I Know the Secret to Surpass Level 100

Out of nowhere, Hope leaped in the air and fully morphed into his dragon form. Elliot smiled as they watched Hope fly across Alorde, providing the strong wind that made the flowers dance.

"Hope seems very natural here," Elliot said.

Clan was silent as he continued to watch Hope fly in the sky, turning and tumbling as if he was dancing. Every time he would pass through the garden, the force from his body would shake the flowers.

"What should we do next?" Clan asked dismissively.

Elliot was silent for a second. "Err, what about the market? The market is filled with a lot of things to do. Sometimes they would ask us for help with their things."

"That sounds nice," Clan chuckled with a wide grin. "Let's go there now."

"Let's go!" Elliot led the way to the market. After participating in the Championship of the Greats, Elliot's name was engraved in the people's minds. Not only did he got the popularity, he also got the responsibility of taking care of a lot of people.

"Oh, its Elliot!"

"Hello, Elliot."

"Welcome, Elliot! Here's a complementary apple."

…

The market became twice as loud when Elliot arrived. People greeted him with warm and kind smiles, greeting one of the heroes that saved them from the attacks at the Championship.

"If it isn't Elliot."

Elliot stopped after seeing a woman in front of her stall. She was a seamstress who had a shop right across the bakery that he worked at before.

"Hello, Madam Trinidad," Elliot bowed. "I'm just here to get to see if there's a small task for us."

"A task?" Trinidad quirked his brow up. "Oh, I have one for you."

Elliot smiled as he watched the woman enter her store. She then got our with a piece of paper in her hand. "Your former boss is already gone. His wife is the only one that's left, yet it's been months since she hasn't paid any of her rent. Why is that?"

Elliot immediately turned behind him to look at the bakery. It was indeed looking old and there were barely any people in or out of it. The bakery used to have a lot of patrons that Elliot saw.

"What happened to Mr. Joy?" Elliot asked. "He was a healthy man. How did he suddenly die?"

"They found a bump in his back and then when it popped, it infected his entire body," Trinidad said. "When it happened, they needed a lot of money at first because of the cost of the medicine. Infection is a very serious concern and a very expensive disease."

Elliot clenched his fists as he let Trinidad continue. The woman was alwasy angry and strict, and she was still right now, but Elliot could see the sadness and worry in her eyes and her voice.

"The bakery got bankrupt," Trinidad sighed. "Then Imelda, Joy's wife, started loans from sharks. She couldn't pay them after Joy's death, so I volunteered to pay for her so she could pay me. I don't take a lot of interest, but I still need my money, you know?"

"How much did she owe?" Elliot asked, his tone suddenly getting dark.

"Elliot, I think–"

"Two hundred thousand silver coins," Trinidad said. "That's my husband and I's life savings. It would be nice if we could get–"

Elliot placed down a small bag in front of Trinidad. "Inside this bag is five hundred cold coins. That should be enough, right?"

"Hey, that's too much," Trinidad tried to say something more but Elliot had already left.

Clan was left there standing, looking around to see any other one of Elliot's friends but he was all alone now.

"Are you that kid's dad?" Trinidad asked. "His mother was always alone and we didn't get to see the father. Did you come here after all the years that they suffered after hearing that your son is a hero?"

Trinidad walked towards Clan with rage in her eyes. "I've seen how much that boy has suffered all his life. When he had nothing to eat, we were the ones there to fed him. When he had no one to cry on, that couple offered him the hands and shoulders as sleep his sorrows away. If you returned just so you could take money from your boy, then you shall get a punch and a kick from me, got it?"

"No, I am his son's uncle," Clan chuckled awkwardly. He rubbed his head with his arms and looked away. Trinidad's face suddenly lit up with a pink tint. She let go of Clan and walked to her desk.

"You seem to be a fair maiden. Have a husband?" Clan asked. Trinidad shook her head as she sat on her chair. "What a waste. Then, children?

"That boy has been my child," Trinidad said. "He was a careless kid and while Joy and Imelda were too busy, he would come here and bother me. It was annoying at that time but I find it cute right now. That boy is much charming than any boy I have ever met."

Clan laughed at that, remembering how Elliot helped him before. "He is indeed a charming young man. But he has his dark sides too."

"Dark side, bright side, whatever," Trinidad said. "When he said that he was going to become an Adventurer, I was the first person who was against him. I tried to call him names and told him things. But that boy…"

Clan could only smile as he saw tears stream down on Trinidad's face. "He's quite the man, eh?"

"He's the hero," Trinidad said. "He's Avancia's hero. That's what he is right now."

After a little while, Clan left Trinidad and headed to the building in front of her shop. It was indeed looking like it was abandoned. There wasn't any customer inside, and there weren't any much bread on the till.

"Where is that kid?" Clan asked as he walked around the bakeshop. He saw although it was worn out, it was still big. As he walked around, he was smiling as he could see Elliot running around the shop as he serve customers.

"Wait, where is that kid?" Clan asked himself. He stopped walking for a second and then immediately heard a plate break.

He ran to the kitchen where he saw Elliott hugging an old woman as they sat on the ground. Elliot turned to look at Clan and there he saw tears stream down the boy's eyes. There was a small opebed box beside them which Clan saw that had bread inside.

"I'll be right outside," Clan said as he walked outside to see Trinidad standing in front of the bakery. "They were crying. What was that about?"

"They haven't seen each other for months," Trinidad said. "I think it's almost a year since Elliot left. We thought he'd forgotten about us, but that woman still kept on waiting. She would bake Elliot's favorite bread everyday, place it in a box and then wait for the boy to visit."

"She did that everyday?" Clan asked, looking back inside. "She must really think of Elliot as her child, huh?"

"Everyone here does," Trinidad sighed. "But we know that he's a much different man than how we knew him. He has a lot of responsibilities now. And all we could do was wait for him to visit."

Trinidad stood and looked at the glass pane of the bakery. "And now he has."