The next morning Kael left his room just before dawn. Opening the door he found Jessica sitting in the lotus position in front of it. Looking down at the woman who apparently fell asleep while cultivating he shook his head. Nudging her with his foot, she leapt to her feet as she awoke.
“Whoa, calm down there, I was just waking you up. Why are you sleeping in front of the door though?”
Clearing the sleep from her eyes she looked down at the child and said, “I was guarding your room of course.”
“If I knew you were coming back I would have gotten a bigger room and shared it. No need to sleep in a hallway.” Kael said to her.
Jessica looking confused asked him, “Why wouldn’t I come back?”
Sighing, Kael told her to never mind. Taking her downstairs for breakfast he outlined his plan to her while they ate.
“The building is in too poor of condition at the moment. I will hire people to help fix it up. However, it is also too dirty. There is too much rubbish in the way to get repair work going. The first thing we are doing this morning is heading into the slums. Since you have lived here your entire life you should know where an area with a lot of children is, right?”
Startled by Kael’s question about children she said, “Of course I know. I know this city like the back of my hand. Don’t think I will let you exploit those poor kids though! You are a kid yourself, didn’t your parents teach you morals?”
Thinking, This is exactly what I did not want, someone to badger me. Kael said, “Of course I am not going to exploit them. I am going to trade them a great meal for help cleaning.“
Realizing she misjudged him she said, “Oh, sorry, most people just want to take advantage of them though.”
Deciding to just ignore her Kael finished eating in silence. When they were both done he paid for the meal and asked Jessica to lead him into the slums.
After a half hour walk to the outskirts of the city, the two entered into an area that Kael could only describe as a shanty town. Looking around Kael thought, If people were more honest I wouldn’t even have to look for children. There is a veritable city of people out of work here.
Still following Jessica through the slums, she eventually stopped in front of an almost falling down building. Look over to Kael she said, “This is something like a self-governed orphanage. It is run by the older kids and they try to protect the young ones. They are a pretty honest bunch, but take on stupidly dangerous tasks in hopes of feeding everyone just one more time.”
Looking the crumbling building over he thought, Just what I was looking for. Waving for Jessica to follow him, he walked forward and pushed open the door. As the door swung open a gust of dusty air that reeked of musk and mould swept over him. Looking inside it was just one big room with piles of dirty fabrics that made up beds. Being just before dawn, the place was jammed full of children, almost all of them asleep.
When the door opened, some of the older children who were more adept to the streets immediately woke up. Climbing out of their sleeping place, they looked over to see a well-dressed child and a robust young woman. One of the kids, who appeared to be about 15, walked over to them with apprehension in his eyes.
“What do you two want? Here to suck the lifeblood out of us like everyone else?
Looking at the wary kid who was only a few years older than himself, Kael thought, Wow, if I did not get lucky, my lack of purchasing a family background could have landed me here. I was already going to help them, but I should pay some of that Karma back and do more.
Jessica interrupted his thoughts by saying, “Look, kid, we are not here to exploit you. We are here to offer you a fair deal. Help us with some cleaning of an old building and we will feed you.”
The kid snorted and said, “That’s fair? That’s like 5 coppers of food for a days work.”
Stopping the kid before his rant could build up, Kael said, “You misunderstand. My aunty here hunted a rank 3 or 4 boar. It has at least 1,500 pounds of meat on it. You guys come help us and you can eat all you want for lunch. Those who stay and help through dusk can eat all you want again. Before you leave we will cut it up and you can take whatever you want from it.”
Hearing the generous offer a kid who could not be more than 6 years old leapt out of his sleeping pile. “Are you guys serious, we can have whatever we want from it at the end of the day?”
The older child who was speaking earlier interrupted the young child by saying, “Don’t be stupid, they just mean the meat. How much can we carry anyway?”
Looking at the malnourished kid Kael was pretty sad. Living conditions like these were almost never heard of in the first world country he came from on earth. Saying, “Kid, you can take anything, the bones and tusks would net your little group a handful of silver. The food is enough to feed anyone here who is too sick to come as well.”
The little kid hearing this was so excited he was bouncing around, “See Mark, I told you they said we could have anything. You are always so negative! I am going to go help them. If they don’t feed us it is just another day without a meal, but if they do, I am eating until I am sick. I haven’t had meat in my entire life!”
