This morning, the Sisters started to show the signs of their pregnancy.
Unlike human children, children born with the blood of an Ogre have a much faster growth rate than humans. The chance of the baby being a human, however, is quite unlikely, but it has happened before.
Both of their stomachs had suddenly swollen this morning. That much was clear.
I contacted Gobujii directly at the settlement.
When I asked what should be done, he said, "When the mother with an Ogre child in her belly has her belly swell, it means that, in a short while, the baby will have grown big'n ready for birth. In the case of an Ogre child, it's most likely born the same way a human child would be, but an Ogre child is twice the size of a human child. If the human body is too small, the child might force its way out through the belly"
Hearing this, my face quickly turned pale. I quickly sent several Skeletons in a hurry to search for an ideal place for the Sisters to rest. Since this is an emergency. I refuse to be bothered about the Princess and left her with the Boy Knight. Though the Princess is young, she seemed to understand the gravity of the situation and was very quiet.
Dhammi-chan, Redhead, Alchemist-san, and Blacksmith-san were quite hard to encourage when they were seeing the Sisters suffering like this. During the move, the Sisters quickly became visibly skinny and frail from having their nutrients sucked by the children in the womb. I quickly gave them my Blood Elixir to drink and gave them parts of my flesh. While they were reluctant to eat my flesh, I forced them to eat it regardless. It had an outstanding effect and certainly bought us some time.
After roughly thirty minutes, a Skeleton returned with the location we required. While providing emergency treatment, we followed the Skeleton into a cave within a Cluster of Mountains. We quickly rushed inside.
In an instant, I vaporized the creatures of the cave, killing without a single thought on my mind.
Due to the scent of fresh blood in the air, the Fire and Illusion Lords guarded the entrance while Wind Lord-chan investigated the cave to ensure nothing lurked beneath.
Everyone was very quiet due to this situation. Not even Kumajiro or Kurosaburo made a single sound.
I laid the Sisters, who were in great pain from their pregnancy, in a bed I built. I then focused on replenishing the energy that is being directly absorbed by the children in their abdomens.
Redhead and the other girls could do nothing but watch. They were speechless.
The two girls quickly began to grow very heavy due to the children growing within them.
The pain is caused by the rapid changes in their bodies, their abdomens have grown to be so swollen that their skin seemed as if it would tear if it got any bigger.
I try to cure them with every skill I have, I was fully committed to prevent their stomachs from exploding.
The pain these two are feeling is suppressed to some extent by infusing my Elixir blood with an anesthesia, even though it can only do so much. The two are still in substantial pain.
Since this is my first time dealing with a situation like this, especially since these are my own children, sweat beads on my forehead and flows endlessly.
Time slows down all around me; I have no idea how much time could have passed. An hour? Ten hours or more might pass and I would not know. How long will their pregnancy last? I have no idea and all I want is to help them survive.
I managed to finish developing the fetuses, soon, our children begin to struggle to be born and both of the Sisters are tormented beyond reason.
Their screams become very loud, causing the rest of the girls to grow very pale.
I subjected the Eldest Sister with an incredibly powerful anesthesia. I then cut her belly open with a scalpel covered with a bactericidal effect that was created with [Top Brace Embodied] and activated [Soul Fixture].
Seeing what I was doing, they let out a very short scream "Hiii-" but quickly covered their mouths to avoid distracting me.
A Cesarean Section.
I demanded Dhammi-chan come next to me and prepare to pull out the little girl covered in blood from the belly. As this process continues, I pour immense amounts of my blood into the sister while using healing abilities to repair all of the damage. A large pool of blood forms on the ground. Recovery skills being issued one after another, soon the wound was healed without leaving a single scar on the abdomen of the Eldest sister.
My child... Dhammi-chan handed her to me and I quickly bathed her. Cheerful cries echo through the cave. Just as I took my first sigh of relief, the Younger Sister began to suffer greatly. I repeat the same process again, and safely remove a boy from the Younger Sister.
The echoing cries of a young boy and little girl rang throughout the cave, and my vision suddenly started to blur.
Everyone was greatly relieved that both of the Sisters survived. Both my and Dhammi-chan's hands were shaking violently after such an experience.
I barely had the physical strength left to hold my new born children in my arms. After a moment, I hand them both over to each of the sisters. After several minutes, the children already began to desire breast milk.
I felt sky high. I, Ogarou, after living for one hundred and six days, have just become a father of two children. It was probably too early, given how young I am, even for a Ogre. Oh, I sometimes forget, 107 days ago I was twenty-five years old and a human. That actually puts me at a suitable age for a father.
Although for children, both of them were half Ogre half Human, or [Ogre Mix-blood].
If the human parent is genetically strong, there is the chance of a [High-Ogre] or a child born with human characteristics. They will be slightly weaker than an Ogre child and seem like a human, but the genes for the child are divided equally, and merely falls in favor of the human characteristics. They are quite powerful on their own, and have greater intelligence than most Ogres.
However, there is the rare case of one in a million that a rare tribe is born. This race is called [Chaos species].
