With Thops's business settled for now, the player left the Academy feeling satisfied, ready to continue exploring Liurnia.
But Master Azur's words kept echoing in the player's mind: "Whatever business you have, it is unimportant in the face of the Frenzied Flame."
The Frenzied Flame? What's that?
That question brought the player teleporting to the Weeping Peninsula.
But something was off about the atmosphere here!
The quiet road was packed with Inquisitor Knights. They stood in orderly ranks, escorting a disheveled middle-aged man.
The man's hair was unkempt, his gaze vacant. A dim yellow glow shone faintly in his eye sockets, as though flames were burning inside them.
By the roadside, a blind girl was crying helplessly.
She reached toward the departing prison wagon, but her hands grasped nothing.
"Father... Father!"
The player approached and unexpectedly spotted a familiar figure.
Tracker stood beside the blind girl, looking somewhat at a loss...
Tracker: "Ah, it's you."
"Uh, are you good at dealing with women?"
"Then... I'll leave her to you. I... have some things to do."
His tone was icy, as though something terrible had happened.
The player approached the blind girl to talk.
Irina raised her head, "looking" toward the Tarnished with her linen-wrapped eyes.
"Sob... What did Father do wrong? Why did they have to take him away from me?"
The player selected: [Probably... something very wrong.]
Irina: "Sob... Ah, aren't you that knight? I'm sorry you had to see me like this."
"My name is Irina. I was born unable to see, so I don't understand what happened. But, but..."
"No matter how I look at it, Father was a lord who fulfilled all his duties!"
The player selected: [But...]
Irina raised her head. "Ah... Could you help me? I want to know the full story."
Options appeared