Stopping the kids who were about to start arguing Kael said, “Tell your friends if they want to come to come. If they don’t then don’t. Tomorrow we will just look elsewhere for help if we need it. We came here because your little group has a good reputation. We have other things to do before you show up, so head over in an hour or so. We can’t use more than 50 kids, so don’t bring the entire slums.”
With that said, Kael told them the building and location. Confirming the kids knew where he was talking about he and Jessica left. After leaving the building Kael had Jessica take him to a tailor that was well known for helping the needy.
Arriving at the tailor's shop they found the shopkeeper was barely half awake but was in the process of opening shop. Jessica and Kael helped the man un-board his shop and prepare for the start of the day while chatting with him. When he was ready to start business for the day Kael was already impatient to give him his order.
Negotiating with the shop owner Kael purchased a bag and 50 sets of cheap but reliable work gloves. He also placed an order for 50 sets of linen clothes, 50 sets of warm cotton clothes, and 50 winter blankets. The linens were only 250 coppers for a complete set. The cotton clothes were only 500 coppers, and the winter blankets were just 1 silver each. With 50 coppers for a set of gloves his large order cost him a total of 90 silver.
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The value of money in the world seemed to finally click in his head. He remembered back to all his terrible negotiations and the amount of money he had tipped various people. He just hoped the gold piece he gave the villagers for watching over the old women would actually be effective.
Leaving the tailor with a bag of gloves Kael stopped and called out to Jessica. After a little arguing, he gave her 20 silver and orders to buy 50 cheap boots and at least 10 shovels. Letting her know the boots were not needed today but the shovels were, the two parted ways as Kael headed over to his building.
Not wanting to waste any more time he rushed through the streets that were just waking up. Arriving at the building he went inside and took out his boar. Looking over the monstrous thing he decided the best way to cook it was in a pit. Still waiting for Jessica and the kids he went outside, dropped his bag of gloves, and started marking places off for the days work.
About 10 minutes later Jessica showed up. It was kind of comical seeing her carry 10 shovels at once. Holding back his laugh, he had her give him one and told her to dump the rest to the side.
Getting to work he started digging out his pit. Even with his cultivation digging an 8 by 6 pit that was 4 feet deep was taking him some time. About halfway through digging his pit a bunch of kids started trickling in. Looking at Kael standing in a pit with a shovel, digging a hole, while wearing silk clothes blew the kid's minds. One little girl even shouted, “Stop! You are ruining your pretty clothes!”
Ashamed that he had not even considered it, Kael climbed out of the pit and looked down at his dirt covered self. Apologizing to the young girl he said, “I’m sorry, I was just impatient to start cooking up the pig for you guys and wasn’t thinking.”
At Kael’s apology, all of the kids were shocked. No rich person had ever shown the slightest bit of empathy to them, let alone apologizing to them. One of the older children, ever wary of people asked, “So where is this giant pig you were talking about?”
Asking them to wait a moment, Kael told Jessica to retrieve the boar from inside. She gave him a confused look while he just made a shooing gesture to her. While still confused she walked to the building. As she left Kael started to pick out kids.
“You 5 older boys, come and dig this pit about 2 more feet in depth. The rest of you boys go gather up some large rocks, we need enough to cover the pit.” Pointing out the little girl who yelled at him earlier, he gave her a silver and said, “Grab a few of your friends and go buy a bunch of firewood, as much as they can carry.”
The little girl staring at the silver piece made a swallowing motion. Her stomach rumbled as she imagined all of the food she could eat with a silver piece. Sighing, Kael changed his orders. Having the 20 or so kids who were gathering rocks and the other 10 or so girls that were there gather up, he asked them all to go with the little girl. Sending them out to buy food for breakfast for the 35 kids. He told the little girls to carry the food and the boys to get firewood. Giving them 1 more silver just in case they ran out of money he sent them on their way.
After the little kids left one of the older children asked him, “Aren’t you worried they won’t come back?” To which Kael chuckled and replied, “Nope, if they leave you here to dig a hole and run away you will probably beat them later.”
As the kid was about to say something else the sound of Jessica exiting the building distracted everyone. As the kids looked over they saw the woman exiting the building dragging a boar by its tail. They realized that the two people did not lie, that boar was gigantic to them.
