Meal time at the nursery school, where about 200 children gathered, was truly a crucible of chaos.

Of course, since more than half of all the children were rushing towards me, Stella, and Xian, there was no order.

In the first place, I did not expect manners from children of the age who had not graduated from nursery school, but no matter how much I thought about it, I did not expect it to be this loud.

On the first day I visited Cherryfield Orphanage two years ago, it felt like the commotion I experienced at that time had more than doubled. It’s a natural phenomenon compared to the increased number of children.

“Who is your brother?”

“Are you the new teacher?”

“Miss Conrad! Wow, this is Mr. Conrad!”

First of all, my appearance, which is somewhat unfamiliar to the children of this orphanage, made the children unable to hold back their curiosity and rushed to ask me questions.

If there is a child who asks basic questions such as whether I am a new teacher at the nursery school or not, what is my name and how old are I.

There were occasional children who remembered their friendship at Cherryfield Nursery School and recognized me.

Of course, two years had passed, so not all the kids I knew at Cherryfield Nursery School at that time recognized me.

Like a child who learns and loses a lot in a day, there were quite a few children who forgot me in two years.

I’m sorry, but there were quite a few children whose names I forgot because I had a pale impression.

“Miss Conrad! It’s been a while!”

“Uh, that, yes… . It’s been a while… .”

“Do you remember me, too?”

“Well, then, of course… . So obviously… .”

“Tommy, did you wash your hands before eating?”

“yes! I washed it, Ms. Stella!”

“… Well done, Tommy. It’s nice to see you still strong.”

“yes!”

Thankfully, thanks to Stella who noticed and helped me whenever I was in trouble, nothing to disappoint the children happened.

Of course, that didn’t mean that the fuss had died down, so I felt like I was getting tired in real time.

Even though I only talked to a dozen or so children, my mind almost felt like I had finished the hunting festival.

Of course, even this intense interest in me would not be as great as Xian surrounded by children next to me.

“My older sister, my ears are strange!”

“You fool, that’s an elf.”

“What is an elf?”

“Elf is a forest fairy! I read it in a book!”

“That’s cute! I want to be an elf too!”

“Sister, are you really a forest fairy?”

“How do I become an elf?”

“Elf-sensei, have you seen the world capital?”

As soon as Xian appeared, with his striking appearance and hair, he immediately caught the attention of more than half of the children in the nursery school.

Despite not being recognized by most of the children among us, she was quickly surrounded by close to a hundred children and receiving attention.

The moment I brought her as an elf to the nursery school, I expected it to some extent, but I never thought it would capture the attention of all the children.

As expected, within the empire, the race of elves was something that both children and adults could not help but look at with wonder.

“… Guys, please, can you speak to each of them one by one?”

“Nana! I said it first!”

“no it’s not?! I asked first!”

“sister! sister! How do I become an elf?!”

“Hey, get out of the way! You can’t see the elf!”

“Get out of the way!”

“Haaa… .”

Her charismatic voice, which was quite effective against the students at the academy, was just a reverberation less than the sound of the wind in front of them.

This is why I warned you many times to tell me in advance if you think it will be difficult.

Basically, the number of children was remarkably small, and even that seemed to have complacently followed them, thinking of the elves who grew up quickly and became sophisticated.

“Ha, you guys are really ears… .”

“draft.”

“ear… You can’t just believe in the afterglow and push it so recklessly… ?”

Xian, who was about to say that they were obviously really annoying, looked at me and hurriedly corrected the words that came out of his mouth.

Xian’s expression, facing a real child, not an old man like Bell or Chris, grew old every moment.

That’s right, don’t overdo it and stay at another inn until the business is over.

In this space where the heat seems to never cool down, I heard someone’s loud applause in my ears.

‘match!’

A sound loud enough to catch most of the children’s attention rang the room once.

When I turned my head to Stella, who made the noise, she was already making eye contact with the children with her right thumb in the air.

“… … .”

After the first round of applause, even though she didn’t say anything and just kept her thumbs up in the air, the children followed her one by one and raised their thumbs up in the air.

Within ten seconds, the noisy waiting room turned into a space where silence prevailed.

“fist!”

“””fist!”””

“fist!”

“””””fist!!”””””

Stella, who drew everyone’s attention in a short time, opened her mouth to the children in the quiet classroom.

“Everyone, is it meal time now? Or is it time to chat and play?”

“““… Mealtime!”””

“Should we all be out together like this at mealtime? Or should we come out one by one and keep order?”

“You have to take turns!”

“We must keep order!”

“Everyone please go back to your seats until Ms. Stella counts to ten. one two… .”

The children hurried back to their seats at the waiting room table, as if wondering where the chaotic atmosphere had gone.

It took less than a minute for Stella to completely organize the children in the crowded waiting room.

“From now on, I’ll take your meals in turn. Today is the 13th, right? Come out in order, starting with the 13th group.”

As soon as I heard that, the children got up from their seats at one of the dozens of tables and began to line up in front of us one by one, along with the food trays used in the nursery.

The other children were a little muffled, but basically they just talked to each other without leaving their seats.

