Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: 3. The Peaceful Daily Life of the Orphanage
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“Uh……aren’t you uncomfortable?”
“Yeah, Director? What about you?”
“Me? Well…….”
What is this?
“I’ll scoot a little closer to you, Director.”
“Huh? No, you don’t need to.”
“You’re not even covered by the blanket properly. This way, we’ll both stay warm.”
What the heck is going on?
How did things end up like this?
I recalled what happened earlier as I watched Laila burrow into my side under the blanket.
‘So, Laila asked to sleep together tonight.’
And I……accepted her request. There wasn’t really any reason to refuse.
Laila was already a special product I had to keep an eye on, and lately she’d been helping out a lot around the orphanage.
A simple request to sleep together was easy enough to grant. I wasn’t some deviant who lusted after my products. A vegetable vendor doesn’t lust after vegetables, right?
More than that, I figured sleeping together would just mean sharing the bed appropriately.
“Hey, Laila?”
“Yes, Director? What’s wrong?”
“You seem a bit too close.”
Why is she right up against my side? There’s space over there?
“Sorry. It’s been chilly at night lately.”
“Then I’ll go turn on the heating magic tool.”
“You’re already in bed. No need to go back and forth like that. It wastes magic stones too. Let’s just sleep like this.”
“Uh…….”
Everything she said made sense. The magic stones were expensive too.
So why did I feel so uneasy?
‘It feels like my adventurer instincts are kicking in.’
Just like when a massive crisis loomed ahead───
“Director, this reminds me of that time.”
“Huh? Oh, you mean the snowy mountains?”
“Yes. Back then, we shared a tent and slept……pressed together like this, right?”
Plop.
Laila, who had been lying right next to me hugging my arm, propped herself up a bit, then climbed on top of my chest and lay down. In an instant, we were like a sandwich, her face right up close to mine.
She wasn’t heavy or anything. Laila was on the light side, and I’d built up some muscle during my adventurer days.
But seeing her like this, our bodies overlapping under the blanket with her face peeking out……what could I say. We were so close our breaths mingled.
'She barely has any body odor.'
Even with all her work around the orphanage, Laila’s skin was amazingly clean.
And above all.
‘It’s suffocating.’
I couldn’t breathe. It was physically suffocating and tight!
Regardless of her weight, my lungs were compressed, making it hard to breathe!
“Your chest back then was……so warm…….”
“I-I see.”
I had to endure. Endure. Endure.
Can’t breathe? So what? For the noble pension, I could hold my breath a little.
This pain now would secure my retirement later!
“Di-Director? Are you happy to sleep with me too?”
“Why do you ask?”
“You’ve been grinning like an idiot since earlier…….”
Oh, thinking about the noble pension and my future must’ve made me smile naturally.
“Of course I’m happy to sleep with you, Laila. We share that memory from the snowy mountains, don’t we? It was dangerous, but a really memorable one.”
“You’re right! A memory just between you and me……”
Honestly, it was a bit too rough to call a fond memory.
Anyway, gaslighting her like this was essential so she wouldn’t forget me even after becoming a noble.
By the time I’d gotten somewhat used to the difficulty breathing, Laila spread her arms and hugged my chest.
“I want to sleep like this again. In your warm, wide, firm embrace…….”
“Not every day, Laila.”
“I know. But we still have a lot of time ahead. Here in this orphanage, with you──”
“Uh, Laila! Is something bothering you lately? You’ve been making these sudden requests, and you seem troubled.”
I hurriedly changed the subject. Why was she so resistant to being sold? She’d even requested a return herself.
As I desperately shifted topics, Laila’s expression darkened for a moment, then she buried her face in my chest and turned the question back on me.
“And you, Director……no troubles?”
“Nothing in particular.”
Don’t squirm up there. Can’t breathe.
“Really?”
Can’t breathe.
“……If I had to pick one, walking around lately has been uncomfortable.”
“Huh? Is your leg hurting?”
“No, it’s like……I feel these strange gazes. Like they’re scanning me or something.”
I threw out a suitable worry since it seemed like we needed to talk about something. It wasn’t even a lie.
