35 The One Who Can Change The Kingdom

"Thank you all for meeting me here today!"

Lucia called Aegis, Violet, Roxline, and I for a meeting at the Destra guild hall. Most likely to chat about the plan moving forward. With the Scorching Sands reconquered by humanity, it was time to prepare for the next frontier: the Blazing Blizzards.

"You everyone here as secured a spot on my scout team for the next frontier. We just need to get you guys ready for it. The target level count is 28. Due to the nature of the blazing blizzards, the 5 levels above rule isn't gonna work as well. You guys have three weeks to reach the target level."

Lucia then explained that she's going to look out for a healer and tank.

"That's all for the meeting. Happy leveling, everyone! Meeting dismissed!"

As the meeting finished, Roxline began to go separate ways from Violet, Aegis, and I. She said she was gonna go drinking in the upper reach for a bit.

"Are you really gonna make a three day trip just for some parties?" I raised an eyebrow.

That's when Roxline sighed and told me that once a frontier is conquered, you can fast travel between conquered frontiers.

"Fast travel?" I was stumped.

"It's pretty much teleportation. There's a crystal in the middle of town you can use." Aegis elaborated.

"Oh, then why didn't you say teleport?"

Roxline gave me a deadpan stare for five seconds, turned around, and walked off.

"Alright then, any bright ideas on leveling up?" I asked the other two.

"What do you mean? We're gonna go questing." Violet said.

...

"Okay guys! I'm logging off for now!" As I began to open my menu, Aegis stopped me by putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Relax we'll just do a special quest. They tend to have more interesting " Aegis said.

As Aegis said that, a trio of heroes bursted through the doors of our guild hall wearing excited expressions.

"I can't believe you were able to get a special quest! I thought the boogeyman of the guild hall was gonna snatch this from you!"

"Yeah! I was actually surprised. I heard that as soon as get one, you bump into him and he snatches it from you-" At that moment, he bumped into me and the face he made resembled someone meeting the gaze of death itself.

"P-P-P-PP-P-P-PLEASE DON'T TAKE MY SPECIAL QUEST FROM ME!"

I would've snatched the special quest right from him, but I would've felt bad. Faye wouldn't want me doing that, so I won't bother.

That won't stop me from messing with him though.

I got face to face with the man holding the special quest and told him "We're gonna make this game fun. I'll give you ten seconds to run. After that, I'm chasing you down to the ends of the earth for that quest of yours. TEN!"

As soon as I started counting down, they began running off as fast as they could out of sight. I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. Aegis hit my head for messing with them and as I was about to start a brawl with the paladin, Violet asked "What are we gonna do now?"

Aegis let go of my collar and mentioned that there's a possibility of a follow-up of a special quest that a hero has done.

"We just have to go to the guild hall and check if they have any mail. I personally did my leveling the old fashioned way, but if remember correctly, you and Violet did a special quest together right?"

That special quest we did turned out to be way more than I thought it was and I lived for every second of it. We went from looking for a missing girl to a full-scale battle between noble houses in the criminal underground of the kingdom. If we get a follow-up quest anywhere near that level, I would be content with the fact that we're doing a quest.

The three of us made our way to the receptionist and asked for any mail. The receptionist handed me a letter with a red wax seal on it. The seal had imagery of a sword and battleaxe crossed with each other to form an X. I never seen the Gornwell family seal until now. It looks pretty basic, but battle is what got them out of the lower reach, so understand their want to remind themselves of their roots.

I opened the letter and it read as follows:

"Dear Matthew,

I hope that this letter finds you well! The party last night was amazing. Unfortunately, the Gornwell family is reaching out to you with another issue. As you know, the heroes of your guild have gone beyond all expectations and defeated the second demon general. This has raised the question: who does the reclaimed frontiers belong to? For now, they are simply territories that belong to Jericho, but that isn't fair to the residents of Destra that lived there before the demon's death march across our lands. A meeting will be made to discuss such things moving forward.

Naturally, other noble families aren't going to appreciate us cutting any possible funds and will attempt to take my life. I would like you to protect my family and I until the meeting. Of course, you will be handsomely paid for your trouble. As soon as you contact me about it, I can schedule the meeting and the fun can begin.

Sincerely from the head of the Gornwell family,

Elizabeth Gornwell."

"Head of the Gornwell family?!" Aegis said.

"Yeah. Apparently she challenged her father to a duel for head of the family and won it."

Elizabeth is a very ambitious person. If she said she wanted to rule the kingdom, I'm certain she could get it done.

Once we read the mail, we made our way to the Destra's crystal. It was a large blue crystal that towered above any building in view.

"Before I logged off last night, I tried fast travelling. It's fairly easy." Aegis explained teleporting to us.

We just touch the crystal and think about the kingdom we wish to fast travel to. Once we thought of it, we should be instantly transported to the location of the crystal in Jericho.

Once we did so, the next thing I knew, we were in the marketplace of Jericho. Nothing really changed since we left it. The city is still bustling with people living their everyday lives.

"Come on, let's go." I motioned the other two to follow me.

Since Violet and I knew the way, we lead the way to the Gornwell family's estate. When I knocked on the door, the former head of the family, Max Gornwell. As he eyed the three of us from head to toe, he opened the door for us and called for his daughter in his thunderous voice.

"ELIZABEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETH! THE HEROES ARE HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!"

Elizabeth greeted us at the door and insisted we came in. As we walked around the estate, she lead us to same office Max Gornwell chatted with us in. I guess this is her office now.

As we took our seats. One of the family butlers came into the room and poured us tea. Once he finished Elizabeth thanked him and told him "take the day off."

The butler's expression changed and he rushed out of the room.

"Now that you guys are here, I can send an emergency meeting request to the king. Each noble family gets one a year and although it's called a request, it's more of a demand. Once it reaches him later today, the real battle begins." Elizabeth explained as she gracefully took a sip from her coffee.

"This seems easy enough. All we got to do is guard you until tomorrow, so just hole up here until the meeting and you'll be fine." I said.

"If only it were that simple..." Elizabeth set her glass down and asked me "How many allies do you think the Gornwell family has?"

"If I remember correctly, you are allied with the Bellow family."

"Heh! Only through blackmail! If the opportunity were to arise, they would kill me in a heartbeat. And that opportunity is coming tonight."

"Tonight?" Violet asked.

"The Bellow family wants to take their secret to the grave while the rest of the nobles want to maximize their profits via imperialism. They'll do that by paying top dollar for the best assassins possible to kill me and my father tonight. So to counter that, I'm getting everyone except for me out of here. Please do your best to protect me, heroes." Elizabeth bowed to us and I waived it off.

"You're someone that's going to change the kingdom, Elizabeth. We'll help you every time as long as you don't lose your way."

Elizabeth smiled at me and began to discuss her plan.