Kael watching Jessica dragging the pig frowned. It looked like she was actually struggling some. Walking over to her, Kael grabbed the pig by a front and back leg then whipped it up over his head and onto his shoulders. Giving her a disgruntled look he carried it over to the side of the pit and dropped it.
The loud bang of the pig hitting the ground shook everyone out of their stupor. Staring at Kael like he was a monster the older boys started frantically digging the pit.
Jessica walked over and asked him, “Just how strong are you and how could you possibly need a bodyguard?”
Shrugging Kael said, “I don’t know, 3,000 pounds isn’t a big deal to me. The real question is, how strong are you?”
Jessica, shocked again, answered without thinking, “After training my body like mad I have about 650 pounds of strength.”
Realizing there was something seriously wrong going on, Kael asked the kids to come get him when the pit was dug. Taking Jessica inside for a private conversation he headed into the back of the building. Making sure to be far enough away from the kids so they would not overhear he asked, “Jessica, you are a spirit general right?”
“Of course, I am a rank 2 spirit general, why?”
“How can you be so weak? I don’t mean to be rude, but what kind of cultivation technique have you been using?”
Staring at the child, his immense strength clicked in her head finally. “I did not train with a cultivation method. I have just been absorbing energy since I was younger to cultivate. The reason you are so much stronger is probably due to you using a cultivation technique.”
Hearing her words Kael had the same moment of enlightenment she did. No wonder pops did not want me to give out our cultivation method. From what I can tell, I am three times stronger than her. Of course, perfection realm helps, but my cultivation method must be freaking awesome!
Nodding to her Kael said, “You are right, it slipped my mind. My Family doesn’t hoard knowledge amongst ourselves. This is the first time I have come across a person who has cultivated without a technique. My apologies for being rude.”
Jessica, feeling extremely depressed said, “It’s fine, that is why noble families can always suppress us, commoners. I just think you are wasting money on a bodyguard.”
“No, I need you to act as my guardian. I may not be in danger, but I don’t want to draw attention to myself. Let's change your job. From now on your job is to pretend to be my kind aunt who is helping the children find work to lift themselves out of the slums.”
“Ok, but what about the older kids, they know I am your so-called bodyguard now.”
“No problem, as long as they are getting benefits they will not say anything. At the worst, they will think I am a rich kid who feels sorry for them.”
After coming to an agreement Kael sent Jessica outside to supervise the kids. After she left he took out a set of cotton clothing and changed. Storing his silk clothing he went down to see how things were going.
Seeing the kids still digging, Kael jumped in to help them. They finished the pit just as the other kids showed up with way too much firewood and food. Thinking, I keep forgetting that a silver goes a long way. Kael directed the kids to dump the wood off to the side of the pit and to eat breakfast. While they were eating Kael took off to go buy some supplies he forgot.
When he got back the kids had piled up stones to one side of the hole and were staring at Kael, who had a giant bag over his shoulder, with expectation.
Dropping the bag next to the pig he reached into it and pulled out about 5 pounds of salt. After retrieving the salt he simply turned the bag upside down and dumped it. Burlap, canvas, and a bunch of corn husks fell out. Filling the burlap up with cornhusks, he told one of the older kids to go to the well behind the building and soak the entire bundle. While they ran off Kael had the kids start putting wood in the pit while he prepped the pig.
Making incisions every few inches down the side of the pig, he would then stuff rock salt into it. When finished with that he took the corn husks the kids had came back with and stuffed the stomach and chest cavity of the butchered pig with them. Using a wire, he sewed up the pig when he was done.
Quickly starting the fire, he told the kids it would have to die down some before he put the pig in. For now, they should start cleaning. Giving them the gloves and instructions to work on the first floor of the building, he told them to throw everything out. After some discussion, it was decided to make a pile on the left for garbage and a pile on the right of stuff the kids might want. Once negotiations were done the kids scurried off to start working.
20 minutes later Kael filled the top of the pit in with rocks, leaving the hot embers underneath to heat them. Once satisfied he then began wrapping the pig in the huge sheets of wet burlap. In the end, it came down to him lifting the pig and Jessica wrapping it. By the time they were done another 20 minutes had passed and the fire started to die down. Throwing the pig bundle into the pit, Kael then carefully covered it with the wet canvas. Once done he piled dirt on and left nature to do its work.