Chapter 36: Chapter 33 – Happy Orphans

With everyone's hands washed, I had a look at the simmering pot. As best as I could tell, it was ready.

"Alright, it's ready"

"Everyone! Let's head to the dinning room now!"

Following up for me, the director called everyone to order, and the small army of kids rushed over to take their seats at the arrayed tables.

When the kitchen was cleared out, I grasped the heavy pot in my hands and carefully lifted it up. I had wanted to try carrying something that would normally look impossible with my body, and this was the perfect opportunity.

The iron pot was pretty warm as well, but not so hot that it burned my hands as I awkwardly carried it over. And despite it probably weighing more than I did, as long as I actively resisted against it's mass, my centre of gravity stayed inside of my body rather than in front of it. Hooray for stats!

"Wow!"

"That's amazing!"

"You're so strong!"

"Miss Scarlet, are you sure you're fine carrying it by yourself?"

"Ah yea. I have a pretty high level, so I'm fine"

I quickly placed the pot on the ground, then one by one, I levitated over the kids' bowls, filled them, than floated them back to a chorus of 'oohs' and 'aahs'.

"Miss Scarlet, I can do the serving. You don't need to mind such a thing"

"It's fine. It'll be faster if I do it"

"If you say so"

"By the way, what about your bowl?"

All the seats were occupied, and I didn't see any extra bowls for the director.

"Ah, no. The children come first"

"I made enough for everyone. That includes you as well"

"That may be true, but I'd rather the children have their fill first"

"Look, you're the kids' caregiver. If you collapse because you didn't eat properly, then it's the kids that'll be in trouble, won't they?"

I felt like we suddenly swapped positions from a few minutes ago.

"That's...I understand. It wouldn't do to not be able to care for the children just because I didn't care for myself"

The short lady quickly made her way to a shelf and timidly came back presenting a bowl. I made sure to fill it up all the way with some extra meat.

"Does everyone have their food?"

"Yes!"

"We do!"

"What about you?"

"Yea, you don't have any!"

"Miss Scarlet, do you remember what you just told me?"

Out of nowhere, Philia reversed our positions.

"Ah, no. I ate before coming here, so I'm not hungry"

"Really? Well, we'll believe your words. Now everyone, what do you say to Miss Scarlet?"

"""Thank you for the meal!"""

All at once, the kids started to gorge themselves out on the stew. Even the director happily ate as she stood at the side.

"Ah, could you handle the refills Miss Philia? I'm gonna take a look around if you don't mind"

"Oh, ah yes. Of course. But wouldn't you like a guide?"

"It's fine. It's better for you guys to eat first, and I won't be long"

Without giving her a chance to object further, I quickly made my way out of the dining hall.

I passed through one room to the next, examining the conditions these people were living in. While everything was well kept and ordered, especially considering that there were dozens of kids here, the rooms were pretty sparse. The furnishings were barely adequate, and everything looked like they were cobbled together from scraps. The building itself was only just barely holding itself together, with cracks everywhere, most of which were filled in with mud to avoid drafts, but that only had limited effectiveness as many of the window shutters didn't fit properly, and some were even missing.

It felt like everywhere I went, I could feel the poverty just constantly screaming at me.

If this orphanage didn't have such a strong beginning, it most likely wouldn't have survived this long.

At the very least, I could do a little something so that the building itself was more livable and would last a while longer.

I touched the walls and passed my mana through them, feeling out the structure. Anywhere I could feel cracks and weaknesses, I fixed and reinforced using [Terranian Magic]. The damaged shutters as well I quickly repaired and realigned, and the ones that were missing I made from scratch using some of the wood I had left in my magic bag.

In only a handful of minutes, I finished my little tour. The building itself was in a much better condition than before. Structurally speaking, it should have been almost as good as new, though I didn't go as far as to alter it's surface appearance beyond fixing the visible cracks.

Next up, I looked at the bedrooms. The beds themselves were rickety and were unpadded. I made some simple adjustments to improve the beds' stability, but the lack of padding I couldn't do much about. I simply didn't have enough materials to make mattresses for all the kids.

Rummaging through my bag, I did find I did have enough for something else though.

