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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: The Main Building
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With his murky mana surging relentlessly.
He had run up the sidewalk across the street, then leaped onto the roof of a carriage on the main road and soared into the air.
After vaulting off two trees in succession, Blake landed right in front of Loan.
He skidded to a halt from his momentum, scooping Loan up into his arms.
"Hold on tight!"
And then he started running.
It was a speed Loan had never experienced before, incomparable even to riding in a carriage.
Blake and the strangers were all like birds.
The surrounding scenery blurred past.
They passed from one building to the next in a single bound, launching into the air with a *thump*.
For a brief moment, Blake glanced down at Loan with a puzzled expression before refocusing entirely on shaking their pursuers.
Loan had no idea how many blocks they'd crossed.
But soon, he erased the passing scenery from his world.
The chase no longer mattered to him.
'Ah…'
He focused solely on the murky mana of Blake, who held him in his arms.
He observed the flow of Blake's mana as if it were his own body.
How he breathed—inhaling and exhaling—as he moved.
How his mana circulated with each breath.
How his body responded to the circulating mana.
How the concentrated mana rippled when he focused strength in his limbs.
How his mana exploded and dissipated when he pushed off a roof to jump.
He engraved every detail into his three eyes.
'I get it now.'
Loan understood how to use mana.
* * *
Even after arriving safely at the shelter, Loan couldn't calm his racing heart.
It wasn't because of the chase.
It was because the various questions he had been pondering were all answered at once.
'I want to test it out as soon as I can.'
After his realization, that was all he could think about.
"What? What's going on?"
"I heard the other dorms are back too."
In contrast to the serene Loan, the dormitory was in an uproar.
Despite the early hour, all the beggars had been ordered to return.
The children, who had no idea why, speculated amongst themselves, worrying needlessly.
But none of them dared to ask Loan, who had been the first to arrive.
It was because he was smiling even more brightly than usual.
"Quiet!"
Just then, the dorm supervisor entered.
After checking off a file and counting the children, he scanned the room once more before speaking.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here at this hour. It was for your safety, but to put it simply, there's not much to worry about."
Balder glanced nervously at Loan.
When Loan showed no reaction, Balder raised his hand and asked.
"Is it because of Manson's crew?"
"Yes."
Loan didn't quite trust the supervisor's short answer.
The strangers who used mana were clearly from out of town. Their clothes were too fine for them to be part of Manson's crew.
Balder asked another question.
"So when can we go back to work?"
"The section chiefs will inspect their respective areas, and you'll be sent out again after that. I don't know if it'll be tomorrow or the day after. In any case, your spots will be reassigned, so stay put and don't cause any trouble until then."
The children were secretly thrilled at the thought of not having to work, but they didn't let it show.
Such behavior would only get them in trouble.
Nothing good would come from the director or the section chiefs finding out. It was a lesson they had learned through beatings.
"And Loan."
The children, who had been secretly giving each other thumbs-ups behind the supervisor's back, jumped and looked to one side.
Only Loan met the supervisor's gaze.
"Yes, sir."
"Pack your things. You're moving."
"What?"
Loan, who had been completely calm unlike the other children just moments before, couldn't help but be taken aback by the supervisor's sudden order.
"Uh… why? I'm only nine."
"Just do as you're told."
The supervisor flicked his hand dismissively as if annoyed.
Loan couldn't ask any more questions.
The other children watched silently as Loan folded his few clothes and gathered them.
Loan quietly followed the supervisor out.
He didn't even get to say goodbye to the children he had spent the last five years with.
*Clang-!*
After the door shut, the remaining children let out a long sigh.
Among them was a boy with his head bowed low.
Tears of joy streamed down Balder's face.
Meanwhile.
Loan, who had been following the supervisor with concern, was puzzled to find that his destination was the main building.
The dormitory children were forbidden from even going near the main building.
Since the work carriage always went around the back of the dorms, this was his first time setting foot in the direction of the shelter's main gate, where the main building was located.
"Wait here a moment."
The supervisor had a bewildered Loan stand at a distance and approached the entrance to the main building alone.
The man who appeared next was enormous.
Both in height and width.
The supervisor handed some documents to the man, who seemed to be the manager of the main building.
They began to talk, but they were too far away for Loan to hear clearly.
"...."
"…."
Loan recalled how Blake had used mana.
If mana could be used to exert superhuman strength, couldn't it also be used to enhance his hearing?
His mana wasn't concentrated yet, but he felt he could utilize the mana that flowed in and circulated with his breath.
Loan focused, visualizing the mana flowing to his ears.
'Not with thought, but with will.'
The mana, which had been flowing at a steady pace, rippled as it found its destination.
The moment his strong will materialized into the movement of mana, the sounds suddenly became clear.
As if by magic.
"From the dormitory to the main building? A beggar?"
"That's right. The director seems to have a soft spot for him, maybe because of his looks."
"Hmm… I can see why."
The main building manager glanced at Loan and nodded.
Loan was staring blankly back at him, but due to the distance, the man didn't seem to mind.
The supervisor spoke.
"He wants to keep him safe inside. There was an incident in Section 1 today, you see."
"The Union, I hear?"
"Yes. Two Runners, they said."
Loan pieced together the strangers' identities.
He didn't know what the Union or Runners were, but just as he suspected, they weren't Manson's crew.
"So they're finally starting to make their move."
"They say it's just routine information gathering, so there's no need to be concerned, Sir Egger."
