“Hahaha, go, run, run, everybody! Hahaha!”
“Go, go, Big Sis is gonna catch us if we don’t.”
“Come on, she can’t find us when we hide in the dark! Don’t break things or the Sisters will take our dinner away! Hiehie!”
Jeez, tuning their voices out is harder than I thought. Can’t believe I’m being competitive in hide-and-seek against little kids.
“Ten! Hiding or not, get ready to get caught~” How long has it been since I last played hide-and-seek, in the harmless, playful way and not in my usual hunting sprees? It was kinda hard to answer my own question since it has been so long, but I could just barely remember doing it with my cousins and kindergarten friends.
Anyways, if it hasn’t been obvious enough yet, I’m at the orphanage. After that fast travel debacle I had in the last three days, I just wanted to take a break from everything and make good on the promise I had with the orphans. Play with them and tell them a story about what happened at the elven outpost.
Besides, concerning the fast travel stuff, there wasn’t much more I could do until Grimnir figured out what I meant by “mana coded tags,” since he didn’t have access to [Mana Eyes]. Right now, fast travel seemed to be possible for our party, but only if I’m around to control the nexus door. The next objective would be to create something that allowed anybody to teleport when I’m not around, but that can be left for a later date.
In any case, I didn’t want to think about my physics homework while playing a game.
Of course, using my improved senses and skills during this game of hide-and-seek would just be unfair for the orphans; as such, I agreed to suppress most of my senses to that of a normal human. Unfortunately, I still cheated. I heard them saying where they would go.
Still, I didn’t want to end the game just like that. There were still a few kids who didn’t go to the same place as the three I heard speaking, so it was about time I moved out and found them.
“If you let some of the vegetables and bones sit in the water, the broth will become more flavorful and nutritious. Instead of throwing it away, use it to make a soup or thicken it for a stew.” For my first stop, I head over to the kitchen by following the sounds of Tasianna’s voice. Looking inside, I saw her speaking with a few of the grey-robed priestesses, who acted as the orphanage’s caretakers.
“Wouldn’t we have too much food, though? The boys can be large eaters, but the girls and we grey-robes don’t need too much to feel sated,” one of the priestesses raised her worry, pointing at the three full cauldrons. Since I visited the orphanage often, I also made a few donations to make the caretakers’ and kids’ lives better, for example, more cauldrons, various foods and ingredients, and some furniture that I made myself.
Tasianna shook her head to dispel the caretaker’s worry, willing to educate them. “No worries, the two cauldrons full of broth can be left overnight. Let the taste settle in. Once tomorrow comes, you can remove the bones and mushy vegetables and use the broth to create something new. The third cauldron, the one filled with curry, we will serve that with the rice today for lunch and dinner. Oh, how is the rice? Can somebody check?”
“The rice needs more time. The water hasn’t been fully absorbed yet, Miss Tasianna.” Multiple clay pots were placed on top of the stone cookers, boiling the japonica rice Artorias likes to produce. It was at this moment that everybody noticed me. “Oh, Lady Hestia, is there something you require from us?”
“Oh no, there is nothing. I’m just playing hide-and-seek with the little kids, so I’m just going around looking for them. Please, don’t let me distract you, after all…” I jolted my head to the pile of barrels of ingredients and darted over there, giving the small kid hiding there a gentle tap on the head. “You’re out! Get back in the room!”
“Mhmgrrr! I thought that would be a good hiding spot,” the young boy pouted before running out of the kitchen dejectedly. With my goal done here, I left Tasianna to continue working with the grey-robes as I started looking for the next kids.
Slowly walking through the orphanage, I kept repeating “Hide as much as you want, little ones, the dragon will still find you~” to keep the game tense for the kids. After I failed to find any of them in the hallways, I began looking through the different rooms, eventually ending up in the orphanage director’s office.
“Please, if you are doing the calculations, do them on a wooden slate or with the abacus. Don’t be prideful about it since your employers will expect due diligence. You need to learn how to use the abacus fast and efficiently.” I could hear Ellaine’s stern voice behind the door, followed by the collective acknowledgment of two kids. Looking through the door’s slit, I saw the orphanage director, Eshe and her knights, and Ellaine giving work to two boys around eight years old.
