༺ The Lord Is With Us (30) ༻
A sizeable group gathered in an empty lot located just a few minutes from the orphanage.
It consisted of the adults at the orphanage. With Mr. Gilford heading the group, the Saintess, Yuren, Senior Delphine, Senior Elsie, Seria, Celine, Leto, and myself gathered together.
The total number of people amounted to nine, all of whom, with the exception of Mr. Gilford, were students of the Academy with proven skills and talents.
Considering Mr. Gilford himself was once a famous mercenary in the past, our group could be considered excessive in solving a problem at an orphanage.
If there had been a member of the Academy’s General Department of External Affairs with us right now, they probably would’ve freaked out, exclaiming that we were unnecessarily wasting manpower.
There were many problems across the continent, and manpower was always in demand, so it would’ve pained them to see so many skilled personnel dispatched to a single orphanage.
But even with our seemingly overblown group, I felt uneasy.
According to the letter, there would be an event that would endanger our lives despite our formidable force. Not to mention the leader of the demonic beasts and the strange behavior of the demonic monkeys…
I just couldn’t relax with all these unsettling factors.
But no one here seemed to be feeling anxious like I was.
Rather, everyone seemed to be excited.
Celine came over and poked my side with a bubbly smile.
“Ian Oppa, did you really kill all of them? This many?”
“…….Yeah. I’ve been telling you that I did.”
I had heard that question countless times today. Celine’s eyes, filled with admiration, shifted, and following her gaze, a wagon, filled with corpses, came into sight.
They were the corpses of the demonic monkeys I had hunted down the night before—thirteen in total.
I was worried that there would be another attack while retrieving the corpses, but surprisingly, nothing happened. Thankfully, the process had been smooth and uneventful.
Now, all that remained was to transport the corpses to the city and sell them. They would fetch a few hundred gold coins, and donating even just a small portion of that to the orphanage would fund their operating expenses for a good while.
Everyone’s faces brightened in hopes that they would be able to eat something other than the same porridge every day.
Truthfully, that wouldn’t have even been a problem if Senior Delphine or Senior Elsie were allowed to use their wealth, but the use of private funds was prohibited during a practicum.
If it were allowed, students would be able to hire mercenaries to complete their assignments and receive points for work they didn’t do. Thus, such a rule was enforced to prevent something like that from happening.
However, we were permitted to use the money earned during the practicum as we saw fit. In other words, I could use the proceeds from selling the thirteen beasts as I pleased.
The quality of one’s diet significantly influenced their quality of life. It went without saying that delicious, nutritious food had a significant impact on the mental and physical activities of young adults.
Celine was already discussing what to eat with Leto while strongly pushing for her preference.
“Let’s buy monster meat with this money!”
“Is your sense of taste messed up? Why the f… why would you eat something like that?”
Leto retorted incredulously, but Celine persisted. ‘Monster meat’, in other words, meat from demonic beasts, was a delicacy that recently gained popularity among connoisseurs due to its unique flavor and texture.
Naturally, it was a hit or miss. The name alone made it sound unappetizing to most people.
“Hmph, what do you know? Monster meat is popular even amongst the nobles these days!”
“It’s a common trend for nobles to become fascinated by some weird food.”
“N-no, just try it! I’m telling you, you’ll change your mind!”
Despite Leto’s lack of enthusiasm, Celine remained adamant about the monster meat, and I snorted as I watched their interaction.
‘It’s my money, so what’s the point of you guys arguing about what to get?’
I was tempted to say that but held it back, as those two were practically family to me.
In the end, Celine soon started pleading while tugging on my sleeves.
“I-Ian oppa, say something! As a fellow member of the monster meat enthusiasts!”
“I never joined such a shady group.”
Shot down by my indifferent reaction, she drooped her shoulders, but unfortunately, it couldn’t be helped.
Beast meat was expensive, as evidenced by the considerable price these corpses could fetch when sold.
Even if I used all the gold that I earned from selling the corpses, there would most definitely be a limit on the amount of beast meat that I would be able to purchase.
Considering the hundreds of mouths that had to be fed at the orphanage, it was already a challenge to find enough good ingredients while minimizing the cost.
Celine was probably not serious about it either and just wanted to express her excitement over my success. Oftentimes, it was important to consider the intentions of someone’s words rather than taking them at face value.
Surprisingly, Mr. Gilford was the one who calmed Celine. He burst out laughing and stroked his shaggy, white beard.
“Monster meat… It’s been a while since I heard of that. I had also eaten monster meat back in the day.”
“…….Eh? Didn’t it only become popular recently?”
“I was a mercenary. There were times when I had to eat whatever I could find to avoid starving to death.”
Celine’s expression hardened at the unexpected gravity of the topic. With a rather awkward smile, she scratched her cheek.
