Reincarnated as the Villain Who Experiments on Orphanage Kids – Why Are the Test Subject Girls Begging Me for "Night Experiments"? - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: I Can’t Run the Orphanage Because I’m Being Confined

In the end, I gave up on escaping that day and decided to just go to sleep.

When I woke up, Rafal was sleeping in the same futon, and Priere saw it, which caused a whole commotion.

That was already a lot to deal with, but the real problem was running the orphanage.

Operating the orphanage without me wasn’t that easy. There were endless things to do from morning onward, after all. So I tried desperately to persuade the three of them.

“Hurry up and let me go. Come on, the kids are waiting with empty stomachs.”

“…………………………”

“Hurry up and let me go. Come on, the kids want to study.”

“…………………………”

“I have to check their homework too. There are kids who’ll slack off if I’m not there, right? Yeah? Priere? You can’t overlook kids skipping homework, can you?”

“…Homework… would be better if there wasn’t any.”

“Homework is necessary.”

“…………………………”

But no matter how much I tried to persuade them, it was useless.

Priere, who had gotten even more grumpy ever since I brought up homework, pinched the part of my ear that Rafal had poured magic power into earlier. She pressed it softly, like she was overwriting it, and whispered right by my ear.

“If you acknowledge our strength and promise to do the experiment, we’ll release you right away.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Then we’ll stay like this forever?”

“Master, you should just give up soon.”

“Hmph, don’t think you can escape.”

It seemed the three of them had no intention of stopping the confinement until I promised to do the experiment.

Using confinement and threats to get their demands through. It was such a dirty method that you wouldn’t think they were trying to save the world.

“More importantly, what about the orphanage?”

“Please don’t worry. We’ll run it.”

“Can you actually do it properly?”

“Of course. To begin with, the situation where it can’t run without Sai is unhealthy for the organization. What if Sai gets sick? We’re going to try running it once by ourselves as practice for that scenario.”

“…I see.”

In that case, it might actually be fine. What Priere was saying did make some sense.

I had also been a little worried about how much the orphanage had become too dependent on me personally. I’d been meaning to do something about it someday, but I was always too busy with what was right in front of me and kept putting it off.

If they were going to solve that problem for me, I’d be grateful. The issue was that the three of them weren’t staff—they were the kids who were supposed to be taken care of.

“For now, I’ll run things as the temporary director. If you really hate it, just promise to do the experiment.”

With that, Priere quickly left the room.

I wasn’t sure if it was smart or not to take on the role of orphanage director just to get the word “experiment” out of me.

Well, even so, this would probably be a big experience for the kids too. As an educator, I wanted to watch over it warmly.

I couldn’t actually watch over it because I was confined, though.

※

“So why is only Fioraia watching me?”

A few hours had passed since then. Luckily the room had a toilet, and bread was brought in at breakfast time, so I wasn’t having any real trouble living.

But spending time doing nothing was something I hadn’t done in a while, so I was bored out of my mind. It was so boring that I even ended up talking to Fioraia, who was sitting in the chair next to me with her arms crossed.

She seemed just as bored as I was and let out a huge yawn. The sight was exactly like a cat.

“What? Got a problem with me watching you?”

When I spoke to her, Fioraia glared at me. There was no energy in it because she’d just yawned.

“I’m not really complaining, but I’m just worried about how the orphanage is running. Two people probably aren’t enough hands, right?”

“Hmph, yeah, it did look pretty busy. It was the first time I’d seen Priere and Rafal that frantic.”

Fioraia snorted as she said it. On the surface she wore a triumphant little smile, but deep in her eyes there was a hint of unease.

Something must have happened. Since it was a good chance, I decided to ask.

“Why are you here when it’s that busy? Watching the kids is more important than watching me, right?”

“Shut up. Watching Sai is an important job too. It’s something only I can do.”

“No it’s not.”

“……………………It is.”

She said it without much confidence, then blatantly looked away. In a voice so small I could barely hear even if I listened hard, she muttered,

“—They said I was useless in a fight.”

“Eh?”

“I got told I was dead weight.”

“I see.”

“Why are you nodding like you understand! I haven’t even explained anything yet!”

“You messed up again, didn’t you?”

When I said it with a smile, she turned her face away with a huff.

She was so easy to read, which was honestly a big help. Her feelings showed clearly in her attitude and face, so I could tell what she was thinking at a glance.

“Well well, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. I’m sure you’ll find a job somewhere.”

“Don’t treat me like I’m unemployed! I chose to keep living here, okay?”

Kids at the orphanage left once they turned fifteen and found work. Normally the church connections and such were used to help even kids with some issues find jobs… but the three of them were exceptions.

Even now that they were fifteen, they were still casually staying here. In fact, they acted like they might stay forever.

The reason was simple: the three of them carried huge special circumstances. A king’s secret child, the last survivor of the extinct elves, and a descendant of the knight king—they couldn’t just be sent out into the world with bombs like that.

“It’d be nice if there was a good job for you…”

“Hmph, I’m planning to stay here forever.”

“Those who don’t work shall not eat.”

“I’ll work! I’ll be a bodyguard or whatever!”

Fioraia declared it with teary eyes. I couldn’t tell if it was because of the yawn or just because she hated missing meals.

“By the way, whose bodyguard?”

“Yours, obviously!”

“I see. Then how about you undo these restraints?”

“I’m not falling for that trick! Don’t underestimate me!”

“Got it. Then as a reward I’ll make you something sweet. Like pancakes, for example.”

The moment I mentioned her favorite, Fioraia’s eyes flew wide open.

“P-pancakes!?”

“And I’ll throw in ramen too.”

“I don’t need ramen! B-but pancakes…”

She showed a brief moment of hesitation. Her gaze wandered, but then she looked toward the door and shook her head hard.

“There’s no way this Fioraia would get tempted by food! Stop treating me like a kid!”

She said it in a way that sounded super easy to tempt, but her will seemed surprisingly firm. She was muttering something under her breath too.

“…Because if Priere finds out I betrayed her, I’ll get experimented on again.”

“………………Hm?”

“…I’m so done with experiments.”

I couldn’t catch the finer details, but it sounded pretty pitiful. She was probably struggling in her own way. While I watched her with those teary eyes, I thought I’d treat her to pancakes and ramen next time.

That aside…

—

Alright, time to get serious about escaping. It’d be bad if I was late for my shift, and there was one more thing bothering me.

While I gazed at the orange light shining outside the window, I recalled the events from the original story.