I pulled out dozens of large animal pelts I had accumulated from all my hunting in the dungeon, and placed them on the beds. I think the monster I got them from were called frost leopards? They were a big white cats with a black pattern similar to leopards; I hunted on an icy canyon floor. They were pretty strong and aggressive, but their fur was incredibly soft and thick along with being very pretty.

There wasn't much more I could do for now, so I went back to the dining hall.

What greeted me was a room filled with kids with satisfied looks on their faces as they were putting away their dishes.

"Ah, Miss Scarlet!"

The first to notice me return was the orphanage's director.

"Thank you Miss Scarlet!"

"The food was really good!"

"Thanks for the food!"

"Ah, no problem. Was it enough?"

"We're so full!"

"I haven't had that much ever!"

"I ate three whole bowls!"

The kids' responses put a smile on my face.

"There is still a little bit left if you are hungry as well"

I made my way to short woman and peeked into the pot. There was probably enough for two or three servings left. I originally intended to have made enough so the kids could have it for breakfast as well, but I severely underestimated how many there were.

"No, I'm fine. Rather than that, are you fine for breakfast tomorrow?"

"Ah, yes. We have enough in stock, thanks to your generous donation today. I can't thank you enough for what you have done"

"It's fine. I said it before, but it's the duty of people like me to donate what people like you need to keep the orphanage running"

"In that case, it's also my duty to properly give thanks for the donations people like you give"

Philia gave me a bright, but slightly cocky smile.

(She's got me there)

"Ah, I suppose"

I scratched my cheek, unsure as to what more to say.

"Hey Miss"

There was a slight tugging on my sleeve. I turned to see a group of kids standing behind me.

"Are you a beastkin?"

The little kid's question made me freeze for a second.

 

"Gaooo! I'm going to eat all you people up!"

"Kyaa!"

"Eeek!"

"Run away!"

"There's no use in running! I'm going to suck all your blood dry!"

"Halt! Vile vampire!"

"If you want to harm everyone, you'll have to go through us!"

"We stand to protect the innocent!"

"Hahaha! The heroes again? This time for sure I'll defeat the three of you!"

"This time we've got the holy sword!"

"Gah! The holy sword?! And three of them?! No~~~!"

"""Take this!"""

"Gaaaahhhh~~~!!!"

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*Thump*

"We've done it! We've beaten the demon lord!"

"Evil's been defeated!"

"Everyone's safe now!"

"Yay~~~!"

"C'mon! Play with us next!"

"No, it's our turn this time!"

The kids at the orphanage started to pull at me even though I was still laying face down on the ground at the end of the previous game.

It seemed like my disguise didn't do much to hide my fangs, though I guess just wearing an oversized hood wasn't particularly good at hiding something like that. It was fortunate that they interpreted my teeth as being that of a beastkin.

Most likely, that was the term used for all these people with animal ears and tails.

While I had seen a few of them in the city, the majority of kids at this orphanage were beastkin, with human kids being second most prevalent, then stocky kids that were short but big boned (but not fat) like the director numbering a handful, and finally a single boy with pointed ears, though his ears weren't as long as mine or that one man I saw in the adventurer's guild.

It was a fortunate misunderstaning, but one that wouldn't last, as I didn't have the ears nor tail of a beastkin.

Taking advantage of my physical traits, I played Hero and Demon Lord with the kids, though obviously it ended quickly with my defeat as the demon lord.

After that, we continued to play game after game in a small yard behind the orphanage. It turned out the building only took up half the plot that belonged to it. Though because of it, aside from the narrow alleys in between each building, it was entirely closed in by four stone walls of the surrounding buildings that blocked what meagre sunlight was still lighting up the sky.

The little fluffballs had joined in as well, and while I couldn't directly play with them here, they did enjoy themselves well enough as they flew circles around the kids or chased after them.

"Everyone! It's getting dark, so come back inside and get ready for bed!"

"Awww"

"Already?"

"What about my turn?"

But a certain someone came to spoil all the fun.

No, well, the kids did need to adhere to a decent sleep schedule, so I couldn't blame her for doing so.

"C'mon, you heard the lady, let's go"

As three of the kids were clinging on to me like some ride, I took the hands of two more and lead the group back inside.

"Wah!"

But as I leaned down a bit to get through the door without accidentally hitting anyone on the frame, the bushy tailed girl on my shoulder lost her balance and frantically grabbed for my head.

