Free Web NovelChapter 16: A generational conflict
"How do you have that?" Flora didn’t know how he knew about the Blue Honey that the Bloombugs loved, but the way he was teasing the little creature confirmed some of her doubts.
This brother of hers that everyone neglected and looked down upon had been working in shadows, sharpening his teeth for the right time.
The report about his immense affinity with so many beasts and the way he handled them so effortlessly was not a matter of coincidence.
He had studied, practiced, and learned without anyone teaching him.
"We can only buy Blue Honey from Mister Victor of the back alley, right? I had Lex fetch some of it since I knew you’d be coming soon."
Sam didn’t hide the source of his rare product. He already knew where his sister got the honey from, so he used a different vendor that even she did not know of yet.
She wasn’t suspicious when she heard his unexpected answer, but she knew as a matter of fact that the person he was talking about was the one operating the back allies of this city.
"How did you get this from the Black Teeth Victor? He doesn’t make deals just because you have money."
The boss of the back allies was a dangerous man that only cared about precious beasts.
If the product was the honey of a Historic beast, the price he would have had to pay must not be simple.
"I have my ways, hehe. Don’t worry about it~."
Also, he currently has a jar full of the precious honey that she can only purchase at an absurd price of hundreds of gold per ounce.
"Prism, that thing would cost as much as a mansion, you know that, right? Just what was it that could have made that damned thief give out a treasure like this?"
She was still calm since the tea she was drinking somehow made it hard for her to lose her temper.
This was some strange tea, and yet she loved it more than anything she had drank until now.
"Well, I didn’t really have anything that’d match up the physical value of the honey..." just a touch of the blue honey was enough to make the little green scarf roll around in ecstasy.
The honey was the catnip for these creatures. But that wasn’t all.
He had enhanced the effects of the honey by mixing in a little bit of white magic powder inside of it.
"I just shared some grooming tips with the captain, and he was satisfied with the trade."
He knew about the person that controlled the back alleys of this city, the beasts that he had, and also how he always found it difficult to control them as well as he used to.
He used his advanced knowledge to trade something precious, and now, he was going to do the same once again.
"Well... I don’t really have any use of this honey." He looked at his sister, a certain smile present on his face.
She could tell he had already caught on to her greed for that simple yet marvelous honey that her partner loved so much.
He wanted something from her... and a trade of equal value was the norm of this world.
"What does my good little brother want in exchange then? Let’s hear him out." She took a deep breath and sighed.
She had dealt with her younger brothers for a long time now.
If she wasn’t there, who knows what they might have done to each other and this family.
"Oh it’s nothing much..."
-Snap!
-Ooooooooooong!
At a snap of his finger, a screen displaying the tied down assassins that she had been looking for since yesterday appeared before them.
"I want you to leave the matters regarding them to me."
On this display, all of the assassins seemed to be asleep. But from how pale their faces looked, she knew this wasn’t doing some simple drugs.
He had done to them something so unimaginable that their minds were crumbling down on their own.
"Hmmm... I will think about it if you tell me everything you found out from them."
She had already grasped that these people were a threat to her family.
Her dumb little Able was used by them and he didn’t even know anything about it.
She had gone through the records of each one of them and had confirmed their extraordinary abilities.
She wanted to question them herself but she knew it wouldn’t be easy.
Professionals like them were always difficult to deal with. She wasn’t expecting her youngest brother to have made any significant progress either.
"The one behind them are Serulians."
"Huh?"
"They hired the <Faceless Manipulator> to create cracks within the family."
"What?"
The sudden dump of information stunned her.
A family that Sungrades had a generational feud with, as well as bastards that even Flora despised. The two names that shouldn’t be together were present here.
Thanks to that, this wasn’t a matter regarding her two brothers anymore.
This was now a matter regarding the entire family.
"Prism I don’t want to doubt you right now but—."
Before she could even question his words, Sam brought up all the instances in which the Assassins had ended up revealing the pieces of information that only they knew about.
They were double crossed... twice.
They were hired by someone that hired them to hire each other in a way that made them seem like a group that randomly came together.
Ultimately, they didn’t know who exactly hired them but they knew their employer had something to do with the Marquisate of the south, the Serulians.
One of them had been in direct contact with a key member of the marquis house to keep an eye on the wanted criminal known as the ’faceless manipulator’.
They never really knew who was the actual manipulator, but they played in a way that ultimately got the request of the marquis house done.
"Prism, this is serious." Her eyes changed into something so serious that sent chills down everyone present including her own partner.
The bloombug got scared and hid behind the cat that was hiding behind the boy.
Nix the little white bird fled the scene immediately. Even Lexie was unsure if she’d be able to handle her if push came to shove while protecting Prism.
But still, the seriousness of the high Tamer didn’t even faze the boy sitting before her.
"Big sister Flora."
The power that rose from his blue, glowing eyes suppressed all of the pressure that came from her.
"I know what I’m doing. Please... trust me this one time."
This was his domain. She had forgotten about it for a moment.
"I know you won’t understand the depth of this matter. That ’person’ is already keeping an eye on all of you."
The people of Sungrade were already under surveillance right now.
From all that he knew about the ’faceless manipulator’ from his past life, he knew only he could deal with him effectively.
"I can do this." His confident eyes moved something inside his elder sister.
Even she didn’t understand what it was but, she stared at him for a moment, and then sighed deeply once again.
"I’m not letting you do anything stupid all by yourself." She looked at her arm and a Bond Mark glowed in red.
"Keep him with you, ok? Use him when you have to."
The Essence card that she handed out to him had a (SR) marked on it.
It was a powerful creature that, in fact, surprised the regressor.
"Wait, really? But you might need him! There’s still something I want you to do."
There were still other matters to attend to. She couldn’t just hand over one of her most powerful ’weapons’ to him like this.
"Shut up and use him well until the Proof of Worth." She shook her head and called her green scarf back to her. "Show those elders some fireworks."
When a tamer lets someone borrow their tamed beast’s essence card, they are technically lending them operational control over the beasts.
The beasts can obviously reject it at all, but those who have good relations with their masters help out the person their masters have put their trust in.
In the society of the beast tamers, to lend someone their essence cards is seen as the highest form of trust.
"Now tell me what it is that you want from me." She smiled and picked up the jar of blue honey as she asked that question with a smile.
"I... I want you to go to the Demon Forest."
But the request of her little brother killed her smile.
-Tung...
-Ting tak thung.
As the jar fell on the ground, the young florist questioned whether it was a right choice to even consider coming to this place... or not.
