Chapter 1: A Choice Made

  Surrounded by darkness. Drifting along the stars. A man with a blank expression on his face was left in his own thoughts by the sheer nothingness around him… How boring. When was the last time I saw anything living?

  The man sighed, he had forgotten how long ago he saw anything remotely alive as he continued to think… Well, what now? Should I simply sleep? No, I don’t even need to sleep but I have slept more times than I care to count as of late.

  The man sighed once again. He ruffled his black hair. Past him drifted a large asteroid. It sparked old memories of his… I still remember the day I joined the Silver Moon. I wonder if she does too.

  …

  An 18 year old young man took off his shoes in the old orphanage building he had grown up in. His appearance was average. His black hair, and dark eyes was the most eye-catching part about him.

  While his skin was white like most from Asten, his black hair and dark eyes was much more uncommon, but not rare. His name is, Shade. He had just finished his mandatory schooling period and is officially counted as an adult.

  While he had some of the best grades in his class, he decided to get himself a job today to help with the now former orphanage’s expenditures.

  A couple of years back, the orphanage was about to be shut down. When the caretakers left, most of the older kids decided to get jobs and move out, but some of them decided to stay behind and support the younger kids.

  They bought the orphanage building from the government with the support of an organization that pitied the kids’ situation.

  Since Shade was only a young teenager back then, he didn’t fully understand who the people that helped the orphanage were and why they helped.

  After asking around in his later teens, he managed to meet one of the people that belonged to that organization and thanked them personally.

  A couple of days later, he received a letter with an address on it in the mail. It said that if he ever needed a well paying job, he should send them a letter.

  …

  “Hey, Shade! Are you certain about this? You have good grades, why not become a lawyer or a doctor?”

  A girl the same age as Shade looked down at him from the second floor. She was dressed in a white nightgown that had been washed too many times damaging the colour.

  Her long black hair swayed in the dark, the only thing illuminating her figure was a single indoor lantern with a lit candle.

  Shade looked up and sighed. He always thought that dealing with that girl was a pain in the ass.

  “Catelyn. I have already made my choice, you out of everyone should understand my decision.”

  Catelyn had no retort, she simply puffed in frustration. She understood why Shade decided to work after finishing mandatory school.

  Though all residents of the orphanage above 20 years of age work, the residents of the orphanage still just barely make enough to live on.

  Most residents in the orphanage are 15 years old or younger. The older residents did their best to make sure that the others can study to get good jobs in the future, but their living conditions and the amount of food they had on the dinner table leaves much to be desired.

  However, the kids never once complained, they understood that the older residents did their absolute best to raise them.

  The younger residents studied to the best of their abilities, all having rather good grades for orphans without any support from the government.

  Catelyn and Shade were at the top of their class, if given some more time, the two of them would have no problem landing a good job. However, the two of them understood the orphanage’s current situation better than any of the other younger residents.

  This made them wish for a chance to start working as early as possible. However, them landing a job with a good wage without going to an university was nearly impossible.

  Shade walked up the stairs leading to the second floor. Though the orphanage isn’t as well maintained as it once was, its size was similar to a small mansion, and it was still rather beautiful.

  As he watched Catelyn walking into her room while grumbling, Shade opened the door to his room and found that someone was inside.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Huh? You are home?”

  “I told you~”

  “Shut up!”

  In Shade’s room sat one boy and one girl 15 years of age. Different books lined up in front of them. Shade sighed and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the brown haired girl in front of him.

  “Hasn’t Evangeline told you to stop cursing.”

  “She has but so what?! She isn’t my mom!”

  The blond haired boy answered back. The two teenagers started bickering in front of Shade.

  The names of the kids are respectively Vanessa and Sebastian. They are residents of the orphanage and the two of them preferred to study in Shade’s room whenever he wasn’t at home.

  Fond memories that reminded Shade of a simpler time flashed through his mind… I remember when me and Catelyn were like that, always quarreling whenever we were close to each other.

  Shade laughed softly from the rather familiar scene as he shook his head. He looked at the two teenagers quarrel for a moment before he decided to speak.

  “Sebastian, you shouldn’t curse as much as you do, and Vanessa, I know that you keep teasing him even though he tells you to stop. You are half the reason he curses as much as he does.”

  The two younger kids fell quiet and looked at each other as if coming to a tacit understanding of each other’s thoughts. They started to glare at each other while showing their teeth.

  Shade looked at the two of them with a tired but warm expression and said the last piece of thought that was on his mind.

