With Blanche in her bed, I went downstairs to talk with the ducal family. As I was taking the steps down, I noticed that I shifted into my business mode with each and every step. I even feel my shoulders stiffening.
I came down and took a seat in front of the three adults, Lena was somewhere else and their servants were not here as well, so it was just me, Kalvig, Laina and Henry. Although, Agatha was making tea for us in an adjacent room.
"Thank you for making time for us Arito," Henry was the first one to speak up.
"Of course. Blanche fell asleep, so I came right after putting her in bed. Is this about the Summer auction?"
"You heard about it already?"
"From Mozz, yes. He will be selling the red diamond I made for him."
"This will make things easier, then. Father-in-law and I will be going there to keep up appearances. Laina and Lena will stay here for the training so I wanted to ask you if you would be willing to go with us or stay here."
"I was thinking about it with Blanche today and decided to sit it out and go to the end of year auction instead. By that time I will have set up and operational the shop, as well as the orphanage."
"I see, good thing you think about it this at large. Even the nobles think twice about participating in either summer or end of year auctions."
"By the way, are you prepared for the Red Moon?" Laina asked me with a slightly concerned face.
"I am to the best of my abilities. The adapted monsters I have are mostly used to it already, but I'm not so sure about Hogo and the other newcomers. Especially Cie, the Blue Moon viper might face some hardships due to her mutation."
"Certainly, that is a serious concern."
I nodded to Laina's words and turned to Kalvig, "I've met lady Ingrid today and she offered the kids, I'm looking after, baptism so they could get their own status cards."
"Oh, she definitely works fast as always. I guess she will try to improve the reputation of the church with the slum residents with charity calls and other practices, but the damage has already been done."
"Yes, that is correct. I'm not sure the kids with me will be too thrilled about the baptism too."
"When will you go there, if you convince them?" Henry asked.
"Well, I will put together the beds tomorrow and go to the mine to take a look at things over there. I also have to finish the Octolocks's tank, the next day will be the aptitude test so if everything goes right, then the day after that. It all will be for naught if they decide not to go, though… I have a lot of work with them."
"Good luck with that," Henry smiled, visibly relieved about my seriousness about the kids' future.
"Thank you… Now that I think about it, I don't really know how the auction is held. Could you explain it to me?"
"Of course. Basically, everyone can submit items regardless of status, but mostly only nobles and merchants submit items, though there are sometimes items brought by adventurers who got them from dungeons."
"Items from dungeons?"
"Well, the one in our mines was still in its infancy state, but those in the royal capital's academy, Leuburg and Fairen to the West, are fully grown, have a Dungeon core and a dungeon Master," Kalvig added.
"Well, let's return to the original discussion," Henry clapped his hands, "The auction has a handling fee, appraisal fee and protection fee, which are deducted from the final bid on the item, it's usually about 10% for all fees from each item. Given that everything about the auction is handled by the royal family, the fees go to their coffins."
"...I see…"
"What is it, Arito? It looks like there is something on your mind."
"Well, I was thinking… I have this here, it's called All-heal, it's a kind of medicine produced by Healing Slime it heals all kinds of wounds and recharges stamina, plus it doesn't loose effect like regular Magic potions," I explained and placed one bottle on the table, "I was wondering whether it would have a high value."
"I can definitely see nobles clamoring about it. The Military families would definitely love that. Given the Magic potions tend to go bad in one month at best, it would be great for great expeditions, or in times of war… The south facing the wilderness is quite unstable, after all."
"Plus there is the Great Sea of Stones, too…"
I didn't think about that… I just wanted to cushion myself and Blanche a little more, but I guess it would be bad if someone used my items for evil purposes. Though, it could be used to save lives as well… a dilemma, huh…
"I didn't realize that. I'm sorry, please act as if you haven't heard anything," I tried to pack the bottle, but Kalvig stopped me.
"Hold it, Arito. Definitely, it could be used in wars, but given we are in the Southern Alliance, the possibility of war happening with our neighbors is little to none. It's most likely that it would be bought by a noble or someone from the Research center, so you can be calm. But, are you sure you want us to take it there?"
"Many nobles use these Auctions to boost their popularity and influence, you see."
"Oh, that's completely fine by me, I just want to know how much it could go for. I mean, I can use alchemy to weaken the effects to a certain degree without damaging the shelf life," I tried to talk myself out of it and push it to them, but they just looked more aghast by the minute.
"I think we should send it there," Lena added as she entered the room, overhearing part of the conversation.
"Why do you think, Lena?" Henry looked at her surprised.
"As Father said, it would boost our popularity and influence by a great deal. There are still many nobles who are not really happy with Reva and Nomille Duchies working together, this could shut them up for some time, I think…"
Hold up, did you study politics in your past life, Lena?
