13 The Magicrumb Dilemma/Solution

I was very confused with what Elizabeth was saying and so was everyone else. It seemed like her father was on the money when he said that she wanted to wipe out the magicrumb industry, so that's good for me. It means one less person fighting against me here. Fore was the first to speak out against what was happening.

"B-boss what do you mean exactly?"

"It means I'm betraying all of you. The guards are already on their way. You may be surprised though, these ones are on your side."

"Alright!" I jumped in. "I think I speak for everyone here when I say that I'm confused about what's going on right now."

"Yeah, that's fair. I'll go over it once and one time only." Elizabeth began her tale.

With the Gornwell family moving from the lower reach to the upper reach, it quickly became a family tradition to visit the very home that they lived in before moving once a year. During those visits, Elizabeth felt a sense of kinship with the people of the lower reach. She ultimately wanted to see them do better. On their latest trip to the lower reach, she saw the hold that magicrumbs had on the people. It was organized to a tee. She wanted to do something about it, so she did some digging around and found out something very concerning: the year that the sewer system was built for the lower reach was the same year that magicrumb use spiked tremendously. A noble family that ran the top positions of guards in Jericho funded the entire sewer project and disguised it as a good thing for the community. A noble family with the name of Drow.

"So when I realized that the king's right hand noble family was involved, I enlisted the help of the Bellow family."

"You enlisted the help of a rival family?" I questioned her.

"Well I didn't want to get MY family involved, plus I needed the help of people that were somewhat like our family-"

"I'm not questioning that part, I'm trying to figure out how you got a rival family to help with such a huge conspiracy."

"Oh, it's because I know a secret that'll bring a lot of shame to their family. If we weren't of the same status, I'm sure they would've bribed me to keep shut about it." Elizabeth chuckled a bit as she continued.

Once she had the Bellow family on her side, she got into the magicrumb industry by agreeing to fund their endeavor. She took a small bit of gold from the Gornwell treasury and helped upkeep the lab. The point of this was to not only get the magicrumb industry in one place, but to strike at the heart of the problem: the Drow family. In the early stages of her plan before she went "missing," she made it very apparent that she's been investigating the magicrumb dilemma to members of the family. Because of that, they're hot on her tail and will assassinate her here at this meeting today to reclaim the grasp magicrumbs have. The Bellow family will be there to fight against them along with whatever hero picked up the quest.

"And what if I just grabbed you and hauled ass right now?" I asked her.

"I simply wouldn't go. You'd have to bring me back in a bodybag. I have to see this through to the very end. When I set my eyes on a goal, I don't let go." Her gaze became one of intensity once more.

I like this girl's style. Her beauty was close to Lucia's and she had a fierce, chaotic personality like mine. In another life, I would propose to her right here and now.

But besides that, this quest became a whole other beast that I never expected. This wraps everything up nicely though. If the Bellow family are on her side, then maybe Violet DID get the better end of the deal. She's probably marching with the Bellows right now. I stood next Violet and asked for her orders.

"Alright, I'm convinced. What would you like me to do first?" I put my hand on my axe.

"You can start by getting rid of these guys. I don't care if you kill them or knock them out. I just want them out of the equation for what's to come."

"DAMN YOU!" Fore rushed to stab Elizabeth in the back, but was instead greeted with me grabbing his dagger by the blade and ripping it from his clutches. After that, I punched him across the face.

I was fairly surprised to find that he was knocked out by my simple counterattack.

That exchange was enough to make everyone in the room prostrate themselves before Elizabeth and I.

"P-please don't kill us! We'll stop making magicrumbs. We'll go off the grid! You'll never see us again!"

"Fine! I have a better idea..." Elizabeth got rope that was in a corner of the room and used it to tie everyone up. Once she did so, she forced everyone into a corner of the room.

"There! Now we just wait for the Bellows and and the show can begin." Elizabeth wiped the dust off of her outfit.

As soon as that was over, the door to the lab flung open and everyone turned to look at the new guest.

The man gave off a pretentious aura. He wore a full set of iron armor that had purple accents, wore his jet black hair in a bun, and walked in as if he owned the place. A large group of knights followed him into the room.

"Listen well, Elizabeth of the Gornwell noble family. My name is Vern Drow and I have decided to give you one chance and one chance only: leave here and never speak a word to anyone about magicrumbs again. Otherwise-"

"You'll kill me? Well I've made countermeasures to make sure that doesn't happen. There's no way that I'll let you cause any more problems in the lower reach."

"Problems? If anything, magicrumbs are a solution to a longstanding issue." Vern snapped and a knight walked over and got on all fours. Vern then proceeded to sit on the back of the man as he continued.

"Ever since the creation of the upper and lower reaches, the rich and poor have been getting more and more polarized. Talks of rebellion against the kingdom began to surface. So what do we do against the will of the common folk? Do we tax them to keep their hands full? No. If we tax them too heavily, they'll quickly turn to violence. And if we beat them when they rebel, they'll say we're abusing our power. So what is the solution? It's to covertly oppress them. To give them defeats disguised as victories. To give them the illusion of freedom. That is how we keep the poor at bay. Magicrumbs are a necessary evil. It's one of many things that derails the destitute into a state of melancholy. With Magicrumbs, all ambitions dies out. In conclusion Elizabeth, you're on some chivalrous journey to save the lower reach, but in the process you'll turn the kingdom into a warzone." Vern stood up and looked down on Elizabeth.

For the first time since I met her not too long ago, I saw her conviction waiver a little. She was mulling over Vern's utilitarian way of handling the overarching issue. Vern saw her indecision and decided to take advantage of that.

"Elizabeth, I'm not asking you to do anything, I would simply prefer it if you left things the way they are. How about it?" The nobleman reached his hand out for Elizabeth.

Elizabeth looked at Vern's hand in contemplation. Silence filled the room as Vern waited for her response. I don't understand these people. Oppressing the weak? Keeping the poor at bay? No matter how you look at it, pumping the streets with drugs can't be the way to keep the lower reach happy. The worst part was...Elizabeth was seriously considering Vern's offer.

I seriously can't take this anymore...

I grabbed my axe and made a swing at Vern's hand that cut his hand clean off.

"A-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Vern recoiled in pain as he looked at the orifice where is hand was that pooled blood.

"She said that she wasn't backing down, so either buzz off or die!" I told him off as he screamed his lungs off.

"KILL THEM!" Vern shouted as he pointed at us.

The countless guards rushed Elizabeth and I. The first one tried to pierce my heart with his sword, but I dodged it and activated my vital puncture to stun him. Once the attack landed and he was stunned, Elizabeth took the opportunity to attack the exposed guard. Afterwards, we went slicing through the crowd with almost surgical precision. Each blow we made was a calculated one that both complimented each other and took guards out of commission. We were like dancers sweeping through the floor of a ballroom. After a bit though, Elizabeth began to get tired. She kept up with me less and less. She got so tired that two guards were able to charge. One of them attempted to stab her in the chest, but she swiped at his legs and he went tumbling to the floor. His sword ended up splitting her knee open and she shifted her weight to her uninjured foot in pain. The other guard almost hit her, but thankfully, I was able to use undead's beckon to make him redirect his attack.

I dodged and picked Elizabeth up to make a dash for the door. I saw two guards standing in the way and used Diverging claw to send them flying out of the lab.

Carrying Elizabeth on my back, I kicked the door open and found at the end of the tunnel dozens of lights. These lights were the torches of the final guests of Elizabeth Gornwell's little tea party: The Bellow family.

And next to the head of the family, I could see a nervous Violet shifting her gaze back and forth throughout the sewers. Probably looking for any bugs that could jump at her.