The Slum Children

Once they were all in agreement, the three decided to meet once a week to share information and plan ahead. As the only one among them who had actually seen him, Carolyn drew a portrait of the doctor who called himself Henry. Though she wasn't an expert at drawing, Carolyn's portrait and description were enough for Benedict to create a more realistic image of the suspect. Carolyn was slightly frustrated by the fact that Benedict's portrait was more accurate than hers, but she didn't let it bother her too much.

"Okay. It's best to assume he won't look like this anymore, but I should be able to find something with it. I'll see you two darlings next week."

After Lavender left with the portrait, the mood became strained with Benedict and Carolyn alone in the room, at least to Carolyn. Benedict was enjoying another cup of tea, looking the same as usual, but Carolyn had something to get off her chest.

"Mr. Benedict, I made my decision. Once everything is settled, I'll..."

Upon hearing her plan, Benedict took a sip and then looked at Carolyn. She was nervous, but he saw no doubt in her body language. He couldn't read people's emotions through their eyes as well as she could, but his years of experience made up for the difference in talent.

"I see. It'll be a more difficult path, but I suppose this way suits you better. Though, who can say if they'll accept it."

"Hmm? By that, what do you-?"

"Derrick and Lety should be up by now, so you can go see them. I'll monitor the children, so stay quiet regarding that doctor. Derrick's likely to go search for him either way, but it's best not to motivate him."

"Uh, okay."

Carolyn was curious about what Benedict meant by 'if they'll accept it', but he clearly didn't plan on answering and she did want to check up on the siblings. As she thought about them, Carolyn remembered she hadn't brought anything to help Lety recover, but she could do that after seeing the two.

When Carolyn left Benedict's office, most of the children had woken up, so the church looked more crowded. Though her singing improved their impressions of her, the general stance towards her was still that of wariness. While greeting the children as she passed, Carolyn went to Lety and Derrick. Lety was still feeling groggy while Derrick was attending to her. Derrick had just checked Lety's temperature, so he knew she still had a fever, but her complexion was better than yesterday.

"Good morning. How is she, Derrick?"

"She's still got a fever, but she's doin' better than before."

"That's good to hear."

Carolyn didn't think Derrick would lie about his sister's condition, but there could be something that he missed, so she subtly checked her condition.

'Good. It looks like she's well on her way to recovery.'

"I rushed here first thing, so I'll have to go back for some ingredients to help her recover. By the way, what were you planning on having for breakfast?"

"Breakfast?"

"I mean, what were you going to eat in the morning? Before lunch."

"Oh. You're probably used to eating three meals a day but 'round here we don't have any a that 'breakfast'. Call it lunch or dinner, but we usually get to eat once a day thanks to the Priest. If it wasn't for him giving out soup and porridge, there probably wouldn't be as much of us here right now."

Hearing his story, Carolyn felt like slapping herself for not taking their circumstances into consideration. Despite having her village destroyed, Carolyn had never felt the pain of days of starvation, so the concept of lacking food to eat was one she understood in her mind but had forgotten to apply to reality.

"I'm so sorry. I thoughtlessly-"

"Stop it, stop it. I know you didn't mean any harm. Besides, like I said, we're doing better because of the Priest. I can never put my mind to sitting down and learning, but he teaches us kids all sorts of stuff so we can make money and buy food for ourselves too."

"And you chose pick pocketing?"

"I said I couldn't put my mind to learning! That's just, a force a habit."

Carolyn hadn't overcome her guilt, but she knew showing him pity or sympathy would only get him upset, so she tried to act normal.

"Since the Priest makes soup and porridge, does that mean there's a kitchen in the church?"

"Yea. I've never been in there, but some of the kids help when it's food time and you can smell when he's cooking."

"Okay. I'll talk to the Priest before I leave and then I'll be right back."

"Whatever."

Since she had kept her word so far, Derrick believed she would be back, but he still didn't want to act too dependent on her.

After asking Benedict a few questions about the kitchen, Carolyn left the church and went back to the Wild Boar Inn for her wallet and bag. When Carolyn returned to the inn, a greeting from Margaret surprised her.

"Mornin' Carol."

"Miss Margaret? Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Two days was more than enough time for lazing around in bed. The kids are still worried about me but I can't settle down if I'm idle like that, so I had Mila let me take care of things out here."

"I see. Well, make sure not to push yourself."

"At the very least, I don't plan on embarrassing myself again. What about you? I hear you ran out in a rush earlier."

"Yes, I know I was being reckless, but there was something I had to check."

"It's fine. We all have our problems."

Margaret didn't pry any further, so Carolyn went to her room for her things and then came back down.

"I'll try to be back for the lunch rush."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure we'll figure something out."

Carolyn didn't think Margaret was lying, but she and Mila were both the type to endure before asking for help, so she didn't retract her previous statement.

After leaving the inn, Carolyn went to buy ingredients to cook for the children. She hadn't made anything since reaching the city, but she had bought groceries for the inn before, so she knew where to look. Given the time and the number of mouths to feed, Carolyn didn't plan on making anything elaborate, so she quickly bought everything she needed, but then she ran into a problem. She could handle the weight of the ingredients, but it would be difficult to move through the slums with them. She didn't want to label all the slum residents as troublemakers, but the reality was that if she entered the slums with this much stuff, someone would likely try to rob her.

It was then that Carolyn spotted someone and had an idea for how to transport the ingredients back to the church.

Meanwhile, back at the church, Lety was asleep while Derrick looked after her. He would have been fine acting like they were the only two there, but the gazes he felt from the other children were starting to bother him.

"Don't y'all have other things to do?"

Derrick glared at them to make them look away, but the result wasn't as planned. Instead, one of the older children that were around Derrick's age stepped forward.

"Should you be asking that? Must be nice to get someone to pamper you and your useless sister."

"Hah?!"

If Lety wasn't next to him, those words would have been enough to make Derrick jump at the boy who said it, regardless of his injuries, but the boy wasn't satisfied with just this.

"Why are you getting upset? I'm just telling the truth. I wish I had a flowerhead to take advantage of too. But it must be real hard to find someone stupid enough to be friendly to the one that almost robbed her. You're luckier than I thought."

Derrick tightly clenched his teeth and took a step forward. By now, everyone inside the church could tell that he was close to being pushed off the edge of his patience, but the other boy still continued.

"This entire time I thought you were crazy for caring for that baggage, but were you aiming for-"

By the time the word 'baggage' came out of his mouth, Derrick was already charging. Consequences be damned. He was going to shut his mouth one way or another. Derrick was a few steps away from punching the boy when he suddenly found himself dangling above the ground.

"Derrick, have you forgotten where you are?"

"But Priest!"

"Are you going to let cheap words cause you get thrown out? Away from your sister?"

"..."

Derrick was still upset, but he stopped struggling in Benedict's hand.

"And you as well, Mike. Even if Derrick had landed the first blow, I would have thrown you out with him. Don't make a fool of yourself."

"Yes, Priest."

Mike hurriedly apologized, knowing that Benedict meant what he said. As children who had been betrayed by adults since birth, they wouldn't have trusted Benedict so quickly despite his holy robes, if he had endless compassion and forgiveness. He was something of a proper parent to them. One who provided them with food and shelter, but still scolded them when they were wrong and wasn't against corporal punishment either.