"I see, that is definitely a good point. Will you be okay with us using it for such a purpose, Arito?"
"Yes, that's why I proposed it."
"Okay, then we will as thanks pay you those ten percent of fees on top of the rest of the price for it."
"No, no, no! I can't have that! I already owe you too much, I can't take your money too!" I protested instantly, "I just want to know whether it will sell for a lot or not. For all I know, it might just sell for very little. Plus I will be already receiving my share from the red diamond, so I can't possibly take more money from you!"
"I think you should let it be, Father. Just give him what you receive for it in the auction," Lena added with a smile.
"I guess I have no other choice, then. Are you okay with that, Arito?" Henry sagged his shoulders with a defeated smile.
"Yes, thank you. When will you be leaving anyway?"
"Well, we are nearing the end of our investigation of the city affairs, so after that and the Monster aptitude test. I believe it will be in five days at the latest. The auction's item submission starts in three days and will end two days later. And two days after that, the auction will start," Henry explained to me with a serious, yet slightly sad face, "Then there will be the ball I have to attend with the rest of the high ranked nobles… Honestly, I hate this time of the year, but I will get to spend some time with Hazel, so you can say it has some silver lining."
"It's about time he sends us his next letter, too… I can't wait," Laina held her face with the palm of her hand, smiling motherly.
We spent the rest of the time chatting about different things and once it got really dark outside, we went to sleep.
The next day, Lena had another training with her Father outside the town, so it left me with the kids and Blanche. I used earth magic to close off the rest of my property and went to the first floor where I took out the kids and the slimes who carried the wood. All in all, I had fourteen bunk beds capable of holding two kids each, plus beds for the two caretakers Mozz will send me. For the rooms, I also had tables with chairs for the directors room, aka my room, dining room and caretakers' room. I also need to address the hidden tunnel under the property… Given its general directions, I could expand it more to the north in order to reach my base in the mines…
"Alright everyone! We will spread carpets in your rooms and then we will put together those beds, so who's ready?!"
"Everyone's ready Aniki!!!" the kids shouted with happy smiles.
I originally wanted to make this all by myself, but having them help out will make them cherish the place more.
"Blanche, could you take the little girls to the kitchen and prepare some drinks for us?"
"Citon water?"
"You read my mind," we chuckled together with a sweet atmosphere spreading around us. Clearly, the date yesterday brought us closer than ever before. Well, we never had time for fun in the forest, so it was nice for me too.
"Okay little ones, come with me!" Blanche led the charge away from the building area and we started placing the carpets. Well, I call them carpets but they are more akin to amalgamation of many layers of Cocoon slimes's fabric held together with Resin slimes's rubber-like glue.
We started with the rooms and then moved to the hallways. The job was done surprisingly quickly as the rooms were all equally big and their layout was even. All we had to do was cut the corners so they would fit in perfectly. Once we had all the rooms on the first floor done, we spread another carpet in the hallways and put two layers on the stairs, just to be safe. After the second floor was done, we moved to the third floor and finished it in less than half the time we had to do the previous floor.
"Break time!" Blanche and the girls come back with drinks.
Paul looked elated as his sister came running, with a glass of Citon water, with three cubes of ice inside, in her hands, towards us. Sadly for him, she just passed him and stopped before me.
"For you brother Arito," she raised her hands with a bashful smile.
"Nooooooooooo!!!" Paul fell to his knees with defeated scowl escaping his mouth. His eyes empty and devoid of life, started sobbing.
Dude, you're overreacting.
"How do you find the kitchen, Blanche?" I asked, directing my eyes from him as I patted the little girl after accepting the Citon water from her with words of thanks.
"It's easy to use, but I think the fireplace is too small for this many people. Also, how are you going with the floors?"
"I see. I will work on the fireplace later, then. The floors are almost completely set up, we only need to have the beds put together and put in mattresses and beddings."
"Are we using the same type as for our beds?"
"No, I don't have enough material and time to make it, so we will use dried grass and Fluff deer's hides for now."
"Okay, should I dry some?"
"I have enough in my Magic box, but thanks for the offer."
Magic box is an item I made with Blue Moon liquid I got from the Space slime. This liquid is called Warping Paint and as its name suggests, it's perfect for painting. It has a darkish purple color with specks of white glimmer, reminding me of stars. As for its abilities, it makes it easier for creation of magic items using Space magic. Thanks to this, I managed to make about twenty magic bags for holding all the items. After all, an Item box can hold at most as much as a single small room. If I manage to multiply them, I should be able to sell some Magic bags and boxes… heh-heh-heh, I heard that one magic bag can go for a crazy amount of money, I can make a lot of those with the Space slime, heh-heh-heh…
"Arito, you are grinning too much," Blanche reprimanded me.
