Managing an orphanage in another world

It's time!

My goal of opening an orphanage is here.

23 years ago, I was 'enjoying' a hard life on Earth when I died from exhaustion. I woke up here in this world as a baby. On the day I was reborn, I made it my goal to live a better life. A slower, simpler life. And most importantly an easy life.

But after 23 years, I found that this world was filled with war. Kingdoms left and right start wars and turn the lands red. A lot of people are suffering from these wars. But what I really cared about is that children are also victims of the whims of these kings waging wars.

So, last year I decided to open an orphanage here in the center of the Suyai region. This region is not controlled by any kingdoms because it is in the middle of a lot of them. If someone tried to claim it as their own, the other kingdoms would immediately deal with them.

So a lot of refugees ran to this place. Along with the people who already lived here, this region is poor. All the kingdoms keep this place in check, so it ended up poor.

So I decided on establishing an orphanage in this place, where a lot of children need my help. It was really hard to get the proper papers stating my ownership of this orphanage.

Looking at the building in front of me, it needed a lot of repairing. The wood walls were full of holes. There was mold and trash everywhere. I'm pretty sure I can saw a family of rats on the roof. It was truly disgusting, this place. But after cleaning, this place would shine. And would become the home of many children.

I could have cleaned all of that alone, but I wanted a helper. So it was time to get my first child!

***

I had been walking around the area for half an hour. And I hadn't seen many children. The ones I did see were with family. I didn't see any children alone that I could take into my orphanage.

I noticed that all the buildings in this area were dilapidated. There was barely any infrastructure that wouldn't get destroyed by a strong gust of wind. I should get something done about this.

But that's for the future, right now I needed to find a child who needed me to take care of them. That's when I saw one.

In the corner of the street, I saw a little girl with green hair. I would say she was 11, maybe 12 years old. Her green hair was filled with mud. And her body was covered in dirt. It looked like she hadn't taken a bath for weeks.

Her face looked angry. But I could see sadness and sorrow behind her light green eyes. This, this was a child who needed my help. She needed someone to take care of her, someone she could lean on right now.

So I approached her.

"Hello."

Now that I faced this child, I didn't know what to say. I was originally a person who didn't talk much. Even at the academy, I was distant from others and only talked with a few people.

'Oh right, there was that one girl who was always besides me. She would always talk and I would nod to her. I wonder where she is now.'

The little girl looked up to me and responded.

"What do you want, bitch?"

I was shocked. The words that came out of her mouth were so rude and not childlike. She went straight to calling me a bitch. It really shook me.

I was silent for a few seconds before coming to my senses.

"You-you can't call me that! It's bad to do that."

"What's bad to say?"

She had a face filled with confusion, as if she didn't understand what she said.

"You can't call someone a bitch the first time you meet them. It's a very bad word we save for those that deserve it."

"Oh, I didn't know that. My bad. But what do you want with me?"

I don't think she really understood what I meant.

"What's your name?"

"Leaf."

'Wow, what a cute and fitting name.'

"Would you like to come with me, Leaf?"

"Where to? Are you a bad person?"

"No no. I run an orphanage. I want you to join."

"What's that?"

Leaf tilted her head.

"You don't know what an orphanage is? Well, it's a home for children that don't have a home. And I take care of you until you grow up."

"But I have a home."

Leaf diverted her gaze from me. Her body shook a bit.

"Do you want to return to your home?"

As if scared, Leaf turned to look at me and suddenly shouted.

"NO!"

'Oh, poor girl. I think she's been through a lot.'

"It's okay, I won't force you to go back. And I'll make sure no one takes you back. So come with me to my orphanage."

"Really? Will you give me food?"

"Here." I put my hand into the bag that was hanging from my shoulder and took out a piece of bread. This is a magical bag, enhanced with spatial material. I put a lot of food in it before coming to the Suyai region.

"F-fresh food? Are you really giving it to me?"

Leaf's eyes lit up. Her stomach then made some noises. She must have been so hungry.

"I'll give it to you if you promise to come."

Leaf thought about it for a moment. Then she looked away.

"No, you're weird. I don't want to go with you."

'AH, I'm weird? She called me weird! I'm not that weird, okay! Well, I did just approach a child telling her to come with me. I can't argue with her. Time to use my backup plan.'

"Fine, you can have this. I'll leave you alone."

I gave her the bread I had in my hand. Then I turned around to leave. After walking a few steps, I could hear some sounds coming from behind me. I stopped to look back when the 'thing' following me bumped right onto my back.

I turned back to find Leaf with the bread in her mouth.

