〆 𝖆 𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖒𝖎𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝖘𝖑𝖎𝖒𝖊 𝖎𝖓 𝖓𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖉 〆 ᵗᵖⁿ ⁺ ᵗᵗⁱᵍʳᵃᵃˢ

VIII. What You Got

"The outer wall only has one opening. It leads to a bridge that exits the complex for the outer world. It was heavily guarded, so I did not investigate. That's all the information I was able to gather," Souei reported. "As I said, I couldn't get into the building, but I doubt it could be anything other than their headquarters. Security was tight there, and there were demons roaming the grounds of the plantation the children were originally from, but none on the others."

Rimuru said nothing at first, as Souei's words slowly sank in. The thought that young girls were taken and impregnated, and then their children were removed and placed in orphanages until they were old enough to be sent to the slaughter, like cattle, was... Well, it was disgusting!

He looked over at Krone who was sitting at the table with the rest of them. She had been the one most surprised when Souei revealed that the other four plantations were all actually located right next door to each other, part of the same structure. He supposed he couldn't blame her for that, as she had lived there all her life and had never once suspected.

He was also curious about one other thing, but had better sense to ask. What Souei had told them about the girls taken away to be trained as moms, to be used as breeding stock, definitely sounded probable. It also posed the big question; did Krone have any children while she was there? He was tempted to ask her about it, but then thought no. If she wanted to tell them, she would.

Krone had said nothing throughout most of the report, simply sitting and listening, looking idly ahead, with her usual stoic expression on her face. If anything of what Souei said affected her, then she didn't let it show.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Shion, looking to Rimuru for answers.

For once, Rimuru was unsure. When he began this mission, he had intended to rescue the children in the other plantations, and maybe any of the moms who wished to come, too. He honestly hadn't thought about any of the girls at the demon's headquarters. But hearing about them now, he couldn't just leave them and their unborn children there.

"We'll find a way to bring the girls and women at the demon's headquarters with us as well," he said.

Krone looked up. "Forgive me, Lord Rimuru, but that might not be possible, at least not for all of them."

Rimuru looked at her questioningly.

Krone explained. "I'm sure there will be some girls who would be happy to come; most likely the youngest among them, but as for the older ones... I'm...not sure."

"What do you mean?"

"Speaking from my own experience; a lot of the girls at HQ have, to put it bluntly, lost hope," she said. "When I was a child, and was first revealed the ugly truth of our world, it overwhelmed me. I went along with the grandmother at the time, simply because I was scared and didn't want to die. But despite all that, I still had a little hope that maybe, just maybe, I might find a way to escape. That soon changed, though, when I arrived at HQ. With every passing day, as I learned more and more about the world I lived in, it was like a little bit of my hope died, until finally I was left with nothing," She sighed. "Some of the younger girls might choose to come with you, because they haven't been there as long, but the older ones... They may have given up hope of ever leaving by now, and given their loyalty to them. Some might even be too afraid to come, either at the thought of leaving behind everything they've ever known, or fearful of betraying them."

Rimuru frowned. He hated to admit it, but what Krone said made sense. And it also presented him with a difficult problem; what would they do if the girls there refused to come with them? He didn't want to even think about leaving anyone there, especially those who were pregnant, but he couldn't force anyone to come against their will. Plus, depending on how many refused to come, even if they dragged them with them, they might not be able to do it in time before the demons sent reinforcements. Milim could defeat them easily, but there was no guarantee the rest of them would be that lucky.

He chewed his lower lip in thought, until finally he sighed regretfully. "We will take those who wish to come... and leave those who don't. I have no wish to endanger anyone's life in this mission."

The others all nodded in agreement.

"What are we going to do about the demons, though?" asked Rigurd. "It'll be hard trying to fight them and liberate the children at the same time. And if there are a lot of them, it'll make it that much more difficult."

Rimuru nodded, and thought. Milim would be needed to hold the door for them and keep the demons out. They couldn't involve her in the assault, as there was no way Rimuru would allow those things near his home. There were options, though. Finally, he said, "I have an idea..."