Chapter 114: Ripples
“Grandpa!! Why are they taking you?” Floria cried as the members of the Divine Root placed Bronn in handcuffs, escorting him out of the building. The man could free himself of course – if he wanted – but he didn’t seem to have any intention of resisting.
The girl just couldn’t understand how things had come to this. Hadn’t her grandpa been the one who came forward with the information the gods wanted? Why was he getting punished?! Panicking, she rushed behind them, ready to fight against the powerful mages if she had too – blessings be damned. Of course, she wasn’t stupid – she knew she’d probably get killed too, but how could she just watch them take her grandpa away?!
A firm hand descended on her shoulder, however, locking her in place. Floria instinctively tried to lash out, but withdrew her mana upon noticing who it was.
“Dad! Are we going to let them take him?!?! This… it isn’t fair! They should be treating him like a hero!”
But Fyn shook his head.
“This all happened because we went behind the Order’s back to buy those elixirs… for me. We’re lucky the Divine Root agreed to our terms. They’re going to place our House under their protection for the next two hundred years. And they’ll even spare me, letting me reach Violet and replace father. That way, we’ll have a chance to recover. This is what we wanted – what we traded the information for…”
“But then why?!” the girl shouted, her voice cracking.
“They can’t just let us go entirely unpunished. It would send the wrong message…” her father patiently explained.
Listening to him, Floria couldn’t help but shudder. She hadn’t realized how close her dad had come to being arrested too. Turning back to her grandpa, she noticed he’d been escorted quite far already. She frantically wiped her tears away, trying to look at Bronn one last time, just so she could remember him. Yet her vision kept blurring.