At the Becker family headquarters...
The members of this family were very pleased with Elke's initial performance in the Secret Realm. But the focus of the experts in this house was currently on the situation in Peters City.
After the actions of them and Lothur's allies on the second day of the Secret Realm, the history of that city would follow a new path, one that would probably have the Ritter Motor Company at the center of it all.
The members of that family knew the risk that Lothur would take by leaving the Secret Realm, as well as possible retaliation that could catch up with them in the future. But what had happened could not be changed, and now they could only take advantage of the circumstances to prepare for the future.
As associates of the Frost House and partners in the Ritter Motor Company, they would not pass up the opportunity to try to absorb some of the business left behind by the two now-destroyed families and that other one in decline.
The Frost family would take what they had best from the Baier and Vogel houses. That was undeniable. However, the imperial family would never give that much power to a single local organization. So the most likely thing to happen soon would be for the imperial family to distribute some of the business of those two families and the other nearly exterminated organization to other local powers.
The possibility of a new empire family being allocated to that province to take care of this or the imperial house itself taking over these businesses and lands would be negligible. So this family and other allies of Lothur were already moving to claim as much business and land for themselves as possible.
Even the Duke of Province's house sent people to the capital to handle the matter!
Meanwhile, Gomeric and Hilda were meeting with their most important family members.
"The Frost family was quite quick to act, but the imperial family will not allow them to keep all those possessions." One of the elders there in that meeting room said.
"But is that the case? With Viktoria and Annaliese in their ranks, the Frost family can already be considered a powerful noble house in the empire. They could easily absorb those lands and businesses and easily control everything."
"The question is not whether they could do it... His Majesty won't last much longer, and in light of the rise of a new emperor, he is unlikely to make such a tough decision to give so much power to House Frost.
He will most likely give as little as possible to Aiken and Mabel and redistribute the rest among other local families.
Maybe those lands and businesses will even become prizes of the next Province Conference."
"It's not difficult for that to happen..."
"Yes..."
Gomeric listened to those elders and said. "Regardless, the province's future lies with Aiken's family and ours. With Lothur on our side, it will be a matter of time before we have Transcendents among us."
Hilda agreed with her husband, feeling that Elke could become the person who would initiate the evolution of the family.
"We only have to worry about Rebecca's situation currently... The damned imperial guards have already sent her to the Imperial Prison." Hilda commented after a few moments, putting aside those promising matters.
With those words, that place became silent, with the people there able to feel each other's breathing.
Gomeric sighed and said. "Our envoys to the capital will try to resolve this as well... Unfortunately, these men of the imperial guard acted too quickly. But let's not lose our hopes in saving her."
They knew Lothur was in danger of being sent there in the next few days. But they hoped that he would escape the envoys of the Third Prince.
And since escaping from the Imperial Prison was impossible, even if Lothur was arrested, Rebecca would probably die or never leave there with him.
In this case, they were most worried about Lothur escaping and Rebecca being imprisoned, with this young man going after her, creating gigantic trouble!
...
While other local families were discussing ways to meet the recent challenges, the leadership of House Koch was acting as they had been for the past few days.
They kept an eye on the local leaders while staying below the radar.
Meanwhile, they had already found out about the two level 17 envoys waiting for Lothur on Luis' account and were seeing what they could do about the situation.
Unfortunately, they couldn't communicate with Lothur while he was in the Secret Realm, so they couldn't warn him in advance of the problems he might have after leaving there.
At the same time, they couldn't help but sigh at young Ritter's actions within the Secret Realm, not having improved so far, even though he was in a place with so many opportunities.
No one in this family doubted Lothur's talents. Still, without advancing levels, he would probably face problems he couldn't handle leaving the Secret Realm!
That could ruin all their plans, so the core of that family couldn't help but worry.
In that intelligence center that Lothur had visited earlier, the patriarch and the supreme elder were talking said at this very moment.
"What do you think?" The old guardian of that organization asked the patriarch Koch.
"I don't know... Someone who created this here wouldn't waste his time on something trivial." The patriarch said. "Either Lothur is in trouble, something possible given his talents, or he is searching for something important.
Knowing him, I doubt this is a waste of time."
"Hmm, Lothur has never let us down in the past, so he probably has something in mind if he hasn't fallen into a trap." The old supreme elder agreed. "But will he outwit the two Nascent Soul Transcendents? They won't falter like other enemies our superior has faced in the past."
"That is a question to think about... In any case, if Viktoria and Elke return from the Secret Realm, they will play important roles in Peters City. Many of Lothur's plans can be realized with the resources they will have.
So still in his downfall, we must stay true to the Ritter family. That will bring maximum benefit to the family!"
Lothur planned to create an army to develop the Ritter family so that he would no longer have to fight or act for his interests.
Only then could he achieve the peace he desired to live with his women!
That was not something that needed his presence to happen. As long as Viktoria, Elke, and Annaliese used the many coins from the Ritter Motor Company for this, they could achieve these plans.
Considering that Lothur had the largest shares of the Ritter Motor Company's profits, these amounts would easily exceed the value of entire families in a short time!
So even with him in the Imperial Prison, it would still be valuable for this family to be his subordinate!
...
And so, as local leaders discussed the future with or without Lothur, another day passed, and young Ritter was finally about to enter the last level of the labyrinth.
However, before doing so, he advanced a stage, becoming a Soul Core Transcendent!
...