The moment that Rimuru finished his meeting with the others, he sent Shion off for the day and locked himself in his office to really read the handwritten proposal that Ichigo had handed to him a few hours prior.
And about halfway through the thing that she had so rudely kicked one of his doors down over- he was starting to get a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realized just what the proposal was about.
Babies, proper medical care at the hands of actual doctors/midwives, medicines and necessities... The list that he pored over was nearly endless and becoming more and more overwhelming the more he read on.
So, once he finally finished reading it and set it aside, he started to get a better understanding of why the girl had handwritten her proposal and handed it to him in person.
She was worried about whether or not Rukia and her unborn child would be adequately cared for. But more specifically, she was worried that they would go without certain human necessities.
He wracked his brain trying to figure out if he had yet established any real place to take care of his citizens needs medically. But the harder that he thought, the more he kept coming up with a whole lot of absolutely nothing.
Which meant that it probably hadn't really occurred to him due to several different variables.
One of which turned out to be how strongly he and others relied on healing potions alone to treat their injuries and illnesses amongst other things. The kind that he made were especially potent and could heal pretty much anything imaginable and even some things unimaginable too.
The only problem was that he wasn't sure if they worked on humans.
Which was a problem that could have beyond horrific repercussions not just for both the expectant mothers and their unborn children in the long run. Those same repercussions were also something that would/could also adversely affect their family and friends as well.
This was obviously something that Ichigo was keenly aware of since she must already possess intimate knowledge of how healing potions worked. Which would explain why the mention of 'proper medical care' kept popping up in bold words on the papers a number of times.
Not only that, but humans were vastly different from monsters and as such when it came to medical care- they needed more to heal their health issues due to how much weaker their kind was.
In hindsight, he should have set some sort of medical clinic up months before ever allowing any humans to stay in Tempest since it was a basic need that ensured their continued survival. And now he was imagining all of the horror's Ichigo's friend could be facing medically if anything were to happen or occur during her pregnancy.
Miscarriage was one thing since it happened often enough already. But more severe complications weren't something that could be completely avoided just by eating healthy, bedrest, and trying not to strain oneself.
Scrubbing his hands over his face in frustration, he took a moment to just breathe and get a grip on his rising anxiousness since freaking out wasn't going to solve anything. No- what he needed here was some affirmative action.
Grabbing the papers that she had so painstakingly written, he quickly straightened them and pulled out some writing papers and other things of his own so that he could draw up his own proposal to cover everything that Ichigo's had and more.
And by the time he had reached the very last few paragraphs, Rimuru was understandably fired up and impressed by Ichigo's nearly flawless reasoning since he was aware of the fact that having everything mentioned in the previous pages would also help and benefit the monster citizens of Tempest as well as time passed.
Especially if a situation ever arose where their healing potions were rendered useless and having a backup way to treat the wounded and dying was necessary.
He would call an emergency meeting first thing in the morning and get to work on fixing his latest error. He would not allow anything to happen to his new assistant's friend! He silently vowed.
The rest of Ichigo's day after handing her things over to Rimuru, was tied up.
Mostly because she hadn't been able to sit still at home and had gone for a long walk in the forest outside of the town walls. She hadn't done anything in particular once there. Just meandered around aimlessly and studied the various plant life and other things that she had come across with a calculating eye, absently searching for anything that could help her regain the peace that she had felt before this morning's trip to the market.
She had felt some of the lord's many eyes watching her curiously from time to time.
Probably wondering what she was doing there since it was incredibly rare for any of the citizens to step outside the walls unless either they were leaving or doing something else.
But she couldn't find it in herself to care how curious they were or what they thought. Especially when she ran across some plants and other things that were familiar to her and as such could be invaluable in the future.
Walking over to a thick patch of one plant, she took several moments to examine it up close and smiled at the faint scent of mint and knelt down to collect some. She must have grabbed several hands full before finally straightening back up again and moving on.
She repeated this process more than a few times with other plants too.
