Chapter 141: Surrounded
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“Ren-oniisan. Can you please read this one first?”
It seemed they had decided which picture book they wanted me to read. One of the girls tugged on the hem of my clothes.
“Okay. Let’s read it together in that corner over there.”
And so, I suggested for us to move into the corner. I could just read it to them here but the place we were standing at was pretty close to the center of the room so I was afraid I’d block people’s way here.
“Okay!”
“The other children that want to read together, let’s come over here too.”
When I called out to them, 4 girls, ranging from 4 to 7 and 8 years old, came following me.
I wonder if the other boys that’s about the same age as them are already playing outside?
The other girls seemed to be still wary of me and didn’t dare to come close to me while the other older children seemed to have no interest in the picture books in the first place.
“My name is Ren and I’m 21 years old. Can you guys tell me your name and your age?”
I wouldn’t be able to call for them if I didn’t know their name so I asked these 4 girls for their name.
“My name is Edla. I’m 5.”
The first one to introduce herself was Edla. As I expected, she was still 5 years old and her dark green hair was tied in two knots. She also had dark green eyes.
“….Frida… 7…”
Frida wore glasses and she seemed to be the quiet type. Her bobbed hair was in the color of silver, almost white and she had light blue eyes.
Fufu~ She has the same color scheme as Spica. I wonder if she will be happy if I show tiny Spica to her?
“Gunnie… I’m 3!”
The one that introduced herself with full spirit was Gunnie. As I expected, she was only 3 years old. She had short, bouncy red hair and yellow eyes. She seemed to be overflowing with energy.
“I am 8 years old. My name is Helena.”
The one that introduced herself the last was Helena. She seemed to be the oldest out of all of them. She seemed to be the firm-spoken type. She wore her deep brown hair in a braid and she had the same eye color as her hair too.
“Thank you. Then let’s do it from the youngest one first. I will read Gunnie’s book first, okay? Come here, Gunnie.”
Each of them had chosen a book but I decided to read the youngest one’s first, which was Gunnie. I sat cross-legged directly on the rug and motioned for Gunnie to sit together with me too.
“Come near me too, the three of you…. Okay. Once upon a time……………………….. And done.”
“The next one is me!”
“Okay, let’s read Edla’s book.”
I read the next book in succession.
I don’t think I’ve seen these picture books in Japan before.
“The end…. With this, we’re done with everyone’s book. What do you guys want to do next?”
We had finished reading the book that each of them had chosen so I asked them what they wanted to do next.
“Ummm….”
Gunnie, who was sitting on my leg, she inclined her head to the side, looked like she was in really deep thought. She was sitting with her back facing toward me so I could only see the back of her head but she still looked very adorable nonetheless.
The other three must be thinking of what to do next, huh?
“Excuse me, Ren-san… Can you tell us a story then?”
Then I heard a voice calling for me from behind.
“Hm? Okay. Fine by me… Gunnie, it’s story time now.”
I turned my head around and I saw 3 other girls there. They looked older than the girls that were with me now.
I think the one in the middle already finished school?
They wanted me to tell them a story and since I didn’t have any reason to refuse them, I nodded my head. Since Gunnie seemed to be still in deep thought, I called out to her.
“Ah, Ida-oneechan, Jonna-oneechan and Kelly-oneechan too!”
She looked over my shoulder from my lap and called each of the girl’s names.
Wai- Gunnie… You’re putting your feet right on the painful spot! It really hurts for real!
“Gunnie… It hurts so can you please come down for a bit?”
“Ah, sorry…”
“It’s fine. But be careful the next time you want to put your feet on my leg so I won’t feel hurt, okay?”
“Yees~”
When I more or less warned Gunnie to be careful, she looked dejected and properly apologized to me. When I told her she just needed to be more careful the next time, she gave me a cheerful smile in return.
“And so? Umm… Ida-chan? Jonna-chan? Kelly-chan?”
Since Gunnie had returned to her usual self, I addressed the new group of older girls that approached me.
“My name is Ida. You can just call me by my name without any honorifics.”
Then the girl that introduced herself as Ida, told me I could just call her name as it was and so I gratefully did so. I could just call the smaller children by their name without feeling too concerned but since these girls were older, I couldn’t just carelessly call their name without their permission.
“I see. Ida, you’re the big sister for these children then?”
“Yeah. I’m 14 years old and this one, Jonna, she’s 11 and the one in the opposite direction, Kelly, she’s also 11. These two are twins.”
