Chapter 399

Support Supplies for the Juneb Orphanage
○●○● Kiblinki Saltas of Juneb

(I’ve brought meat, children.)

“Oh, it’s Big Bro Saltas!”

“You brought us meat again today?”

(There aren’t many fruits to be found. It’s only Anger Chicken again, but bear with it.)

It’s been a little while since I was asked by our Contractor to assist this orphanage.
The local lord granted us permission to explore the surrounding fields and mountains, so the exploration team has gone out to investigate.
However, it seems they still haven’t found any fruits safe for humans to eat.
They did find some unripe fruit, so for now, we’ll just have to wait for it to ripen.

But unlike us monsters, humans need to eat every day to survive.
Some autumn wild plants have been discovered, but the quantity is quite limited.
That’s why we’ve been delivering Anger Chicken—monsters which are abundant and won’t go extinct unless severely overhunted.
We don’t eat them ourselves, so we can’t judge the taste, but according to humans, they’re mild in flavor, tender, and delicious.
They’re popular with the children too, so for now, they’ll have to get by with this.

“My, oh my, Kiblinki Saltas. You brought Anger Chicken again today, I see.”

(It’s been three days, Headmistress. Meat is the only form of support I can provide for now, but this much is within my means. I have an agreement with our Contractor, after all.)

“Thank you, as always. Thanks to Lady Lily, life at the orphanage has improved a great deal.”

(Indeed. Children are treasures. If the young lose their vitality, a species will perish. It is a worthy cause.)

“Yes, indeed. Thanks to Lady Lily’s support, we’ve also been able to buy textbooks for reading, writing, and arithmetic, so we’ve begun teaching those as well.”

(I can teach arithmetic, but not writing. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to ask you and the others to handle that part.)

“That’s quite alright. We had no intention of relying on you for everything... Oh?”

(What’s wrong? … That vehicle—it bears the Contractor’s crest. Come to think of it, I heard the Contractor owns more transport vehicles besides the one used for this journey. That must be one of them.)

Following the headmistress’s gaze, I spotted a large transport vehicle clearly marked with the Contractor’s crest.
Such a large vehicle driving through a residential area that’s not particularly spacious—it’s quite a bold move.

The vehicle slowed and stopped in front of the orphanage.
Several women and a few of my brethren disembarked.
As I suspected, it was one of the Contractor’s magic-powered vehicles.

“Excuse me. Is this the Juneb Orphanage?”

“Y-yes. I am the headmistress of the Juneb Orphanage.”

“We are here under Lady Lily’s orders to deliver support supplies to the orphanage. The items include clothing, bedding, towels, and beds.”

“Beds?”

“Yes. It seems the ones currently in use were in quite bad shape when she visited. She thought this would be a good opportunity to replace them. Of course, if it’s an inconvenience, you may keep things as they are.”

“N-no, I’m just surprised by the suddenness of it all…”

“Understood. Then, we’d like to begin by bringing in the clothing. Could you lend us a hand?”

“Y-yes. Everyone, Lady Lily has sent new clothes for us. Let’s bring them inside first.”

“Okaay~!”

Those delivering the supplies began unloading wooden crates from the magic-powered vehicle and handing them to the children.
The crates containing clothing were evidently made small enough for the children to carry easily—further proof of our Contractor’s thoughtfulness.
As expected of the one we serve.

Once the clothing had been carried in, they began unloading parts for the new beds.
These were understandably heavier, so only the adults and we handled them.
Still, while I’ve seen human beds before… these are rather large, aren’t they?

“These are quite large parts. What are they?”

“They’re parts for bunk beds. Since this is an orphanage, Lady Lily thought bunk beds would help make more efficient use of the sleeping quarters.”

(Hm?)

“A bunk bed is a bed with an upper and lower level. Two people can sleep using the same floor space as one regular bed.”

(I see. So it allows for more room in the rest of the space.)

“Yes. That way, they can place bookshelves or small storage units in the extra space.”

Afterward, they explained things to the children and replaced all the old beds in the sleeping quarters with the new bunk beds.
The old beds had been in rough shape, but now the rooms were filled with brand-new bunk beds.
The children immediately began picking their sleeping spots, following the instructions of the older kids to decide the order.
Yes, they’re a close-knit bunch.
Now that they have new clothes and bedding, they should be set for a while, at least in terms of daily necessities.

However, it seems it’s still taking time to find a suitable teacher for educating the children.
We monsters don’t fully understand it, but it appears that not many people are willing to leave the big cities.
Furthermore, the bookkeeping method that the Contractor introduced is apparently revolutionary, and there are few people knowledgeable enough to teach it.
They say it’ll have to start with learning how to use the ledgers.
Our leader also struggled to educate us, and it seems humans face similar challenges.
In the end, nothing can be achieved overnight.

What do you think about this chapter?