"Heheh, sorry, sorry. I just thought of a good business opportunity for our shop."
"Eeeh? Again? How many opportunities have you thought of already?" Blanche was surprised.
"The more the better, right?"
"You are a busyman, brother Arito?" Misha looked up at me, most likely meaning to say businessman instead of busyman.
"I am. I use my slimes to make items I can sell. Are you interested?"
"Aniki, you are doing so much for me, so please allow us to help you!" Rifa took a knee before me.
Ah, I have a Deja vu…
"I have no problem with you helping out, but be sure to not skip your classes, okay?" as I said that, Rifa made a sour look, I guess he wanted to get away from Romi's lessons, "You all better be able to read, write and do math if you want to help out in my shop. Is that clear?"
"Yes Aniki!" Some kids shouted with excitement while others spoke with almost unhearable dark mutter.
"Also, there is one more thing," I started with a serious look, "I spoke with the Duke and his family about the church refusing to give you your status board."
When I said this, the kids looked up with bated breath. They couldn't get officially baptized before, so what I had for them would most likely surprise them.
"They informed the Head Auditioner, lady Ingrid, and she came storming into the church today, turning it upside down."
"Brother Arito, does that mean…" Rifa looked up with wide eyes.
"Yes. I was told to bring you guys in for a proper Baptism. Oh, and as an apology they offered to baptized even those who are under the age of ten," I smiled at them.
"That means… we can work!"
"They can't turn us away anymore!"
"We can even become adventurers!"
The older kids started looking happy and were getting ecstatic.
"Oy! Calm down!" I yelled over them, "I have no problem with you becoming adventurers, but you need to always prioritize your survivability!"
"Of course! Aniki!"
"Aside from combat, train your knowledge! Learn math! Learn manners! The more you know and can do, the more versatile you'll become! And in turn, you will make more money!"
"That means more food!" Blanche added.
"Yes Aniki!" The kids formed three lines with happy smiles plastered on their faces.
"For that reason I will start training you in Tasshin and my spin on it. Those of you who decide to do it, will be put through harsh training and if you make it through, you will be as good as B rank adventurers! Anything above that will depend on your own hard work!"
"Thank you Aniki!!!" the older kids practically yelled out.
"Good response. Now return to your lessons!" I opened the Dimension home and ushered the kids in. They didn't really look happy about it, but the energy build up between us helped them move their legs faster.
With the kids inside under Romi's wings, I started putting the beds together with Blanche and managed to finish them in four hours. Pretty good, if I dare to say so myself. After the beds for orphans were done, I set up the Director's office with a table, chair and drawers.
"Should we head up to the church, then?" Blanche asked me as she closed off the window that was opened for lighting.
"Yeah, let's do that," I nodded to her words and after locking the building we left for the city center.
Once we got to the church, we were led by a knight in white and blue armor to a room behind the main church. There we got to see Kalvig with Ingrid drinking tea.
"So you came, Arito!" Kalvig smiled broadly.
"Welcome Mr. Arito, have you come with the children?" Ingrid looked directly at me.
"Yes, may I take them out from my Dimension home?"
"You have them in a Dimension home?!"
"It's easier for traveling," I shrugged.
"Do you know how dangerous that is?! If something happened to you, you could take all of them with you!!!"
"Eeeeeh?! This is the first time I hear about this! I always heard that it's the best way to carry large number of monsters around!"
What the hell is this?! I never heard about this!!!
"Well, we know that monsters just get displaced, but it doesn't work on people like us! Those of us who disappear with the collapse of Dimension home will be lost forever!"
"Okay, I understand. I will take them out now.
"There's more of them now, I see," Kalvig looked surprised.
"Hmm… are they really from the slums though? Their clothes are pretty nice."
"We are making our own fabric and Blanche is quite a talented seamstress."
"I see. It's quite an interesting fabric and this whiteness would be perfect for our brothers and sisters in priesthood," Ingrid muttered, "Anyway, let's start the blessing ceremony. Who wants to go first?" she added loudly.
"I'll go!" Rifa raised his hand and stepped up.
"Good luck!" The kids held their fists with shining eyes and watched the first brave man leave.
In ten minutes, Rifa returned and another kid went in. Rifa was holding back quite a lot from spilling the beans with us so I took it upon myself to speak up.
"Okay everyone, I probably had to start with this before we started the baptism ceremonies, but don't worry about anything. Having useless abilities doesn't mean you will get thrown out and having better skills in certain fields won't give you any advantage as well. I want you all to do what you want, do not worry about your skills, there are many skills you can get later in your life with proper training!"
"Yeaaah!" The kids smiled brightly and the atmosphere got more lively.