Ida introduced herself and told me the name and the age of the other two girls with her. Ida had long, fluffy light blue hair and pink eyes. Jonna and Kelly looked exactly alike with their blonde hair and greenish blue eyes. Jonna tied her hair in one knot while Kelly tied her hair in two knots.
“I see. Thank you for introducing yourself and them to me. So, what kind of story do you want to hear?”
“Umm! I want to hear something about how you met with Sig-niisan!”
The three of them sat beside me and Jonna began questioning me, she was somewhat excited.
“Yeah, yeah! I know it’s bad to say it but…. It’s Sig-niisan so…. You know…?”
“………”
While Kelly looked somewhat uncomfortable as she kept on shooting a fleeting glance toward me.
Sig-san… You… Does even these kids know how much you’ve been playing around….?
“Hmm~ I’m an adventurer, just like Sig-san, you know? I met him during a subjugation request. When we first met, he immediately proposed to me. I was really surprised back then.”
“WHAT?!”
The older girls immediately raised their voice in shock when I told them about how I first met Sig-san.
“Whoa… How wonderful…”
“That kind of passionate move really suits Sig-niisan so much.”
“And then? And then?”
The three of them were really excited as they urged me to continue my story and so I did. The little girls that I had been reading picture books with from before also joined in the conversation.
As I thought, no matter how old or young they are, girls like to hear love story, huh.
“Ren-san is really amazing, huh. To have Sig-niisan and Lightning Twin Sword Chris and even Ice Prince as your fiancés.”
“That’s right. I think they’re way too good for someone like me.”
To be honest even now I still wonder if there was some sort of mistake that allowed me to become engaged to them.
“But from what I heard, those big brothers are madly in love with you though?”
“Wai- It’s embarrassing to talk about things like that so let’s drop that topic, okay?”
I suggested changing the subject because it was too embarrassing to say that kind of thing so objectively like that.
“I think now I start to understand a little why Ren-san is so popular.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Huh? …. What? Gunnie fell asleep?”
I inclined my head to the side when I saw how the older girls somehow had some sort of mutual understanding between them. Then, I started to feel Gunnie, who was leaning against my embrace, started to feel heavier. I looked down to see her face and saw that her eyes were already tightly shut and she was breathing steadily in her sleep.
Oh my, she fell asleep.
“Oh, yeah. Gunnie always falls asleep around this time.”
Helena told me.
I see… Kids around their age still need their nap time, huh.
“I’m also starting to feel a little bit sleepy…”
Edla who was sitting on my right also started to lean against me, yawning as she said so.
“Who-Whoa! Umm, can you please take me to their room? So I can put these two in their room.”
It’d be bad if Edla fell asleep while leaning against me. So I wanted to bring them to their room so they could sleep there.
“I will hold Edla. Please hold Gunnie, Ren-san.”
Ida then held Edla in her arms. Though by the standards of this world, I was considered frail and small, I believed I could carry two kids about their size without much trouble though…
Well, holding just one kid is easier on me.
I stood up while holding Gunnie in my arms.
“This way, Ren-san.”
“Then I’ll be going for a while. You can read the other picture books if you want or well, you can do whatever you like I guess?”
Ida was going to lead me the way to their room so I said that to the other kids that had been gathering around me before I went to follow Ida.
“Ah, Sig-san and the others are playing with a ball, huh?”
I was on my way to their room when I could see the other kids playing outside. I stopped on my track to look at them. Sig-san and the others were playing some sort of dodgeball. They were basically throwing ball at each other.
“Seems so.”
The other smaller children were cheering on the side, maybe because this game was too dangerous for them?
“This place is great.”
I thought an orphanage would have a more tragic and sad feeling to it but that’s not the case with this place. The childrens are bright and living their life happily.
I muttered to myself as I thought that.
There’s also the possibility that this happy environment is just a front and in reality, the children are actually having a tough time here.
“Yes…. I truly think this is a wonderful place. Some children do get adopted but the screening process in this place is really strict. They screen things like the economic situation of the family and how they raise the children…. Even after the children get adopted, they will still continue to monitor both the family and the children regularly. In other orphanage, there are some cases where the children got sexually abused after they got adopted…”
“I see….”
“It seems some orphanages even offer that kind of service on their own in the past but now the kingdom is becoming very strict with the regulation. They will conduct periodic surveys on the orphanages across the kingdom ….”
Ida-san, who was also staring at the outside, began to tell me that while furrowing her eyebrows together. She looked like she was in pain as she said that.
Sexual abuse… It must be very hard when the children are hoping for happiness when they get adopted. But… The orphanage itself also instigated it?! I really hope that the regulations are much more stricter now.
