Elaine remains there, frozen by the news she just received. But why? Why was that news affecting her so much? Because of something that happened a little earlier before she got here. A little earlier before she entered her father's office, she was walking towards the pillar within the Scalae when someone grabbed her hand. The person in question was Eve
"Are you ok now?" Elaine asks as she lowers herself
She nods
"Good. Looks like she was able to get a hold of herself." Elaine thought with a relieved smile. "Is there something you want to ask me?" She asks Eve who looks like she do
"I want to know how." Eve starts with determination. "I want to know do I become a knight?"
Elaine smiles disappear and concern takes over
"Why do you want to join the knights?" Elaine asks
"So that they can train me." Elaine answers with anger. "Train to kill monsters."
"Revenge, huh?" Elaine thought
"To join a Leo Order, you first need to get accepted into the Leo Academy." Elaine explains to Eve. "Once you graduate, you'll be able to join one of the Orders but only the Black Leo Order goes outside to hunt Djinns."
Eve lets go of Elaine with a determined expression
"Thank you." She says to Elaine
A concerned frown forms on Elaine's face then she leaves. After walking for a bit, Eve stops
"I forgot to ask how to join the Academy." Eve realizes
Back in the present, more precisely on the second floor Scalae, things had started to change. Kenzo who was looking around was the first one to realize
"This place is filling up quickly." Kenzo says while looking around. "Just how many people are on the first floor."
"About 10M to maybe 50M" Adam says in a pensive tone
"That much?" Kenzo asks surprised
"I don't understand, Is that a lot." Seleph asks confused
"That's about the same amount of people that live on the five other floors combined." Kenzo says still surprised. "How big is the first floor? From the outside, the bottom of the tower looks the same as any other part of it."
"That's because the first floor of the tower lacks an ecosystem." Elaine says as she joins the group. "Since there's no eco system, there's more building although most of them are destroyed and impossible to live in."
"Wait. Then how do you even get food then?" Kenzo asks to the kids confused
"There are Food Drops that come down every month from the upper floors." Eve answers
"Barely enough to survive through the month." Adam says while looking around. "The strong take from the weak so most people die of hunger."
Kenzo looks upon the kids with pity
"How were children able to survive in such a place?" Kenzo asks
Elaine frowns
"Well, it wasn't that bad." Seleph says while shaking his hands. "Since we lived in the orphanage, we had our own Food Drops."
Kenzo's face lighten up
"We often got robbed because of that." Eve replies to that
His face quickly darkens
"But it all changed when Father Langton came." Seleph says with a smile
Elaine reacts to that name. A reaction that didn't escape Adam sight
"Father Langton?" Elaine thought
Adam frowns while looking at Elaine's reaction
"But where is he when you need him, right?" A tall man with orange hair and a large scar on his face says to the kids
"What do you want, Scarface?" Adam asks with anger
"You're just as rude as always, aren't you Adam. Anyways,I heard the old hag died." He says with a wide smile. "Things are going to be quite different without the orphanage."
Adam quickly gets up and attempts to leaps towards him with a fist raised in the air, but Kenzo grabs his arm before he could, stopping him dead in his tracks
"Let me go." Adam says while glaring at Scarface
Kenzo shakes his head
"Return to your assigned area." Elaine demands with anger. "Otherwise, I'll have to do it myself."
Scarface raises his hands in the air
"There's no need for that." He says with a smile and closed eyes. "I only came here to check on the kids. Death Battle arenas are popular down there, so it'll be a problem for us if they died
Inside Elaine's palm a gold flame appears and turns into a sword that she swings but stops before Scarface's neck
"I already told you to leave, didn't I?" She asks with anger
Scarface laughs nervously then looks at the kids
"When we return, she won't be there to protect you, and that crazy old priest is not coming back either." He says with a smile
He turns around and leaves but before he does, Elaine looks at the kids and asks them a question
"How about you come live with me?" She asks the kids
Scarface, the kids and Seleph look at her shocked by the question Elaine just asked. It was an obvious reaction because of her standing within society.
"What do you mean, Elaine?" Kenzo asks with a frown. "Don't tell them something like this."
Kenzo was mad because Elaine's word could be taken as false hope to the kids since, they were meant to chase Scarface away. That's only if they were meant to chase him away
"I'm serious." She says while looking at Kenzo
She then turns and looks at the kids
"How about you stay with me until we manage to reach Father Langton." Elaine proposes to the kids
"I know that look." Kenzo thought with a smile. "She's completely serious and she'll go through with it no matter what."
Scarface scoffs
"I wouldn't hold onto those words, kids." He says as he walks away
The sword turns back into a flame and disappears from Elaine's hand
"He finally left." She says after sighing. "Who was that?"
"Scarface." Adam says with anger. "The first floor "king". I'm going to beat up that asshole tonight."
Elaine smacks Adam on the head
"What the hell?" Adam says as he looks at Elaine
"I wasn't lying." Elaine says while ruffling Adam's hair. "You kids are staying with me until we find that Father Langton of yours."
"What do you guys think?" Kenzo asks the kids
"Before the orphanage, I used to live on the third floor." Adam says to Elaine
Elaine smiles
"I see. The third floor is the only floor mixed with commoners and nobles. Although they are low ranked nobles they still are and obviously feel a certain way about commoners. He knows how noble treat commoners."