"Why are you following me?"

"Umm..."

"Do you want to go with me to the orphanage?"

"...yes." Leaf says in a shy voice. She just refused me a few moments ago. But my plan worked successfully. What plan you ask?

What makes children feel safe? There are a few things. One of them is food. I lured her in using the food and my kindness. Hehe, it was a genius plan from me.

I moved my hand and patted her head.

"Ok, you can come with me."

Plan, successful.

We were walking back to the orphanage when I heard Leaf's stomach grumble again.

"You're still hungry?"

"I'm sorry." Leaf put on an apologetic face, as if to say being hungry is a crime.

"Why are you sorry? It's not wrong to be hungry."

"I-it's not?"

'Oh my god, how did this child live until now?!'

"Here, eat this. You'll love it. And you can ask for more, I'll always give them to you."

I reached into my magic bag again, and took out a cream puff. One of humankind's best invention.

As I was about to give Leaf the cream puff, I stopped.

"But first, we have to clean you up."

Leaf looked down at her little hands. They were dirty, full of dirt. And so many germs. I didn't see it as a problem before because the bread was wrapped, but the cream puff isn't. So it will directly touch her dirty hands. And we can't have Leaf getting sick because of it.

"Stand still."

"Like this?" Leaf straightened her back and froze in place.

"Wow, you're like a statue. Okay, clean!"

After I said the word, magic flowed from me to Leaf. On her hands, bubbles of water formed and travelled up her arms to cover all her body. All the dirt started to be removed from her. It's not the best cleaning, since it doesn't eliminate the germs. But it's better than nothing.

The water with dirt separated from her and flowed down to the floor, creating no splashes. I didn't really need to care about keeping the ground clean as it was just a dirt path, it'll dry by itself and no one will know. After that, I handed the cream puff to Leaf.

Now holding the cream puff in her hand, Leaf's eye lit up again.

"Was that magic?!" Her eyes looked at me with so much admiration that it was blinding.

"Yes, it was. Do you like magic?"

"YES! Magic is so cool."

'Wow, she's so fascinated by magic.'

"Well, if you can be a good girl in the future then I'll teach you magic. How about that?"

I could see it on her face. She was shocked.

"R-r-really? You'll teach me?!"

She was skeptical.

"Only if you're a good girl."

"I'll be a good girl! I promise! I'll be the best good girl!"

I received at immediate response. A very enthusiastic response even.

"Well, first. Good girl Leaf will eat her cream puff."

I reached out my hand and patted Leaf on her head as she bit into the cream puff. After taking a bite, she stopped for a moment. Her face silent.

'Is something wrong?'

"THIS IS SO GOOD!" Leaf shouted. Leaf was amazed by the cream puff.

"Enjoy them. I have more."

Leaf nodded her head and continued to eat while we went back to the orphanage. I gave her two more cream puffs along the way. She really liked them.

***

"Are you saying this is your home?"

Looking at the state of the orphanage, no one would believe someone lived here. Well, no one lives here yet.

"We have to clean first."

"How are we going to clean all that? There's also holes in the walls. Don't you see them?"

"It's okay, we just need to sweep the floors and move out the trash. I'll do the rest. Alright, here. We'll start by sweep the upper floor."

I took out two brooms from my bag. And handed one to Leaf.

"After we're done, you'll take a bath."

"Ok, but I have a question."

"Go ahead."

"What's your name?"

"My name? I forgot to tell you! My name is Thea. Thea Lawfaye."

"T-Thea...Thea Unnie!"

"Unnie?!"

'I was thinking of having myself be called caretaker by the children.'

"Should I call you mother?"

"No no, Unnie works!"

'I don't even have a boyfriend, I can't have a child already.'

***

"Unnie, I'm done with the table."

Leaf came to me to tell me about her progress. We had been cleaning since afternoon. It's now around 7pm. So it's dinner time.

"Leaf, aren't you tired? Why don't you go sit down, leave the rest to me."

Leaf had sweat all over her body from the cleaning she was doing. She had been cleaning for about 6 hours now. Every time she was done cleaning a thing, she would come and tell me.

"No, I can do more."

"No, you've done enough. You'll rest now."

"But..."

'Why doesn't she want to rest?'

"Why are you working so hard, Leaf?"

"I-I'm just doing what I can..."

"I know you're working hard, but now is the time for you to rest. Can you do that for me?"

"Y-yes..."

Leaf seemed hesitant to rest. I sent her to the big living room area that you arrive to when you enter the building through the front door. That area was cleaned by us earlier, so it's relatively suitable for resting for now.

