—–
“Auntieeee!”
An adorable little Goblin girl ran to my side- Wait, she wasn’t that small anymore! It has only been around a month since I didn’t see her, but I am pretty sure she grew up a lot.
“Gofumin!” I said with surprise, finding her looking at least twenty centimeters taller, almost the same height as a 7 year old girl from her former size that was no bigger than 4 years old.
“You got so big in this time! What the heck happened?” I asked in surprise, as I hugged her tightly and petted her head.
“I grew up!” She said. “Papa said I am slowly reaching goblin growth spur!”
“Goblin Growth Spur?” I wondered.
“We Goblins don’t live as long as humans, usually our lifespan is of around 30 or 40 years, so we grow faster than humans.” Said the Chief.
“Yeah, children usually get a growth spur around the age of four or five” The Elder answered while feeling better after being healed. “Whenever she reaches six years of age, Gofumin will begin her puberty and will grow the last time.”
“Ah… I see, so this is why you’re so small even when you grow so fast…” I said. “Wait, what age does a mother usually have when they have a child?!” I wondered with forbid curiosity.
“Eh? We usually pair around the age of ten.” Said the chief. “I am actually around fifteen, I had Gofumin five years ago, she was abnormally small but finally got her first growth spur this last month, she’s really happy.”
“Yeah! I am big now!” Gofumin said while raising her tiny arms- well, not so tiny anymore. She was still enchantingly adorable.
“I see! I am glad for you, dear. You’ll grow up into a beautiful woman like your mommy.” I said with a smile.
It seems that Goblins grow very fast and die fast as well… Which is a bit sad. But I am sure that if they level up and evolve into Hobgoblins, they can live longer as the Elder once said their ancestor lived for 300 years while serving the Demon King.
So they officially reach sexual maturity around the age of six or seven? Wow that’s so early… And they officially get paired at the age of ten as well. That’s already a third of their life. Damn, so my little Gofumin will have kids in just a few years?! That’s a big change of image I’ll have to go through in my mind.
“You may have grown a bit but you’re still my little Gofumin.” I quickly held her in my arms and them sat her over my shoulders. She was completely covered in clothes made of fluffy fur to cover herself from the unforgiving cold, but she still managed to fit there.
I have grown attached to her quite a lot, I am quite weak with kids… I might had unintentionally adopted this girl alongiside the twins- Wait, where are the twins?
I suddenly saw them walking towards us, they first greeted the rest of my party before greeting me with hugs.
“Big sis, you’re back!” Takeshi said, as I noticed he had a black lizard-like tail popping out of his back which waved happily.
“Welcome back!” Laura said. “How was everything?” I also noticed the same tail in her.
“Good! I missed you two so much as well!” I sighed. “I am glad you’re safe and sound… Mooch!”
I kissed both of them in the cheeks and hugged them tightly.
“Everything went well, but what about you guys?! You got two tails out of nowhere!” I said.
“Oh… this.” Said Laura.
“I grew a tail the other day!” Takeshi said happily.
“But why?” I wondered.
“I don’t know the reason, but as we joined the hunting party and began earning EXP daily, we suddenly reached Level five and then evolved.” Said Laura. “Our races now are “Half-Devils”… I don’t know why but it sounds quite eerie… The tail came with it. We also began feeling less pain from our chest’s cores. The Mana we have is also not being constantly drained either, it seems we improved after evolution.” Laura explained.
“Evolution is cool, we got super strong!” Takeshi said.
“I was never told you joined the hunting team…” I sighed. “Oh well, it is good you guys evolved and feel stronger and better. That’s good. I knew that evolving might help you adapt to your own powers… But half-devils? Not Majin?”
“There isn’t any Majin named Devil.” Said Lucifer. “They’re different entities altogether, I would assume. A new race of people.”
“A new race?!” Asked Takeshi. “That’s great, right?”
“Yeah, it is great!” Lucifer said, trying to cheer up the kids.
“I feel slightly worried about what I am becoming… I am a bit afraid too…” Sighed Laura. “But… I guess that as long as I am with everyone here, we can bear with it.”
“You two are true survivors, so I am sure that’ll you manage. I’ll do everything I can to help you out too, so don’t worry.” I tried to reassure the children that everything was going to be alright. Takeshi seemed to be childish but he died as a kid and was reincarnated, so his mental maturity is not big enough to comprehend the dangerousness of his own body. Laura, who died while being a way older, is very smart, so she knows there’s something fishy about all of this.
After greeting the children, I walked back to the city where I saw the group of Rabbit-kin gathered, I saw Syllis and his little sister Bellerine, who had not come to greet me because they were currently busy in here attending several things in my absence.
“It is nice to meet you again, Lady Maria. I had begun to grow worried about you…” Syllis said with his angelic voice and face, he really looked precious.
“I am alright, don’t worry dear. I’m thankfully you’ve kept everything going for me. You’re an amazing hard worker.” I said with a smile, petting his head as he was now smaller than me.
“Big brother is very hard worker! He always thinks about you! So please marry him, okay?” Bellerine asked while dragging my dress.
“Eh?! Bellerine! D-Don’t say such things!” Syllis sighed in embarrassment as his rabbit ears began to flap around due to his frustration over his sister’s words.
“But it’s true! Big brother is a good match! He will give you tons of children!” Said Bellerine, as she was suddenly shut down by Syllis who covered her face. “Mmfffggh!”
“Hahaha! She’s really lively.” I giggled.
“I’m so sorry… She’s reaching her puberty already so she doesn’t stop talking about nasty stuff…” Syllis apologized.
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