New day! New-

  Oh shit I forgot about the piggy entirely!

  I better go interrogate him and-

  “Good morning Marisa”

  “Morning Rushka, sorry I didn’t call you over at night but-“

  “It’s fine, I saw the ring in Heather’s hand you know”

  “Is that so? What are your thoughts on that?”

  I know she said it was ok already, but communication is key and all of that, so I just want to make sure we’re all happy and on the same page.

  “Oh silly, I don’t mind I’ve said it before, in fact I feel like I’m the one that’s the awkward third wheel”

  “Oh don’t say that, you’re all equally important to me, I would never see you like that!”

  I said hugging her, she’s nice to hug since she’s closer to my height, she’s kinda cuddly unlike the strong and embracing hugs that Heather does, they both have their charms.

  “Marisa...”

  She held me back tightly, I couldn’t help but do the same, in all honesty I’ve been kinda lonely without Rushka’s affection, she’s my wife after all.

  “Hmm~ why haven’t we’ve done anything tely”

  She asked, it seems we’re both on the same page!

  “You haven’t rested at all since coming with me, I wouldn’t want to work you to the bone”

  “Oh silly, don’t ever think that, I’m always happy to be with you honey~”

  Rushka! You’re gonna make me want to take you right here! As, it should wait for night proper, and speaking of, hopefully a threesome with Heather could be fun, but baby steps!

  ...

  ...

  “Where were you going Marisa?”

  She asked after our little moment of wholesome intimacy.

  “With the piggy, I have to interrogate him”

  “Really? What did he do in his cell?”

  “I need answers, like how did he knew about the ring I gave Heather, or how did he made a guild request”

  “Ah! That’s...”

  “Un? Do you know something about it, Rushka?”

  “I have a confession!”

  “Eh?”

  “I put up that guild quest!”

  “Eh!? Why?”

  “I wanted to give it to you as a surprise! I overheard your talk with Celestial and, well you’re so busy and I wanted to give you a gift as well...”

  “Aww~ I didn’t knew you wished to give me a surprise, that’s so nice of you”

  “But I got nothing, plus the stupid people at the guild completely messed that up! I told them it was a private request! They even recommended an adventurer and you ended up going there personally!”

  “Ah, you know in hindsight that was my fault, I simply overheard it by chance”

  So that’s why the guild master told me I would regret destroying the guild over this? Rushka it’s a nice girl and I feel like she would feel responsible to a certain degree, fine, you win old man, just because no one got affected at the end, I do wonder however what was he pnning to do when Adele decided to take the ring or straight up not find it to begin with.

  “Seriously!? How bad can my luck be...”

  “Well it wasn’t all a waste, besides”

  I leaned a little down. To give Rushka a kiss, as our lips interlocked, making her flinch in surprise for a second, we then stayed like that for a little minute, my tongue running circles around hers within the insides of her mouth.

  “You don’t need to exert yourself to get me a special gift, every gift you give me it’s already special to me~”

  Oh! That was smooth as hell! I’m getting good at the whole flirting thing I’d like to believe.

  Hehe, Rushka stopped working, she’s bright red and trying to make a coherent sentence. She’s so cute!

  I-

  “What!?”

  Someone tapped my shoulder, I didn’t even feel a presence approach me and-

  Of course I didn’t, it’s Lassie, I can never feel where she is! How long did she peeped on us!?

  “Hey Lassie, how’s it going?”

  I gave her a notebook to write things she wants to communicate not so long ago, she carries it with herself everywhere along with a pen, reducing it to simply showing me a page with.

  ‘Where were you? What happened to the funds for the orphanage? Weren’t we gonna make interviews for possible staff? What about the food? What about the schools?’

  And so on and so forth, ok, maybe I neglected it and just pushed everything to Lassie these past couple of days, but it’s been just 2 or 3 days since I decided to go on my dungeon escapades! I don’t believe everything it’s going down the drain for a couple of days.

  Sigh... let’s not get her angrier, she’s obviously pissed, for now.

  “Right, I’m sorry Lassie, I’ve been busy in all honesty, let’s take care of that right now!”

  She just looked dumbfounded and pointed to the floor in a gesture that probably meant ‘right now?’

  “Yep! Let’s get to it, first the funds! If I’m not here, talk with Heather or Rushka about money, they’re the ones keeping track of it anyways, as for the interview for staff, I just had a brilliant idea! I’ll arrange things with Heather to get the possible staff members tomorrow, so that waits til that, next up, food, are we really that desperate? I though the money from st week would suffice for at least that”

  She simply wrote down that yeah, for now, but the funds aren’t eternal.

