### Chapter Thirty-One: The Fate of the Children
“Mr. Dean, is David leaving soon…?”
“Yeah, they’re all going to Ethanbel with Uncle Charles.”
“Will we still be able to see him again?”
Aili sniffled, her voice trembling as she fought back tears.
I looked at her little face.
For those whose destiny is like hers, dreams feel quite humble. As long as they can stay in one place, have enough food and a somewhat stable job to live a comfortable life, that alone feels like an uphill battle.
They are so ordinary, ordinary to the point that they would never be able to afford a horned horse let alone the fare to a neighboring country. If they are unfortunate enough to be separated from friends and family, it’s basically curtains for them—never to be seen again in this lifetime.
Aili is so young, she probably doesn’t have a clear concept of these things yet, but she understands enough.
She’s smart, and she’s mature.
She must have gone through disasters that most can’t even imagine.
“Of course.” The Dean lowered his hat as he spoke.
“Aili, don’t worry. You and Lucas will soon—”
“David.”
The Dean ruffled the child’s hair, squinting his little eyes as he grinned, pulling him over to Charles.
“Charles, I leave the children in your hands.”
Charles nodded, “Come on, kids! Let’s go sit in that horned chariot over there.”
“Mr. Dean…”
David clung tightly to the Dean’s chubby figure, his little face buried in his belly, leaving a trail of tears and snot.
The Dean showed no sign of disgust, still smiling as he stroked their heads.
“Be good. Over there, don’t cause any trouble for Sister Teresa.”
“Mm!”
David nodded earnestly.
“Go on.”
“David! We’ll miss you!” Aili shouted loudly.
“Mm! Lucas, Little Aili, we’ll meet again!”
“Mm! Definitely.”
“Alright, Lucas, you all should hurry back. It’s getting late, and no monkey business on the way home; just go to sleep like good kids.”
“Yes—”
“About Cataloma and tonight—don’t tell anyone!”
“Eh, why?”
“Why are there so many whys? Don’t you want to listen to me?” the Dean pretended to be annoyed.
“…Okay~”
The kids’ responses were a bit lackluster, clearly planning to brag about this matter when they returned to the other kids.
For them, tonight’s event was a rather grand adventure, wasn’t it?
The Dean waved to the caretaker beside him, handing over the kids before letting them head back to the orphanage.
“Big Sister.” Aili took a couple of steps behind the caretaker, then suddenly seemed to recall something, turning back to call me.
She flashed a sweet grin.
“Thank you. And to Uncle Hunter, thanks to you too, I’m sorry.”
The little girl’s serious apology was quite endearing, and the two hunters chuckled.
“Little sister, goodbye!”
Just then, Lucas hesitantly walked up to me and stopped in front.
“Uh, the lady who can use ice, has some words to share with you… I, Lucas, am very clear about right and wrong. Today you helped us, and I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry. Can we, um, be friends?”
He stretched out his hand, his somewhat evasive gaze appearing simple and sincere.
I found it amusing, but it wasn’t necessary to embarrass him—the blow to a child’s pride would be enormous—so I reached out my little hand and gave his a gentle shake.
“Mm.”
And just like that, I saw his cheeks turn red.
“You, you noble aren’t so bad, so from today, we are friends! I Lucas am a loyal person, if you ever run into any trouble, you can come find me at the orphanage anytime!”
Despite knowing this girl was from a noble background and very capable, he still said it.
If he didn’t say it, he wouldn’t be able to sleep well tonight.
“Hey—Lucas, time to go back.”
A voice from behind urged him, and Lucas dared not look at me again.
“U-uh, that’s it.”
Turning, he chased after Aili and the others.
Good grief…
In the end, it was all just a misunderstanding.
I guess that wraps up the affair, right?
Both Lucas and Aili, and even the hunters, changed their attitudes the moment Cataloma was mentioned, which piqued my curiosity.
“Little Xi, aren’t you going back?” Carlos asked.
I ignored him and looked up at the Dean beside me. “Mr. Dean, what exactly is Cataloma?”
“Aren’t you informed?”
The Dean’s expression made me feel like an ignorant fool, and my face flushed slightly.
“Haha, with your noble status, I imagine you wouldn’t bother with such information, I understand… Cataloma is the orphanage in Order Royal City, and one of the first established orphanages. The Holy Church invested a lot of manpower and resources there, treating it as a cradle for nurturing talents. Many Church Knights, Fathers, and even Bishops hail from Cataloma. The children there, the unfortunate ones, only have the chance to change their destinies if they get to go there.”
