Chapter 107
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: Orphanage (1)
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The weekend right before the evaluation exam—Saturday.
I took an intercity bus out to the countryside.
"There's... a hospital here."
Today was the day I was getting that so-called "Mana Quark treatment."
[Spring Hospital]
But Yuhains's private clinic was practically in the sticks.
Not total sticks, though. There was an intercity bus line, a mid-sized casino nearby, even some mines, and the mountains all around made for clean air. The problem was...
"What a dump."
The exterior. It looked like one of those hospitals from a TV show set 20 or 30 years ago. It even had a sign calling itself a "general hospital."
"..."
I walked in, my face full of suspicion. Fortunately, the lobby, counter, and facilities weren't as rundown as the outside.
"Professor Yuhains, please..."
"Ah, yes. Head to the director's office."
The nurse pointed me toward it. I nodded and went in.
Sure enough, Yuhains was there.
"Sit. Got the money?"
"...I did. But you're talking down to me again."
I set the bag of cash down as I spoke.
"Don't like it? Door's that way."
"That's not it. Here, check it."
I shoved the bag toward him. Yuhains peered inside.
"See? Exact amount."
A fat stack of unlaundered bills.
Hundred-thousand-won gift certificates cashed in from a [Headrip] commission, dark web DP from selling mandragoras converted to cash, plus every last bit of Soliet's signing bonus—200,000 ren in cold, hard cash.
"Let's keep doing cash deals like this from now on. What do you say?"
"Sounds like you're trying to offload the laundering to me."
Unfortunately, Yuhains was scary smart.
"No way. This procedure's off the books anyway, right? And you're way better at laundering than I am. I'm hopeless at it."
"..."
Yuhains glared at me wordlessly. My heart skipped a beat.
"Aw, c'mon. I'm a dantian cancer patient here. Gotta make 200,000 ren a month, but if I handle the laundering myself, that's down to 100,000. You gonna send me packing? Then—"
"Fine."
Luckily, Yuhains relented. I turned my head slightly and let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew."
"Follow me."
The professor stood and headed to the back of the director's office.
I followed.
It was the operating room.
"Pretty state-of-the-art compared to the outside."
"No dumber way to waste money than fussing over appearances."
Microscope cameras and monitors, surgical bed, lights, scalpel, suction, transfusion bags, vital monitors—you name it, top-tier gear everywhere.
"This is the Mana Quark treatment device."
He pointed to a slender cylinder connected to the ceiling.
"That?"
"Yes."
"...You sure?"
I was a little uneasy.
This was all I'd been banking on.
If it was a scam, I'd be thrown back into that hellish swamp of chemo.
"The quark treater's the whole ceiling—the entire second floor. This cylinder's just the nozzle spraying the quarks from up there."
"Ah, got it. But can you even run that thing here? No fuel or anything?"
"Fuel's my Spectrum, my mana, and the mana core inside the machine. That's why only I can use it."
'Spectrum as fuel.'
What confidence.
Well, nothing for it, then.
"Alright. I trust you, Professor."
At this point, not trusting him would be the real problem.
"I'm the director here. Change and lie down."
"...What? Surgery now?"
"The more revolutionary, the simpler. No need to wash up. Though I did."
If he hadn't, I'd have complained.
"Sure, whatever."
I stripped. Yuhains glanced at me.
"What're you looking at?"
"...You're filling out nicely."
"Oh. Yeah, dantian cancer symptom."
"Not every patient does."
"...Huh?"
Yuhains walked off without a word. I changed into the surgical gown—a green sheet with a hole for the gut.
—Lie on the bed.
A voice came from the ceiling speakers.
I did as told and lay down.
Weeeeng—
Machinery hummed to life, and the cylinder moved. It hovered right over my abdomen, while a blue glow from somewhere flooded the ceiling.
────.
A strange vibration crept into my ears. Or was it a sound? Faint, not quite either, but...
Sleep tugged at me.
—Just relax.
With those words, the drowsiness hit like a tidal wave, impossible to fight.
So this was...
Mana Quark treatment.
That brief thought was my last before blacking out.
At the northern edge of the Edshila Continent, in Armand's Arvilla Orphanage.
The remodeled and expanded old mountain school housed over a hundred kids and about twenty teachers, living like one big family.
