Chapter 53
53
"No, I'm……."
"Chingu-ya!"
I quickly grabbed Isaac's hand and said,
"Friend?"
Isaac frowned and asked.
"Ung. He's in the same Mingan orphanage as me. So we became chingus. Right? Uh……."
What was his name again……?
As I stared at him with that look, the boy quickly answered.
"Andy."
"Uh-huh, Andy. He's Andy."
"……."
Isaac threw Andy's wrist away and wiped my cheek with his sleeve.
"Did you eat bread?"
"No, just milk."
"What's wrong with the bread ghost?"
He laughed playfully.
"Where's Annie?"
"Torturing the guys who followed us…… I mean, taking a walk! She went for a walk."
"Hmm."
"She'll be back if she sees a puppy."
I nodded and thought.
'Good. It'll be easier to move without Henri.'
Henri was too smart to move recklessly, but Isaac was simpler in comparison.
"Let's drop off my chingu on the way. There's an orphanage near here."
He didn't look like he wanted to drop him off, so I pretended to be innocent.
"Shall we go see the Gromon puppy together?"
"I'll drop him off!"
Isaac quickly answered, not wanting to see the puppy together. Then he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and glared at Andy like a growling dog.
"Follow from a distance."
The maids looked at me with moved expressions.
"He must be worried that the little one will do something dangerous again. The young lady is so kind and benevolent……."
Only Andy looked like he didn't understand why things had turned out this way, his shoulders drooping.
As the Dubled family's carriage entered Andy's orphanage, a middle-aged woman rushed out.
"How could you grace such a humble place with your presence! I am Metel Kimbel. I am the director of this orphanage."
She was flustered and excited to see Isaac.
Her desire to not miss Duke Dubled and receive sponsorship was clear.
However, Isaac paid her no attention and stared at the orphanage building with a completely stunned face.
"It's worse than the pictures……."
Isaac muttered and turned to me.
"Was the place you lived in like this too?"
"No?"
Isaac's face brightened at my words.
"Really? It wasn't this bad?"
"This place is really good. It's really big."
When I said with a bright smile, the child's face became even more gloomy than before for some reason.
But to be sure, this place was very good for a private orphanage.
The building was old and shabby, but it had three floors and a well.
Metel, the director of Andy's orphanage, clasped her hands together, bent her back slightly, and said to Isaac.
"Would you like to take a look inside as well?"
Isaac nodded with a stiff face.
"Yes, the inside will be different. The inside won't be like this."
Isaac said as if repeating himself and followed the director. I excitedly followed behind him.
I don't know what's going on, but I'm glad Isaac is interested in the orphanage.
'I might be able to meet Zachary.'
The director proudly introduced the interior.
"The beds are new, and there are three washrooms. And the dining room has an oven, so we make snacks for the children ourselves."
Isaac and the maids' expressions grew darker and darker.
To the young master of a High nobles family and the high-ranking employees, this place was like hell.
This place was the complete opposite of the luxurious estate castle, which was spotless and gleaming.
The furniture was all rotten, and the mold on the wallpaper was roughly covered with paper.
The building was large, but due to poor management, there were few rooms that could be used.
"Now, I will show you the children's bedrooms and study rooms."
At that moment, I quickly patted my knee.
"My legs hurt."
The director's face lit up.
"Please rest in my office."
She must have thought that I was slow and that Isaac and the maids were all paying attention to me, so she couldn't show me the orphanage properly.
The director told Andy to bring me some juice and took me to the office.
Leah was guarding outside the room, and I sat down on the director's chair in the office.
There was a list of the orphanage children on the desk.
'Zachary, Zachary is…….'
I narrowed my brows as I carefully examined the list.
'What, why isn't Zachary here?'
[The Dubled people must be disappointed. They didn't recognize Zachary's talent even though they had him nearby. This is why popularity is important. If he had judged that Duke Dubled was someone worth following, Zachary would have knocked on Dubled's door himself.]
The story I heard at the social party came to mind clearly.
'What happened? Was there a private orphanage nearby that I didn't know about?'
Just then, Andy came in with the juice.
He put the juice on the table and said.
"I brought it because you asked, but I don't recommend drinking it. It's old."
"Andy, how many kids are here?"
"Sixteen."
"Then how many are your age?"
"Four. No, three. One of them was adopted last week."
I was so surprised that my eyes widened.
