Motive for Charity II

Once she was ready, Carolyn left Wild Boar Inn in office attire with her long hair wrapped in a black ribbon and placed over her right shoulder. She had considered cutting her hair since it was quite difficult and costly to maintain in the city, but she couldn't bring herself to do it without the appropriate resolve.

This was the first time she had been outside in two days, and there was a noticeable difference in the atmosphere. There was a light fervour in the air, as if a small hope had been ignited in everyone's hearts. Lavender had informed her of the recent news regarding Anthony that was spreading in the city, but there seemed to be more to it than that. Carolyn continued thinking about this matter partially to distract herself as she went to work.

When she arrived at work, Carolyn greeted the staff at the entrance. Those who did desk work didn't think much of her, but she had a good reputation among the security and auxiliary staff. As she passed the entrance and was heading to the stairway to make it to her office, she encountered a familiar face.

"Good morning, Carol."

"Good morning, Pete. It's been a while since I last saw you."

Although the two didn't meet often, they relaxed in each other's company. Besides Rome, Carolyn would consider Pete as the person she was closest to inside the company. She would have liked to make female friends as well but had few chances to connect with anyone outside the auxiliary staff.

"Yes, I was busy with a project for a client, so I couldn't be in the office on most days."

"I see. Is everything going well?"

"Yes. After a few finishing touches, I should be able to dust my hands off the project. It was a fresh experience, but can't say I would want to do it again."

"Oh, I'm a little curious, but this doesn't sound like something we should stand and chat about. Maybe if we see each other in the cafeteria."

"Sounds good to me. See you later, Carol."

"Yes, I look forward to our next meeting, Pete."

After waving to Pete, Carolyn climbed the stairs to her office floor and took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

"Mr. Rome, it's Carol."

After waiting for a couple of seconds to receive a response, Carolyn opened the door. Once she saw that Rome wasn't in the office, she went inside and tidied up her workstation. It wasn't strange for her to arrive before Rome, and she usually preferred it this way so that she could do some light cleaning and air the room out before he arrived, but she had mixed feelings this time because of her guilt. Now everything she did just felt like an effort to make Rome more forgiving of her blunder.

Nonetheless, that didn't mean she could afford to slack off. Carolyn was almost always ahead on her assigned work, but to better perform her duties, she made an effort to learn more about the business operations. While she was reading a report detailing recent imports and associated costs, she noticed something strange.

"This load of flour, why was it packaged like this?"

Though the city was on a downward spiral to bankruptcy, fresh bread was still an essential commodity, so the Continental Courier Service had regular orders for flour. The flour was normally delivered in sacks or barrels weighing around 100-200 pounds each and reported in the format 10 x [? lb] sacks or 5 x [? lb] barrels, but Carolyn found an entry including a 1 x [102 lb] barrel. It could just be a minor difference, but Carolyn found her eyes attracted to it for some reason.

Suddenly, the door opened and a tall, muscular man entered. Upon noticing the man, Carolyn immediately stood up to greet him.

"Good morning, Carol."

"Good morning, Mr. Rome."

"Sorry to put you to work first thing in the morning, but I have a lunch meeting with the folks over at the government. They want us to help with fixing up the slums district after the fire, so look into our previous contributions to the slums and give me a summary of anything to take note of."

"I'll get right on it, Mr. Rome."

"Thanks."

Carolyn continued standing at attention while Rome went to his desk and sat down. She was willing to wait for longer, but given that she had work to do, she decided to broach the matter herself.

"Excuse me, Mr. Rome. I must apologise to you regarding my unexplained absence on Seaday."

"Oh, right, there was that. "Well, I assume it was an emergency, so was everything settled well?"

"Ah, yes."

"That's good."

After another short period of silence, Carolyn went straight to the point.

"Mr. Rome, I know it's strange for me to say this, but is it really alright for you to brush this off so easily?"

"That's where you're wrong, Carol. I'm not brushing it off for no reason; I'm doing it because it's you. For some other youngster I might have stayed in the office all weekend just to scold them, but since it's you, I know you'll have already told yourself anything I could say to you. If you know what you did wrong, then you just have to be careful not to do it again. If you still feel unsatisfied, then you can just consider that feeling your punishment."

Hearing of the strong trust Rome had in her, Carolyn felt even more ashamed as well as a rising resolve to do better.

"I understand, Mr. Rome. I will work hard not to disappoint your trust."

"Mmm."

Carolyn then focused on her work so as to keep her word. She was forced to take lunch but still ended up doing far more than Rome expected. It was this work ethic that made him believe it was unnecessary to scold her after she left abruptly on Seaday, but he still wished she learnt how to slack off a little. After all, with her working so hard, it was difficult for him to take breaks as well.

With a fulfilling day of work behind her, Carolyn headed to the slums district. During work she heard from Rome about how the Baron was setting up negotiations with the throne using Anthony as a bargaining chip. This was the extent of what was released to the public, so most assumed that the Baron was requesting tax amnesty for Vernum City for the damage done by the criminal, but thanks to her previous conversation with Benedict and Lavender, Carolyn was able to put together the missing pieces.

'If the throne really had something to do with Hen-, Anthony being here, then the Baron should be using this fact to make the throne reduce the taxes being requested from the territory. If it works, then there might be hope for the Amber domain to recover, but will it really go so well?'

Carolyn still found it difficult to wrap her head around the idea that the throne, or at least someone from the capital, was the mastermind behind Anthony's appearance, but it did explain quite a few things about the current state of the Amber domain.

'I just hope everything goes well.'

In addition to the city's future, Carolyn had another worry weighing on her as she got closer to the church in the slums. In the eyes of others, her motives for helping the children could hardly be called selfish, but they weren't selfless either. She couldn't stand by and simply watch their struggle, but she didn't know if she could do what was best for them if her heart wasn't in the right place. Benedict seemed to be better at taking care of them, but considering Mike's case, she wasn't sure if she could completely trust his decisions either. He was certainly logical, but that was the logic of a strategist plotting to sacrifice 10 to kill 100. To him, offering them the ropes out of destitution was enough; if the children weren't able to climb them, then that was their responsibility. Carolyn couldn't say Benedict was wrong, but she didn't want to abandon even a single child so easily.

Soon, the church was in sight with children lingering in the surroundings. Carolyn recognised most of their faces, and the faces she didn't recognise seemed to be newcomers.

"Good evening, children."

"Hey."

"Evening, Carol."

"Mmm."

She couldn't call their relationship close, but they would at least return her greetings, which was a huge improvement compared to when she first met them. Carolyn was interested in hearing about the new children, but asking out in the open would be inappropriate, so she settled with waving at them before entering the church. Few children could be spotted inside the church, but all of them were familiar faces. Unfortunately, it wasn't completely peaceful inside either.

"Ugh... Gah..."

Groaning on a blanket as the only patient was Mike, suffering through severe withdrawal symptoms. Even with Benedict's remedies, he was tormented by nausea, muscle fatigue, a splitting headache, dryness in his mouth and a high fever. He would also occasionally entertain suicidal thoughts, so at least one person had to keep an eye on him, and the one to take the role was Lena, with Bryan substituting when she needed to rest or handle other matters. Lena and Bryan felt little concern for Mike given his treachery, but they couldn't let him die while he was in the church.