Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? (LN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 3.1

L3 The Lord Who Had Friends

“Now, on to our next news story.”

The orphanage living room was very large.

Accordingly, it had a very large TV, which I spent a lot of time watching.

Since I had no choice but to use a wheelchair in my everyday life, I couldn’t run around and play like the other kids.

When I was brought to the orphanage, I said goodbye to my bedridden life at last.

But my body didn’t magically heal.

After some examinations, intended for treatment instead of experimentation this time, I was prescribed new medication that allowed me to move up from the bed to a wheelchair.

I could even walk on my own a little if I used a cane.

But I still couldn’t remove the IVs that constantly provided me with medication and nutrients.

Because my body was still constantly producing venom, I needed the antidote and nutritional supplements to keep me alive.

Ironically enough, my body required more nutrients than the average person in order to keep producing that venom.

You might wonder if it would stop making venom if I stopped taking in nutrients, but no: I would still produce poison, and be malnourished on top of it.

It was only through the combination of the IVs and an easy-to-digest liquid diet that my body was able to sustain itself at all.

Unfortunately, that left little nutrition for my body to grow, which is why I am still small even to this day.

Though technically, it isn’t as if I didn’t grow at all.

Once my body developed and I gained a bit more stamina, I was finally able to move on my own, if only for a little while and with the help of a cane.

Even then, I spent the majority of the day in a wheelchair, which inevitably limited my options.

Watching TV in the living room was one of the few activities available to me.

“This morning, we interviewed Mr. Dustin, President of Daztrudia.”

I did sometimes pass the time with reading, embroidery, and so on, but I enjoyed doing nothing but staring at the screen.

In fact, I felt ill at ease when I couldn’t, perhaps because I had done nothing but watch TV before I came to the orphanage.

“I will not permit the use of MA energy in our country. Have we all forgotten the misdeeds of Potimas, the man who discovered it? There are still many mysteries surrounding MA energy. I cannot accept it until we know the potential drawbacks of its use.”

I looked away from the TV and out into the garden, where children with various unique traits were running around playing.

They were all chimeras, created by Potimas’s experiments.

I didn’t have any ability that was evident from my appearance alone, but over half of the children were visibly distinguishable from normal humans at a glance.

A girl with long, pointed ears was chasing around a boy with green skin.

A pink-haired boy threw a ball in a random direction, and a boy whose entire body was covered in fur jumped higher than an average adult’s height and caught it with ease.

Such sights were perfectly ordinary in this orphanage.

It was a rather large place, since it also had hospital facilities to take care of the physical side effects common in chimeras.

The yard was expansive, too, enough that even the chimera children with their superhuman physical abilities could play freely.

Children who had been kept in rooms by Potimas where they couldn’t move around were able to play to their hearts’ content in the orphanage courtyard.

However, there were some children like me who couldn’t join in due to health reasons.

Fortunately, the kids never harbored ill will toward one another; we were all equally close, whether we could move freely or not.

I think it’s because we felt we were of the same kind, in the same boat.

Chimeras are all different to the point where we could each be considered our own species, but we all understood that each of us had vastly different traits, and I think that worked to our advantage.

Because we were each so unique, there was never any concept of discrimination.

Perhaps that was just a lucky fluke.

Normal children go to school, and learn the ways of the world there.

Information sources like television don’t feel entirely real to children; they have to witness things with their own eyes and ears.

So in a way, the kids in the orphanage were cut off from the rest of the world, and knew little of society and common knowledge.

This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, though, and since the nature of the entire world was soon to change anyway, it would no longer matter if they knew anything about the way things were before.

“While President Dustin has firmly opposed the use of MA energy and prohibited it in Daztrudia, a growing number of other nations have been adopting it…”

As I absentmindedly watched the news at that time, I had no idea that this “MA energy” would eventually plunge the world into chaos and bring on even greater changes.

Even if I had known, I was only a child in a wheelchair. I doubt I could have done anything to stop it.

“Come in here, you naughty kids! It’s time for lunch!”

The director of the orphanage stomped into the yard.

She was a pleasantly plump, middle-aged woman, who was formerly a pediatrician.

As one of the Sariella Foundation’s full-time physicians, she flew around the world to all sorts of hospitals and orphanages, treating and diagnosing children everywhere.

Since her health and age were beginning to make it harder to fly so frequently, she made a request to the Foundation to be stationed in one place and became the director of our orphanage.

She was excellent with children, especially since she was a former pediatrician.

“Come on, now! Get on inside! Wash your hands!”

I remember her as a powerful woman with a big personality to match her build.

The kids obeyed, shouting and laughing as they streamed inside.

Lady Sariel was among them too, and must have gotten jostled by the children; her clothes were rumpled and dirty, and for some reason there were several flowers poking free from her hair.

“Fess up! Which of you rascals turned Lady Sariel into a vase?!”

“No. These are presents.”

Lady Sariel calmly objected to the director’s words.

One of the children must have tried to gift her some flowers.

But they went about it poorly and stuck them onto Lady Sariel’s head with the stems still attached, making for a strange impression indeed.

“If you’re gonna give flowers, at least make a crown or take off the stems!”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The young perpetrator responded sheepishly, while the other boys laughed.

Then the director bonked the boys on the head.

“And you lot, getting all covered in filth! The mud on Lady Sariel’s clothes must be your work too, isn’t it?! You’re taking a bath before lunch!”

With that, she seized two particularly dirty children and hoisted them under each arm, lugging them off to the bath.

Everyone was so noisy.

But I was used to this sort of scene by now.

Watching everyone smile and laugh together made me happy.

Compared to the frigid life I’d led all alone in my bed until I came here, life in the orphanage felt incredibly warm.

I only hoped that such warm, happy times would go on forever.

“Protestors are now demonstrating against President Dustin’s position on the use of MA energy.”

But that wish was in vain, for the end was already close at hand.