“Lady Ellaine, I thank you for your help. I cannot express how thankful I am that you are willing to help these two young boys with their future. May the Goddess bless your kind soul,” the director expressed her gratitude to Ellaine.
“There is no need, Director. Helping orphans find a place after they become adults is part of my duty as an aristocrat. Still, I am simply offering them a place through my connections, but they will have to impress their employers themselves.” Ellaine then turned to the two kids. “Do you understand? Your trial period will begin in a few months, so until then, you must learn how to read, write, and calculate at an adult’s level.”
““Yes, Lady Ellaine!””
When Ellaine isn’t being too self-conscious or working with Grimnir, she really can exude a noble’s aura.
Today was RestDay — Sunday in Earth terms. As such, Ellaine was free for the day and asked me if she could come to the orphanage along with me and the others from Aurora. After getting acquainted with the kids and how the orphanage operated, Ellaine offered to help with some paperwork, to which the director and Eshe agreed.
From what I had overheard, it seemed Ellaine offered those two kids a potential working place at the Sarlenzia company through her connection with Amelia Greenveil. Last I heard, their relationship hasn’t mended yet, but Amelia and Ellaine were both professional enough to keep their past from affecting their houses’ businesses.
With the introduction of yeast and a ton of pastries and rice sweets, it was very likely that Duke Greenveil would become the next Grand Duke of Economic Affairs in three years while Arcanuess Helvas would most likely take on an important position at that point. It wouldn’t do the girls any good if they couldn’t act like adults.
Now, speaking about Ellaine giving two orphans a job at a high-profile merchant company, it probably would be hard for them but, if they could succeed in becoming merchants, they probably would be able to live rather okayish. Since they were orphans, an opportunity like this was extremely rare.
Normally, from what I heard, orphans from the church-managed orphanages generally had only two options to choose between before they became adults. Either they join the church as grey-robed priests and potentially remain at the orphanage working as caretakers, or leave to live the rest of their lives as normal commoners. At the age of seven, children were lawfully allowed to work, so it was normal for orphans who reach this age to find work as apprentices to prepare for their future if they weren’t planning on joining the church.
Now that I think about it, since I’m technically an underage child. Am I not breaking Artorian law? Wow, I didn’t think of myself as such a rule breaker.
When I peered more into the room, I noticed the two boys were actually beastmen — one was a wolfkin and the other was an arvisian. Which reminded me how rare white-robed beastmen priests were, unlike the grey-robes variant. Considering that most beastmen have a slower mana growth than even humans, it was probably hard for them to master the necessary holy magic. Or it could just be racism.
I left Ellaine to finish her teaching, continuing my search for the kids, managing to find two more kids within the rooms. After having searched every room, I went over to the prayer chapel and dining hall of the orphanage. There I saw a group of young kids gathered around Saori and a grey-robe.
“This is the entire alphabet. You should have already learned some of your letters by now, so the caretakers want to help you learn how to form them into the words you speak every day. Before we start, is anybody here still unsure with their letters?” Saori asked the kids, but none of them raised their arms. As Saori looked around, she noticed a few kids who seemed a bit uncomfortable. “There is no shame in learning, everybody. If there is something you do not understand, then you should not be embarrassed to say so. After all, it would be a sin to the God of Knowledge, Istari, if you did not try to learn.”
Looking around warily, the kids Saori looked at raised their arms shyly, prompting Saori to smile and nod at them, praising them for their bravery. She then told the grey-robed next to her to help the kids learn their alphabet and that they could always rejoin the group once they were more confident.
So Saori is the type of teacher who makes sure all the students are at an adequate level, huh? It’s probably the correct move, but it could make some students feel left out.
Still, watching Saori actually teaching was nice to see. Aside from helping Tasianna learn how to cook and sew properly, Saori hasn’t done any teaching since she came to Peolynca. I’ve learned about Saori’s time as a teacher from Tamae and the others, but I was still curious how Saori acted as an educator.
