Chapter 192 So it was like that
In fear of the women seeking for more sweets, Yuu who had a glimpse of their abyssal greediness left the adventurer guild and then headed for the slums.
As they walked through the streets of Urban Comer towards the East, the shops started to gradually decrease and the private houses started to decrease as well.
The quality of the people travelling also changed, when you look at their feet, you could see that they were barefoot. There were people wearing rags for clothes and children who were thinner than average playing on the roadside.
Yuu wearing armor and sword in such a situation and Marifa in a maid dress were standing out quite a bit.
They were attracting attention, but no one was brave enough to take them on.
This was because as aristocrats had their own network and merchants had their own merchant information network, in the same manner the people living in the slums had their own information network.
Although there was no certain evidence, but the slum dwellers knew it.
Especially among the Mafia that was spread out in the slums, they knew that it was Yuu who had destroyed the Daniel Family overnight which was not a simple poor Mafia family. In fact, every single Mafia family that had been fighting day and night over the rights for the slums immediately stopped the battle after the Daniel Family was crushed.
Until recently, people who were up to the neck about killing each other had all dropped it altogether. In addition to this, a security company was established where the people who were previously hostile to each now worked together.
Up until now, the Mafia had been sticking their nose into the shops by demanding protection fees and were managing the brothels. These were still better compared to the ones that were running down at the bottom, things such as robbery, extortion, and human trafficking were all just icing on the cake.
But now those people were focusing themselves on the right job.
The crime rate involving Mafia families sharply declined in the city, and Comer City was slowly transforming into a city that was more secure and was enough to compete for the top 12 positions in the Udon Kingdom.
「Odono-sama, I picked it up!」
Until sometime ago, Namari who was walking together with them suddenly disappeared and now she was dragging a thin child that could even be mistaken for a corpse.
This was not particularly in any way unusual.
If someone took a short stroll through the slums, corpses could be found here and there.
And most of the corpses were of children or old people.
Weak ones would quickly die away.
This was quite natural and nothing could be done about it.
There is no world in which everyone could live happily without hunger and to say that such a world exists is nothing more than the words of the religious temples or fraudsters.
「Namari, why have you once again picked up something from the ground? Please throw it away right now.」
Marifa chides Namari, but Namari blows those away as if they were wind.
One would have expected that Marifa would get angry in regards to the attitude of Namari, but Marifa also knows that she can't come out too strongly, since she herself had over 17 wolves to look after.
「Odono-sama, look here.」
When Namari picks up the hand of the child and lifts it into the air and let go, the arm falls lifelessly back down.
There was no reaction in the eyes of the child, nor did the child resist to the actions of Namari.
「Do you want to die like this? Or do you want to live?」
The child could not answer Yuu's question, as the child could only slightly move its mouth.
Even so, Yuu was waiting for the response of the child.
「o...inside.....water......」
The child seemed to have no tears or voice as it was already dried out, but the child was able to squeeze out a voice.
Looking at the smiling Namari and seeing Yuu, the child answered loud enough that could be echoed across the street, the child wanted to make sure that they could hear the voice (or scream in this case).
「I want to live!!!」
「Come with me.」
Yuu as the head had given his permission, Marifa had nothing to say to Namari anymore.
Koro fell down in front of Namari without even being ordered by Marifa, Namari put the child on the back of Koro.
「T'Tasty! T'ast~y!!」
You could not even believe that this was the same person who was terribly thin and looked like a corpse a while ago. The child was eating bread and soup at a terribly quick pace.
When the group and the child who was weeping arrived at the orphanage, Yuu cast a simple recovery magic at the child while the Sister prepared some bread and warm soup.
Currently, Yuu and the gang were in the slum area.
Even if it is called an orphanage, it was an orphanage that was in the slum area.
Even though they get operating expenses from the country, there were no donations from the aristocrats or merchants. The Sister that operated the orphanage alone makes sure that the children did not starve, so they could only eat sparingly and somehow not starve to death. Every day of their life was a struggle.
But no matter how hard the Sister tried, the donations never increased.
In the first place, it was impossible for those in the slums to have enough money to offer. Everyone had to try their utmost to survive every day.
It was not just once or twice that the Sister, when she went out for donations, was assaulted.
(TL note: No, not in the way you’re thinking. It was more of a robbery.)
It was thanks to Sister who went out to the city to ask for donations on a general basis, but the amount of money obtained would at most be a few copper coins.
