The children

Ed made his way to the teleport area where he came from last time. In there, he found out a dozen other students who were thinking about heading to the capital as well. Ed had asked his acquaintances if they would be heading to the capital today, however, most of them decided to stay at school. Some would head the next day.

After waiting for a couple of minutes, Ed finally had his turn and used the teleport circle. Suddenly the scenery in front of him changed and he was in front of the royal castle. The guard reminded Ed that they wouldn't be working after sunset. He didn't know that Ed didn't plan on heading back for the day.

Ed activated his Map while exiting the castle grounds and checked up on the capital. He saw some red dots on the map which caused him to worry. However, he remembered that Norris considers him as an enemy now so it should be him and his followers since he was heading to the capital today as well. Ed forgot about him and checked the map for his friends. Soon enough, he found that a couple of green dots were together near the slums and Ed knew that was his destination.

It didn't take Ed a long time to reach his destination. When he got there someone noticed him and turned their heads in worry. However, after confirming his person, their face showed a bright smile.

"Mister Ed!!" It was Eri and the other orphans that Ed had met up with when he came to the capital. He had given them quite the generous sum of money last time but still decided to check up on them once more.

"How have you been doing?" Ed was also smiling as the children all surrounded him. Suika also got down and started jumping up and down.

"We've been doing well! All thanks to you Mister Ed!" All the children seemed like they had enough to eat since last time they saw him.

"Did anybody try to steal your money?" Ed was concerned about their well being since most people would consider 100 gold coins a good sum of money in the slums.

"There were some people who noticed we had money and tried to hurt us. However, the old ladies and old men of the slums helped us out and chased them away. They didn't accept money from us when we tried to give them" Eri seemed to know that helping people was a good thing so she tried to give back to the old people who saved her, yet they didn't accept. Ed made a mental note to check up on them afterward.

"Why don't we play for a bit and get lunch after? Suika you can transform to play with them if you want" Ed asked Suika to transform into her human form since playing would be much better that way. Suika also seemed to think about that and transformed. She and the other children spent time playing catch with each other. Suika knew that she needed to hold back since the children were a lot weaker, so she slowed down quite a bit.

"You know Mister Ed, ever since we were young we never knew our families. However, after meeting you we can feel how it's like to have a caring brother!" Eri who wasn't playing with the children sat next to Ed and told him these words as she was smiling. They seemed to be what she was truly feeling.

"I see. Well since we're like family, don't call me Mister. You can call me Ed or just big brother if you want" Ed felt warm inside his heart. Other than his family and acquaintances, he didn't have a good relationship with anyone in this world. His time with the children was quite valuable for him too since he didn't have to worry about anything.

"Well let's go and meet the people who helped you. I want to thank them as your big brother" Ed didn't have a lot of time in the capital so he decided to finish some stuff today. Eri showed him the way and he visited all the people she took him to.

Ed thanked them sincerely and gave them some gold coins to help them. Every one of them didn't want to accept and said that the children reminded them of themselves when they were young. They all knew the struggle of living in the slums.

Ed still persisted and made them accept. They were all very thankful and promised him they would protect the children whenever they could. Afterward, Ed took Eri and registered her at the guild in the capital. This allowed her to have an identity.

He then took the children to an inn and booked them a room for 10 days. He didn't want them to get hurt while he was absent this time. The children were all happy except Eri who told him it was too much. However, Ed told her it was his duty as a big brother.

"Next time I go back to Avalon kingdom I'll take you guys with me to join the sect there. So I want you to train until then so you could join" Ed had planned to make them join Glory sect. That way they would at least have a stable future and not stay in the slums forever.

When the children heard him, they were all ecstatic. They knew the importance of sects even though they were just children.

After finishing with the inn, Ed took the children to eat lunch and they all went shopping for clothes. Ed had left them 200 gold coins this time and told them to spend it however they want. He could easily make money now so it wasn't a big deal.

After he left, the children kept waving goodbye to him until they could no longer see him.

Ed left the capital and opened his Map to check on monsters that he needed to hunt. He noticed a great number of red dots that seemed to be colony monsters and decided to attack them. He needed to do a lot of hunting and he needed to do it fast.