I couldn’t watch her for too long, but seeing her patiently teaching the students, helping to clear up any confusion by answering their questions in as much detail as possible, and making sure the children enjoyed learning says more of her experience as a teacher than what she’s been telling me. It’s not like I didn’t believe her, but it was just that her actions spoke louder than words.
You know, Saori told me if she had a choice of becoming a teacher again or becoming a restaurateur, she would choose the latter ten times out of ten. She argued that being a teacher didn’t fulfill her as much as being a chef, despite how stressful both jobs were. Saori’s wish to travel the world complimented her cooking as she could produce more dishes, after all.
Nevertheless, looking at her content expression right now, I did question what would happen if that “ten times out of ten” was put to the test.
After snatching the last few kids above on the ground floor of the orphanage, I decided it was time to end this game and went back to the kitchen area, heading through a door that led me down to the basement.
From counting them, it seemed only a single kid was missing. I thought three entered the basement, so two of them probably ran out before I came here.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are~” I sing-songed as I strutted down the stairs, lighting up the darkness by snapping up a flame. As my every step echoed through the basement, not a peep escaped the last kid’s mouth. Still, it wasn’t like I couldn’t feel her anxiousness, I could smell it… figuratively.
“Hiehiehiehie,” I let out a creepy laugh, enhancing the atmosphere of the predator hunting down her prey. “Come out, come out, otherwise the light goes out. Can you run from a dragonewt’s eyes, little one?” I dulled my steps and extinguished the flame in my hand, moving forward as silently as a ninja, sneaking up behind my unexpected target. “Booooo!”
“KYYYYYAAAAAAAAH!!!” The kid’s voice erupted in such a loud cry that it made me slightly guilty, but I didn’t let this chance go as I gave the little girl a huge hug.
“Hiehie, looks like you got caught, Abi~ Come here, you know you shouldn’t go down the basement otherwise, the director will ground you hard.” I showed the little girl a wide smug smile. As I continued my embrace, I noticed that her arms were a bit cold and decided to increase my body temperature to heat her up. “Wow, it’s cold down here. How about this, is it warmer now?”
“Urgh, thank you, Big Sis,” the girl thanked me with an embarrassed face before hitting my arms, pouting. “But why did you have to scare me like that? Ahhh, I was about to cry!”
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“Hiehie, but you didn’t, right? You’re brave enough to go down in the darkness and wait here while you two other friends ran up.” I wiped the tears from the girl’s eyes and patted her hair, messing it up a bit before lighting up another flame. “Still, don’t do this, again, alright? If you aren’t a beastman with good eyes or have [Night Vision], don’t go down here in the dark. It’s dangerous and you could hurt yourself badly. Always come here with an adult or one of your older siblings, okay?”
“Yes, Big Sis…”
Putting her on my shoulders, I let her grab my horns like a steering wheel as I brought her upstairs. When I opened the door, one of the caretakers was already waiting there, smiling at us, but it was clear enough that she wasn’t in the best of mood. The poor little girl and her two other friends would be in quite a lot of trouble today, hehe.
After seeing the three rule-breaking kids off, the hide-and-seek was over with my overwhelming victory, as expected. After getting everybody some nice, cool water from Tasianna, I brought the kids I played with outside, where I saw Grimnir surrounded by kids looking at him with wondrous eyes.
While Saori was acting like a teacher, Grimnir seemed like an old grandpa or veteran as he retold stories of his adventurers to them. As I brought the kids over, I greeted Grimnir who was stroking his growing beard with pride as he saw the kids marveling at his tales.
“You seem to be happy for someone who didn’t want to leave his smithy,” I gave the dwarf a teasing smile.
Grimnir scoffed at my comment, raising his head up to show off his horns. “Pah! And I could have been more productive if I were in my smithy, but if I’m being forced to come, I ain’t gonna waste my time by whining about it. You complaining that I shouldn’t teach these kids how the world is outside this city’s walls, lass?”
I shook my head. “Nah, as if, old man. You just do you, Mister Tsundere~”
“Huh? What in Crustacia’s name is that word, huh, lass? Hey, Hestia! Come back here!”