"I'm serious." She says with more conviction in her voice. "I won't force you to do anything. The choice is entirely up to you."
Adam looks at Seleph and Eve. The hesitation within their eyes was obvious and could be seen by anyone. Elaine doesn't fail to notice and sighs with a smile
"You don't have to decide now." She says with a smile to reassure the kids. "Stay with me for a few weeks then if you prefer coming back here, I won't stop you."
"It'll be like a trial run." Kenzo says with a smile
The kids nod and after a little while, they arrive at Elaine's house. Elaine's house was in a well-developed city. The streets were clean and so were the people unlike on the first floor. People were either walking, using horses or carriage pulled by horses. The houses were built with strong materials unlike the buildings down on the first floor. People were dressed in simple clothes such as plain shirts and pants mainly made with wool or silk. A few knights wearing the same attire that Elaine and Kenzo wore were walking around patrolling in the city. Unlike the first floor, the atmosphere was light and bright carrying comfort that the kids had never experienced before
"What's that?" Kenzo asks while looking at the streets lamp
"A streetlamp. It lights up during the night so that people can see during the night." Kenzo explains
Seleph looks around excited by all the new things that he was seeing for the first time. Eve tried to hold in her excitement but couldn't completely do so. As for Adam, he was unimpressed by everything. It was as if his mind was in an entirely different place. Elaine's house was large; it only had one floor and a basement. In the basement were some workout equipment while upstairs there was a kitchen, two bedrooms, and a living room. When they enter the house, Elaine flips the light switch and turns them on
"WHOOAA!!!!" Seleph says while looking at the light bulb surprised. "HOW DID THE CANDLES TURN ON!?"
Kenzo starts to laugh and pats Seleph's head
"These aren't candles but light bulbs." He explains to him
"WHOOOAAA!!!" Seleph makes with admiration. "Back in the orphanage we only used candles during the night and sunlight during the day."
"That means no electricity down there. Got it." Kenzo thought after exhaling. "This is something else."
With a smile, Elaine heads to the kitchen to make them a meal for dinner. While Kenzo stayed with the kids who were looking around with excitement. However, after a bit, that very excitement disappeared and replaced by another emotion. The emotion they felt is known as guilt. When Elaine came back to check on everyone, just like a mother would, she noticed and understood what was going through the kid's mind
"Are you ok?" She asks the kids with a smile
"Do we deserve this?" Eve asks while looking down. "We...We are the only ones who... the only ones that..."
"It's because you are the only ones that made it, you owe it them." Elaine starts with a compassionate smile
"We owe them?" Seleph asks confused
Elaine nods
"No matter what, you need to keep on living and find happiness. Because they can't anymore. That's why you owe it to them to live a good life in their place."
Seleph and Eve wipe their tears while Adam, who's been acting indifferent to hold in his emotion, simply sniffles
"Don't forget that they were your family." Elaine says with a smile. "I'm sure that they're happy that at least you three survived. Now go wash your hands."
Elaine brings the kids to the bathroom and comes back to place the plates on the table
"You handled that pretty well." Kenzo says with a smile. "You're as amazing as always."
Elaine scoffs
"I hope I did." Elaine says with a worried smile. "We've seen many be destroyed by that feeling. "
"Survivor's Guilt is a tricky one to deal with." Kenzo says with a sad smile
He looks at Elaine and notices how worried she looks
"Elaine, I think I should move in to help with the kids." Kenzo says with a worried frown
No answer
"Elaine?" Kenzo repeats with his hands on her shoulder
"What did you say?" She says after snapping out of it
"I'm moving in." Kenzo says after taking his hand off her shoulder
"Huh!?" She says surprised while looking at Kenzo walking out of the kitchen
Elaine quickly follows him and sits down at the table
"I don't think you should handle this by yourself." Kenzo says seriously
"I'm grateful but I don't need your help." Elaine says with a smile
"I want Kenzo to stay." Seleph says as he comes out of the bathroom shaking his hands to get rid of the residual water
Kenzo gets closer to Elaine's ear
"They had a grandmother back at the orphanage. You'll be like a mother to them." Kenzo whispers in her ear. "I think that they also need a father in their life, and I want to be that for them."
"What about you two?" Elaine asks Adam and Eve who just came out of the bathroom
"I don't care." Adam says as he sits down on a chair
"I want him to stay." Eve says while looking at Kenzo
"Thank you, Eve! Seleph!" Kenzo thought with a smile
"Fine." Elaine replies. "Get your stuff from the base once you're done. I'll clean up the guest room for you and the boys."
Later that night, while everyone was sleeping, Adam snuck out of the house and climbed up the roof of Elaine's house. There he simply stared up at the full moon shining brightly upon the second floor. For the first time during the hellish past three days, they had finally got a sense of peace and relief, yet Adam hadn't. He felt like he couldn't let himself rest, not until he reached the place his father asked him to go to. Back to his family's house on the third floor. There, his father left something for him. Something that would explain the Blood Moon Incident and perhaps, why he was abandoned. Adam sat down, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and exhales
"Things are going in a different direction than I originally planned but this might be for the best." Adam thought with his eyes closed. "I could reach the third floor while taking the least amount of risk."
He gets back up and reaches towards the moon. He grasped his hand and with a frown full of anger he says
"I'm gonna reach it. The Seventh Floor."