Chapter Two Hundred and Forty-Nine: Society’s Distortions
“We’ve come to tour the orphanage. Is the director available?”
“…Aren’t you both too young to be hoping to adopt an orphan?”
At the words of the orphanage staff member, who looked annoyed, Karen, who had visited the orphanage with Julius, was taken aback.
“Huh?”
“Since you’re still young, you should try a bit harder first, and it’s not too late to consider adoption after you still can’t have a child. We do have almost too many children, of course. But being taken in once and then returned to the orphanage because you ended up having your own child after all—that’s the most painful thing for the child.”
The stern-faced female staff member seemed to be speaking out of concern for the children.
Understanding what was being said, Karen turned bright red and said:
“N-No, that’s not it! We’re not married!”
“Not yet. —I apologize for visiting without an appointment. We came to make a donation, but who should we visit regarding donations?”
“If it’s such a generous matter, the director.”
The female staff member looked up at Julius, her eyes widening at his beautiful features, but she didn’t seem to recognize who he was.
“May I ask your names?”
“I’m Karen, a B-rank alchemist.”
“I am Julius Ehlertt.”
“Oh my… I apologize deeply for my rudeness.”
The female staff member made a gesture of crossing both hands over her chest and bowing her head. It was a cleric’s bow.
“It’s fine. Have you recently come to the Ehlertt territory?”
“Yes. I’m a cleric who came to this region to help because they said the busy orphanage needed assistance.”
“I see. If the orphanage is busy, does that mean the number of orphans is increasing?”
“It seems so. The territory is prosperous, so the number of children is naturally high as well. I’ll show you to the director’s office right away.”
The female staff member—the female cleric in plain clothes—said this somewhat evasively.
Without passing through the orphanage itself, Karen and Julius were guided to the director’s room from the temple side of the same grounds. The orphanage Karen knew in the royal capital was run by the adventurers’ district guild, but the Ehlertt territory’s capital orphanage was run by the temple with support and donations from the Ehlertt Earldom. Therefore, the orphanage was attached to the temple grounds.
The room on the temple side resembled more the office of a high priest than that of an orphanage director.
“Please wait here.”
After the female cleric left, Karen said in a low voice:
“As expected, abandoned children seem to be increasing.”
“It’s because of what happened with Horst. It’s happened before, but the number of abandoned children with little magical power seems to be rapidly increasing.”
“As predicted.”
Karen sighed. It wasn’t hard to imagine the same thing was happening throughout the Kingdom of Earthfill.
“The Ehlertt household intends to increase support to the orphanage, so even if you don’t donate—”
Julius cut off his words mid-sentence and fell silent, then suddenly embraced Karen, who was sitting next to him on the same sofa.
“Mr. Julius!?”
Karen’s panic lasted only a moment. The next instant, one of several stones thrown in through the open window smashed a vase in the room.
“Run!”
Children’s voices came from the garden outside the window, followed by multiple running footsteps. Then rough footsteps approached from the hallway as well.
“What’s happening!?”
He must have heard the sound of the vase breaking. The man in his thirties, wearing clerical robes, who rushed into the office, looked at the room with stones thrown in, saw Julius protecting Karen, and turned pale as if grasping everything.
“I… I’m terribly sorry! Are either of you injured!?”
“Karen?”
“I’m fine because you protected me, Mr. Julius. Were you all right?”
“I wouldn’t be injured by something like that.”
After confirming Karen wasn’t hurt, Julius turned eyes that weren’t smiling toward the priest.
“Now then, would you explain what exactly this is about?”
“It must have been our children’s doing… Their education is lacking, and I apologize. This is all due to my lack of virtue as the director of this orphanage. It’s not the children’s fault, so please punish me.”
Saying this, the priest, identifying himself as the director, bowed his head. He was a man who looked to be in his late thirties with a worn-out air. He made no excuses nor pushed responsibility onto the children. Rather, he was trying to protect the children from Julius, who was pretending to be angry with a somewhat frightening atmosphere.
Karen nodded to Julius and took over the conversation.
“Please raise your head. Can you tell us why the children did this?”
At Karen’s question, the director raised his face tentatively and spoke:
“…Probably because they’ve despaired of adults.”
“Despaired?”
“The children who likely caused you trouble were recently abandoned.”
“Recently? But those children, I only glimpsed them, but they seemed over ten years old—”
About to say they must be different children, Karen realized.
“…You mean they were abandoned by parents who raised them until they grew that big, just because they had little magical power?”
“Exactly so.”
The director nodded with a bitter expression. Karen couldn’t help but look up to the heavens.
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