“I see… Then Ida, have you finished school?”
Ida’s face looked like she was in pain just by talking about it so I tried to change the topic, although I might’ve done it too forcibly.
“Yes. Today is my day off but I usually work in a bakery. Next month, the couple from the bakery will adopt me and I’ll be leaving this place.”
Since she was already 14 years old, that meant she should’ve already graduated from school. It seemed she had already started working.
“I see. I hope you will have a wonderful family there.”
Since she’s going to be adopted by the owner of that bakery, does that mean she’s going to be the successor to that bakery?
“Yes.”
It seemed my attempt at diverging the topic was a great success since now Ida had a beaming smile on her face as she told me about her job and the bakery, unlike the gloomy expression she had before. The two of us then started to walk again.
“There we go…. Her sleeping face is so cute.”
We arrived at the room Ida led me to and then I gently put Gunnie on the bed. Gunnie didn’t even twitch as I covered her with a blanket that I saw was laying on her side. Her innocent sleeping face was really adorable.
Or rather, I think the children in this orphanage are pretty high level too.
“It’d be good if Ren-san can have a child as soon as possible. No matter who the child resembles, I’m sure the child is going to be so adorable.”
Ida giggled after she finished putting Edla on her bed.
“Well, if my child resembles any of the three of them, I’m sure the child is going to be adorable. Now then, shall we go back?”
Well… Any child that resembles that handsome trio is definitely going to be adorable for sure.
When I imagined a miniature version of the three of them, my face unconsciously broke into a smile. I couldn’t let Ida see me grinning like this so I quickly stiffened my face before I turned my face to her and suggested that we should return to the dining hall.
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Name: Edla
5 years old. She has dark green hair and eyes.
Name: Frida
7 years old. She has silver hair that’s more on the white side and light blue eyes. She wears glasses.
Name: Gunnie
3 years old. She has red hair and yellow eyes.
Name: Helena
8 years old. She has brown hair and eyes.
Name: Ida
14 years old. She has light blue hair and pink eyes.
Name: Jonna
11 years old. She has blonde hair and greenish blue eyes. The older twin sister of Kelly.
Name: Kelly
11 years old. She has blonde hair and greenish blue eyes. The younger twin sister of Jonna.
Chapter 141: Surrounded
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“Ren-oniisan. Can you please read this one first?”
It seemed they had decided which picture book they wanted me to read. One of the girls tugged on the hem of my clothes.
“Okay. Let’s read it together in that corner over there.”
And so, I suggested for us to move into the corner. I could just read it to them here but the place we were standing at was pretty close to the center of the room so I was afraid I’d block people’s way here.
“Okay!”
“The other children that want to read together, let’s come over here too.”
When I called out to them, 4 girls, ranging from 4 to 7 and 8 years old, came following me.
I wonder if the other boys that’s about the same age as them are already playing outside?
The other girls seemed to be still wary of me and didn’t dare to come close to me while the other older children seemed to have no interest in the picture books in the first place.
“My name is Ren and I’m 21 years old. Can you guys tell me your name and your age?”
I wouldn’t be able to call for them if I didn’t know their name so I asked these 4 girls for their name.
“My name is Edla. I’m 5.”
The first one to introduce herself was Edla. As I expected, she was still 5 years old and her dark green hair was tied in two knots. She also had dark green eyes.
“….Frida… 7…”
Frida wore glasses and she seemed to be the quiet type. Her bobbed hair was in the color of silver, almost white and she had light blue eyes.
Fufu~ She has the same color scheme as Spica. I wonder if she will be happy if I show tiny Spica to her?
“Gunnie… I’m 3!”
The one that introduced herself with full spirit was Gunnie. As I expected, she was only 3 years old. She had short, bouncy red hair and yellow eyes. She seemed to be overflowing with energy.
“I am 8 years old. My name is Helena.”
The one that introduced herself the last was Helena. She seemed to be the oldest out of all of them. She seemed to be the firm-spoken type. She wore her deep brown hair in a braid and she had the same eye color as her hair too.
“Thank you. Then let’s do it from the youngest one first. I will read Gunnie’s book first, okay? Come here, Gunnie.”
Each of them had chosen a book but I decided to read the youngest one’s first, which was Gunnie. I sat cross-legged directly on the rug and motioned for Gunnie to sit together with me too.
“Come near me too, the three of you…. Okay. Once upon a time……………………….. And done.”
“The next one is me!”
“Okay, let’s read Edla’s book.”
I read the next book in succession.
