85
Chapter 85
Flange Orphanage, City: Three Prongs Fork, Republic of Shantu, Continent: Barat, the Year 2030, Planet: Grimoire
All three cousins sat in speechless shock and appreciation. Calico almost began drooling until Amberlyn elbowed him hard. "Hey, watch it." She grimaced in disgust. Gross, dragon drool, not cool."
"Oh, sorry, I found it so fragrant and tasty I couldn't help myself." Calico flushed with embarrassment.
Grifton grinned at them. "That's the best compliment I've received yet." If someone drooled, that meant he'd made it correctly.
Marlayne winced. "Don't encourage him, Grifton." She muttered but hastily wiped her mouth when Amberlyn glowered at her. "Oops, busted." She shrugged wryly.
"Well, you two aren't the only ones doing it." Grifton arched an eyebrow at Amberlyn. "Check the right side of your mouth, 'Lyn." He advised her with a chuckle when she flushed crimson.
"Ouch, I'm sorry for being too hard on you two." Amberlyn groused.
An array of items appeared on trays next to each of them. "You could say that I prepared ahead of time." Grifton shrugged. "This nifty little trick saved me from starvation many a time." He figured it wouldn't hurt to feed his cousins.
Calico's eyes lit up and then dimmed. "Ugh, we've got company." He barely avoided scowling.
"I hope they don't confiscate this before we can eat it." Amberlyn looked displeased.
"Meh, let them take what they want." Marlayne shrugged. "They can't say we bribed them that way." She folded her arms. "I want to see how Grifton handles this."
While it was confirmed that he'd done something similar once or twice in the past, it hadn't been this fancy or varied. Grifton sighed. "True, it won't hurt to give them something." He could hear their stomachs growling loudly even from where they'd been standing. "Bet they started drooling, too." That snarky comment had his cousins giggling despite themselves.
Some officials came over and inspected the treats. Amused, Grifton offered them one of the trays. "I can always make more." He informed them. No doubt they were hungry and hadn't been able to eat yet.
"Thanks, we appreciate this. No, we won't confiscate it." Surprised and gratified, the three men and two women accepted his offer. "Since you're in this area, you can eat and drink whatever you want." It didn't take long before other small groups visited Grifton's seat.
His cousins watched in bemusement. "Did you ever do this in previous events before it went international?"
"No," Grifton shook his head. "Any type of action, including finger-snapping other than what was allowed," that hadn't stopped him from hiding between events in places where he wouldn't be heard or caught.
His cousins grimaced when they saw shadows of pain and exhaustion briefly cross his face. "Wow, I'm honestly surprised that you managed to stay alive this long." Calico finally murmured.
For a moment, the silhouette of his scarred visage covered his current one, which wasn't scarred any longer. "Yeah, well, I learned to survive on very little for a very long time." Grifton shrugged when he recalled the painful past.
Yep, when he was able to successfully hide from tormentors. That's when he replenished his nutrients. Grifton also fed others who'd been viciously beaten. Sometimes the others hadn't been able to move. Desperate to keep the ones who were worst off. He'd hand-fed and watered them so that they wouldn't drop dead from starvation or dehydration.
"As for what you asked me earlier, I didn't do it in the open." Grifton shook his head. "Doing any of that before now would've gotten me expelled immediately."
The officials overheard what he said and looked downright horrified and shocked. "Oh dear," They murmured and looked ashamed.
Grifton's eyebrows rose at their reaction. Goodness, they sure changed attitudes now that the rules had been relaxed. He didn't have to say a word as he waited for recognition to dawn within them.
When they looked at him more closely, mortification colored their faces. In the past, they had presided over those events he'd participated in. They had roughly penalized all students in one way or another for the most menial of excuses. "We're very sorry for doing that to you and the others." One of the women bowed in acknowledgment. The others murmured their apologies as well.
"I think you all should thoroughly reflect on that type of abuse to prevent becoming arrogant and harsh in the future," Amberlyn murmured, knowing Grifton couldn't say anything without appearing hostile and aggressive. When he nodded, the officials inclined their heads again and hastily exited.
"I doubt we'll have any more visitors," Grifton stated. "They'll be too embarrassed to show their faces." At least, he hoped that would be the result.
Much to their pleasure, his prediction proved correct. As a result, they were able to eat happily. As they did so, all of them watched the activity below. They learned some new ways of support and attack that they wouldn't have been able to understand except on a battlefield or in other ways of combat.
Grifton sighed thoughtfully. "Seeing all this makes me remember why I was always cautious of causing trouble in the past." He folded his arms. "I couldn't use all my tricks, so I had to retaliate judiciously." When he recalled everything, he'd done to survive, Grifton was surprised he'd managed to stay alive.
"So, what was your idea of judiciously?" Calico eyed him quizzically.
"Hmm?" Grifton blinked. "Just enough to make them wind up in the infirmary for a few weeks."
Marlayne coughed and sputtered when she heard that.
Amberlyn nodded in agreement when Grifton sighed, "Ideally, that would give me time to get my health back up to barely movable." He shrugged. "If I did anything worse, the gangs from the institutes would attack me if I set foot off the Orphanage property."
He'd been made a virtual prisoner, restricted to the Orphanage boundaries. That had annoyed Grifton, but he'd refrained from worse retaliation to avoid causing issues for Director Moline. Now, he regretted holding back.
"Hmm, I would suggest you no longer hold back," Calico advised him. "If you do, I doubt others will respect you."
"I'll keep that in mind." That was true, but Grifton had only received respect from a few individuals—the adults he'd worked with. "I've given up on that notion as far as the other orphans are concerned, though."
Not even those who'd been on the verge of death from starvation or dehydration had thanked him. They'd cursed him a few times, in fact. Once that happened, Grifton stopped assisting them and left them to their fates. Well, that was after he'd alerted the healers to the location of those who'd crawled off to die in dark corners.
"I don't blame you for that." Marlayne had caught some of the images from his past and shook her head at what she witnessed. "that was truly wicked and heartless."
Calico frowned. "No, I think what happened was crueler to them than helpful." He said slowly. Maybe if they'd had a hint of hope, such as this competition with fairer rules, they would've been thankful."
Marlayne frowned at that.
Amberlyn nodded in agreement, though. "Yes, in this case, I agree with Calico." She shrugged.
Grifton didn't care either way. "Yes, well, I learned some useful life lessons when a few of them tried stabbing me in the back one or two times later on." He shook his head warily. "That is why I always learned to keep my subconscious on alert."
His cousins hugged him gently. "Thanks for the food and drink. We can concentrate on the competition since we soon begin joining in."
Grifton rolled his eyes. "I had almost forgotten that we would mingle amongst them later." He still had qualms about freezing at the wrong time.
Sometimes, that also occurred, though he'd begun thinking it might've been a spell trap cast earlier to victimize anyone who'd gone against sure participants. Grifton sighed uneasily. "Well, I can always hope that this day, the first of seven shall be different from how past combat sparring competitions ended in the past." He smiled wanly at his cousins. He hadn't meant to ruin the mood with his somber view on the whole proceeding.