Time went by quite fast as we had fun. The day in Griffonpeak usually began at something like seven am, an hour later than in villages, I think, so there was quite some time for us to play with the kids. When lunchtime came, Eshe and her knights had some of the curry made using Saori’s recipe, praising it for being good despite how different it was to theirs. The kids, though, loved it since it was sweeter than Eshe’s curry.
During that time, Eshe and her knights had to excuse themselves, as it seemed the Lycerepth called on them and the other Empire representatives for a meeting. It concerned the date for their return to the Empire, since it’s been almost a month since they got here. Eshe told me it was sooner than she thought, since she heard Pestrodus, the Lycerepth Judge responsible for this trip, hasn’t finished his investigation yet.
It was a bit saddening to hear Eshe would be leaving soon. I didn’t like saying goodbye, but it wasn’t like we wouldn’t meet again. One day, I will have to visit the Empire, so I’ll be meeting up with her when that time came. Yup, gotta stay positive!
After lunch was over, Saori, Ellaine, and Grimnir took this time to help the older kids learn some essential skills. Aside from reading, writing, calculations, and bartering with people, after a few kids asked if they could learn some survival and adventurer skills, those were taught as well. Whatever the kids wanted to do after they left the orphanage was at their discretion.
The caretakers and the director didn’t like the idea of some of them becoming adventurers, but they acknowledged it had happened in the past. The majority of the caretakers were once orphans from this very orphanage, and they have experienced their siblings becoming hunters or mercenaries and disappearing from their lives. They wouldn’t encourage it, but they acknowledged having people like us teach them some basics would help them prepare if it did happen.
While Tasianna and I were playing with the kids, two caretakers took a few kids to go shopping. Apparently, the curry we served today was so delicious that the kids ate more rice than expected. They wanted to fill up the rice stores before it potentially empties out at dinner tonight.
43 humans and beastmen have become your fans
Total fan count updated. Total fans of [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]: 2600
“Big Sis, you’re an incredible singer!”
“Our Big Brothers and Big Sisters told me you had a consuuart where you sang a ton of your songs! I’m sorry we couldn’t come! We had to go to sleep, the Sisters told us.”
“Yes, so please sing more! Your voice is like a gift from the Goddess!”
I heard Eshe brought the older kids and a few caretakers with her when she came to my concert. She didn’t take up one of the VIP seats due to the kids, but they were apparently still protected by an entourage of lycerepth members. Also, Pestrodus didn’t come, despite my personal invitation. Disaaaaaaappointing, yo.
As such, I had managed to turn Eshe, those kids, and the caretakers into my fans but not the younger ones. I knew the orphanage was large from the number of kids I could see, but seeing 43 of them becoming my fans at once came to me as a bit of a shock. I was just at my first song!
Okay, I gotta add this one.
“Okay, kids, this is a song in a language I used to speak in my home country. You guys probably won’t be able to understand it, but I’m sure you will like it. Are you ready?”
““““Yeah!””””
Breathe in, breathe out.
“I wanna be the very best ♫
Like no one ever was ♫
To catch them is my real test ♫
To train them is my cause ♫
I will travel across the land ♫
Searching far and wide ♫
Each Pokemon to understand ♫
The power that's inside ♫
Pokemon! ♫
Gotta catch 'em all ♫
It's you and me ♫
I know it's my destiny ♫
Pokemon! ♫
Oh, you're my best friend ♫
In a world we must defend! ♫”
If you grew up in a musically gifted household with a mother who is pretty much an otaku, learning random anime songs was pretty much a childhood memory. Papa never really liked them, but it wasn’t as if he could just complain when Mama and I were having fun.
As such, my gifts to Peolynca were songs normal citizens will never, ever fully understand. RIP my pocket monster master dream, but now you will be known by these kids.
“Pokemon! ♫”
“““Puukimuun!”””
I was a bit worried that we were being a bit too loud for the neighbor’s taste, but none of them came to complain. I wondered if it was ‘cause of me. Regardless, worry didn’t stop me from giving these kids an amazing mini concert just for them.
