SIDE:
Druid’s Decision
DRUID’S PERSPECTIVE
“Mr. Druid, try not to drink too much,” Ivy warned me.
That was the plan…but I don’t have the best track record.
“I’ll try.”
“Oh, please. You, too, Lord Foronda, be careful you don’t drink too much, either.”
“Don’t worry, I understand,” Lord Foronda answered with a chuckle.
Ivy frowned slightly at him. She really was fearless.
“I assure you, I don’t tend to cause drunken ruckuses.” Lord Foronda seemed amused by Ivy’s attitude.
“Don’t tend to means you’ve done it at least once. Well, that’s no good.”
“Ha ha ha ha! All right, you win. I promise I won’t drink too much.”
Ivy slowly left the room, worry painted all over her face.
“All right then, I’ve brought us the best liquor Hatahi has to offer. I take it you want to drink more?”
“Yes, sir.”
What am I doing, drinking liquor with a nobleman anyway? Does he want to discuss something with me?
“Ivy sure is cute. I only have boys, so seeing the way she acts is a novel experience for me.”
That’s right, Lord Foronda does have sons. Two of them, right? Wait…wasn’t there that rumor about a princess courting him?
“Hm? Something on your mind?” he asked.
“No, sir. This smells lovely.” I swirled the liquor in my cup, enjoying its aroma. It was definitely some expensive stuff. I might as well enjoy it.
“I just wanted to have a little chat,” Lord Foronda began.
Aha. I thought so.
“What would you like to talk about, my lord?”
“Come, come now, don’t be so formal. Have you heard the news about the village where Ivy was born?”
“Yes…the chief and all the villagers were sentenced to slavery.”
“So you do know. Does Ivy?”
Lord Foronda gulped down all the liquor in his cup. His face was void of emotion.
“She knows,” I answered.
“Did she take the news well?”
“She was a little shocked…but I think she’s okay now.”
Was Ivy really okay, though? When she first heard the rumors, she looked numb. Then she acted strangely the rest of the day. By the next day, she was back to her usual self, so I figured she was fine. But was I wrong?
“I’m sorry, sir,” I continued. “I don’t actually know.”
“Aha.”
I gulped down the liquor in my cup. My throat burned.
“The village chief and her parents who hurt her will spend the rest of their lives in slavery. Humph! I heard the chief was beaten up so badly that he almost died on the spot.”
Beaten up? Did the villagers do it? Well, he deserved it, anyway.
“Is that so?”
Why does Lord Foronda know so much? Did he look into it? I gave him a sharp look…then he glanced at me and said with a chuckle, “There are some self-proclaimed big brothers in Otolwa…major worrywarts. You know who I’m talking about, right?”
“Ohh. Yes, I do.”
He means Rattloore, Sifar, and their buddies.
“They looked into it.”
Now that made sense. Sometimes they signed their faaxes as if they were Ivy’s big brothers or her father. Lord Foronda fell into that camp at times as well.
“Ivy’s real big brother was sentenced to a very long term of slavery. As for her sister…”
What’s this? Ivy has a sister?
“Since she blew the whistle on her village, she was given a reduced sentence: eight years of slavery. Good behavior might shorten her term even further.”
If I recalled correctly, the villagers who opposed Ratomi’s village chief were murdered. Since her sentence was only eight years, that must have meant she wasn’t involved in those murders.
“Is that so?”
“She is currently in the care of Captain Oght of Ratome Village.”
“What?! Captain Oght?”
He’s Ivy’s guarantor. Why him?
“She handed over the evidence to him, and that’s what prompted him to take her under his wing.”
Ivy’s sister sent in the evidence?
“Well, that is very interesting. So she’s working for him?”
“At the village watch station, yes. That’s why I wished to speak with you: I wasn’t sure whether or not I should reveal these details to Ivy. Captain Oght doesn’t know what her current emotional state is, so he said he would entrust me with the decision.”
“Are you in touch with Captain Oght, then?”
“No, I went to see him. I wanted to see what this sister of Ivy’s was like. I only got a glimpse of her, but I didn’t really see a resemblance even though Captain Oght said there was.”
