Coran felt that he had arrived at the right answer.

While he did not care about the children when he first saw them laboring, he was influenced bit by bit after witnessing, and hearing more about their situation.

He felt that if his masters were in the same position as him, that they would have done exactly the same.

Right now, he felt a closeness to them.

He had tried to recreate the actions of his masters, and whether it was by accident or on purpose, he felt like he had experienced almost everything which they had experienced.

The role of leadership.

The ownership of slaves, and the troubles that one must go through in owning and caring for them.

And the acceptance of those weaker than you into a family- one which you will protect, no matter the cost.

Coran smiled.

He felt that he had done a splendid job, and that he would be able to return to his masters, with at least this much success.

But he wanted more.

Further success.

He couldn't stop here.

His duty was to convince the humans that it was acceptable for a monster to live in their midst.

As of right now, the only thing the humans knew was that some monster had kidnapped the orphans, and lie wait in some abandoned mineshaft, prowling and likely consuming them.

In order to achieve acceptance, he would have to at least go this far.

He would have to show the people that he was a monster- and get them to accept him even knowing that.

Otherwise, it would be no victory at all.

He wasn't here to play pretend, or to disguise himself. He was here for a greater purpose.

'Word will spread quickly.... I suppose I will have to test things out a bit....'

Coran looked around at the 30 children in front of him.

He had asked each of them for their names and ages, and Alicia kept a note.

'Ah! He wants me to act like a mother, and remember the names of all our children!'

They had gathered the following information:

Amanda- Age 3, Female

Frederic- Age 3, Male

Genevieve- Age 4, Female

Zoey- Age 4, Female

Francis- Age 4, Male

Travis- Age 4 Male

Jessica- Age 5, Female

Edward- Age 5, Male

Halie- Age 6, Female

Paul- Age 6, Male

Dimitri- Age 6, Male

Jane- Age 7, Female

Thomas- Age 7 , Male

Heather- Age 8, Female

Cassandra- Age 8, Female

Jonas- Age 8, Male

Anika- Age 9, Female

Alexander- Age 9, Male

Wade- Age 9, Male

Amelia- Age 10, Female

Max- Age 10, Male

Neil- Age 10, Male

Matilda- Age 11, Female

Arnold- Age 11, Male

Mavis-Age 12, Female

William- Age 12, Male

Amy- Age 13, Female

Nelson- Age 13, Male

Rebecca-Age 14, Female

Nathan- Age 14, Male

These were all the children, who were currently in the possession of Coran and Alicia.

Coran had unwrapped the children from their cocoons, and he had even given them a chance.

'If anyone wishes to run from here, then feel free to do so. I will not force anyone to stay with me. But know this. Running from me, means that I will not protect you. Even if you survive, you will have to return to that woman, and live your lives like you were before. If you stay with me, not only do I guarantee your safety from her, but I can assure you that your lives will be better than before."

Not a single child had run away from Coran after hearing this.

Not one even flinched, as Coran used his cone-like weapons to slice away the cocoons, freeing the children of their bondage.

It was a truly mind boggling sight to see such young children who were so mature.

Even the ones who were only 3 years old didn't seem to be scared of Coran.

Coran felt a sting in his heart.

'3 years old.... merely 3 human years old, and they don't even fear me at all after I give them a small speech and some comfort. Is this how horrible that woman was to them? The brainwashing has clearly taken place, even if it hasn't fully progressed just yet.'

Coran then walked over to the mineshaft, and after a quick inspection of the supports, cut down one that wasn't necessary using his conelike weapons. He sliced the wood into boards, and piled them up into the center of the cave, where he then grabbed a torch, and lit the fuel.

"Sit around the fire, children. It's almost dinner time. I know it's a bit late. But don't worry. You will at least get your fill."

Coran ordered Alicia to look over the children while he went out and got something to eat.

'I have to watch the children, while he goes out and works to put food on the table. He's really treating me like a full fledged wife now!'

Alicia huddled up, and took Amanda, Frederic, Genevieve, Francis, Zoey, and Travis into her lap- the youngest 6 children. 2 of them sat on her legs, and the other four were each laid in her arms.

The younger ones who were 5 or 6 all sat by her feet, gathered near the fire, and the group of 31 formed a large huddle around the campfire.

Alicia looked at the innocent, yet hardened faces of these children.

Their eyes were filled with fear, yet they were calm and composed.

They were not scared of her. They were scared of what would happen if they were to go back.

Alicia found them to be beautiful.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

'They are innocent.... they have not yet been exposed to the regular notions that other humans are subject to such as the fear of monsters, and because of that, they can sit here in my arms without crying or screaming. Yet.... they have been exposed to far greater pain and punishment than the other humans.'

Alicia was deeply disturbed, but she gave the children a comforting smile.

She could see in these young faces, what she once longed for that she could not have.

