3 1.3 Orphanage

Andrew knocked on the door, which was answered by a woman in her early 20s. She had black hair and brown eyes. She was wearing long scarlet divided trousers and a white loose shirt-like dress with a bit short sleeve.

"Good Morning Andrew. Is this the boy?" She said, looking towards me.

"Morning, Rose. Yes, this is Nara," Andrew replied, giving her the bag of meat skewers that we'd bought.

"Hello, Nara. Why don't you two come inside?" Miss Rose said. After that, both of us went inside.

Inside, there was a big room with two big windows covered with white curtains. In the center of the room, there was a dining table at which four girls and a boy were sitting. We joined them at the table.

After a while, Miss Rose brought tea in small teacups and the Meat skewers that Andrew had bought on white plates.

"Thank you, Rose. How was your morning?" Andrew asked Rose after taking a sip of tea.

"It was good. I just returned after offering my prayers at the temple," Miss Rose replied while pulling up a chair.

"Now, why don't you introduce yourself Nara? Everyone, he will be staying here from today, so take care of him, okay?" Miss Rose said with a smile after sitting.

"Hello Nara, I'm Ronald. I'm training to become a knight. If you need help with anything here, let me know," a muscular-looking guy said, starting the introduction.

He looked a little older than me, but his body was a bit too muscular for someone who is around my age. He had blue eyes and blonde hair. He was wearing a grey t-shirt and light grey pants.

Following Ronald, a girl introduced herself. She had beautiful black dog ears that were standing up and a fluffy black tail. Her hair and eyes were also black. She was wearing a blue one-piece dress that was showing the curves on her body nicely.

"Hello, I'm Arica. As you can see, I am a 'Dog person'. I am also training to become a Knight. I like cute boys, so I think we will get along," she said, wagging her tail and looking at me with playful eyes.

'Calm yourself, Nara, that's just your imagination. She's just teasing you.'

"Uh... I-I am M-Marina. I-I am training to become a magician. N-n-nice to meet you," said a cute girl with pink hair and green eyes.

She had cat ears and tail and was wearing a white shirt and pink skirt.

Somehow, she looked nervous. She was probably the type that is shy when meeting new people.

"There is no need to be shy, Marina. You should try to have more confidence in yourself," a human girl said to Marina. Somehow that wasn't helping, and Marina looked even more nervous than before.

She then looked towards me and said, "Hey Nara, I'm Nina. I am also training to become a magician. I help with the orphanage works here."

She was a human with purple eyes and long purple hair. She wasn't as beautiful as Arica or as cute as Marina, but she could be called good-looking in a different way. She was wearing a white shirt and a green skirt that looked good on her.

"And finally, I'm Sistina. I am training to become a Magician too. I want to join the Royal Magicians someday, y' know," said a white-haired fox girl with a beautiful white tail. Her eyes were light brown and her voice sounded a little childish.

She was wearing a white knee-length frock that looked cute on her.

They all looked like one big happy family. My school life wasn't as fun as people expect it to be, so I was excited to live with fellows who are of the same age as me.

"Nara, come with me. We'll be sharing a room, so I'll show you our room," Ronald said after we finished the tea.

It was a small room with a window and two beds. The room was clean. I wasn't surprised since Ronald looked like a sincere guy.

Since we were in our room, I decided to ask Ronald various things related to the orphanage and this world.

"Hey, Ronald, how do you usually spend your days here at the orphanage?" I asked, looking out of the window. The flower garden in front of the orphanage could be seen through it.

Ronald looked towards me with a friendly smile and said, "We train ourselves in the open field behind the orphanage and study magic in the library. All of us want to join the Magic Knight academy in the city next year. Other than that, we help Miss Rose with the household chores and temple works."

'Sounds nice, I think I should join them too,' I thought. Since I was planning to restart my life here, it was only natural to choose the most ideal job.

But before that, there was something that I needed to know.

I looked towards Ronald and asked, "Can all people here use magic? How do you know what kind of magic you can use?"

"You need to try it to find that out. Most of the people can use at least one kind of magic. There are also people who can use two or more. The chance of being able to use 2 kinds of magic is 1 among 100," Ronald answered.

"How many types of Magic are there?" I asked another question following Ronald's answer to the first one.

Magic looked like an important part of society here, so I needed to know more about it.

"There are 7 total, but only six types are seen. They are earth, fire, wind, water, darkness, and holy magic. People say that the seventh type is a special magic, but since it uses spirits instead of mana only elves of the elven kingdom can use it," Ronald replied.

"Ah, can you tell me more about the Magic knight academy?" I asked.

"Yep. Magic Knight Academy is a place where young people are trained to become magicians and knights. Every year, children who are 16 years or older can take the test to become a student at the Academy. Those who pass the test train to become knights and magicians who protect the country from monsters and demons," Ronald said.

"Ah, sounds exciting. I will also try my best to join the Academy then," I said. But since I wasn't sure if I would be able to use magic or not, my hopes weren't very high.

"Nice, let's do our best," replied Ronald.

While we were having a conversation, Andrew brought over the clothes and the necessary materials for my stay at the orphanage. Ronald and I then arranged those things in the room.

It was already evening by the time we were finished. Miss Rose and Nina had already started preparing dinner by the time I came out.

"Hey, Nara. If you're free, can you help us with cooking? We're making rice-curry," Nina said when she saw me coming.

I replied, saying, "Yeah, I'm free. What can I help you with?" and joined them.

The ingredients were almost the same. Since Miss Rose explained things to me, I learned things quickly.

After the table was ready, we invited everyone else for dinner. It was my first meal with them, but it felt like I was finally home.

"Nara, if you're planning to learn magic, I can help you with it," Ronald who was sitting next to me said.

"Thanks, that will be a lot helpful. Maybe we can try it tomorrow afternoon," I replied.

After that, we all had our dinner. Tomorrow was a big day so after dinner, I went directly to the bed.

Next Chapter: Learning Magic - Part 1