Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari
----------
"Never mind, I can't explain it to someone your age. Let's go."
Kaito looked at the small girl who had already closed her eyes and was nodding off again, and shook his head with a helpless smile.
Then he scooped her up with both arms and disappeared from the spot.
"Shizu, we've found over three hundred thousand Cursed Children so far, but we're running increasingly short on manpower."
"Fortunately, all these children are very well-behaved, so we can just barely manage to look after them."
In the tent, Shizu listened to Geld's report and couldn't help rubbing her temple. They currently had fewer than twenty thousand people. The Tokyo Area alone was estimated to hold around five hundred thousand Cursed Children. The ratio didn't even reach ten to one.
"I wonder what Kai-chan is off doing. Didn't he already deal with everyone in the city? Why isn't he back yet?"
Just as Shizu was at a loss, a familiar voice came from right beside her.
"I just got back! Didn't expect to see the day you'd start complaining, Shizu."
Shizu turned toward the voice and found Kaito standing there, Tina cradled in his arms, sound asleep.
The moment she saw him, it was as if every weight she'd been carrying lifted at once.
Shizu was much older than Kaito, but everyone treated him as their greatest pillar of support without question. Shizu was no different.
"Kai-chan, you're back! Thank goodness. I'm almost at my limit here; there are simply too many children!"
Kaito set Tina down gently on the small bed in the tent, looked at the peacefully sleeping girl for a moment, a fond smile crossing his lips, then turned to Shizu.
"You've worked hard. I'll take it from here."
The moment Geld saw Kaito appear, he immediately dropped to one knee.
"Kaito-sama! You've returned!"
"Yes. Go gather all the children we've taken in. I'll start sending some back ahead of the others."
"With this many people, we'll never have enough hands otherwise."
"Yes, sir!"
Geld rose and left the tent. Kaito turned back to Shizu.
"I'll head back for a bit and have Rimuru get ready to receive them."
"Okay."
Shizu said nothing more than that, just giving a quiet nod.
Slime World · Town Centre Plaza
A white [Dimensional Gate] appeared in the centre of the town square. Kaito stepped out of it and immediately found himself face to face with two large statues of himself and Rimuru.
"Why are these two statues back up? Didn't Rimuru and I move them to the storeroom in the middle of the night?"
Kaito stared at the re-erected statues, completely lost for words.
"Those are exactly the statues you and Rimuru-sama moved. After I found them in the storeroom, I returned them to Rigurd."
"He seems to be very enthusiastic about putting up statues of the two of you."
Izayoi Sakuya, dressed in her maid uniform, appeared in front of Kaito without warning, a playful smile on her face.
"This… this is a misunderstanding, Sakuya. We didn't do anything. The two statues walked there on their own."
A bead of cold sweat appeared on Kaito's forehead. Sakuya, watching him stubbornly deny it, said plainly:
"You don't have to admit it. Rimuru-sama already confessed everything. She said you were the one who put her up to it."
"What?! She's the one who dragged me into it! She's pinning this on me?!"
"I'm going to confront her right now."
Hearing that Rimuru had sold him out, Kaito turned on his heel with an indignant expression, ready to make his escape, but Sakuya caught him by the back of his collar before he could take a step.
"You should go see Kagaya-sama first. You must have important business now that you're back."
"Right, right, of course, I have something to talk to Kagaya about. You don't need to come along, Sakuya."
With that, Kaito vanished from the spot in an instant. Sakuya watched him disappear, a fond smile settling on her face, and quietly murmured:
"Honestly, such a grown man, still acting like a child."
Then she, too, vanished from the spot.
System: What, no one here can just walk? You all just disappear, huh!
Kagaya-sama was bent over his desk, absorbed in his work, staring at a document that had put him in a difficult position. The document was titled: "Proposal for Land Transportation Infrastructure Construction with Various Nations on the Continent."
The difficulty was this: putting the plan into motion would first require making contact with the various nations, which would fully expose the existence of the Jura Forest Alliance. From his investigations, he had learned that every nation in this world had the shadow of a Demon Lord lurking behind it. Revealing the Jura Forest Alliance too early risked drawing unnecessary danger down on them.
After all, "Demon Lord" was not exactly a name that inspired confidence.
"Sigh. If it can't be helped, I'll set it aside for now."
"Set what aside?"
Kagaya looked up at the voice and immediately saw Kaito standing in front of him. He got to his feet, clearly pleased.
"Kaito-sama, you're back!"
"Back indeed. Time to trouble our fine administrator once again."
Kaito returned the smile easily. Their relationship was hard to define precisely, but it was something close to genuine friends.
Kagaya had always called Kaito "Mr." back in the beginning, and only switched to addressing him with proper respect after coming to this world. Kaito, for his part, had never thought of Kagaya as a subordinate. The truth was that ever since Kagaya had arrived, the entire town had developed at a rapid pace thanks to his efforts. Whenever a problem came up, he always found a solution quickly. Even Dwarf King Gazel had spoken highly of him.
"Let me guess. You found far more children in that world than expected, you're short on hands, and you want to start sending some back?"
Kaito felt a small wave of genuine admiration.
That was professionalism. Knowing what you were going to say before you even opened your mouth.
"Well… yes. The initial estimate for the number of children was a bit off. In reality it might be…"
Kaito trailed off. This was partly his own mistake. He had assumed the Cursed Children would number at most in the millions. But a single Tokyo Area alone appeared to hold around five hundred thousand. And that was one large city.
If calculated across the entire world, the total number of Cursed Children might be somewhere around five million.
"In reality, it might be even more than that, and by quite a bit, right?"
Kagaya asked gently.
"Exactly. The estimate is around five million."
Kagaya, to Kaito's surprise, showed no sign of being startled. It was as though he had already anticipated this. He simply replied:
"Hehe! That's not a problem at all. It's far less than I was imagining. Don't worry, the housing currently prepared is enough to accommodate three million children."
"Once you've gathered all of them, I believe housing around five million children shouldn't be an issue."
"After all, the supplies you brought from our world are truly abundant."
Kaito's face broke into genuine relief.
"Really?"
"Don't worry."
"That's wonderful! I'll go start bringing the children back now. Get the reception ready."
Kaito was already turning to leave when Kagaya called out quickly:
"Kaito-sama! Wait…"