very convincing disguise. But how will we be convincing when we don't look alike with the people here?"
Elliot cleared his throat and stood to at branch beside Lance. "You look a little bit Eastern, don't you think?"
Lance quirked his eye up after the others gave him the same look. "Err, what?"
"Yeah, I guess you are true," Connor added. "I couldn't really compare before since I don't know a lot of Easterners, but after spending a few days here, I now see the resemblance."
"Lance? What is your origin?" Elliot asked. "Do you know? Did your mother look like an Easterner?"
Lance shook his head. He was playing with his fingers, obviously tensed by the situation he was in. He cleared his throat and sighed in defeat.
He then took a deep breath and looked at everyone, "I'm adopted."
Silence filled the entire forest. They looked at each other before chorusing with a loud gasp of shock that made the nearby trees flee.
"What?!" they all chorused.
"I've always known," Lance chuckled and shook his head. "Ever since I was a kid, I knew I looked different. My skin is more pale, my eyes are narrow. And the fact that my mother had greenish blonde hair while my dad had golden brown one was the biggest answer to my question.
"I wasn't the son of the king. I wasn't born a Forest Folk, that maybe why I didn't trigger your beast detector, Elliot. I'm just an ordinary Eastern kid picked up by the queen," Lance sighed. "That was the reason why I was so rebellious. That I didn't want the throne. I love becoming and Adventurer more than anything, trust me. But it wasn't the sole reason why I didn't want the throne for myself."
–
"Have you heard?" a maid was attempting to whisper to another maid. They were trying to keep their conversation in private but their voices weren't really helping. They were too loud still.
"About the prince?" the second maid whispered back.
"I heard he's an illegitimate son," the first maid said. "A little birdie told me that he didn't match the blood test of the queen."
The second maid gasped but hid her mouth with her hands, "How did they know?"
"He had blood samples from the queen," the first maid started. "Apparently, he also took some from the prince and used a magic test to see if they matched. They didn't."
"But the queen was pregnant," the second maid thought. "If Prince Lance wasn't her child, then who was the child she was carrying?"
"The child was a stillborn," the first maid revealed. "That was why she didn't leave her chambers for months several years ago. She was mourning. Then a woman came and told the king that she was carrying his son."
"The king cheated on the queen?!" the second maid gasped again, this time not covering her mouth. "How could he? They have been together since they were young."
"Love is an illusion," the first maid closed her eyes and said like a know-it-all. "It doesn't really exist, and no one is an exception. Whether you're a commoner or a nobility."
"You are true," the second maid uttered. "But the queen loved Prince Lance like her own child. She really is a great queen."
"Indeed," the second maid said. "But I wonder if the queen would get pregnant again. What would happen to Prince Lance?"
While the two maids were gossiping in the hallway, the subject of their talk was listening around the corner. He was carrying his toy which he gripped with his hands tightly.
His aura started seeping through his skin, making the hall darken and brighten at the same time. His eyes were wide and his body was trembling. Tears streamed from his eyes as he gulped the truth down his throat.
"I'm not the prince," the five year old Lance cried.
–
"Lance…" Elliot trailed off. He reached his hand to Lance's shoulder and gently patted him there. "We understand. You don't have to go."
"After I opened up?" Lance smirked. "I will go back and find a map. Then we can go to Avancia and tell them everything."
"But we must prepare for a war," Florencia suddenly spoke. "Going back and telling everyone this. That Malice had already taken over these lands, this only means war. There's no other way around it."
"Then we go to war," Elliot said. "It wasn't long before we just finished one, but all of us are stronger than ever. We're not like the ones we were before."
"Agreed," Lance smirked. "Elliot, are you willing to create the guild now?"
Elliot paused for a moment. He looked at everyone around them and chuckled, "Seriously? Right now?"
"Yeah," Lance pursed his lips and took out a pen and paper from his coat pockets. "I have been saving this for this very day, Elliot. The day you sign the first contract and sign our guild's name."
Elliot hesitantly took the pen and paper from Lance's hands. He read over the contract and saw the seal of the Trinity of Power, meaning it was a legitimate certificate.
"Once I sign this…" Elliot trailed off. "Will the guild name in my Console change?"
"There's only one way to find out," Lance smirked. "That only way is to sign, by the way. Just in case you don't–"
"Whatever," Elliot chuckled and signed his name on the contract.
His body lit up with a bright pale yellow light and he felt the change inside his Console. He immediately opened it and smirked after reading the words.
<< APRIL >>
Level: 79
Guild: The Eternals