〆 𝖆 𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖒𝖎𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝖘𝖑𝖎𝖒𝖊 𝖎𝖓 𝖓𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖉 〆 ᵗᵖⁿ ⁺ ᵗᵗⁱᵍʳᵃᵃˢ

V. Amazing!

"Actually," Rimuru started to look serous, "I wanted to talk with you and your friends. I understand you and the two boys - Norman and Ray is it? - were the ones who worked with Sister Krone to try and escape from the orphanage?"

Emma lost her smile, and idly stirred her bowl. "I suppose so."

Her tone worried him, but he knew it was too late to second guess himself now. Everything had already been decided and worked out.

"In that case, I need to tell you something," he said, looking into her eyes. "Since you're one of the kids' leaders, as it were, then you should know that I have decided to have Sister Krone act as your new caretaker, or mom."

She nearly dropped her bowl in shock. "You can't be serious?!"

He looked at her in confusion. "Why? I thought you got on well with her, considering that she helped you and your friends escape."

"Only so that she could get mo- Isabella terminated, and get made our new mom in her place!" Emma stared at him with wild eyes. "That woman is...!"

"Emma!" Norman's voice suddenly spoke out from behind her, and she turned to see her silver-haired friend standing before her. "Mind if I speak to you for a moment?"

She didn't really want to talk right then, even with him. She wanted to shout and scream, listing all the reasons having Krone as their new mom was a bad idea. The woman's insanity topped that list. But as she looked at him, he gave her a meaningful stare, and she frowned and nodded.

"Excuse us for a moment, Mr. Rimuru," she said, excusing the two of them, as they walked away from a curious slime.

"What are we going to do?" she asked urgently. "Did you hear what he said? What they're planning to do! Who they're planning to have look after us!"

Norman sighed. "Yes, I did."

Emma paused for a moment, as she suddenly realised something. "Then why aren't you as mad as me?"

He looked at her. "Because I'm not entirely sure it's a bad idea."

"Huh?!"

He sighed again. "Emma, look around us. Krone is the only adult human here, and the only one the smaller kids feel safe around. Not to mention that she's a mom who's been trained to take care of multiple kids. Heck, I'm amazed Rimuru didn't make her our new mom the second we first came here. Amazed but happy, as it shows he's cautious of her and genuinely concerned for us."

"You can't seriously want Krone to be our mom?" she asked, staring at him intently.

Norman chewed his lower lip. "In all honesty," he admitted, "No, I don't. Despite what I just said about her training and all, the woman still scares the heck out of me. I remember the way she acted the night when we went to her room to ask her questions, the way she started prancing around the room, acting all crazy. She frightened me more that night than the thought of being fed to those demons."

"Then why would...?"

"For the reason I just said, Emma. The younger kids are really scared. In one day, they've lost mom, their home, most if not all of their things, and been forced to live on a strange world with a bunch of friendly but still scary-looking monsters. Everything we have always lived with or took for granted is now gone. We have to learn everything from scratch, including how to live in this new world. Sister Krone is the only thing from our world they still recognise, and the one thing that keeps them calm. If we take that away, they'll have nothing."

Emma clenched her fists, wishing she had something to punch.

"That doesn't mean we won't keep an eye on her," he added. "Rimuru proved, just now, that he cares about us. So, if Krone ever does anything to hurt us, we'll just tell him and let him handle it."

She thought for a few moments, and then slowly nodded, only to pause again. "But what if he doesn't?"

Norman frowned, and then looked at her with a grim smile. "In that case, then we'll handle her ourselves!"

She held back a snort of laughter, and nodded. "Fine, but if anything happens, I blame you, okay?"

"Don't you always?" he replied with a scoff, and followed her back to Rimuru who was even now standing with Krone.

Norman worked hard to hide the look of unease on his face when he came up to her. He hadn't been kidding when he told Emma how much she had scared him that night back home. The woman was clearly unstable, but that still didn't change how much they needed her, for now.

"Hello, Sister Krone," said Emma as she came up to them. "Or should I say Mother Krone now?"

Krone grinned brightly. "Thank you, children. I hope I can rely on your help dealing with all the younger children in your group."

"Oh, rest assured," Emma promised, "you can count on it."

She said the final part with a hard look, silently promising the older woman that she would always be there whether Krone needed her or not, and if anything happened to any of her siblings, she would deal with her.