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When Sylvie arrived at the Orphanage, she opened the door and entered then closed it.
As soon as she closed the door she heard kids laughing and screaming, running around, jumping like they were in their own little world. Sylvie smiled from the kids' laughter. She walked towards the table that was in front of her and set down both baskets, one was carrying fruits and the other was carrying Abel.
"KIDS! SETTLE DOWN!" yelled a middle-aged woman who was carrying a wooden basket which was holding children's clothes. She was currently walking down the steps. Every time she took another step the stairs started to creak. As soon as she arrived on the first floor and was about to enter another room, she heard a voice
"Having a rough day, Ester?"
Ester was the middle-aged woman. She was a heavier set woman who had red frilly hair that was folded in a dirty white cap. Her eyes were pale blue with a glint of tiredness. She was wearing a red checkered dress, over top of the dress was a dirty white apron. She had an exhausted expression on her face but when she heard that soft womanly voice, she was startled for a second but her expression lightened up.
She quickly turned around and saw Sylvie standing there with a worried expression on her face.
Ester smiled and said "Yes, a very rough day, Ms. Ester. That was until now since you've arrived, you'll help me, right?" She looked like she was desperately asking for Sylvie's help.
However, to Ester disappointment, Sylvie put both of her hands together and closed her eyes.
"Sorry, Ester! I have something important to do at the moment, but after I'm finished with it, I'll help you, okay?" Sylvie asked, leaving Ester with a pouty expression.
"What is it that you have to do, Ms. Sylvie? If it's more important than cleaning, do you need some help?" Ester curiously asked.
Sylvie then stepped away showing Ester the two baskets on the table leaving Ester with a dumbfounded expression.
"Ms. Sylvie...Who's baby is that?" asked Ester as she was shocked that Sylvie brought Abel home.
Sylvie was silent for a brief moment then explained the story that she told the guards and the village chief.
"Do you remember my friend, Fayeth, who lives south in the forest? Well I haven't told anyone since it wasn't my place to tell but she was pregnant and recently had a baby a week ago, however due to personal reasons she wasn't able to take care of the baby so she asked me if I could take care of it." said Sylvie with a blank expression.
As soon as she told Ester the 'reason' why brought Abel to the Orphanage, Ester was confused because she knew that Sylvie wasn't a person that liked to lie, however she could tell that she was lying because that's how close Ester and Sylvie were. She didn't push it any further because she thought Sylvie had her reasons for lying. She then quickly asked
"Did you at least tell the village chief before returning to the orphanage? He's not the type of guy who would like these things, Sylvie" said Ester, waiting for Sylvie's response.
'Yes, she bought it!' Sylvie thought to herself then said "Yes, I already told and explained the situation to the chief, but surprisingly he granted it and didn't ask anything." said Sylvie with a puzzled expression
"He just accepted it and that was it? There's no way that's all he said, he's a very hateful man" said with a frown upon her face. She knew there's no way it would just end like that.
"...You're right...after accepting the situation, he told me that Abel would receive less food since he's an outsider, and when he grows up, he'll be forced to work if he wants to receive more food" said Sylvie as she looked down at the floor with a disheartened expression, biting her lower lip and her eyes flashed with sadness
Sylvie was upset because Abel was just a baby who didn't ask to be abandoned, now he has to suffer because of that stingy old man. Sylvie didn't like how unfair everything was in the world, not just from the village chief. Sylvie had her fair share of problems growing up so she could somewhat relate to Abel and seeing Abel's situation, she felt bitter inside.
'Why does he have to suffer! He was just abandoned and now he's going to have a harder time growing up!' Sylvie thought to herself.
Ester could see Sylvie's pain and she knew what Sylvie went through growing up. There weren't many secrets that they kept from each other as they were practically best friends.
Ester put down the basket on the floor to her left and walked towards Sylvie grabbing her and started to hug her close to comfort Sylvie.
When Sylvie felt Ester's warmth, her eyes started to drip from not only Abel's situation, but also remembering her past which brought up painful memories.
Ester was comforting Sylvie for a few minutes and while doing so, she glanced down and saw the sleeping baby sucking on his thumb. When she saw how peaceful he was sleeping and how innocent he was, she felt a warm bubbly feeling in her chest, but also with a hint of sadness because she also knew Abel's future wasn't going to be easy.
"...So his name is Abel, huh? He'll be quite the looker when he grows up" Ester chuckled. When Sylvie heard Ester, she slowly pulled away from Ester's grasp, she was slowly calming down because she realized that Abel wasn't alone because he had Sylvie, Ester and the kids.
Sylvie then looked at Ester's eyes confirming that she was okay and said
"Thank you, Ester...sniff...I'm fine now"
"Okay. I'm always here for you to have someone to talk to. You know that, don't you?" Ester asked with a concerned expression on her face as she was rubbing Sylvie's arm.
"I know, Ester. You've always comforted and helped me whenever I needed it. Thank you, Ester...For being a good friend" Sylvie smiled warmly looking at Ester's eyes with gratitude
Ester didn't say anything for a moment and was making sure they were both on the same page, she then smiled and said
"As long as you know... Now hurry and wash him! Dinner will be ready in an hour" said Ester, patting Sylvie's arm.