I don’t think I’ve seen these picture books in Japan before.
“The end…. With this, we’re done with everyone’s book. What do you guys want to do next?”
We had finished reading the book that each of them had chosen so I asked them what they wanted to do next.
“Ummm….”
Gunnie, who was sitting on my leg, she inclined her head to the side, looked like she was in really deep thought. She was sitting with her back facing toward me so I could only see the back of her head but she still looked very adorable nonetheless.
The other three must be thinking of what to do next, huh?
“Excuse me, Ren-san… Can you tell us a story then?”
Then I heard a voice calling for me from behind.
“Hm? Okay. Fine by me… Gunnie, it’s story time now.”
I turned my head around and I saw 3 other girls there. They looked older than the girls that were with me now.
I think the one in the middle already finished school?
They wanted me to tell them a story and since I didn’t have any reason to refuse them, I nodded my head. Since Gunnie seemed to be still in deep thought, I called out to her.
“Ah, Ida-oneechan, Jonna-oneechan and Kelly-oneechan too!”
She looked over my shoulder from my lap and called each of the girl’s names.
Wai- Gunnie… You’re putting your feet right on the painful spot! It really hurts for real!
“Gunnie… It hurts so can you please come down for a bit?”
“Ah, sorry…”
“It’s fine. But be careful the next time you want to put your feet on my leg so I won’t feel hurt, okay?”
“Yees~”
When I more or less warned Gunnie to be careful, she looked dejected and properly apologized to me. When I told her she just needed to be more careful the next time, she gave me a cheerful smile in return.
“And so? Umm… Ida-chan? Jonna-chan? Kelly-chan?”
Since Gunnie had returned to her usual self, I addressed the new group of older girls that approached me.
“My name is Ida. You can just call me by my name without any honorifics.”
Then the girl that introduced herself as Ida, told me I could just call her name as it was and so I gratefully did so. I could just call the smaller children by their name without feeling too concerned but since these girls were older, I couldn’t just carelessly call their name without their permission.
“I see. Ida, you’re the big sister for these children then?”
“Yeah. I’m 14 years old and this one, Jonna, she’s 11 and the one in the opposite direction, Kelly, she’s also 11. These two are twins.”
Ida introduced herself and told me the name and the age of the other two girls with her. Ida had long, fluffy light blue hair and pink eyes. Jonna and Kelly looked exactly alike with their blonde hair and greenish blue eyes. Jonna tied her hair in one knot while Kelly tied her hair in two knots.
“I see. Thank you for introducing yourself and them to me. So, what kind of story do you want to hear?”
“Umm! I want to hear something about how you met with Sig-niisan!”
The three of them sat beside me and Jonna began questioning me, she was somewhat excited.
“Yeah, yeah! I know it’s bad to say it but…. It’s Sig-niisan so…. You know…?”
“………”
While Kelly looked somewhat uncomfortable as she kept on shooting a fleeting glance toward me.
Sig-san… You… Does even these kids know how much you’ve been playing around….?
“Hmm~ I’m an adventurer, just like Sig-san, you know? I met him during a subjugation request. When we first met, he immediately proposed to me. I was really surprised back then.”
“WHAT?!”
The older girls immediately raised their voice in shock when I told them about how I first met Sig-san.
“Whoa… How wonderful…”
“That kind of passionate move really suits Sig-niisan so much.”
“And then? And then?”
The three of them were really excited as they urged me to continue my story and so I did. The little girls that I had been reading picture books with from before also joined in the conversation.
As I thought, no matter how old or young they are, girls like to hear love story, huh.
“Ren-san is really amazing, huh. To have Sig-niisan and Lightning Twin Sword Chris and even Ice Prince as your fiancés.”
“That’s right. I think they’re way too good for someone like me.”
To be honest even now I still wonder if there was some sort of mistake that allowed me to become engaged to them.
“But from what I heard, those big brothers are madly in love with you though?”
“Wai- It’s embarrassing to talk about things like that so let’s drop that topic, okay?”
I suggested changing the subject because it was too embarrassing to say that kind of thing so objectively like that.
“I think now I start to understand a little why Ren-san is so popular.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Huh? …. What? Gunnie fell asleep?”
I inclined my head to the side when I saw how the older girls somehow had some sort of mutual understanding between them. Then, I started to feel Gunnie, who was leaning against my embrace, started to feel heavier. I looked down to see her face and saw that her eyes were already tightly shut and she was breathing steadily in her sleep.
Oh my, she fell asleep.
“Oh, yeah. Gunnie always falls asleep around this time.”
