Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1466 Immersing in Life
The pharmacist felt there was something wrong with the distribution depicted on the map, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She didn't hide her thoughts and immediately told Vanessa and Veronica, asking them to keep an eye on it and see if any novel ideas came to mind.

However, after several days, no new information came from Poirot, which made Vanessa somewhat dissatisfied. After all, she had spent so much effort helping to organize the data, and not even knowing the progress was understandably unpleasant. The apothecary didn't offer any explanation; this was simply a problem in the operation of the cardinals. Information sharing between different cardinals was often problematic unless they specifically sought cooperation.

Back in normal life, Veronica remained the same person who frequently brought back news from the outside world, while Vanessa primarily assisted Father Thorne in managing church affairs. The sweltering summer had arrived, and most people preferred to stay indoors. Summer in Violet City was characterized by frequent showers, making the weather less than pleasant; after all, even a light rain made the heat and humidity unbearable, so it was better if it didn't rain at all.

During this period, there was not much news from the southern region. The previous outbreak of the plague did not affect the area and even became a topic of conversation.

However, a Mr. Fabre has recently gained fame for his keen business acumen. He not only uncovered several long-planned scams but also noticed the church's actions in response to the plague, making a fortune by importing a large quantity of raw materials.

After making money, Mr. Fabre did not forget his neighbors. He held several gatherings and even invited people from the neighborhood to open a "factory" together.

Factories were things only noblemen could run; most people had only heard of them. Even if they wanted to work there, they needed special skills, such as carpentry or blacksmithing. Most people were just farmers and didn't have those skills at all.

However, Mr. Fabre said that none of this was a problem—Veronica even leaned over to listen, and it seemed that Mr. Fabre could handle everything, including the factory, equipment, and technology, as long as everyone contributed manpower.

"Making money together, that sounds like a good idea," Veronica remarked when she returned and shared the news with everyone. "That Mr. Fabre was a good man too."

"Assuming he keeps his word," Vanessa said, reviewing a large stack of church documents. "Veronica, we've seen far too many cases of people using deception as a pretext to scam others."

"So I just praised the slogan," Veronica laughed. "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on things a little. After all, many people I know have signed up for the factory, and we can't let them get scammed."

“There is another problem, which Mr. Fabre doesn’t seem to have considered,” Vanessa said, placing a document aside.

"what is the problem?"

"You said his factory plans to hire 200 people in its first batch, regardless of gender. Many families have signed up. But in the southern region, at least in the Zhongbiaohe District, families are generally composed of parents with one or two children, and there are very few elderly people in the family. This is because the area was previously heavily polluted and unsuitable for the elderly to live in. So now, if the factory opens, what will happen to the children in these families? Teenagers may already have some self-care ability, but eight or nine-year-olds or younger will be a different story. I don't think locking the children at home is a good idea."

If they were farming, they could at least bring their children with them, but bringing children to the factory? Vanessa hadn't heard Veronica mention it, which meant Fabre hadn't considered it.

“If that’s the case, the church can help in some way,” Veronica said after thinking for a moment. “I can organize some manpower.”

Vanessa agreed with this idea, and that starting missionary work with children was also a merit.

“In that case, you could talk to Fabre directly about this. You might even be able to get some sponsorship from him. After all, he’s the one who caused this problem, so he has to take some responsibility,” Vanessa suggested.

I'll go tomorrow!

The discussion went smoothly. For Fabre, the church's willingness to step in and resolve the issue was a good thing; at least he didn't need to spend more time dealing with the resulting problems. For the workers, the fact that someone had anticipated this issue also saved them a lot of trouble.

However, things took an unexpected turn for Veronica.

Fabre was going to provide training to the workers. Although not all the equipment had arrived, he had prepared some prototypes and hired people to train the new workers. It's unclear how Mr. Fabre managed this, but the factory's opening was remarkably smooth; it seemed no problem was insurmountable for him.

Veronica received more children than she had expected. At first, there were only about thirty, which Veronica and some priests managed to care for by separating the children by age. However, the number began to increase the following day. Clearly, neither Veronica nor Vanessa had anticipated human-to-human transmission, while Father Thorne had, but hadn't said anything.

"It's time to give them some training."

During a casual conversation, Father Thorne and the pharmacist discussed this matter, and their faces lit up with smiles.

"As long as you don't panic, it means things are still under control." The pharmacist took a sip of tea, indicating that the conditions at the church were improving.

“It’s just a bit more people, but Veronica can handle it. And although children are mischievous, they are most loyal to those they know. If Veronica can manage them well, these people will certainly become faithful believers in the Minute Church in the future.”

"Alright... I'll stick to this approach." The pharmacist shrugged. "Is there no way you can change this tone that treats people like property?"

Why change it?

The pharmacist couldn't do anything about his thinking. After all, Thorne had never made any mistakes in his work, and she wasn't responsible for correcting his thoughts; at most, she could only offer a reminder.

But when she turned around, she saw that Veronica had even started taking care of babies—the kind that are one or two years old.

Vanessa happened to be passing by and was shocked to see the row of babies next to Veronica. Although several monks were helping, the problem was that the babies were too young!

"Veronica! What happened? How can the church take care of such a young child?"

"Haha... They've actually stopped breastfeeding; they only need to be fed formula from now on. Mr. Fabre gave us some money for this, so we just need to feed them once a day regularly. Some babies need to be soothed, but if they all cry together..."

