Big Day
It was late into the day, and Edrick was spending some quiet time with Fanqia and Hui. The former was simply sitting next to him, lying her head against his side, seemingly close to falling asleep, while the latter was doing the same thing, but while reading a book.
As for Anoteros himself, he was just sitting on the couch with his arms spread out. He was resting after a long day of training and planning with Shu, when he suddenly felt Fanqia’s hands grasp his clothing–But not only that, he felt something quite strong through his connection to her crest.
“Oh… Oh! I… I think they’re coming…”
Fanqia's waters broke in a swift instant. In the blink of an eye, she went from just sitting next to her husband to basically beginning to give birth. Edrick hadn’t expected it to be so brutally sudden, as there had been no other signs that it was coming... But thanks to the crest, he could tell that this was indeed the case, and not a false alarm.
His first two legitimate children were about to be born.
He quickly rose from the couch, picking Fanqia up as he rushed over to the nursery wing, where Muxing and the maids quickly figured out that it was time for them to put their expertise to work. Muxing had learned a lot to be a good fit as the Head of the Nursery Wing–Meanwhile, the two Nursery Maids who had been hired had backgrounds in the domain.
One had come from a big family and had had to deal with such situations several times, while the other had worked as a midwife. As such, although there were only three of them, they were plenty experienced and ready to deal with such a situation.
Of course, they were still quite nervous since they were working on their master’s first two legitimate children and also working with the matriarch herself here. Nonetheless, they had been aware that this time was coming for a long while now, so they had prepared everything in advance. They swiftly settled Fanqia, as they realised that the births of the Simis were progressing at an alarmingly rapid rate.
“Holy-! Miss Muxing, there’s already a head peeking out!”
“Oh boy… Oh boy… Don’t panic! Just proceed as normal!”
Edrick would have taken a step back so as not to get in the way of the Nursery Maids, but Fanqia’s grip clamped down on his hand harder than ever before. She didn’t want him anywhere else than right here.
…Although it might seem concerning, the speedy delivery that was making the maids scramble was not exactly ‘abnormal’ in the sense that it was a bad sign. This was just the expression of the various boosts in the departments of fertility and beyond. To begin with, Fanqia had always seemed to be the kind of woman who had a natural advantage in such matters–With her wide hips and voluptuous silhouette.
With the bonuses on top of it all, it seemed like she had truly become a baby-making factory, as the first of the Simis to appear was out of here within barely ten minutes... Which meant that she had only needed ten minutes to push out a baby. This was simply insane, especially for a first birth…
The second of the Simis did not make itself wait either. Another ten minutes was all that was needed for the noble offspring to be born. The labour was so fast that Fanqia didn’t really seem all that tired afterwards. Though she was definitely winded from the stress of her first time.
“Both Simis are well and healthy! Weighing around five kilos each, a boy and a girl, just as expected”
Muxing and another maid held one of the babies each, carefully handing them out to Fanqia.
Edrick didn’t say anything, but it was rather freakish how well-developed they were. If they weren’t still somewhat filthy from the trip they had just made, they would absolutely not look like they had been born just recently. These little things were already trying to open their eyes.
Unfortunately, they were still crying like normal newborns.
Anoteros had seen his first wife happy many times, but there was a different kind of joy on her face as she held her son and daughter.
He leaned closer and caressed his wife’s hair.
“What do you want to name them, Darling?”
He didn’t exactly bother to think about names himself, but just as expected, Fanqia had probably been thinking about it for the entire pregnancy…
“Bertian for the boy, and Milda for the girl”
She replied without hesitation, looking warmly upon the two babies.
“Bertian and Milda, huh? Good names”
Of course, after leaving Fanqia some time to recuperate and settling the Simis inside their room within the Nursery Wing, Edrick went to announce the good news to his Val, and coincidentally, both his Valdre and Valra were present today.
“Valdre, Valra, I bear good news to you. Today, Fanqia has successfully given birth to Kindred Simis. Bertian and Milda are healthy”
It was rare enough to mention, but Edrick’s Valra showed a rather clear reaction for a few seconds. She was clearly elated to hear that she had Grand-Allins, Simis at that... With how fertility tended to work for most cultivators, having more than a single child in one pregnancy was typically quite rare–Which boded well for Edrick as this counted as an achievement toward the clan.
“Bertian and Milda? Those are nice-sounding names. Did you let your wife make them?”
“Yes”
“Ahahah, good choice! I did the same thing with your Valra. Saves a lot of trouble. And it isn’t like she would have let me–Ouch”
“Stop blabbering and come with me. Let’s go see our Grand-Allins. This is a big moment. None of our Allins who rose above the norm has had children so far. They are the very first main-line Grand-Allins that we can show off… Also, they must be so adorable!”
Edrick’s Valdre fake-coughed in his hand, letting his wife go ahead as he stopped next to his Allino.
“Well… With how happy she is, I fear that you might get yourself a new Alri soon… Also, did you grow taller since I last saw you up close?”
“By five centimeters”
“Try not to grow too much. We need you to fit through the doors, you know? Anyway, we’ll run the usual tests on your Simis in a little while. They need a few months before the tests can be accurate…”
“...I know it might seem odd and heartless since they are your flesh and blood, but just like some of your Alri are unknown due to lacking the talent to rise above the rest, it may be that your own Allins will be unimpressive”
“I know, but we can’t just get rid of them”
His Valdre chuckled.
“Women get attached too quickly. And I can’t really afford to make your Valra mad… What about you?”
“If my wives want to keep useless progeny, I won’t stop them. They are the ones who carry and push them out, after all. Once the seed is sown, unless there is an issue, the child will be born, and will live regardless of whether they are a stain on the lineage or not”
Anoteros shrugged as he spoke, before he and his Valdre walked after Yueyao.