Chapter 397: Hirschfield Orphanage

I am currently scouting out the Hirschfield Orphanage building. Having received directions from Isaac-san yesterday, I found the place soon enough.

Right now, I am behind the orphanage building. The cheerful voices of children could be heard, which made me quite relieved since starving children can’t sound that energetic.

Still, for an orphanage dedicated to the care of the more unfortunate next generation, it looked quite dilapidated. Rosendal’s facility actually looked better in comparison.

“Now, let’s see if I could get any information from the locals…”

I began to poke around, asking various people about the state of the orphanage. [6] Well, ‘tried’. With Fer and Dora-chan looming behind me, too many people just went ‘hii!!’ and ran away.

[6] “Ah, wait, please don’t go away. I have some questions…”

[6] “Hiii!!!”

This time, I quickly grabbed my victim’s hand and pressed a silver coin into it. I smiled and said, “This will only take a moment of your time.” [8] I channelled my inner sales promoter self and continued, “I’d like to know more about Hirschfield Orphanage. The more information you give, the more coins you will receive.”

[9] “Hii, eh, ah, eh, well, [4] ah, the orphanage is officially under the Church of the G.o.ddess of Water. It’s, ah, it’s run by an old man who’s also a follower of the G.o.ddess herself. Some say that he’s an ex-Adventurer and takes care of the children there as the director.”

[6] “The orphanage director’s an ex-Adventurer? He takes care of an orphanage all by himself?” this town is really unique. A former civil servant for a Guild Master and an ex-Adventurer as the Director of an orphanage.

[9] “He’s not alone, of course. Apprentice sisters from the Church are often dispatched to provide aid. Well, they have to, kind of, since the Director is the type to solve things with his fists. Oh, oh, but don’t get me wrong, he really loves kids and is very good with children. Those little tykes pretty much thought of him as their father.”

[6] “Sounds like a good guy,” I prompted.

[9] “You betcha! Ah, but that’s the thing about places running on donations. Technically, the local lord should subsidise the running of the place… which he does! The kids get proper food and things, but that mostly covered their basic needs. I mean, it’s not like prettying up the orphanage is going to bring the feudal lord any direct benefits, so there isn’t a lot of money left over for other stuff like building maintenance or other things…”

[9] The fingers around the silver coin twitched, so I put another coin into it.

[9] “Oh! I just remembered the church does donate some money to them too, but the Director would sometimes get local people to donate when he could, but, well, we’re not that well off either. I donate too, whenever I am caught- cough, cough, when I can. Ah, that is, we all do our best.”

[9] “I see,” I placed two more coins into the twitchy hand.

[9] “Ooh, well, if you’re looking to donate to the orphanage, the Director will be glad to take your money! Trust me, the place desperately needs it!”

[9] Then, the person sped off.

“… …” it did not look like I was lied to. My informant did not sound like he liked the orphanage director particularly much, but he also said the director treated the children well.

From the information I had gathered and from the glimpses I had caught of the building, the place certainly looked like could use some extra money to renovate their building. Certain parts of the roof looked so worn out that I had to wonder if it leaks.

Well, time to actually check out the place and speak with the orphanage director. [5] If I find that the people in charge are trash, I can just lower my donation amount and [6] force some terms and conditions under the threat of Fer.

Please read this at dot com ~

“Excuse me~”

I knocked on the door of the orphanage. It opened and I called out again. “Excuse me~”

Finally, a voice answered me.

“h.e.l.lo, uncle, who are you?”

The person who spoke was a little girl. She looked to be about 5 years old with rabbit ears on her head.

Although it was not uncommon to be called ‘uncle’ in this world, there were still things I cannot handle well.

“Erm, that is, could you call me older brother instead? By the way, would you call the director for me?”

“Okay~”

The little girl skipped away. [1] A little while later, she came in dragging the hand of a middle-aged man. He must be the orphanage director.

“This uncle says he wants to see you, Mister Director~”

Rabbit girl, I told you to call me ‘older brother’… [5]

“Oh, oh! It’s you… well, please, do come in.”

At the Director’s invitation, I stepped into the building with Fer and Dora-chan. [6] Suddenly, we felt eyes on us and more little faces popped up and the next thing I knew, we were surrounded by children.

They swarmed over Fer, cheering and petting at his fur. Other children chased after Dora-chan, fairly screaming with excitement.

Kids have no concept of fear…

““O-oi, what-””

“A wolfie! A dragon!”

“Hurray!!!”

““Wh-what are you guys doing!?””

Ah, two of my familiars have been mobbed. I guess it can’t be helped, Fer was really fluffy and Dora-chan was really cute.

“That a Fenrir?” [7] asked the Director impa.s.sively.

“Well, somehow.”