  “Fair enough”

  “Regarding schools it seems that building them will have to wait since we’re short on funds, maybe for now, instead of school we get some of the future staff members to give csses to the kids, that would be a start, and then we slowly start building schools, it might be slower than I would hoped but, I hope you understand”

  She simply nodded.

  “Great, is there something else?”

  After writing in the notebook, she put:

  ‘There’s still a dozen or so orphanages that I haven’t visited or refused to come under our new program, it would be really helpful if you could come with me to talk to them’

  “True, it must be hard on the account that you can’t speak, it’s fine, but I think we shouldn’t beg the ones that refused our help”

  ‘The kids did nothing wrong’

  “I mean, there must be a reason why they’re refusing help from the town right?”

  ‘They’re probably wary given the previous management’

  “Hmm... fine, but let’s leave those for st, are there too many of them?”

  She then lifted her fingers in a ‘peace’ position, that means only two, so there’s not a lot who didn’t accept any help, plus I gave the written contract papers with the town lord seal to give to every orphanage, so it’s pretty clear that it’s official, speaking of, I kinda want to change the stamp to something more personal, but that’s for ter.

  For now I picked copies of said contracts, and went with Lassie from orphanage to orphanage, talking about taking them under the town’s wing and resuming support by us.

  The contract it’s pretty mandatory on a couple of details I wrote with Lassie, first up the money it’s for the kids, and every orphanage has to give us a report on what they spent the money on, it’s ok to save some if they want but, they need to be reasonable.

  Next up, kids have to be properly taken care of, when the staff is ready, they’ll be at the orphanages checking on them, and making sure everything it’s ok. That is, we will hire workers from our side as a sort of monitoring personnel, they’ll have more work than that though.

  Finally, meals and entertainment, apparently it’s normal for kids to look for jobs or do chores to help, and it’s all well and good but, kids should have a minimum of 3 free days a week, I wanted to give them everyday but Lassie told me that it was impossible to keep the orphanages running like that, personally I don’t know, but 3 free days a week it’s plenty according to Lassie, and it’s the middle ground I could find with her.

  Anyways, none of the new orphanages we went to rejected the support, some of them were overjoyed, even so, some of the orphanages were very, very impoverished, and some others were rather small.

  I’m walking on the streets with Lassie, having a one sided conversation with her given she can’t respond.

  “Even so, maybe it’ll be a good idea to take some of the smallest orphanages and fuse them with others that aren’t quite at full capacity, and we have less pces to keep track of”

  Hmm, she doesn’t seem fond of the idea, but she’s thinking about it.

  “Anyways, how’re your kids by the way? I haven’t dropped at your pce in a while”

  She simply gave me a thumbs up.

  “Good, take care of them, lest I spank them again for being brats!~”

  I still want to spank Heather and now Rushka too! I’ll keep these thoughts for ter~

  At any rate, thanks to my smooth talking, we finished visiting most orphanages by the afternoon, just the two rejectors left.

  The first one was quite small and poor, apparently the guy running it was on board but couldn’t sign the contract since it states that the town has the rights to make changes to orphanages and the aforementioned orphanage HAS to comply.

  This was made of course, in case me or Lassie find out that, for example, an orphanage doesn’t have enough beds for the kids, we can tell them that they’re forced to supply beds, and isn’t optional.

  Not that they’ll pay for them anyways, but it’s another measure so they don’t just embezzle funds, If they don’t do it we’ll charge them for kid neglect or the corresponding appropriate crime.

  The old guy from this orphanage thinks we’re gonna abuse our authority or something.

  “How do I know the town lord isn’t doing this so he could pin troubles to the orphanage!?”

  “Rex, nothing like that it’s going to happen, it’s for the sake of the kids, and to force the caretakers in cases of neglect”

  I’m trying to expin as best as I can but he wouldn’t budge! I don’t feel bad talking to him about this despite him saying no before, since it’s obvious he has the children's safety as top priority, so I won’t go hard on him for giving me an attitude.

  “Even so-”

  “Ah! Marisa?”

  The voice of a girl caught me off guard, as she called me as soon as she entered the room.

  “Eh? Yes that’s me”

  “Marisa!”

  Wha!? This girl suddenly hugged me, wait I know her from somewhere, but I can’t quite put my finger on it and...

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m just here to talk to the people at the orphanage, uh...”

  “Hmm...”

  “Errm...”

  “Ah! You don’t remember me! How rude! Even though I remember you properly!”