She saw individuals.

Her offspring which she produced as the queen of a nest were nothing more than clones of one another.

They were drones, mass produced for a single purpose.

Protect the queen.

They had failed in that duty, and now the queen was sitting here, in a completely different nest, with a completely different group of offspring to take care of.

Yet Alicia could smile because of this.

Had Coran not showed up, had she not been dragged out of her home, had she not been forced to undertake the title of slave and serve this spiderling, she would have never seen anything like this.

Alicia cradled the children like a mother.

"There there... it's alright. I know, it must have been painful, but don't worry anymore. Mama is here now, and she won't let that woman do anything else to you."

----

Coran first went into the cave to gather some food.

The children hadn't eaten anything for who knows how long.

They were all so skinny and malnourished that it was a wonder as to how they were still alive.

Of course, they wouldn't run away even if he gave them the option.

All they ever knew was hell. Even if they were only children, why would they fear him any more than that woman, who they knew to be evil?

There was no reason. His appearance showed him off as a monster, but the decision was between one monster or another.

So obviously, they would choose the one where their fates were unknown.

The one that promised them better.

Anything was better than their previous lives.

'Sigh... disgusting....', Coran thought, as he remembered the woman, and her harsh treatment of the children.

Coran delved into a part of the cave that was no longer a mineshaft, but rather a natural cave.

He used his heightened perception to listen, and heard the scrawling of some small animals deeper in the cave.

They seemed to be collected on a ceiling of the cave.

'Ah, they must be bats.', Coran thought.

'Would the children eat them? Haha... what am I thinking? In their situation, there is no room to be picky. Of course they will.'

Coran set up a web in the tunnel, and scurried over through the tunnel to where the bats were, quietly.

He saw hundreds of bats on the ceiling, all awake but mostly remaining still. Only a few crawled about, slightly adjusting their position here and there.

Many of them watched Coran closely, and Coran made his way to the other side of the tunnel, so that he was blocking the way further into the tunnel.

He then shot out a web onto the ceiling, which startled the bats, causing most of them to fly back into the mine, towards the place where he set up the net.

A few bats flew at Coran, but he sliced them up like shish kabob with his armaments.

The bats that flew at him were impaled and killed instantly, and he now had four bats on 2 different cones. Coran then walked back, to find over 100 bats all caught, squirming in his net.

'Perfect.', he thought. 'This should feed all the children, no matter how hungry they are.'

Of course, after being starved for so long, they probably would not have much of an appetite. Their stomachs wouldn't be able to handle large meals, and they probably would only be able to eat a small amount of meat each, but even so, he planned on letting them eat until they were full.

Coran undid each connection of the web and wrapped it up like a net, sticking his blades into each bat to kill them off, before returning down the corridor.

Eventually, he came upon Alicia, who was huddled up at the fireplace with each of the children by her side. She seemed to be enjoying herself. The children looked.... well, they weren't exactly comforted, but they weren't scared either. Their suspicions of the two monsters had been lessened.

'If it were any other children, perhaps they would be screaming, crying, and running for help. But because it is these ones, there is none of that.'

This was of course, a pleasing result.

Coran felt like he had hit a jackpot. He had found the ideal group of humans.

Logically, this was an amazing result.

And yet, Coran could not shake the fact that they had been mentally destroyed to get to this point.

He approached the group, and sat down next to Alicia.

Coran began roasting the bats, using his weapons skewered with them to hold the animals above the fire.

After they were roasted, he cut off all the edible parts, setting them aside and continued to cook more of them.

Once he had cooked all the bats, he passed the meat around.

The children all seemed to be drooling at the smell, but not a single one did so much as reach their hand out for the food.

Coran placed a plate in front of each child and gave a larger plate to Alicia, so she could feed the youngest children.

None of them ate.

Nathan, the oldest child, sat there and stared at the food.

"What? Is it not good enough for you?"

"No.... it's not that.... I just.... we've been taught never to touch any food unless you're given direct permission to do so, even if it has been placed in front of you."

"Then, I'll tell you this. Under my household, if anyone else ever tells you not to eat something while waving it in front of you, take it from them and eat it in front of them. If they complain, tell them never to shove food in front of your face again. Haha!"

Looking around at the children, who seemed to slowly eat the food, Coran felt a closeness to his masters. He had witnessed a similar scene not too long ago with the goblins.

"Thank you...", Nathan said while ripping the meat off a leg, drooling and with tears in his eyes.

"Thank you...", many of the other children said, following his example.

"Will you still be thanking me after the work I put you to? Who knows. But for now, eat up and celebrate. So long as you are a part of my family, you will never go hungry."

Alicia started cutting the meat up with her insectoid hands, and fed it to each of the small children she was sitting with.

The children ate what they were given quietly, and not once did they let out a complaint such as 'give me more' or 'me first'.

