The tiny goblin girl suckled down the milk from her bottle, holding it with both hands. Her reddish eyes glanced upwards, causing the milk to shudder as she stopped sucking for a moment to smile towards her father, finally returning back to drinking. The tiny goblin boy beside her also slowly suckled his milk, the pair pinned to their father by his large, strong arms.
Adam could feel the deep warmth within his body, and the need to slay a thousand hydras filled his heart. ‘Jirot’s going to be the death of me! She’s so cute, I might actually have a heart attack.’
Gangak remained off to the side, ignoring Adam’s stupid face, and the glare from the older one armed Iyrman beside her. Jarot fumed at the woman who had been called by his little greatdaughter. He remained silent only because he held Larot against himself, the tiny boy falling back asleep.
Once Jirot was done with her milk, she sucked her thumb as she rested against her father’s chest. She clutched at his shirt, while her younger brother clutched the other side of their father’s shirt, the pair cradled within their father’s warm arms.
“Of all the children in the world, aren’t mine the most adorable?” Adam asked, planting firm kisses on his twins’ foreheads.
Jirot smiled, though her sleepy eyes narrowed, and she placed her head against her father’s chest once more, the warmth of the milk sending her to slumberland. Little Jarot snoozed lightly beside his sister, his hand clutching his father’s shirt tight.
Adam carried his twins to the side, placing them under the shade with Sonarot’s assistance, before covering them with a light blanket. His triplets followed after them, dropping down beside their younger siblings. They waited until Adam’s kissed their foreheads before dropping down to fall asleep.
“Your daughter is so loud with her love too,” Vonda joked once Adam returned.
“She’s so troublesome, even when she shows her love,” Adam said, reaching into his pocket, pulling out the stone. It was a smooth, round stone. He rubbed his thumb along it, feeling how smooth it was, his eyes glued to the little stone.
Jirot had cried so much for the stone, before Gangak brought it, allowing little Jarot to hand it to their father. Jirot had eventually calmed down to explain how much she didn’t love her father while finding him the best stone.
“My daughter is the best at causing trouble,” Adam said, letting out a huff of pride. “Name one other child as troublesome as my girl!”
Vonda smiled at Adam’s words, while Dunes awkwardly sipped his milk. The day continued to pass by uneventfully, with Adam showing off his stone to the others, as well as the children.
Rick wasn’t sure how he felt about Adam’s children, watching as Jirot continued to bully her father, while being adored by so many Iyrmen. She seemed close to the President, to the point of calling the woman her grandmother, while also calling the President’s father, by marriage Rick had gathered, as her greatfather, which was easy enough to decipher. Then there was Gangak, one of the Director’s aunt, an Executive’s grandaunt.
‘That goblin is adored by so many monsters…’
Rick’s eyes then fell to the triplets, who seemed close with many Iyrmen too, many of them the same, some slightly different. The President’s brother cared especially for them, spending so much of his time playing with them, one in particular.
‘The Iyrmen are so relaxed.’
He had half expected the Iyrmen to be working every moment of every single day, considering their reputation. Yet, so many Iyrmen seemed to be relaxing at the fort upon Adam’s insistence, or perhaps, upon his favour.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Oof, how big have you become?” Adam asked, picking up Turot, the boy flushing red.
“Big and strong!”
“Asorot, how can you do this to me? You should stay small and cute too!”
Asorot flushed as Adam lifted him up, pressing him into the air a few times, before groaning and allowing the boy down.
Rick noted how much time Adam spent with the children in comparison to any of the Iyrmen. ‘Is he trying to form closer relationships with the children for his own reasons?’
“Way Vonda, you are paying with me!” Jirot declared, pointing towards the chess board.
“I am not very good at dragon chess.”
“Is not dwagon chess, is Demon Woad chess,” the girl replied, glaring at Vonda incredulously.
“Of course. My mistake.”
“Is okay.” Jirot smiled, before taking Vonda away to play with her.
The group had grown used to Adam’s ridiculousness, and yet somehow having goblin children was not part of that. Having half dragon children, somehow, made sense, but the demon child? Perhaps that made sense too, more so than even goblin children.
Rick relaxed within the fort, his thoughts falling to his family. He hadn’t yet told his family that he had earned so much money, nor that he could afford to send all their children to school, even without Adam’s offer to educate them as part of their payment. He had created a separate bank account and had made sure the money slowly trickled into the family’s coffers every month, no doubt in the same way Adam had done so for Nobby’s parents.
“What are you thinking so deeply about?” Adam asked, dropping down in front of the farmers and porters, who gathered together to relax.
“I was just thinking about gold.”
“Gold?”
“I have so much gold that my family doesn’t know about. I told them I had made quite a bit of gold, but I haven’t told them the specifics. I’m not sure my wife could handle it.”
“Yeah? I’m not sure I could hold a secret like that from my wife.”
“Are you married?” Rick asked, partly surprised. He had no idea Adam was married, certain Adam had stated otherwise.
“My hypothetical future wife,” Adam joked, flashing a smile. “Still, you’re doing what you think is best. Don’t mind me, I’m not intending to meddle, just speaking about what I’d do, but then again, seeing as how much trouble I get into, maybe I’m not in the right.”
“Six children and no wife?”
“Are you rubbing it in?”
“I was just wondering how that came to be.”
“My children came to me. I was fated to have them, and so I have them.” Adam shrugged his shoulders. “It’s dangerous to know more than that, so I hope you understand why I don’t tell you more.”
Rick slowly nodded, sipping his grain wine. “They’re members of the Rot family?”
“As far as I am aware,” Adam replied, almost cautiously.
Rick wondered if that was equally as dangerous for him to know. ‘They’re named after the family so it must be the case?’
“How are you finding the fort?”
“It’s an amazing fort. It feels more secure than even the forts we’ve come across.”
“Right? The Iyrmen are so scary.”
Rick gently tilted his head, unable to refute Adam’s words. “Feels safe here. You say we can work the farms around?”
“Yeah, you can work on the Iyr’s side of the river, and then come back to the fort.”
“Will you be teaching the children in the fort?”
“Mostly,” Adam replied, though he hadn’t thought about it. “In some ways, I suppose. Manager Vonda and Manager Dunes want to teach them.”
Rick fell silent for a long moment. “Ray Vonda is going to be teaching our children?”
“Ray Vonda, Manager Dunes, probably a few different people, but I supposed they would be the best.”
Rick’s eyes remained glued to Adam. ‘A Ray is going to teach my children?’
‘Why’s he so stunlocked?’ Adam thought, surprised at how Rick could still be surprised by him.
“Did you say Ray Vonda was going to teach the children?” Jeremy asked, leaning in.
“I believe so. I spoke to her previously about it, and as far as I recall, she was fine with it. Same with Manager Dunes.” Adam continued to emphasise Dunes’ name within the conversation.
Rick leaned back and let out a sigh. He was already wondering how he would speak to his family about moving entirely to a new fort, something he had broached previously, though if it was the case that a Ray would teach their children, moving the family was a very small ask.
“I’m sure Ray Vonda will be excited to teach your children regardless of if they’re capable of becoming Priests in the future. Even if they’re not talented at being Priests, it’s probably a good idea to allow them to learn magic if they want it. Priestly magic is useful, even if you don’t include any First Gate spell.”
Rick blinked. He glanced aside towards the others. ‘Did you just hear what I just heard?’
“You want to train our children into Priests?” Jeremy asked. He had vaguely recalled Adam promising to teach the talented children to become Priests, but wasn’t what he saying now more broad?
“Not all of them, but I’d like a few for sure,” Adam replied, noting the way the group were looking at him. ‘Why are they looking at me like that?’