Chapter 128

Opal wandered aimlessly through the shelves, mumbling random words as every so often she glanced down at several sheets of paper filled with even more words. She rested the hands that held the pieces of paper on top of her exposed pregnancy, easily done considering her size now.

The Goblin had grown a lot since she had evolved, her belly going from a gently arcing curve to looking like a human at seven months, and now even more. She was sure she had even put on size since she had woken up that morning, her belly gradually growing larger and larger throughout the day until at midday her belly button had finally given up the fight against the immense pressure building within and had popped outward, turning from an innie to an outie.

She suspected her growth might even be accelerating.

That was ... unusual, even for a Gobbo. The others clearly thought it completely normal from their lack of comment, Gobbos were supposed to have really fast pregnancies right? Right? Well, they did, just not as freaking fast as this! Her current rate of growth was several times faster than any Gobbo she had ever seen or ever heard of! But Rain or Lyra couldn’t have known that was the case, they just didn’t know.

She was also starting to get the impression she hadn’t in fact been pregnant since the dungeon, that had started afterwards, in the Ranker’s mansion perhaps, it would explain why her explosive growth hadn’t really shown before, it was only a relatively recent development, concerningly recent as it implied just how quickly all of this was happening.

Opal pondered how large she would get. If worst came to worst she could always lean on her awesome and very convenient shadow teleportation, so really there wasn’t a limit, and there was nothing to worry about. Mostly.

Her lips formed words from the pages as she tried to keep her mind off the subject. There were a lot of words, nearly a thousand. Rain had told her to practice with them. Although she wasn’t really sure why that was needed because she had already memorised every single word she had been given. But when she told him that was the case he didn’t seem to believe her and said she was just trying to get out of learning.

She really had memorised them of course, every last one, she found it easy, sucking up the knowledge like a thirsty sponge. True it was incredibly un-Gobbo-like and well outside of her comfort zone, just like washing and hygiene, but just like with washing and hygiene she was beginning to change, adapt, what was once unnatural was becoming natural.

Only now she had to double-memorise them? Urgh. That was even more un-Gobbo-like! But that was apparently a thing people learning to read did according to Rain, practising over and over until they got it down perfectly, so she plodded onward, double-memorising the words, for some reason.

She let out a yawn and rubbed her cheek, the mumbled flow of repeated words petering off.

She paused as a flash of scale caught her eye and pulled her attention away from the pages. It was Red, the useless leg chopping Kobold. He was sitting at a desk reading a book in the reading space she had crossed into.

She paused as she considered this. Had the Kobold been secretly learning to read too? Had he beaten her to the punch and was able to read before her? That would sting. He was a Kobold after all, and Kobolds and Gobbo’s usually didn’t get on very well, competing for resources, food, territory in the dungeon, just competing in general.

“What are you reading?” she said, approaching, pretending to be as casual and as uninterested as possible.

The Kobold ignored her and kept reading.

She peered over his shoulder. The large book looked very complex and she found she didn’t recognise a single word on its pages. Was he already that far ahead of her? That wouldn’t do, it must be a trick somehow!

“Hey? Are you listening to me?”

Annoyed, she placed a hand on the Kobold’s shoulder and they jerked back in surprise, the chair scraping across the floor as they stood and turned and-

Opal blinked as she looked into an unfamiliar face. It was a Kobold, with red scales, but this one was quite clearly female, and surprisingly curvy.

“Ah, sorry, can I help you?” said the startled Kobold.

Opal eyed her suspiciously, suddenly on the back foot. “No ... You’re not who I thought you were, you looked like another Kobold I know.”

The Kobold tilted her head. “I’m not them, so...” Her eyes wandered down from Opal’s face to her pregnancy.

“Ooh! Your master allowed you to become preggers! Wow! If I did that I’d get put out to pasture. Well, that is if it wasn’t my master’s, not that the old sack of wrinkly dust could get it up in the first place!”

The Kobold came uncomfortably close and her palms touched gently against Opal’s belly then stroked across its surface, the Kobold pressing her flat midriff up against her.

“Is three a lot for a Goblin? I thought you lot had larger births, but wait, you aren’t really a Goblin are you? Some kind of Hob, what did you evolve into? Got a name? What’s with the horn?”

Opal’s brow furrowed as the excitable Kobold darted behind and wrapped her arms around her back, embracing her belly from behind. It was a distressingly intimate thing for a complete stranger to do. Opal was a Gobbo so she was very used to having zero personal space in a cramped tribe. But still. She frowned.

“I don’t know what kind of evolution I am, something special though, something really strong and awesome and ... wait ... what did you say? What do you mean three?!?”

“Three kids. Oh, didn’t you know? Huh, it’s obvious to anyone with a bit of experience in midwifery. I’ve helped see to a few births in my time let me tell you.

“I ... How can- I don’t know if I can believe you...”

“It’s totally true! Trust me!”

The Kobold squeezed her for a moment before letting go and swinging back around her front.

“That horn though, I don’t know how you got that.”

She looked up at the horn, hand on chin, tilting her head side to side as if trying to make sense of it.

“I have no idea what that is, it looks magic, powerful.”

“It is magic, and extremely powerful.

“Ooh! How did you evolve? What was your trigger?”

Ah, Opal understood now, the Kobold was one of those, an evolution chaser. One of those monsters who obsessed over the search for a trigger that would make them evolve, make them stronger.

“I nearly died.”

“Oh?” the Kobold seemed surprised by this, “Is that all? I haven’t seen anything like it before and Goblins almost die in this city all day every day.”

“Well, there was something else, and that is probably why it is made of a certain ... stuff.”

“Yes? Wait, don’t tell me, it’s the same source as your pregnancy? That’s a thing that can happen after mating, I’ve seen that a bunch!”

“ ... Yes?”