They finish their lunch in little time after that and promptly leave the place after paying for the meal. For clarification, the queen is the one who pays for the three of them, despite his protests.
As they get out of the establishment, he notices things he has not paid any attention to before. They have been traveling non-stop on foot, so it is natural that they are mentally drained and hungry. Because of that, he has ignored the scenery before they eat. But now that he is full, he takes in the scenery full of stone structures the likes of which are popular in medieval Europe. Some even have a sort of gothic influence.
This is more than just a passing resemblance. But, maybe because of the availability of the same kind of resources, this might have happened.
He thinks as he observes the stone-paved road and people passing through it. There are many kinds of people around. Some wear regular grey or brown commoner clothes, some have weapons and armor equipped, some are wearing luxurious clothes and some even have ornaments on their bodies made of gold or silver. Some are just passing through, And some are haggling with the merchants. Some of them are enjoying the food from the street stalls such as skewers, and fried or roasted meat wrapped in bread with condiments and herbs. There is versatility in hair color, eye color, the shape of the face, height, and body type. There is the versatility of race, but humans are by far the largest in number.
There is a gentleman with black crow-like wings on his back. There is also a lady with a little long pointed ears and bluish-green hair. There is a man with the height of a child yet full grown beard and ears pointed outwards selling liquor. There is a man with a tail and ears just like those of a cat and his companion has a trunk like an elephant with large ears. There is a woman who has a pale white face and is wearing pure white garb and avoiding sunlight with a parasol.
Those are the normal parts that he observes. There are many not-so-good parts as well. At least for his sensibility that was cultivated on earth. There are many people with injuries and in bandages, which he thinks is unusual considering the existence of healing magic. There are a few even with missing limbs. The hygiene of the place is lower than he would like, there are insects buzzing around the street stalls, though the sellers are trying to get rid of them so they don’t actually land on the food.
The biggest problem he notices is the children begging for food. They are wearing tattered clothes and some of them even look beat up and in pain. Most of the people passing by just ignore them. He has seen this thing on earth as well but the number of them and the age is just too different. Children are between the ages of 4 to 8 approximately. There are adults begging too but there aren't as many.
This is just negligence on the government's part.
He thinks as he turns around and asks the royal duo,
"Why are those children begging?"
In contrast to the nonchalant look he had on him most of the time, he is now serious. He remembers his own childhood spent in loneliness and struggle for survival. He can relate. On top of that, he believes taking care of their children is a parent's responsibility. And if they do not have parents then the government should provide assistance to them. That is what he wholeheartedly believes. So, he decided to ask the queen about it. The queen answers his question while in confusion.
"Those are mostly the children of dead adventurers. The adventurers who recklessly take on quests that are above their caliber or when something goes wrong do not return alive and their children get left behind like this. If they are not taken in by relatives, they begin begging to fill their stomachs."
As she answers, he thinks of something and opens another question.
"What happens to the children afterward?"
He asks her with curiosity but the queen feels like she is being interrogated and Aria stays quiet with a sad look on her face. The queen quickly answers,
"If they are really lucky, the relatives of fellow adventurers of the dead take them in. But most of the time, they die of either starvation, malnutrition, or disease. Some of them who are relatively older might get a job somewhere for cleaning or running errands and survive. In rare cases, if they seem to have a talent, they might catch the eye of adventurers or merchants. May even get enslaved if a shady slaver catches them."
He put on a frown as he heard her answer, his eyes were getting distant as he remembered the loneliness and hopelessness he himself felt as an orphan. But, he pulled himself back and shot another question,
"Aren't there any orphanages?"
As he asks this question, the queen and Aria put a sad smile on their faces and the queen continues,
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"It is left to the local nobles to take care of their subjects for hundreds of years. Some of the more righteous and able nobles build orphanages and take care of these children until they come to a certain age and some even provide them with education to take on a fulfilling role in society. But most nobles do not. They stand behind the views of the church. It simply says everybody is born bearing a certain destiny and it's the responsibility of the person themself to overturn it, if they want to. The noble take it at face value and declare that they cannot interfere with god's will by interfering with their decided fates of living on their own."