It's like picking a star from the sky for someone Zachary's age to be adopted. Most families adopt very young children.
There was only one case where older children were adopted. When farmers took older boys to use as laborers.
'Could that child be Zachary?'
No matter how I thought about it, that was the only possibility.
'I think I came too late.'
Last week was really a hair's breadth away, which made it even more disappointing.
I pressed my temple.
But I hadn't heard that Zachary had adoptive parents. Then he might have been abandoned or ran away on his own.
'Let's keep a close eye on the orphanage for a while.'
He'll come back if he's abandoned.
Just as I made that decision and sighed,
"Waaaaah-!"
I heard children crying.
I was startled and turned around, and Andy's face hardened and he quickly opened the window.
Outside the window, six rowdy men were kicking down the door of the orphanage and making a fuss.
Some of them had a few young children under their arms.
"Those bastards again……!"
Andy jumped over the window frame like lightning.
"Hyung-ah!"
"Waaah, oppa!!"
When the children saw Andy and cried even louder, the men who had broken into the orphanage threatened the children with a hiss.
Andy frowned and shouted.
"Put them down, you dog eyes!"
The short man at the front said to Andy.
"If you want them back, bring the director. If you gamble and take out a loan at someone else's gambling house, you have to keep the repayment date on time."
"I paid the interest!"
"You gambled that money to reduce the principal, but you blew it all."
"You rigged the roulette……!"
That's how it happened.
'There are gambling addicts everywhere here and there.'
I crawled clumsily over the window frame and jumped down.
I was worried that the children might be hurt, so I ran over, but when I arrived in front of Andy, a strange sight was unfolding.
"Yaaaaa-!"
"You bad guys……!"
What is this harmony?
Children wearing pots or thick hats were moving in unison with frying pans and wooden sticks.
"Fire!"
When Andy shouted, small hands popped out of the window and threw eggs at the men.
In the gap where the men were flustered, Andy quickly ran over and rescued the children who had been caught.
"Anna, Maurice, Rudy."
The children who received Andy's gaze threw flour at the men.
"Now!"
The children who had already run out to the front of the building threw balls at the men.
Every time the ball hit the men's bodies or fell to the ground, it exploded and a hazy powder scattered in the air.
As the flour and hazy powder completely surrounded the men, Andy smiled like a rascal.
Then he lit a match and threw it at the men!
Bang-!!
In an instant, fire ignited in the air like a bomb.
"Kuaaak!"
"Aaaagh!!"
When minute molecules fly in the air, if fire touches them, the fire quickly spreads to the molecules and explodes.
It was one of the methods Zachary used to subdue the Wizards in the Empire's civil war.
'This is…….'
But it didn't completely subdue the men.
It was winter, so a cold wind was blowing. Because the molecules in the air flew with the wind, the fire was not strong.
The men were burned, but they got up again.
Andy clicked his tongue and shouted.
"Run away, you bastards!"
The frightened children quickly began to run away, but one child was caught. Andy gritted his teeth and ran to bite the man's arm.
"You son of a bitch……!!"
The short man took out a dagger from his chest.
Seeing the blade shining blue, I quickly created a Catalyst, but I couldn't easily exert its power.
'The target is too small.'
I, who had only recently developed my latent abilities, could not delicately control my power. If I made a mistake, both the captured child and Andy could be swept away and killed.
'First, I have to make Andy let go and come to me.'
"Ugly uncle!"
"What?"
The man turned to me.
"Ugly! Dwarf! My eyes are getting dirty!"
When I shouted to provoke him, the short man was furious and approached me.
It was then.
A red thread-like thing stretched out from somewhere and bound the short man.
"Keueok-!"
The red thing rushed in in an instant and subdued the burned men as well.
"What, what is this……!"
When the men screamed, a familiar voice was heard.
"Shh, lest my daughter be surprised."
Isaac, who had just run out of the building, shouted when he saw the man who had appeared.
"Duke……?"
The Duke Dubled, dressed in comfortable clothes unlike usual, stared at the captured men with emotionless eyes.
"Who are you, you ugly-faced bastard, who has dirtied my daughter's sight."
"They are all ugly."
Henri, who was walking behind the Duke, said as he looked at the tied-up men.
Isaac ran to me, grabbed my face with both hands, and said with a serious expression.
"Let's wash your eyes."
And then a beating ensued.
