Satou's here. Often times I can't get my hand on something no matter how hard I endeavor. I can't reach it even though I see other people getting it so easily. Is it precisely because of that frustrating feeling that it's shining when the effort bears fruit?
This is about rare drops in net games though.
◇
Two weeks have elapsed since we got back from Boruenan forest, leveling up everyone and the labyrinth city project are going well.
"It's wider than I thought."
"Ah, it's because I got it from the lands that had been secured by purveyors."
Today I'm with Arisa inspecting the planned site where the private orphanage and the explorer training school will be build. It's about as big as an average primary school, quite big inside the city. Thanks to the Marchioness's middleman, I got them as goods, but I had to give her all kinds of accessories of the same value as the reward.
Since it was almost the time for the kingdom conference, I made some shiny gaudy accessories for the Marquis and his wife, but despite using normal precious metal and jewels, the accessories had became something that my Estimation (Market Price) skill couldn't judge. I can't help but feel that selling accessories to the nobles will be more profitable than secluding ourselves in the labyrinth. I told the Marchioness that I got them from some foreign merchants when I was visiting the trade city. I've put some some suitable name on the maker column. I honestly don't remember if it was Michaelangelo or Da Vinci.
"Next we just need a manager for the teachers huh."
"Right, I'd like a leader for the organization and an accountant, but they're hard to find."
Actually, I had interviewed Miteruna's family members, and some nobles whom the Marchioness introduced, but there weren't anyone well suited to become the leader or the accountant, although it would be different if I was hiring them as teachers. There were a lot of people who looked capable as a leader, but every one of them was either the type who despised orphans and commoners, or someone who only saw the orphanage and the school as a stepping stone to rise their position higher, so I didn't employ them.
That said, since it would embarrasses the ones who introduced them if I didn't employ anyone, I selected three reasonably less objectionable people, and dispatched them to the royal capital academy under the pretext of training. It looked like I was just getting rid of nuisances, but since I gave each
one of them 10 gold coins for two months stay and food expense, they didn't have any complaint.
"Looks like there are a lot of people who employ a slave to work as the accountant to prevent embezzlement you know?"
"It can't be helped, I'll look for one in the neighboring cities."
Since Tifaliza doesn't have Arithmetic skill, entrusting her to be an accountant is probably impossible. It seems Arisa and I have to split the work for a while.
The orphanage building is still under construction, but we have already started the admission. I had planned to start the admission after the building was completed, but since Pochi picked up some dying children in the back alley, I decided to start the management little by little.
Since there's no building, we had set up temporary tents on the place planned to become the athletic ground of the school, and added temporary sheets as beds by bundling hay bought from the farms. I don't know if Arisa's heartstring was touched by the hay beds, but she was frolic and slept together with the children on the straw beds on the first day. The next morning, she requested some strange dishes that were goat milk, and bread dipped in melted cheese. Since this is Arisa, she must be reproducing scenes from some anime or manga, no doubt about it.
I don't know where they come from but in just several days, more than 100 children have come to live in the orphanage. No one is complaining even though the meals are simple besides the ones in the first day. Mysteriously enough, there aren't any child who's being picky or leaves leftovers.
I was going to employ our maids as the regular staffs of the orphanage, but as expected, they wouldn't be enough with this many children.
By Ms. Miteruna's suggestion, I decided to employ the wives around the neighborhood as part-timers to make up for the shortage. They are women with ages ranging from 20 to 50 years old. I also have them participate in the food distribution for the poor.
Lulu investigated the reason why so many children had gathered here by using the employees' network. Since the information charge was only ant honey cookies, it was cheap. As expected of Lulu.
Now then, the reason is simple. They are children that have overflowed from other orphanages.
Originally, there were three privately and government managed orphanages in the labyrinth city. However, since this was a city with a lot of casualties, there were also a lot of orphans, so every orphanage was over capacity. The two government managed orphanages were still fine, but the privately managed one couldn't even give enough food, let alone beds.
Since the state was as such, my late-start orphanage was wholeheartedly approved. I feel that they've pushed problem children and ones who have bad physical growth on us, but it's not a problem. The mischievous kids were THUMP-ed by Arisa and Tama from the start, they're helping the adult managers now.
It seems that, up until now the overflowed children had been picked by criminal guilds of the slums, they were on the tragic course of being sold to the slave trader. And so, Kuro eliminates those kind of slum criminal guild with a villain group in the core. I left some relatively less objectionable people since other new villains from other cities would just come if I thoroughly rooted them.
As an extra, I've also finished some miscellaneous matters during this time.
I brought the lost thieves that I had left in the labyrinth prison to the authorities, and delivered the corpses of the explorers that had been turned into stones I had collected from the Cockatrice area to their bereaved families through the explorer guild.
I wasn't present since I didn't want to see the tragic scene, but the guildmaster thanked me. As for the rewards, after receiving them, I gave it to the church and another orphanage of the labyrinth city as Satou.