The loud ringing of first bell woke me up. I rose up and went out of bed, planting my feet on the wooden floor. The children seemed to have woken up as well. I'm the orphanage director not affiliated with the church, I make sure to take care of the children by bringing a roof above their heads and bread on the table.

The orphanage is composed of two floors and a cellar, with the second floor being the living space where we sleep. The ground floor is where we keep kitchen and dry our clothes. With the cellar mostly being used for storage.

I waved the children to continue sleeping and went downstairs. It has become cramped in the orphanage lately, with the foundation of the Adventurer's Guild Association Branch in Asgelius, more and more people have circulated in. While the adventurers do help us with fending off beasts and monsters, it also results in headaches with them dying and leaving their family behind. A sad fate that falls to their children when they live a life where they constantly risk their life.

I went outside of the orphanage with a bucket in hand, and saw a crowd of people around the water well. The crowd were mostly women and married women gossiping among themselves with me being the sole exception. My name is Ruben, I was the oldest orphan at the time when the previous director had died. I was suddenly faced with responsibility to take care of my younger siblings, and I have to take care of them all on my own. It's not that I'm not happy with my current life, I do love my siblings. But no one would want to marry an orphanage director like me.

Any woman that would marry me will be shackled with the same fate as me, needing to feed a dozen mouths. I have long since abandoned the prospect of marriage, until I met Rita. She was beautiful and she was an amazing seamstress. Trying to wait for my turn to well some water, I try to strike conversation with her.

"So... what are you doing here?" I awkwardly tried to start the conversation.

"My mother asked me to well some water for her," she replied with a smile, which made my heart beat faster.

"O-oh! Good to know that you're doing well," I tried to hide my blushed face, covering my ears and cheeks with my hands. "So... wanna visit the orphanage with me? I mean, it's fun. We can play with the children if you like."

"Hm, maybe next time," she replied, stepping back.

Soon enough, it was my turn and I went back to the orphanage with a bucket full of water. Going back, I propped the bucket into the table.

I went down the cellar, and grabbed a few vegetables that I bought from the market, some dried fish, and some milk. As well as stale bread. And headed to the kitchen and propped them in a nearby table. I started by starting a fire, chocking firewood into the stove furnace. I then grabbed some tinder nearby and ignited it, carefully putting it inside the furnace.

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I started by grabbing a wooden cutting board from the rack and a knife. I started cutting the potatops, a kind of starchy root crop. Then I cut the carrops into chunks, as well as the celerits. I then take a pot and swiftly put the vegetables in, as well as the water. With the fire finally ready, I propped the pot on the stove and boiled it, cleaning the vegetables and removing the dirt.

After the vegetables were done boiling, I quickly discarded the dirty water and put the clean vegetables back on the wooden cutting board. I used the pot again and poured in the milk, some water, the vegetables and the dried fish and let it simmer for a bit.

With the stew done cooking, I called for the children upstairs. "Food's ready!!"

Cheers and yelling erupted from upstairs, soon after rumbling footsteps. They then, sat at their respective tables, bowls ready. I poured in the stew in their bowls, as well as giving them bread one by one, until it was finally my turn.

It was finally my turn, delighted humming can be heard as the children stuffed their food in their faces. I did the same, ripping a piece of the hard bread and dipping it in the stew, plopping it in my mouth. Soon enough, I ran out of bread. I gripped my bowl and brought it to my mouth, gulping the stew down. Damn it, didn't get any fish or vegetables again.

Soon enough, second bell rang. I waved the children to go to the forest outside. During second bell, which was about 3 hours apart from first bell, adults would start doing their jobs and children would go to the forest to forage firewood, fruits, and anything useful to support their family. Most commoners would rather have their children to forage rather than to waste precious money. It's also pretty safe considering that the adventurers drive away the beasts in the nearby forest, although accidents do happen sometimes.

I started by gathering the strewn out clothes in the second floor. I then put them into a basin and grabbed a washing board, it's a wooden board with a corrugated surface that allows for the clothes to be rubbed more efficiently. I also collected the left over ash in the furnace. I then headed outside to the well again.

The well was again surrounded by a crowd of mothers and single women gossiping with each other. I ignore them and gathered some water and poured it into my basin. I also took out some of the ash and mixed it with the water. Then I started rubbing the clothes against the washing board. The process isn't actually that bad, but it's pretty boring to do. I need to do my job to earn us some money, but I'm stuck with washing the clothes. It's good that my foreman understands my situation, but if I arrived earlier at the carpentry I could have gotten more customers and earned some more money.

Done with washing the clothes, I discarded the dirty water and rinsed the clothes with clean water. After that I returned to the orphanage. Setting the basin down on the table, I started to hang the clothes on the strings hung inside the orphanage's ground floor.

After that, I get ready for my day at the carpentry workshop, or at least that's what I expected. Someone knocked at the door. "Hey, Ruben, you still there?"

"Yeah! Still here, what is it?" I yelled back to the door, approaching it.

"I think we found one of your young'uns... She doesn't seem to be in great body..."

"What?!" I screamed, rushing to the door and twisting the handle open. The forest should have been safe! The adventurers have been guarding it damn it! Who got hurt?! "What happened to the othe-."

I opened the door to find Belri and Kian, fishermen and childhood friends of mine... But what they were carrying, no who, was what made me confused. She was like a goddess, pale white skin, tiny little lips, soft white hair like the clouds, more importantly. "...Who is she?"