"Oliver, are you washing the dishes alone again? Where did the others go?" asked sister Mary.
"Well, they wanted to play something so I said that I will do them. It's no big deal, really... I like it!" said Oliver.
"You have to stop spoiling them! That's why they are so lazy... you do everything for them..." said sister Mary deeply annoyed.
"It's fine, they are still little. As the oldest one, I have to take care of them and spoiling them a little won't do any harm. I'm sure they'll grow up to be fine young men and women!"
Sister Mary gave up on arguing and left, knowing that he wouldn't let her help even if she offered to... Oliver was a very good kid. He studied hard and was really good at all subjects, but sadly, he was kind of unlucky. Sister Mary found him in a basket on the river side almost 16 years ago and decided to take him in at the local orphanage. Since he was very little he used to help out with everything he could, but if he tried something he didn't know well, he would always get it wrong. On the other hand, he did a great job at the things he learned.
Living in the Kingdom of Sapphire was wonderful if you were born with good stats, but some families had the bad habit of leaving the kids if they didn't show any promise, so she took care of such children. Mary, a sister from the little church in that village, took care of orphan children (abandoned or parentless due to unfortunate events). She suspected since he was little that he might have been abandoned by his family for not doing too good on luck, but she had no way of knowing for sure because hiring someone who could read charts was really expensive.
Oliver was going to turn 16 in two days (at least that was the day when sister Mary found him, at the end of summer). The other kids from the orphanage along with sister Mary wanted to get the money needed for him to continue his studies. As the orphanage was in a small village close to the capital, there was no high school there. Because Oliver was an exceptional student, continuing his studies would be his ticket to a better life... but going to high school was very expensive. First of all, annual fees were very high and living in the city meant paying rent, house utilities and buying food. Because of this, most of the kids from orphanages decided to learn a profession after finishing middle school. However, this was not how it was supposed to be for Oliver. He had a great mind and everyone felt that he should continue his studies, so they saved a little bit of money each month and tried to get some money from the people from the village that knew him and wanted to help out. The whole village (which was only about 100 people big) decided to help him. They asked a passerby about 5 months before Oliver's birthday about the costs and he said that the entry fee was 2000£. It was a big sum for them, but they put aside all the money they could since then and, finally, the target was achieved. Regarding the food he needed, they were thinking of sending him some supplies weekly, hoping he can make due with them. As for the rent and utilities, they were thinking of finding a church in the capital that would be willing to take care of him.
Things were looking good! All that was left was to celebrate his birthday!