Chapter 15 - The Standing of A Reader!

‘He went out even earlier today…’

Ria went back into the Orphanage after checking out the empty bed hanging outside, her face reflecting deep helplessness.

Ever since her ‘grandma’ died, things have been getting worse. The help that they usually received lessened as the years went by, she had been barely keeping things up with Arthur’s help, but Ria didn’t find that acceptable.

Even though he was the oldest, he was also a child just like his siblings, it wasn’t fair for him to sacrifice his childhood for the Orphanage’s sake.

It was fine when he was just working for parts of his free time, but spending the whole day working made Ria more worried.

“I’m back!”

Just as she was contemplating risky solutions, Ria was surprised to hear the voice of the person she had in her mind.

“I hope you haven't already started making breakfast since I brought some.”

Leo entered the Orphanage with a cheery face, he put the steamy bag that was hanging on his back on the table after announcing his arrival.

“Oh, big brother brought something back!”

Having just woken up, Annie slipped out of the bed and ran toward Leo while still rubbing her eyes. She was still sleepy, but she smelled something good!

As Annie jumped into Leo’s embrace, the other children woke up due to the voice and smell, it seemed like something good had happened today.

“Wash your hands, everyone, I got something special for you today.”

Leo smiled warmly as he opened the bag which let out even more steam and smell, the children could barely hold back from salivating as they raced towards the bucket in the corner to wash up.

He had gone out even earlier today to run an errand that was a critical step to his survival plans and it ended very well, so Leo decided to make a small celebration with his ‘siblings’ since things have been going smoothly so far!

“Here you go!”

As the children eagerly ran back to their seats, Leo took out a piece of steamy round bread and handed it to Annie.

“Here!”

Annie was already salivating but she gave it to the child sitting beside her who in turn did the same, the cycle continued till everyone had a piece in their hand including Annie.

“Alright, you can start eating now, and eat slowly, there is still another one for each of you.”

Leo’s words were like the keys to the flood gate, the children no longer held back as they bit into the fragrant bread, spreading its fragrance even more.

“So good!”

“Thanks, big brother!”

“Thank you…”

Leo observed the scene full of bless as the children ate with relish, his heart felt warm as he fulfilled a part of Arthur’s wish.

During his life as Arthur, he always wanted to do something like this, but this meal consisting of meat stuffed bread was too expensive to keep their budget in one piece. However, he was no longer worried about that.

He turned around to look at Ria, who was still hesitating about how to react, with appreciation. Although she wasn’t very capable when it came to earning money, she did well raising the children, which came out as obvious since they took the time to thank him while wolfing down the bread.

“You should also have one.”

Sitting down as well, Leo took two more pieces and pushed one towards Ria. He bit into his own as he enjoyed the taste of meat that rarely appeared in Arthur’s memory. In fact, it even had a unique taste when compared to the meat he ate on earth.

“...it’s not bad to do something like this once in a while, but you shouldn’t overwork yourself in order to do so.”

Ria wanted to decline first, but she took the bread in the end. She smiled gently, feeling a little less sad.

“I told you there is no need to worry, the job I found is more for the sake of learning than earning! It’s just that the boss is so generous that he also pays me well.”

As he finished wolfing down the bread, Leo rummaged in his pocket before taking out a small bag and handing it to Ria.

“This is?”

Ria took hold of the bag, opening it to take a look before shock found its way to her face. There were five shining coins inside of it.

“No need to be shocked. You know that blacksmithing is a very profitable business, right? This is just half of my upfront pay, and that’s only for the next two weeks!”

Leo himself was shocked when he checked the money bag he received before he slept, there was a total of 130 gold sword coins inside. A gold sword coin was introduced in the novel as being enough for a family of four to live normally for a month.

Although he knew Crane’s special character traits, and his past as a veteran from the Sword Establishment War, he still didn’t expect to receive such an exaggerated amount of money. This was worth slightly over ten years of a family’s expenses…

“Really? Are you sure you aren’t doing anything dangerous?”

Ria carefully closed the money bag as she stared at Leo with doubt, she was worried he was just using these words as a cover for the true source of the money.

“Have I ever lied to you before? Although I’m still young, I don’t get tricked that easily! Just use the money for the sake of our family, and don’t be too thrifty, there will be more once I get my second pay!”

Leo gave Ria a meaningful smile as he reassured ‘Arthur’ in his mind. Since he already accepted this life of his, he would accept all of it as long as it conflicted with his logic.

He had been overthinking the topic of dealing with people within the novel till now, and he was finally sure of his answer. As people who could breathe and speak, he wouldn’t treat them as mere imaginary characters. He would respect their life and care for those that were close to him. Since he could help them, he wouldn’t hesitate to.

Likewise, he didn’t plan to use the modern world’s common sense here. He would kill or even start a massacre if necessary, he wouldn’t be any better than the protagonist if he hesitated in every situation.

Most importantly, his baseline was still survival. While he would do his best to protect his ‘family’, he would only do so within the acceptable range.

As a ‘Reader’, Leo believed that he didn’t completely belong here, he had his own life to go back to. For he was ‘Leo’ before he became ‘Arthur’.

“Otherwise, I will just have to take care of buying food for all meals as well…”

Having settled the question that has been clouding his mind, Leo felt more refreshed as if the fusion of both of his personalities grew more sublime. He quickly ‘threatened’ Ria who was still hesitating whether to accept the money or not.

“Alright, you can do what you want… Just remember that you can stop whenever you want, we can share the burden.”

Ria could only smile bitterly and put the small bag away, perhaps depending on someone wasn’t so bad after all…

“What burden? I’m having a great time learning from the boss! Besides, I don’t have to work all day like yesterday, I will still be free at mealtimes.”

Leo wolfed down another bun before he stood up, he had charged up on motivation and bless. He was ready to start the third step of his ‘home defense’ plan!

“I will head out.”

After patting a few of his little ‘siblings’, particularly little Annie, Leo stepped out of the Orphanage and walked towards the little cart parked by the side of his ‘bed’.

Removing the small blanket that was covering the cart, Leo looked with anticipation at the metal lumps that were loaded in it.

‘Let’s hope the start isn’t as rough as I expect it to be…’