Chapter 20: Fishermen guild and Roof tile procuring [PART2/2]

The next day it was raining.

"Arito, are you sure you want to go out in this weather?" Laina asked me worriedly.

"It will be fine, I can use the Rain Shield spell and warm myself up with other magic too."

"If you say so…" she said, completely untrusting, and added firmly: "But you will take the carriage to Gemma's store."

"…Okay, I understand," I nodded, feeling I had no chance of saying no to her.

In the carriage, I was alone so I read a book about Healing magic from which I was only able to use two spells so far. As I did, I came up with ideas for new spells that could come in handy so I wrote them down with my new pencil made with great help of the Carbon slime.

Once I made it to the store, I was instantly shown to the meeting room I was already getting used to.

"Master Arito! I'm so glad I got to see you so soon. First, let me show you the work of the artisan on the red diamond you came here with," Mozz sounded elated as he placed a highly decorated box on the table between us.

"Don't mind if I do…" I released the lock on the box and carefully opened it. The inside of the box had high quality fabric used to hold a necklace with the gem. The Red Diamond was cut in the shape of a heart due to its unique shape that was given to it when I added the coloring. The gem was held in an intricately detailed pendant and equally exquisite necklace made from gold. That yellow and red really go well together, but I believe white would go even better.

"This is really a piece of art… I'm only worried that there won't be any buyers in this town."

"Yes, that was my fear as well, but luckily there is a way to introduce it to a greater audience while making sure we can sell it for even greater price," Mozz smiled with his index finger held high.

"Really?"

"Indeed. Next week the Great summer Auction in the royal capital Alberthaal will start. There, we can introduce the gem to not only a great number of influential merchants, but also to nobles and royalties of Southern Alliance."

"I see, it's a great way to make your name spread between the upper echelons of society."

In other words he will use it to make connections.

"Indeed it is. Which is also why it leaves a bad feeling in the back of my mind. Would you mind if I introduced the item as work of both Gemma and MonsterWork Companies?"

"I wouldn't mind, but we came here to make connections with trusted merchants that could hide my identity. Plus there might be problems if people find out I am running it, they could use some nefarious means of interfering."

"That is indeed possible, but with duke Nomille behind your back you should be fine."

"That may be the case, but I can't be that dependent on him, so please keep my and my company's names out of it," I bobbed my head.

"Hmm… Alright, I understand. Now let's talk about the second thing I would like from you."

"Okay, let's hear it."

"As I said before, I'm going to the Great Summer Auction in the capital next week, but there is also one more thing I need to do there. It is something of a personal matter, but let me give you a run down."

To summarize:

A noble kid that worked in the capital's branch of Gemma's store that hid its nobility eloped with a coworker there. His father got enraged when he found out from his spies and wanted to take the girl's life, which failed due to his son's mastery over martial arts. As they refused to separate, they asked Mozz to hide them somewhere.

"…and that is why I wish to hide them here."

"And that is where I come into play with my orphanage, right?"

"Indeed. I would like you to hire them as caretakers in your orphanage. Miss Emma is an exceptional cook and on top of martial arts, Hugh is also a great teacher, he could teach kids reading, writing, calculation, etiquette and much more. He trained most of my staff that got sent to branches in towns that prominent nobles use as their homes. You could have them as clerks in your own shop, but that could lead to them running into their old enemies."

"They seem a little overqualified for an orphanage, but I was thinking of hiring some staff, and I'm not really confident in managerial work."

"Well, they can really help out with that," Mozz smiled, "So, I take it that I can introduce them to you?"

"Okay, please do."

With that decided, I went to finish the orphanage. I casted the Rain Shield spell and Drying Wind to dry up the building so I wouldn't have to deal with mold. I laid down the floor I was missing for one floor, had the Resin Slimes hardened it together with their sticky resin and set up stairs. I then constructed the skeleton of the roof and started placing the roof tiles on it. I had the most numerous Grime Slimes and Moss Slimes help me place them. Once it was finished, I jumped with a Teleport spell in front of the house and went inside. I checked on my material and found it easy to finish the rooms within today so I started stacking the stones into walls.

Once I had the skeleton of rooms done, I called out my acid slimes to help me work on the wooden frames of doors and windows. This went surprisingly easy as they used their acid to melt away most of the unneeded wood. The window shutters were not openable, as I needed to place them as fast as I could, so comfort would need to wait a little.

"Heeeeeeeey! You there kid?!" Grieva called to me from the outside.

"I'm coming!!!" I let the slimes do what they were doing and went down to the back doors.

Once I opened the doors, I was greeted not just by Grieva, but by ten more kids as well. One of the boys, a human, who seemed to be the oldest, glared at me.

