Chapter 65: Isn’t that a waste of money?
Cass, flushed, but fully dressed, stepped out of the carriage. Draken had offered his hand to help Cass out, but Cass wouldn’t even look in his direction. Draken was laughing silently, and Cass, because of Draken’s larger frame, could see it even if he didn’t want to.
Tilting his nose up further, Cass turned, scanning the area. He was trying to see where Sam and Sir Forsythe had gone, but he was able to hear them before he saw them.
"My goodness. Did Lord Blackburn really send so many things?" It was a high pitched lady’s voice, followed up by Sam’s lower voice.
"He did, Ma’am. He was very concerned once he heard. Oh, here comes the Lord now!" Sam turned, revealing the giant smile he had on his face. It faltered as he realised that the Lord Blackburn that he had left was in disarray compared to when he’d last seen him. Sam glanced at Sir Forsythe, he held his tongue, and Cass felt his lips twitch.
He could feel that Sir Forsythe was going to get a tongue lashing from him.
"Sam! I see that your mission was quite successful." Cass declared, glancing over the several carriages that were continuing to pull up and park near the orphanage entrance. "How is the beast clean up going, Sir Forsythe?" He turned his attention towards his knight, and Sir Forsythe lowered his head.
"I have spoken to Ser Hune and she has been busy cleaning up the bodies so that the children don’t see them. Sir Sanders is making sure that the children aren’t traumatized, and dealing with the mess the dire wolf left behind in the playground." Cass felt his face warm, before he cleared his throat, nodding.
"That’s good to hear." Cass turned to the woman Sam had been speaking to. She seemed to be staring at him, a slightly confused look on her face. She took in his attire, the baggy shirt that even after he had tucked it in still didn’t fit him, his plaid features, white-silver hair and red eyes, and the way that the other two had differed to him.
She swallowed, before she gave a slight bow.
"G-Greetings, my Lord. I had never thought that you would come to visit." She stated, her eyes darting around as people kept unloading things from the carriages arriving. Cass nodded.
"Well, had I known that it was so close by, I would have stopped by sooner. Tell me, does this happen often?" Cass asked and she looked a little bit ashamed.
"Well, it’s been happening more often in the last four months or so." She admitted quietly and Sir Forsythe stared at her, before shaking his head.
"Why didn’t you inform the mansion?" He asked before either Draken or Cass could say anything. "We made sure to let the people know that they could ask us for help, especially with dealing with monsters." Draken cleared his throat from behind Cass, drawing her attention to him.
Cass was pretty sure that it was impossible to ignore Draken, given his height, but her reaction told him that wasn’t the case. Her eyes widened, and her expression paled further.
"Especially if it appears that they are putting the children in danger. Children, who have already been put in danger already and lost their parents because of it." Draken said, taking the words out of Cass’ mouth. He had the same feeling about this.
Why was the orphanage placed out here? It didn’t appear new. In fact, it appeared that it was a repurposed building. The lady looked greatly uncomfortable with the two larger men questioning her.
"Well, it’s just...the heroes are often away with tasks meant to prevent the end of the world. Who are we, the common people, to interfere with that task?" She suggested as she shrugged. Cass felt his brows furrow.
"Who are you to interfere? You are the people we are trying to protect. These children, especially." Cass stated firmly, his expression dark. "And why does it feel like you’ve been shoved off to the side. Out of sight, and out of mind?" She went red, her full face flushing and her mouth opened and closed repeatedly.
"Cassian, you can’t say things that way." Draken scolded, and Cass was surprised that he, of all people, would say that to him. Cass turned his dark expression towards the taller man next to him, who was smiling down at him. Cass didn’t like how his eyes were dancing, and his arms plumped up his chest when he crossed them. Cass had a hard time not staring at them, especially after having an up close and personal interaction with them.
"What do you mean I can’t say things that way? I didn’t say it in an insulting way. If anything, I am more angry that children are in such a dangerous part of town when they are already missing out on their parents being able to look out for them." Cass stated hotly, and it seemed that everyone, but Sir Forsythe, was surprised by his words.
"Y-You consider this a dangerous part of town?" The woman asked, and Cass glanced around, gesturing to the lack of anything else around them.
