Chapter 27
Chapter 27: Strange Stranger
***
Although the Duke had tried to keep his voice low and gentle, attempting to make it sound softer. But children will be children, having never seen such a scene before, they all shrank and trembled, afraid that those scary adults behind them would cut off their heads at the slightest displeasure.
Only this boy in front of him was rather stubborn, glaring at the Duke without making a sound.
“Hey hey, I’m asking you a question.”
Valarr kicked the boy’s knee bend, immediately making him stumble. In the moment of kneeling on one knee, the boy immediately straightened his back and stood up again, his gaze toward the Duke became even more unyielding.
The Duke rubbed his temples with a bit of a headache.
“Valarr… they’re just orphanage children, not criminals. You should go out first.”
Valarr’s smiling lips stiffened for a moment.
“Your Grace, they are thieves who attempted to sneak into the workshop’s main warehouse, who knows if they’re spies sent from neighboring countries—”
“Valarr. You are the captain of the first Shanter military unit, responsible for guarding the most important warehouse. So when judging the essence of a matter, you must never be blindly swayed by emotions, this is how to stay true to your heart from beginning to end. Go out and think about it.”
“Your Grace—”
“Go out.” The Duke waved his hand backward without looking at him.
“…Yes.”
Seeing Valarr walk out of the room with a look of unwillingness, I couldn’t help but applaud in my heart.
People like Valarr are indeed hard to like. In comparison with him, Duke Scalliger was like a wise ruler, who would treat others as equals even if they were just orphans with no one to rely on, and would never use his power to oppress the vulnerable.
Sometimes the difference between people is reflected in these details.
I silently gave him a thumbs up in my heart.
But according to the Duke’s words, those standing there trembling seemed to be children from the Winter City orphanage?
I remembered when I was in Sylgaria, those two boys who robbed me, what was the leader called? Right, Brother Abel.
And those ragged little girls hiding in the dark and damp abandoned buildings.
They were all sent to the orphanage in the end, I wonder how they’re doing now.
Looking closely, the clothes these children were wearing, though plain, were relatively clean, and there were no obvious patches visible. They seemed to be well taken care of indeed. They might not be living a life of abundance, but at least they don’t have to worry about their next dinner anymore, right?
Carlos also said that there were people in the orphanage specifically responsible for teaching these children skills for survival, and when they learned enough, they would even arrange jobs for them. These were all charitable works with almost no profit, but the church still spent a lot of money to establish such places in every major city.
Thinking of this, I felt some goodwill towards the church.
Whether it’s individuals or organizations, those who do things without seeking returns are very admirable.
The Duke of course wouldn’t know what was going through my little head at this time, he just looked somewhat troubled at the boy who was staring back at him.
“Look, if you don’t tell me the reason properly, how can I find an excuse to let you all go? Let’s all take a step back, what do you think?”
Clearly speaking in a tone of coaxing children.
“Hmph. Don’t be so smug! Since we were unfortunately caught by you, we never thought about leaving here alive!”
The boy’s attitude was firm, turning his head to one side, like a righteous hero in stories waiting for execution, as if saying do as you please whether to kill or flay.
“Pfft.”
I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
This boy looked about my age, though so thin that a breeze could blow him over, yet he dared to speak so presumptuously in front of so many hunters.
Have you read too many knight novels? Who said we were going to kill you, please don’t get so into character.
Yes, you’ve acted this part well, but have you considered how your little companions feel?
Sure enough, after hearing the boy’s words, those who had gradually calmed down suddenly raised their crying several notches higher.
“Waaah——”
“I don’t want to die——”
“Don’t… don’t kill me— ah——”
For a moment the room was as noisy as a nursery, the children crying with their mouths wide open, just like those howling infants waiting to be fed.
But I won’t share my desserts with you anymore, there are only two pieces left.
Looking at this scene of bitter crying, Lucas immediately realized he had said something wrong, so he tried to remedy it: “No, let them go! I was the one who incited them to come, if you want to do anything, come at me!”
“Uh, don’t cry anymore, it’s really giving me a headache, we won’t do anything to you little ones.”
Pagos, who had been still hunched over his work desk comparing blueprints with various materials, also couldn’t take it anymore and came up trying to calm the children’s emotions. But the children, looking at the tall and fierce Pagos, who seemed like a giant, were obviously scared and immediately cried even louder.
The situation became very awkward for a moment, even the few hunters standing in the room began to look at each other in dismay.
Although they were all decisive Shanter warriors, at this moment facing these orphanage children, and looking at the Duke’s unreadable smiling face, no one knew what to do.