  “Sorry, refresh my memory please”

  “I’m Anna! You helped me and daddy at our farm!”

  Oh! I remember! They’re the ones from that time when I barely woke up in this world!

  “Oh yeah! Wait! If you’re here then! Uh...”

  “Oh daddy it’s fine! He’s doing better than ever, I just came here to give some of our leftover crops and to py with the other kids!”

  “Phew, don’t scare me like that Anna, I’m gd to hear your dad is doing better, good for you two”

  I then ruffled her hair, she gave me a heart attack for some reason, good on them for giving what little they have to help others though.

  “Anna, do you know her?”

  “Un! She helped me and daddy when he was sick”

  “I see, well... if Anna trust you guys, then maybe I will too, I know it’s selfish but, if I could have a talk with the town lord and see his intentions then, maybe I could agree to join them”

  “Ok, speak your mind then”

  “Eh?”

  “Yes, I’m listening”

  “Baby, I meant the town lord, although he doesn’t inspire much trust when he sends a mute girl and a child to negotiate”

  I’ll overlook the fact he called me a child, still, I sometimes forget that regur people don’t know that I’m the town lord yet, more of a reason to tease him a bit about it.

  “How dare you, I even took the time to come personally”

  “Eh?”

  “I’M the town lord! Allow me to present myself, the name’s Marisa”

  “Eh!?”

  The guy looked at Lassie but she just nodded in agreement to my statement.

  “I-I’m sorry, I don’t believe it! You’re still just a kid!”

  “I’m older than I look”

  “Right, even so, what about your parents?”

  “My parents? Never met them, well no that’s a lie, I’ve seen my parents in a picture, but that’s it, why?”

  “I... see”

  Why the pity gaze? What does my parents have to do with any of this to begin with?

  “Anyways, what is it you wanted to talk about with me?”

  “Why are you doing this? Going over orphanages to give them support?”

  “Eh? Well...”

  Because I want to bang Lassie, I can’t answer that, plus it’s only half the truth, I’ll give him the other half.

  “I made a promise, and I always keep my word, besides protecting the kids it’s also part of my job, given the current situation, it should be a top priority”

  “Marisa... I get it, it’s ok, I’ll sign it”

  “Really!? Thanks! Besides if you break the contract we would simply cease our support, we wouldn’t do anything to harm the orphanage in any way”

  “Yes, I can see that now, sorry for distrusting you”

  “Oh it’s fine! I’m used to people pointing fingers at me all the time”

  “...Marisa, where did you grow up? How was your childhood?”

  “That’s... a bit complicated to answer I... rather not say”

  The current one was sleeping and I can’t exactly say I was in another world entirely or something.

  “It’s ok, I understand, and I know that this may be a bit te now but, we’re more than grateful to receive your support and Marisa, our doors are always open for you”

  Don’t just hug me old man, what’s wrong with you? I really don’t get him at all.

  Anyways, after his creepiness, he finally signed the contract, with a dumb smile on his face no less.

  “Great, this just leave us with one orphanage”

  “We were the second to st?”

  “Yeah, we’re going over the people who rejected us at the end, although it was only you and another orphanage called ‘saint Pert’s orphanage’ so it’s just that one left”

  “That! Marisa, I don’t think it’s a good idea that you go there”

  “Why?”

  “It’s... filled with shady rumors that orphanage! plus they hate demihumans, they’ll probably not even let you in”

  I looked at Lassie and she nodded, quickly writing in her notebook that: ‘they smmed the door on my face’, a bit rude if you ask me.

  “That’s their problem, I’m the town lord, they HAVE to let me enter”

  “Still, they only accept human kids and, well I’ve never heard of a single adult that’s come from that orphanage”

  “Which means?”

  “Not a single adult called that orphanage it’s home, even though it’s the biggest in town! Rumors say that the kids are sold off, or sent abroad in ships, although no one knows for sure”

  “That’s shady as hell! How come I’m just learning of this?”

  “It is, please be careful”

  “Don’t worry I will, and I’ll see that those kids are safe too”

  And with that ominous warning, we went to the st orphanage.

  Which looks like a fucking gothic church, not suspicious at all! It’s huge though.

  It’s also fenced pretty well, but I’m not a delinquent so I knocked on the front door like the civilized person that I am.

  “Hello? What can I he-”

  Who opened the gate was a dy that was a little pale and had beautiful blue eyes and golden hair, it was amazing but the thing that caught my attention wasn’t that, but the fact she had two huge wings on her back, filled with pure white feathers, she looked at me with such a disgust looking face, I swear I could see here almost throw up in her mouth.

