— I always thought I was an outcast.
— Because otherwise, why would I have to grow up in an orphanage?
— I also always thought I was forced to go through terrible pain.
— It was all because I didn't want my friends to go through the same pain.
— I always help people.
— But… have I ever done anything for myself?
— Definitely not.
— Every day, I go through hell.
— It feels terrible.
— I want to die, but I can't.
— I want to live, but I can't either.
— I saved my friends from the clutches of the devil.
— But… who will be the one to free me?
— And that's when I met Kael and Hans.
— My two saviors.
— The two people I owe the most gratitude to.
***
To be honest, these scientists actually knew a little bit of martial arts.
But because they didn't spend much time training, and had always confined themselves in this place, they naturally couldn't compare to the guards outside.
And as a result, in less than a minute, all of those scientists were no longer in this world.
They had died under Hans's sword.
Then were eaten by Kael's [Authority of Gluttony].
Confirming that there was no more danger, he went to the bed in the middle of the room, took out his dagger, and without hesitation cut the ropes that were binding Caster.
Freeing the kid from this hellish place.
He had thought that since he had saved the boy, he should at least thank him sincerely.
But the truth was the complete opposite of what he had thought.
"What the hell did you do!? Why did you kill them!"
Caster shouted as loudly as he could, as if the kid had been cornered for too long.
Tears began to flow from the corners of the boy's eyes.
Why was he crying?
The current situation was truly weird.
Did Kael do something wrong?
Like a friendly older brother who always took care of his younger siblings, he bent down, patted Caster's head, and patted his back.
He didn't know if this would work, but it was the only thing he could think of at the moment.
"Come on, don't cry. What happened? Can you tell me?"
Without hesitation, the boy pushed Kael away.
The way he treated him… was no different from a criminal, a piece of trash to society.
Indignant, Caster shouted once more:
"Why did you kill them?!"
"Aren't they bad people? And you were tortured by them, too. Don't you want to kill them?"
Kael shrugged, feeling his brain overload.
"Of course I want them dead! But if they die, who will take care of the other children?"
"…Huh?"
"They may be bad people, but at least they are the ones taking care of the children in this orphanage! And when they die, who will take care of them!?"
"..."
"The reason I volunteered to be a test subject was because of the other children! And yet…"
Caster snorted, trying to wipe away the tears, but failed.
"If that's what's bothering you, then I'll take care of everyone here."
"It's easier said than done. And I can guarantee that after a few days, you will leave this place, leave those children!"
Kael frowned, rubbing his temples.
It seemed like he finally understood everything.
"I'll be staying here, at most for the next week."
"See? I told you! You will leave anyway! It's just a matter of sooner or later."
"Let me finish. After a week, it's true that I'll leave, but the children here will be transferred to another orphanage, or at least someone will come to take care of everyone in my place."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
He didn't answer the boy's question, but turned to Hans Varun.
"Hey Hans, does the Angel Guild still accept children without parents? And if so, how many slots are there?"
"What kind of question is that? They're the Angel Guild, and as long as it's a child without parents, if the number is 100,000, they're still willing to accept it."
"..."
"If their branches on the other floors don't have enough space, they'll definitely build another one on the 20th floor."
"..."
"And conveniently, the place we're standing right now is an orphanage."
Having confirmed the information he wanted to hear, Kael once again looked straight into Caster's eyes.
"Did you hear that?"
The boy nodded, but his expression was that of an idiot, someone who still didn't understand what was going on.
"Sigh, you still don't really understand, do you?"
"…Yes." The boy lowered his head as low as possible, feeling humiliated by his own low intelligence.
"Alright, to put it simply, you just need to understand that from now on, the other children will still be able to live normally. And maybe their quality of life will be a little better."
He knelt down, getting as close to Caster as possible, and patted the boy's head.
"Got it?"
"Yes."
The boy's tears continued to flow.
But this time, they were tears of happiness.
***
The next morning.
The moment the children finished breakfast, they immediately noticed Kael and Hans standing outside the yard.
They all froze for a moment, wondering why the two of them were here.
For a brief moment, all the noise seemed to have evaporated from this world.
But very quickly, everything became bustling again, as the kids sprinted out into the yard, surrounding the two of them like what happened yesterday.
"Wow! You guys really came!"
"Of course, I promised." Kael bent down and patted the head of the cutest-looking boy.
"Then that means you two brought us gifts too, right?"
The protagonist and he paused at the same time.
Damn it!
Because there were so many things happening, they had completely forgotten about this.
He felt so guilty!
"...Um… Sorry, I forgot to bring you guys presents." Kael smiled wryly, trying not to disappoint the kids too much.
But it seemed like what he did was completely in vain.
Because the next moment, all of their faces turned gloomy. It was like they were having a rainy day.
"Come on kids, don't be sad."
"That's right, even though we didn't bring any presents, we're here to play with you guys." Hans said, at the same time, taking out a soccer ball from behind his back.
…
Wait, when did he prepare that?
Nevertheless, thanks to that ball, the children's eyes instantly became more lively.
"Oh, but before the game starts, can you guys let one more person join?" Kael spoke up.
"Who?"
The children tilted their heads at the same time, looking extremely adorable.
"Come out, kid."
From behind him, Caster cautiously walked out.
The boy kept glancing at his peers, but did not say a word to them.
After being tortured for a long time, Caster had turned into an introvert.
"The person you're talking about is Caster?" A little girl walked out from the group of children.
"That's right. Is that okay?"
The little girl treated him like air, walked past him and stood in front of Caster.
And then, without giving him a chance to escape, she immediately grabbed his hand.
"To be honest, Caster, we didn't want to play with you before. Because you always scared everyone, and you always isolated yourself from everyone."
"I understand… What about now?"
"Now? You're still gloomy."
The little girl's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Caster's head.
"…"
But the words that followed were like sunlight warming his frozen heart.
"But not to the point of scaring everyone."
"That means…" Caster said, his eyes sparkling with stars.
"That's right! Let's play!"