The gazes weren’t that bothersome, really. If they were, I’d have grabbed my staff and handled it already. How to describe it──like probing eyes?
It was the kind of gaze I often felt during my adventurer days, so I was pretty used to it. Like, what’s that guy doing in Hella’s party?
‘I was a founding member, you know.’
Sure, I was the party’s weakest link and biggest burden, but still, I had my uses, so I wasn’t kicked out and even retired properly.
Anyway, it was a familiar gaze, and one I’d received a few times as an orphanage director, so it was a perfectly moderate worry.
“……I understand, Director.”
For some reason, Laila looked serious. After pondering for a bit, she looked at me.
“Does it happen every time you go into the city? Even inside the tavern?”
“Oh, how did you know?”
Well, the city’s full of people, so of course I’d feel it there. It was obvious in hindsight, but I played along with Laila.
And it was true I felt it in the tavern too. It was so faint I couldn’t trace it back, though.
Having heard my answer, Laila.
“………….”
Said nothing.
And squirmed again, burying her face in my chest.
……Couldn’t breathe.
*
“A letter has arrived.”
“It’s a long way from here to Luton, but thank you as always, Galen.”
“It’s only natural for your lord’s orders. Good exercise too.”
In the Empire’s north, at the Beril Count Family’s mansion atop the snowy mountains.
In the study there, Count Richard received a letter from Galen. It had been over a year since they’d started exchanging them.
“How is Laila doing?”
“She doesn’t seem to want to talk to me much……I’m sorry, Count.”
“No need. It’s my failure for not changing her mind yet.”
With a wry smile, Richard lightly tore open the letter. A neat handwriting, full of effort, caught his eye.
It hadn’t been like this at first. She didn’t know how to write, so the director had ghostwritten, but in just a year, she’d improved this much.
That didn’t make Laila a genius. If anything, it was proof of her grueling effort. How hard must an illiterate orphan have worked to write like this?
He liked that ferocity, that mindset, so even now, over a year after meeting her, he steadily sent donations to the orphanage and kept in touch.
But separately, the letters’ contents over the past year had been formulaic. Daily orphanage life, the director’s greatness, thanks for the donations. Nothing about adoption proposals or the Beril Count Family.
So Richard had expected the same this time.
“……Ho.”
“Count? What is it?”
“It seems a year of effort has finally borne fruit. Laila’s asking to borrow the Count Family’s power.”
“Really!?”
“Yes. I’ll write a reply, but Galen, I have a task for you. Help her as she requests.”
“……….”
“Galen?”
“I’ll of course obey your lord’s command, but may I ask one thing?”
“Speak freely.”
“I know why you favor that child. But even considering that, this seems a bit excessive.”
Galen’s eyes were filled with concern for the Beril Count Family and Count Richard.
Seeing that sincere gaze, Richard straightened up and faced Galen seriously.
“Go on.”
“Thank you. A year ago, I saw that child’s ferocity and mindset clearly too. If she became your adopted daughter, she’d serve you loyally. But she……keeps refusing your requests and just takes the donations. In crude terms, she’s using the Count Family.”
“Hm.”
“As a knight loyal to the Beril Count Family, does it bother me? Is that wrong?”
“Not wrong. Looks like I should explain to you too.”
Explain? Galen was startled by Count Richard’s suddenly grave demeanor.
At the Count’s gesture, curtains drew shut and a soundproofing spell covered the entire study.
“Count? What’s……?”
“After discussions with the head butler and our mages, we’ve concluded there’s a high chance that child has spiritist talent.”
“What? A spiritist!?”
“As you know, there’s no sure way to confirm spiritist talent, and spirits prefer different spiritists, making non-elf ones rare. But this is different. When Laila came, that ice spirit reacted.”
“But couldn’t it be coincidence?”
“Of course. That’s why we investigated the ice spirit thoroughly over the past year. No matter the stimulus or action, it stayed dormant as it had for decades. We even secretly brought in a spiritist, but no change. Yet it reacted once. Guess what to?”
“No idea.”
Flutter.