Even buying food from the money that she collected, was still very little which was not enough to fill the belly of the children. The Sister was even prepared to die with the children. The Sister forgot her prayers to God, which she used to do every day, due to the despair in her heart.
That was until--
Suddenly.
Yes, the situation had abruptly improved.
A black-haired boy had appeared in front of Sister.
Behind the boy were malnourished children who were lined up.
Sister tried to refuse that they could not accept more children, although they were about to die from hunger soon. But the boy offered to donate regularly if they accepted the children.
The word donation caught the throat of the Sister.
While doubting the boy's offer, the Sister still accepted.
Even if she refused him, the Sister had no people to trust or have an income to rely on.
And so she accepted them.
From then on, it was a series of surprises. The boy took out a large amount of food from a sack, perhaps it was an item pouch, and then served everyone a meal.
Next, the boy took out gold and silver coins unceremoniously and gave them to the Sister and disappeared somewhere.
Suddenly, with so much money on her hands, the Sister was concerned.
This was the slum area.
Without having any power, there was a large amount of money in the orphanage which could not be shown to the public. It was well known as to what will happen to people who had no power but had large amounts of money on their hands.
The Sister was surprised as if her heart was about to explode when the sound of someone striking the door was heard. Making sure that all the children were sent to the back and hiding the money, the Sister opened the door slowly.
There were men with bare upper bodies with mallet and wooden planks in their hands.
Aa, while the Sister was thinking that this was the end, the men started repairing the orphanage by saying "We have already received money to repair the orphanage and therefore we will be starting.", and thereafter started to repair the orphanage.
The real identity of the bare upper bodied men who were pouring inside, were carpenters.
The rag house which could not prevent the wind from entering satisfactorily had then turned into a full-fledged rain preventable orphan home.
Furthermore, men who were wearing the same kind of clothes were walking around the orphanage. Although they looked very crude, the work that they were doing was pretty decent.
Unbelievably however, they seemed to have been protecting the orphanage.
Since the men began to roam about the orphanage, the ruffians that were trying to swindle the Sister and kidnap the children were not seen.
At last the Sister noticed that the black-haired boy, who promised to give donations regularly, did indeed donate as promised.
The boy was also accompanied by a demon child as well as a dark elf in a maid dress.
「T'astyyo, hi gu, T.....T.....asty..~~~」
「Do not panic, no one here will deprive you of your food, you can eat slowly.」
The Sister gently stroked the head of the crying child who was eating.
「He seems to have been really hungry. Looking at that, even I am feeling that I will get hungry soon.」
「Stupid! If you keep saying that, you will make me get hungry!」
「Then, why are you crying?!」
「Well... that is because… Namari-chan will tell you.」
「Eee!? I don't really know though?」
「Look there~ Even Namari doesn't seem to know!」
The children in the orphanage began to make a fuss around the child that was weeping and crying. As if they had forgotten that they had been in the same position quite a while ago.
「Sister, I want you to take care of him as well. Namari... had picked him up without permission.」
「Please leave it to me. I will make sure to nurture the child responsibly.」
The recurring donation from Yuu was always on time, and finally the Sister was full of motivation because she was able to manage the orphanage properly.
「I'm going to find out!」
Namari with an *Ehem* puffed out her chest with pride, while Momo who was sitting on her head started to hit her head with a *PeshiPeshi* saying 「That was not a compliment.」.
At first the children were looking at the newly arrived child as if the child was a rare creature, but after a while they got bored and started to run around in the corridor.
The children were enjoying while brushing their hands through the fur of Koro. The children who were stroking Koro could feel the soft sensation of running their hands through the glossy hair.
「Yuu-niichan, is this fine?」
A boy came towards Yuu.
Previously the child was thinner than thin, but after the meal and since the circumstances of the orphanage had improved quite a bit, the child had some flesh on him and the color of his blood was getting better and better.
「What is it?」
「I am, I am thinking of going to work. I have always been being taken care of by Sister and so I want to help out as well.」
When the Sister heard what the child said, she broke down into tears. The surrounding children immediately surrounded Sister and started talking to her worriedly.
「You, how old are you?」
「Probably... around twelve years old.」
「All right.」
Yuu removed a communication tool from his Item Pouch.
「It's me. I am here at the orphanage so come here. Ah? Just come over quickly.」
Yuu abruptly cut the communication device without saying what happened.
As for this communication device, it was a thing Yuu and Russ had separated, analyzed, and mass produced from what was found in the Marine Vessel of Marinma Kingdom who had invaded against the Nameless Kingdom previously.
