Chapter 168
The kitchen was quite spacious, probably because it had to prepare meals for so many people. The equipment looked old, but it seemed practical.
“Then you two take care of dinner, all right?”
“Understood!”
At Asia-san’s words, Emma and Liz promptly began preparing dinner. Once Emma and Liz had started without any problems, Asia-san came over to us.
“Ronnie, Leon-kun, may I take the souvenirs?”
“Of course.”
“Then could you put them on that counter?”
At her request, I somehow managed to lift the very heavy bag and set it on the counter. I hadn’t used body-enhancement magic, since I didn’t want anyone to find out I had every affinity, so it was incredibly heavy. Without that magic, a child’s body really was weak.
“There’s so much, and it’s all food that keeps well. Thank you so much. Now I can give the children more to eat.”
Asia-san looked through the souvenirs one by one, then smiled happily. Asia-san really did love the children. That smile made me feel happy, too.
“Director, the things in this bag are for making the sweets we’re going to serve everyone, so could you put everything else away on the shelves?”
“I understand. Are you going to make those sweets right away?”
“Yes. It’ll be a lot of work to make enough for everyone, so we’d like to get started right away. Could we borrow some cooking utensils?”
“Of course.”
“Thank you!”
After talking with Asia-san, Ronnie began taking out the crepe ingredients one by one and getting everything ready.
I helped Ronnie get started on the crepes. We were only making honey butter crepes this time, so it probably wouldn’t be too much work.
It usually takes the most time to make the mayonnaise, after all.
Emma and Liz prepared dinner, Asia-san put away the ingredients, and Ronnie and I made crepes alongside them. It was a hectic but pleasant time, and before long dinner was ready. The children in charge of serving were carrying the food into the dining hall.
None of the children at this orphanage snuck bites of food or tried to hoard a large portion for themselves. Even now, they all seemed to be helping each other, with no arguments breaking out.
That’s really impressive. They’ve clearly been taught good manners. Asia-san’s probably an amazing teacher... I think Asia-san would be well suited to teaching at a school.
“Once dinner has been served, make sure everyone gets one of the sweets from Ronnie and Leon-kun, too.”
“Yes! Ronnie, are sweets really good?”
“They smell amazing... They look delicious!”
The children in charge of serving lit up at the word “sweets” and rushed over to Ronnie.
“Everyone, calm down. They’re really sweet and delicious, so hurry up and get them delivered so you can eat.”
“Okay!”
“Ronnie, when you say one each, does that mean one of these big ones?”
“That’s right.”
“Yay!”
The children were bursting with excitement, but they quickly got everything ready, and soon dinner was set out in the dining hall.
After tidying up the kitchen a little, we headed to the dining hall. Everyone was seated, waiting for us to arrive.
They must have been hungry, but they were still able to wait. These kids are really impressive... There must be plenty of work they could do, but maybe people have a bad impression of orphans? Ronnie said it was hard to find work.
The older children who hadn’t been there when we arrived were seated in the dining hall, too. Some of them were pretty big, but even the oldest was only fifteen. A few of them didn’t look that young at all.
There was a boy who was really broad and tall. If he was still growing, he’d probably become huge... He looked like he worked out, so maybe he wanted to become a soldier.
“Everyone, Ronnie and his friend Leon-kun are visiting us today. The plate in front of each of you is a gift from them, so let’s thank them.”
“Thank you very much!!”
At Asia-san’s words, everyone thanked us at once. It made me feel a little bashful.
“Now, let’s be grateful that we have food today and dig in.”
“Let’s eat!!”
And so dinner at the orphanage began. The menu was very simple: one piece of hard bread and vegetable soup. The soup had plenty of ingredients in it, but even so, it probably wasn’t enough for growing children.
At this rate, any money they earned working would go toward food. Then they’d end up with almost no savings and struggle when they left the orphanage.
The problems were the orphanage’s small budget and the large number of orphans. Actually, if this was how much food they got at this orphanage, what were meals like at places where the staff used the orphanage’s money for themselves? If they were even worse, did they get nothing but bread and water?
If that was the case, then even if they were getting the bare minimum to survive, plenty of children must have died from illnesses and other causes... This really is a harsher world than Japan.
To improve things, we’d first need to set up a system to prevent the staff from embezzling funds, then increase the money allocated to orphanages. And to reduce the number of children who became orphans, we’d need to improve sanitation and reduce the number of parents who died from illness.
In this world, healing magic can treat injuries, but not illnesses, so getting sick carries a high risk of death. Even an ordinary cold is dangerous. Usually, all people can do is drink medicinal tea prepared by an apothecary... I wonder if that even works.
Even if healing magic couldn’t cure illnesses, I feel like spreading better hygiene practices could at least reduce the number of people who die from them.
At least people don’t just throw their waste outside, so basic sanitation is maintained. But handwashing still isn’t an established habit, and there are plenty of other problems.
People in this world, especially commoners, generally don’t wash their hands unless they get them muddy or visibly dirty. But I’m sure they’re covered in germs and filthy in reality.
Things are a little better in the central district. This is just my guess, but the Apostle-sama probably spread the practice. It just never caught on among commoners.
It’s true that drawing water from a well is hard work, and I can understand why washing your hands often would be a bother.
Thinking about it this way, I can see what the problems are and what needs to be improved, but there’s nothing I can do about them right now. The country probably has lots of other problems to deal with, too.
For now, they must be busy with the Forest of Monsters and the power struggles among the nobles... The little things like this get neglected. Personally, I think improving sanitation is far more important than noble power struggles.
As I thought about all that and dipped the hard bread I hadn’t eaten in a while into my soup, the children around me started murmuring excitedly.
“Amazing! I’ve never eaten anything this delicious!”
“This is incredible! It’s so good!”
“I’m so happy...”
“I’m glad I’m alive...”
Everyone was eating their crepes and voicing their own impressions. I was glad they liked them.
As I watched everyone, I turned to Ronnie, who was sitting beside me.
“Ronnie, I’m glad everyone liked them.”
“Yeah! I did wonder if it might be cruel to let them try something delicious once and then have to go without it. But crepes are something even commoners can buy, and I thought it might give them hope that they could have some too if they worked hard. A lot of them are pessimistic about their lives after they leave the orphanage...”
“I see. Then we should open a dessert shop for commoners, too, so they can come buy something without hesitation once they’ve started earning money.”
“That’s right. I’ll do my best!”
“Yeah. Let’s work hard together.”
We’d start with a shop for nobles, but I wanted to open one for commoners as soon as we could, too. For that one, we’d cut out all unnecessary costs to keep prices low. For the shop aimed at nobles, on the other hand, we’d add more decorations and make everything luxurious enough to appeal to them, then charge a little more.
I might keep running that crepe stall, too... But then we’d need employees for it.
“Ronnie, have you decided which children you’d like to recommend as employees?”
“Yeah. I have a few in mind. I’d be happy if you talked to them and hired anyone you thought would be a good fit, Leon.”
“Got it. I’ll talk to them properly before I decide.”
“Yeah. I’ll introduce them tomorrow.”
Dinner ended, and after talking with everyone for a little while, Ronnie and I went to bed early in the room they’d lent us. Long journeys really are exhausting for a child.