As he spoke further, he seemed a bit emotional.
I got it now, that’s why the Dean went to such great lengths to send the kids there, but if it’s a good thing, why the secrecy?
“Why keep it from them?”
“Because… I don’t want to see their disappointed faces. I have no power to choose; I can only send a small portion of the children according to the list. Most of them… I can’t send.”
He smiled weakly.
“Miss, you’ve seen those kids. They really are simple. Honestly, I look at them every day and think they’re all adorable. If I could, I’d hope for all of them to have a bright future, so how can I bear to let them feel the unfair treatment? But this isn’t something I can decide. Since I can’t do it, I won’t tell them.”
“Mr. Dean, you don’t need to feel guilty. I like children too, but this is beyond our control.” Charles patted the Dean’s shoulder in comfort.
I could understand his feelings.
The Dean’s thoughts were straightforward: since it was predetermined from the start that he couldn’t send everyone, it’s better not to let those who couldn’t go know.
Nothing is sadder than hope followed by disappointment.
This Dean is a bit endearingly naive.
“Well, this truly is… a farce. Seems we were indeed reckless.”
One of the hunters, wielding a sawed-off weapon, walked a short distance to retrieve the weapon and strap it back on.
“No worries, I know you meant well; I just don’t understand how they got you to fall for this?”
“Haha, let’s drop this subject; you can ask them about it later.”
The hunter chuckled, then turned his gaze to me.
“Forgive me, Miss Peilo, this is my personal curiosity. I’d like to confirm something. May I ask if you… no, you are indeed the youngest Pope Knight Silvya as recently reported in Silgaya?”
Upon hearing this, I frowned.
“How do you know?”
That question was basically an admission. The hunter’s expression relaxed.
“Mr. Carlos just called your name, plus this.”
He pointed at his own chest.
What does he mean… ah—
When I realized, I lowered my head and saw that the medal necklace, which had previously been hidden in my lining, had fallen out at some point.
And I was too busy being mad at Carlos to even notice.
“Ha! Now I can rest easy. I was worried I was weak, but it turns out I just lost to the Pope Knight.”
“What? This beautiful lady is the one from a while back, the hero who single-handedly slayed the Abyss?”
“That’s Miss Peilo? I thought it was Silvya?”
“Impressive—”
Suddenly the room became loud, and my brow furrowed deeper.
…Church reports? So, I’m already on the papers?
Have I become famous? Am I going to run into paparazzi soon?
Wait, this world doesn’t have cameras; they probably wouldn’t know what I look like.
However, from now on, I probably can’t casually drop the name Silvya; I don’t want people to surround me like a monkey in a circus.
After the hunter finished speaking, he turned to bow to the Dean and Charles: “Sorry about today and the trouble we caused.”
“Mr. Hunter, please wait.” Charles hurriedly stopped them. “Today’s incident was a misunderstanding, and we have more matters to discuss with you all. I hope the Central Workshop and Duke will keep an eye on this matter.”
“What matter?”
“I can explain this one.” Carlos, looking a bit defeated as usual, said nonchalantly, “Not long ago, I found lotus seed grass in the supplies heading to the Winter City orphanage.”
I rolled my eyes immediately.
Come on, that was my discovery! How dare you take the credit?
So shameless!
“Lotus seed grass? That hallucinogenic stuff?”
“Exactly. Those merchants are currently held in the Underground Prison in Winter City; the interrogation results came out this afternoon. Someone confessed that these supplies were indeed headed for the Winter City orphanage, but it seems no one knows who the employer is. They were only responsible for mixing them in to ensure their safe delivery.”
Carlos paused, looking at the Dean without a hint of emotion.
“In other words, there must be someone in your orphanage receiving these goods. Dean, do you have anything to say about this?”
“…This is quite serious.” The Dean nervously adjusted his hat’s brim, then pointed to the boxes on the ground. “You’re talking about this batch of goods, right? I already had someone check them thoroughly and compared the list; the items did come from the Silgaya merchant association—there’s nothing wrong.”
Hearing the Dean say this, I suddenly remembered. No wonder those boxes looked familiar; they were indeed the supplies the merchants were transporting…
“There’s something else. We found that among those merchants selling lotus seed grass, there may be heretics from the Gate of Truth.”