“When we showed it this letter. And not one the director ghostwrote, but one Laila wrote herself.”
“……!!”
“Meeting a spirit’s preferred spiritist is miraculous odds, but once it does, it fixates intensely. Enough to react to a letter like this.”
“Then sending donations at her every request is……….”
“It’s partly to adopt her, but more to gain a spiritist. That ice spirit is Spirit King caliber. Imagine the mountain lord of these snowy peaks as our ally?”
“……Understood. Sorry for the rude question, Count.”
“No rudeness. But this is top secret still. If word gets out, others might covet Laila. I’ll appoint you her dedicated knight, so don’t tell the others.”
“I’ll keep it in mind!”
“Good. Now……what about Orphanage Director Yujin?”
Galen currently had two missions. One was delivering letters between Laila and Count Richard. The other was investigating the director of the orphanage Laila belonged to.
Of course, it wasn’t a background check—just Count Richard’s personal curiosity. He was awfully curious about an orphanage supposedly better than the Count Family.
And every monthly report from Galen brought Richard fresh surprise.
“As I mentioned last time, Director Yujin devotes himself to the orphans. He cooks for them himself, uses his adventurer experience to find their aptitudes, plays with them actively while handling all the chores. Recently, he excellently arranged for a boy named Eric to be adopted in a way that nurtures his dreams.”
“As expected.”
“On top of that, those thugs from Happy Orphanage apparently ambushed Director Yujin recently. He barely escaped with his life, and Happy Orphanage fled with the money they’d exploited from orphans but self-destructed from infighting.”
“What happened to Happy Orphanage’s remaining orphans?”
“Well……Director Yujin stepped up first and took them all in.”
“Ha, I felt it then too, but what an impressive young man.”
“Indeed.”
He devotes himself to the orphans, spends all his time on them, and hesitates not to take in even more.
Not to mention risking his life to save Laila on the snowy mountains, or enduring burns to catch a fireball barehanded for a girl named Karen.
“Plus, his reputation in the village is overwhelmingly positive. He comes down often to bond with villagers, doesn’t cause trouble, and even helps with hard tasks.”
“How’s he using our donations?”
“I haven’t seen the expenditure ledger, so not certain, but he’s buying new beds, tools for the kids, better food, clothes—all for the orphans. With that much money, he could spend on himself, but aside from his initial ragged clothes, he hasn’t bought new ones, and his meals are very frugal.”
“That shows he’s sincere with the kids. In an era overrun by thug orphanages, he’s the sole conscience. No idea where such a kind, pure young man came from.”
“He’s a former adventurer, so maybe investigate that?”
“Good point. Stuck in these snowy mountains, I know little of adventurers. I’ll look into it next time I’m in the capital.”
The heartwarming tale made Count Richard and Galen smile. At the same time, the Count stood and spoke to Galen.
“Anyway, Galen, cooperate fully with Laila and leave a good impression. Even if she doesn’t become my daughter, get her to help us as a spiritist.”
“I’ll keep it in mind, Count.”
“One more thing. Even so, cooperating unconditionally makes us seem like pushovers, as you said. We should attach a condition here.”
“What condition?”
“That would be───”
*
A few days later, Galen arrived at the orphanage and handed Laila a reply letter.
Having read it, Laila nodded.
“I’ll keep my promise to the Count. As soon as possible, visit the Beril Count Family, right?”
“My lord has been waiting for you, so a personal visit would delight him greatly. So, where do you need the Count Family’s power?”
Count Richard’s condition was simple: Laila visit the Count Family mansion again with Orphanage Director Yujin and stay a week.
Laila accepted, and Galen nodded vigorously. Seeing his confident demeanor, Laila murmured lowly.
“I can’t reveal the Count Family’s name. But I need their military might.”
“Then I’ll pose as a wandering mercenary. Who’s the target?”
Galen vaguely thought of Happy Orphanage remnants or other local orphanages.
But Laila’s answer exceeded even that.
“Back alleys, slums.”
“Pardon?”
“The back alleys of Luton that dared target the Director……I’ll sweep them clean.”
Laila’s eyes.
Shone cold as ice.