[v2] Chapter Twenty-Eight – In which Ark truly regrets catching a cold.

[v2] Chapter Twenty-Eight – In which Ark truly regrets catching a cold.

“Gishoo! Uwachoo! Guhhh...”

How long had it been since I caught a cold? Maybe a year or so? I’m rather cautious about taking care of myself, but these things are bound to happen. I honestly think I was more worried about acquiring some kind of goblin venereal disease than just a regular cold. But, a cold I had caught from not drying off quick enough from the rain and I was soon shivering underneath a nice black-claw pelt blanket in my own room within the breeding room.

I had been visited by Old One, Berry, one of the Kobolds, Silky, the green-scaled one, I believe, Dara the Dwarf who lives underneath the breeding room, Orga Lush, and of course, was being fully attended to by Vera. Old One, acting as a translator with her omni-linguistic skill, was facilitating the discussion on what to do about my sudden illness.

Goblins don’t usually catch colds. Neither really do Orcs. Dwarves do, and on occasion, Kobolds do, usually when shedding their scales in inclement atmospheric conditions. So, naturally, the Kobold and the Dwarf were talking about medicinal remedies. Dara suggested I drink some hard spirits and let alcohol fix things up—Dwarf way, and all—while Silky suggested something far less savory for the insectophobe that I am... leeches.

I wasn’t particularly interested in either remedy being suggested, so I offered one of my own based on my own experiences in my previous life. Chicken soup. It’s not like there aren’t any fowl to be found in the forest, and it’s not like it necessarily needed to be a chicken, specifically. I also am pretty sure whatever the fowl was, it most definitely wasn’t going to be a certain Emden Goose.

Before the girls involved could confirm the method of healing me, a diminutive goblin wearing a racoon outfit appeared and began to point and growl. Everyone was chased out of the breeding room before she sighed and walked into my room, standing up and looking down at me. She leaned forward and pressed her forehead against my own and nodded.

“You have an idea, Glace?”

Glace pointed at herself for a moment. I understood what she meant, strangely enough. It was along the lines of Aren’t I the tribe’s shaman? Leave it to me! She then knelt down next to my body and slipped her tiny hands under the pelt blanket before feeling a finely controlled surge of warmth flow through my body. I turned my head to sneeze again and groaned, but feeling a bit better and not feeling the cold sweat that I had been enduring for the last couple of hours.

“Gwah.” She said, authoritatively to me.

While I’m good at guessing, I had no idea what the specific complaint she voiced was about. A light manifested on her fingertip, and she spelled out in the air, the goblin script that we had learned thanks to Vera’s ingenuity, what her diagnosis for me was.

Rest now. I will take care of you, Papa.

Glace might be a bit of a rascal, but she’s still my daughter and ostensibly the most powerful magician among the tribe. She’s also fiercely intelligent. She patted me gently and even fluffed up my pillow before gesturing for me to rest more. Glace then left my room, letting me fall asleep comfortably, even though my nose was stuffy, and I had to breathe through my mouth.

A while later, I was awakened by a gentle nudge. When I opened my eyes, Glace was sitting next to me with two stone bowls full of... soup. I sat up a little and Glace smiled at me cutely, lifting a spoonful of it and blowing on it lightly before opening her small mouth, exposing her sharp teeth and saying “Aah~”

Yeah, being a dad is the best thing in the whole world.

“Ahh~” I said, and was promptly spoon-fed bites of soup, feeling warm inside in more ways than one. While there weren’t any noodles to be found within the soup, it was definitely some kind of chicken soup, with diced potatoes and carrots. I was sold on it completely.

It brought back nostalgic feelings of my mother taking care of me when I caught colds back when I was school aged. I don’t think I ever fed her chicken soup once, though. Was I unfilial? I mean, I did try and lessen the burden for her by cleaning up the house and not being noisy, as well as looking after my younger siblings so she could rest a little bit...

I reached out and patted her head while smiling at her.

“Thank you, Glace. Daddy feels really loved right now.”

Glace nodded and smiled toothily.

“Gwah!”

“Is the other bowl for you?”

Glace nodded.

“Want to eat together?”

Glace nodded and handed me the stone bowl and spoon. She picked up the other and held her spoon out at me. I tapped her spoon lightly and we both enjoyed eating together. When we were done, she took the bowls and put them aside on the floor before slipping herself underneath the pelt blanket and snuggled up against my body.

“Aren’t you afraid of catching my cold?” I asked.

Glace shook her head and placed her hand on my chest, rubbing in a circular motion. I laid back down and wrapped my arm around her runt-like body. Once more a comfortable warmth spread outward to the extremities of my body. Disgracefully, even that part of me was warmed up.

My nose had also leaked a little and some snot adjusted itself so that I could breathe a bit more comfortably.

“Is everything good with Button?” I asked.

Glace nodded her face against the side of my chest. I suddenly felt a bit tired again, and my body relaxed quite a bit. I hugged her softly and told Glace that I definitely loved her, because I love all my daughters and believe that they need to hear it from me as often as possible. Even if Glace was a conspirator in the Diana Artemis adulting event, and even though I was still holding on to some anger directly aimed at her... what can I even say or do? My heart softened a little and I just accepted that the past was the past and that Glace must have had her reasons and even if I don’t understand them, she probably had the best interest of the tribe in mind at the time.