The blessing ceremonies continued one after another for about three hours, when little Misha came tumbling in, the status board clenched to her chest. Paul walked up to her, but she just passed him and ran up to me. Another Deja vú…
"Brother Arito! Looky 'ere!" She excitedly showed me her status board, which was a light yellow color, ascending her beaming smile to a whole new level.
Name: Misha
Race: Half-Gnoma
Age: 5
Magical Prowess: 5,864
Physical Prowess: 168
Affiliation: Risha Kingdom, Nomille Duchy
Combat skills:
Magic skills: Wind Magic 1, Fire magic 1, Earth magic 1, Space magic 1, Hasten magic recovery 1, Magic control 1
Crafting skills: Cloth repair 3
Everyday skills: Housework 1, Cooking 2
Resistance skills: Poison resistance 5, Disease Resistance 4, Mental Pain resistance 4, Stench resistance 4, Physical pain resistance 2
Sensory Skills: Magic Sight 1
Special Skills: Food Storage 3, Survivalist 4
Titles:
Savior's Damsel
Protections:
Goddess of Love Cullana
God of Wine Wydonis
Oh boy, it's Savior's damsel again. Don't tell me this title will appear with every woman I save. I better not show it to Blanche, who knows what would happen if she saw it… Though, Space magic will be helpful, I guess I should teach her something and ask Mr. Edgar to give us pointers too. I want to ask him about intermediate spells like Warp too.
"Oh wow, what a nice collection of magic you have," I tried to distract her from the title, but it wouldn't be so easy.
"Reeeeaaaally? But I meant my title, my Hero!"
"A title? HUH?!" Blanche suddenly stared coldly between me and the status board.
"A title?" I feigned ignorance.
"Arito…" Blanche let out a sigh as cold as a winter storm.
"I-I'm sorry… I don't know why she got that title. This goes completely out of my jurisdiction."
As I started making excuses, Blanche hugged my arm and took out her status board. In the next moment she showed it to Misha with a silent "I was here first."
She's so jelly it's cute!!! Aaaaah, I'm melting…
"Wah!" Misha reacted overbearingly. She shook her head and took my hand with deeply flushed cheeks.
"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo," Paul growled and fell to his knees with large tears flowing out of his eyes.
"What is this ruckus?!" Ingrid kicked the doors open and glared at us. Her eyes fell on Blanche, Misha and then me before moving to Kalvig, "Are you sure he's not your grandchild?"
"I told you he's not!" Kalvig defended himself.
"But this is just like Kabaal in Royal academy, you know?"
"You know really well that even though he is a playboy, he never touches another woman other than his wife."
"You sure?"
"Do you think he can get away from Alicia?"
"True that," Ingrid shrugged her shoulders and started waking back to the doors, "and you come with me," she grabbed the sobbing Paul and dragged him away, as if he was luggage.
The presence of the two adults was so strong that most of the kids forgot about what was happening. Except for Blanche and Misha who were staring at each other even harder.
C'mon, this gag is going too far already…
***
When the kids were done, we returned to the orphanage and I decided to fill the water tanks and placed the filter sponges into the pipes, having them held in one place with mesh. I also connected the hidden passageway to the basement of the main building and hid the entrance near the septic. I also threw in the septic some of the Grime slimes.
"Well, the septic is made so that the Grime slimes would be fine even when the Blue moon happens… um, Blanche? You okay?"
"I'm just keeping guard, don't mind me," she said a little sullenly.
Seeing her like that, I called out some cleaner slimes, had them clean me and went to her.
"Are we going up—sthairsh?!" I hugged her, making her freeze up with surprise.
"Blanche, we were together for little over a year already, do you not trust me?"
"I-I-I-I-I-I do… but there were so many cute girls lately…"
"There might be a lot of girls around, but you are the most important to me."
"Wugh?!" Blanche looked at me with confusion and embarrassment.
"It's not how I wanted to do this, but I have a gift for you," I opened my Item box and took out a box I made to hold the gift for her.
"A-a gift?" Blanche looked at the box enraptured.
I opened the box just by moving my thumb and revealed a simple silver ring with a green wavy line going through the middle. This was actually an enchanted ring with two abilities, one was Size adjustment and second was Wind element. When this ring was charged with magic, it could boost the power of wind magic spells, i.e. it worked like a staff.
"A ring…" Blanche's eyes were sparkling as I put the ring on her left middle finger.
Can you imagine how embarrassed I am right now? I feel my cheeks are turning red!
Her hands were pleasantly warm and squeezed mine. "Arito, I… I'm so happy…" her cheeks were flushed and a happy smile spread widely over her face. Suddenly her hands separated from mine, she turned around and hugged me.
Aah, what would I do without this cinnamon roll? This warmth is so refreshing.