"Hello there, Grieva. Are these the kids you were talking about?"

"Some o'them! Though, these yung'uns need warm space to sleep and heal up!"

"Are some of you sick?" I turned to the kids and the oldest boy glared at me before speaking up.

"My sister…"

Now that he mentioned it, he was carrying a kid around four or five years old on his back.

"Okay, come in. It's better to warm up first," I invited them inside and went to heat up some soup in the kitchen. I took out some tables and chairs from my Item Box for them to sit on.

"This place is as empty as our old squatting space… it's dryer though…" the glaring boy said as he placed his sister on a chair next to himself.

"Well, I just placed the roof today and used a spell to dry it."

"Entire house? Yeah, good joke," the boy said with a sneer.

"Aaaaaaaah… Let's get to eating… <Dimension home> Time to eat, come out everyone!"

"""Yes Aniki!!!"""

"Rifa… Alma too?"

"Huh? Oh hey! It's siscon!"

"I am NOT!!!" the boy blushed as he yelled at Rifa's teasing.

"Uhh…"

"Misha!" The overprotective big brother instantly shot to his falling little sister, but was too far away.

"<Teleport>" I used Space magic to get next to the girl and scooped her up. "Vasse, can I ask you to hand out the food?"

"Of course, Aniki!" a small boy on the portly side smiled at me with fist against his heart. He was a Pigfolk so even when he starved, he had quite a large belly.

"H-hey!"

"You come with me Mr. Siscon and tell me what's wrong with her."

"I'm not a siscon! I'm Paul!!!"

"And I'm not 'Hey' I'm Arito. Now tell me what's wrong with her," I said after I closed the doors behind us to give us some privacy. I placed the girl on a bed with Fluff slime's shed fluff stuffed inside a pillow and blanket.

"Two weeks ago Misha's arms developed those green spots, her breathing started to be ragged and she's been like this ever since."

"I see… given she's still alive, it won't be Frosta or Necorro… my best guess is Land Curse," I supplemented the boy with information I got from the Introduction books.

"Land Curse?! What is that? I never heard of this thing!"

"I'm not surprised that you didn't. It's an extremely rare sickness that only appears in Magicfolk and halflings who have strong affinity with earth and fire magic. You look like a human, does that mean you don't have same father or mother?"

"We have different fathers. Our mother works in a local brothel, you see?" Paul spit to the side.

"I see. I guess your sister has blood from such a race, and luckily there is an easy cure."

I took out a lump of Pink Silver I got, way back from Chika.

"Is that…"

"A part of the cure," I said and started making the potion.

First I boiled the lump of Pink Silver with Earth spirit liquor (that actually didn't have any alcohol in it, sadly), and a powdered combination of Earth and Fire magic crystals into highly conductive magical liquid. I used magic to cool it down slowly, so it turned into more jelly-like consistency.

"Will it take a long time?"

"It's done."

Earthly potion

Potion used for Land Curse. It boosts the natural amount of Fire and Earth elements in the consumer's body.

I had the brother raise his sister's body and I had her drink it. Right at the moment she took a sip, her body easened up and her facial expression changed to a much more relaxed one. Her spots started fading little by little as well.

"Great work. She now needs to rest and eat properly. Come, we better have some food too."

"Wait! I… I'm sorry… I was really rude to you, it was dumb of me," Paul bowed to me.

"It's fine, you were trying to protect your sister, I'm sure I would be on edge too, if it was about Blanche."

"Is that your sister?"

"More like a life partner," I smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Can I… tell you something about us?"

"Sure. Hit me up."

"I was born thirteen years ago in a brothel my mother was working at. I was supposed to be thrown away to some back alley, but I was really quiet as a child so I wasn't disrupting the work… They kept me around and had me clean their clothes, play music and do other chores… But then, my sister was born. The proprietress was happy with the girl being born; she probably wanted more workers for cheap. Since we started having a good relationship with my sister, the proprietress tried to kill me… I… defended myself and she fell from the stairs to her death… I wanted to run away, but I also didn't want my sister to live this life, so I took her and ran away. We've been living in the streets on the opposite side of town ever since…"

"I see, well if you want to stay with us, then feel free," I stood up and looked at him, "You two will always have open doors here."

***

We had a quick lunch and after it, I decided to place a wooden floor on the top two floors, with which the kids offered their help.

"Oh wow! There are so many slimes!" The new kids were surprised by seeing the Acid slimes.

"Heh-heh-heh! And you only saw the Acid slimes, wait till you see the rest of them!" Lopi laughed confidently, her wings fluttering behind her.

"Okay everyone! Here you have planks so start making the floor after me!"

