The Strongest Wizard Becomes a Countryside Guardsman After Taking an Arrow to the Knee

Chapter 372 – Protecting the Orphans of Elkay

During the next day’s breakfast, I turned to Cruz and said,

「How many orphans do you think there are in Elkay?」

「Hm, I guess I have no idea.」

「I don’t think there’s so many…but…」

Cruz and Luka looked at each other and said.

Yureena then said in a serious voice,

「Usually the church takes care of them, but…」

Since the church in Elkay was almost empty…

There was one priest. Hardly any followers. Almost no money.

They couldn’t be relied on to care for orphans.

I then asked Tant as she ate away at her breakfast.

「Tant, is there a lot of orphans in Elkay?」

「Mmphmmphmpphh」

Tant tried to answer with her mouth full.

「You don’t have to say right away. Swallow your food first.」

「Ophkay」

Tant had to be worried about something like that.

Shiggy ran over the table and gave her a cup.

「ryaa?」

「Thanks Shiggy.」

「ryaa」

Seeing this, Timi seemed to tear up.

「You’ve become such a big girl, Shiggy. Alra, did you see that?」

「Yeah, I did.」

Timi was very emotional about Shiggy growing, and I could see why.

We had raised her to be kind, so I was happy as well.

Tant drank down the tea and said,

「About five kids.」

「Is that so? How are they staying alive.」

「Unlike me, they weren’t hated by the Demon Lord, so…」

「So they’re just staying in abandoned houses?」

「Yeah.」

The wholesaler hated Tant so much that Tant’s house got burned down.

However, the others didn’t have such problems, and could hide out on their own.

There were a lot of empty houses from the previous Demon Lord, so it was possible.

「And their food?」

「Other people in town provide it.」

Seems that if the kid wasn’t hated by the higher ups that people would provide.

Maybe most people in Elkay were kind-hearted.

「I guess we really need to make an orphanage in town.」

「Yeah, I agree. We can get the guild to help with that as well.」

「And the church too.」

With both of them cooperating, they would have a decent orphanage for the kids.

We could invest in it as well, but we would need the community to invest in it after a while.

Hearing this Vallimie said,

「If you need me to help, I can. Food for the residents too, just ask. Just send any request over to Lindobal Forest.」

Timi also said,

「We can’t take them into Shiggy’s palace, but we can share whatever money and food they need.」

「Thanks Vallimie and Timi. I think it’ll be fine though.」

It was very kind of them, however.

After breakfast, Cruz, Luka, Yureena, Vi-Vi, Tant, and I went back to Elkay.

Femm, Moofy, and Shiggy too.

Steff, Leah, Leo, Millia, Kay and Tom were waiting at his lodge.

After explaining everything, Millia nodded strongly.

「I see. I can ask the other merchants about the orphans as well.」

「Please do.」

「And leave it to me to ask the F rankers about them as well.」

Leah said as well.

I bet that the F rankers knew exactly who they were.

「Kids without parents? I bet they’re all over and not living together, but they’re probably living somewhere around here?」

「Tell me what you know.」

So the place Tom told us about was in the center of town where it wasn’t very safe.

Right around Damian’s hideout, actually.

「We haven’t seen Damian lately, have we?」

「Yeah, but no bad news about him either.」

Seems that Luka and I had the same idea.

Damian was the boss of the Elkay Neglys after all.

And Tom had owed him a lot of money in extorted interest.

Also, the so-called Demon Lord had tried to get spirit stones through him.

He WAS a bad guy.

「If we haven’t heard bad things…it means he’s not UP to bad things.」

「It’s a good thing.」

Yureena and Vi-Vi nodded at each other.

As we were talking it over,

「ryaa」

「Good job, Shiggy.」

「Stack it up here, Shiggy.」

「ryaa ryaa!」

Shiggy, Kay, and Tant were playing with toy blocks. Shiggy was trying hard to build a tower.

Cruz had just given the girls a set of them.

Shiggy was the youngest of them all, but was having fun playing with them.

After that, Luka, Leah, and Leo went to the guild.

Leah and Leo were the town’s top adventurers now. They had a lot of work to do.

Luka had to be busy as well. She was going to help with making the orphanage.

Yureena went to the church and wanted to help too.

Finally, Millia and Steff went to the market to buy a store.

「Make sure they give you the right price!」

Millia was sure to make Steff protect herself from being ripped off.

They had a lot of money to spend but if Steff was with Millia, it would be okay.

「Al, take care of all the orphans you find. We’ll stay the night at the store once we buy it.」

「That’s great.」

So after Steff and Millia left, I left to see what other things were unsafe in Elkay.