They were completely selfless.

They were the opposite of spoiled children. They never had been given anything, and so they expected nothing. They didn't even fight over necessities such as food or drink, because if they were not given it, then they knew they would not receive it. There was no concept of seconds, and no thought that they would receive any more beyond what they were given.

Just because another child was given food, did not mean they would be given anything.

Even if they were given anything, it would only be a small amount.

This was how they were raised.

Coran pulled out a small bottle from his bag.

It was a concentrated spell. His master, Gary, had figured out how to contain spells into potions so that they could be used instantly.

This spell was a water spell which Ashley could perform- [Mini-flood]. It would fill a room with pure, clean water.

It was likely not meant for this purpose, but Coran excavated a small hole into the cave floor by carving out a cube, and poured just a drop of the potion into it.

The hole filled with water, and it looked cleaner than that of a fresh spring.

Coran used his human hand to cup up the water, and tasted it for himself.

'It's good. This is drinkable.'

Coran motioned for the children to come and gather around.

"Go ahead. Take what you need. Drink up. Eat up. Don't bother with things like holding back. When you are under the rules of my masters, you will work hard, but you will also be rewarded greatly."

Some of the younger children came up to the hole, and drank just enough to quench their thirst, before returning to the lap of Alicia.

In order of age, the children went up to the hole and drank their fill. It was very orderly and seemed to be preplanned.

The children were well disciplined.

Even if she had treated them like human garbage, Coran wondered if he should actually thank that woman for bringing these children to this point.

If she had not treated them inhumanely, then perhaps he would never have met any humans like this.

Perhaps he would never have met anyone who would have accepted him- a monster.

Coran then stood in front of the group and smiled.

"Tomorrow night, there will likely be a group of humans who attack us. Don't worry, though. I will protect you all. None of them ever wanted any of you, but you all are worth much to me. That's right. I will be your father, and she will be your mother. You children don't have to be called orphans anymore. We're adopting all of you."

----

Mrs. Fera struggled for a great portion of the night, trying to undo the net which constrained her.

"I won't forgive him.... I won't forgive him.... that bastard spider monster thing.... whatever it was, I won't forgive him.... he humiliated me..... he accused me of horrible things.... he mutilated me.... I won't forgive him.... I won't stop until I have his head hung on my wall...."

She struggled all night long to free herself, and it was not until morning in which the net came undone.

Mrs. Fera broke free of the sticky web which constrained her, throwing it aside.

It had lost it's stickiness.

Her eyes had bags underneath them from her exhaustion, as she was unable to sleep the entire night.

'I'm free!! Agh.... my hand! My hand is in such pain! I need.... I need to get this treated right now.... the blood has clotted around my fingers, but I need to see a doctor... it might get infected. No, it might already be.'

Mrs. Fera stood up, and looked around.

The children were gone.

Her precious laborers, and long term investments were stolen by that monster.

Just how did such a monster exist, and why was he here of all places? Did he get past the wall? There was no way. If such a monster made it past the wall, then the entire line must have been compromised, and the monsters would be invading the Empire as Mrs. Fera was thinking this. It would take a large scale invasion of thousands of monsters, even for a few to slip through.

There was no way that was happening, and if it was then this was the end of the world in all likelyhood.

Mrs. Fera had to assume that something strange had happened, allowing that monster to sneak by. There was no other explanation.

She grabbed her hand, and made her way out of the building.

Looking back, she saw the inside of the orphanage completely covered in webs.

'Good... this is all the proof I will need to show everyone that the children have been kidnapped. It shouldn't be strange at all that nobody is currently working in the factory, as it could be seen as me stopping production to account for this emergency situation regarding the children I take care of. There is nothing strange about that at all.'

Mrs. Fera got up, and headed into town to find a doctor.

'I need to live to make sure that I take my revenge on that thing, and hopefully retake my laborers. I am sure I can convince people to fight for me... they support me greatly, and even if it is not for me, I can say it is for the orphans. No man in their right mind would be allowed to ignore such a disaster. Anyone who doesn't go to save the orphans would be considered immoral and selfish. Yes, I can use morality to get people to do exactly as I please.'

Mrs. Fera made her way into town, and stumbled into the doctors office.

The room was cramped, but had a small town doctor office feel to it.

Inside was a man wearing a hygienic mask covering his mouth and cloth gloves, with a white overcoat that draped to the ground. This man currently sat in a chair doing paperwork, however he stood up on hearing someone enter, and looked over to see who it was.

The youthful yet experienced doctor had messy black hair and caring eyes, however he seemed surprised as these eyes made their way over to Mrs. Fera's injured hand, which was missing all it's fingers.

"Mrs Fera! Just what happened to you??? Please, come over to the patient room immediately, and let me take a look at that hand of yours!"