"Forty thousand ren came in, can you believe it?"
Even as spring approached, the remote chill persisted, but today a warm conversation bloomed.
Thanks to sponsorship from Endex's theater team.
"Good thing, too. This month's been tight."
Armand had cheap land and prices, but the orphanage still pinched every penny. Drinking water from wells Dent had dug, firewood cheap from local loggers, fridge replaced by the cold climate, weekly beast hunts for protein—somehow, they kept the kids fed despite the thin budget.
Monthly funds hovered 300,000 to 500,000 ren from donations and council aid. Feeding, clothing, and housing 174 kids left zilch for staff pay.
No one seemed to care about the people actually doing the work.
"Hm. Decided how to spend it?"
Dent asked. He'd gone from instructor to director here. A demotion, really. This frigid backwater orphanage had cut ties with Libra main house—no family visitors, barely any contact.
"Well... maybe time for a TV?"
?Everyone freeze!
A kid's booming voice rang from outside.
Berry, wrangling the toddlers with her smartphone like a weapon.
?Inside! Playtime's over! No obey, no show!
Berry herded them in before lunch. Thanks to their class rep, the 5-to-7s were a breeze.
Dent chuckled.
"Buying a TV as late as possible might help Berry keep her grip on power, no?"
"Or make a TV room and give her the keys and remote..."
"Oh ho. That'd be better. We've got empty rooms to spare."
They planned to use the donation for a TV and field trip funds.
No law saying orphans couldn't enjoy culture.
"Eight thousand for the TV, rest for movies or plays...?"
Dent trailed off, staring somewhere. The teacher followed his gaze.
"Who's that?"
At the entrance. A woman and attendant stepping from a luxury sedan.
Her platinum hair whipped in the north wind; her coat and shades probably cost more than the orphanage's monthly budget.
"Not here for adoption."
Arvilla did accept adoption applications, but strict vetting meant only four so far.
World was rough these days—stories of kids turned slaves or organ donors.
"I'll go."
Dent stood, sword at his belt just in case.
"Ahem."
Crossing the yard, he cleared his throat and approached. A knight stood by her—not a low-rank like him, a real one.
"...Are you in charge here?"
The woman spoke first.
"Yes. Arvilla Orphanage director, Dent... What brings you?"
She removed her shades. Her face softened, looking almost childlike. To Dent, anyway.
"An orphanage... out here."
She scanned around in disbelief. Barren dirt playground, but swings, bars, soccer field—plenty of play gear.
"Yes, we have one... Huh?"
Dent's eyes widened. Seeing Elise, they went wider still.
Elise stepped back, uncomfortable.
"Wait, Elise Petra?!"
Dent kept up with College Board news. Obsessively, thanks to a certain participant. He knew six-star prospects like Petra's Elise, Arkne's Soliet, Gerkken like the back of his hand.
"Ah... yes."
"A celebrity like you, here? What's the occasion?"
"..."
Elise couldn't spit it out. She'd thought this was a "fake orphanage" tied to Sion Askal, just poking around.
Instead, Dent spoke first.
"Heard you're Endex's top prospect... You know Sion too?"
Sion.
Coincidentally, the exact reason Elise had come all this way.
***
At first, she'd thought it was a "well-crafted fake orphanage."
Not outright corrupt, just suspiciously perfect—enough to pass as real.
Sion Askal's money-laundering front.
Economics class was full of these shell companies.
Not that he'd founded it himself. Guy didn't seem capable.
But fronts that laundered via donations were everywhere. Elise figured Sion was pocketing cash through them...
Wrong.
"So this place used to be the Libra Orphanage?"
"Yes."
Director Dent told a totally different story.
"...I see."
Elise blinked blankly. Embarrassed, shocked, sorry.
She'd had no idea.
"It's a secret now, though. Ties to Libra main house are cut. Please don't spread it around."
"Ah... sure."
Elise nodded. Dent smiled at her.
"Still, plenty of space. No rent or taxes—it's orphanage land, donated by Libra main."
He chuckled heartily.
"...Yeah."
'Yeah' was all she could muster, but scrapping the orphanage made sense.
The old site was now Libra's financial district. Jade's foresight had paid off.
"So. Why's Petra here?"
Dent got to the point. Elise straightened up.