"If it's not too much to ask, can I take the remnants of the umbilical cords to study them?" Surata asked that evening while Ken and Simm were done putting the babies to sleep.
Simm looked at Ken immediately, knowing that information about the Bloodline Extraction Talent must be kept a secret. Ken, however, had other ideas.
"Yes, you may, on one condition."
Surata didn't expect him to give in so easily. A bit stunned, she said, "Name it!"
"The results of your research on them must be handed to me before anyone else. You can share them with whoever you want after I have taken a look. I am curious to know what makes them so special too."
Thinking for a moment, Surata asked in confusion, "Kid, you two are the carriers of the Bloodline, and you don't even know what it does?"
Ken didn't answer that. He stared at her impassively until she gave up and agreed to the condition. Of course, in order to ensure that she would keep her word, they decided to resort to a promise spell, performed by a mercenary mage in the City so that it would have enough power to bind her. As an Ordinary Rank mage, Ken could only be the passive promisee.
After escorting her to her home, Ken took a detour on his way back, searching for a rare objective, jobs for low level mages.
Shamrock City had little restrictions when it came to housing creatures of other races. So there was no shortage of Ordinary Rank Mages even though Goblins, the majority of the population, generally didn't choose that path.
In the end, he settled for a fishing job, buying a permit to fish in the huge rivers cutting through the city towards the border of the subcontinent. This would not only give him an opportunity to train with living opponents, but it would also ensure that the resources inside their hideout didn't run out after a couple of months. Until his children reached the age where they could speak, understand lessons, and have their own opinions, he couldn't make any big moves. It wasn't a bad plan, either, because he still needed some time to accumulate more personal power. Simm also had to recuperate and regain her old, Super Rank Physique back.
When he returned to the underground tunnel that evening, Simm was busy trying to stop the babies from rolling over inside their cribs.
Surata had ensured that not a single scar was left on her from the whole ordeal. Apart from a long weakness phase and occasional painful jolts in her lower body, Simm was moving around with no problem, thanks to her magical treatment.
"Can you believe it? Barely a day in the world and they're already trying to roll over! I have never heard of any Goblin spawn doing this before a month!" She said excitedly, almost sounding proud of her strong younglings.
"Human children don't even try that before 3 months, I think. Our babies are definitely gonna be walking before you get ready for them to." Ken joined her in coaxing the children.
Looking around cautiously by force of habit, Simm said in a conspiring tone, "I can't be the only one who's able to summon their stats on command, right? You've seen them too, haven't you?"
Ken nodded, smiling proudly. "Yeah, we did a good job bringing a few monsters in this world!"
Simm elbowed him gently, her face disgruntled. "Don't call them monsters! Beastmen get enough insults for their birth already!"
"Then we need to make sure our children don't think that the word monster is an insult, wife," Ken replied adamantly. "I, their illustrious father, have always treated it as a high form of praise from those envious of me and my talent."
Simm didn't want to continue encouraging his daydreams despite agreeing, so she changed the topic.
"What's the plan for now? We can't obviously travel around with these brats in our arms. I should not leave the hideout until they've learned how to escape from danger either."
Ken told her about his temporary career choice as a fisherman, which seemed to stun her for a moment.
"...It's a bit hard to imagine Ken the Undefeated Mage fishing up minnows for money and experience," She admitted awkwardly. "I've never seen you do anything so...er, mundane. You were already at the peak of Mutant Rank when we met for the first time."
"Are you looking down on me for being too weak to do anything 'grand'?" Ken thundered, displeased.
"No," Simm said with a giggle. "I just wish I could see you struggling to pull up a big catch when you go fishing. Heavens, that would be so hilarious! I could boast to everyone that I saw Ken the Undefeated brooding over all the fish he has lost."
Ken decided to ignore his sassy goblin wife for the next thirty minutes for hurting his feelings like that. He focused on singing lullabies for his noisy brats.
However, around the Eighteen-minute, thirty-second mark, Simm leaned on his back and whispered, "You...erm, need some encouragement for the fishing tomorrow?"
Ken could feel his ancestors looking down on him from their graves for the reply he gave her.