As they arrived at Church's Orphanage, Allen expected to find a plethora of noisy children like Pascoe, but to his surprise, the atmosphere was dreary and silent. The children he encountered were thin and lethargic, lacking the vigor expected of children their age. The robes Vash wore even looked much nicer than the children's clothes, which were just a thin cloth that looked very cold.
The only thing keeping them alive in the cold water month might be the room. It was warm inside the church because all the priests had contracts with fire spirits.
"The church does take care of the children here, but in the end they only get food from donations from worshipers and foster priests," Vash explained. "There aren't many robes like this one; we only wear them when we leave the church. I am the leader of this kid, so the Bishop told me to deliver the letter, so I wore it."
The children then realized the presence of Vash and Allen, and they immediately gathered around them.
"Vash! You're here!"
"Are you the cook?"
"You're still a kid!"
"Hurry up! Give me the food!"
Vash, who was probably the oldest person there, yelled at them, "Quiet! We have to cook these potatoes first!"
They immediately ran away from the angry Vash.
"Let's go to the kitchen."
On the way to the kitchen, Allen saw the baby orphan's room, which looked more decent than the other rooms.
"Is there anyone who take care of this baby room?" Allen asked.
"No, the female foster priest sometimes comes here to take care of their poop. And the milk is given by the congregation's mothers who come every sabbath day, not a few who come once every three days to feed two or three of them."
Allen, who has seen baby Iva, knows how weak babies are. They must be taken care of not just every day but every second. And Iva always feeds her babies almost ten times a day. How could those babies stay alive if they were only breastfed once a week?
"That's how it is; not everyone can take care of those babies. Most of the babies that come here will die. That's why I have to try harder."
"?"
"My sister. She's three months old, and so far I've always asked the neighboring mothers to breastfeed her. I was the one who took care of the baby room all this time, together with some of the foster priests. I have to keep the room clean and keep everyone alive."
'No wonder it looks better than the other rooms,' Allen thought.
"We've arrived. You can cook here."
Inside the kitchen were two teenage female foster priests who immediately came over to the two of them.
"Vash, who is this kid?" asked one of the foster priests with an unpleasantly intimidating face.
"He's the cook that His Grace, Bishop Nicholas, asked to cook food for the children."
"Really? You didn't steal the ingredients and bring a random kid to cook, did you?"
"No! I have his letter. Allen, gives it to them."
Allen gave the letter to the foster priest,
"This is for Mr. Rodion; if I'm not mistaken, his name is Allen right? You really stole it! You think this is something that can be forgiven?!"
Allen immediately introduced himself, "I'm Allen, I'm Master Rodion's apprentice; I was asked to come here to replace his place."
"Even if you're his apprentice, I'm unsure you can cook! Give us the ingredients, and we'll cook it."
"No! No! Let Allen do the cooking!" shouted Vash with a worried face.
"Why?! We've offered to help; a kid like this can't possibly cook; let us do it all!"
"Because if you cook it, I'm not sure everyone will get a share!" Vash shouted.
"HUH?! Are you going to accuse us of stealing your rations?!" the foster priest raised her hand and was about to hit Vash. "You really are a child who-"
-PLACK
The Foster Priest slapped him, but instead of Vash, Allen stepped forward to receive the slap.
"Wh-what are you doing?!" said the foster priest.
Allen grabbed the foster priest's wrist, then squeezed it slightly, "Ouch!"
"I can cook myself, probably better than you guys. So just leave us alone," Allen said. Allen abandoned his intention to let others cook after seeing these foster priests' attitudes towards Vash. He concluded that there might be something complicated going on in the church.
"How can that be! You're just an outsider! You're not the one who decided-"
"What's all the fuss about?" suddenly came a man's voice suddenly came from behind.
He had a large build, almost twice as big as an average adult male. He was wearing white full-plate armor that covered his entire body.
"Sir Paladin! Nothing happened here! We're just disciplining the two of them!"
A paladin is the highest-ranking knight in the church.
"What did they do?" the Paladin asked.