"What else would you call this? It’s different for us, since we have guards, our own powers, and some other tricks up our sleeves. I cannot say that the same level of care has been given to these children. No wonder Sir Sanders and Ser Hune are extending their patrol this way." Cass huffed. "What would have happened if they had not been around?" Cass was pissed for the orphanage, and the woman, who had been observing them interact, started laughing.
Cass, along with everyone else, turned their gaze towards her, clearly confused as to why she would be laughing in this situation. She couldn’t stop herself, hunching over and covering her mouth.
"I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at your concern, my Lord, but I am just surprised that you seem to genuinely care, but have never given to us before." Her words stung, and Cass, who had been an orphan, for the first time, was very upset with Lord Blackburn.
"Hmm. Well, we’ll have to correct that immediately." He stated firmly, and Sam glanced at him, his eyes warm. Draken was looking at him like he had three heads.
"You want to donate to an orphanage? You? Isn’t that something you would consider a waste of money?" Draken asked and Sir Forsythe glanced into the distance.
"Ah, I see Ser Hune. I shall be right back." Cass wasn’t an idiot, he knew he was trying to run away from the conversation. The man’s lips had turned up slightly before he’d run off.
The lady, who by now Cass had assumed ran the orphanage had a rather unusual expression on her face. She appeared torn. Between trying not to laugh, and keeping her face straight. Cass didn’t find this situation funny in the slightest.
"A waste of money? Children?" Cass asked and Draken’s lips turned up into a smirk.
"Yeah. I seem to recall a time when you did refer to orphanages like that." Cass scoffed.
"Maybe the ones the temples run, but not something like this." He shot back. Cass had no idea where that knowledge came from, but it easily left his lips. Draken raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, so you don’t like the ones that the temple runs, huh? What makes it so different? Both institutions are meant to house children without parents." Draken said and Cass didn’t feel like getting into a lengthy argument about the Blackburn family’s strong dislike of the temple and Vespertine family line.
That, and Cass’ own internal bias against the church in his own time made him generally distrusting of anything run by a religious organisation, even if the hero party was affiliated with it.
"Fundamentally for different reasons, but I think that they would go over your head, Draken." Cass stated coolly, and Draken’s expression darkened.
"That’s not very nice of you." He said and Cass shrugged. He wasn’t a nice guy, and apparently Lord Blackburn had been even less nice.
Cass had a lot of work to do, both for him and Lord Blackburn to get people to actually like him. This response, this reaction to him wanting to donate to an orphanage was a prime example. Everyone donated to orphanages. What was wrong with Lord Blackburn that he hadn’t jumped on this? Was he actually trying to be an evil villain?
Why was he making Cass’ work even harder?
"How are the children doing?" Cass asked, completely ignoring the man who had saved his life. Draken grumbled, but didn’t attempt to interrupt him as Cass turned his attention towards the woman who had laughed at him donating money to her orphanage.
"They are doing much better. And thank you for saving Tyler. He is...one of our more adventurous children. By the time I realised he was gone, I could already hear the dire wolves outside." She shuddered, closing her eyes. "Terrifying creatures. I am thankful that you were able to come to our aid so quickly." She did sound truly grateful for that, and once again, Cass wondered why the hell they were out in the middle of nowhere.
No one had answered him either. They assumed that he had been poking fun, or making a joke when he hadn’t been. Lord Blackburn might have known the reason, but Cass didn’t. That was no reason not to answer him when he asked a question.
"Well, I hope he’s learned his lesson now." Cass said and she sighed, shaking her head.
"No. In fact, I think you’ve spurned him on, my Lord. He had been intent on being a guard, like Sir Sanders, but now he wants to be a mage, like you." That was surprising. Cass hadn’t expected that.
"He should reconsider." Cass stated. "Being a mage is a lot more work than becoming a guard." He said. "It involves a lot of reading, and self-discipline. If he’s as rambunctious as you say, that might be a problem." Cass told her and she laughed again.
"Well, you try telling that to an 8 year old and see how much of that gets through, my Lord." Her eyes were still bright as she looked him over. "Speaking of, since you have brought so many gifts, would you like to hand them out to the children? Afterwards, we can discuss your ’waste of money’." She teased.