Chapter 556: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

"Big Sister Eris!" Becky called out cheerfully, waving at her to come sit with her group.

Eris naturally obliged and sat down next to Becky and the other young girls from Director Tilly’s southern district orphanage.

Teagan also took a seat nearby, as did Yuki, both of whom were politely greeted by Becky and her friends.

It had only been about 3 months since the Rising Phoenix Guild first opened its doors, yet Becky and the other little thin and sickly-looking orphan girls from back then were now clearly doing much better.

Their cheeks were rosier, and their bony bodies had gained some meat on them.

What’s more, these girls were now all smiles, probably having just finished the free morning lessons the guild offered to all young children.

Acting like a responsible older sibling, Eris asked enthusiastically, "So, what did you learn today?"

All 5 of the girls started chattering at once, each of them eager to share what the teachers had been talking about, whether it was the somewhat dull yet still important writing or reading, or the much more fun ’gym class’, where they had played a game called ’dodgeball’, another of Lucas’ recent inventions.

After obtaining a small supply of natural rubber from the Vast Ocean Trading Company, the young boy had mostly been focused on using it to create clothing items like shoes or elastic straps, but he had still set aside a little of the material to make some bouncy balls that could be used in various sports he came up with like soccer, basketball, and the aforementioned dodgeball.

Lucas had even talked about setting up some kind of sports tournament where different teams could compete against one another.

That, however, was a relatively low priority, so the boy hadn’t given it much effort compared to all the other projects he was taking care of.

On the other hand, Eris, who enjoyed all things active and had played every variation of ball-sport Lucas had come up with so far, was very interested in the idea of a ’sports league’ and had all but taken on that task for herself.

As a result, all of the children who joined the Rising Phoenix Guild had gotten familiar with these games, enjoying them greatly as a way to have fun and get some exercise all at once.

Hosting a formal tournament was still pretty far off, but informal games in the Guild’s training hall or yard weren’t a problem to set up.

In any case, after chatting with Becky and the other orphanage girls for a while about all sorts of random things, like what the latest pastries from Princess Bakery tasted like, and how Eris was doing with her fancy new prosthetic arm, the young red-head learned from Becky that she and her friends had actually accepted a quest from the Guild, a simple cleaning task for a warehouse on the far side of the southern district.

Ordinarily, such a task wouldn’t have been of much interest to Eris, but with the alternative being continuing to bang her head against spreadsheets and budget reports...

Turning a pleading look to her grandmother, Eris silently begged for her indulgence, and like any typical grandma, Teagen immediately gave in, drawing a cheer from the young girl’s lips.

Now, it wasn’t that Teagen Balfour was just spoiling Eris, though that was certainly part of it.

Eris had not missed a single day of studying to assume her role as Guild Master to date, no matter how dull or boring it had been for her, something which her grandmother had witnessed first hand these past few months.

As such, Teagan figured it was alright for Eris to take a little break and go out and play with her friends while she finished up with the second quarter’s financial reports.

Besides, while it was important to keep good records when trying to run a large organization, the Rising Phoenix Guild was so well funded to begin with and had so many donations and so much profit coming into it from all the requests it received that there was hardly a need to worry about its finances.

So, after quickly finishing their lunch, Eris, Yuki, Becky, and the 4 other orphan girls all headed to the front desk to register with the Guild that they were out on a mission.

Eris could have filled out the paperwork for them, seeing how she could read and write at a fairly advanced level, but knowing this was all designed to help the younger girls learn through doing, she refrained from helping them. It took a bit longer, but it was all for a good cause so she didn’t mind.

Becky then borrowed a handcart from the Guild’s equipment room and the group of 6 girls and 1 fox kit set off on what should have been a leisurely afternoon of moving boxes and sweeping.

It was hardly a glamours job, but it paid well and was simple enough that even youngsters like them could handle it.

What could possibly go wrong?

.....

A year ago, if you had asked anyone what the most run-down and dangerous part of Misty City was, they would undoubtedly say the southern residential district.

Today, while that was still basically true, the situation had improved markedly thanks to massive new investments that had been made there.

Lucas’ soap factory was located in the district, as was Christina’s bread factory, both of which hired many workers for very high wages, injecting much needed cash into the local economy.

With large quantities of raw materials being shipped to these factories, and large quantities of finished products being shipped out, there was, of course, a need to improve the roads and drainage in the area.

Seeing so many people with so much money all being concentrated in one place, other business owners began getting ideas about how to turn a profit as well.

Food stalls, general stores, peddlers selling by the side of the road...

It was a mish-mash of shops more akin to a flea-market than the grand bazaars in the wealthier parts of town, but it still brought a sense of vibrancy and life to the southern residential district that it had previously been lacking.

With more work, better infrastructure, and more business going on, investments were also made in cleaning up the area, with many tasks for street sweeping and trash collection being funneled through the Rising Phoenix Guild, adding even more low-skill jobs and money to the district.