Chapter 70 – Some Kicks

"Miss, it's time to wake up."

"I'm up now. Thank you," I call out. I try turning, but a few kicks to the kidneys cause me to pause.

"Sigh, I guess it's that time," I let out. "Honestly, it seems a little late. Try to be nice to your Mommy; she's got a lot of you to carry." A few more kicks come in from the little ones as I try sitting up in the bed. The orphan has already slipped out of my room.

"Look, I know you'll all leave me before I get a chance to hold you, but that doesn't mean you get to abuse me this much! No matter what, I'm your Mother. Be kind, though my own Mom does say I was an active kid as well. My stupid genetics getting in the way I guess."

I force my way through what is going to be a constant now that they've started. I've got twenty-four little legs inside me; the odds that one is active are going to be high. My eyes watering a bit, thinking about how they'll all be taken from me, right from the womb.

"The Duchess did say I'll marry her if she is pregnant. The odds are in my favor that she is. Yes, I should be with you all. Just a little late, but I'll hold you all. And maybe you'll still be breastfeeding! Yes, some go for a year, and I'll get out after eight months. Yes, so try being gentle. I may get to spank some butts."

I make my way to the wardrobe to get a robe and slip some heels on.

"I should check on Yuki first. She may need some more healing before she starts her day. What if she is dancing! That would be a problem if she was sore or something. Shit! Whoever did that is going to have to hug me more when I get back to you all. The stomach is off limits for your kicks!" I'm sure they'll ignore that, and if I do marry the Duchess, I'll be giving them all plenty of hugs no matter what they do. So, my threat is a little pointless. Well, no, it's a good excuse I can pull when they get to the grumpy teenage years. Look at me thinking ahead now!

I head up to Yuki's room, enter the little waiting area, and then knock on her door.

"Come in!" I hear her call out.

"Hi, Yuki. How are you doing? Oh, and you too, Nakuma," I asked, walking into the luxurious room.

She gets a desk, nightstand, a few extra chairs, a window, and a table to eat at right here. I'll never understand why they couldn't add a few more pieces of furniture to our rooms.

Would the Duchess let me have all this? She would need to teach me my letters before the desk would be useful, but some more chairs would be nice.

"We're doing alright. I'm a little stiff, but that is expected after last night," Yuki answers. She's cuddled up with Nakuma, their tails hiding most of their body.

"Same," the other calls out.

"Good, I was really worried when you came back. I didn't do a good job healing you, did I? It looked like I was causing you more pain, and I wasn't healing the right parts. You were still bleeding when Kelly came in. The bruising..."

"Alzi, I know you have next to zero control over your mana outside your skills. Yes, you didn't heal us in a good fashion, but you kept me and Nakuma alive and let Kelly put us back together in a single night. Coming back as I did would normally mean bedridden for at least a week. It will likely be a month if you don't have constant access to a healer. You didn't do anything wrong. It was my fault for coming back like I did. I should've been better," Yuki comforts.

"I know. But it still feels bad seeing me cause you pain. Did you two, well, do everything?" I ask, eyeing a chair. Am I supposed to ask to sit or wait for her to offer? Can I just sit down? She is my friend, but there are customs for this stuff, too, right? She's normally offered me a seat the few times I come up here, but she's tired, so maybe she's forgetting, or does she want me to leave soon? I do have to get downstairs and at least eat, even if I skip the bath.

"Yes, we did do everything, but it was sloppy. We may have attracted more attention than we wanted. We'll have to be careful going forwards. The guild expected us to attack and even had hired some mercenaries to defend them," she says as she untangles from Nakuma. The colorful kitsune tried hard to keep Yuki in her grasp. Lucky girl.

"I'll have to do my own makeup in a hurry soon, and you've got to eat. But for our plan. It should stay the same. You just need to relax and handle your work. I'll be more careful. The next stage is what I'm better at anyway, and we should be able to have a much cleaner attack on the last branch before we head to the headquarters. So, thank you for being here to heal us. We may need you again, but hopefully, it won't be as serious. Now go get something to eat. I need to send this clinging girl home and get ready myself. You've got a lot of mouths to feed; don't make them wait."

