I headed to a nearby stall that was selling wolf kebabs.
“Oh, bear girl, you’re back. But you’re early today.”
I was a regular here. I ordered a kebab and asked about the kids.
“Ah, they’re from the orphanage. They come by occasionally.”
“For what?”
“They’re waiting for the customers’ leftovers.”
“For leftovers…”
“They scrounge for ‘em. We don’t mind since it’s already paid for, but it doesn’t exactly leave one feeling warm and fuzzy.”
I looked them over again. The youngest looked to be five-year-olds, and I don’t think any of them was older than about twelve.
“Mister, twenty kebabs please.”
“Don’t bother. You can feed them today, but what about tomorrow? If you can’t help them, better to leave them alone,” the man said. I understood what he meant. If they were adults, I’d ignore them, but I couldn’t just overlook kids.
“Does the orphanage not get money from the town?”
It would be weird if they didn’t get public support.
“No idea. Could be they pull in buckets of cash, could be they get a pittance. I’ve never asked. From the looks of it, I don’t think it’d be much.”
Cliff seemed like a decent lord in person, but my opinion of him dipped in that moment. I asked for my twenty kebabs again.
“Don’t make me say I told you so.”
I took my order and crossed to the corner where the kids were gathered; they watched me closely.
“Take one each.”
They shot each other confused looks.
“We can eat these?” a girl asked me in a tiny voice.
“They’re hot, so don’t wolf them down.”
I handed her a kebab, which she tore into immediately. The other kids took that as their cue to dig in.
“Miss, thank you,” she told me. Of course, I couldn’t just leave it at that.
“Could you lead me to the orphanage?” I asked the girl.
The girl tilted her head like she didn’t get what I was saying.
“You must be hungry. You probably want more food, right? Could you maybe bring me to the orphanage? I have some meat, so let’s all eat together.”
She nodded slightly.
“Over here.”
The other kids hesitated for a while after she set off, then they ended up coming with us.
The walk took us all the way to the edge of town, which seemed like a bit much for a kid. The orphanage was a single building set off from everything else. The walls were cracked, and here and there I could make out a hole that ran all the way through the facade. The ceiling couldn’t have been much better.
So it’s this bad, huh? I thought. I should never have given Cliff that sword. He had some work to do before flattering the king. It might have been better for me to fund the orphanage with the profits from selling the sword myself.
As we drew near, an elderly woman came out of the house. “Who might you be? I am Bo, the headmistress.”
“I’m Yuna, the adventurer. I saw these kids in the central square.”
“In the central square…you went there again?”
The headmistress gave the kids a meaningful look, and they apologized, one after another.
“It’s fine,” she said. “It’s my own fault for not being able to provide meals for you, after all. Did these children do you wrong?”
“No, it just seemed like they were hungry.”
“I’m sorry. Um, though it is an embarrassment, we don’t have much to eat,” the headmistress said. She shuffled her feet, unable to look me in the eye.
“You don’t get funding from the town?”
“Since last year, we received less and less every month. We were cut off about three months ago.”
“You were cut off…”
That lord…
“Yes, they said they didn’t have any money to spare for us.”
“Then how have you been eating?”
“We pick up the damaged goods that the inns, eateries, and fruit and vegetable sellers cannot sell to customers.”
That Cliff…
I felt my bile rising.
“But we still don’t have enough, so these children go to the central square…”
“Headmistress, I’ll give you the ingredients, so make sure these kids eat their fill.”
I had them take me to the kitchen. I pulled out a lump of wolf meat Fina’d processed for me out of my bear storage. Since it wouldn’t be all that healthy just to eat meat, I also pulled out the bread I’d stocked up and a barrel of oran juice.
“Um, Yuna…”
“Gimme a hand, headmistress. Actually, before that, are you the only instructor here?”
“No, there is also a girl named Liz, but she’s gone to restock the pantry.”
We cooked the wolf meat, sliced the bread, and made it a set with the oran juice, lining the table with them.
“There’s enough for all of you, so don’t rush.”
“Everyone, please thank Yuna.”
The kids started eating at the headmistress’s signal. They ate like they were all fighting and grinned like maniacs the whole time.
“Yuna, thank you so much. It’s been so long since the kids have smiled.”
“I still have wolf meat, so if there’s not enough, cook some more.”
“Thank you very much.”
I watched the kids eat for a while, then excused myself. Several of the kids noticed and followed me out.
“Bear girl, where are you going?”
“I was thinking of giving your house a fixing. It must be drafty.”
I checked the cracks and holes, patching them with earth spells as I went.
“That’s amazing, bear girl.”
“Could you show me anything I missed?”
They’d know what needed fixing better than I would. I followed their lead, then checked out the roof. I didn’t know where the leaks would be, so I covered the whole thing with a thin layer of earth. With that dealt with, I moved on to mending the interior walls. Eventually the headmistress asked me what I was doing, and I gave her the same explanation the kids got.
When I moved on to the bedroom, I noticed that an effort had been made to separate it into a boys’ side