He heard the answer and thought about what to do. He then says,
"And, this place is run by one of those phony guys? Well, religion has the power to make a good person do morally wrong things so it isn't surprising that the bad guys will use it to their own ends. Still, even if you disregard humanity and empathy, there are still logical reasons to nurture these children. Children are one of the greatest assets of any nation and the future of it. If given a chance they might just be the best in their field when they're older and can be useful to their homeland. They should be given a chance to grow up into functioning members of society. In my opinion, it should be mandatory for governments to take care of orphans and otherwise unfortunate children."
He reveals his opinions on the matter without anyone asking while not revealing his personal connection to the problem. He further adds,
"We'll talk about this issue after we solve the uprising problem. I'll think of a temporary solution in the meantime."
Saying so, he goes to one of the children and asks him to call his friends. The royal duo is curious about what his temporary solution would be.
He walked up to one of those children and told him to call all of his friends. He reminded him to not leave anyone out and promised him food. He believes that if he gives money to those children, they might get cheated by shopkeepers or lose it, so he decides to fix their food problem first. He paid money to two of the nearby street stalls and told them to feed the children. Contrary to his expectations, both the shopkeepers were smiling and in a good mood. They even gave a heavy discount. One of them said,
"We also want to help them out, but we only barely make a living and cannot afford to feed them all. At the very least we will let go of profit on their food."
Meanwhile, More than a hundred children gathered. The boy he had spoken to gathered them from nearby market streets, where they were at the moment. Akito told the children to eat their fill and go back to where they lived and to send the children who didn't make it. He paid generously to the vendors so they would feed them if they came later. The onlookers were watching this scene with interest but didn't want to intrude. When they finished eating, he told them to come back in the evening at dinner time and the children left with satisfied and happy faces, thanking him. He then moved to the vendors again,
"Look, I will pay for it, give them good food three times a day."
And he gave a whole platinum coin to the two vendors. They, however, are confused.
"Nobody except high-ranking nobles and big merchants uses these coins. We won't be able to make use of them. Also, this amount of money is too much, With this, they can be fed for months."
Akito put on a frown and said,
"Look, figure it out. How to use it? You're grown adults who lived here for more than fifty years by the looks of it, How do you not know how to use a large amount of money? This is in case I don't come back for a few days and I don't have change for such a large sum, you are responsible for their food from now on. You said you wanted to help them, right? just do it. Also, if you pocket the money and neglect them, I will find you and I will kill you, so do keep that in mind."
When he says that, both of them are frightened. Their hands are trembling. Although they don’t know about his physical prowess, they are scared because he just offered the highest denominator currency without batting an eyelid. And in their society, rich people have power surpassing the limit of their physical strength. They are sweating bullets as they don’t think they are allowed to say no to his ‘request’.When both of them nod their heads, he takes it as them agreeing and leaves, saying,
"The name's Akito. You'll hear from me again. Bye."
The queen and her daughter follow. After a minute of walking they are now a little far from the stalls, the queen asks says while a look of astonishment on her face,
"I didn't think you'd start right now. At least they won't have to worry about sleeping on an empty stomach anymore. But, it kind of came out of nowhere."
"Don't just be impressed, this is supposed to be your job."
When he said that the queen had a sullen look on her face. And says with a wry smile,
"I also think the same, but unfortunately my husband is the one sitting on the throne, not me. I don't have the authority to interfere with these things or change the laws."
When she said that, he understood.
"Because you're a woman?"
The queen falls silent for a moment before affirming him.
"No matter how high the position of the queen is, I can't interfere in these matters. I can only give my opinion in the court when these things are being discussed but the final decision stays with the king and his advisors. It is the same with nobles, women have less power than their husbands."
"One more thing that needs fixing."
He tells the queen, that she doesn't understand what he means by fixing.
"Well, if I'm living here, I'm gonna need to fix a lot of things anyway. Let's go at it one by one. I also have to find a way to go back to earth in the near future. For now, let's go to the guild. I'm getting excited. I've read a lot about this thing, let's see if it holds up to my expectations."
When he said that with little excitement at the end, the duo was confused by the sudden change of topic. But, they caught up and Aria said,
"We should visit the church first. There will be a column for your title, skills, and magic on the registration form."
As she says that, he gets more excited and says,
"Not only magic, there's skills and titles? Can't wait to find out mine. Let's go!"
And so they changed their course and went to the church where another problem awaited them,