Sigurd's jaw dropped. It was strange enough the way Theodor saw the world. Now Elizabeth rescued a waste of society without even hesitating. How were their parents educating them?

“Thank you, thank you.” The dwarf took the girl's hand trying to express the gratitude he felt.

Seeing this, Sigurd did not know whether to intervene or not; On one hand, the dwarf could be dangerous and on the other if he escalated a conflict, what could a coward like him do? But soon the dwarf released the girl.

“Sorry miss, where are my manners?” Doblin apologized trying to clean his hands on the rags he used as clothing.

Theodor, who was halfway down his skewer, noticed what had just happened. Glancing between his hand and the dwarf, he sighed as he concluded what he should do. Taking one last small bite of one of the pieces of meat, he stretched out his little hand, offering Doblin what was left of his skewer.

The dwarf and Sigurd's eyes widened when they saw that the boy had also decided to share his food. Falling on the ground, his forehead touching the pavement, Doblin again thanked the children for the gesture of generosity.

Immediately the dwarf got up and began to devour the pieces of meat that had been given to him. Never in his life had he eaten something so delicious.

" Done, " said Elizabeth, shaking her hands and starting to walk in another direction.

“Eli, wait for me,” said Theodor wiping the fat of his mouth with his sleeve.

The two little ones soon became the center of attention in the flea market. The first reason was that they were wearing extravagant and colorful clothes made with flowers; and the other was the intimidating nerthus who followed them everywhere, buying everything that caught their attention.

Darthañan and Frigglene headed to the flea market when the purchases they deemed appropriate were complete. And as they walked looking for Sigurd, as they hoped to be able to identify him in the crowd, they began to listen to the people around them.

“Those young masters must be nobles from the high islands,” said a voidmaw who was lining up to buy the curious skewer of ferampig.

“What would a highland nobleman do bringing his children to a garbage dump like this?” Asked a semi pink-brown canogon.

“Yes, never in my life have I seen a nobleman who cares about people on the street,” answered a gray canogon woman.

Darthañan raised an eyebrow at that last comment. The job of the nobles was to manage the lands and take care of all the citizens.

" They must be the sons of some wealthy merchant, " said a dwarf whose face was adorned with what looked like four mustaches.

“And when have you seen that merchants teach their children to give money away?” Asked a yintreck looking at the dwarf as if he was stupid.

“But if they are not the children of nobles or merchants, how is it that they have those fine clothes and so much money?”

Frigglene's ears twitched at those words. Something inside her was beginning to tell her they were talking about their kids, but for some reason she felt it wasn't good news.

" Frig, there is Sigurd, " said Darthañan, pointing to the huge nerthus.

When they got close enough they could see how the two little ones walked in front of Sigurd delivering food skewers to everyone they saw lying on the street. The Nerthus, who carried the huge bag from which the children took food, occasionally changed the skewers when Tod or Eli delivered something that the person could not eat. Behind them a line of more than twenty homeless people followed closely.

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“Where did they get so much money?” Frigglene asked Darthañan without understanding how they had bought all that food. If her husband had given them so much, they would not have enough to subsist during the trip.

“It wasn't me,” Darthañan answered understanding the meaning of his wife's question.

“Daddy, mommy!” the children shouted when they saw their parents.

The crowd suddenly opened up, giving way to the two little ones. Neither Darthañan nor Frigglene knew how to react, but seeing their children running to hug them, they did not hesitate to return the hug.

Seeing all the attention they had on them, Darthañan decided that it was better not to continue in that place.

" Let's go, it's almost lunchtime, " he said lifting Elizabeth.

Frigglene nodded and when she was going to carry Theodor she realized where the idea of all this had come from.

“Theodor, when you do good things you don't have to hide your right arm,” said Frigglene seeing that the little one was imitating Laxus.

“Yes mommy,” Theodor answered taking his arm out of his shirt.

They immediately left the flea market carrying their children. Sigurd and the twenty-odd beggars walked behind them.

Arriving at one of the inner squares of Gorudo, Darthañan couldn't take it anymore stopping and asking:

“What do you want?” being silently followed by so many suspicious people was making him nervous.

Sigurd moved to the side, allowing both Darthañan and Frigglene to see who was following them.

All theh stopped and kneeled silently. They were all skinny and dirty, the smell that came from their bodies reeked.

“I asked you, what do you want?” said Darthañan a bit exasperated. This was not exactly traveling in a low profile.

None of the homeless spoke. Doblin one of the dwarves among the beggars clenched his fists and braced himself.

“We want to serve the family of  the the masters!” Doblin shouted due to the nerves he had.

Darthañan turned to see his wife. First Sigurd, and now all these people. What the hell was going on with their kids?

Frigglene shrugged, indicating that she didn't know what to do either.

“Only if you are willing to give us your blood voluntarily we will receive you,” proclaimed Darthañan once he decided that both accepting and rejecting them was a bad idea.

The way he thought about it was that giving up their blood voluntarily would cause all these people to reconsider their decision. Practically they would be becoming their slaves and no sane person would be willing to give up their freedom for a little food. Sigurd was one thing, but finding more lunatics was unlikely.

And as Darthañan predicted, several of the destitute began to get up and walk with their shoulders hunched and signs of sadness on their faces. One by one the people began to leave; however, contrary to what Darthañan came to think, eighteen beings remained kneeled in front of him.

“I’m talking seriously,” said Darthañan taking out a small magic acacia knife that he kept in his belt.

“Are you going to kill them?” Theodor asked worried to see his dad take out the knife.

“No darling, how can you think that? He is going to make a contract like Sigurd's one,” Frigglene answered quickly so that his son's words did not cause a misunderstanding.

None of the beggars moved. There were worse things than serving under someone with good principles. Furthermore, they had resigned themselves to live on the streets. They knew very well that if they were in the kingdom of Zhenkster they would have died as slaves long ago.

Darthañan sighed, resignedly passed little Elizabeth to Sigurd, and began the procedures to carry out the contract with the eighteen individuals who from now on would be loyal to them.

Six voidmaws, five dwarfs, four canogons, and three yintrecks.

Although travel costs would increase considerably this was the investment they should pay to gather new forces to protect themselves from their enemies.

And so the day ended with the addition of new members.

Forgotten was the fact that Sigurd had been the one to sponsor the children's donation spree with his funds. No one ever found out.