"Ok, oh, and they've started to kick! They are kind of active. Oh, and do you think you could find out which Duchess fucked me and if she's pregnant? She said if I got her pregnant, I would have to marry her, so I'm..."

"Don't worry about that, Alzi. She won't make you marry her. I promise. I can still try finding out, but she'll be a bit secretive about a pregnancy with a brothel girl. Plus, she may have had sex with another man after or before you, making it hard to tell if it was you or not till the child is born."

"Oh, true. Didn't think about that. Ok, then, you don't need to go out of your way."

"I'll still try Alzi, but I don't promise anything."

"Ok, I'll see you tonight then."

"See you, Alzi. Thank you for checking in on us."

"Yes, thanks for healing this idiot. Sorry, you didn't get to be a part of the pile last night. Wouldn't mind having a feel of your tits," Nakuma shouts out as I'm leaving.

"You're welcome," I say with a tiny bow before closing the door behind me. I head straight to the kitchen. Mai likely guessed I would be late or skipping the bath by now so I waddle on down.

Inside, I find my guess correct as I spot her long tail flicking around in the back. I quickly get my food and head to my beacon, taking the open spot to her right.

"Hi, Mai. Sorry for missing the bath. I went to check on Yuki instead," I say, placing my food down and slowly working my way into the chair.

"Hi, that's fine. Why did you check on Yuki?"

"She got hurt last night. Bad, me and Kelly had to work on her. She bled enough to soak my bed through and force it to get replaced. I guess between all the fluids I pour into it, my blood, and hers, it was too far gone for magic to fix."

"Is she doing alright? That sounds like she was on the verge of death."

"I think she was. She's doing alright. Kelly was able to patch her up well. After her massage today, she should be fine. I just worry about her future plans. They'll likely be more dangerous."

"Shh, don't talk more about it. She'll be fine, and she always has you to help her out. Nakuma and her will be together now, so she'll be safe."

"I guess so. Still, I don't like how we all seem to be ending up hurt. We were a lot safer before."

"They started it. We've caused them a lot more pain than we've got. They're almost done, and soon after, you'll be free. Then we can start our life. Just a few more months." She reaches up to pat my head.

"I know. On happier news? Well, not really. My kids have started kicking their poor Mother! Just a couple of them right now, but it won't be long till they all start up."

"That is something I'm not looking forward to. Your stupid dragon sleep thing is a blessing, you know. I'll barely get any sleep. My last pregnancy had me running on fumes, and I then had that shitty birth. This time, I'll have mana to help me along, but still."

"I would likely be dead without it. I don't think I could go on that little sleep all these years, even with my large mana pool."

"True, well, I've got my training. You're in the lounge today, aren't you?"

"Yes, kicking and fucking for me tonight."

"I'll see you in the lounge then," Mai says, getting up. I take the last few bites before heading to the lounge to rest a little before we open.

Walking out of the kitchen, I feel a hand grab my shoulder, making me jump a bit.

"Sorry, Alzi. I didn't mean to scare you." Ariawyn follows up by moving to be in front of me. Why is she here? I'm not dancing anymore. "We've got a new booking happening in two weeks. A family wants to have a birthday party here for their head wife. Like normal, you'll be the main entertainment. They even asked for you to be there, so I think they have some fun planned."

"Oh, um yay, that um is good, I guess? Is it the normal deal?" I ask. I don't mind these parties. They can even be a little fun. Everyone is just there for sex of some form. No bondage, ropes, or torture. Just vanilla group sex. Though they do have a habit of turning into a breeding pit, I can go all night, and the guests get a little tipsy and forget I'm a breeder. Not that I think they're too mad about kids, just a bit of a surprise party favor.

"Yes, yes. Normal stuff. It should be a fun time. They also asked for Mai. It's the first time that has happened, but she normally makes it in as well, so it's easy to accommodate. I just wanted to warn you. You'll have a few days before it off to limit your stress and all that, so you've got a lot to look forward to. Well, I need to get to the dancers. Take care, Alzi."

"You too, Ma'am," I shout out to the running woman. Did she really need to warn me this early? Eh, take what they give you, Alzi. Maybe they'll continue being nice and help me limit the number of kids for my last slave pregnancy.

On my way to the lounge, nothing else happens; I just find a chair to rest in while waiting for the guest to walk in.