There is a total of six thugs with rough appearances. Mohawk, bald, bearded, whatever you hit it, they have all sorts of assortment when it comes to hairstyle.

They are dressed shoddily with no indication of them minding how they look like. Their rough tunic and washed out pants with tatters stands out. There are even chains or metallic badges hanging from their waists.

Their leader, a tall, bulky man with an imposing buffalo horns indicating that he is from the Vaster race, surveys the whole train with strained eyes seemingly glaring at anyone. His henchmen are a bit smaller than his frame but overall, they are also what anyone would consider imposing by appearance.

“These people…” Reed muttered in his mind as he turns his gaze away to prevent from getting their attention.

Nio noticed the unrest in the atmosphere as most of the passenger grew quiet. She immediately deemed the thugs to be a trouble so she also stayed put and kept her mouth shut, like what Reed did.

However, things are just inevitable.

“Ohoho, look, a little girl!” The leader of the thugs disgustingly said as he spotted Nio. He sprouted a grin as he leers closer to her.

“Gahaha! Such small and cute girl!” One of the henchmen laughs gleefully.

“Here, here, lemme see her cheeks!” One of them then outstretch his hand towards Nio. The sheer difference in size of his hands contrary to Nio’s head is unsettling.

Before the man’s hand can even touch Nio, Reed grabs it.

“Please stop. Don’t just casually touch my little sister.” Reed said in a deep and cold voice seemingly devoided of any emotion.

The man whose hand was caught by Reed took a step back and drew his hand in the air.

“Ah-hahaha! Excuses, how rude of me! Hahaha! So, you are the big brother, huh?” The man faces Reed with a huge grin. The six of them started gathering around Nio and Reed.

“How about it, Juggs? Shall we give them a little something so they will understand?” One of the men said with a hoarse voice, calling out to their leader named Juggs.

“Yeah, take it out.” Juggs said as he ordered one his men.

They immediately brought a bag in front and opened it, rummage the contents and took out something. Reed’s vigilance shot up as they took out something inside a plastic bag.

“Yeah, take it out!” Juggs shouted and one of the men presented a large box still packed in a plastic.

His henchman unwraps the box and the box revealed to be…

“…A…sweets?” Reed tilted his head in confusion.

“Here, here, we just brought it in a confectionery shop! Get some, little girl. Hey, open one more box and offer to the other passengers!” Juggs commanded as they took out another similar box.

““Yes, Boss!”” The men shouted in obedience started unwrapping another box and started going around and offering it to people, albeit bewildered.

Nio and Reed peered inside the box and saw the assortment of intricately prepared sweets such as candies and cupcakes. They direct their head once more to Juggs and he returned a hearty smile.

“Hahaha! Well, I guess it’s still inevitable that we are still mistaken. However, this is the only thing about us we refuse to change. Enough of that, here, here, get some! Although this is for the orphanage, we brought enough!” Juggs said as he beckons them to get some.

“Ahahaha…” Reed laughs dryly as he nods to Nio’s direction in affirmation.

“T-Thank you…” Nio then timidly takes one cupcake.

Nio then slowly bites the cupcake and as soon as the icing touches her tongue, her cheeks brimmed with a flush as the sweetness spreads throughout her mouth. She unconsciously held her cheeks with one of her hands.

“Delish…!” Nio muttered as her eyes gleam in utter joy.

“I’m glad! Ahahaha! As expected, children should enjoy more of what sweets could offer!” Juggs then extended his hand again and roughly shook Nio’s head.

“Ah, so you were happy to see Nio because you like children in general. And you said something about an orphanage earlier.” Reed then tried to subtly assess their motive.

“Yeah, we are a friend of the priest there! Today, we are going there to play with the children while eating sweets with them.” Juggs said as his hand then crept on Nio’s cheek and gently pinch them.

“Well, for now, please let my little sister eat in peace.” Reed said with a troubled smile as Nio finds it hard to it while being bothered with a hand.

“Ahahaha, I’m sorry! It’s just that your little sister is extraordinarily adorable. I bet she could get along with the children in the orphanage.” Juggs said as he pulled his hand away from Nio.

“Hmm, where is this orphanage anyway? We are to get off in Business District Two Subrural. We planned to go to a hot spring!” Reed said while he replaced Juggs from petting Nio as he started stroking her head.

“Ahahaha! We are of the same destination!” Juggs said.

“How about it, Nio, want to take a detour? It’ll be a new experience for you to play with kids…in the same age.” Reed said, albeit hesitated a little.

“I’m fine with it as long as we are together. Also, stop that, I can’t eat properly!” Nio said as she tried to take Reed’s hands away, however, she pauses a little to ponder if she really wants Reed’s hand to be away from patting her head.

“Really? The children will be happy, I bet.” Juggs showed a sincere smile unbefitting of his rugged face.

Through the unexpected event, Reed and Nio met a man named Juggs and his merry men whose hobby is to do charitable work and public service. Their appearance is nothing more than just their shadow of their old self and they refuse to change it because they want to be constantly reminded of how they are in the past.

They get off the train leaving the other passengers baffled but joyous as the people they judged to be bad are actually golden-hearted.

The place where they got off is still within the Business District Two, however, the buildings are sparse than the other districts and there is more vegetation as it is close to a rural Residential District. Although the Residential District could be described as an extension of the Business District Two as they deliver harvests from there.

As of the reason why this sparsely built district is still part of the business district is quite simple. They are famous for their hot springs, inns, and for seasonal vacation.

Juggs and the other led Reed and Nio towards the orphanage. On the way, several stalls and shopowner spotted Juggs’s group.

