〆 𝖆 𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖒𝖎𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝖘𝖑𝖎𝖒𝖊 𝖎𝖓 𝖓𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖉 〆 ᵗᵖⁿ ⁺ ᵗᵗⁱᵍʳᵃᵃˢ

III. Information

"Thank you for taking us in."

"You're welcome, Krone," Rimuru, still in his human form, said as he sat down. He had arranged housing for the children, and gotten the dwarves and orcs to start work on a large house for all of the kids and their caretaker. The children were currently getting settled at their temporary digs, or exploring the town with a guide. That left him time to talk to the only adult among the new arrivals.

They were currently settled in the meeting room used by his council. Most of the council was present for this; Benimaru, Geld, Souei, Rigurd, Hakurou, and of course Shion, who always stayed near him in case of trouble. If Krone was intimidated by the group sitting before her, expecting answers, she didn't show it. Rimuru had spoken with Great Sage before the meeting, and could tell she was nervous. It turned out that the Great Sage could monitor a person's physical responses pretty closely. It was telling him that Krone was not as calm as she appeared. The only outward sign, though, was a bit of sweat on her brow.

"I'm sure you have questions," she began. "Why don't you let me tell you what I can, first?"

Rimuru nodded.

"I don't know anything about the history of my world. No human does. We're taught what we need to know and nothing more. The demons control everything, as far as I know. There were originally five plantations where human children were raised and educated. The smartest of them are culled routinely. That is, they're taken by the demons as food. I don't know why intelligence is important to them, but it is. No one lives past age 12, except those few girls that are offered the choice."

"Choice?" Souei asked for the group. His expression was as serene as ever, but Rimuru could tell that he was watching their guest intently.

Krone nodded. "To train to become moms. Some girls, like me, are given a choice of dying like the rest, or begin training to run plantations of our own as a 'mom', someone who takes care of the kids, and lives a long healthy life; as long as they keep the product coming."

"Product?" Rimuru knew the answer, but had to hear it anyway.

"The kids, of course," Krone shrugged. "The demons only like the young ones for food, but they need humans to raise them, teach them, and keep them under control. Guess they don't like to be bothered with 'menial' tasks."

"And you were offered a chance to be a mom and took it," He tried to keep the condemnation out of his voice, but what he was hearing sickened him.

"When the option was dying? Of course, I did," Her tone was bland. She made no apologies, and according to the sage she was telling no lies.

Her tone irritated him, but her words gave Rimuru pause. What would he do in her position? What would anyone do? "Continue, please."

"We are trained to protect and care for the children. This includes everything from changing diapers and cooking, to treating serious injuries. We are also trained in tracking and hand-to-hand combat, among other things, in case the kids should ever try to rebel or escape."

The members of the council traded looks, engaging in a silent conversation for a moment, before Rimuru decided to move on. "Where are the other plantations and the training facility?"

"The training facility for the moms is at headquarters. I don't know where it is in relation to any of the plants are, since whenever I was moved; it was in a locked vehicle with no windows. Until recently, none of the children were aware of any of the other plants' existence, as humans are kept ignorant about most things."

"So, your job was to take care of the kids till they were old enough to feed to the demons?" Rimuru questioned.

"It would have been, eventually. There were originally only five plantations, so mom positions rarely come open. We were at plant 3, where I had just been assigned as a helper. The kids were taught to call me sister Krone. The next shipment wasn't due for another week or so," She allowed a slight smile. "I hope they're hurting over the loss of 'product'."