Chapter 22 - Expedition?

...

On Earth, Malenia dedicated her time to learning everything she needed to know about caring for a newborn.

She scoured the internet for resources, watched instructional videos, and joined parenting forums. From breastfeeding techniques to proper hygiene and soothing methods, she absorbed as much knowledge as possible.

Once she felt that she had learned enough, Malenia opened the portal back to her magical world. As she stepped through, she found Gobi still peacefully asleep.

Gazing fondly at her daughter, Malenia smiled. She was happy because the time worked very strangely in both worlds; due to that, she could spend as long as she wanted on Earth without missing a single moment with her daughter.

Time flew by as Malenia settled into a routine of caring for Gobi, applying everything she had learned. She fed her daughter, gently bathed her, and held her close, watching as Gobi continued to grow at an extraordinary rate. Days slipped by in a blur of care for Gobi.

Just within a week, her daughter resembled a young girl around the age of five, walking unsteadily and beginning to babble incoherent words. Malenia found joy in watching her growth day by day.

The system had already informed her that goblins reach adulthood in just 30 days after their birth, but witnessing it firsthand was something else.

Perhaps her divine milk ability played a role in Gobi's fast growth as well.

Regardless, she was happy, even though she couldn't experience motherhood in the way a normal mother would.

She wasn't normal in the first place, even back on Earth, where she had been infertile. So, just becoming a mother was enough for her to be grateful to anyone who had given her this chance.

.

.

.

Next Month

One could see a beautiful green-skinned girl jumping around the dungeon. She was Gobi, who had just turned into an adult despite being only 30 days old. She looked like a 15-year-old human girl, due to goblins generally being shorter in stature.

"Momma! When can I go outside?" Gobi asked Malenia, who was standing nearby, watching her daughter play around.

Hearing her question, Malenia was conflicted. She didn't want to let Gobi go outside, knowing how humans hunted monsters, including goblins. She was scared that something might happen to her.

But she couldn't just keep her inside the dungeon all her life, knowing the outside world was necessary for everyone, she couldn't steal that from her.

"Dear, you can go out with Dante, but right now he's busy taking care of something, okay?" Malenia replied in the goblin language.

Even though Gobi had been with a human like her from birth, she couldn't speak the human language.

Just like how a cat can only Meow, even after staying with humans its entire life. Goblins could only speak in their own language.

Fortunately for Malenia, she had received a reward that allowed her to understand their language completely, so she had no trouble talking to her daughter.

"You mean with Daddy? I can go outside with him? Yay!" Gobi exclaimed. Having met Dante many times and with her real father dead before her birth, she had started calling Dante "Daddy."

Naturally, Malenia didn't have any problem with it, as it was even better for her daughter to have a father figure despite Gob's death.

The period of Gobi's growth had passed without any problems; no one had invaded her dungeon in the last 30 days.

Malenia had ordered Rick to spread the word that this dungeon was already cleared, so other adventurers wouldn't invade it. However, the downside was that she couldn't get any more rewards due to it. But that ends today, as Gobi had fully grown.

Malenia couldn't sit idle any longer. She had received news from Rick through Dante that all royalty and adventurers of this kingdom go on expeditions every three months to exterminate monsters and expand their kingdom's territory.

It had already been two months since the last expedition, and the next one was coming up in a month.

This was the main reason they had established this kingdom on this continent—to keep acquiring more "unclaimed" land. Every other race on this continent was doing the same. This particular region was occupied by humans.

According to Rick, the area where her dungeon is located will be the starting point of the expedition, and the kingdom's full army, including adventurers, would pass through here.

The expedition would last for one week, meaning they would go deep into the forest, eliminating any monsters they could find. Multiple powerful people, including those ranked at five or higher, would join the expedition, making it impossible for even Dante to do anything.

Hence, Malenia planned to leave Gobi in Dante's care, and they would stay at Rick's household. But she herself couldn't leave, as her dungeon core might be destroyed if they found it, leading to her death.

She couldn't hide the dungeon core either since it could only remain inside the dungeon, nor could she conceal the dungeon entrance. Rick had said that several powerful individuals that could sense the core's presence will be on the expedition.

This left her with only two choices: defend the dungeon core or somehow change the expedition route.

Both options were incredibly difficult. Defending the core with her rank-five minion and herself? It was a death wish if she even tried that.

So, the only option left was to change the route of the expedition.

The one in charge of this was the kingdom's army general, who also happened to be the third prince. When Rick informed her about all of this, she asked him to try convincing the prince to change the route.

But what could a mere baron do? Convincing the prince to change his decision? Impossible! Even if he tried, the prince might get suspicious, investigate him, and uncover everything. Since Gobi would be staying in their house, Malenia couldn't risk it.

"Damn my luck! Why did my dungeon spawn on the outskirts of the forest… What can I even do to save the dungeon core?" Cursing her luck, Malenia fell into deep thought, considering ways to get out of this situation.

.

.

.

After some time, Malenia finally found two possible solutions. Due to her high mental attributes, her thought process worked much faster than that of a normal human.

Plan A was to use her high favorability with goblins to her advantage by finding a goblin den and using them to create disturbances in the forest. That way, the kingdom might change its route to where the disturbance was happening.

It wasn't a foolproof plan, as the kingdom might just ignore it instead of falling into her trap. To succeed, she would need to create a disturbance so significant that they couldn't ignore it.

How would she do that? She knows, she knows.

Plan A aside, her Plan B was to become an adventurer and find a way to meet with the general herself, then seduce him.

Malenia was well aware of her abnormal charm.

During the time, when she was back on Earth, she went to the store to buy necessary supplies for her daughter, every man on the street had been gawking at her. Not surprisingly, even some women had been staring her way, with expressions that suggested they were drooling at something delicious.

So, she would use this charm of hers to get close to the general and persuade him to change the route of their expedition.