“Hey, Juggs, you are real lifesaver yesterday! Thanks again! Ain’t those new friends? Here, take this mackerel! Going to the orphanage, right?” A grocer said as he deftly handed Juggs a fish.

“Yo, thanks, old man!” Juggs expresses his gratitude.

“Oh, my, Juggs, the repair that you did in my house’s pipe came down pretty good. Here, have some of these vegetables.” A nice auntie said as she handed Juggs an assortment of greenery. “For the young girl, there, please play nice with the other children. Have this can of juice. Have a nice day!” she added as she offered Nio an orange juice which she took while expressing her gratitude.

“Heya, thanks for that! The priest will be pleased knowing that we will be having a hotpot today!” Juggs gleefully accepted the vegetables with a hearty laugh.

“Sup, big guy. Get these friggin’ delish snacks for the brats, will ya? Betcha’ they will be happy their snot will start fallin’. A man who also looks like a thug who manages a candy shop said as he handed Juggs a plastic bag full of sweets.

“Ain’t that precious of you. Ya better show up at your sister’s recital ya idiot.” Juggs admonish the man but they bumped their fist as a sign of their deep fellowship. Juggs’s henchmen then bowed one by one respectfully to the man.

“Hey, hey, hey, what’s with this black haired brat? Want some of my famous apple candies? This’ll blow your snot off your nose.” The man said as he handed Nio a candied apple.

“Watch out, Blitz. Big bro there will blow your brain out if you be disrespectful.” Juggs said with a grin as he pointed at Reed.

“Ah, ya blowdart, that’s Reed Chelle! The lad who became the state champ last year in Tier four degree five competition.” The man told Juggs with widened eyes.

“Fer real?! Lad, you have some heavy background there! I never did bother asking your name.” Juggs said as he taps Reed’s shoulder with his heavy hand.

“I just got sort of lucky, hahaha…” Reed started to laugh it off too, however, the feeling of uneasiness lingers as the topic was brought up.

“Ah, anyway, say hi to that priest for me, would ya? Scram now.” The man said as he chases Juggs away.

So on and so forth.

There were a lot of distractions and stopover as Juggs and his merry men and kept getting called. Meanwhile, Nio took a spotlight as she walks together with them.

It has become afternoon when they reached the said orphanage.

“Ah, it’s Juggs and the tentacle men!” One child cried out as he pointed at them.

“Call out the priest, Juggs and the tentacle men are here!!” Another child said as she sent someone to tell the priest.

“Yay, Juggs, the tentacle and…A handsome guy and a cute girl came!?” one of the girls exclaimed as she saw Reed and Nio.

“Hey, hey, Laila, aren’t I handsome too?” Juggs asked the girl who is as small as Nio.

“Juggs looks like a bear.” Laila answered briefly.

“Gahahaha! Well, bears are big and strong!” Juggs didn’t mull over her answer and took it positively.

Before long, the children immediately gathered around Nio.

“Pretty! Your hair is as slick as the night!” a girl complimented.

“Another girl! Hmph, don’t expect to get fawned here, got it?” A boy said as he spat those words at Nio, however, he can’t look straight at her.

“Hey, hey, is that hot guy your brother?” Another girl asked as she eyed at Reed.

“Y-Yeah…” Nio answered timidly.

“Kyaa! Can you introduce us to him?” Another question came but Nio shook her head.

“No, he is only mine.” Nio said to the children that gathered around her. Boy and girls have their mouth gaping from Nio’s declaration.

“Kya! It’s a forbidden love between siblings!!” A shriek broke out.

Nio was troubled, however, a faint smile floated on her lips.

“Tentaclemen, let’s play! Do that wiggly thing again!” A boy called out to Juggs’s henchmen.

“Ouhh! Let’s do this! Wiggle wiggle!” The man said as he started wiggling his arms like they are a real tentacle and started chasing kids in a game of tag while laughing.

“Yo, brother. Let’s greet the priest for now. Let your little sister play.” Juggs said as he beckons Reed towards a place that seems a church.

Reed turns his gaze towards Nio who was then dragged by a group of girls towards a field full of blooming flowers. They sat on there and started decorating Nio’s hair with flowers.

Nio herself is quite flustered as way more attention is given to her.

“Yeah, let’s go. I want to meet this priest.” Reed said as he nodded to Juggs’s words.

What Reed observe of the place is with the exception of the children happily playing with a smile on their faces, the place is quite spacious. There are two dorms away from the church which assumingly for boys and girls.

The dorms are quite large that it could easily house forty children of each gender. As what stated earlier, there’s even a field of flowers next to a hill. To the west of the spacious land is a forest and to the east is an open prairie brimming with flowers coupled with small hills.

It’s not even wrong to say that the place is quite extravagant and gorgeous.

Reed then is led towards the inside of the church.

What beheld him is the beautiful stained glass that illuminates lustrous colorful glow from the sunlight giving life to the interior of the church made of bricks and woods. Pews are lined up neatly facing the altar where a statue of a man, presumably the god they worship, is erected.

In the middle stood a man wearing a black vestment. His facial features show that he is neither youthful nor olden but a face that can be considered neutrally handsome. His hair is shaded dark brown in contrast to his bright brown irises.

Reed immediately knew it was the priest.

The priest didn’t show any expression but instead, spread his arms like he is receiving a grace from the heaven.

“Rejoice, young lad.” The priest said.

“That line is a bit dull…” Reed didn’t help it but retort to his sudden greeting.

“Humor me a little, I say.” The priest replied with knitted brows.