  “This is a sacred pce! Leave at once demon”

  She was gonna close the door in my face like they did with Lassie, but I put my foot in front covering the door frame, so she couldn’t close it.

  “Don’t say that, we come to discuss something important”

  “I have nothing to say to heretics!”

  This bitch it’s stomping the door in my foot! I smmed the door open, startling her, and then I simply entered.

  “Are you in charge of this pce?”

  “No, that would be father Ecir, but I won’t allow you to just waltz in like that! Prepare yourself demon-”

  “Enough, I didn’t came here to fight and-“

  “What’s all this ruckus, can’t you see the kids are having dinner and-”

  We were about to throw fists, but then another old man came by, and then gave me an equally disgusting look the millisecond he saw me.

  “Begone demon! There’s nothing for you here”

  He then proceeded to toss water in my face, I’m guessing holy water? it doesn’t do anything, it doesn’t burn per se so I don’t know what’s the pn.

  “Ahem! I’m guessing you’re father Ecir?”

  “Yes! Ah! It’s you wench from st time! I told you we’re fine! There’s no need for us to ask help from the new town lord! Get lost!”

  Oh wow, she called Lassie a wench...

  “That’s fine and all, then I guess this is unnecessary for now”

  I said, tearing the contract in half, and then burning it in fmes on my hand.

  “Allow me to present myself then, I’m Marisa, the new town lord”

  “You!? Ha! Don’t make me ugh! King Arthur might be stupid! But he’s no sinner! Now get out of here before we take more drastic measures!”

  “Yeah, what are you gonna do, call the guards?”

  “You insolent whore!”

  Whoa!? The angel dy decided to try and punch me, I stopped it with my hand, and then applied pressure so she couldn’t get her hand away.

  “Wha!? You!!”

  “Chill, I’m not here to fight”

  She was gonna punch me again with her other hand, but I dodged it by moving my head sideways, grabbed her head, and pnted it on the ground at a very fast speed.

  I thought an angel would put up more of a fight, aren’t you supposed to be my natural enemy? It’s no contest! Even Heather did better than her in a fight. Also, how come this pce apparently doesn’t allow demihumans, but she’s allowed?

  “You monster!”

  “You started it, now rex, if you hate my guts that’s fine by me, I’m just here as the town lord to check the instaltions, the kids, that everything it’s proper and if there’s not any issue we’ll take our leave”

  “Hmm! Suit yourselves!”

  And I did just that, the father and angel were very close by, but this pce it’s luxurious as hell, it looks as fancy as the pace does, which immediately raises a red fg, how come all the orphanages were at best, ‘doing ok’, and this one it’s more luxurious than even the average peasant of the town.

  “Where do the funds for this pce come from?”

  “That’s none of your business”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, this is my nd now, and if you want to keep operating in here, you better tell me, or I will kick you guys out”

  “You insolent little! Sigh... we’re also a church, our funds come from the good people of the neighborhood, not something a demon like you would understand”

  “Right, thanks”

  Beds, check, bathrooms, check, a dinning hall and lots of food, check. They even have a room with a bunch of toys and rge gardens as well.

  I asked some kids but they were all scared of me, even if I forced them a bit, I asked them if they were mistreated before, no one said yes, and none was lying.

  “Are you finished terrorizing our kids, great town lord?”

  “Yeah, yeah, sorry about that”

  “If you’re done, please leave, you’re not welcome here!”

  “I can see that, but there’s one more pce I want to check before I leave”

  There’s a smell that’s been lingering in my nose ever since I entered this church, and it’s a smell that I know very well, more so because I haven’t eaten anything today, so I’m feeling quite hungry.

  “I want to check the basement”

  “There is no basement”

  He’s lying, I can tell, why does everyone hide everything in the basement? Is it like a cultural thing? It was the same with the pace and the piggy, I guess I am using it as well like that.

  “Are you sure, it’ll be odd to not have it, a pce big as this should have one, at least for storage”

  “We keep storage in the attic, that’s upstairs, you’ve seen it before”

  “True, then there’s no basement?”

  “Of course not! Why would I lie?”

  “I don’t know but, for now we’ll take our leave”

  I grabbed Lassie’s hand, and then I looked at Ecir with as intimidating a gaze I could muster.

  “Your church smells like blood father”

  And with that I teleported myself and Lassie out of this pce, I could see a shocked and angry expression in him as we left.

  For now I treated Lassie to dinner in the restaurant Heather took me once, to discuss the things that happened today.

  ‘Are you gonna leave them alone?’

