Sizzling!
"Enemy attack!!"
One night, the alarm system along our property detected an intruder. Well, it could just be a visitor or a wild animal, but it's best to prepare for the worst. —And most of the time, reality comes at about 45 degrees above and to the left of that.
Since I was relaxing in the living room with Reiko, we were able to deal with the situation quickly. The surveillance panel-shaped potion container confirmed the location of the sensor-shaped potion container that detected an intruder. I pointed the infrared camera-shaped potion container on the roof in that direction and zoomed in. And put it in an LCD monitor-shaped portion container—how troublesome!! No more "xxx-shaped portion container"! All the things that shouldn't exist in this world have been created as potion containers! For the sake of our own safety, we will not hold back. Safety first. This is common sense!
...And what's displayed on the monitor was—
"Children?" (Both)
Yes, a boy around 5 or 6 years old and a girl around 10. The two of them were slowly approaching the building, peering around. They looked a little older to us because they were Caucasian, but we were used to it now and could roughly tell their age, unless they were significantly larger or smaller than average. And of course, the age judgment also took into account "adjustments for upbringing." —Orphans, due to their nutritional status, were generally smaller than average. And there were no obese orphans.
"...Orphans?" (Reiko)
"Perhaps" (Kaoru)
As I answered Reiko's question, they were the perfect example of orphans. It seemed that their clothes were somewhat better originally, but they were already dirty. Although the clothes were not too worn out, a normal family would have washed them. Since they did not appear to have done so, it was safe to assume that the children were orphans. Moreover, they were homeless children who could not even be placed in an orphanage. ...Now that I think about it, this place used to be an orphanage...
"Anyway, there are thieves as young as 5 or 6 years old and murderers around 10 years old, so let's not let our guard down!" (Kaoru)
"I know!" (Reiko)
In response to my warning, Reiko nodded.
Yes, that's the kind of world it was, and there were plenty of countries like that on modern Earth as well. And we were, after all, spoiled and weak women born and raised in a peaceful country. If those who had lived desperate lives got serious, there was a good chance that we would be stabbed with a knife in an instant. Even potion making and magic could not always counteract a knife being thrust at us faster than a fraction of a second. Yes, we were both rear guards, or long-distance fighters. And Reiko had never killed anyone. That was a big worry. That's why, kill the enemy before they get close. So—
"Intruder has reached the first defense line. On the regular route..."
Oh, instead of sneaking in, they were heading straight for the front door. If you went around the path to the entrance, there were traps and other welcoming facilities waiting for you, but we didn't set up any traps on the path to the entrance. Because sometimes we might have guests, or we might get caught in them. However, coming straight probably meant they were trying to rob something. But the only reason I could think of some homeless kids visiting someone's house in the middle of the night was to steal or beg. And if they were begging, they would probably be there during the day or early evening, when scraps were usually available. Definitely not this late at night.
Not wanting to reveal secrets unnecessarily, I held a dagger in my left hand and a small bottle of explosive potion on my right hip, while Reiko was equipped with a short sword and a small crossbow.
...It seems that in preparation for this day, she had been practicing how to handle various weapons in Japan. Tsk, if I'd known I'd be reincarnated too, I would have made lots of preparations! Anyway, everything was ready and we waited for our guests.
Clang, clunk!
And after a while, the sound of the door knocker was heard. Apparently, they were not thieves but genuine guests. However, there were two dirty-looking kids there at this time of night without an appointment. They were hardly respectable guests. But there was no point in playing hooky. It just postponed the problem, and the next time they came, they might not be so forthright. Here, we should greet them normally, or even friendly, to get information.
"Yee~s!" (Kaoru)
So I opened the door and greeted them cheerfully—
"Eeeek!!" (Both kids)
The two children jumped back and fell on their bottoms.
"D-don't kill me!!"
Ah. I was holding a dagger in my left hand, and behind me, Reiko wais aiming with a crossbow. ...That would be scary...
"So, you guys used to live here?"
"Yes, I grew up in this orphanage. Then a year ago I was taken in by a merchant from a neighboring territory, and for some reason I was made to work as a slave, rather than as an adopted daughter as I had been told beforehand. I soon began to feel in danger, so I seized the opportunity to run away. I took this child, who had just been adopted like me, with me…" (Mine)
Wow, that's heavy... But, did they take her in just to use her as a slave from the start? What a villain.
"And since we had nowhere else to go, we came back here. It also serves as a report of our new home…" (Mine)
"Y-Yes..." (Aral)
And so, after walking a long distance with a younger child in her arms and fearing for her life, she finally arrived home only to be greeted not by the headmaster and his comrades, but by daggers and crossbows. Well, that would be a bit of a downer, huh...
A nine-year-old girl who was desperately explaining, Mine, next to her was a six-year-old boy named Aral was intently munching on bread and soup. I could have given them meat dishes or something, but apparently if they were so hungry for so long and had to eat something hard to digest, their body wouldn't be able to handle it and they would vomit, so I gave them soft bread and soup. I made the soup with lots of ingredients, just in case. Mine also ate bread and soup before speaking. Perhaps she's a small eater, or perhaps she knew that it was not good to eat too much all at once, but she didn't eat much— However, the fact that Aral continued to eat without stopping might be due to personal reasons.
Apparently Mine's real name was Minette, but due to a rule specific to the orphanage, she was simply called "Mine." It seemed to be common in orphanages to give children short, easy-to-pronounce names so that they were easy for young children to pronounce, and so that it took as little time as possible to call their names in order to stop them from engaging in dangerous behavior. And when the name was known when they were adopted, if the name was long or difficult for a young child to pronounce, it was often shortened as a nickname. Well, long names were a disadvantage in the struggle for survival. Japan also had a moral story called "Jugemu[1]"...
Anyway, today I fed them, gave them a bath, and gave them a place to stay, and tomorrow I had to ask the real estate agent where the people who were running the orphanage were now and think about the children's future. It would be really bad to just leave them here and let them starve to death or end up in the slums. Also, to most people they might be "just an orphan," but to me they were the same as Emile and the other children of "The Goddess's Eyes." Pushing these kids away would be the same as pushing away Emile, Bell, and Layette-chan. At the very least, I had to find them a decent destination and send them off...
Come to think of it, this was an orphanage. Why was it vacant and for sale? Orphanages weren't the kind of places that would normally go bankrupt. They weren't originally profit-making businesses, so it's unlikely that they would experience a decline in business or have a rival company form— If the country is decent, the lord is decent, and the people in the town are generally decent, it seems unlikely that an orphanage that has been running up until now would suddenly go bankrupt...
Were the operating funds supported by the country or the feudal lord, or were they covered by donations from the townspeople? And did that suddenly stop? Hmm, I'll ask the real estate agent tomorrow... I should have asked before I bought it, this is why it was for sale. Surely this isn't a property that has been the subject of an accident or a haunted house, right...?
Author's Note
I will be taking our annual New Year's holiday.
Therefore, there will be two breaks and the next update will be on Thursday, January 9th, 2020 at 00:00.
We look forward to your continued support next year! (^^)/
Translation Note
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugemu