Soma took the confused mother and daughter back inside the orphanage building along with the excited kids who are playing around with Marina, and in there he had them all sit down, and then he started explaining to them about the current situation.

“So let me explain everything to you from the start, after you guys helped me make the potions in preparation for the Flood, I learned about your situation from Dolan, and we together came up with an idea to resolve your situation and the first step to do that was to spread the information that you guys helped me make the potions that went support the combatants who fought against the Flood and then appeal to the Lord to transfer you from under the Drold family to be under my care as members of the Alchemy department since your talents will be much needed there, and the Lord agreed to that right away, it seems that the Lord had noticed your situation and was looking for a way to help you but he couldn’t take you away from under the Drold family without a solid reason and since no one could prove that the Drold family was embezzling your money he couldn’t use that as a reason, that’s why when Dolan told him about our plan he was very happy to go along with it, and so here we are right now”(Soma)

“…B-But is this really alright? We are not the ones who made the potions, it was all you! We will not be able to do anything as members of the Alchemy department!”(Maria)

“About that, to tell you the truth I have been searching for people to join the Alchemy department, and having you join me would be a great help for me, and about you not being able to do anything, don’t worry about that! I’m going to teach you guys everything you need to know and more, not only about Alchemy, I am going to provide you with all the books and learning materials you might need to teach the kids about magic, history, math, and just about anything else that might be useful to them in the future”(Soma)

“T-That’s too much! we will not be able to pay you back for all of that!”(Maria)

“As I said, you’ll be members of the Alchemy department, you’ll be paid for your services, of course! And everything I said I’ll provide to you is nothing but a bonus you’ll get as members of the Alchemy department”(Soma)

“Even if you say that you’ll pay us, I don’t think that we are going to be more useful than proper craftsmen who might have more experience at doing similar things…”(Maria)

“At the end of the day, Alchemy is a type of magic nothing more, but the difficult thing is having all the raw materials in the proper order for the magic to work, that’s why your job will consist of you tending to the magical herb’s garden I’m going to plant in the mansion, and you’ll be the ones harvesting and processing those herbs before storing them for when I need to use them as raw materials to make potions, and all of this can be learned in no time at all”(Soma)

“I understand….. finally, will not you taking us from him cause Drold-sama to target you and try to harm you?”(Maria)

“That’s one of the reasons why the Lord agreed to you being transferred to be under me, it’s his way to provoke Drold and his cronies to try and harm me, so he can use that as evidence to catch them and launch a full-scale investigation to uncover everything they have done so far and to punish them for it all”(Soma)

“I see. if that’s the case, then I have no reason to say no”(Maria)

“Glad to have all of you working with us!”(Soma)

“Ne Ne, Onee-chan! Are we going to live in a mansion?”(Kid)

“So it seems, Soma-san is going to give us all a new job and by doing that job he will let us live in the mansion with him!”(Mai)

“Onii-chan is!! Really! Yaay!”(Kid)

“For now let’s start moving your stuff from here to the mansion”(Soma)

“That’s right!”(Marina)

====================================================================================

*Knock Knock Knock*

“Come in”(Marik)

“Excuse me!.... The people we sent to the orphanage have returned….”(Attendant)

“Hoh! So what was the result? How much were they able to collect?”(Marik)

“…Nothing…. They were brought here with their legs and arms broken and had no money with them whatsoever”(Attendant)

“What?! What happened?”(Marik)

“They were doing the job we gave to them but suddenly they were attacked by someone, and he took all of the money back after breaking their arms and legs”(Attendant)

“What?! How could this happen? Did not the attacker know that they were sent by me?”(Marik)

“That’s not the cause, it seems that the attacker knew very well that they were sent by you, and it was implied by him that he attacked them for that precise reason”(Attendant)

“Who the hell was this attacker?”(Marik)

“The man claimed to be the head of the Alchemy department, Soma”(Attendant)

“What?!...”(Marik)

“What’s more, he was holding a letter from the Lord instating him as the one responsible for the orphanage from now on, and he was given ownership over that land as well”(Attendant)

“Bullshit!! That place is mine! He must have forged those papers he has!! Why does this filthy commoner keep getting in my way?!”(Marik)

“They are not forged, a letter came from the Lord’s castle stating that the orphanage was transferred over to the alchemy department and thanking you for your services up till now, here…”(Attendant)

“…H-How can this be? Why did the Lord agree to such a thing?”(Marik)

“One last thing, it appears that he had a Dogman woman with him and that she has done half of the damage to the guys we sent to collect the money, and she appeared to have no collar around her neck”(Attendant)

“What did you say?....... That dump dog!!”(Marik)

====================================================================================

At night, Soma went to visit Ren at the Knights station, and right now they were talking to each other about a request Soma had for Ren.

“Ren, I want you to take your knights and leave the town for some time…”(Soma)