For me, I inherited the Ogre strength and my human mind, so I'm an Ogre, but not quite an Ogre, that is how I should probably think.
To summarize the information from Gobujii and the others, this child can obtain both [Jobs] and [Rank-up] as I can. Meaning they have access to nearly all of my benefits. They will truly become powerful when they grow up.
According to Gobujii, they also have access to [Evolution Rank Up], this is apparently a very powerful and rare occurrence that will give them access to extinct branches of the Goblin Rank up tree.
It is a very powerful thing if you ever access it. Hearing this I grow quite excited myself.
But, since they are not human and not quite Ogre, there is a great risk that they could be killed if they were to be discovered. According to Gobujii, in the past, whenever the birth of a Human-Ogre child was discovered, parties were raised to slay the creature before it could develop..
Half breeds with monster races are taboo, it would seem.
There is also the risk that the human part is consumed by the Ogre half, but that only happens in rare cases.
In the worst case scenario and I were to be killed, these children could survive in human society due to them being half human. Once they are born and able to defend themselves, as well as proving to not be of the Chaos breed, there won't be high risk of being attacked.
There have been kings and warlords in the past who, in human society, could easily have been half breeds. Powerful beings of the past that used their power to carve out realms of their own, and their pasts swept up by time. These kings could be the product of an Evolution-up.
Something that very few could even hope to achieve in their entire lifetime.
This gets my thoughts rolling as to the strength and power generated from such a rank-up.
What wondrously frightening power.
By the way, all of us had started out as Goblins and then became as we are through multiple Rank-ups. The idea that these children are as they are is quite abnormal.
It was something that was beyond our common sense, so I inquired Gobujii about it.
While returning to the conversation, it would appear that Gobujii is also not too sure as to why this is the reason, making the joke that we should kill them before disaster struck, or something of that nature. It would seem that his previous knowledge was from Goblins born from humans having such abilities, such a thing as a child being ranked up from birth was never seen before, at least during his time.
There wasn't even a speck of thought within me that would consider killing my children. They are amazing creatures that have been born to me. I fully plan to raise them to the best of my abilities. I don't plan to coddle them a single bit though. They will be given full Spartan training beyond anything that I would even put Ogakichi-kun through once they grow up in a few days. They are my children, as such, they will be treated as such, with the harshest struggles for survival imaginable.
In the future, I might even consider dividing the group into mix-blood groups that have special abilities. It might be useful later. Our mercenary group will, one day, be branching out into different fields, so preparation and thought are always necessary. Though, for now, I will put these thoughts in the recesses of my mind.
I'm a father. I simply stand there as my children sit with their mother's suckling.
On their foreheads there were some blackish brown skin where a red tattoo in the exact same pattern as mine is engraved.
On the back of my daughter's right hand is an Demon Orb of gold while on the back of the left hand of my son was a Demon Orb of Silver. As I'm also an ogre of a mix of human and Ogre blood, I wonder if I will ever develop an orb.
This topic, I'll examine later.
My daughters will be lovely and beautiful, full of strength and majesty. My sons will be fearless, powerful, and wise. I shall play the role of the mighty yet doting father. Ah, having children will certainly be interesting.
I begin to take measurements of my children. My daughter is roughly seventy centimeters, while my son is clearly greater than eighty centimeters. With this size, the risk of them bursting out of the Sister's bellies was no joke.
If I had not been here, the sisters would have died and been eaten by the children.
Though, such talk is best avoided since they did not die and are still with us.
The girls simply praise the exhausted Sisters while they come to terms with the latest events.
While these children are said to be taboo children, I declared right there that these children will be allowed to grow and grow, to become powerful and follow their father in many adventures and battles for survival.
With that, the Sisters let out a sigh of relief.
Though there is still a little anxiety, the Sisters were still having complex thoughts about willingly having an Ogre's child after all. I make vows with each of them that I will continue to grow stronger and defend my children.
Goodness, I sound like some sort of heroic figure...
After the children finished feeding, I will embrace them again with all of my caring. Next in the holding order, is Dhammi-chan. Normally it is not wise to be hugging the children as soon as they are born, but these children are my own, and my blood flows through them.
Their race is beyond that of just being human.
There was no problem with them being hugged a little when they are first born.
I wrapped them in blankets made out of my yarn and passed them to the girls.
They cried while away from their mothers, but they quickly calmed down.
The final one to hold the children was the Princess, who until now, had been quietly staring at the situation from the wall of the cave.
After I looked over towards her, she came over and climbed onto my shoulder.
The Princess was now holding one of the children with both of her hands. For the first time, the child jitters slowly falls asleep in the Princess' arms.
It was small, but I certainly saw a smile for a moment.
This whole episode might have been a good experience for the Princess.
After all of the excitement, I think all of us could use the rest.
Spending the children's first day sleeping in a cave is just how I spent my first day.
As I thought that, it began to rain outside, so it might be good just to stay.
Today I fell asleep between the Sisters, our children between us.
For the time being, the daughter will be named Auro, and my son will be named Argento.
The mix of their colors was quite interesting to say the least.
I wonder what the cause of that would be.
Just as I thought that, I drifted off to sleep.