Managing an orphanage in another world

"I've stationed my men around the base of the bone hound gang's base. We've identified most of the bastards in there but the top bunch always wear masks, so we don't know who they are."

"I see."

"So what do you want to do? Do you want us to attack?"

"No, I will do it myself."

If Leaf was here right now, she would say that Thea finally looked scary. The Thea that was unable to make a scary expression before had a dark aura around her right now. Thea's scary self only appears when she has genuine hatred towards someone.

"Ok, we won't make a move. We'll let you handle it."

"You made sure no one escaped their base right?"

"Some left, but we made sure they were dealt with as soon after they left."

"Good work. Let's head over right now."

"Right now?"

"Yes, right now."

"The hideout is very far away. It takes us 10 hours to get there from here on horses. The horses won't move at nighttime, so we should go in the morning."

"That's okay, it'll take me 3 hours max. And we won't be needing horses."

"We won't?"

"Yes, now let's get moving."

Thea headed outside. Silas was still thinking about what Thea said and headed out in confusion.

"Stand close. Shield!"

Silas walks up to Thea. After Thea said shield, a blue thin layer surrounded Thea and Silas.

"Wind!"

Thea said the magic word 'wind' and they started to be lifted up by the wind. Silas could feel the cool wind flow around them as they reached high into the sky.

"Which way is their base?"

Thea turned her head towards the amazed Silas.

"Oh, towards the east. You just follow the eastern path, their hideout is on a hill near the first split in the path."

Silas points towards the only path leading to the east.

"Oh yeah, we'll be moving really fast. Try not to get dizzy."

"What do you mea-"

As Silas questioned Thea's words, the scenery around him changed. They were already above the path in seconds.

"You're so fast!"

Silas had never experienced this kind of speed before. He was an experienced horse-rider and has rode some fast horses in his life. Yet none of them could hope to match the speed at which Thea was flying.

"Thank you for the compliment."

"What is this magic spell? Is it a flying spell?"

"Magic spell? I'm not using a spell."

"There's no spell? Though I've never seen one, I've heard of 4-star mages being able to fly using a wind magic spell."

"I know that spell, but I don't use it."

"How are we flying right now if you don't use it?"

"I just command the wind through my mana."

"You just...command the wind?"

"Yes."

Silas didn't understand, but he also understood that the things Thea knew were beyond his knowledge. So he just accepted it as it was.

"I see...the view from up here is amazing."

Silas looked down towards the forest. Right now, he was experiencing this for the first time. He was not a mage so he didn't have opportunities to fly like this.

Silas looked at the forest below from high above. The wind was rushing by, enveloping him in whooshing sounds. But it was not too loud, in fact it was calming. He couldn't hear the sounds of the forest, but watching the sea of trees go by gave him a sense of awe.

"Haven't you been on airships?"

"I haven't been on one."

"I thought you would have since you're a merchant. You should try it, they feel much different than flying. In a good way, of course."

"I don't travel as a merchant, I just do paperwork most of the time. But I'll actually be going on one in the near future. So I hope it'll be good as nice as this."

***

After 5 minutes of flying, Silas was looking down on the forest when he noticed something.

"Umm, Miss Thea."

"Yes?"

"There's something strange."

"Something strange?"

I looked at where Silas was looking. He was looking down to the forest, where he could see a white streak. It was moving at the same pace as me.

"What is that?"

Thea didn't know what it was.

"It must be a beast."

Beasts inhabited the whole world. It wasn't weird for strong beasts to live in forests such as these. So a fast beast able to follow Thea wasn't weird.

"Should we take care of it?"

"No, there's no need to."

"Sorry, that was wrong of me to say."

Silas remembered something. Silas had heard that Thea doesn't like hunting beasts. So suggesting to Thea to kill the beast was inconsiderate of him.

"It hasn't done anything to us, so why should we attack it?"

Thea hated the way the adventures' guild worked. Where adventurers go around killing every beast they see for profit. Even if the beasts had done nothing wrong, and lived a peaceful life. She especially hated the hunting of peaceful creatures. But Thea understood the need to kill beasts that caused trouble.

Violent beasts like the tempered steel snake, lave gem tiger and many more. These are hard to hunt for normal adventurers. So they go and hunt defenseless beasts, like the seven flowers deer, red feathered thunderbird. Most of these creatures don't even give valuable material. The adventurers' guild suggests hunting these creatures for experience and practice.

"Lets just leave it alone, it'll go away soon."

There are cases where these beasts chase after adventurers, because they stepped into their territory. So as soon as the adventurers leave, the beasts stop chasing.

But this beast didn't leave even after another 10 minutes of flying.

"Is it's territory that huge?"

Thea questioned.

"I don't think so, there has been no mention of any such creature in this region."

Silas, who had looked into the history of the Suyai region extensively, had not heard of a single thing. If a creature with such a large territory was present in this region, it would for sure be marked down in books.

"We should just leave it alone. It'll stop following us soon."

