After clearing all of the dark magicians in the city, Bourne went to the orphanage where Meredy stayed. He sighed and knew that he had come too late. Looking at the little girl who was sobbing beside him, he patted her head and said, "Let's give them a proper goodbye."
"....Big brother..?" Meredy looked up at Bourne with teary eyes.
"I'll help you."
Bourne felt in this situation, he shouldn't say "don't worry, you'll be alright" thoughtlessly. This little girl had just lost her family at an early age and the biggest support that he could do was to stay beside her until the army of the Magic Council came to this town since he didn't think that he would adopt her or brought her with him.
Meredy nodded and started to make a grave for everyone with Bourne.
---
Even though Bourne hated Grimoire Heart, it didn't mean he would kill all the dark magicians that had attacked this town. He froze them and called the Magic Council to pick them up. There were a lot of Dark Magicians and it was too wasteful to kill all of them since they could sell them to the Magic Council.
Like what he had said before, there were a lot of magicians that needed a guinea pig for their magic research so these kinds of small fries were necessary.
Bourne and Meredy made a grave for everyone at the orphanage while waiting for the Magic Council to come.
Then Bourne noticed an aircraft which was moving toward the direction of the town and before long he saw an army of Magic Council.
"Lahar, it has been a while," Bourne said.
Meredy stayed beside Bourne and hid behind his leg, looking at a group of army of Magic Council in fear, but there was also a curiousity within her eyes.
"Bourne, this...?" Lahar asked with an angry expression when he saw the town had been destroyed.
Bourne met Lahar when he was at the headquarters of the Magic Council in the past, and he had a feeling that Lahar might be able to rise to a very high rank in Magic Council so he befriended Lahar since he might need Lahar's help in the future.
When Bourne was being asked, he explained what had happened to Lahar and some captains on the army of Magic Council. He also gave the Dark Magicians which he had caught, telling them that they were coming from Griomire Heart, and he also told them about Meredy.
"She's one of the people who lives in the town?" Lahar asked. After he listened to Bourne's explanation, he understood everything and wanted to ask Meredy about the chronology of the destruction of this town.
Meredy was scared when Lahar wanted her to come to him, but her head was patted by Bourne.
"Don't worry, you tell this uncle what is happening to the town," Bourne said.
"Who is uncle?!" Lahar was annoyed at Bourne.
Meredy smiled when both of them joked to each other and she didn't feel scared anymore, telling Lahar about what had happened to the village.
Bourne wanted to settle the account bill of the Dark Magicians which he had sold to the Magic Council, but Meredy didn't want to let go of him. He could only sigh and stayed with this little girl until this exchange talk was over.
"..I see..." Lahar's face was gloomy when he heard Meredy's story. He looked at Bourne and asked, "What are you going to do after this?"
"I'm going to visit Shiraito Falls then go back," Bourne said.
Lahar nodded and didn't say much since he knew that Bourne was also the owner of the largest circulation magazine. "So what are you going to do with this little girl?"
Meredy looked at Bourne with a hopeful expression.
"...."
After Gray's incident, Bourne didn't have a hobby of collecting stray children. He felt that it would bring bad luck, even though he had money, but....
"Big brother, are you going to leave me?" Meredy asked.
Bourne made up his mind and said, "Yes, if possible you should come with this uncle. Lahar is a good guy."
"Like I said, I'm not an uncle!" Lahar was annoyed, he was in his 19, but Bourne kept saying that he was an uncle. Even though Bourne was several years younger than him, he couldn't accept it.
"But Bourne, don't you think that you're a bit cruel to leave her just like this?"
Bourne raised his eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean?"
"She seems to like you, so you're going to leave her like this? If it is money to raise a little girl then you don't need to worry, right? Since you have a lot of them," Lahar said.
"It's not a matter of money, but it is my principle."
Unlike before, Bourne didn't want to pick up a random child on the street. He might have a phobia of it and he didn't want to do it.
Bourne and Lahar then started to bicker with each other. Bourne knew that it wasn't good to bicker about this kind of thing, but he really didn't want to pick a child.
"I, it's alright!" Meredy suddenly interrupted both of them and said, "I, I'll come with Uncle Lahar, big brother... y, you don't need to worry about, Meredy... Meredy is alright." Her eyes were red and she forced herself to smile at Bourne.
"........"
'You're alright, but there are a lot of tears in your eyes?!'
Bourne wanted to scream, but he sighed. "Alright, I'll bring you with me." He really hoped that he made a good decision at this moment.
"Huh?" Meredy was startled.
"Don't forget to send the money to me," Bourne said to Lahar.
"Don't worry, I'll send it to your office," Lahar said with a sigh, wondering why this guy didn't enter Magic Council. If Bourne entered the Magic Council, Lahar believed that Bourne could be the symbol of peace in the organization.
"Then, I'll go first." Bourne walked, but stopped when Meredy didn't follow him. "What are you doing? Let's go, Meredy."
"......"
Meredy was stunned, but hurriedly nodded, running toward him with her little feet.
Bourne rode on his motorcycle and Meredy sat on his back.
"Hug my waist, alright?" Bourne said.
Meredy nodded and the oversized helmet on her head almost fell.
Bourne knew that this little girl didn't know how to wear a helmet so he decided to help her.
Meredy was silent, but she was very happy and at the same time, she was wondering whether he was forced to take her with him.
"Hug my waist, and don't let it go, alright? If you fall down then you'll have one or two cracks on the bones," Bourne said.
"....."
Meredy started to become scared, and nodded.
Bourne laughed since children were really simple, especially little girls since they were very easily fooled.
If Meredy was a little boy then Bourne wouldn't hesitate and left this girl directly on the Magic Council.
In his mind, the little boy was uncute and a source of trouble.
Instead of pampering them, they needed to be hammered down so they could become tough men.
Well, let's talk about that matter later since he didn't want to waste his time any longer in this place and started his journey to Shiraito Falls.
When the motorcycle moved, Meredy looked at Bourne's back and wondered what was big brother's name since Bourne had never told her before, but she had made up her mind to ask him later.