Around lunchtime, the Mother Superior came by to check on the children from the orphanage, who had been temporarily staying at the mansion.
“Whoa! There’s nothing here!”
“It’s completely empty!”
“Our home is gone!”
Seeing the orphanage completely demolished, the children were astonished, but they soon started running around excitedly. There really were a lot of energetic kids here.
“Mother Superior, the demolition of the orphanage has been completed without incident. We’ll take new measurements of the site now, and as soon as that’s finished, we’ll begin laying the foundation.”
“It’s truly wonderful to see so many people coming together to help with the construction. Thank you all so much. Please continue to take care and avoid any injuries.”
The foreman gave the now-recovered Mother Superior an update on the construction, but even she was surprised by the sheer number of people working at the site. In fact, some local housewives had even come over to help prepare lunch. They were working alongside Casey-san, Telma-san, and the others to cook for everyone.
Since they could quickly prepare additional portions if necessary, the orphanage children were invited to join us for lunch as well.
“Hey, hey! What kind of house are you going to build?”
“A big house?”
“A cool house?”
“Hahaha! A big, cool house! Just wait until it’s finished.”
“““Ooh!”””
The orphanage children had gathered around the foreman, and they were clearly looking forward to their new home. They were practically bursting with excitement, expressing their joy with every part of their little bodies. Their faces were all smiles.
“The work inside the church has come along quite a bit as well, hasn’t it?”
“We should have the new flooring finished within another month. However, there are still other parts that need repairs, so it probably won’t be ready for full use until the new year.”
The sister and the young carpenter were discussing the church, but with things like repairing the pews still left to do, it looked like it would be some time before the church could be fully used again.
“Oh, right. There’s something else. When we inspected the buildings around town, we found another orphanage that needed some repairs. It wasn’t bad enough to require rebuilding, so once the church renovations are finished, we’re planning to send some of the workers over there.”
“Better to deal with it while we still can.”
“Exactly. We’ll have fewer workers available during winter, so if we want to take on any large-scale work, now’s our only real chance. Honestly, I’m just glad we got through the Harvest Festival first.”
The foreman explained the schedule for the work ahead. Apparently, there were other buildings in town that needed repairs as well.
Still, I suppose we should be grateful that repairs were all they needed.
“All right. Let’s call it a day.”
“““Okay!”””
The work continued until evening. The children, meanwhile, spent the entire day running around and playing happily. Since there wasn’t much foot traffic around the church, they mostly played in front of the building.
The foundation demolition had been completed in a single day, so starting tomorrow, they would move on to improving the ground itself.
“Getting it perfectly level is the tricky part. After that, we’ll use a road roller and compact the ground properly.”
“““Ooh!”””
They were taking extra care with the foundation work to make sure the new orphanage would last for many years. Part of the reason the old building had to be demolished in the first place was because of problems with its foundation, so the foreman was particularly determined to get this part right.
From here on out, this was where the carpenters could really show what they were capable of.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
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