Danmachi: A Mage's Journey

After a while of waiting, Maria slowly appeared.

When she pushed open the door of the church carrying several children and a basket full of food, Astraea, who often came here to take care of the orphanage, and Akira, who had recently become famous, appeared in front of her.

Maria said, "Ah, Astraea-sama, you are here. Sorry for the trouble."

Astreaa said, "No, it makes me happy to see the children growing up healthily."

Maria then looked at Akira and said, "And isn't this Akira? It's been a long time since we last met. I'm so glad you're safe and sound. I've been hearing your name a lot in Orario recently."

Maria walked forward with the ingredients and greeted the two of them enthusiastically.

At this time, Akira took the heavy food they brought and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Maria-san, it took me so long to come and say hello to you."

"No, no, I'm very happy that you came again. After all, you are an adventurer, so it's normal to be busy." Maria smiled and waved her hand.

Akira followed Maria to the kitchen, while Astraea stayed behind to look after the younger children.

Along the way, Maria was extremely talkative. She always had a smile on her face and kept asking Akira about his well-being.

After a while, she asked with concern, "Akira, how have you been recently? Did you encounter any danger or difficulties during your adventure?"

After a while, she reminded with concern, "Remember to eat well on time, don't treat your body badly!"

As expected of the mother of all the children in the orphanage, her caring ability is high level!

After putting down the ingredients, Maria said, "Akira, please wait outside. Since Astraea-sama has taken so much care of us, let us entertain you and Astraea-sama this time."

"I understand. I'll go out first then." Akira nodded obediently.

When Akira returned to the hall, he saw that Astraea had joined the game of hopscotch. In order to prevent her long skirt from dragging on the ground and tripping herself, she lifted the hem of her skirt lightly and shrugged it. The action was both elegant and dignified.

Every time she jumped lightly, her beautiful body that carried a heavy heart of justice would tremble, attracting him, and every time it was a feast for Akira's eyes.

After Astraea deliberately lost to those lovely children, she slowly stood up, and adjusted her skirt gracefully. Then she sat down steadily beside Akira with a smile on her face.

She turned her head slightly, stared at Akira with her beautiful eyes, and said softly, "It seems that Maria plans to entertain us."

Akira replied, "Well, after all, she is very grateful to you for coming to take care of the orphanage frequently. Otherwise, with the level of chaos on Daedalus Street, I don't think it would be possible for the children here to be safe and sound."

Akira today is no longer the ignorant man he was when he first arrived in Orario.

Through the information obtained from various channels and the detailed descriptions given to him by Kaguya and the others, he gradually realized that Daedalus Street was a mixed crowd of all kinds of people.

Not only do all kinds of people gather here, but even Evilus frequently appears here.

In addition, the terrain here is as complex as a maze, and it has been unsupervised for a long time, so it naturally became an ideal hiding place and base for many dark forces.

Therefore, it is not an easy thing for these innocent children to survive in such a harsh environment.

As if seeing through Akira's thoughts, Astraea took the initiative to reach out her hand and interlocked her fingers with his.

She gently said, "Don't worry, one day this place will be prosperous again, and by then, even child will be able to play here freely."

Akira joked, "Is this Astraea-sama's wish? If everyone knew about this, they would work together to make this wish come true, no matter how difficult it is."

Astraea stretched out her other hand, as if to hit him, but in the end she just gently stroked the top of his head.

"Doesn't that make it a responsibility I impose on you? I'm not such a goddess."

After saying that, Astraea withdrew her hand and leaned slightly against Akira, her tone somewhat relaxed and playful.

After all, even the goddess of justice will be more or less partial to her own children.

Akira didn't say anything else, but just smiled and shared this warm moment with Astraea.

After a while of waiting, it seemed that the lunch was ready.

A cute little girl ran over excitedly and announced loudly, "Everyone, Maria mom said that lunch is ready. She told me to call everyone to come over to eat."

Then, she came to Akira and Astraea. She stretched out her tender little hand, hoping to hold their hands and go to the kitchen together.

However, when she noticed their tightly clasped hands, a puzzled expression appeared on her face.

Akira and Astraea let go of each other's hand, gently reached out to the little girl in front of them, and held her hands at the same time.

Seeing the bright smile on the little girl's face, Akira and Astraea exchanged a knowing smile.

After lunch, the children could only sit in their chairs, bored and drowsy. It seemed that they had played too many games in the morning.

The children who went out to help had not seen the new game, nor had the experience, so they could only look at Akira and Astraea with pitiful eyes.

Akira and Astraea realized that it was almost time to leave. However, in order to leave good memories for these lovely children, Akira decided to give a wonderful magic show as a farewell gift.

Akira clapped his hands and said excitedly, "Does anyone want to see a magic show? If so, raise your hands."

The originally silent atmosphere immediately ignited and the children's spirits were lifted.

The church became extremely lively as countless little hands raised high. Several pairs of bright eyes sparkled with curiosity and excitement.

The whole room seemed to be infected by this innocent joy.

Akira walked to the empty space in front of the church and raised his hands. Magic power was boiling in his body.

Fortunately, Akira was far enough away from the children, otherwise they might be frightened by the oppressive feeling of magic.

Two 2-meter-tall ice blocks appeared in front of Akira. Although ice was the forte of Glacial master, not Elemental Blaster, its strength was enough for Akira to fool the children.

With a "crack", the two ice cubes shattered.

"Wow!!" The children exclaimed.

A cute ice dragon and a ice man holding a sword appeared in front of the children.

They didn't know that the two ice dolls in front of them were wrapped and controlled by Akira's magic power. The ice dolls began to move.