"Stop, stop, stop! That's not what I want to hear! I mean, these little kids are being sent here to be raised?" Vanessa frowned and said loudly, "The church helps them because they have jobs, but aren't there a lot too many children here?"

“There’s nothing we can do. They’ve come to our door, and they really are employees of Mr. Fabre’s factory. But I guess we’ll have to send more children over. Many of the kids over twelve will be sent to other places as apprentices, and their parents will need to do odd jobs. This will be very difficult for parents with younger children.” “You mean, there will be more?”

“Oh, it’s not like we’re losing out. They need to pay us some fees to look after the children during the day. I’ll also ask some believers from the neighborhood to help out. It’s not that difficult,” Veronica said.

"...It's good that you weren't completely unprepared."

"Haha, I was a little surprised at first, but after thinking about it, I realized I could manage it."

The pharmacist looked at the crying baby inside and the children running around the church. These energetic kids, while not causing too much trouble for the church's work, were certainly noisy. So Veronica's claim of being able to manage them was probably just the bare minimum. Luckily, these days children were still mostly left to their own devices, and they were all incredibly resilient.

However, these were all minor issues. Vanessa thought that sending a baby over to be raised was the most outrageous thing that could happen, but reality showed her that there were even more outrageous things to come.

One morning after the rain, a servant responsible for cleaning opened the church door and was surprised to find six babies neatly laid out on the stone steps outside. They were only hastily wrapped up, but fortunately it was summer and the temperature hadn't dropped much even after the rain, so they didn't get cold. In fact, the babies were all sleeping soundly.

Vanessa got furious when she heard about it.

The pharmacist knew why she was reacting so strongly—Vanessa and Veronica had also been abandoned, and if Father Thorne hadn't found them, they would probably have been carried off by wild animals. They were also very young when they were abandoned, barely able to walk, and didn't remember much; their situation wasn't much better than these children's.

Veronica wasn't indifferent, but she had a mild temper. Vanessa, however, was much more difficult to reason with. She had Veronica collect all the babies' belongings and brought them to her, then drew pictures of the babies and went directly to Knight Gael to ask him to help investigate the origins of these abandoned children.

Violet City has no laws prohibiting the abandonment of infants; after all, such things are not particularly rare among commoners, and even some nobles use this method to dispose of illegitimate children. The apothecary and Father Thorne watched as Vanessa investigated the matter for several days, and in the end, it was the apothecary who intervened.

"Vanessa, you won't find out by investigating like this."

"Pharmacist, I will not tolerate this kind of thing, you know..."

"I'm not here to stop you. You've been too focused on finding the person who abandoned the baby these past few days. Have you checked on the baby's condition again?"

“They’re sick? But Veronica should be taking care of those babies, and sure enough—” Vanessa was still in a state of shock, but she quickly calmed down. “I understand, I’ll go with you to see them.”

“Okay, we can talk about it on the way.” The pharmacist followed Vanessa toward the nursery. “There were three boys and three girls that day. Judging from their appearance, none of them were more than three days old. Babies this young should have very irregular sleep and wake times. Considering the time it takes for the church to close at night and open during the day, some of them should have started crying because they couldn’t get milk. Besides, you should also know that babies this age can’t drink anything other than breast milk.”

"Huh? Is that so?" Vanessa was taken aback.

“Alright…you can ask Sir Gael’s wife. So here’s the problem, Vanessa. There aren’t actually that many people in the church who know about this. Although there are a few married nuns, very few have children.”

After all, once they have families, they usually prioritize their homes and don't have time to do so much for the church. Although the phrase "a nun getting married" sounds a bit strange, the church doesn't require monks and nuns to be devoted to serving God; they are quite free in this regard.

The pharmacist pushed open the door to the nursery.

"For example, one day a rather clumsy nun was startled by the baby's crying and fed the baby the milk that was meant for an older child."

"Won't something go wrong?" Vanessa walked into the house anxiously, then was taken aback.

In just a few days, she saw that the children who were being held in the nuns' arms and laughing were much bigger than before—they had grown up visibly.

“Veronica is very observant; she noticed the problem and quickly told me. Last night I gave the children a quick physical exam, and guess what happened?”

"Could it be... his age?" Vanessa asked, based on what she saw.

“Yes, they grew to about the size of a normal three-month-old baby in six days,” the pharmacist said softly. “At this rate, they’ll probably be able to walk by autumn. Naturally, that feeding of milk did not cause any adverse effects.”

"Has someone modified these babies?"

“Veronica’s knowledge of anatomy is no less than your knowledge of toxicology. She has examined them carefully, and there are no signs that these babies have been artificially modified.”

The pharmacist glanced at the puzzled Vanessa and reminded her, "Have you considered that the reason you can't find these children's parents might be because their parents are no longer alive?"

Vanessa was taken aback: "You mean, this is another case? Like the ones we've investigated before?"

“This is just a reminder, Vanessa. I admire your strong sense of justice, but you still need to keep your mind to yourself. You’ve been a bit too caught up in this these past few days.”

Vanessa rubbed her temples, then nodded. "I understand, Pharmacist. Thank you, I know how to investigate next. Perhaps this is another conspiracy no less serious than the previous plague..."

"Then you shouldn't just rush in and fight head-on again," the pharmacist chuckled.

Vanessa, still vivid in her mind about the embarrassing incident from last time, quickly waved her hand and said, "I won't do it again, I'll learn from this experience."