I can’t fault her for that. While I am her father, I still consider myself objectively human—even if I at one point turned into a goblin...

“Glace, you at least see me as a daddy instead of a Husband, don’t you?”

Glace lifted her head, stared at me with her golden eyes, and nodded. One of the few times she didn’t stick her tongue out at me. Receiving that confirmation from her, she reached up with her small arm and patted my head. My resistance to sleeping some more instantly crumbled and I was once again in dreamland within seconds...

~~** A little while later... **~~

My eyed opened again, and Glace was sitting up next to me, her hands placed on the center of my torso. Berry was here too, currently straddling my waist and copulating with me. There was a huge thrum of mana present in my small room, and I couldn’t help but wonder what my daughter was doing... exactly.

I turned my head slightly, enough to make me feel dizzy.

“Glace... what’s going on?”

A number of Runes were already manifested and floating around us, bouncing off of some kind of magical wall constructed within the room itself. As I watched, too tired to move, they managed to avoid touching either Glace or I and all struck Berry’s body—specifically her pregnant belly.

I didn’t notice it at first, but my arms, at least, had taken on a greenish tone. My cock and balls both felt unnaturally heavy. Berry wasn’t even looking at me. Her eyes were rolled back into her head and she was just grinding on me with something like fanaticism. The sweet scent of her milk leaked from her tan breasts and I felt it coming on. That strange sensation that I hadn’t felt in a while. The feeling before I would pass out before the blessing that hurried along the birth of a new daughter after waking up.

I couldn’t not worry, but seeing divine magic in play, I was able to worry a little less. Staring down at Berry, I saw our new bundle of joy greedily sucking on her breasts. At least she had come into the world safely, though I can’t imagine why in the world Berry decided to attack me.

Old One took a breath and sighed.

“You are lucky to be alive, Ark.”

“Trust me, I’m well aware of that. Why... Did Berry...?”

“Blood Fury.” Diana answered without missing a beat. “Diana Artemis also felt that way...”

I stared incredulously at everyone gathered and they all nodded their heads.

“Glace... what exactly did you do to Berry?”

No matter how I looked at it, Glace was definitely the culprit of it this time. But no one answered my question. Not even Button to tell me Glace didn’t want to answer.

I was a bit frustrated and angry not having a reason given for my current situation. I was still feeling infirm from my cold and now my arm was broken from Berry’s ferocious bite. I felt that I was entitled to an answer, even if it was a shitty one.

Seeing that nothing was forthcoming, I watched as my arm turned green again. The same shade as the Monster’s color. I trudged over to the bath and activated (with some difficulty) the heating Runes and grit my teeth and hissed as my arm submerged into the water.

I sat on one of the submerged steps alone and closed my eyes, trying to center my state of mind amidst the pain I was feeling.

A few moments later, Vera came to join me... holding the sleeping form of my daughter. Unlike Diana and Berry who were more tan-skinned, this one’s skin bordered the hue between green and gray.

“Name. Give?”

I let my head loll back and rest on the lip of the bath. Taking some deep breaths, I coughed a few times, my throat scratchy, before speaking.

“Selene Hecate. I suppose she needs a name to rival that of Diana Artemis... otherwise Berry might get upset if I only give her one...”

“Selene... Hecate...” Vera repeated it, then I felt a hand press down on my shoulder.

It wasn’t Vera’s hand, but Diana’s who was sitting next to me now on the lip of the pool.

“Are those names also belong to the gods?”

“Yes... a counterbalance to Diana and Artemis.” I replied. “Rather than the Goddess of the Forest, Moon, and Hunt... she’s the Goddess of Mysteries, Magic, and the Night.”

“She will be strong like Diana Artemis?”

“One can only hope...”

I don’t remember much more after saying that. When I woke up next, it was the following day. Lumi was by my side and my arm was wrapped up in some kind of shredded cloth. It hurt quite a bit and remained green in color from the elbow down, my fingers also sharp, but unlike immediately after the bite, I could at least clench my fist completely, if not strongly.

My first thoughts were to go see Berry and Selene, but as soon as I moved, Lumi had awoken and immediately put her hand on my chest to hold me down.

“You can’t see Berry yet. It’s not safe.”

She stared at me with sincere worry on her face, leaving me nothing to do but nod my head.

“What about our strong-one, Selene?”

Lumi paused for a moment and nodded.

“In a little while, okay? For now, you still need to rest.”

“My arm... did you heal it?”

She looked at me for a moment and bit her lip.

I exhaled deeply from my nose. Was I wrong about being healed by Lumi?

“Elara’s blessing... was rejected.”

“Ah... makes sense, I guess. I’m not exactly a pious person.”

Lumi shook her head.

“It's not that you're not pious... Just not pious to Elara.”

“Oh?”

Lumi wasn’t forthcoming with a proper explanation, but I got the feeling that divine magic of some kind was still somehow used...

“I see. Then, will it heal completely in a few days if I take care of it properly?”

Lumi nodded.

I then laid back down. I felt better at least as far as the cold was concerned, but I was decidedly tired for other reasons. Staring up at the ceiling, I couldn’t help but wonder what further troubles tomorrow would bring and felt saddened that I couldn't hold my newest daughter in my arms yet...