Both Sylvie and Ester heard the kids who were playing on the second floor, started to race down the steps.
A young boy who looked to be thirteen was leading the rest of the kids behind and quickly ran down the steps until he tripped over the wooden basket that was holding children's clothes. He fell down and bumped his knee. He was surprised about what happened and quickly rolled up his pants to see where the injury was. Luckily, it wasn't anything serious but he was rubbing his knee and dramatically said
"Aiya! Oi, woman, why did you leave this here? You could've killed somebody" said the boy glancing at Ester
Ester was not happy about the words that came from the boy's mouth and said "Who you calling woman! IT'S MISS ESTER! I told you to settle down earlier didn't I? But you didn't listen and ended up hurting your knee. If you want to blame someone blame yourself, Understood?" said Ester with a serious expression on her face.
The young boy looked at Ester and couldn't refute what she said and even if he could, he knew that it would do more harm than good. He then started to mumble,
"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. Could you speak up?" Ester asked again.
"Yes, Ms. Ester" said the young boy. He was agitated from hurting his knee and now even more so because he was scolded. However, the only thing he could do is swallow his pride.
Ester looked at the young boy with a satisfied expression then quickly said "Good, now hurry up and wash your knee, I don't want to have to use my healing magic for something foolish as you did. You'll learn your lesson by living with it" Ester told the boy.
The boy stood up, limping to the bathroom and started to wash his knee. Ester picked up the clothes flung onto the floor and placed it back in the basket, then picked it up.
"Little bugger, Who you calling woman" Ester mumbled to herself and left the room. Following her were the other kids who were silent because they didn't want to anger Ester.
Sylvie chuckled at what happened. She smiled then glanced at Abel for a moment.
"Let's get you washed up, Mister"
Sylvie picked up Abel from his basket, waking him up. Together with Abel, Sylvie went to the bathroom that was located on the first floor. Just as she arrived at the door, the same young boy was walking normally until he saw Sylvie. When he saw Sylvie, he started to limp, continuing to play the innocent act. After the young boy passed Sylvie, she chuckled and entered the bathroom to wash Abel.
In the bathroom there was an empty tub that had a red colored symbol engraved onto it. The symbol was a red colored circle that looked like ancient letters and patterns inscribed in the symbol.
Sylvie was safely holding Abel in her left arm as she raised her right arm and said
["Water Ball"]
Quickly after, the room started to feel warm. Floating next to her right hand, what looked to be a similar symbol that was engraved onto the bathtub, water started to take shape from nothing. The ball of water started to get bigger and bigger until Sylvie's desired amount. Sylvie then carefully drops the ball full of water into the tub. She sat down on a stool next to the tub and placed Abel inside. She started to scrub Abel down gently so as to not hurt him. Washing his face, hair, behind the ears, legs, his behind, the little sword between his legs, feet until she was satisfied.
Planet Aitera wasn't advanced so soap was a rarity that only the wealthy people could afford so therefore, the village didn't have any soap so all she could do was rinse Abel to wash any dirt off of him. She picked up Abel from the tub and placed him onto a table that was next to the sink. She raised her right hand again and said
["Dry"]
Suddenly, the water droplets that were dripping from Abel's skin started to evaporate but it didn't hurt Abel in the slightest, rather it felt warm and nice. After Abel was dried, Sylvie quickly wrapped Abel up with the blanket she found him in. Together with Abel, Sylvie left the bathroom and started walking to the steps and up them.
As they arrived on the second floor, there were multiple doors leading to multiple rooms. On the Left were three rooms. The room closest to the stairs was Ester's and the one facing Ester's room was the boy's room and to the left of the boy's room was the girl's room.
On the right, there were two rooms. The one closest to the room was Sylvie's room and the room facing Sylvie's was the storage room.
Sylvie entered the storage room and placed Abel on a wooden desk that was cleared. Sylvie started to search through wooden boxes to find baby clothes for Abel.
However, Sylvie only managed to find one boy's baby clothing... It's just that it was a little too big. It was one that once belonged to one of the other boys but he was a big baby at the time.
Sylvie was disappointed only to find baby clothes that weren't going to fit Abel. She decided to put Abel in the baby clothing because it was better than nothing. She assumed that Abel would grow into them as he grows up.
'It'll have to do for now...Sorry, Abel' Sylvie thought to herself as she looked at Abel with a disappointed expression. She stood up and headed towards Abel so she could dress him.
After dressing Abel in the baby's clothing she found, she started to head downstairs for dinner, together with Abel.
...
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Thank you for reading! If you have any questions/issues/comments please write a comment and I'll try to answer as best I can.
I decided that when characters activate spells it would use [""]. This might change later on if I find something that works better.
If any Illustrators want to make a cover art and/or draw characters, DM [ AuthorZotton#2585 ] on discord.
Check out my other novel:
'Reincarnated as a Horned Rabbit' (Ongoing)
2000+ words | Chapter 3: Arriving at the Orphanage |