Helena told me.
I see… Kids around their age still need their nap time, huh.
“I’m also starting to feel a little bit sleepy…”
Edla who was sitting on my right also started to lean against me, yawning as she said so.
“Who-Whoa! Umm, can you please take me to their room? So I can put these two in their room.”
It’d be bad if Edla fell asleep while leaning against me. So I wanted to bring them to their room so they could sleep there.
“I will hold Edla. Please hold Gunnie, Ren-san.”
Ida then held Edla in her arms. Though by the standards of this world, I was considered frail and small, I believed I could carry two kids about their size without much trouble though…
Well, holding just one kid is easier on me.
I stood up while holding Gunnie in my arms.
“This way, Ren-san.”
“Then I’ll be going for a while. You can read the other picture books if you want or well, you can do whatever you like I guess?”
Ida was going to lead me the way to their room so I said that to the other kids that had been gathering around me before I went to follow Ida.
“Ah, Sig-san and the others are playing with a ball, huh?”
I was on my way to their room when I could see the other kids playing outside. I stopped on my track to look at them. Sig-san and the others were playing some sort of dodgeball. They were basically throwing ball at each other.
“Seems so.”
The other smaller children were cheering on the side, maybe because this game was too dangerous for them?
“This place is great.”
I thought an orphanage would have a more tragic and sad feeling to it but that’s not the case with this place. The childrens are bright and living their life happily.
I muttered to myself as I thought that.
There’s also the possibility that this happy environment is just a front and in reality, the children are actually having a tough time here.
“Yes…. I truly think this is a wonderful place. Some children do get adopted but the screening process in this place is really strict. They screen things like the economic situation of the family and how they raise the children…. Even after the children get adopted, they will still continue to monitor both the family and the children regularly. In other orphanage, there are some cases where the children got sexually abused after they got adopted…”
“I see….”
“It seems some orphanages even offer that kind of service on their own in the past but now the kingdom is becoming very strict with the regulation. They will conduct periodic surveys on the orphanages across the kingdom ….”
Ida-san, who was also staring at the outside, began to tell me that while furrowing her eyebrows together. She looked like she was in pain as she said that.
Sexual abuse… It must be very hard when the children are hoping for happiness when they get adopted. But… The orphanage itself also instigated it?! I really hope that the regulations are much more stricter now.
“I see… Then Ida, have you finished school?”
Ida’s face looked like she was in pain just by talking about it so I tried to change the topic, although I might’ve done it too forcibly.
“Yes. Today is my day off but I usually work in a bakery. Next month, the couple from the bakery will adopt me and I’ll be leaving this place.”
Since she was already 14 years old, that meant she should’ve already graduated from school. It seemed she had already started working.
“I see. I hope you will have a wonderful family there.”
Since she’s going to be adopted by the owner of that bakery, does that mean she’s going to be the successor to that bakery?
“Yes.”
It seemed my attempt at diverging the topic was a great success since now Ida had a beaming smile on her face as she told me about her job and the bakery, unlike the gloomy expression she had before. The two of us then started to walk again.
“There we go…. Her sleeping face is so cute.”
We arrived at the room Ida led me to and then I gently put Gunnie on the bed. Gunnie didn’t even twitch as I covered her with a blanket that I saw was laying on her side. Her innocent sleeping face was really adorable.
Or rather, I think the children in this orphanage are pretty high level too.
“It’d be good if Ren-san can have a child as soon as possible. No matter who the child resembles, I’m sure the child is going to be so adorable.”
Ida giggled after she finished putting Edla on her bed.
“Well, if my child resembles any of the three of them, I’m sure the child is going to be adorable. Now then, shall we go back?”
Well… Any child that resembles that handsome trio is definitely going to be adorable for sure.
When I imagined a miniature version of the three of them, my face unconsciously broke into a smile. I couldn’t let Ida see me grinning like this so I quickly stiffened my face before I turned my face to her and suggested that we should return to the dining hall.
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Name: Edla
5 years old. She has dark green hair and eyes.
Name: Frida
7 years old. She has silver hair that’s more on the white side and light blue eyes. She wears glasses.
Name: Gunnie
3 years old. She has red hair and yellow eyes.
Name: Helena
8 years old. She has brown hair and eyes.
Name: Ida
14 years old. She has light blue hair and pink eyes.
Name: Jonna
11 years old. She has blonde hair and greenish blue eyes. The older twin sister of Kelly.
Name: Kelly
11 years old. She has blonde hair and greenish blue eyes. The younger twin sister of Jonna.
