Chapter 43: Chapter 42 Daybreak Orphanage
Since Lucius’s death over a year prior, Byrne often experienced nightmares. Sometimes he would find himself standing in a snow-covered forest with his face covered in blood, an uncontrollable sense of loneliness arising within him.
In the forest, there were several corpses with eyes wide open in death. They were Irene, Margaret, and Chris, making Byrne feel utterly cold.
Lucius’s questioning and disdainful voice would come from behind him.
“You failed to protect them, Byrne. I was wrong about you,”
A profound sense of fear and guilt would engulf him instantly, and it was often at this point that Byrne would wake from his nightmares.
Death was never far away. There were just over sixteen and a half years left to prepare for the almost inevitable war between Cyart and Rhea.
If nothing was done, during the war, the tragic situation of the Fischer family being at the mercy of others would repeat itself.
On the northeast side of Cyart, the East Coast would be the first place ravaged by looting and slaughter if the Rheans invaded. Many of the elders in Cyart still vividly remembered the Rheans’ brutal and savage acts.
In a silent and tidy basement, Byrne and Irene, the siblings, discussed various countermeasures.
Byrne took out paper and a pen and placed them on the table, starting to draw circles and write to illustrate the current situation.
“In the upper echelons of East Coast society, the two most prominent and powerful figures are Earl Hovern, the East Coast Governor, and the Tempest Bishop from the Tempest Church,”
“Both have reached the level of low-level Monarchs, and behind them, their major families, the Hovern family and the Tempest Church on the East Coast, boast a dozen Transmutation class Extraordinary Exponents.”
Irene nodded in agreement. Both the governor and the Tempest Bishop were in such exalted positions and wielded such immense power that they could decide the outcome of most matters with a single word.
Byrne continued to detail as he wrote and drew uninterrupted:
“Next are the seven viscount families and numerous True Gods Church forces on the East Coast. Currently, the strongest viscount family is Bast’s Lion clan of Fein City, which is under their control. Bast himself is also an upper Transmutation class Extraordinary Exponent.”
“Then, there’s the Eagle clan controlling three towns on the East Coast. There are five Transmutation Extraordinary Exponents in their family, with the leading figure being ‘Black Hawk’ Viscount Zavier. He is quite poised to challenge the Lion clan’s authority, and they also have an excellent relationship with Earl Hovern, the governor.”
The ongoing struggle between the Lion and Eagle clans had already lasted several years and was a topic of gossip within the entire East Coast’s elite.
Their confrontations had initially been relatively civil, but in the past year, their methods had taken a drastic turn for the worse, escalating to the point of assassinating each other’s supporters.
The Eagle clan was very keen to drive out the Lion clan and take over the rapidly developing Fein City, their tactics growing more reprehensible by the day. And Earl Hovern, the East Coast Governor, seemed to be subtly in favor of this.
At this point, Byrne paused and said somewhat helplessly, “We’ve already chosen a side because of the cooperation between the Fischer family and Mr. Gold.”
“Mr. Gold has his channels and connections precisely because Viscount Bast is his brother-in-law. Now, to the upper circles in the East Coast, we are seen as ‘supporters of the Lion.’”
Irene also sighed and said, “When we decided to cooperate, we had no understanding of the entire situation on the East Coast. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been so hasty.”
Domestic noble infighting included assassinations, but it wasn’t to the perilous extent where death loomed at any moment, yet the threat was real.
“Now the Fischer family has a lot of surplus funds, and we currently don’t have a significant need for Extraordinary materials. It’s time to purchase some Mysterious rare artifacts and sacrifice them to the great Lord of the Lost.”
“Besides, I’m considering establishing an orphanage to shelter those homeless orphans from Nasir.”
An orphanage?
Byrne pondered for a moment, knowing she wasn’t proposing this purely out of sudden altruism, so he seriously asked Irene:
“What’s your plan?”
Irene looked towards the sheet detailing divisions of power and quietly revealed her scheme:
“I will hire people to teach them knowledge, personally instruct them, and pick out the useful children to give them blood, so they can join the ranks of the Dawn. We still have too few reliable hands right now,”
She paused for a moment before stating firmly, “I believe that children who have been trained and educated from a young age will be more reliable than ordinary followers.”
Byrne nodded, then crossed his arms and fell silent as if hesitating over a significant matter, before finally speaking slowly:
“I am still researching how to strengthen the influence of the Fischer family’s blood.”
“If the blood could control Extraordinary Exponents, we could make magic potions according to the formula and give a portion of our followers low-level Powers of Consecution too.”
Both of them were very clear about one thing; the ability to create Extraordinary Exponents was the Fischer family’s greatest advantage.
However, back when Lucius was still around, several members of the Fischer family had discussed this issue, and Lucius was firmly against giving the Powers of Consecution to those without blood ties.
Because currently, the Fischer family’s blood could only influence ordinary people and not Extraordinary Exponents, and so if they did this, they would only be creating beings that they could not control at all; if any of those beings harbored thoughts of betrayal, the entirety of the family’s efforts would be ruined.
“Prudence” and “secrecy” were the mottos of the Fischer family; they couldn’t just pin the loyalty of others on intangible things like “trust between people” and “cultivating gratitude.”
The breakthrough in the whole affair lay with Byrne, who held the Power of Consecution of the “Pharmacist.”
He had a hunch that the effects of the Fischer family’s blood could be strengthened and had been conducting research on blood all this time.
At this point, Byrne suddenly picked up a pen and drew a fresh circle on a piece of paper.
“Right, almost forgot to mention, aside from the overt forces, there is also a formidable heretical power on the East Coast, the Sea God Cult with quite an ancient heritage. Within their ranks are Transmutation-class Extraordinary Exponents.”
“It is said that the Tempest Church and the Sea God Cult were originally one force, but later on, they split and developed extreme enmity towards each other,”
“Because the Sea God Cult does not recognize the Tempest Overlord as their Sea God.”
Three months later, the first orphanage in Nasir City was established, and the new town chief came with great pleasure, leading the locals of status to offer their congratulations.
The orphanage was named “Daybreak.”
In the whole Nasir City, there were more than thirty orphans under the age of twelve eligible to join the orphanage, and part of the reason for the loss of their parents was the sudden winter invasion by the Rhea people; naturally, they felt a favorable impression towards the Fischer family for having resisted the Rhea.
The Fischer family’s cost to establish the orphanage was around thirty-five Gold Coins, and each month an additional six Gold Coins were required to maintain basic operations, necessitating the arrangement for the older children to learn trades and earn money.
The orphanage was spacious yet dim, its thick stone walls bearing the traces of the years. Irene led a few caregivers here, where the first batch of children had been waiting for some time.
“Children, from today onwards, I will be your caretaker,”
Irene looked calmly at the children who were yearning for the future yet filled with trepidation, their eyes curiously and uneasily surveying her.
A gentle warmth began to surge from the depths of her heart.
Yet at the same time, Irene was acutely aware of something; love should be selective.
Chris and Byrne and Darren were the most important people in her life, and beyond that, everything about her body and soul belonged to the great Lord of the Lost.
At that moment, she suddenly felt the will of the mighty Lord of the Lost!
It seemed to be guiding her, directing her attention to one of the little girls among the children. Irene immediately looked over.
It was a girl with light green hair, sporting an optimistic smile different from the rest, but her right leg had a highly apparent severe disability.
Was she special?
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