Leaving the canteen, I walked towards the place where the kids were living and as soon as passed the five meters mark, a rock was thrown at me which made me stop in my tracks. Raising my head a little, I could see a scared boy aiming another rock at me and before he could throw the stone towards me, I've decided to at least tell them why I have come here.
"Hello, little one. As much as I would like you to believe my words, I'm fairly sure that saying that I'm not here to harm you or your friends won't actually do any good for neither of us, but I hope that you, together with your friends would at least hear my out before you decide anything."
For a few minutes, I stood in the same place waiting for any kind of response from the kids' side, and thankfully after ten minutes, one of the older boys slowly walked towards me while at the same time, I could feel a few other kids aiming rocks or other small objects towards me, most likely in case I will try to harm their friend.
The boy stopped five or six meters away from me and he keep looking out for something that may or may not look suspicious like the outdoor canteen that I've prepared. Seeing that there weren't any more adults close by, the boy decided to bite the bullet and approach me.
"What do you want from us? I don't remember your face so that either means that you are here for something other than being the victim of one of our sources of income. So tell me what do you want?"
"Believe me, kid, if by any chance anyone of your friends managed to steal from me, I would have given him or her all of the money that I own, but that's not the reason I have come here today. I want to expand my familia and for that, I need children, preferably kids that aren't affiliate with other families which decreases the chance of them being spies. As for why did I make this place, well I want to show to I'm not like the others adults you guys have dealt with. I can understand your defensive attitude against adults and why would you guys try to drive me away from here, but as you can see, I'm not really here to harm you."
The boy didn't move or even blinked, but I could feel something trying to pierce my defenses, unfortunately for whoever tried that, he or she was either too weak or their control over this wonderful ability was lacking. Being a curious person, I used my ghost to sense the magic in the air and as I thought, one of the kids tried to read my thoughts. That's quite a dangerous ability, especially for someone without falna.
"Can you, please tell your friend to stop trying to attack my mind? Not that I mind, but if she continues to force her mind into mine, she may die and I don't want to be branded as child murder."
Immediately after he heard my words, the boy turned towards one of the windows and as soon the girl saw his face she stopped attacking my mind which actually made me smile a little. So young, but her potential is immense. I really want to see what she would become if I train her into a proper mind rapist or in some family-friendly terms a telepath.
"Now that the little Miss has stopped, can I at least invite you to eat something and if you are all right after that, would it be ok for you to invite all of your friends to eat something hot?"
"Fine, but if anything happens to me, you won't leave this place alive, do you hear me!"
I just smile at his words. To be fair, there aren't any known living beings that could injure me to the point that it would become life-threatening, but then again, I haven't explored what's behind the last door, maybe there will the true boss or even a hidden boss down there waiting for someone to defeat him.
The boy followed me towards one of the benches and I saw him salivating when he saw the food being poured in one of the bowls for him to eat. I didn't want to make anything too lux ours and instead, I made something that could satiate your hunger and keep you full for a while. Pouring two bowls of goulash, one for the boy and one for me.
I sit down in front of him and after that, I gave him his bowl. At first, he was scared to try, most likely thinking that it may be poisoned, but after taking a leap of faith, I could see stars in his eyes as he continue to eat and when he finished his meal, I could see his eyes begging for one more.
While I could have been an asshole, I didn't want to be remembered like so I gave the boy another bowl.
Meanwhile, his friends saw how fast the boy was eating and how I even gave him a second serving. Soon after that a few braver kids walked out and asked me if they could get some food as well.
Without answering their question, I start filling more and more bowls for them to eat and before I know it, all of the kids were eating home-cooked food, probably for the first time in their lives.
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Special Thanks to : J. Koster for becoming a Warrior