The orphanage was located on the outskirts of town and had a large plot of land. Kai estimated it to be about two hectares. With a plot that size, there was only one building, and even that wasn’t very big.

The building housed the children’s rooms, the staff quarters, a small kitchen, a dining room, and a study room. That was all.

Meanwhile, in the vast remaining yard, there was nothing but dry grass and two apple and guava trees that appeared to bear only a few fruits.

Upon arriving at the orphanage, Kai’s attention was immediately drawn to the soil there. It looked somewhat barren, but it seemed it could still be improved with or without earth magic.

"Jean, how are things here?" Kai asked.

Jean immediately walked over to Kai, then picked up a long wooden bench he had just finished making. In addition to the wooden benches, Jean had also carved wooden rocking horses from the same wood. The children were happily playing with the wooden rocking horses.

"Please have a seat, young master; you must be tired after working so hard at the shop," said Jean.

Kai sat down on the wooden bench and only then realized that the wood Jean had used was teak. It was a type of wood that, back on Earth, would command a high price due to its excellent quality.

"I’m not too tired, Jean—oh, you can sit next to me, Angeline."

Shyly, Angeline sat down next to Kaileon; she also wanted to hear what Kai and Jean were going to discuss.

"So, how are things here, Jean?" Kai asked again.

Jean gave a faint smile, then replied, "I’ve spoken with the orphanage administrators, and Woni has spoken with the children here, and the situation here is very concerning. As you know, the previous director was Baroness Crech, and during her time, the orphanage was merely exploited to obtain cheap labor. In fact, according to reports, the orphanage had been allocated substantial funds for construction and other needs. But it turns out none of that money ever reached the orphanage at all. In fact, the orphanage administrators here have to grow potatoes so the children can eat, and even then, the potatoes are sometimes of very poor quality. But there’s a river here, so sometimes they catch river fish, and it’s close enough to go hunting as well. Sometimes they also get food from nobles who donate just to show off. Their clothing has also been in very poor condition; they even get clothes from the locals’ hand-me-downs. Those hand-me-downs are usually washed thoroughly, then remade into new clothes. Children who are old enough are usually selected and hired by the nobility for a pittance."

Actually, Kai already knew most of what Jean was saying, but he was quite pleased that Jean had figured it out so quickly.

"So, what do you think I should do here, Jean? I’ve already collected a substantial fine from Baron Crech, though it’s only a small fraction of the money they embezzled from the orphanage," Kai asked.

"In my opinion, we should focus on rebuilding the orphanage, young master. Additionally, I suggest we build another structure to serve as a playground for the children, as well as a place for them to study," Jean said.

Kai nodded, "I agree with that, Jean, but I feel like it’s still not enough... Would Princess Angeline like to suggest what we should build for the orphanage?"

Angeline, suddenly faced with such a question, felt extremely nervous. Her whole life, no one had ever asked for her opinion. Even when she wanted to express her thoughts, the people around her would dismiss her.

"Well... I..."

"It’s okay, just say it if you have a good suggestion," Kai said gently, putting Angeline at ease.

Kaileon’s gentle gaze and warm smile finally gave Angeline the courage to speak up.

"I think it would be good if it were just like at the pavilion—I mean, at the pavilion there’s a layer hen farm, and there’s a vegetable garden too. Even though from now on we’ll be receiving regular assistance with food and clothing, I think the children need to be trained in things like that... I’m sorry if my opinion isn’t very—"

Angeline fell silent when Kai suddenly burst out laughing.

"Goodness, princess... that’s a wonderful suggestion—why would you apologize? I should actually be thanking you for such a great idea. Thank you for your input, Jean and Angeline."

Angeline smiled happily upon hearing this, because this was the first time her opinion had been so well received. Kai even thanked her for it.

Jeny, watching from a distance, also smiled at the sight. It turned out that Kaileon really was a good young man. Jeny knew that Kai had surely already thought through everything Jean and Angeline had said. But Kai still asked for their opinions. In Jeny’s opinion, not all leaders are like that—so she was suddenly moved by what she saw.

"First of all, I’ll draw up a rough sketch of the building’s design, then buy the materials, and after that, ask Pablo and his team to build this place—oh, Pablo is the one who built that nice path from the pavilion to the main castle; he’s also the one who built the laying hen coop at the pavilion. By the way, Jean, where did you get the wood to make this chair?" Kai asked.

"This wood comes from the forest, young master. The forest behind this orphanage has unusually tall trees; they don’t know what kind of trees they are—they’ve never borne fruit—but their leaves are often used to wrap meat after they go hunting. Do you need more wood like this?"

Hearing this, Kai smiled broadly. "In that case, we can cut them down and then replant them using seeds from their fruit. Those trees actually do bear fruit, though it’s not edible. The seeds have a hard shell, so it might be a bit difficult to propagate them, but we can give it a try. Because if we just cut them down without replanting, it would be a loss for us. Besides, this teak wood is excellent; it can be used for various purposes, such as furniture or even building houses."

Jean nodded, "You can leave the task of replanting the tree to me, young master."

"That’s all for today, Jean... I’ll get started on the design right away. Oh, by the way, have you all had lunch yet?" Kai asked.

Jean nodded again with a broad smile, "Yes, young master. Earlier, we all cooked using the spices you gave us—what’s it called? Oh, curry spices. We had some vegetables from the villagers and meat from you, and we also cooked rice. The children love rice, young master. They say it tastes better than bread or potatoes."

Hearing that, Kai laughed awkwardly. He knew the orphanage children said that because the bread they ate was very hard. The bread was intentionally made hard so they’d get full quickly and it would last longer. The potatoes tasted bad because the quality wasn’t very good.

"In that case, before I leave, let’s eat some delicious steamed potatoes and sweet potatoes. Are the kitchen supplies here complete? If not, I’ll buy them."

They went to the kitchen. Just as Kai had suspected, the kitchen was small and the equipment was minimal.

Kai bought an electric steamer, so he could use the very handy magic outlet he’d bought cheaply from the system supermarket. He also bought some large potatoes and sweet potatoes to steam.

The children, upon seeing the steamer, looked very curious about it.

While waiting for the potatoes and sweet potatoes to finish steaming, Kai explained how the steamer worked to Jean and the orphanage staff. Kai also told them what else could be steamed in it, and even showed them how to make bread using the steamer.

Since Jean and the orphanage staff had no idea they could make bread with a steamer, so Kai ended up demonstrating the process for them, and they were surprised all over again.

"So that’s how you make bread? I’ve never even heard of yeast or baking powder... and then you let the dough rise?" asked Jean, clearly enthusiastic about this new discovery, as were the others.

Even Angeline and the maid were deeply impressed by something that Kai found so simple.

Kai chuckled awkwardly, then went to buy the other ingredients for the steamed bread filling.

"While we wait, let’s make the filling for the steamed bread using potatoes, carrots, and beef. We’ll chop everything up with the food processor," said Kai.

Once again, they were surprised by what Kai said and did.

"Are you from another world, young master? How do you know things like this?" asked Jeny.

The question was actually just a figure of speech, since Kaileon was so creative, and it made him feel very nervous. He knew Jeny didn’t know he was from another world, but still.