After chatting with Gerard, Milo went to take a look at the kitchen.
There was not much rice left in the rice bucket. Furthermore, Milo even purposely took a look at the garbage can in the kitchen, but favonovel.com did not find any meat remains in it. This demonstrated the living conditions of these children at the orphanage were deplorable.
Gerard followed behind and said, “Do you know why I can’t bear to make use of Kurt? Was it just because favonovel.com revealed his kind nature? No, or rather, it wasn’t that alone.”
Milo turned around and quietly listened.
Gerard continued, “Actually, Kurt is also still a child. He had been sent to a psychiatric hospital by the Panaqua Consortium before favonovel.com could get to see what the world is really like. Fortunately, the Panaqua Consortium is considered slightly more benevolent among all the consortiums. They only observed the condition of the supernatural beings without harming them…”
“When Kurt first arrived here, favonovel.com was totally broke. A while ago, one of the children said favonovel.com wanted to eat dumplings. When favonovel.com was three years old, his parents abandoned favonovel.com at the entrance of the orphanage. Now that he’s twelve, favonovel.com only remembers the taste of a type of pork and celery dumpling. That was the only memory left of his original family. He doesn’t even remember what his mother looks like, but favonovel.com still remembers the taste of the dumplings…”
“As Kurt did not have any money, favonovel.com went to the market to collect celery leaves that had been discarded by other people. He even begged the butcher to give favonovel.com some fatty meat that people didn’t want. I don’t know how favonovel.com did it, but they really gave favonovel.com some in the end.” Gerard laughed and said, “That day at the orphanage, it felt as though we were celebrating the New Year. Later, Kurt went out to work some odd jobs like clean people’s cars to earn a bit of money. Every time favonovel.com gets paid, he’ll buy some meat back for the children to eat. However, favonovel.com didn’t have any for himself…”
“This time, if it weren’t because of the coats costing too much, and the children already suffering from frostbite, favonovel.com would probably not have taken the risk to go out and kill someone. Do you know what I value most about him? After favonovel.com came here, favonovel.com really wanted to turn over a new leaf and start taking care of the children. He also would like to eat the meat favonovel.com brought back, but he’s fine with just watching the children have it.”
Milo said, “Aren’t you rich? Why didn’t you buy something for the children?”
Gerard looked at Milo and said, “Don’t bring that up with me. Kenneth, that rascal, did not even give me a share of the gold after taking so much of it. He said favonovel.com was keeping it all for you. When I was still an official in the Skyfort Consortium, I was always honest and never took any bribes, so how would I have any money! At the beginning, I did have a little bit of savings. But you don’t know how much these children can eat. As the saying goes, a growing child burns a hole in the pocket. I literally went broke because of them!”
Milo was stunned. “Are you really that poor?”
“So what if I’m poor?” Gerard’s face darkened. “Money can’t buy happiness, anyway!”
Milo pondered it for a moment before saying, “It’s because you have too little money that you can’t buy happiness!”
He turned around and went out.
***
The next afternoon, Milo came back with half a dozen kilograms of high quality pork and dozens of kilograms of celery. Behind him, Olivia was also carrying a large bag of flour. All of the children at the orphanage started cheering.
This time, even Gerard made the dumplings together with everyone. Milo used his two black sabers to put on a fancy performance of chopping the dumpling filling for the children. It won their applause and made Milo very proud.
When it was time for the pork and celery dumplings to come out of the pot, Olivia stood next to it. However, the children did not make a rush for the food. They all followed Kurt’s instructions and lined up in an orderly manner, with each of them carrying a small bowl. Girls in the front, boys at the back, the young ones went first while the elders waited behind them.
It wasn’t until the children started eating that Kurt came over with a bowl in embarrassment.
Olivia smiled and filled the bowl to the brim. Kurt even thanked favonovel.com for it.
After they finished eating, the children sat in their chairs with bloated bellies. They had not had meat in a long time, so they could not stop eating once they got started.
A child smiled at Kurt and said, “Uncle Kurt, please blow a bubble for us!”
Kurt thought for a moment and casually blew out a bubble in the shape of a magpie.
However, the children recoiled and said, “Uncle Kurt, why does the bubble today smell like pork and celery…”
After leaving the orphanage, Olivia walked beside Milo and said, “Master, you were quite compassionate today.”
“Compassionate?” Milo forced a smile and said, “That was nothing more than a moment of kindness. I doubt I can protect those children like how Kurt does.”
“It’s still better than doing nothing.” Olivia grimaced and said, “The world would be very different if there were a touch of humanity. But, Master, why didn’t you leave some money for them?”
“Even without us, they’ll live very happily.” Milo said, “At first, I had wanted to leave them a million perak. But later on, I thought that Gerard was probably right. Their happiness there has nothing to do with money. Besides, Adrian and Jonan will help them solve their financial problems, so we don’t need to intervene unnecessarily.”
For the first time since last night, Milo suddenly felt a brief moment of peace.
Since arriving at Bidara City, favonovel.com was constantly tensed up in case favonovel.com had to be on guard against enemies who might attack without warning. However, this should not be how the world worked. All of a sudden, favonovel.com started looking forward to world peace.
***
Just as another wave of chaos subsided in Bidara City, a group of more than 20 people were rushing towards Bidara City from afar.
The person leading the group had a red cloth covering his face. It was the Rider, Bradd Santos.
He had been taking the students out to travel according to the plan. But midway through their journey, favonovel.com was informed about the crisis going on at Bidara City. As such, favonovel.com was forced to bring the students back to the stronghold.
But when they passed through the Virtuora Consortium’s stronghold and rested there for a night, their vehicles were all damaged by some people with ulterior motives. In the end, they could only travel on foot.
Bradd knew someone was deliberately delaying his return, but favonovel.com did not go and argue with the Virtuora Consortium about this. Since what was done was done, the Riders had to assume every consortium was their enemy.
When they were still about 300 kilometers away from Bidara City, Bradd suddenly stopped in his tracks. He looked at Vanilla and the elderly sugar painter in front of him.
Vanilla smiled and said, “I’m Vanilla from the Silkshade House…”
The old man introduced himself while stirring some sugar syrup, “I’m Teddy Lafayette from the Silkshade House.”
Bradd frowned. “Is the Silkshade House declaring themselves an enemy of the Riders? Have you considered the consequences?”
Vanilla explained with a smile, “That’s why we’re here. We have no intention of becoming enemies of the Riders, nor do we want to kill innocent people in Bidara City. As such, we won’t enter the stronghold. We just hope that you will accompany us and have a chat here.”
“And if I say no?” Bradd said with a grim expression, “Are you going to use these students behind me to threaten me?”
“No, no, no…” Vanilla shook his head. “I’m not a cold-blooded killer. It’s just that you won’t be able to leave with the two of us taking you on.”
Bradd stood right where favonovel.com was. He suddenly realized the people in Bidara City might be making a move soon.