Wild strawberries, chamomile, some wild aloe etc. And after a time, she finally realized that she had no more hand room to carry anything in, she huffed quietly and turned around to leave when there was a sudden stirring of air behind her, causing her to turn to see what caused it only to find a leather bag lying on the ground at her feet.
Calling out a thank you to whomever had left the bag for her, she smiled as she bent down and carefully grabbed it while somehow managing not to drop anything that she'd collected thus far and put it all inside the bag to free up her hands again before slipping the strap of the bag up onto her shoulder and recalling that she'd seen some wild mushrooms a little way's back.
She continued to flit from place to place doing what she could to fill the bag with all kinds of natural medicinal treasures. She was at it for so long that she lost track of the time and before she realized or noticed it, the sun was setting.
It was around then that Souei dropped out of a tree a little way behind her, startling her.
"What are you doing here?" She asked as she tilted her head back a bit so that she could see his face better.
"My job," He said smoothly as he frowned at her and then asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Grabbing various medicinal things." She deadpanned as she resumed examining her most recent find. A little blue flower that smelled nice, but she couldn't really recall ever coming across before in any of her training. So, she wasn't sure if it had any medicinal uses.
But still, it was nice. Maybe she should pick some to take back as a gift? The only question she had to ask herself now, was who would like them more?
Rukia? Shion? Shuna? Would Rimuru?
Souei had moved a bit closer to her and was standing to her right with his neck craned a little bit so that he could see what she was looking at as he demanded, "Why would you need those?"
She made an odd sound and muttered. "Because they can be helpful in the long run."
"We have healing potions." The man insisted, sounding confused.
Ichigo sighed and straightened her back after snapping off a few stems and gave the man a slightly peeved look as she said, "You're healing potions take care of you. They do not work on humans. Nor do you have any sort of clinic to offer medical aid to any of the humans either living in Tempest or working alongside you. Do you not have human friends? Comrades?"
"Of course, we do." Souei said with a scowl. "Lord Rimuru, has made many friends amongst several races. Including humans."
"Yet there is no doctor in Tempest, and no way to take care of any of them if they are injured, ill, or dying."
"Oh." Souei said. His tone speaking volumes of his sudden understanding of why she had been out in the woods for so long collecting medicinal plants.
He seemed to think something over for a second or two while she took a moment to double check the bag's contents to see if she had gotten enough stuff to last for a little while when he finally spoke again. "I get it now. You're worried that something could happen."
"Can you really blame me?" She asked in an almost annoyed tone that had him raising his hands in the universal sign of surrender as he replied,
"No. If anything, it's perfectly understandable." He paused for a moment to think before then going on to say. "You must be a very perceptive person who knows that just about anything can go wrong and doesn't try to delude herself otherwise. And because of that fact, you want to have all of the bases covered, just in case something does happen. I think you're a good friend... Your friend is lucky to have you watching out for her and her unborn child."
She let out an aggrieved sounding sigh as she lifted her eyes to look at him again and told him point blank that she wasn't just worried about her friend. She was worried about everyone in Tempest.
It was probably the closest that she would get to coming outright and saying that something had her feeling overly anxious and concerned. And it wasn't just Rukia or her pregnancy, though she knew that that definitely had something to do, at least partially, with how she was feeling.
But no- something else was up.
She could almost feel like a noose, tightening around her neck, cutting off her ability to breathe. And though she was loathe to actually admit it...the feeling scared her.
It scared her more than she had ever been scared before in her life.
And that was why she simply couldn't ignore it and do nothing at all to prepare for it.
Looking away from him, she tipped her head back to look at the sky and said in a shaky tone, "A great storm is coming." Souei seemed to think that she meant something weather related because he decided that it would be best for her to head back to the town before the storm hit.
She didn't really say much else to the man as he escorted her back just to make sure that she made it safely due to the darkening sky. But she had a feeling that he both knew and didn't know what she meant.
She just wished that he understood a bit better as she waved goodbye to him and bid him a pleasant evening before finally heading home.