Whitesky, Dark Jewel's Corner, Orion Street.
"This is Orion Street. They're currently rebuilding this street to house the homeless, and I've been helping them."
Willow said with a smile on her freckled face as she toured Kael around the Dark Jewel's Corner.
They had become somewhat 'friends' in a very loose sense of the word, and Willow brought him to show him around the town.
As Kael only knew the way to the Corpse Collectors HQ, and to the locomotive station, which was pretty much it.
There was a lot of stuff that he hadn't seen.
Kael looked at the corner of the street, where sweaty workers were putting up walls of a new building to prop up the structure.
One of the workers shouted, recognizing the ginger-haired girl, and she also received greetings from some elderly folk and residents of the street.
It looked like she was a really liked individual around these parts, and she smiled at everyone who greeted her.
Kael looked silently at the scene, and all he could think of was how she became an Outlaw in the first place and how she even reached the second level.
It was all about pretending to be an Outlaw, and from what he had seen, Willow was as far from an Outlaw as you could get.
"That's the Kind Agatha's barber shop."
She pointed at an old, triangle-roofed shop that looked like it belonged in a different century, and it was somewhat charming in its own way.
"That's the post office… and these rest are pretty much going to get demolished to make room for the houses."
Willow said, and with Kael in her tow, she skipped out of Orion Street, heading towards the next street over.
She led him to the outskirts of the town, where they arrived at orphanage, which was surrounded with a wooden fence that barely held it together, and dilapidated buildings that seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
"This is where I work when I am not in the school or helping with the construction. The children here need all the help they can get."
Willow said with a smile.
"It looks like it might fall apart from a single gust of wind."
"…Indeed. I've been trying to get the mayor to allocate more funds to repair and reinforce the building, but it's been a struggle.
"They're too occupied in rebuilding parts of the city, keeping the train tracks in working order, and making sure that the mines will stay in operation.
"Those mines are where the mayor and most of the town's people make their living, and if those go under, the whole town will.
"Thus, a mere orphanage isn't in their list of importance."
A woman, who looked like a nun, came from over the orphanage with a smile on her beautiful face, and her eyes lit up with the brightness of the sun.
Willow smiled, grabbed her hands, and shook them as a greeting.
"Oh, who is this? A boyfriend of yours?"
Sister Mary asked with a side-glance at Kael.
Those brown eyes of hers looked quite cautious, as if she was scanning Kael, as she was very fond of Willow and didn't want her to get mixed up with the wrong people.
Despite her obvious teasing attempt, though, neither Willow nor Kael became flustered.
They looked calm with their faces reset in a blank expression.
"A new classmate of mine. I have been showing him around the town."
"Ah, nice to meet you. I am Sister Mary, and you're…?"
Sister Mary offered her hand to shake, and Kael shook it.
"Hmm, you do remind me of someone I've met before…"
Sister Mary said with a frown, but the voice, and his vibe were all different, and that person died a while ago, so it couldn't be him.
"This is Soul's brother."
Willow said, and Sister Mary exclaimed in surprise before giving her condolences to Kael, and he just nodded briefly.
"My brother visited here?"
"Yes. This is where he worked for a couple of months, and he built that treehouse over there."
Sister Mary said and looked over to the oak tree, where there was a well-maintained treehouse with ladders leading up to it.
"…This isn't the first treehouse that he built. I think it was when we were fifteen; we went camping for a couple of weeks, and I helped Soul to build one.
"It definitely wasn't as good as that one…"
Kael said while looking at the treehouse with a deep expression, as if he were reminiscing about the past memories.
"Your brother was a fine boy… All the children liked him."
She didn't know the exact details of how Soul died, but she heard rumors that he died in the hands of Rav'akari, and so did his entire party.
She had prayed that his end was merciful, but if Rav'akari were involved, that was very far-fetched.
Willow asked, as she didn't see any of the children outside playing, and Sister Mary smiled before saying.
"Studying the alphabet."
"Oh… They really don't like studying."
"By the way, thank you again, Willow, for your donation. With your contributing, we're ever closer to building a whole new orphanage."
Sister Mary thanked her wholeheartedly.
"No need to thank me."
Willow said with a wry smile and then gave her farewells to Sister Mary before she headed out with Kael beside her.
"Did you know my brother?"
"Me? No, he was here before my time. I don't think he was too long in Dark Jewel's Corner, and from what I heard, he was more interested in going on raids and missions."
While there were students that wanted to head out into grand adventures, Willow liked Dark Jewel's Corner and had zero intention to leave.
The outside world was scary, as you never knew when Rav'akari would jump from behind the tree.
Thus, she was in no hurry to graduate, as she liked her current life very much.
"…Your expression looked off when Sister Mary thanked you for the donation. I had been wondering how you became second level in Outlaw Pathway."
Kael said while walking beside her with his hands inside his pockets, and then with a smile, he said.
"You stole that money, didn't you?"
"You know how I became Street Jester? Goddess Wren gave me that title for a reason."