… If anyone sees it, they’ll mistakenly think that their career as a nursery school teacher has been around for several years.

Unlike Xian, who was definitely not used to children, Stella was quite good at handling children, whether it was two years ago or now.

“It’s too bad she really had Stella. If I didn’t, it would have taken me a year just to deal with the kids.”

“… Yes, that’s right.”

For some reason, when he said that, Xian’s expression seemed to have a hint of bitterness.

It wasn’t long before Nemia Frey, director of Arwen Orphanage, returned.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

As soon as the children’s meal time was over, Nemiah’s head of the orphanage, who had returned from an outside schedule, immediately came out and called Xian to the drawing room.

I wondered if an outsider would be criticized for serving the children’s meals, but fortunately it wasn’t that kind of reaction that came back from her.

It was because I felt sorry for helping Stella with what she had to do, while welcoming Xian and I, who were just guests at the nursery school.

“I’m away on a day like today, so I’m in a situation where I’m having my precious guests do dirty work.”

Sian and I sat across the table in the drawing room, and she brought two cups of hot tea in front of me and Sian.

“No, it’s fine. I came here without telling you in advance, so you must have had no choice.”

“If I’m not mistaken, you’re the student who visited the nursery school with Ms. Stella two years ago, right?”

“You remember.”

“How could I forget you as a guest who came to our nursery school with so many children.”

Two years ago, there was a past where Stella and 100 or so children who had nowhere to go were entrusted to this nursery school.

As she said, it would be rather strange not to remember me at that time.

“Did the students come to help out at the nursery just like Miss Stella? With the elf-chan next to you?”

I feel a little sorry for Nemia’s nursery school director, who had a slightly expectant expression on her face, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the purpose of my visit to the orphanage.

“I will help with the work during my stay, but it is a little different from the service Stella does.”

“I must have made a very embarrassing misunderstanding.”

I explained the purpose of my visit to the nursery school today to Nemiah, who smiled awkwardly at my answer.

As he handed over the oath signed with the seal of the Perdalos family to her.

“This is a pledge containing the seal of our family, Viscount Perdalos.”

“You were the son of a viscount family. I am very afraid that I may have offended you.”

“Could it be possible?”

You pretended not to know, pretending you didn’t know, but you already knew right away that I came from a noble family.

In the first place, if you were a student at the academy’s Ministry of Magic, the chances of you not being a noble were even rarer.

I’ve revealed before that I’m from the academy, and I’m wearing a mage’s outfit that’s obvious to anyone.

If she had met many aristocrats while pretending to be the head of an orphanage, she would have recognized my origins.

That’s why the attitude towards me is consistent from beginning to end with a gentle appearance as if treating a nobleman.

Stella claimed that she was serving while hiding her identity, but it seemed to me that the head of Nemiah’s orphanage was also vaguely aware of Stella’s true identity.

It seemed that he didn’t reveal it to Stella, perhaps because he thought there was no particular reason to say it.

That’s why I also deftly skipped over her words and got to the main point of my visit to this nursery school.

“Rather, would you please read the contents of the oath? It contains the reason why I visited today.”

“I understand, Prince Conrad. Then could you wait for me to read the oath?”

“You can wait as long as you want, so please read it slowly and carefully.”

“Of course, Prince Conrad.”

She responded with a nod of her head, and as I said, she carefully read the contents of the letter from the first line.

After reading the pledge for several minutes, she responded to me with a faint smile.

“I have clearly confirmed the contents of the letter that Confucius gave me.”

“You confirmed it, what do you think about that content?”

“Once it is written in the pledge, it does not go against the policy of our nursery school. It must be a good thing that as many children as possible can take care of themselves before graduating from nursery school.”

“I’m glad you agree.”

“However, I would like to ask how you plan to select the children. If you take a child who doesn’t fit your aptitude, it will be unfortunate for you and for the child.”

I also agreed with her enough, so I quietly nodded my head at her words.

“Do you have any thoughts? If you need my help, I can help.”

“For now, there are a couple of children who are thinking about it, but… .”

If only one or two children were to be screened, they would not have visited this orphanage in the first place.

In order to do what Delphina told me, it was necessary to additionally select four or five children.

I conveyed the intention of the selection process for the rest of the personnel to the woman sitting across from him.

“For the rest of the children, I would like to make a judgment after confirming their tendencies a little more.”

“That means you’ll be staying at this nursery for a few more days.”

“Are you going to be a nuisance?”

“No, good. For me, as the head of an orphanage, the fact that there are more people who will take the children’s attention is a joy I couldn’t be more happy about.”

Director Nemia, already full of thoughts of taking care of me and Xian, responded with a smile.

It was not such a bad suggestion as I was able to observe the children up close.

“Then I will take care of you for the time being, Director Nemia.”

“I’ll take good care of you for a while too, Prince Conrad.”

No, should I call you Mr. Conrad for a while?

As I was shaking hands with Arwen, the head of the orphanage who reached out to me with a joke mixed with words, Xian, who had been silent the whole time, muttered something so low that only I could hear.

“I, too, have to work… ?”

Then, I hope you will play and eat alone.