But even after that, it did not leave. It kept up the pace with Thea and soon they arrived at the hideout of the bone hound gang.

"Let's head down. And see what this beast is."

I flew down and landed in front of the beast. The beast came to a stop.

"You?"

I recognized the creature in front of me. I had met it before.

"Is..is that..."

In front of us stood a big creature, around 6m tall. It had white fur and a mane like a lions. A long waving fluffy tail. It stood there with the aura of a majestic being. In it's eyes was a gleam that would make other creatures bow. It had an effect of Silas as his legs felt weak after a look.

"The white wolf?"

Silas fell down to the ground. His legs had given up. Silas was just an ordinary person. He was an amazing merchant, but he was not a mage or a fighter with a strong body. The pressure from the white wolf was too much for him. His body was shaking.

"Stop it!"

Thea shouted at the white wolf and Silas' body stopped shaking.

"How could you do that? He's an ordinary person."

"Hmph, how would I know that?"

The wolf turned it's head to the left. A sense of indignation could be felt from the white wolf's words. Silas was shocked to hear the white wolf talk. Thea was also shocked but at something else.

"So it's his fault for being weak? Is that what you mean?"

"Of course. To appear before me, one must at least be able to withstand my aura."

"The legends say you protect the people but I guess that was false. And also you followed us..."

"..."

The white wolf had no words in response. It was indeed true that the white wolf followed and appeared before them. And it was also supposed to protect the people of the Suyai region. But it did not want to be the one at fault.

"It's your fault for running around in my territory."

"I thought I said I wouldn't do anything. And it's not your territory here is it?"

"It is."

"How is your territory so big?"

"I just made it my territory."

Thea was a bit amazed at the white wolf.

"So why are you following us?"

"I'm just keeping an eye on you."

"On me? Again, I told you I'm not doing anything."

"I'm just making sure."

It seemed the white wolf was apprehensive of Thea.

"Miss Thea, is that the real white wolf?"

Silas, who was to the side asked. He couldn't believe that the legendary white wolf was before him.

"What?! You think I'm fake."

The pressure of the white wolf's aura was rising in response to Silas' question.

"Stop raising your aura. You don't ever show your face to people, so who will know if you're real or not."

"Grr."

The white wolf was gritting it's teeth, but it couldn't say anything against Thea's remark.

"My friend here is Silas, he's a merchant. Don't do anything to harm him or anyone wearing an outfit like his. This here is Maple, the white wolf you've heard about."

"Maple?"

"What?! Do you find my name funny?"

"N-no! I would never."

"Then you hate my name?!"

"No! That's not it!"

Maple was staring furiously at Silas.

"I-I just didn't think the white wolf would have a name."

"Why wouldn't the mighty me have a name? Is this human stupid?"

Maple turned to look towards Thea.

"No he's not. He's actually a very smart one."

"This one? Are you sure?"

Maple looked towards Silas, glanced him up and down, then looked by to Thea.

"Why are you doubting me?"

At that moment, a low sound could be heard. A low cute growl.

"What was that?"

I asked Maple as the voice came from behind her.

"Umm..."

From the fur around her mane, something moved and a white cloud fell out onto the floor. It was a smaller white wolf.

The small wolf stood up on it's legs, it's little legs shaking a bit. It was clearly a very young child. After standing on it's paws, it met face to face with me.

"OMG!"

I immediately rushed towards the wolf. And picked it up.

"Who is this cutie?!"

The small wolf was so cute! I couldn't resist it's charm. It was small and white like a cloud. It fit in my arms and it's fur was super soft.

"Grr. Woof! Woof!"

The small cloud started to growl and bark at Thea. It made sense, as Thea just picked it up. She was a total stranger to the cloud.

"Grr."

Maple also started to growl. But it was not at Thea. Maple was growl to the small wolf to stop it's outcry which it did.

"This is my child, he was born a few weeks ago."

"A few weeks ago? This little one is so young then."

I said as my face was fully in the fur of the small wolf. It felt amazingly soft and wonderful.

"What's his name?"

"We white wolves don't get names at birth. We seek a powerful creature and ask them to bestow a name upon us."

"So he doesn't have a name yet?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"I respect your culture and hope he finds a strong person to give it a name."

Thea said while not knowing.

"Give him a name."

"Wait, you want me to give him a name?"

"Yes, you are a strong person. Aren't you?"

"Well, you got me there. But are you really sure about me giving him a name? You might not like the name I give him."

"We do not regret the names given to us ever! But don't give him a weird name...please."

"Then, thank you for giving me this honor. Let me think."

'A name, huh. Since he's a white wolf, I should give him a majestic name. One that will fit him in the future. Are there any famous wolf names I can remember? Umm...there was Fenrir. But that's kind of overused. There's Sirius...Hati...'

"Another name...."

'How about shortening the name Fenrir to Fen? That's not bad, but it's not good either. Oh.'

"Gwyn! How does Gwyn sound?"

"Hmm, a worthy name."