"Oooooooh!!!!!"

With the extra help, we quickly managed to fix the floors of the two floors, so I asked the kids to start filling pillows (Which could also work as bags) with the shedding of the Fluff slimes. Alma and some more skillful girls took it upon themselves to stitch the pillows to close them, which I was thankful for, as it gave me more breathing space and I could fix the window shutters before I could make the actual glass windows. Now that I think about it, there aren't any glass windows anywhere in the city. It's kinda funny that the first house to have them would be an orphanage on slums grounds.

I first fixed the second floor shutters and then on the first floor. The base floor where the dining room and kitchen were located had shutters from the first day, though.

"It's starting to get late…"

"Indeed. You will have to go to Duke, right, boy?" Rieva asked me.

"Yeah, I don't want them to be too worried."

"Right. Hey kiddos! Who wants to stay here?"

"Meeeee!!!" The newcomers raised their hands as well as Paul did, albeit a little timidly.

"Kay! In that case, I will see myself out," Rieva waved goodbye and was fast to leave.

"W-wait! …and he's gone… really, what's his problem? He's so fast on his feet too," I muttered and turned to the kids, "Well, it seems like you're staying with me now."

"Hey, Aniki, Aniki. When will we move in?"

"Well, I have to make the beds so given that you guys finished the beddings today, I think in two days you will be sleeping here."

"Hm? Now that I think about it, why are you all calling him Aniki?" one of the new girls asked with a confused look.

"Because Aniki is the strongest!"

"He's the best!"

"He's the coolest!"

The rest of the kids started chanting as if they were trying to embarrass me.

"Arito saved us from kidnapers."

"We also went to the beach together!"

"And ate a lot of meat!"

"I'm getting hungry…" Venti tugged on my sleeve.

"Right, we should eat something before we go."

"""""Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy!!!!"""" the kids cheered up and went to the dining room and I followed them.

For dinner, I decided to go with some meat to make the kids happy. For the diner, I decided to make Emeraldscale Anaconda soup with mushrooms I grew in my experimental garden back in the forest. I also added some magically created salt and other spices (those were grown naturally).

I chopped the anaconda meat into bite sized pieces and simmered them with some onion on oil before adding the salt, pepper and paprika. Next I poured soup stock, made from Red Deer meat, over the simmered meat and added potatoes with herbs and mushrooms.

"Alright! Take bowls and make a line! I have enough for everyone so don't be worried you won't get any!" I called out the kids and they did as I asked them.

"That smells nice, could we get some too?"

The voice belonged to Lena who came in with her family in tow.

"Sorry for the intrusion, Arito."

"We thought we would take a look at how you are doing, here."

"It's nice to see you everyone. I still have some soup left, do you want to eat some?"

"You are really kind. Today was really hectic for us, so we would love some good food," Laina smiled bitterly.

"Was it really that bad?"

"You have no idea. We were carrying out the investigation about the embezzlement, but weren't able to find anything. So it was either a hoax or they became really scared due to what happened in the Macedia city and became a lot of secretive."

"That sounds rough," I smiled weakly at Henry as I handed him back the bowl.

"Aaaaah, what a pleasant smell," his tired face eased up when he smelled the soup. The kids were a little scared of the adults, but seeing Lena and me interacting with them normally, they were kind enough to not stare at them.

Once everyone had their bowl, I took one myself and started eating. The taste was exquisite, the meat was falling apart when it entered my mouth and together with the onion and paprika it made the deer soup stock mellow and easy on the tongue.

"Wow, this soup is amazing."

"This meat, is Emeraldscale anaconda, correct?"

"Yes, you are correct Mr. Edgar."

"I see, but this aftertaste is slightly different from usual soup made with this meat, have you used different kinds of meat?"

"I made soup stock from Red deer bones."

"A soup stock? I see, so this is a taste of soup that Lady Lena proposed…"

I looked at Lena who was stuffing her face with meat and mushrooms, as I did, our eyes met and she smiled softly.

"Now that I look around, I don't see Blanche here," Laina looked over the room and then at me.

"She went to the mines to check on the farm I set up there with Romi."

"I'm here!" The moment I said where she went, Blanche came back.

"Good work out there, would you like some soup?"

"I will get it myself so don't worry," Blanche smiled at me and hopped over to the kitchen where I left the pot with remaining soup. Once she filled her bowl, she went back and seated herself between me and Lena with a warm smile.

"So how was your day?"

"It was great honestly. The Ogres were doing what you assigned them, so I just used some Wood Magic to grow them a little more. We might be able to harvest some Rappo berries in a few days."

"Really?!" Henry practically jumped up.

"Calm down dear, you are scaring the children," Laina chidded her husband, "And don't forget about that thing."

