SH – Chapter 16 – I Think an Orphanage is a Must for a Saint

“Um, where are we heading to…?” (Maria)

After ambushing her in front of the classroom, I took Maria out of school and we are currently walking through the town.

Of course, I had already obtained the necessary permits for the two of us to leave in advance.

Normally, you can’t get someone else’s permit, but the principal managed to pull some strings to somehow make it happen.

I know that it is wrong to use the principal’s power for something like this, so I firmly apologized to her afterwards.

“Well… You will find out once we arrive.” (Louis)

I continued to walk with her towards the outskirts of town while skillfully evading her question.

As the area got darker, an eerie atmosphere began to surround the area making Maria look anxious.

I could have told Maria where we were going, but that wouldn’t have been any fun.

Hehe, seeing a nervous girl glancing around is kind of precious…

Anyways, putting aside my shitty thoughts, the place we are currently heading to is an orphanage.

Moreover, it’s a small orphanage located in the slums.

You might wonder why we’re going there; well, it’s because I want her to do volunteer work there.

I believe that the best way to cultivate a genuine sense of trust and receive something in return is to interact with children.

As people grow older, we tend to become more calculative, trying to do good deeds without losing out on our own benefits. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing since it’s human-natured, but it can backfire in this scenario.

That’s why I thought it would be best to have her interact with children who are still pure and can offer genuine gratitude.

…It’s definitely not because I wanted to admire a scene of Maria playing with children or anything like that.

I mean it, okay?

As we kept walking deeper into the area, rundown houses could be seen all around us, and there were some men chatting near them.

They looked at us with suspicion, but quickly lost interest and returned to their conversation.

“We’ve come all the way to the slums, but… I’m a little nervous since it’s my first time here.” (Maria)

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. The people here aren’t really that bad.” (Louis)

In the game, Allen had been to the slums numerous times, but even then, there weren’t any bad people who approached him. 

In fact, personally, I thought the students at our school were way worse.

Many of the students were highly intelligent, which naturally led to meritocracy, and they unconsciously looked down on and discriminated against others based on that. 

In contrast, the people in the slums operated on simple likes and dislikes, making them much more straightforward.

But if you get on their bad side, who knows what will happen?

As long as you don’t rub them the wrong way, you’ll be fine. This is why I’m wearing my regular clothes instead of my school uniform. I don’t want to make them think I’m showing off.

However, it’s not a good idea to dress like a local from here since other physical features might cause them to be suspicious, so I’m dressed like an ordinary person from the town.

That’s why the people in the slums aren’t coming at us aggressively when they see us.

“…Well, yes, that’s true. It’s not good to have prejudice just because they’re from the slums.” (Maria)

Maria nodded in response to my words.

What a saint.

She’s trying to properly look at others for who they are.

Well, I guess it’s not the strangest thing considering the fact that she was originally a village girl.

If she had been born as a noble or something, she might have developed a sense of discrimination.

“We have arrived. This is our destination.” (Louis)

“…A church, is it? No… it also looks like an orphanage.” (Maria)

There stood a rundown church with holes all over the walls.

Next to it was a building that resembled a tenement¹.

“Correct. This is the slum’s orphanage and church.” (Louis)

“I see… Does that mean that we are going to be helping out here?” (Maria)

“Yep. You catch on pretty quickly.” (Louis)

As expected of Maria.

She’s sensitive to the scent of volunteer work.

With Maria already seeming enthusiastic, we hastily entered the church.

“Ojamashimasu!” (Louis)

Not long after, Sister-san² came out from the back of the church.

“Yes, coming. Hmm…? Who might you be?” (Sister-san)

The first thing that caught my attention was that, unlike Maria, the Sister-san in front of me had a small chest coupled with shoulder-length blonde hair and she looked somewhat frail.

She’s definitely the kind that makes you instinctively want to protect her.

“We have come to help out. We are just your average Mob Boy 1 and Mob Sister 2!” (Louis)

I quickly introduced us to Sister-san.

Greetings are important after all; it’s even written in the Kojiki³.

“M-Mob…? I don’t quite understand what you’re saying…” (Sister-san)

“Well, in essence, it means we’re just ordinary people with nothing special, no particular skills or anything like that.” (Louis)

I definitely consider myself a mob character, but calling Maria a mob character is a bit ridiculous.

However, I had to deliberately say we were mob characters here.

If the people here knew Maria was a saint, there would inevitably be some distance between them.

This might make them more reserved and less likely to interact with her with genuine feelings.

“I-I see. So when you say you want to help…” (Sister-san)

“Mob Sister 2, Maria, here really loves children and wants to shower them with affection.” (Louis)

I have no idea whether Maria likes children or not.

But it would be suspicious if we said we came to help from the bottom of our hearts.

I thought that saying this would definitely make it easier to gain their trust.

And it seemed like my plan had worked…

“That’s wonderful! We would really appreciate your help!” (Sister-san)

Sister-san gave a warm smile to Maria.

I gave a quick glance at Maria, and she seemed like she wanted to say something, but for now, I ignored it.

“Thank you— Let me introduce myself. My name is Ruin and I’m the Sister here in the slums.” (Ruin)

“Nice to meet you. I’m Louis, and this Sister here is Maria.” (Louis)

Similarly to my situation at school, I didn’t mention that I was a noble.

Of course, this was out of consideration for Leila who was aiming to become the student council president in the future..

“Well then, I look forward to working with you two.” (Ruin)

“Yes, of course! We’ll do our best to help!” (Louis)

As Ruin and I exchanged these words, we shook hands.

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TL notes:

Thanks for reading!

Of course how could you not have orphanage and church when talking about nuns.

I don’t know man, children can either be brutally rude, or genuinely grateful. Of course since it’s Maria she’s probably gonna be well-liked.

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Footnote:

1. Idk what this is, so here’s a quora ans. Tenements are a specific type of apartment building, up to 6 stories in height, and built cover the whole space, and often with air shafts for ventilation. They also are synonymous for badly cramped slums.
2. Basically something like a nun
3. Kojiki is an important source book for ceremonies, customs, divination, and magical practices of ancient Japan