He went to see him? Wow… Lord Foronda really is a man of action. But why would he go to such great lengths for Ivy?
“Hm? Do you think it’s strange that I’m involved?”
“Er, yes…a little.”
“Well, I owe Ivy my life. If she hadn’t learned about Faltoria’s nefarious plot, I would have been murdered. After all, I sought aid from an enemy. I only found out after the fact, but my sons were targets as well. So she’s my family’s guardian angel.”
“Wow, I didn’t know that.”
So that’s why he’ll go so far to help Ivy…
“I’ve told my sons about her as well. I want them to meet her someday.”
Knowing Ivy, everyone in Lord Foronda’s circle will like her just as much as he does.
“Anyway, back to the matter at hand… What do you say? Do you think I should tell her?”
“That’s a good question. Has her sister said anything about it?”
If she exposed her village’s crimes, she must be a fairly upstanding person. If Ivy wanted to see her, we might want to think about letting her do that right away. But if there was even the slightest chance that it would hurt Ivy, I honestly wouldn’t want to let them meet.
“Ivy’s sister seemed like she wanted to ask Captain Oght something when she first started working for him, but she never did, and now she’s working very hard for him.”
Maybe she didn’t have the courage to ask… Either that, or maybe she wanted to forget Ivy?
“Once a month, she goes to the spot where they say that Ivy died and lays flowers there.”
“Oh, that’s interesting… Wait, someone said she died?”
“Oh…you didn’t know? Yes, Captain Oght reported that Ivy died, in case people came after her.”
“Oh, God…”
So that’s what they did.
“Ha ha ha ha! You look surprised. Yeah, I was speechless when I first heard about that.”
I didn’t think it was a laughing matter.
“Apparently, Captain Oght described it as a ‘preventative life-saving measure.’”
I guess it was a good way to make sure Ivy’s journey was a little safer, but I’m surprised the head watchman let it slide.
“Back to her sister, I think it’s safe to assume she feels remorse, but she won’t reach out to talk to Ivy without Ivy’s permission. Well, I guess that’s only natural.”
“Of course.”
Come to think of it, Lord Foronda’s way of speaking has really loosened up. Is he getting drunk? I looked at our tabletop and saw two empty liquor bottles. He was already opening a third… When did we drink that much?
“So, what d’you think, Druid?”
“It’s a tough call… It might be traumatic for her.”
“I know, right? Bolorda and his boys don’t know what to do, either. They’re just worried that rumors about her sister might spread.”
He’s right: It’s unusual for a slave to work at a village watch station. Rumors might start spreading about her. It would definitely be better for Ivy to learn about her from someone she knows instead of hearing through gossip. Plus, this might actually be a blessing in disguise. I wanted to have that talk with Ivy soon anyway… It will hurt a lot if she says no, but…that’s Ivy’s decision to make. I need to man up and talk about it with her.
“Druid? Something wrong?”
“I’ll tell her. There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask her anyway.”
“Oh…and just what is that?”
I looked at Lord Foronda, and a pair of dead-serious eyes met with mine. He might have picked up on what I was going to ask her.
“I was going to ask Ivy if she wanted to officially become my daughter.”
“Phewww…”
Will he be against the idea? But… I’d been thinking about this for a very long time. I wasn’t sure about it at first because I was scared I wouldn’t be able to take care of Ivy with just one arm…but then I realized that thinking that way was disrespectful to her.
“I’m glad to hear it. That’s what we’ve all been hoping you’d do.”
“What?!”
Lord Foronda’s gaze quickly softened.
“We’ve been able to learn a fair amount about you from your faaxes, and it’s clear from Ivy’s messages that you two have forged a solid bond together. So we’ve all been talking about how we want you to become her father. We just haven’t said anything because it wasn’t our place to do so. Rattloore, Sifar, and even Gnouga were all jealous when they read the faaxes from both of you.”
“Jealous?”
“Yeah, and they were confused, too. You two obviously trusted each other just like a real father and child, so we wondered why you hadn’t made it official yet.”
So that’s what’s been going on. Come to think of it, Sifar had asked me many times if I had any news to report. So that was what he’d meant.
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