Chapter 31
Chapter 31: A Child’s Destiny
***
“Director, is David about to leave……”
“Yes, they will all be going to Isenbell with Uncle Charles.”
“Then, will we be able to… to see him again?”
Elle sniffled, her voice trembling slightly as she tried her hardest not to cry.
I gazed at her young face.
For people with destinies like theirs, dreams are humble. Just being able to stay in one place, having enough food and relatively stable work, being able to live peacefully, even these basic things require their utmost effort.
They are the most ordinary of people, who in their entire lifetime cannot afford a horned beast, nor save enough money for travel expenses to neighboring countries. If they are unfortunately separated from friends and family, it truly becomes a case of being worlds apart, they basically will never see each other again in this life.
Elle was too young, and probably didn’t have a clear concept of these things in her mind yet, but she could understand.
She was smart and mature.
She must have experienced hardships others couldn’t imagine.
“You will.” The director said while lowering the brim of his hat.
“Elle, don’t worry. You and Lucas will also soon—”
“David.”
The director ruffled the child’s hair, squinting with a smile, and brought him over to Charles.
“Director Charles, I leave the children in your care.”
Charles nodded: “Come, children. Go sit in the horned carriage over there first.”
“Director……”
David hugged the director’s plump body tightly, his little face buried in his belly, smearing it with tears and snot.
The director showed no sign of disgust, still smiling and patting their heads.
“Be good. When you get there, don’t cause any trouble for Sister Theresa.”
“Mm!”
David nodded vigorously.
“Go on then.”
“David! We’ll miss you!” Elle shouted.
“Mm! Lucas, little Elle, we’ll meet again!”
“Mm! We definitely will.”
“Alright, Lucas and the others should head back too. It’s very late, no more mischief when you get back, go straight to bed.”
“Yes——”
“About Cataloma and tonight’s events, don’t tell anyone.”
“Eh, why?”
“Why so many questions, don’t want to listen to me?” The director pretended to be angry.
“……Fine~”
The children’s response was somewhat listless, clearly planning to use this as bragging material to show off to the other children.
For them, tonight’s events must have seemed like quite an adventure, right?
The director waved over a caretaker nearby, gave some instructions and then had him lead the children back to the orphanage.
“Big sister.” Elle took two steps following the caretaker, then suddenly seemed to remember something and turned back to call out to me.
She opened her little mouth at me, smiling sweetly.
“Thank you. And hunter uncle, thank you both, and sorry.”
The little girl’s sincere apology was quite endearing, making both hunters smile as well.
“Little sister, goodbye.”
At this time Lucas walked over hesitantly, stopping in front of me.
“Um, ice-user lady, I have something to say to you…… I Lucas always distinguish between gratitude and grudges clearly, today you helped us, I shouldn’t have said those things, I’m sorry. Let’s… let’s make up.”
He extended his hand to me as he spoke, his somewhat evasive gaze appearing pure and sincere.
I found it amusing inside, but there was no need to deliberately hurt his pride as it would be too damaging for a child’s self-esteem, so I extended my small hand and shook his hand gently.
“Mm.”
Then I saw his cheeks turn red.
“You… you noble, I don’t dislike you, so from today on we’re fri-friends. I, Lucas, am a person who values righteousness, if you ever run into any trouble in the future, you can come find me at the institute anytime!”
Although he knew this girl was of noble status and very powerful, he still said these words.
If he didn’t say them, he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.
“Hey——, Lucas, time to go back.”
Hearing his companion’s urging voice from behind, Lucas no longer dared to look me in the eyes.
“That’s… that’s all.”
After speaking he turned and ran to catch up with Elle and the others.
Really……
In the end it was all just a misunderstanding.
Is this matter settled now?
Whether it was Lucas, Elle, or even the hunters, their attitudes changed immediately after hearing about Cataloma, which made me very curious.
“Little Syl, aren’t you going back?” Carlos asked.
I ignored him and looked up at the director beside me: “Sir Director. Cataloma, what kind of place is it?”
“You don’t know?”
The director’s expression made me feel like an ignorant fool, making my face flush slightly.
“Haha, given the young lady’s noble status, you probably wouldn’t usually pay attention to these things, understandable…… Cataloma, that’s the orphanage in Order City, and also the earliest established orphanage. The Holy Church invested a great amount of manpower and resources, treating it as a cradle for nurturing talented individuals. Many church knights, priests, and even some bishops came from Cataloma. For these unfortunate orphans, only by going there do they have a chance to change their fate.”