  “While Evangeline isn’t our mother, she is our older sister. Be respectful.”

  His voice was much calmer than before. He let out a sigh of relief when he heard the children answer back in unison.

  “Alright~”

  The kids answered simultaneously with a dejected facial expression but after Shade decided to ruffle their hair as he walked past them, their moods changed as they held back their laughter after noticing each other’s new appearance.

  Shade looked around his room and picked up a letter lying on the table. As he looked at what was written on the letter, he spoke to the teenagers.

  “I will be heading out again, if you want to continue studying in my room, be my guest.”

  The two of them didn’t answer. They simply made a small sound in acknowledgement.

  They were quiet for a moment until they suddenly started bickering in a muted voice. As he had something else to do, Shade decided to walk towards the door to step out.

  “Um… Shade?”

  Vanessa called out to Shade in a low voice. After turning his body sideways, Shade looked at Vanessa. He noticed that she looked awfully embarrassed and scared.

  Shade understood from her facial expression that Vanessa thought that the question she wanted to ask could make him angry.

  “What is it?”

  With a calm and amicable tone of voice, Shade asked Vanessa a question with a large smile and waited patiently for her to ask her question.

  “What made you change your mind? All of us know what Evangeline, Ryan, and Axel want. They want us to study because we can get better jobs that way. So why?”

  Shade didn’t say anything for a moment, the mood became heavy. Vanessa wanted to take back what she said, and Sebastian decided to slide forward a little to shield Vanesa behind his body.

  They knew that Shade wouldn’t hurt them, but Sebastian wanted to show that he was on Vanessa’s side and calm her down. Both of them wanted to know.

  As if remembering something terrible, Shade’s facial expression changed for a moment before returning to a grand smile.

  “No reason. I just wanted to help out a little bit. I don’t feel like being a lawyer or doctor, so I want to test something else.”

  Vanesa and Sebastian looked at each other. They knew that Shade was lying but they decided to not pursue the matter further as he didn’t want to tell them.

  “Is that all?”

  “Huh? Yes, thank you!”

  After hearing Shade’s question, Vanessa answered with a surprised expression. Shade bade his farewells and turned the doorknob.

  As he walked out, memories of the reason why he decided to get a job flashed through his mind. He gritted his teeth in anger.

  …

  A couple of days ago in the kitchen and dining room sat the three only adult residents in the orphanage. One woman and two men in their early twenties.

  “A regular at the bar said that he would pay me 1 pound if he got to have his way with me. I’m thinking-”

  “No!”

  The two men gave their answer to what the beautiful woman in front of them was about to propose.

  The two men started speaking one after the other as they agreed with what the other said.

  “No matter how bad it gets, don’t even think of it!”

  “Well said, Ryan! Evangeline, we will find a way like we always do. So please, forget that line of thought!”

  Evangeline looked at Ryan and Axel that sat opposite to her with tears in her eyes.

  The money received from the organization that helped them a couple of years back was spent on buying the orphanage building and what was left slowly dwindled with time.

  The former orphanage building was the only building that would allow all of the orphans to continue to live together.

  Even with the three of them working, it still was barely enough to put food on the table.

  Axel works as a baker, if it wasn’t for the fact that he brings home bread that didn’t sell, their situation would have been a lot worse.

  The three of them spoke to each other rather loudly late at night. Normally no one would be awake at this time, but Shade had trouble sleeping that specific night and happened to hear the conversation when he went to the toilet.

  That was the night that Shade decided to get a job after his mandatory schooling period was over. He remembered that there was one job he could get rather quickly.

  The job came from the organization that had given the kids the money to buy the orphanage building.

  Shade watched as carriages drove past him, the night scenery was beautiful. He had no choice but to walk as he had no money to rent a carriage.

  He had already sent a letter to his new workplace and received a response. On the letter was a simple greeting and a time.

  “Why did they tell me to come after 10 at night?”

  Shade spoke to himself while walking. Newly built houses made of bricks lined the street.

  Carriages drawn by horses rushed towards their destinations and the last steam train heading out of the city had just departed.

  Few walked the streets at night, most of the people that did was tramps, prostitutes, and those on their way to bars or home from one.

  Streetlamps lined the streets as they were lit manually by two people, one by one.

  Policemen patrolled their assigned streets and tramps searched for places where they could lay down and sleep.

  A beautiful white moon and stars illuminated the night sky, ushering in the night.