Reincarnation of Audemars - Who Am I...?

Crummy Place

"You really wanted to take those children under your care, Mister Macleod? Are you sure about it? There's no way to release those children over to us once you decided to change your mind, do you understand that Mister Macleod?" asked the matron with raised eyebrows as she prepared the adoption papers.

"In the name of the Macleod, as well as the Keatings, there's no turning back. Furthermore, we have half a mind of taking over these orphanages soon after these adoption papers are ready." I replied as I take a glance of these papers and Adam West would not be called as a West anymore.

These children would bear my family name, and this would be a surprise for the children once they reported off work. Their belongings are still there in their respective places and we only proceeded to the orphanage once the children had gone to work.

"I am actually very glad to know that these children would be in safe hands at the House of Keating. So their names would be Adam Keating Macleod, Jane Keating Macleod, Ingles Keating Macleod and Kayla Keating Macleod from now on, is that right?" exclaimed the matron as she handed me the adoption forms and they had officially become our children. Patricia's and mine...

I signed the papers as tears of joy came to Patricia's eyes as Prius held his hand over my shoulders as a sign of welcome and gratification. Next off, to the Registry of Marriage at the Council Chambers as Patricia and I exchanged our vows and had her name added as Patricia Keating Macleod as well.

I bought a ring there at the Council Chambers and slipped it into the wedding finger of Patricia's and we finally were considered as husband and wife and be able to cohabitate as a couple. It's time for 'Piak! Piak! Piak!' lesson for Patricia soon, tonight. Haha haha.

We bought a new wardrobe for the 4 children and had rearranged the rooms according to their names etched on the door. The new bedding and other furnishings were installed in them as we had gathered all their belongings and placed them inside a wooden chest for them to sort out later.

It seems these children do carry some mementoes of their past with them so I would not touch on that sensitive stuff at all. The empty dorms when we left had given us parts of their painful past that the children will soon be left behind. It was so quiet and serene as the dorms were finally left empty and the beds were pushed aside to make way for the big change real soon.

Silas Brown of Strongbow Tavern was summoned to attend to the meeting at the orphanage with the 4 of us along with the matron.

We had gone back to the matron's office after we had gotten married at the Council Chambers and we had a proposal for the matron. She knew for sure that once the dorms were empty, it would also spell the end of her career. However, we would soon about to change that.

"Ma'am Matron, since this orphanage was run by you as appointed by the Council Chambers, you would be out of work if this dorm is left empty, am I right? I had discussed with the officials at the Council Chambers about us taking over this building and putting you back in charge." upon hearing this the Matron's eyes lit up and was excited to hear the details.

By taking over the orphanage, the Council Chambers will no longer have any control of it and had released the Matron to be under our payroll. "That's right Ma'am Matron, we are taking over this orphanage and taking hostage of all the children from our employees and you would be the Head of the henchmen... Hah hah hah..." the matron looked on as she was confused when I cracked a joke that time.

"Yup... You heard me right. We would be taken hostage of the children from 7 am to 3 pm and then another batch from 245pm to 1045pm. This is to ensure that their mothers would be feeling secure at work, knowing since their children all would be held hostage here."

"3 square meals would be provided by Silas Brown and the payment for the meals would be paid by House of Keating. Would that be alright, my fine man?" and Silas simply nodded as he heard the news of House of Keating was reviving the failed business around town and was wondering when he would be summoned.

"I have here with me the database of the mothers who are working with us with their children, and those aged below 12 were uncared for at home. So right now we would expect 100 children, more or less to be taken in by the Keating Day Care Centre."

"Mister Brown, let me know how much is the budget to feed these 100 children for 4 square meals daily for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper. We have a cookhouse but I'd prefer not to add to their workload."

"Our staple food in the Tavern is bread, sir. We could have bread with gruel, oatmeal, mixed leafy vegetable soup, meat soup and others. Since there would be 4 square meals, I would propose a daily change of nutrition for them. A budget of 36,000 per month would be enough for us to cover the labour and prepare the ingredients ourselves." I calculated that the cost is only 3 credits per meal and find it very affordable.

