Chapter 20 - Clearing out threats (1/2)

"No, it's not nothing." Immediately the young woman replied, her tone of voice raised with a touch of despair resounding in it as she lifted her head.

Seeing the dozens of explorers, each more dangerous than the last, looked at her, her face instantly turned bright red. Yet, despite the obvious shyness, she didn't stop there.

"Our orphanage was close to getting closed down due to lack of funds and some older children were already planning to move out to save funds for us." She started before continuing her story, trying to make him understand the impact his unknowing donation had made.

"T-Thanks to your donation, they could stay at the orphanage and not freeze or steal in the streets, or worse die by trying to hunt monsters before awakening. Thanks to you, the children have enough food to sleep well and proper clothes to wear." She explained, stuttering at the beginning of her speech before reciting it as if she had prepared it in advance.

With the explorers around whispering amongst themselves, 

"So which orphanage are you from?" Asked Lux who figured he could send them more in the future since this was the only one who bothered to come and thank him, not that he had been expecting any.

"Hum, w-we are from the Dryfalls Sunshine Orphanage." She replied, unsure about his question as he had obviously sent them money.

"Oh boss, did you send more than just that orphanage?" Asked one of the explorers who had previously taken out sunflower seeds out of nowhere and had been munching them.

"Yeah, I sent the same amount to all ten orphanages in the town." Said Lux with a shrug. He had originally simply sent the money there as it was convenient and easy to think about. He didn't know of any other charity organizations that might need money in the town and as such had spread the money evenly to everyone.

"Oh." He simply replied. An average response yet his facial expression showed how surprised he was.

As explorers, their goal was to become stronger and make loads of money to live lavish lives. They had never heard of explorers sending out huge sums of money for no reason. However, a sense of respect gradually grew in his heart as he remembered everything the shop owner had done in the past.

First, he supported explorers, giving them a chance of making money in relative safety since at this point other gate shops would have already restricted access to the Proteus gate due to the ressources remaining and the few monsters to make as much money as they could.

Second, he created jobs for explorers in the portal to allow them to make even more money than just by bringing back ressources and it was also for this reason that they had more than happily fought for the shop owner and space wanderer as he had also helped them.

Finally, unbeknownst to all, he had also been supporting the orphanages of the town to give a chance to the children who had obviously been dealt a bad hand in life. Whether it came for personal reasons or for genuine kindness, it didn't erase the fact that he helped the children, more than many of them had done in the past.

'Perhaps I could send a small part of my earnings to charity.' A few of the explorers thought as they noticed how easily they could change someone's life without harming themselves.

"Alright then, do you need more money to operate the orphanage?" Asked Lux directly as he wasn't used to talking around the core of the subject.

"Eum, no. We are doing well with the money you sent." She said while gesturing, unsure of how the talks had gone this way.

"Then are there more children who need help in your surroundings?" He asked again as he would simply give her more if he heard a yes.

"Well, there are always new orphaned children." She muttered in a low voice, yet loud enough that every professional explorer heard it thanks to their superior physical abilities.

"In that case, I'll send you more in the future." Declared Lux who finally made his choice.

"T-T-Thank you." She said, bowing her head once again but not in thanks but in shyness. She had only wanted to bring the children to thank him and teach them to be grateful for any help they received. Yet, she was leaving with a promise of even more donations.

As much as she was happy knowing that she could take care of even more children, she knew that she would need to perhaps recruit a few people to help her take care of the childs.

In a certain way, his way of donating to the orphanages was making the economy roll in its own way.

Seeing them leave after his last remark, Lux stretched as the explorers once again started to work. Yet, the story of what had just happened spread across the explorers on the other side of the portal, bringing along with it a growing sense of respect for the shop owner who did a lot to help them since day one.

—

The following morning, before even the opening of the shop, Lux, along with his six guards entered through the portal to Proteus, much to the consternations of the explorers who were about to begin their day, some still deep in meditation since the training on the celestial body was a lot better than back on Earth.

"Good morning boss." Said one of the explorers who despite not being his subordinate called him boss since he was the boss of the shop.

"Good morning." Replied Lux with a nod of his head as he headed in a safe location right next to the gate that his guards had previously built just to guarantee his safety while in the otherworld.

"Alright I'll start." Said Lux as they nodded and spread out around the building, not allowing anyone in. Even the explorers who were quite curious about what was happening in the building didn't try to force their way in as they could roughly guess his goals.

{Cosmic Insight}

Once again spreading the energy of this spell which was becoming more and more useful the more he used it, he concentrated on the last gate not in his control on Proteus.

Touching the gate with the spell, he felt some resistance but it was quickly dispelled, most likely due to the higher level of the gate which offered some basic protection against such type of investigation skill.

'There is probably a counter-spell to this investigation technique. Additionally, as the gate grows stronger and the space wanderer does as well, the passive resistance must be increasing as well.' He thought as he finally gained access to the information he wanted on the gate.

'He has twenty-seven gates amongst which eight can be opened yet none of them are open either.' He counted as a frown appeared, unsure if it was because he couldn't open it or because he had simply closed them all temporarily.

'So, is it safe to destroy the gate, or not?' He wondered before deciding to immediately take a chance.

"Frank." He called softly yet loud enough that he heard the summons and entered the room. "Head to the level four gate and destroy it along with the five others." He started before giving caution. "The opposite space wanderer hasn't opened a single gate and shouldn't be planning on opening it either. However, if you notice the gate activating, turn around and escape immediately." He finished as the man nodded his head and with the five others immediately left at their highest speed possible towards the level four gate,

"As long as they manage to destroy it and the Hatch family destroys the tower, the planet will officially be under me until a new portal opens." He thought out loud as he calculated his remaining energy and decided to make another investigation probe.

{Cosmic Insight}

With his energy heading straight back at the tower this time, he immediately investigated the first floor of the tower and felt pretty good when he noticed a great diminution of monsters and only a single explorer seemingly died in the current raid.

While casualties were always present in raids unless one was extremely strong, they had a pretty great start being almost a quarter of the way there on the first floor with only a single casualty.

Letting go of the energy and interrupting the spell, he got up and left the small house he was staying in, heading straight back for the portal where he would make a notification to show the progress of the Hatch's family raid.

After all, giving them a sense of honor and making it so that the other explorers were a bit jealous of their success made it a long way so that they would work even harder, helping him in the process.