  She wrote, in between her stuffing her mouth with food, I guess in a sense she can talk and eat at the same time.

  “No, the kids are doing fine but, there’s something odd”

  ‘You said it smells like blood?’

  “Yeah, I have a pretty good nose, plus blood it’s my only food, so I know I wasn’t mistaken, I even got a bit peckish, but I’m worried”

  ‘Why?’

  “The smell, they were a lot of smells actually, there was a fresh blood smell, but also stale and old blood smell as well”

  ‘You can tell the difference?’

  “Of course, can you discern between rotten and not rotten food with your nose?”

  ‘True, fair enough’

  “For now, the kids are not in immediate danger and are doing ok I want to believe, I’ll see with Heather what can we do with that orphanage”

  ‘Of course’

  Whether we need to mobilize the knights, or should I go there personally, and get rid of the pce, the problem is that I can’t just take down a rge church like that with no evidence, an investigation team should be assembled tomorrow morning, and raid the pce should the situation require it.

  I took Lassie back home, or so was my pn but, as soon as we left the restaurant, I felt the presence of people following us, maybe I’m imagining things? The streets are still quite busy since the night is young, I simply whispered to Lassie’s ear.

  “We’re being followed, come with me”

  And then took her to a back alley, one where there’s barely any people, only to confirm my suspicion.

  “You two, come out!”

  I said, expecting two thugs, what greeted us was not what I expected, they seem to be adventurers, and for what I can see in their weapons and armor, they’re well off and not amateurs, it matters little as they won’t be able to defeat me anyways.

  “Who sent you?”

  I asked, trying to intimidate them, but they simply chuckled at my remarks. This is dangerous, I wouldn’t mind if it was me but Lassie it’s now involved, good thing it’s Lassie of all people!

  “Hide”

  I told her, she disappeared in the shadow of the street, bless her hiding skills.

  “Oi! Oi! Don’t just go like that, follow her!”

  Said the I’m guessing leader to his henchman, I can’t have this, so as soon as he tried to pass next to me, he got turned into a puddle of paste and blood on the ground, they underestimated me and now there’s one less.

  “W-who are you!?”

  After a short panic, he tried to flee.

  “Don’t think I’ll let you!”

  Grabbing him by the colr of his undershirt that’s slightly poking out, he flinched at the fact that he’s firmly on my grasp.

  “G-get away!”

  “It’s useless, if you value your life, tell me who sent you!”

  The bde he used to try and stab me has now been blown to bits, not that he could damage me to begin with.

  “I-I don’t know!”

  “Hmm, is that so?”

  I said, now holding his actual neck and applying pressure, I know he’s not lying, but I still need information.

  “I-I swear!! I don’t know! I took the job as a hitman for the agency! I don’t interact with the clients!!”

  “Hitman you say? That’s still hel illegal”

  “It’s the truth!!”

  “I know, how can I find this ‘agency’”

  “I don’t know! They’re professionals! They send work requests in letters!”

  “You’re surprisingly talkative for a hitman”

  “S-shut up, I just don’t want to die!! It was my third job, I promise!”

  So not only did they send a hitman to get rid of us, they sent complete amateurs, which tells me one thing, whoever sent them didn’t have a grasp of the power I have, so they must be someone that wasn’t present at war or in the pace.

  The stupid father from the church came to mind, but would he hire a hitman like that? He’s supposed to be a pious man or something, maybe it was his angel assistant? Either way, this simply can’t stand!

  “You’re coming with me, and you’re under arrest or something, LASSIE!”

  I screamed to the air, I don’t want her to come out yet, so I need her to listen to me and follow my orders.

  “GO HOME, AND TAKE CARE, HIDE IF NEEDED OR COME TO THE PALACE, UNDERSTOOD!?”

  My words echoing in the alley, when a piece of paper showed up at my feet, with the words ‘understood’ pstered on it, this gives me some more peace of mind but, why do I have a bad feeling about this.

  Hopefully Lassie left, I took this guy and left him in the cells on the pace, he probably doesn’t have any more information but, hopefully keeping him here can give us some sort of clue or something to act, nonetheless, I give the order to Doe, he needs to be prepared tomorrow first hour in the morning, we march to the church.

  Tomorrow morning...

  As I was wondering about the busy day ahead of us, I opened the door to my room, to be greeted by quite a surprise, it was both Rushka and Heather, ying in the bed in very provocative clothing, and with candles lighting up the room in a rather pleasant ambience.

  This should be fine right? You know what, I need this, I need to rex since I’m not thinking straight right now...

  Joanne_carper