After a long journey of one and a half days, the carriages reached their destination. It was an orphanage supported through military funds. During the whole journey, Rhys didn't have any conversation with the other kids.
Since his revival in this world, he hasn't conversed much either way because he was trying to figure out the whole situation. A lot of things were happening all at once, which took him by surprise. But for now, he just wanted to remain calm and observe the situation, meanwhile trying to figure things out.
After getting registered with the orphanage, the kids were taken to have a bath. Given its state, the orphanage was huge, decent, and full of facilities. Collecting the towel as he went to the bath house, the Warden, Anna, interrupted him. She was a middle-aged, skinny woman.
"Oh my gosh, what do we have over here?"
She looked at Rhys and commented, as his clothes were covered in blood stains, and so was his body. By this time, his body was starting to stink, with that musky iron-like smell. His hair was so long that it covered his vision at this point. Anna pulls Rhys away from the kids' queue.
"I am Anna, the Warden of this orphanage. What is your name?"
"Rhys"
Anna kneels down, giving a warm smile, and she offers her hand.
"Nice to meet you, Rhys. How about we give you a new haircut?"
.
.
.
After getting a crew cut by one of the helpers, Rhys headed down the corridor to take a bath. It was a common facility for all the boys in the orphanage.
It was at that time, after having a bath, that Rhys saw himself for the first time in this life: a skinny body structure, milky soft skin, silver hair, and Azure eyes.
"Hm, well, at least I got the looks," Rhys smirks, looking at himself in the mirror.
After refreshing himself, he was given a fresh pair of clothes. As Rhys entered the dining area, it was full, and he noticed lots of kids, not just around his age; there were kids from 5 to 15 years of age. The kids below five had a separate area where they were cared for. The dining hall was huge and full of conversation. Cause some kids were already living there beforehand and were used to it, unlike the kids who just arrived today. With just a glance, Rhys can tell where those kids were sitting as they chose a corner table and had their dinner with their heads down. The whole table gave a gloomy vibe, but that was expected as they experienced a terror they had never faced in their lives and probably wouldn't have imagined.
Rhys wasn't a fan of crowds and chattering, especially when he was having dinner. He liked to have his dinner in peace, so he scanned the whole dining hall for a peaceful place. Rhys took his plate and headed towards a table. He just chose a random table and sat across from a duo of boys around the age of 10. One guy was skinny and tall, with black hair styled in a bowl-cut and wearing spectacles. The other one was a chubby kid with short curly hair.
Both of them glanced at Rhys, who was sitting across from them and having his dinner. He didn't glance at them as he wasn't that interested, but suddenly, a voice interrupted his peaceful dinner.
Cough..cough
As Rhys looked up, the skinny guy adjusted his specs with one finger and, giving a smile, asked.
"Hi, my name is Eric, and this is my friend Toby."
"Um..Hello"
The chubby guy introduced himself with a bit of hesitation.
"Rhys.." Rhys said, directly taking a sip of his supper.
"I guess you aren't a big fan of long talks. That's alright, everyone is like that when they are new."
Rhys didn't say anything to that comment and just continued to eat. Eric was trying to be friendly to a kid smaller than him, trying to make him comfortable. But Rhys considered such things nonsense and wasteful. He noticed a fat book lying around Eric. Judging by the cover, it was a book that kids around his age would have a hard time understanding.
"Do you like books?" Eric asked as he saw Rhys staring at the book. He slowly passed it to Rhys.
The book's cover stated -
"Understanding the nations and statistics"
The language was different, but Rhys was able to read it.
"Come on, Eric, not everyone is like you," Toby interrupted.
As Rhys looked at Toby, he continued.
"Aa... you might not know it since you are new here, Rhys, but Eric is a genius prodigy in the whole orphanage. He reads and understands lots of books that even adults have a hard time understanding."
"Oh, come on, Toby, it isn't like that. I just try harder."
Rhys wasn't interested in that useless bickering, but through it, he got some useful information: that at least his brain could process the world language. As he finished his dinner, Rhys took the book in his hand, and both Toby and Eric looked at him in a blank state.
"I am just borrowing it for the time being" saying so Rhys walked away.
"Hm… we got an interesting kid around."
Eric gives a subtle smile.