It was kind of hard to see Fer as the Legendary Beast Fenrir with children all over him and pulling at his, heh, fur. [5]

“Hahah, I was an A Ranker myself, so I can tell he’s powerful. While I’m out of the game, I did hear that someone’s tamed a Fenrir, so word gets around. Naturally, can’t quite believe it until I’d laid me eyes on it.”

[4] “Well, I can’t blame you,” I said.

“And the other one? A baby dragon?”

“No, it’s a rare Pixie Dragon. That’s their mature size.”

“Oho, a Fenrir and a rare dragon species? You are a very good Tamer.”

“Thank you, and this…” [3] I opened my bag to show him a sleeping Sui, “is my Special Slime. She’s my companion too.”

“Gahahaha! I have to say this is the first time I see someone with a Slime as a familiar.”

“Well, they were mostly looked down on as weak monsters.”

Suddenly, an excited voice called out, “Wow! A wolf and a dragon!!”

A young boy dashed into the room, running full speed towards the pile of children, looking like he was going to bodily throw himself at Fer.

He was snagged mid-run by the Director, “Hold it, Cornet. Your ch.o.r.es?”

“Geh, it’s the old man!”

“What old man? I’m the Director. Well? Ch.o.r.es [5]?”

“Ah, um, that is…”

“You haven’t done them yet, haven’t you?”

“Uh, hum…”

“You know that you can’t play unless your ch.o.r.es are done?”

“Hehhh?? But I want to play with everyone~ I want to play with wolfie and the dragon!”

“You can play with them, but only after your ch.o.r.es are done.”

“But…”

“However, it’s fine if you don’t want to do your ch.o.r.es. You can forget about dinner.”

“So what? It’s just some sad potato soup and hard bread.”

“Oh? So you don’t want dinner?”

“No! I mean, fine! I’ll do my ch.o.r.es.”

After a light, warning shake, the Director lowered Cornet to the ground and the boy returned to the depths of the building to tend to his mysterious ch.o.r.es.

“Haahh, it’s kind of tough when kids don’t listen. [6] Well, it’s still better for them to be a little rebellious than just listless.”

From what I can see, the Director was doing a pretty good job gently, but firmly enforcing his authority. It must be tough being the Director of an orphanage filled with rebellious kids.

[4] “Thank you for your hard work,” I said sincerely.

“Hoho, well, you’ve seen our orphanage. What does a fine Tamer like yourself doing in such a place?”

“Well, I, uh, I was thinking of making some donation and…”

Suddenly, powerful hands settled on my shoulders.

A teeth-filled smile covered my vision.

“You’re a wonderful person, aren’t you? As you can see, we are a rather poor and dest.i.tute inst.i.tution. We happily accept donations of any amount, any time of the year. Come, let us go inside and discuss matters.”

H-hold on. This old man is scary strong! I- I’m kind of scared of his smile.

Also, c-can you please take your arm off my shoulders?

Am I being escorted?

Nooo, I’m being dragged away into the depths of the orphanage….

“”O-oi, where are you going?”” [7] Fer sounded a little panicky.

“Ah, I’m, ah, going to speak with the Director for a moment. So, uh, keep playing with the kids! Remember to be gentle with them!”

““Hah?! Wait, don’t go! Y- hey, stop pulling at my fur!””

“”Uggh, these demons! My wings! My legs! These sticky fingers!!”” [5]

“Ah, well, it’s rare for the children to see such wonders as yourself. Take care of them while I’m gone!”

“”Don’t leave us!!””

The telepathic cry for help from Fer and Dora-chan is oddly synchronised.

“”Zzzz, zzzz, Sui is sleeping~~””

“*Cough* I see,”

“Alright, since the children are nicely occupied with wonderful playmates. The adults can talk here..”

Wh-what’s with that high-handed att.i.tude?

I’m starting to wonder who the heck put such a person in charge of an orphanage.

[Gumihou: There was really not much information on the Director (Male? Female? Probably male since Mukouda is still sane). Adjusted the dialogue to reflect a gruff, no-nonsense type of man]

[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs

[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs

[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue

[4] Structural Change: Change pa.s.sive sentence to dialogue

[5] Delete Repet.i.tive or Pointless Information… starting to delete pointless scenes now

[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose

[7] Add Dialogue Tag

[8] Creative Licence Taken – Added detail about making sales. In j.a.pan, force selling is something that happens and a lot of people fall victim to it because they were too polite to push the sellers away.

[9] Put in detail for the local informant. We have no details on face, gender, age, or species… The only descriptor of the informant was:

‘I decided to give them a silver coin as a trial and they began talking. They were even telling me stuff that I didn’t ask for.’

The extra silver coins are put in by Gumi to explain the ‘they were even telling me stuff I didn’t ask for’