"This kid was delivering a letter from the Bishop to one of the cooks in town, but he brought someone else here instead."
Vash immediately defended himself. "I wasn't bringing some random guy! Allen is Mr Rodion's apprentice!"
"Allen?" muttered the Paladin.
The Paladin then approached Allen and looked at his face very closely.
"Allen... Allen... Allen... Allen..." As if trying to remember something, he repeated Allen's name over and over again. "OH! Allen! You are that Allen! No wonder I feel like I've seen you before. But I didn't recognize you because you look a little different and have this ugly hair cover."
"No way..." "This kid..." "He is the paladin's acquaintance?" the foster priest spoke in quick succession.
Confused, Allen asked, "Have we known each other before?"
"You don't remember me?! I'm Ottar! We met in Wolverlope territory! Together with that arrogant noble princess."
"Ottar..."
Allen then remembered.
He had met the Paladin three times. First, at Wolverlope's fire church, when he intimidated Felicia. Secondly, at Wolverlope's residence, when he was about to interrupt Allen's duel with Theobauld. And thirdly, he fought with Ottar once when Ottar joined the attack on Wolverlope's residence. However, Ottar certainly wouldn't remember his fight with Allen because Allen was covering his head with Reig at the time.
Then it could be said that Ottar was also the one responsible for Theobauld's death.
"Oh, yes. I remember you clearly now," Allen said.
Allen, even when he still hated humans, he respected Theobauld as his teacher. If this were him back then, surely he would have hated Ottar to the point that he wanted to kill him. If anyone had hurt Theobauld, Allen knew that he would have sought revenge with blind fury.
But as Allen stood there, staring at Ottar, he realized that things were different now. Even though he had hatred for him, he would not kill him. Allen knew he couldn't bring himself to actually kill another person—not after everything he had been through. It simply wasn't right. He knew that he didn't deserve to kill another person and didn't have the right to take another person's life.
Besides, there was something more important. Something else was nagging at the back of his mind.
If Ottar had been aware of Allen's presence in the Boldenville residence before, he would have known about his distinctive white hair and probably known that Isabelle had once enslaved him.
"Are you worried about something? HAHAHA Just relax; I won't do anything outside of my job. I don't care about your situation or anything. We're just here to investigate the Daemon Servus that attacked this city seven days ago."
Allen let out a sigh of relief. Ottar continued to ask
"So, what's your business here?" asked Ottar.
"Help us!" shouted Vash suddenly beside him.
"Help?"
The two foster priests immediately realized that Vash was trying to report them to Paladin and say as if they were at fault. So they immediately cut Vash off and said to Ottar, "SIR PALADIN! This orphanage boy was asked by his grace to deliver a letter to the cook in town, but he brought someone else instead," said one of the foster priests.
"He's not someone else! Allen is Mr Rodion's student, so that shouldn't be a problem! Right Allen?"
Allen replied, "I-yes. The letter was addressed to Master Rodion, and I'm here to replace the master as a chef."
"You're a cook's apprentice now?" asked Ottar.
ραndαsΝοvεl.cοm "Yeah."
'Cook, huh? So that is why he looks so different,' Ottar thought. 'The look on his face? No, but the atmosphere around him is softer, unlike before when it was piercing and full of anger.'
"Where is Master Rodion?" asked Ottar.
"He wasn't home at the time," replied Allen.
"That's why we offered to let us do the cooking since Allen has brought the ingredients. Come here, give it to us," said the foster priest.
"No," said Ottar. "Just let him cook. What's the problem? After all, Nicholas is also Allen's acquaintance."
"Bi-bishop too? Allen, who exactly are you?" asked Vash in surprise.
"I'm no one; he's just exaggerated everything, In fact I never really met the bishop face to face," Allen replied.
Ottar then said, "As a condition, I'm going to ask for a little, okay? Leave two bowls for Nicholas and me."
"O-okay."
At that time, Allen couldn't help but have to cook even though he didn't want to.
"Can I take a bath first?" Allen asked.
Confused, Vash asked "Why?"
"Because my hands are dirty."
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