Milith shakily flapped her wings, as she winged over Misaki’s hunting grounds. She was far from fully recovered from her wounds. However, she had recovered sufficiently that she could hunt on her own. Because she was healing her body needed more nutrients to fuel her regeneration, and as such, she had been eating more regularly than she normally would. Scanning the ground she spotted a plump horned boar rooting at the base of a tree. Her eighth sense was what allowed her to spot it as it was entirely hidden by the thick canopy of the tree it was rooting under. She licked her lips and began her dive. The tree was not a concern to her, as she wrapped herself in innate magic.

The tree rapidly approached, and then she phased right through the tree. Quickly bringing her talons to bear she ensnared the boar, and lifted into the air. This time not going through the branches, and instead around them. Her magic allowed her to go through branches, but she couldn’t bring other objects that weren’t enchanted with her. This included living beings. The fat boar she grabbed struggled below her some of its life fluids dripping onto the ground.

Clearing the branches she flew high into the air and headed towards her favorite spot. Suddenly she felt a sudden new link to herself and the Swarm. One she had not quite been expecting. It almost caused her to drop her dinner, but she managed to keep it in her grip. Well barely anyway, but at least her dinner had stopped struggling. It was still alive, but she had stunned it earlier with a discharge. Otherwise, with her shakey flight, she wouldn’t be able to get it back to her favorite place in the hunting grounds. The camp she had set up there contained everything she needed to cook her fresh catch. As for the new swarmling that had connected to her, she didn’t have any mental power to spare on the young girl. Milith had to focus on flying back, especially considering she was using magic to keep in the air. Something that was rather problematic given the damaged state of her mana pathways. Not to mention that it actually hurt to use them, but it was bearable. Nothing she could really do about the pain.

A few minutes later she half landed, and half crashed at her campsite. Quickly the young lordling spitted her catch, and set it up to roast over a fire. Once it was cooking she turned her attention to the new swarm mind she had sensed. A young princess that Elly had apparently chosen to grow. Fortunately Milith hadn’t missed much.

The pod opened and the young princess looked around the familiar room. The pods and smooth stone floor were very familiar to her. The Swarm had been born here not all that long ago. Her link to the Swarm told the newly born princess many things, first that all of her sisters were descended from the first queen that Milith had created. This made her an exception to the rule as she had been grown in a pod. She didn’t see the one responsible, but it could only be Elly. The reason for this was that Milith was busy recovering from her wounds in the Bordertown dungeon.

Slipping out of the pod the princess stretched her small body. Seeing Elly wasn’t around yet, she went to the mirror she knew was sitting in a corner. It didn’t take her long to find it. Elly had not seen any reason to move it, so it was right where the Swarm remembered it to be. In the mirror, her young body was reflected. Sticky fluid clung to her fresh unmarked and flawless skin. Her legs and arms were covered with thick sturdy chitin. A thin flexible covering protected her stomach, but her small pink breasts were exposed. Behind her stretched her special tail ending in a special bulb. Her hair was sticky and wet with amniotic fluids from the pod. It clung to her skin. Reflected back to her were her large and expressive pink eyes. Which complimented her matching hair. Overall she looked to be quite cute if in need of a bath. Also stretching behind her were a pair of long thin wings.

Just then the door opened and a young female kobold entered the room. The girl looked exactly as the Swarm remembered. So she knew her to be Elly. “I very much doubt you grew me for no reason. May I ask what you need the help of the Swarm with?” asked the young and nameless swarmling. Curiosity was very evident in her tone.

Elly seemed to squirm a bit, and then nervously asked, “Is Milith alright? I haven’t heard from her at all in months.”

She shook herself a bit, and calmly replied, “She is fine. Just recovering from some wounds. Is that the only reason you created me? Or is there something more?”

Elly glanced down, and replied, “No. I recently rescued a ship full of young girls, but despite being too young for it they all look pregnant. It seems they have been infected by a parasite of some kind, but I don’t know how to remove the parasites.”

She wasn’t quite sure what to say, as an infection like that could be quite serious. However, to know exactly how serious it was she would need to see the girls. She also couldn’t remove the parasites either without examining them for herself. “I’ll need to examine these girls, but I might be able to remove them. It really depends on the parasite,” glancing down at her sticky and naked body she continued, “But first I think I would like a quick bath.”

A short while later, and after a nice warm bath she entered a nice room well furnished with beds. Scattered around the room were the children that Elly had spoken about. Helping to care for them were various naked kobold women. Kobolds weren’t all that big on clothing. That was the case for both males and females. However, the men normally wore more. Often in the form of armor. The armor the men wore was often an indicator of their status in the tribe. The better the armor the higher their status.

Elly was behind her, but she didn’t say anything to her. Instead, she approached a nearby girl. Who was sitting half-naked on a nearby bed. The young girl was happily playing with a doll, but the Swarmlings focus was on her swollen belly. She wasn’t wearing a top of any kind, so her belly was exposed for all to see. It was large and round. On an older girl, it would have been assumed she was several months pregnant, but she was clearly too young for that. Something else had to be going on.

She approached the girl, and began channeling a simple spell the Swarm had learned that was perfect for examinations of this type. Even better was that she didn’t even have to bother the kid. All she had to do was look, and she would be able to see what was going on inside her belly. Of course, if she touched the little girl, she would be given extra information. The Swarmling wasn’t going to do that unless she had to. As she was channeling the spell she felt Milith’s mind connect to hers and focus on what she was doing. To the Swarmling this was quite welcome, especially once she saw what was going on.

