“Wow! Wow! You chased away that huge thing!”
“Waah! That was so scary!”
The children suddenly gathered around me.
I let out a big sigh.
Finally, I felt the tension leave my shoulders.
“Are you all okay?”
“We’re okay!”
Their responses came back as a mix of smiles and teary faces.
I gave a wry smile.
As I thought, the kids from Elpida Orphanage are all genuinely good-natured and cheerful at heart.
Just then, Narg stood in front of me.
His expression had changed from earlier. Somehow, he looked more dignified.
“Not just once, but you’ve saved us twice now.”
The boy bowed his head.
“Thank you, teacher Mr. Isto.”
…Huh?
What did he just call me? Teacher?
The children exchanged glances — and then suddenly they all started shouting.
“Teacher!”
“Mr. Isto, our teacher!”
“Our new teacher!”
“Wait, hold on, Narg. What are you saying all of a sudden?”
In response to my protest, Narg tilted his head.
“What do you mean? We’re going to live in the new orphanage from now on, right? And since you’re like the director there, doesn’t that make you ‘Teacher Isto’?”
Teacher. Me.
The same title as the person who had been my mentor…
“Mr. Isto!”
“Haha, our new teacher!”
A teacher at the orphanage.
Yeah. That’s right. Being a teacher was something I had always wanted.
Thank you, everyone.
For calling me ‘teacher.’
“…Huh?”
I noticed one of the girls had closed her eyes and was holding her hands together in prayer.
Her prayer was directed toward the ruins of the old Elpida Orphanage.
The other children also stopped their excitement and joined their hands in prayer.
Even Narg and Filoé did.
No matter how much they had suffered under Gabi’s tyranny, to them, that place had still been their home.
I, too, closed my eyes, following the children’s example.
In my heart, I made a vow to my mentor.
I swear, I’ll make sure these kids live in a place where they can be happy.
Breaking the somber mood, I spoke to the children.
“Let’s work together from now on, alright?”
I said it sincerely, from the bottom of my heart.
Smiles returned to their faces.
“Sorry to interrupt.”
A deep voice made me instinctively step in front of the children to protect them.
It was the adventurers who had fought against the Spiral. The man at the front was their leader.
“My name is Griffo Moni, leader of our party. I want to thank you for your cooperation.”
Griffo-san bowed his head.
He appeared to be in his forties, with a sturdy build and an impressive beard that merged with his sideburns.
When Griffo-san made eye contact with one of the girls and smiled, she seemed scared and hid behind me.
Griffo-san stroked his beard apologetically.
“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to scare you. When I see kids like you with no family, it reminds me of my past, and I just can’t help but speak up.”
He didn’t seem like a bad person.
He met my gaze, clearly wanting to talk.
I asked Filoé and Narg to take the other children back into the carriage.
Then, I faced the adventurers again.
“I’m Isto Rilos. I was born and raised at the Elpida Orphanage, and I’m planning to take over its management. I also plan to take in these kids.”
“I see. So, my gut feeling wasn’t wrong.”
I tilted my head. Gut feeling?
Griffo-san’s expression grew serious.
“Isto, you’re an amazing man. Not only did you save those children from a hopeless situation, but you also managed to fend off the Earth Whale without a scratch using that incredible skill. That’s not something any ordinary person could do.”
“No, I—”
“Don’t be modest. Everyone here thinks the same. You should be proud, Isto.”
“Please, just call me Isto.”
I glanced at the carriage. The children were safe. Alive.
“I am proud that I could save them.”
“You’re truly a good man, Isto.”
He gave me a rough pat on the shoulder.
He was the kind of person you’d expect from an adventurer — in the best possible way.
“I really like you. I’d love to report this to my boss.”
“Your boss, Griffo-san?”
“Sigurd Ronnio, the head of the Wigarus Guild branch.”
◆◇◆
After that, we headed to Wigarus with Griffo-san and his party.
When I mentioned that I wanted a safe place to raise the children, Griffo-san promised to put in a good word for me with the guild leader.
You never know what life has in store for you.
When I was cast out from Barba, all I saw ahead of me was darkness.
As they rode their horses, I sat in the driver’s seat of the carriage, moving slowly along the road. There were still few people on the streets.
On the way to Wigarus, I asked Griffo-san why they had been fighting monsters at Elpida Orphanage.
“Recently, there have been several strange occurrences around this region. Rare monsters appearing out of nowhere, adventurers going missing — that sort of thing. We figured something bad was going on, so my boss asked us to investigate.”
“So, that’s how you ended up at Elpida?”
“Honestly, it was a coincidence we found the orphanage. The main mission we were on was to exterminate the monsters approaching Wigarus. It was a large-scale operation that even closed off some roads.”
“Ah, so that’s why the roads were so empty.”
“The extermination went well enough, but we still don’t know why the monsters suddenly started appearing en masse. So, we’ve been tracking their movements. The ‘Spiral’ that attacked the orphanage was one of the monsters we were following.”
“Then, the Earth Whale appearing out of nowhere was also part of these strange events?”
“Nine times out of ten, yes. We couldn’t learn anything from the monsters, but at least we’ll have something to report. We even found what our boss was looking for.”
“Huh?”
Griffo-san grinned at me.
“My boss asked us to bring back any interesting individuals we found.”