"I suppose you're right. It's unlikely the Union would pay much mind to a backwater like this."
The manager, called Egger, nodded in self-assurance.
The conversation ended there.
The supervisor left the main building without so much as a glance at Loan.
Egger jerked his head at Loan and said.
"Hey, you. Follow me."
Once again, Loan had no choice but to obey.
He passed through the first-floor lobby, lined with portraits of people he didn't know, and followed Egger's heavy breathing up the second-floor stairs.
Marveling at Egger's massive frame that completely blocked the staircase, they arrived at the door of a room.
*Knock, knock-*
The door was opened by a thick hand.
"This is the administrator who will be in charge of you starting today. Amy."
Egger finished speaking and gave Loan a slight push into the room.
A woman sitting at a desk stood up.
Amy, with her neatly combed asymmetrical bob, had just shed her girlish looks.
She tucked a strand of hair that slightly covered one eye behind her ear and examined Loan.
"This is Loan, from the dormitory building. The director seems fond of him."
"The vice director, you mean."
"Whatever. Apparently, he can't read yet."
"I have to teach him, too?"
Amy frowned at Egger, but he just shrugged and turned his heavy body back toward the stairs.
Once the door closed, Amy let out a short sigh and asked Loan.
"How old are you?"
"I'll be ten soon."
"And you can't read at all?"
He had intentionally exaggerated his age, but it seemed to have backfired.
"…No. I've never been taught."
"Right. Well, what can I expect from a kid from the dorms? You know commoners aren't usually allowed in the main building, right?"
Loan nodded.
He had heard that the main building housed the children of fallen nobles or illegitimate offspring who entered by paying a certain donation.
"I'll be teaching you to read starting tomorrow, so you should call me Teacher, but you can call me big sis in private. For a kid from the dorms, you have a refined look about you."
Loan tilted his head.
First, he couldn't understand why everyone wanted him to call them big brother or big sister.
But what was stranger was the mention of 'reading.'
He had been wondering about it, having heard nothing specific until now.
"Why are you teaching me to read?"
"Why else? Because you need to be able to read books aloud."
"Books?"
Loan's eyes widened.
"Yes. Isn't that the basic requirement for a reading recital? Why else would you be in the main building?"
What was a reading recital?
Loan felt bad for asking so many questions and glanced at Amy.
Amy clicked her tongue in disbelief.
Muttering something to herself about how they should have at least briefed him properly before sending him over.
"A reading recital is exactly what it sounds like. Someone reads a book for the people gathered there."
She explained that they were sometimes hosted by authors releasing new books or held regularly by groups of nobles, and that in their world, it was a rather high-class hobby where a lot of money changed hands.
"And they do that at the shelter?"
"Yes. We hold sponsored readings in front of the patrons. And if a child is lucky, they get to do a special reading."
"What's a special reading?"
"Children who are good at reading sometimes get adopted. The special reading is when a child who's been chosen for adoption reads alone in front of their patron. Of course, that's a distant dream for someone like you who can't even read."
There was nothing untrue in Amy's words, so Loan nodded in acceptance.
"Hmm…"
Perhaps she found it refreshing that he wasn't discouraged.
Looking at Loan, who was staring back at her with bright, clear eyes, Amy seemed to come to an understanding.
"I can certainly see why the vice director likes you. I find myself talking more than usual, too. You're quite handsome, you know."
"...."
It was awkward to agree, and he couldn't think of a response.
Amy ruffled Loan's hair and headed out the door.
"Follow me."
He followed her down the hall for a short distance and entered the room she pointed to.
"This is Loan, from the dormitory building. Don't cause any trouble and get along. Loan, go take that empty spot over there."
Amy gave Loan a gentle push, pointing to a spot in the corner.
It was one of the five beds, the only one unoccupied.
Feeling the other children's eyes on him, Loan arranged his clothes in his personal locker.
It was his first time ever having a locker, and he felt awkward moving his few clothes up and down. After the door closed…
"Are you really from the dorms?"
One of the boys asked.
Loan nodded in response.
"Wow, that's amazing. You're the first kid I've seen from the dorms."
"Uh-huh…"
"I'm Theo. That's Lily, Noah, and Hayden."
The children who were introduced raised their hands in a small greeting, smiling.
They all looked to be around Loan's age or older, and Loan was bewildered by the atmosphere, which was completely different from the dormitory.
Seeing his expression, Theo let out a chuckle.
"You must have gotten beaten up a lot in the dorms, huh?"
"...."
"Don't worry. We won't act nasty like commoners."
"Okay."
"Anyway, let's get along. How old are you?"
"Ten."
"Then you're the youngest in this room. I'm thirteen. What kind of books do you like?"
"Uh, I don't know how to read yet, so I've never read a book."
"Oh…"
The children looked at Loan with pity.
Loan didn't understand why they were looking at him like that.
Theo spoke.
"Well, if you need help with anything, feel free to ask. You can ask us anything you're curious about, too."
"Is that okay?"
"Of course."
"Ah… in that case."
Since Theo had answered with a bright smile, Loan decided to ask something he had been wondering about.
It was an important issue for him.
"So, how do we go to work?"
"Work?"
Theo tilted his head, then quickly understood and asked back.
"Are you talking about begging? Hey, you're in the main building now. Why would you do that? For us, reading is our work. That's what we study for."
"Really? Does that mean I can't go begging anymore?"
Loan was extremely disappointed, and seeing this, the other children looked even more bewildered.