Chapter 162- Danger Part 2

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"I do not need you to explain it to me, I understood those things pretty well." The voice spoke in a cold tone as it seemed to be slightly offended by his remark.

"I know you are, your highness. However, we often cloud our judgment with pride and hastiness, that more often than less, cause our decision to be wrong and far from the best we can come up with." Said the bear folk wisely.

The voice spoke with a hint of annoyance. "Alright, I get it. Save your sermon for later." And stopped for a second before continuing with a solemn tone. "However, she is too much of a problem for us, the Lo Po Bia, if she is allowed to reach the top. This is especially the case since she is a loyalist. There's some rumor saying that the king himself is quite intrigued with her."

"What did you say, your highness!? The king himself is interested in her!?" Hearing the last part of what the voice said, the bear folk exclaimed loudly as he couldn't contain his surprise.

"Quiet down, no need to shout out loud, do you want to split my ears?" The voice spoke with a clear irritation in the tone.

"My bad, your highness." The bear folk quickly apologized after he had calmed himself down.

"But, is what you say true that the king himself is interested?"

"Hmm, I can't know for sure whether it is really true or not. However, what I have obtained is second-hand information from people with close ties to our family so although it's not conclusive intel, it's still quite trustworthy and important to keep in mind." Explained the voice calmly.

"This is indeed worrying then, your highness. I know that you want to keep the people of our family as the ones with the most influence in the Zahard family. Up till now, even if most of the princesses of Zahard who hold the thirteen months are unaffiliated princesses of the loyalist faction, our grip on the family is still always strong."

"This is mostly due to our long and stable partnership history between our family and the Zahard family and the loyalty of our family head to the king, making our family the one and only ardent follower of king Zahard among the ten great families."

The brown-haired man paused for a second and spoke with a solemn voice. "However, there's another reason why. Because none of the current holders of the thirteen months is outstripped and outmatch the others by a long shot, making the competition among the princesses of Zahard end up in a stalemate."

"Not bad, your guess is right for the most part. Even though our family wields power and influence in the Zahard Empire, Father still favors those princesses of Zahard who have no ties and put them in many positions of power in the empire."

"If she manages to become a Ranker, not only she will become a powerful figure herself, she will also be favored and granted a lofty position in the Zahard Empire considering her achievement that far overshadowed the most talented princess of Zahard before her."

The voice turned solemn as it spoke with emphasis. "She will undoubtedly become a central figure in the loyalist faction in the future and will greatly decrease our power and influence in the Zahard Empire, especially if the rumor is true and father is really interested."

"Even if she doesn't get a very high position from father, she can become a huge threat in the competition just from her talent and potential alone. And in the competition, being in the same faction doesn't really matter."

"I see, your highness… however, she is smart and vigilant. She knows that she's being targeted so she never drops her guard. She always stays inside the regulars' area during her journey to climb the tower. If not for the rare occasion that she has to go out of the regulars' area during some of the floor tests, she wouldn't even have stepped out of it."

"I know, she is a very tough nut to crack. Even after contacting our allies on the 75th floor to get the opportunity to get rid of her once and for all ended up in failure, causing our ally to be politically attacked and cornered. And the worst of all, it increased the people that backed her up." The voice spoke a bit sullenly.

"I understand the importance to get rid of her before it's too late. However, your highness, finding the opportunity right now is almost impossible since the incident on the 75th floor and we can't just send in our Rankers to finish her off."

The voice was didn't respond for a moment, before replying with a confident and assured tone. "No, you are wrong. There's an opportunity to strike her shortly."

The bear folk was a bit surprised by her response but quickly asked her back. "How? How you will be able to do that, your highness?" He spoke with a hint of bewilderment.

"It's simple, you know which floor she's currently staying at, don't you?" The voice asked off-handedly.

"Hmm, it is the 76th floor, isn't if the news I received three days ago still applicable?"

"Then, you should know who has a great influence on that floor. As long as we can take advantage of their influence, there should be a good chance for us to get rid of her." Explained the voice calmly.

The brown-haired bear folk pondered over her words as he rubbed his chin. "Whose influence that you mean, your highness? Our family doesn't rule that floor."

"Just think more about it." Said the voice uncaringly.

The bear folk was silent as he continued to think hard. Even after more than thirty seconds, he still didn't say anything as he couldn't grasp what the voice was hinting.

"Really? Here I thought that you were decent." Said the voice with a hint of disappointment as the bear folk could only smile wryly.

"Then, I'll give you some hints. First, it's not any of the ten great families and second, the opportunity to get rid of her doesn't come right now but a couple of floors later."

"Hmm, not any of the ten great families, huh? And it's a couple of floors after the 76th floor?" He nodded lightly as he analyzed the hints.

"Wait! Did you mean!?" The bear folk suddenly exclaimed as it dawned on him.

"Indeed, I was talking about "that" floor. The one that's always hiding a raging undercurrent below the surface." The voice spoke with a hint of glee in it.

"You are ingenious, your highness! As expected of you!" The bear folk praised the voice with a hint of legitimate respect in his tone.

"You don't need to tell me, I know how amazing I am." The voice seemed to be uncaring of the praise but there was a hint of satisfaction in it.

"Now, your job is to set up the plan to finish her off. Make sure that it's not obvious and can be traced back to us. But most importantly, make sure that your plan is truly solid and foolproof. I don't want to find that she is still alive and kicking when I see the news, understood."

"Don't worry, your highness. I, Lo Po Bia Ulfsaar, will make sure that your wish is achieved." The bear folk said smiled as he spoke with confidence.

"Good, I will wait for the good news."