Chapter 43

“What exactly is a ‘demon’?” Beorn carefully pronounced the unfamiliar word and committed it to memory.

“Who knows? Only time will be able to answer that question.” Divine replied.

Beorn left this road of inquiry, since Divine didn't want to tell him.

The human reviewed all the information he had just received and discovered a critical point.

"Was it the magical stone that turned you from a goblin into a demon or was it training the techniques from the book?" Beorn's question immediately alerted Nola and Torm.

Beorn could be annoyingly clever sometimes.

Torm turned as white as a sheet.

Nola was just stunned and looked questioningly to Divine.

Divine thought about lying but decided against it. "Both, I think."

"What?!" Torm couldn't control himself and cried out aghast. "Will Nola become the same as you? Is she going to turn green?"

Divine glanced at that idiot dismissively and ignored him.

But Beorn was there to help. "What he means to ask is if Nola will become a demon too? Or is she maybe one already?" Beorn couldn't help himself and glanced at her suspiciously from the corner of his eyes.

This was the moment Nola realized the seriousness of the matter.

The possible implications scared her to her core.

"No, she isn't a demon and it’s doubtful she will become one. For that she..." Divine's explanation was interrupted by a painful scream sounding throughout the cavern.

The three humans hectically looked for danger.

Calmly, Divine quickly located the source of the screaming.

The very round and heavily pregnant minion was its source.

Apparently, she had wet the floor.

The time had come.

Scarface came running and checked on the future mother.

She discovered that the birthing process had begun and started worrying.

Scarface had no idea what to do since she had never been near a birth since her own.

At least Scarface assumed that she had been born the same way. But since she didn't remember it, how could she be sure?

So, Scarface stopped her musings, turned to the one that knew everything and ran to him.

"Master Divine, it time. The babies are coming. What do me do?" Scarface was a little agitated and talked to him in a mix of English and Gobble.

“Relax. I’m coming.” Divine accompanied Scarface to the still screaming pregnant minion.

By now, Hooknose had arrived by her side and was getting his hand squeezed so hard, his forest-green complexion had paled to a sickly goo-green.

Divine instructed the other minions to get the clean spirit pot and some small pelts.

He let Scarface take care of the hands-on stuff and directed from the side.

Divine personally gathered clean water from the air to use during the birth and filled it into the pot but he neglected all the other sources of infection.

They didn't have a sufficiently clean space anywhere in the cavern anyway.

Divine planned to just get the goblings out safely first.

If anyone caught an infection, he would just battle it with light Qi or healing pills afterwards.

The goblin mama screamed the whole time but popped out four little goblings very quickly and smoothly.

Scarface received the newborns and cut the umbilical cords.

Because the cords weren’t tied up, some bodily fluids splashed around.

Only Divine was quick enough to protect himself.

The spectating minions got splashed on a little and Scarface a little more.

Unlike the others, who cried out when they were hit, Scarface just ignored it.

Carefully, she cleaned the newborns up and tucked them into little pelt bundles.

They all thought it was over already and let out a sigh of relief, when the freshly baked goblin mama started screaming again.

But this time her screams were sharper and sounded even more painful.

"She's bleeding! A lot!" Scarface reported, letting worry creep into her voice for a moment.

The new mother’s complexion suddenly turned from bad to worse and one could see her last strength leaving her with the naked eye.

"My pretty tit, not die please!" Hooknose was panicking. With tears in his eyes, he turned to Divine and fell on his knees. "Please great Divine! Please! Me beg you. Save her!"

The screaming had stopped, the new mother was beginning to lose consciousness.

Hooknose cried even more desperately.

The surrounding minion crowd looked at Divine imploringly.

And Scarface, she had already calmed down again and just looked at him with anticipation.

Divine stepped closer to the suffering goblin woman and placep his hand on her belly.

Letting healing light Qi flow into her alleviated her condition somewhat and with his qi now inside of her he could examine the situation with his Qi sense.

A last little goblin baby was still in her belly, in the wrong position and with the umbilical cord wrapped around it.

He also discovered some internal wounds, that were bleeding pretty heavily.

Very carefully, Divine grabbed onto the baby with his Qi and moved it around, untangling the umbilical cord.

This required the most delicate Qi control he had ever employed, but Divine kept a cool head and pulled it off.

Then Divine steered the baby headfirst to the exit. “Get ready! It’s coming!”

With gentle hands, Scarface welcomed a little goblin baby girl into this world.

The little one let out a heathy loud cry, making Scarface smile before she shot a worrying look at her mother.

The freshly baked mother had become unconscious and still had internal bleeding that Divine couldn't heal with light Qi yet.

So, Divine took out one of the pre-bought healing pills from his system inventory and fed it to her before it was too late.

Afterwards Divine kept watch over the new mother for quite a while until he was sure she would make it through.

Scarface kept him company, after cleaning herself up and changing into another robe.