"Oh… I'm sorry about that… Anyway, we got a letter from the Summoner's guild that they have finished preparing for Taming aptitude tests."

"Really?" Lena looked up at her father with a happy smile.

"Arito, you are free to join us, I believe that would be good for you."

"I would love to join you, when do you plan to go?"

"In three days time, I'd say. We still need to look into the Town hall business and Lena needs to continue her training," Laina said with a finger placed against her chin.

"Okay, what about you Blanche? Will you try making another contract?"

"I guess I could go make one, but I will need a crystal to hold my summoned beast."

The crystal in which her Wind Wyrm was stored was tied to a leather string around her neck. To summon it, she needed to send enough magic to it and call out the name of the summon.

"You can get those from the mines so there should be quite some for sale."

"Um, are they perchance Magic Crystal?"

"Yes. Usually the bigger and brighter they are, the stronger monsters you can summon."

"I see, thank you for explaining that to me."

"Aniki, what are we supposed to do with the bowls?" Rifa whispered next to me.

"I left Cleaning slime in the sink, so place it next to it and the slime will take and clean them," I whispered back.

"Brotheeeeeeer~" a weak voice came from another room and Paul practically blurred out and disappeared behind the doors.

"Are there other kids?"

"Just one girl with a Land Curse. I already gave her some medicine, but to be fully healed, she will need time."

"Land Curse? That's not your common sickness. Is she gifted with an earth element?"

"She appears to be a Half-Gnoma."

"A Half-Gnoma, eh? For a race closely related to Dwarves, they are highly susceptible to this sickness, though they build quite a strong resistance when they survive it."

"Um, if you excuse me, I will bring her some food," I excused myself and went to the other room with a bowl of soup from which I took out the bigger pieces that could be hard for her to eat.

I walked over to the room and knocked on the doors. Once I heard Paul respond to me I entered the room. In the simple bed I saw the girl lying in bed looking at me with Paul next to her.

"I brought some soup."

"Thannnkk youuu…" the girl breathed heavily and tried to smile at me.

"Hmm… you look better than before, I guess you have more severe symptoms than I originally thought. But don't worry. Eat well, sleep well and you will be running around in no time," I smiled at the girl and patted her head. Surprisingly, her skin had a sand-like feel. It was really coarse and it felt as if her skin was made of thousands of tiny grains.

"Is this how skin is supposed to feel?"

"Yeah, she feels like sand, it always was like this," Paul confirmed.

"Okay, then. Here is a vial of the Earthly potion. Once she is finished eating, have her drink it. Okay Misha, your big brother will take care of you and once everyone is done with eating, I will take you to my Dimension home so you are always warm."

"Thank you… hero…"

"How did you call me?" I was a little surprised.

"You are… really… nice… and you… help us… like a hero in stories…"

"I see, now is it okay to eat something okay?"

I saw myself out and went to collect all the dishes and spoons from the Cleaning slimes, who already started piling them on next to the sink.

"I must say, these wooden bowls are exquisitely done. Have you carved them by hand?" Laina asked me as she watched me over from the take out place.

"More or less, I'd say. I fastened the log to a metal holder and had it spin at high speed during which I carved it. So You could say I did carve it, but I did it in less than ten minutes."

"Really? Did you use some kind of magic item?"

"Well, there was a toy enchanted with Null magic <Spin> spell. I used this toy as a centerpiece of the tool I made."

"I see, I guess we should introduce you to our First grade Specialist in Magitool crafting."

"First grade Specialist?"

"Specialists are people we employ who specialize in a certain field of study. The grades are divided into five groups and the higher grade you are, the higher your paycheck is. Though, you need to show your worth at least once a year. Also, we have to be informed of any new discoveries you make. Fifth and the Fourth grades have monetary compensations. Third and second grades are allowed to have assistants and special facilities. And from Second grade up, you are also allowed to have guards paid by us."

"I see, that sounds interesting. And this person is a Specialist in Magitool crafting?"

"Yes, be it Spring Pouches, Magimobiles and many other things. We have some magic tools he made for protection, as well as some to boast about to other nobles, though that hardly happens as we don't really enjoy the company of too many of them," Laina added with a bitter smile.

The magi-mobiles sounded interesting, but I better keep my mind occupied with this thing first.

"He seems like a great person."

"He definitely is one of the best there is."

With the conversation finished, I put the dishes to my Item box, ushered the kids to my Dimension home and returned with the ducal family to the inn. Hmm, Blanche looks quite tired. Hmm… Maybe I should take her for a date tomorrow. I can delegate most of the work to Acid slimes and Venti, after all.
Right! Let's go on a date tomorrow!