In a panic, I grabbed her ankle as she slid down my back.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Uuuu, my ankle..."

"Umm...wait a sec..."

There wasn't any way to let the girl down without risking her getting further hurt...normally. Instead, I resorted to using a particular spell for the first time on a living being.

"Ah! Wha?"

Careful with my mana control, I gently lifted the girl up using [Arcane Magic], and placed her safely on to the ground.

"Are you alright?"

The other kids climbed down from me and formed a circle around the girl.

"Thank you Miss Scarlet"

The little girl gave me a bright smile, but when she tried to stand up, her face twisted in pain and she fell back on to her butt.

"Owww..."

"You alright Flix?!"

The floppy eared boy rushed over to the triangle eared girl's side.

"Ah, sorry. That's my fault. Let me have a look"

I took hold of the girl's foot as gently as I could and examined it. There was the beginning of a bruise forming around her ankle, roughly the shape of my hand. My teeth clenched at the realization as I thought about what I could do.

None of my skills could help fix the damage I had caused, but I had just memorized a new spell earlier that day. While I was a bit hesitant to try it out on a kid without any prior practice, I didn't want to move on without fixing the injury I had caused.

"Oh water, spread out and become mist, envelope and touch, give thy mercy and provide succour to this who ails"

Holding a hand over her ankle, I mumbled the cant for the healing spell. Strangely, my magic skill activated on it's own as I chanted, and I could feel my mana seep out from my hand and automatically envelop the girl's injury, permeating it and fixing it from the inside.

Within seconds, the spell ended, and when I removed my hand, all traces of the bruise was gone.

"How's that feel?"

"Wow! It doesn't hurt anymore!"

The little beastkin spun her foot around then tried standing up. She even stomped her foot a few times to make sure. It looked like it was a perfect success. I could now confidently add the basic healing spell to my repertoire.

"Thank you for fixing my foot Miss Scarlet!"

"It's fine. It was my fault anyways"

"Hmmmm?"

Before I realized it, all the kids were staring at me.

"You're not a beastkin?"

"Huh?"

"Miss Scarlet? Your teeth, but those ears...?"

My hand rushed up to confirm that both my hood and hat weren't in their place anymore.

"Ah ummm..."

I frantically thought of a way out of this. I hadn't confirmed my race yet to the kids, but I was worried that they'd be scared of me if they found out I was a vampire. Alicia was most likely an outlier for not being scared.

No, she was probably scared at first, but she had resigned herself to death already before then, so being confronted face to face with a vampire wouldn't have changed things even if she thought I had intended to eat her.

But these kids, while their situation was bad, they were still full of hope and were relatively happy. If their image of vampires were already bad, then I most likely wouldn't be able to show my face around here again. Even if the kids were fine with it, what about the director? What about the neighbours?

I had to do something about this, though I hated to lie to them.

"There's a trick to this"

I covered my face with my hands, then quickly applied [Alter Silhouette], changing my eye colour to purple and shortening my fangs to normal human lengths. When it was done, I uncovered my face and gave them a big smile.

"How's that?"

"Ooh!"

"Your eyes! They've changed!"

"And your teeth too!"

"So you were an elf?"

"Wow, an elf!"

I had a feeling that one of the kids was a half-elf though.

"Sorry, I forgot about that. Now hurry up and go to bed"

"Will we see you again?"

"Yea! Are you coming back tomorrow?"

"We want to see you again!"

"I'll be back, but I need to do some work first, so only after that. Can you all promise to wait and not be a bother to the director until then?"

"""We promise!"""

With those words, they hurried past Philia up the stairs to their rooms.

"I hope that's fine with you too?"

"Of course. And I can't thank you enough for what you've done Miss Scarlet"

Once again she gave her thanks. It was starting to turn into her signature line.

"It's fine. I did what I wanted to do"

"But still, what you gave us in one day can only be matched by the founder"

The short director gently patted one of the walls, then glanced upstairs.

"Don't sell yourself short. Like you said, excess humility is just as bad as hubris"

I put on a big grin as her eyes became like saucers.

"That's true. Even humility needs to be used with moderation"

She gave me a thin-lipped smile as I turned to leave the building.

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