Chapter 249

An Outing With Mai O’Doll 2

Liberated in exchange for Meat, Mai O’Doll walked over.

Spreading out her handkerchief next to me, who was resting in the shade, she sat down.

“Phew… really, those children don’t hold back.”

“Well, that’s what children do.”

Mai O’Doll’s voice was lively as she said that. I wonder if it’s because she enjoys playing with children the same age as her?

“Most of the children here are the children of adventurers.”

“Heeh…”

Meaning that is the reason they are orphans, probably.

Maybe there are children of adventurers that died at our dungeon, too… now I feel a bit weird.

Having taken a short rest and caught her breath, Mai O’Doll turned toward me.

“… Um, this is the orphanage I’m supporting. Kehma-sama, what do you think of it? Do you think it’s just a publicity stunt?”

“Are you doing it with the intention for publicity?”

“No! I’d never do it for something like that. Just, there’s people who say I do.”

“Isn’t it alright then?”

Mai O’Doll looked to be somewhat relieved when I said that.

“At first I did it for the orphanage itself, but then, when I saw the children ask for more food with those smiles, I…”

“Kids not starving is a good thing.”

“Yeah… Excuse me, Kehma-sama. I want to continue supporting this place even when I am married.”

“Alright? What’s the problem?”

“Well… it’s a matter of money. I’m able to support it now thanks to my father’s help, but I would have to ask my husband when I’m married. I mean, Keh—”

“I get it. Relying on others for money is unstable. So why not earn it yourself? Rather, why not have the orphanage earn you money?”

Don’t say Husband = Me, yeah?

Good, let’s use this chance to nonchalantly show off how little money I have. I have to do it casually so that she won’t dislike me so that I can still get information about the Godly Pillow from Von O’Doll.

“Have the orphanage earn me money?”

“Yeah, then if you can’t get any support, wouldn’t you still be earning money on your own from the orphanage?”

“But when you mean earn money from the orphanage… do you mean… sell the orphans?”

How the heck did you get that idea? Well, I think I might know why, but still.

“I’m not saying that you have to go and make them slaves or anything. You just have to teach them a trade. With that, you won’t even have to pay them… Have them set up a stall and sell small baubles they make. They could even cultivate some fields. So long as it makes them able to live on their own, anything would work.”

“Live on their own?”

“Wouldn’t it be better if the orphans wouldn’t starve even if you left them alone? It’s not like they’ll die even if it fails, they used to not have your support at all, yeah? Thinking about what they had to do for that to work is a bit troubling though… Right, there’s a merchant in my village that’d definitely say something good like [Teach them all how to run a business!].”

Kukuku, she should be disillusioned by my [Whaaat, orphans? Leave ’em be]-esque attitude now.

“I see! So I should hire a merchant to teach them!”

“Eeh? Well, that works too.”

Eh? What just happened?

… If it’s like that, I’ll push with my greedy side!

“You can lend the initial funds and collect when there’s a profit. If it goes well, you can add interest. If that happens, it’ll be great. If it doesn’t…. well, think about that if it happens.”

“Hmm, mmm. I can think of it as normal support if it fails. I can do also something on my side about the necessary trade permission, interesting.”

Getting the permission won’t be much of a deal with the lord’s daughter backing them. Being able to trade how you wanted so long as you used orphans, honestly, wouldn’t merchants actually want to pay for the opportunity?

Eh? It’d be harder to fail that way? Hahaha, how stupid. Making money through trading isn’t that easy, the reason my merchant paid the money back was because he’s excellent.

But in the small chance they succeed, I don’t want to be restrained. [1]

“Mmm, the children just want to enjoy themselves, and if you’re wanting to show that you’re supporting them for the sake of supporting them, it might be better to just continue handing them money as-is.”

“…”

“Mai-sama, you should do what you want. It’s none of my business.”

“… Right.”

Mai O’Doll started to brood over something.

… Did I succeed? Or fail?

What a hassle. Thinking about it won’t help, so maybe I should go and help Meat out?

—Hey, brat! That’s my hug pillow, don’t get your snot all over it!

*

Having left the orphanage, we were walking down an uptown street.

We weren’t really travelling incognito, so we didn’t hide. I just need to look impressive.

“Kehma-sama, could we visit that shop?”

“Hm? … A grocer?”

Now that I take a look at it, isn’t that the shop I bought an apple from a long time ago? It was sour.

“You want to buy something? An apple?”

“Yes. Shopkeep-san, do you have a moment?”

“Heya, welco—M-Mai O’Doll-sama! Welcome to my shop!”

As soon as he saw that it was Mai O’Doll, the shopkeeper fixed his posture and started speaking more politely. Seeing as her face is well known, maybe she takes strolls like these a lot?

“Could I have some of that fruit over there? Is this enough to buy it?”

“Thank you for your patronage!”

Mai O’Doll handed a silver coin over to the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper moved away from the shop’s front into where he kept his inventory.

“Here it is! Here you go!”

With that, the shopkeeper walked out with a barrel of bananas… there’s a lot of them, so I guess she intends to distribute them? Wouldn’t it have been better to buy those before we went to the orphanage?

Rather, she doesn’t have any attendants here, so is she intending on having me carry them? When I casually looked to my left, Meat’s tail was wagging back and forth as if to say leave it to me.

However, Mai immediately stowed the barrel into an empty space she created with [Storage].

And then looked at me with pride and spoke.

“Fufufu, I can use [Storage]. I’ll have some at home, but this it more than I can eat so I’ll pass them out next time I go to the orphanage.”

“Hooh, amazing. [Storage] stops the passage of time too, so it’s great for storing perishables. It’s convenient for carrying them around, too.”

“… You don’t seem too surprised and you know so much about it. Have you seen [Storage] before?”

It’s because I use it so often. I didn’t say it though. It seems like a pretty expensive skill.

Uhh, let’s use the established setting to deceive her.

“I’ve seen White Goddess-sama use it.”

“… As expected of Kehma-sama.”

Shouldn’t that be as expected of White Goddess-sama?

When I looked at Meat, her once vigorously wagging tail at the thought of carrying the barrel was now moving limply back and forth.

Did you want to carry the bananas that badly? Okay, I’ll buy a bunch for you too since you’re so lively.

Footnotes:

I have absolutely no idea why Keima says this here, sorry…