There was definitely a parasite in there, but a rather nasty one. It wasn’t the type to kill its host, but that didn’t make it any less nasty. It was the kind of parasite that used its host to reproduce, and that was exactly what was going on inside this little girls belly. Her womb and ovaries had been taken over by the parasite and bioformed by it. Part of the parasite had also infiltrated her nervous system, and it had destroyed her immune system. The parasite itself had taken over that duty, and was the only reason she wasn’t sick from any number of illnesses. That last part was going to make removal very difficult, and doing so without making her permanently sterile was going to be harder. She could do that but there was another option.

“You are right about there being a parasite in there. It has taken over her reproductive organs and is using them for its own reproductive purposes. I can remove it, and repair the damage its presence has caused, but not without rendering her sterile. Milith doesn’t know how to remove it without sterilizing the girl, but she does know an alternative. Instead of removing the parasite we can infect her with a special virus. The virus would forcibly integrate the parasite’s biology into her own, but this would effectively make her a new species,” she said to Elly. All the while deep in conversation with Milith on the best treatment idea. Neither one of them particularly wanted to make the girl sterile as that was rather cruel thing to do to someone so young. Sure she wouldn’t care now, but later she would want a child of her own. 

Elly seemed thoughtful for a moment, and then asked, “What kind of parasite is it?”

She turned around and found a stool near the bed which she sat on. “Well, according to Milith it belongs to insect species. This species apparently resembles a scorpion in its general build and appearance, but it has a rather unique method of reproduction. Its sting can deliver a special parasite to a victim. Being a highly intelligent insectoid it often evaluates its victim before infecting her, and its always females that it infects. As for the parasite once in the victim, it will make its way to the womb and latch on. Once there it takes over the organ and begins to grow and it releases a virus into the surrounding cells to reprogram them. That virus is why I can’t remove it without making her sterile. Her eggs have already been reprogramed and fertilized by the parasite.”

Elly had a confused look, and said, “I’m not going to lie and say I fully understood that, but I think I got the gist of it.” Her expression changed, and she continued, “Anyway, I don’t think that she deserves to be a breeder for some other race, but I want her to have the right to decide that she wants a child when she grows up. Do your virus thing.”

The Swarmling could tell that she didn’t fully understand what the virus solution meant, but Milith and the rest of the swarm all thought it the best thing for the girl. She hadn’t mentioned it, but the parasite had a second phase that starts once the infected’s eggs are used up. It then reconfigures the ovaries so that they can produce eggs, and then it replicates its host before making her produce more of its kind again. All part of its own rather unique reproductive strategy. According to Milith, the reconfigured ovaries were a trait it had likely learned from longer living races. Longer living races either only reproduced while very young, or started producing and storing eggs later in life. Milith’s race was of the second type and actually produced new eggs at hundred-year intervals after puberty which actually occurred very early for a long-lived race in her species. An adaptation that they gained to recover from near extinction. A fact that she didn’t think Milith meant to share with the Swarm. As for the old eggs they are purged from the ovaries when it begins making new ones.

She walked around and examined the other girls first before heading to Miliths lab. All of the kids had clearly been infected around the same time. As a result, none of them were early enough in the process that the parasite could be removed easily. The moment she was in the lab that Milith had set up in her lair she headed for a workbench. The exact requirements for the Virus were simple enough, and she followed Milith’s instructions to the best of her ability. Regardless the process took hours, and she sensed Milith’s focus shift during the process. The Swarmling didn’t blame her as she could sense her hunger. Milith needed to eat, and so did the Swarmling, but that could wait.

The instant she was done synthesizing her virus, she raised it up to the light and admired the clear golden fluid for a moment. Her eye enhanced by magic looking for any impurities. Satisfied that there weren’t any she took the batch and a handful of needles with her. Milith had Elly shape these needles for her as they were the best way to introduce the virus to their systems.

Umeko had woken late in the night, cold and with an urgent need to pee. Entering the hall she heard some loud moaning sounds, but her needs were too urgent to focus on them. Instead, she rushed down the hall and into the main room of the house, before making her way to the backdoor. The bathroom wasn’t attached to the house but was instead located in a separate building in the garden. Stepping out of the house she was greeted with the cold night air blowing against her bare flesh. Oddly it didn’t bother her all that much.

The moonlight lit her way, and she hurried down the path to the bathroom. Rushing inside she made it to the toilet. With her blader less urgent, she began to notice how well she could see in the dark. In the past, she would have needed a light to find her way from the bedroom to the bathroom, but this time she hadn’t needed one. She could see everything around her perfectly in the dark, but only in black and white. Finished she made her way back and focused more on what she could see in the dark. A part of her was completely fascinated with her new vision. Remembering an earlier conversation about her son with Arlie, she found herself seriously considering the offer. A part of her needed someone to share her new experiences with.

Entering the hall again, she heard the moans again. Like a curious child, she was drawn to sounds. They were coming from a closed but unlocked door, and she peeked inside. On the bed, she could clearly see Arlie in the dim light, her head thrown back as she moaned. Her back arched as one of the twins she had introduced as her bondmate was fondling her large breasts. The other was mostly hidden by the door, but she could barely see her head attending to Arlie’s privates.

Umeko slowly backed away and closed the door, quietly. Her face flushed red, she made her way back to her room, and quickly and embarrassingly found out why she was cold when she woke up.

JCountry

For those that also read Return of the Last First Lord, sorry about not posting yesterday, but I have been a bit distracted of late. It has to do with the time of year. Also sorry that this hasn't been proofread. Normally I finish a chapter a couple days before posting so that it has time to be proofread. In this case, I only finished it today.