His words became somewhat emotional towards the end.
I understood, that’s why the director went to such lengths to try to send the children there. But this is a good thing, why keep it secret?
“Why, hide it from them?”
“Because…… I don’t want to see their disappointed expressions. I don’t have the power to choose, I can only send a small number of children according to the list, most children…… I can’t send them there.”
His smile was pale.
“The young lady has seen those children too, they are truly simple. Actually, I just watch them every day, thinking they’re all so lovable. If possible, I hope they all have a good future, so how could I bear to let the children experience such disparity in treatment, but this isn’t something I can decide either. Since it can’t be done, better not to tell them.”
“Director, you don’t need to blame yourself, I love children too, but this can’t be helped.” Charles patted the director’s shoulder in consolation.
I could probably understand his feelings.
The director’s thinking was simple, since it was destined from the start that not everyone could be sent there, better not to let those who can’t go know about it at all.
Nothing is more painful than disappointment after hope.
This director has a kind of simple goodness about him.
“This really is…… quite the farce, looks like we were indeed rash.”
The hunter with the saw blade walked to retrieve his weapon from not far away and strapped it back on.
“It’s fine, I know you also meant well, I just wonder how exactly did they convince you?”
“Haha, let’s not talk about that anymore, you can ask them later.”
The hunter said with an embarrassed smile, then turned his gaze toward me.
“I’m sorry, Miss Peylo, this is just my personal curiosity, there’s something I’d like to confirm. Are you…… no, are you the one who was recently knighted in Sylgaria, that Sylvia who is said to be the youngest Pontifical Knight?”
Hearing his words, I frowned.
“How do you, know?”
These words were basically an indirect confirmation, and the hunter showed a relieved expression.
“Sir Carlos just called out your name, and then there’s this.”
He raised his hand and pointed at his own chest.
What does he mean…… ah——
Realizing what he meant, I looked down to see that the badge necklace that was originally hidden in my clothes had fallen out at some unknown time.
And I was so focused on being angry at Carlos that I hadn’t noticed at all.
“Ha, now I can rest easy. I was wondering if I had become too weak, but it turns out I just lost to a Pontifical Knight.”
“What? This beautiful young lady is the hero mentioned in the recent church report, the one who single-handedly slayed an Abyssal?”
“Isn’t that Miss Peylo? Wasn’t she called Sylvia?”
“How impressive—”
The voices suddenly became noisy, making my frown deepen.
……Church report? So I had already made it into the papers.
Does this count as becoming famous? Will I encounter paparazzi taking secret photos in the future?
No, this world doesn’t have cameras, they shouldn’t know what I look like.
However, it probably won’t be good to casually mention the name Sylvia from now on, I don’t want to be surrounded and stared at like a monkey wherever I go.
After speaking, that hunter turned around and bowed to the director and Charles: “Sorry everyone, today’s events have caused you trouble, we’ll take our leave now.”
“Sir Hunter, please wait.” Charles quickly stopped them, “Today’s matter was a misunderstanding, there are still things to discuss with everyone, I hope the Central Workshop and the Duke can continue to pay attention to this matter.”
“What matter?”
“Let me explain this.” Carlos’s eyes were weary, always appearing casual and indifferent, “Some time ago, I discovered guguo grass among the supplies being transported to the Winter City orphanage.”
I immediately rolled my eyes.
Please, I was the one who discovered that, how dare you take credit?
Shameless.
“Guguo grass? That hallucinogenic thing?”
“Correct. Those merchants are currently still detained in Winter City’s underground prison, the interrogation results came out this afternoon, someone confessed and confirmed these supplies were indeed meant for the Winter City orphanage, but apparently no one knows who the employer is, they were only responsible for mixing it in and ensuring safe delivery.”
Carlos paused, looking at the director with an unwavering expression.
“In other words, someone in your institute must be receiving the goods. Sir Director, do you have anything to say about this?”
“……This is quite a serious matter.” The director nervously adjusted his hat brim, then pointed to the boxes on the ground, “Are you talking about these goods? I just had someone check them, and carefully compared the inventory list as well, these things indeed came from Sylgaria’s Merchant Guild, there are no problems at all.”
Hearing the director say this, I suddenly remembered. No wonder these boxes looked familiar earlier, aren’t these the supplies those merchants were transporting……
“There’s one more thing. We discovered that among those merchants selling guguo grass, there might be heretics from the Gate of Truth mixed in.”