As we reached the last few songs, my throat began to feel a bit tired. Healing the soreness using magic was a non-issue, but I still preferred letting it heal by itself. Still, I didn’t want to stop singing just yet so I used some healing to patch myself up. After I stretched a bit, I began the next song…
… until I heard a kid shouting for help.
“HELP! HELP! SISTERS! BIG SIS!”
Huh?! Isn’t that—!
My singing stopped and I snapped my head around, straining my ears and eyes to detect the source. None of the kids nor Tasianna were aware of the sounds, but I trusted my ears. Activating my [Detection Sensor], my eyes focused on the signal running towards the orphanage, with two others following right behind it. When a small girl sprang out of the corner of a house, I saw who it was.
Abi?!
“BIG SIS HESTIA! BIG SIS TASI! HELP!”
As Abi cried out for help, two tall, intimidating men jumped out of the corner she came out from. The two men looked like menacing gangsters and it baffled me why the hell they were chasing after Abi. After all, Abi should have followed the caretakers to the market to help them with the grocery as a punishment. Where were the others?!
Move!
As Abi ran out of the alleyway, she almost tripped over a broken tankard, but that action caused her to stumble and lose speed. This gave the two men a chance to catch up to the small girl, easily closing the distance between them. Seeing this, the fire inside of me exploded, flaring my wings up into action.
As the men were about to grab Abi, my legs and wings moved. I jumped over the fence and charged forward with [Gale Steps] and [Air Steps], dashing through the air to grab Abi right out of the clutches of the men and blowing them away. As I retreated closer to the orphanage with Abi, the men recovered from their fall, standing back up.
“What the HELL are you two assholes trying to do?!” I shouted with a crying Abi in my arms.
The men didn’t answer, clicking their tongues at their prey getting swiped away. As they weren’t about to answer, Abi forced herself to speak through her fear and tears. “Sthe-Sniff! They stook away Yeffon, Danny, and the others! They hurt the Sisters when they tried to protect us, Big Sis. They hurt them and Yeffon when they helped me escape. They took everybody away!”
Abi’s red face filled with snot and tear streams was causing a burning rage to swell inside me, something that I haven’t felt in a while now, an anger that only appeared when my friends or loved ones were hurt by somebody. I could feel myself nearly exploding at this very moment, but my parallel minds suppressed me, reasoning that I needed to control myself to keep from unleashing [Draconic Aura] on Abi and the other kids.
They were right, but not ‘cause of my [Draconic Aura]. I knew I could control that aura, what I couldn’t was how badly I would mutilate these two pieces of filth. Scaring the kids with something as traumatizing as how much blood I would squeeze out of their bodies was something I have no intention of doing.
“You two fuckers dare?! Where are they?! Where are the two grey-robed priestesses and where are the kids?! Answer me!” I roared out.
“S-Shit, run! There is more merchandise on the streets!”
“F-Fuck, can’t believe we getting in this much trouble for a coin of a dozen!”
What?!
“Who allowed you to run!” As I saw these men sprinting away without hesitation, I held Abi even tighter to my chest and was about to activate [Gale Steps] again for the fast footwork, but my efforts were stopped before I could act, as two women suddenly jumped out of a building’s shadow.
“Oof! ARRRRRRRRHHHHHHH!”
“Urgh! ARRRRRRRGHHHHHHH!”
It was Saori and her shadow clone. They jumped out of the shadow and sucker-punched the thugs before using black lightning to temporarily stun them. An immense disappointment crept into my brain. It felt as if Saori just “stole” my prey.
When her shadow clone dissipated, she gave me a look. As I could understand what she wanted to say through her eyes alone, I clicked my tongue and loosened my embrace around Abi. With the commotion, the caretakers ran out of the orphanage.
I explained to them what Abi told me, assuring them that I would get to the bottom of this. After I asked Abi where she last saw the caretakers, I told everybody from Aurora that we will be departing to save them. Nobody argued back.