"I'll be there in a moment."

While Leaf went to rest, I pushed the gathered trash out the back door. After pushing all the trash together. I face my right hand palm towards the pile of trash.

"Incinerate."

My mana flowed towards the pile of trash and ignited it. Pretty soon, the trash was gone. If you were a passerby and you looked closely, you would see that there was no scorch mark even.

After burning the trash, I headed back into the building through the back door to the kitchen. And then walked through the kitchen area to where Leaf should be resting. But...

"Leaf, what are you doing?"

I found Leaf with a brush cleaning the windows. Her back facing me.

"Clearly, I told you to rest. So why aren't you resting?"

Leaf was startled by my sudden words.

"I'm sorry!"

She quickly apologized.

"So why weren't you resting? You kept working hard earlier too. Why is that?"

"I-I-I..."

'She's hiding something. Time to use my angry gaze to make her spit the answer.'

Under the pressure of my fierce gaze, little beads of water formed in the eyes of Leaf and flowed down her cheeks. She started to cry.

"W-what's wrong? Did something happen?!"

'Was my gaze too fierce? Did I scare her?'

"I'm sorry. I won't stare at you angrily again. So don't cry anymore."

"O-okay."

Leaf wipes her tears with her hands.

"So why did you crying? Does it have something to do with why you're working so hard?"

"I-I thought if I didn't work hard, you...you would kick me out."

'Kick her out?'

"I will never do that! I said I'm gonna take care of you, so I'll take care of you until you grow up. I will never give up on you!"

I held on to Leaf's little hands.

"You don't have to worry."

"Waaa~"

Leaf started to cry again. After 10 minutes of crying, she finally stopped.

"Let's have dinner now, okay?"

"Okay. Are you going to cook?"

"No, I already prepared food. But before that, we have to do something."

"What?"

"Just watch."

I stood still and focused on my mana. My mana flowed out of my body and spread throughout the building.

"Restore."

The building was engulfed in a blue light. As the blue light shone, the holes in the walls disappeared and the wooden floor returned to it's original state.

"Wow, magic is so cool! But couldn't you have done that before?"

Leaf turned towards to me to ask.

"I could have, but I didn't want to."

"What? Why wouldn't you do it if you can use magic like that?"

"Well, you see. It's not fun if you use magic to solve everything. Plus, it was a good bonding experience between us. Wasn't it?"

"Oh, y-yes." Leaf's face blushed a bit. I smiled a bit at her shyness.

"Listen here, Leaf. You should live life slowly and enjoy it to the fullest. Just because you know of a shortcut to somethings doesn't mean you have to use the shortcut. Some times, taking the longer path to the end is worth the efforts."

"Oh, I see."

"Well, it's okay if you don't understand. You just have to trust me on what I say."

"Ok, I'll do that."

I put my hand into my bag and took out a pot. Leaf and I sat down onto chairs and I set the pot on the table. Inside the was rice with vegetables.

"We'll be eating this today. You can eat as much as you want."

I took out some dishes and utensils and gave one set to Leaf. Leaf then took the ladle in the pot and poured rice into my dish.

"Eat yourself first. I can do this myself."

"No, let me do this. I want to do this."

I let Leaf pour rice into my dish, she was were happy to do it so I didn't stop it. Then she poured some for herself. She gave herself a very large portion.

"Ok, let's eat. Enjoy."

I took my spoon and scooped a bite. The rice was still hot because my bag keeps the original temperature of things put inside it. It is a magical bag after all.

After I finished around half of my food, I saw Leaf who was sitting next to me move her arm. She poured one more portion for herself. She must have been really starving.

"Eat till you're full."

"Ok!"

Leaf responded very enthusiastically.

I finished my food and looked at Leaf as she finished eating.

"Are you full now?"

"Yes, I'm full."

Leaf had a big smile on her face. It looked like she was very happy right now. I patted her head and went to put the uneaten rice back into my bag.

'Huh? Where's the rest of the rice?'

I turned to look towards Leaf. There was around 8 people's worth of food in the pot. I ate one, so she ate 7 people's worth. How did she eat so many so fast?

I looked in awe at Leaf.

'Where is she hiding all that food? Well, as long she's full and happy.'

"Alright, Leaf. Go find yourself a room, you can skip the bath today."

Leaf looked at me for a moment and then in a very shy voice she said...

"Umm, which room is yours?"

"My room is the first room you see. That one."

I pointed towards the room you see first if you came through the front door.

"Then I'll take the room next to yours!"

"Alright, that one is yours then. You go sleep now. I'll see you in the morning."