Regardless of whether it was a joke or not, it could have seemed immature of her to say she wanted to eat something someone had to eat for survival.
However, Mr. Gilford didn’t show any signs of looking at her in such a way. Instead, he had a benevolent smile.
“I remember being surprised by how delicious it was. At that time, I assumed that it was because I was starving, but if I had known that it would become this popular, maybe I should have opened a restaurant!”
“…….Wouldn’t the children of this orphanage have been very sad if you had done that?”
“That is true. Haha, my dream since I was young was always to set up and head an orphanage.”
Mr. Gilford enthusiastically responded to Leto’s remark.
No matter how well I thought I knew Mr. Gilford, he never failed to fascinate me. He cared so much about the orphans. According to the Saintess, Mr. Gilford had also grown up in an orphanage.
He knew better than anyone how it felt to grow up as a neglected orphan. Perhaps that was why he was more attached to the orphans and treated them with sincerity.
The kids also loved him and listened to him well. In many ways, he was a good person.
With those thoughts in mind, I looked towards the wagon.
Yuren was examining the corpses, trying to estimate their worth.
He was surprisingly quick with such matters. According to him, it was because he had handled all sorts of chores since childhood.
I could see how that was the case. He must’ve had to do a lot of hard work to help that bad-tempered woman. I felt a twinge of pity for Yuren as I watched him from behind.
After carefully examining the corpses one by one, Yuren’s excited voice rang through the air.
“…….Nice! They should fetch at least 300 gold coins! This is great, Ian. At this point, even the Holy Knights might have to step in.”
A high-pitched whistle resounded from between Leto’s lips. It seemed that the demonic monkeys were of a higher rank than I initially expected.
Last time, the high-rank demonic wolf, along with the ten common demonic wolves, fetched 70 gold coins.
Compared to that time, the fact that the thirteen demonic monkeys were estimated to be worth around 300 gold coins made them over four times as valuable.
Though, considering their monstrous claws and agility, I didn’t find it strange for them to be worth that much.
However, one thing kept tugging at my mind. The stronger the beast, the more aggressive it tended to be. It was usually so that they could widen their territory. And yet, they were unusually passive. They only attacked those who stepped into a specific area instead of securing a larger territory.
That cast a doubt and lingered in my mind.
Regardless of my worries, Yuren was now sitting in the driver’s seat. He was in charge of turning in the corpses and was going to head to the city alone.
The whole process of selling the corpses, receiving the gold, and returning with daily necessities would take a few days.
Besides Yuren, there was one other person who was good with words and negotiating, but Leto refused to accompany him while saying, “Why do I have to travel alone with a guy?”
I empathized with him and understood where he was coming from. And since we couldn’t send Leto alone without an escort, sending Yuren alone was the best choice.
Yuren bid farewell to the Saintess for the last time. As I approached to say goodbye, he spoke to me in a hushed voice.
“…….Take good care of the Saintess.”
The only thing I could do was let out a dry laugh.
It was an absurd thing to say. What reason would I have to take care of that ill-tempered woman?
The Saintess seemed to share my opinion. She scoffed before responding.
“Hmph, it should be the opposite. You should be telling me to take good care of that piece o-… Please don’t worry. There are brothers and sisters like Ian here who will help me, Yuren. The Heavenly God Arus will also look after us. Emmanuel.”
She felt Yuren’s words were so incredulous that she almost threw off her pretense for a brief moment. Naturally, she managed to quickly correct herself before anyone else noticed.
My expression soured as I looked at the Saintess, and in turn, she returned a sharp glare.
She was still as dislikeable as ever. The only exception was her sinful body. As I thought about her body, my eyes inadvertently crawled down to her curvacious bosom.
“……..Where are you looking?”
“Your holy power pouch.”
Like that, the Saintess and I whispered to one another, and right after I replied, the Saintess harshly pinched my side.
Almost letting out a scream, I barely managed to endure the pain.
Wincing, a pained whisper leaked from my mouth as I trembled.
“You almost made me yell……!”
“W-who told you to say such a thing?! Seriously, this is sexual harassment!”
As we argued back and forth, we felt the stares of other people fall on us.
We immediately shut our mouths and fell silent.
Everyone’s eyes were set on us, and each of them contained a variety of emotions—bitterness, annoyance, suspicion, and disapproval.
Leaving all those emotions behind, Yuren started giggling and soon burst into laughter.
“Seems like I don’t have to worry. Then I’ll take my leave now. Emmanuel!”
Seeing him off, the Saintess and I exchanged flustered gazes before noticing a woman with a smile on her face.
It was Seria. Her aquamarine eyes were deeply sunken. Much like the abyss.
“…….The two of you… seem to get along really well.”
Her beautiful smile exuded a chilling coldness.
The Saintess and I exchanged glances once more as we both broke out in cold sweat.
I felt wronged.
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