“B-Big Sis.” Abi came over to me, still crying.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get them back, alright? Trust your Big Sis, I’ll get them back healthy and safe.” I reassured her, to which she nodded and prayed for my and the other’s safety. After I patted her head, we departed, taking the two unconscious bastards with us.
“Thanks for stopping me, Saori,” I thanked Saori as we made our way to the marketplace.
“No need. It probably would have caused us even more problems if we couldn’t properly interrogate them,” Saori replied, but I knew instinctively that Saori was barely able to suppress her own killing intent. When I saw the red mist exuding from her eyes, the dragon inside me felt as if a rival hunter had taken away the prize we both wanted.
Once we were in the marketplace, Saori managed to track the grey-robed priestesses down in an alleyway, lying on the ground all bruised and bloody. From the looks of it, they were just beaten. It looked like they were treated like punching bags, then left there to die.
After I healed them, it took a few minutes for them to regain consciousness. Saori gave them some water to quench their thirst, and they began to retell everything that happened in an extremely fearful tone.
In essence, they were attacked by slave hunters. Child slavers, to be more exact. While most of the group kidnapped the kids, the few remaining ones began boasting about everything as they continually let their sadistic side out by hurting the two. They weren’t sure where the kids were taken to, as they lost consciousness after a while.
“Tasianna. Ellaine. Please, bring these two back to the orphanage for us.” My tone of voice and the expression I gave them were enough for them to interpret what I was planning to do. They nodded, agreeing to my plan. “Don’t worry, as a Champion of Goddess Aurena, I promise you that I will bring those kids back safe and sound!”
After they left, I raised a [Terra Wall] to block line of sight from the rest of the marketplace and covered everything around us with an [Air Shield]. After I splashed some cold water onto the two thugs’ faces, they woke up.
“Wha-What?! What happened?!”
“Argh, sheit, my jaw! Argh, how the fuck—”
“Silence.” Silent [Draconic Aura] exuded from my body as I gave out my order to these ants, instilling the primal fear of an overwhelming force back into their bodies. Stunned by my presence, sweat drenched their faces as they looked at me with quivering eyes. “Tell me where you brought those kids.”
“K-Kids?! W-Why do you wan— YARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHH AAAAGHHHH!” His blabbering mouth was quickly shut up by the chill-sending crack of his leg. As I raised my foot, the man grabbed his leg, crying out as the bone stuck out and blood sprayed on the ground.
“Last warning.” I pried his hands away from his legs before realigning it with a [Major Heal], healing it back to normal. “Answer my question, or I will continue this tenfold. Endless pain and you cannot die since I’ll be healing you. Speak, or you will beg me for sweet death.”
Saori’s black lightning could be heard crackling next to me, ready to send their muscles and brain spasming. Grimnir took out his hammer while he slowly let out a fire breath. None of us three were willing to do this the civilized way. Persuade through favors? Aurora does not deal with child molesting pieces of scum.
We hunt them down like the beasts they are.
The men didn’t last for too long. The intimidation technique was so effective that they emptied their shit midway through their confession. After Saori and Grimnir knocked them out again, I lowered the wall and the [Air Shield]. We brought them out of the alleyway and were looking for a guard to hand them in. The place where we were going, we couldn’t just rush in blindly.
“Lady Hestia?”
“Lady Eshe?” While going out, we coincidentally met Eshe. When I asked her why she was here, she told me she was on her way back from the meeting.
“Uhm, who are those two men? What are you doing with them?” she asked me, causing me to frown.
“They are child kidnappers. Slavers.” My words instantly made not only Eshe but the usually stoic Sir Alikar and Dame Anivh react. Even without me explaining things, from the look in Saori’s, Grimnir’s, and my face, they were able to deduce what happened. When I explained it to them, the face darkened even more.
“I’m getting them back, I promise this to you, Lady Eshe. Could you please handle these two and bring them to the guards?”
“…” Eshe stayed silent at my request, closing her eyes as she contemplated what I said. When she opened them, a rage similar to the one I felt a few moments ago could be seen in her eyes, contrasting her usual demeanor. “Allow me to help.”
There was no need to argue.
“Sure. Get ready, we’re going to Shaturein.”