"Consider it done. Prepare me a 7-day menu and hand it over to the Matron and me. Since you both had already sworn under the House of Keating, I hope you don't break the trust we have in you."  I said as we concluded the matters at heart.

During this time the children don't know what was happening as we had assembled the two shift employees and gave an announcement that from the following day onwards, they could place their children under the age of 12 in the orphanage that we had turned it to be Keating's Day Care Centre.

"You don't have to worry about their meals. The first shift children would be entitled to  their breakfast and lunch while the second shift children would be entitled their dinner and supper."

"You need not worry for the children at all." when the employees heard that they sighed a relief since they were afraid of their children falling into some kind of mishap when left unattended at home alone.

"Thank you so much for taking care of our welfare since we were being employed by Beauty World. You are one thoughtful and just employer that is not only looking for profits but also takes care of the backbone of the company." a woman spoke up among the crowd and everyone murmured their gratitude.

"This is just the beginning, more will come it is way..." I reassured them as I remembered the scholars and had not approached them yet. "Alright, the first shift can be dismissed and you may help out the matron if she needs anything that you could do at this moment."

"We hadn't taken our lunch yet and we need to attend to some other businesses as well." I excused myself and the four of us headed back to the cookhouse to see any leftovers from lunch before we head down to the next venue.

After a light lunch, we all went to the Southern District and went to the Library and we found what we were looking for. The three stooges... I mean the scholars who acted like the three stooges.

"Hiya guys... Remember me?" I asked as I came near them and the first thought when I brought the other three with me, the scholars were thinking I'm going to beat them up or something. Really, those stooges don't even know what's coming on to them.

"Err... Genius. How nice of you to be meeting you again. Have you considered our preposition the other time?" one of them asked as they looked fearfully since they recognised the used-to-be amnesiac Rebecca and the Keating family.

"Actually I do. What good of you scholars if you do not bring forth your knowledge to the community? Would it be of self-worth and for your own good and purposes? What are your aims in life if you do not dedicate yourself as the young that pave the way as young educators?" I began my bullshit once more and I noticed that the bullshit had some worked its way inside the peanut-sized brains of these so-called scholars.

"If you accept us as your disciples, we would love to be young educators as you had mentioned before. And we would be called as Seniors right?" asked one of the scholars as the thought of them being called a Senior entices them to move forward with my plan.

"Alright, you will earn the title of Seniors if you come and see us tomorrow at the Great Hall before 630am. You would swear an oath and pledge allegiance to the House of Keating and be the greatest educators mankind had ever known."

"And you can quit calling yourself as scholars since you won't be graduating anytime soon with the looks of you school dropouts." and the scholars nodded their heads and agreed to be meeting Yours Truly at the designated time and place.

....

"Wah seh... I didn't know your negotiation skills were up to that par, my friend." Prius said as we headed back to the Great Hall and all were feeling hungry as we ate practically scraps at the cookhouse.

"Well, those scholars were gullible and won't know what's in store for them. They tried to corner me one time since I was wearing my full armour gear and then they were taken aback by me teaching them a lesson they would never forget. They even called me a genius... My ass... Hah hah." I added while I went to the kitchen and all four of us continued the discussion.

After 5 pm when the Beauty World had closed operations for the day, I told the children that their orphanage had burnt down. They were shocked since they smelled no burnings at all and when they walked past to the Great Hall, everything looked normal to them.

"You don't need to go back to that crummy place ever, you would be here and would be the next generation of Rangers as well as our plant supervisors." and the children looked at being in bewilderment because that's the place they normally return to after their hours are over.

"Little trolls had taken over your orphanage. Your rooms are upstairs now, go look under your name and your stuff are there as well. Oh yeah... Welcome to the Macleod family. You are now one of us now." the children still hadn't gotten over their shock and they were thinking who is Macleod and they thought I was a Keating.

"You are now officially our children, Mummy and Daddy had finally adopted you and your middle name is Keating followed by your Daddy's family name. Don't you get it?" Patricia said and then the children realised it and they all rushed to embrace us and cried their tears of joy. That's what the children had been hoping for and their wishes finally come true.