“In the central square…you went there again?”
I knew they had, but I had to admonish them for appearances’ sake. The children apologized, but I was the one truly at fault.
“It’s fine. It is my own fault for not being able to provide meals for you, after all. Did these children do you wrong?”
Even if they had done something to her, all I could do was apologize. I hoped she would accept.
“No, it just seemed like they were hungry.”
“I’m sorry. Um, though it is an embarrassment, we don’t have much to eat.”
It wasn’t anything to hide, so I told her the truth. Normally I wouldn’t talk about such things in front of the children, but since she was asking me so many questions, I ended up telling her. Then Yuna, the girl dressed as a bear, brought out wolf meat for us. Moreover, there was quite a large amount of it. She even produced bread and something for us to drink.
She told us to eat as much as we wanted. In truth, I didn’t want to take anything without a reason, but the children could not pry their eyes off the food. I decided to thank her and accepted it.
After we prepared the food, the children ate it in delight. How long had it been since I saw them smiling like that?
Yuna stood up and began inspecting the inside of the orphanage. I was grilling the meat she prepared for us, so I could not leave it be.
“Are you children already done?”
There was still meat. The children looked at it hungrily.
“Miss, I don’t need anymore.”
“Me neither.”
They all laid their forks and chopsticks down on the table.
“Why is that?”
“I want to eat it tomorrow…”
Of course. Even if they had food today, that didn’t mean they would have any the next day.
“All right. Let’s ask Yuna if we may have permission to eat it tomorrow.”
I went searching for Yuna. When I found her, she was repairing our crumbling, hole-filled walls with magic.
“What are you doing?” It was plain as day, but I still had to ask.
“I’m mending the walls. It must be cold with the wind coming through the gaps.”
That certainly was true. Yuna inspected the room, repairing the walls as she went. Then she went to the children’s bedroom and saw the small towels on their beds. We had no warm blankets. She pulled out warm-looking wolf pelts from the bear on her hand and handed them to me.
“Yuna?”
“Please give these to the kids. It’d be cold with just a single towel. There’s enough for you and extras.”
Why was she doing all this for us? I was so perplexed by Yuna’s actions that I forgot to ask about the wolf meat, and we ended up returning to the dining area. When Yuna noticed that the food she gave us hadn’t been eaten, I asked her about it.
“Yes, if you’d let us, I’d like to hand this out tomorrow. The children said they would rather eat it tomorrow rather than today.”
“Oh, sorry. I forgot to tell you. I’ll prep several days’ worth, so you can eat it.”
Yuna brought out more meat and bread.
“Um, why are you doing all this for us?” I asked. I couldn’t keep silent
“If an adult can’t eat, it’s their own fault for not working, but a kid not being able to eat isn’t their own fault. It’s the adult’s fault. If they don’t have parents, the adults around them can help them. That makes us allies.”
I was almost about to cry. Even though she was an adventurer, those were warmer words than I would expect from such a young girl. The children ate until they were full. As Yuna watched them, she gave us more food. All I could do was thank her. After she watched over the orphanage for some time, she excused herself. The children were sad as they came up to her.
“You’re putting Yuna in a difficult spot. Everyone, say thank you.”
“Thank you, bear girl.”
“Thank you.”
It was the morning three days after Yuna came to us.
We were eating breakfast using the food Yuna had given us. Since she had given us so many provisions, we were able to eat morning meals. The children were delighted to eat. We really would need to thank Yuna again the next time she came. At first, I thought she was just a strange-looking girl. I suppose you can’t judge a book by its cover. I had to make sure I taught the children that as well.
After the children ate breakfast, they went outside, but they came back immediately.
“Headmistress!”
They rushed over to me.
“Why are you so shaken?”
“There’s a weird wall outside.”
I didn’t understand what they were saying. What was outside? The children grabbed my hands and pulled me outside, into the shadow of a gigantic wall. It could not have been there yesterday. If it had, the children would have made the same fuss they were now. I tried asking Liz about it, but she simply shook her head. Regardless, even if it was potentially dangerous, we could do nothing about it. I warned the children not to get close and returned to the house.
What in the world was that wall? I couldn’t fathom that it had sprung up overnight. It was fine as long as it wasn’t a danger to the children. As I thought over the wall, the door opened and the children entered…with a bear? No, it was just Yuna. I put aside the matter of the wall so I could greet her and introduce Liz.
“So what brings you here today?”
Out of all things, she replied that she wanted to give the children work. I worried that she was planning to have the children do something dangerous.
“Don’t worry, it’s not anything dangerous.”
“What kind of work is it?”
Though Yuna had helped us so much, I had to make sure I knew exactly what she wanted the children to do. They were my wards to protect, after all. Apparently Yuna made the wall