Just then.
“Hey!”
I clapped my little hands, making a short shout that startled the crying children, and they immediately all looked over.
Seeing that I had attracted their attention, I unhurriedly took out a gold coin from my pocket, held it between my thumb and index finger, then showed it to the children.
The little faces streaked with tears showed curious expressions, not understanding what I was going to do. Seeing this, I immediately raised my other hand to cover the coin, gently blowing a breath into my palm.
When I moved my hand away again, that coin had disappeared.
The children immediately widened their eyes, looking at my hand in disbelief, their wailing had already turned into gentle sobbing.
When I blew into my hand again, the gold coin suddenly appeared between my fingers.
“Wow—, how did you do that?”
“Big sister, that’s amazing.”
Of course it is, hmph.
But actually this was just a simple magic trick, using sleight of hand to hide the coin at the fingertips. In my previous life, you could easily find tutorials online, it just took some practice to master. I remember I learned it to amuse Xiaoxi back then, didn’t expect it would come in handy here.
Anyway, their attention had been successfully diverted by me, and at this point they seemed to have forgotten about being scared, even Pagos was scratching his bald head with an amazed look.
Tch, such a country bumpkin who hasn’t seen the world.
While secretly looking down on Pagos in my heart, my face showed a graceful smile to the children.
“Want to learn?”
They nodded like pecking chicks.
“Tell me, why did you, come here. I’ll teach you then. Okay?”
After a brief hesitation.
“I’ll tell!” The speaker was that little girl, who suddenly raised her hand high after finishing the snacks, “Big sister, we just came to steal weapons.”
“Elle! You traitor!” The boy who had been holding back without a sound immediately gritted his teeth, his angry eyes showing the tragic feeling of being betrayed by a companion, “How could you do this! You’ve betrayed my deep trust in you! This is just too disappointing!”
“Pfft.”
I couldn’t help but laugh again.
This boy, so interesting!
“I’m not a traitor! This pretty big sister isn’t a bad person, maybe she can help us!”
“Coward! It was because you ran too slow that we got caught in the first place, we all nobly got caught with you, and now you want to sell us out!”
“But stealing things was wrong in the first place…”
“What’s wrong with it?! As long as it’s for justice in our hearts, I’m willing to die!”
“Lucas, stop talking.”
“They don’t seem to be bad people…”
The other little companions couldn’t help but speak up at this time.
“Don’t talk nonsense! I know better, nobles are all bad guys! Their hearts are completely rotten! Hmph, don’t think I’m as easily fooled as you.”
“But they really don’t seem like bad people…”
“Big sister even showed us magic tricks.”
“Let her help us?”
“I, I already told them to let you all go, you all, you all…”
The boy named Lucas, at this moment full of righteous indignation, as if suffering everyone’s betrayal, was almost about to cry in anger.
Having acted so strong just now, turns out this was his weak point.
Seeing they were about to continue arguing, I stepped forward to the troublemaker, reached out both hands and “pat” clapped them on both sides of his cheeks, then pressed hard, squeezing his mouth into an “O” shape.
Bringing my little face close, I looked into his eyes and said seriously: “Don’t fight.”
Lucas remained stunned for a moment.
“You… you…”
He stuttered “you” for half a day without being able to say anything, looking around nervously, completely unable to look me in the eyes, his face as red as a monkey’s bottom.
I immediately let go and ignored him.
Hmph, little boy. Dealing with you is as simple as handling Carlos.
I turned to face the little girl, feeling she was a bit smarter.
“Why. Steal things?”
“We want to save our friend!”
“Save your friend?”
“Yes, the orphanage director is a bad person! He wants to give our friend to even worse bad people. Big sister, can you ask these hunters to help us?”
The little girl looked at me with sincerity in her face, not seeming to be lying.
“Can you tell me the detailed situation?” The Duke, who had been silent since earlier watching me comfort these children, finally spoke.
“We discovered the director has been secretly giving our companions to a strange person.”
“I discovered it!” A child immediately spoke up to claim credit.
“Don’t talk… anyway, every month someone comes to the orphanage to take people away!”
“This time it’s our friend’s turn…”
After chattering for a while, I finally understood the general situation.
These children discovered that the director of Winter City orphanage seemed to take away several children every now and then, handing them over to a reportedly very strange stranger in the name of adoption.
Those children disappeared without a trace after leaving, no one knew where they went, and tonight it would be their friend’s turn.
So they came up with a bad idea, which was to first steal powerful weapons from the workshop, then go rescue people.