Chapter 386
Mark was thinking about what to give the orphanage to help them out. He didn’t want to give them coins since he didn’t want anyone to target them because of their sudden wealth and even if he asked the ladies to not tell anybody, there were kids in the orphanage and kids had loose mouths as he experienced with the twins.
That was also the reason why he didn’t want to give them any sort of treasure that would make the orphanage a target of evil greedy people and he didn’t actually have any treasure that could help the orphanage. The only treasures that he had were weapons, armor, and gadgets that needed electrical power to run. What would the orphans need weapons and armor for? The only thing they could do with them was to sell them and it was the same thing as giving them coins directly.
The immediate donation that Mark could give the orphanage was food. Specifically, food that wouldn’t rot and that they could store for a very long time. The best donation that he could give that would greatly impact the orphanage for a long time was to give them a way to earn coins themselves.
When he was on Earth, Mark watched a lot of animes given that he was an otaku, and one of the animes that he saw was called “The Ascendance of A Bookworm”. In that anime, the protagonist earned a lot of money making paper. Before he transmigrated, Mark asked his best friend Sam to compile a list of instructional texts and videos of several products that could be produced using things that could be found in nature like trees, leaves, mud, and more. They were his backup plan in case he needed to earn money without relying on magic.
Of course, he wouldn’t give those things away immediately. He would need to investigate first to make sure that it was really needed since looking at the status of the orphanage, even though the manor they were staying at was old, it wasn’t in disrepair. The orphans also looked healthy even though their clothing were rough.
If it wasn’t really needed, Mark wouldn’t complicate their life by giving them something that could incite greed from other people since it instead of helping, it could possibly lead to misery.
So it all goes back to Mark just donating food. The best food that he could give them at the top of his mind were instant noodles and canned goods since those were types of food that could be stored for a long time.
After everyone was done eating, Mark proceeded to ask the caretakers question regarding his donation.
“Miss Mary, Miss Lucy, as I have said, I’m here with the intention to donate and for you to allow my siblings to play with the kids here while we’re here in town but to be honest with you, I don’t want to give you coins since it could cause trouble for you like some unsavory people targeting you for them. What do you think?”
“Sir Mark, you are correct. If you had offered us coins we would have declined it. To be honest with you, the best donation that anyone could give us are things that the kids could use like clothing, furniture, and toys. If you want to donate so the kids could have good food, we would direct you to the town mayor who handles the orphanage finances and deliver to us all the necessary food that the children needed. You don’t need to worry about us lacking for anything since the orphanage had been in existence for several hundred years and all the orphans that came here were brought up without any issues. Some of them even became famous adventurers. As a matter of fact, I grew up here as well as Miss Mary,” The old Miss Lucy said.
With that statement from Miss Lucy, Mark knew that he didn’t need to share any of those instructional video that he was thinking about so his episode of Ascendance With a Bookwork was immediately scrapped. He was also relieved since that meant that the orphans were taken care of without any issues and that settled his bleeding heart.
“Miss Lucy, Miss Mary since as you know I’m a wizard. I have an item here that can help you and your kids during emergency. It’s called an instant noodle and canned goods,”
Mark replicated packet of instant noodle and a canned spam. Then he retrieved a camp stove, cooking oil and pitcher of water. He then gave the packet of instant noodle and canned spam to the two ladies. He explained what the instant noodles and canned spam were in detail and gave instruction on how they were cooked. He also gave them advised that they could add a lot of things to the noodles like the canned meat as well as different type of vegetables.
He then proceeded to cook the instant noodles on the small camp stove and then fried the canned spam in oil. While he was cooking, the orphans smelled the food and all of them immediately returned to the room from where they were playing outside.
After the noodles and the spam were cooked, Mark served them to the two ladies for them to taste.
“This instant noodle does taste good although it’s a bit salty. You are correct that if we add some vegetables, this could be a good meal for the kids during emergencies.” Miss Mary said after tasting the noodles while Miss Lucy kept on eating her share.
Mary ignored the orphans who were salivating while looking at her eating the instant noodle. She asked some detailed questions about the noodles and the canned good so Mark provided several suggestions on the best way to cook the noodles and the best vegetables that they could add but ultimately, he advised Mary that the best thing that she could do was to experiment.
“Now, we need to talk about one important thing. How many instant noodles are you going to donate?” Miss Lucy asked after finishing her share.
“I can donate a lot and they are inside a vacuum sealed boxes so you don’t need to worry about pest getting at them. The noodles will have several different taste like beef, chicken, and pork. It will also have different spices. The canned goods also will have several varieties like canned meat, canned fruits, canned beans, and stuff like that. Do you have a warehouse?”
“Do you see that house next to ours? We were using it to store things but we can also use it to store your donation but we will need to clean it first,” Mary said.
“Lead me to it and I’ll check. I’ll use magic to clean it so we can use it immediately,” Mark said so Mary and Lucy stood up and led Mark to the house beside the one where the orphans were staying.
When they arrived at the house, it was filled with junk like broken beds and chairs, worn out clothing and bedding and more. Mark asked the ladies if he could throw them away and the ladies just nodded so he proceeded to store all the things inside the house in his inventory and destroyed them using his skill. Once the house was cleared, Mark proceeded to destroy the walls inside the rooms to make sure that the house would look like a warehouse.