Maple had a smile on her face. And a proud expression.

"So you like the name. That's good. Little cloud, your name is Gwyn from now on."

"Woof."

Gwyn barked in response, seemingly understanding Thea's words.

"So are you going to follow us, Maple? We have some stuff to do."

"Of course, I'm keeping an eye on you. But what are you doing here?"

"We're here to deal with some very bad people."

"Oh, let's get going then. We should deal with evil as soon as you can."

"Not we, just me. You're not doing anything."

"Not even one?"

Maple looked at Thea with a sad expression.

"No, not even one."

"Tsk, stingy."

"Whatever. Let's get moving, we have to get back before the kids wake up."

"The kids?"

Maple didn't know that Thea had opened an orphanage. Thea explained it to her.

"Hmm, I see. That is quite noble of you."

"Thank you."

"We must hurry then."

We left the place and arrived at the bone hound gang's base in a few minutes. It was a building hidden by trees. It was nighttime, so there were no people outside. And it might be because of their confidence in their building being hidden, but there was no one outside keeping guard.

"How are you going to deal with them, Miss Thea?"

"You should just let me do it. One swipe of my paw and they're all dead."

"No, that would be too kind to bastards like them. I want to make them suffer."

I already had decided to make the people that kill innocent people suffer. And I had a method already floating around in my head.

"Oh, are you going to burn them till not even their bones are left?"

"Good idea, but no. I'm gonna drown them."

"Oh my, that would certainly make them suffer before death."

"Alright, here I go."

I pushed out my mana to cover the whole base of the bone hound gang. And then I slowly increased the moisture level in the air.

"I thought you said you were gonna drown them."

"I am, just very, very slowly."

***

Inside the bone hound gang's base. On the 3rd floor.

This was the floor for people that had worked for the boss for a long time. Meaning, his most trusted allies.

In a room, there was a woman lying down. Sleeping soundly with two men around her.

"Hah."

She moved a bit on her bed, her skin was wet and moist. There was water gathering all over her body. The same went for the men.

"Oh fuck."

One of the men opened his eyes and shouted.

"Did one of you piss the bed?"

He hit the women and the other man until they woke up.

"Fuck are you on about? You calling me a bedwetter?"

The woman woke up and immediately defended herself.

"Then it was this fool. Wake up, you trash."

The other man was still sleeping.

"Something seems strange..."

The women spoke.

"I know right. How could this grown man piss on the bed at his age."

"No, that's not it. I don't smell anything."

"So what?"

"What do you mean 'so what'? That means this is not piss. It's just water."

"So someone threw water on us?"

The man left the bed.

"Wait. Be careful."

The women looked around her room. There was water everywhere. On the walls, floor, roof and on everything in the room. This was unnatural.

The man didn't stop and stepped onto the floor. His foot slipped and he fell back onto the bed and onto the women.

"Fuck, move. Let's get out first. Get me my clothes."

A minutes later, the women was out of her room. Her breath was uneven and rough. Though she didn't notice it.

"Fuck, these clothes are also wet. What the hell's happening?"

"Sierva."

Another women walked up to her.

"You're also wet?"

Sierva looked at the new women.

"Look around, there's water everywhere."

"Do you know what's happening?"

"I don't know, but it's making me dizzy."

"You too? Let's head down."

The two women went to the stairs to head down. All the while, their bodies heating up from the moisture. One thing people don't understand about humidity is that with high humidity, the bodies' ability to sweat is hindered. And the body starts to heat up.

Walking down, a bunch of people were gathered. Some where on the floor.

"What's happening?"

Sierva asked one of the people gathered around. A thin green haired man.

"They...they suddenly fell to the floor."

"What are you saying? I can't hear you clearly."

Water had started to seep into the ears of the Sierva.

"I...hah...I said, they-"

The man was about to speak again when he suddenly fell to the floor.

"Hey, what happened?"

Sierva, who was shocked by the man suddenly falling down, asked.

"I...can't...breath...cough! cough!"

The man's esophagus was filled with water, making it hard to breath. And water had started to flow into his lungs.

Water was filling in the people's airway.

The woman behind Sierva also fell to the floor, her eyes red.

With each second passing, Thea was increasing the level of water in the air. With more water, the oxygen levels were dropping. With blocked airways, the oxygen was not at all reaching their muscles.

This was happening to every person in their base. It had taken Sierva 5 minutes to go down a flight of stairs. Her brain was not receiving enough oxygen, her movement and thinking ability was becoming sluggish.

Drowning is not a painful death. But water entering your lungs, that is the moment when drowning is the most painful. But here, for 10 minutes, the water would slowly enter the lungs. While the person was still alive.

The people on the first floor would of course try to leave. But a wall made of stone blocked the exits.

All the people inside slowly had their lungs fill up. Suffering until they lost oxygen to their brains and died.

***

Outside, Thea and the others waited. And chatted.

"So when was this little cloud born? I want the exact day."

"He was born 12 sunrises ago."

"I see, I see."