MIGHT AS WELL BE OP

"What sets everything apart is the individual possessing the ability; in other words \'Talent\'"

Anthony said as he looked at the children.

He didn\'t know if his words were too big for them to understand.

But he just kept quiet as he saw that they seem to fall into some sort of contemplation.

After a while of contemplation they said in unison.

"We understand big brother"

Anthony nodded as he kept his words as simple as possible.

"So where are they?"

He asked again.

"Who do you mean big brother?"

"Your parents"

The children looked at one another before a girl answered Anthony.

"Big brother, we are from an orphanage, we don\'t have parents, but aunt Ava takes care of us very well"

Anthony immediately nodded his head in response.

"Where is aunt Ava now?"

"She is back at the orphanage, do you want to meet aunt Ava?"

One of the children asked eagerly.

Anthony just nodded his head.

"Hurray...aunt Ava with brother and sisters would love big brother"

One of the kids instantly shouted as she raised her hand and grabbed Anthony by the sleeves and dragged him to the orphanage.

The children ran and giggled as they moved with their fastest yet slow speed.

After about five minutes, they arrived at the orphanage home.

The building wasn\'t grand or anything, but it was okay for people to live in.

It was neat and tidy.

Anthony walked through the gates of the orphanage as they had no gate keeper at all, nor was there security.

Anthony arrived at a single building, holding about fifteen rooms total.

He instantly saw other children walking out of the house and around the house.

From Anthony\'s view, he counted over seventy children all within eight years and below.

The word \'Tenderlove\' was written on a plaque and hung just beneath the roof, signifying the name of the orphanage.

The children that were walking around suddenly stopped as they saw Anthony in their vicinity.

This came as surprise to them as they hardly had any visitors.

And as kids, they naturally became curious and surrounded Anthony.

Anthony could see that even if this was an orphanage, every single child seemed well fed, well clothed with clean clothes or ones with fresh dirt due to them playing.

They were not in the slightest bit malnourished.

As the kids gathered around Anthony, a voice sounded as it echoed.

"What have I taught you about visitors and strangers"

They immediately returned to their senses and took a couple steps back.

And of course whatever lesson the voice gave them seemed to be right as stranger could even kidnap them.

Strangers were dangerous, but this was the Academy domain, nobody dares to cause trouble or throw their weight around.

The Academy protects every living soul here in some ways.

Security could always be seen every few blocks.

A woman appeared as she wore fairly descent clothes.

Her beauty average but was still good enough on the average scale.

Although she hid it, she stood at the Mortal B+ rank.

Her name....Ava.

The children instantly moved and surrounded her as they looked at Anthony collectively.

She stood a couple meters in front of Anthony as she asked with a cautious tone.

"How may I help you sir, a kind reminder that the children here aren\'t up for adoption"

Although she was mesmerized by Anthony\'s face, she didn\'t have time for that.

An unknown person was standing in her home, even though the person released an aura of an F ranker, she would be stupid to believe it as she too does something similar once in a while.

Anthony looked at Ava for a second, then smiled as he replied while shaking his head.

"I\'m not in need of any help of any sort, nor I\'m I here to adopt any child"

"I just saw some of them playing around as they seemed really happy, it sort of reminded me of my own childhood before reality called"

Anthony answered honestly as there wasn\'t any reason to lie.

It wasn\'t like he gave out any details to begin with.

Ava\'s eyes flickered as she heard Anthony\'s last words.

She understood what Anthony meant, everyone had to face reality unless they died before they could.

If possible Ava would like to prevent this, she would love to keep these children hearts as innocent as possible, away from the world\'s problems and chaos.

But she hasn\'t even kept the world\'s problems away from herself, what gave her the courage to think she could do that others.

But she remained cautious.

Anthony seeing how cautious she was just chuckled and spoke again.

"If I really wanted to do anything, I would take taken the first one I met earlier before coming for the rest, besides we both know that\'s not possible in the Academy Domain"

Ava hearing these words nodded then said.

"You may come in"

Then she turned as she walked back into the house.

Anthony just trailed behind her quietly as she led him.

The eldest of the children brought refreshments and handed it to Anthony who was still walking.

But as they walked, Anthony looked through the rooms.

He saw foams on the floor as the children shared rooms.

The library they had barely contained books which would make people ask if it was a library in the first place.

The sitting room that had various mats on the ground that was just enough for everyone to sit on and look at the only television in order to watch movies or cartoons.

Then another place where they exercised daily with their small tiny muscle.

There were two bathrooms with small amount of towels that showed the notion that they shared towels here.

The kitchen had some provision in them, but it wasn\'t really filed.

Anthony saw Ava\'s room that just had the standard necessity and nothing more, with the bathroom still in same room and not a separate unit.

Ava led him through all this as they walked to Ava\'s office.

Ava offered a seat which Anthony didn\'t hesitate to sit on.

She cleared her table as she arranged a few things before she sat down then lit up a cigarette and released a puff of smoke from her mouth.

She poured a pint of alcohol and passed it to Anthony as she didn\'t take the refreshment given by a child serious.