"Kagaya, your suggestion is truly wonderful! So does this mean we can go back and take a little of everything?"
Kaito praised Kagaya with barely contained excitement. Those words had completely opened up a new line of thinking for him.
This was the resources of an entire world. It felt wasteful to go back for food alone, so he decided to take a little of everything.
No building materials? Take them! No daily necessities? Take them! No women? Take them… no, wait, absolutely not! Rimuru and the others would go berserk!
In short, now that Kaito had opened the door to a new world, he wanted to sweep through and bring back everything useful.
"Everyone! Think about what else we need. I'll make a list!"
"Kaito-sama! Our engineering department is in urgent need of various construction tools!"
"Kaito-sama! We are short on many medicinal herbs here! Although Rimuru-sama has provided healing potions, we haven't been able to mass-produce them!"
"Kai-chan! The school is also lacking textbooks! Rimuru has provided the elementary ones, but we still need many advanced ones!"
"If possible, could you bring back some teachers?"
Kaito stared at Shizu in disbelief. He never expected the usually gentle Shizu to say something so outright bandit-like.
"Kai-chan! Why are you looking at me like that?! I have no choice! I'll be teaching millions of children soon!"
"How could the few teachers we have now possibly be enough, especially when most of them only teach combat?"
A drop of cold sweat ran involuntarily down Kaito's forehead. It seemed Shizu had truly been pushed to her limit.
"Alright, I'll do my best. Is there anything else?"
"All kinds of clothing!"
"All kinds of minerals!"
"I need all kinds of manga!"
Kaito went through everyone's requests, nodding along:
"Tools, medicinal herbs, textbooks, clothing, minerals, and… manga… Wait! Manga?!"
"Who just said manga?!"
Seeing Kaito suddenly transform into a disapproving leader, Rimuru cautiously raised her right hand and said in a small voice:
"Um… I think it was me?"
"Ha?! It really was you!"
"Oh, Kai-chan, I was just joking!"
Rimuru looked at Kaito, who was staring at her wide-eyed, and tried to smooth things over with a sheepish smile.
"Hahahaha!"
"As expected of Rimuru-sama!"
"Rimuru is still so cute!"
The room burst into laughter, and Rimuru's moment completely shattered the serious atmosphere that had been building.
"There's no helping you! If I find any, I'll bring them back. But don't get your hopes up too high; that world is only at its First Industrial Revolution!"
[You really spoil her!]
"Hehe! If there aren't any, then there aren't any. I was just joking!"
Kaito shook his head helplessly and turned back to the group:
"So, the next step is deciding who comes with me. Benimaru, you're out straight away; that world has no monsters."
"Then let me come along! The Ubuyashiki family still has some influence in that country, after all!"
Kagaya volunteered without hesitation.
"Kai-chan, I want to go too. I want to take Shinobu and the others back to the Butterfly Mansion to visit!"
"Sure. Anyone else? If not, a few more Demon Slayer Corps members should be enough."
"I will go as well! It is not my world, but I would like to see what similar scenery looks like."
Shizu, sitting beside Kanae, spoke with a look of quiet reminiscence.
"Then I want to go too!"
Hearing that Shizu was also planning to go, Rimuru immediately shot her hand up.
"No, Rimuru, you can't go."
"Huh? Why not?"
Rimuru's face fell, and she asked with a look of protest.
"One of us has to stay here and hold the fort. If we both leave, what happens if something comes up that Rigurd and the others can't handle on their own? Who do they turn to for a final decision?"
Kaito explained with a helpless expression.
"Uh… I see. Then I won't go. I'll guard this place properly."
"Kai-chan! You can go with complete peace of mind!"
Somehow those words didn't sit right with Kaito at all. It sounded exactly like something you'd say to someone about to meet their end.
'I can still live until the end of the world, you idiot! No, even if the world ends, I'll still be standing!'
Shaking it off, Kaito pushed past the strange feeling Rimuru's words had left him with and moved on:
"Then this time, I will lead Kagaya, Kanae, Shizu, Shinobu and the others, along with over a hundred former Demon Slayer Corps members, back to the Demon Slayer world!"
"Your job is to find some teachers and… 'persuade'… I mean, invite them here. I'll handle everything else. Any problems?"
"None at all! Teachers and everything else, leave it to me!"
"If someone truly does not wish to come, I will simply invite their family along instead. At that point, I believe they will arrive at the correct decision themselves!"
'Good heavens! Was your Demon Slayer Corps actually a legitimate organization?! Do you really have to be so naturally talented at kidnapping and threats?!'
Kaito watched Kagaya deliver the most terrifying words in the gentlest possible tone and felt genuinely unnerved.
In truth, Kaito had never fully understood Kagaya. He always appeared so soft and kind in front of them, but it was worth remembering that this was the leader of a combat organization. A man who was not decisive could never have kept the Demon Slayer Corps running for as long as he had.
"Uh… Alright! Then I'll leave that part to you all."
"If nobody has anything to add, then it's settled!"
Seeing no objections, Kaito moved forward.
"One last thing. This operation to the new world will require mobilizing a significant force. Benimaru! What is the current state of our troops?"
Benimaru stood up immediately and reported:
"Currently, the Security Force is divided into 10 large battalions, each with 1,000 personnel, totaling 10,000 in all!"
"We can expand at any time if needed. The majority of the Orcs are capable of taking up arms and entering the field."
"However, as we are currently in the middle of major construction, only a few thousand have been conscripted into the Security Force so far."
"By the strength rating system you provided, Kaito-sama, the entire Security Force has two Special A-ranks: myself and Hakurou."
"There are dozens of A-ranks. All the Hashira have recently broken through to A-rank, and even Gobta and the others have reached A-rank!"
"B-ranks number well over a thousand."
"The rest of the members are all C-rank or above."
"These figures do not include the intelligence unit led by Souei, or Shizu, Sakuya, and the others."
'Hakurou's teaching ability is truly something else. In this short a time, the Hashira have jumped all the way from B-rank to A-rank! Truly terrifying!'
Kaito listened to Benimaru's full report, nodded with satisfaction, and said:
"Excellent! The development has already exceeded my expectations. So, here is how I plan to arrange things…"