After about 30 minutes, three muscled people came into the orphanage.
They had several scars on their face, coupled with brute muscles, it was enough to cause fear to the children.
「Sister, they are scary~」
「Scary...」
「Uwaa~~」
「It’s fine. Look, I’ll carry you all so come here.」
Although the Sister was frightened inside, she still said it was fine.
This was because among the three of them, the Sister knew one who was part of a group well-known to do bad things.
「Oi, the kids are all crying because your faces are too scary.」
「Eee!? Please don't be so unreasonable, because this is how we generally look.」
「It’s true. Moreover what did you want to say Boss-- Gehh, head, why are you hitting me?」
The smallest among the three was given an elbow strike. The man who had received the elbow strike tried to talk back but noticing that Yuu was staring at them, he remained silent.
「I have told you this many times, stop calling me Boss.」
「Yes. We understand that, but please forgive this one. He is a little off in the head. So, what did you call us here for?」
「Wamuru, come here.」
When the name was called, the boy who had said that he wanted to work came to Yuu.
「This one's name is Wamuru, he is looking for a job. Employ him at your place.」
「We don't mind, but....」
The man who was called the head gazed at Wamuru.
Wamuru was the eldest in the orphanage. He tried not to get intimidated or frightened and continued to stare back at the head.
「I think I understand.」
「Haa... Two days off in the weekend with one hour break during work days, and you will return before sunset, ok?」
「Yeah. Also don't forget to get lunch and snacks.」
「Haaaaaaaa. It can't be helped...」
「Goshujin-sama, are you not satisfied?」
Marifa's eyes turned sharp towards the attitude of the head.
The hair on Koro, who was standing guard to protect the children, had stood up.
「No, no! Please don't complain! Please pardon us! 」
The head knew that the dark elf they were looking at was a person they could not offend, for if they offended Yuu who was the master, she would kill even the nobles without mercy.
「There are more children falling on the roadsides again. Are you not patrolling properly?」
「That is of course! There are more and more people. I mean, as Bos--I mean as Satou-san said, the security of the slums are getting better and better, and so more and more people started to work honestly by going to the city and is steadily on the rise.
It is hard for us to extend ourselves into the mafia that are aiming to move to Comer’s general public, which is turning into quite the problem because of that.」
It is true that the City's population had been on a rise steadily.
Money would move as more people gather and merchants would gather wherever money moved. Employment would increase as merchants increased and this would repeat.
The population of Urban Comer, which was said to have been a little over 200,000 including the slum area, have risen to 250,000.
「Ah that's right. Isn't it a good thing to have a job?」
「Gwu..... That is certainly correct....」
The security company that Yuu had launched initially in a Mafia occupied slum, are the employees who were shunned by merchants and the general public. But this was originally because they had mastered the methods of crime which was the main deterrent for the merchants. While the demand had now increased, they had started to sleep sparingly and work diligently. Especially for those people who were entrusted with positions, their hardships are immeasurable. The head was one of them.
「If you’re not too busy, I would like to hear about the current condition. Tell Einaru to spare some time tomorrow for us.」
「Yes, understood.」
「My business is done, is there anything that you want ?」
「That is. I did want to ask you this previously but, is it really fine to keep helping the orphanage like this?」
The words of the head and the subordinates who were in his left and right had the same thoughts. Everyone at the security company was unable to understand the rebuilding of the Onboro Orphanage, which was in the slums and even putting in money and personnel to guard the orphanage.
In addition to that, Yuu was always busy but he is even using the staff to patrol around the orphanage to make sure it was safe.
「What? Do you not even understand such a small thing? I did tell you all before that I had quite a lot of enemies, right? I know that due to my aid, they would misunderstand and try to put their hands on the orphanage that I am helping out. Wouldn't this make it a trap?
Simply said, you understand until here right?
The reason I am helping the orphanage is so that the stupid people would get stuck into the trap.」
「「「Ehhh. It was like that.」」」
The three men could see Yuu's eyes which showed no emotions.
The Sister behind Yuu smiled while staring at Yuu, while the children behind were making noises such as 「It's a trap desuzo~~」
Marifa proudly puffed out her chest.
「You guys know that I am lying, right?」
「「「Pu, I did not think so at all!」」」
「Are you trying to make fun of me?」
「Please Boss, give us a break.」
「Wait don't run away. Come back here.」
The men, who couldn’t stand being laughed at, ran away quickly from the orphanage.
Yuu went back inside to those who were remaining--
「Is it really true?」
Everyone smiled.