Chapter 470: A family is molded

’Bleh...why does my brain feel like it’s been out through a scrubber?,’ Zhen Liu grumbled as he massaged his temples.

This was technically the sixth time he made a kaijin, but this was the first time he felt a modicum of pain after doing so. It wasn’t enough to be considered a debilitating injury, but he did have a wicked headache.

<It’s because this is the first time you ever made a kaijin that didn’t make use of an aether formula. Anima keys are weird and esoteric, even by our standards.>

’That’s...unsettling.’

=Don’t feel too bad about it milord, even the previous lords had trouble making use of anima when they had made anima wielding kaijin and they didn’t have access to the weird materials you did.=

’Good to know I guess...wait, how’s the kaijin holding up? Is everything okay?,’ Zhen Liu asked in an uncharacteristically worried tone.

This was the first Zhen Liu ever made a kaijin that wasn’t immediately attached to his soul, so he couldn’t help but be worried about what could happen when someone, who wasn’t him provided the power.

<=Take a look for yourself.=>

’Huh? Ah...’

Off to the side, not of sight but definitely out of focus, Zhen Liu watched as the first interaction between a mother and child, human and kaijin, relation began...it was weird.

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"..."

"..."

Comfortably awkward.

That’s the best way Elsa could describe the situation before her.

As of this moment, she was locked in a staring contest with the newly formed kaijin that she had bestowed the name "Kit", and had no fucking idea what to do next.

Or to be more precise, she didn’t know what to say to her newly created child.

There wasn’t exactly any books about what to do with a magical child that appears out of nowhere, except for maybe fairy tales of we’re being generous.

Evidently, not even the kaijin child themselves knew what to say either, given that they were just staring back at her with metallic purple eyes that were surprisingly expressive. Then again, the expressive eyes were probably meant to compensate for the lack of a mouth.

’Huh...those fairy tales of childless couples suddenly gaining a child and not knowing what to do suddenly make a lot more sense...,’ Elsa mused to herself.

When she had initially gave up her ability to procreate, she threw out any plans of having a family, let alone raising a child.

She was fine with this situation at first, she gave up her chance for a family to help dozen of others, a noble sacrifice if there ever was one.

She had thought of adoption once or twice, but put an end to that line of thinking after remembering that most orphanages we’re government affiliated and her ass was most definitely on some sort of blacklist.

But then the Optimization War ended with the Tyrant’s head mounted on the first rocket to the moon. The details on how this situation occured vary, but everyone could agree that is how the encounter ended: the Tyrant was defeated, his head mounted on a rocket.

With the Tyrant’s fall, life soon became peaceful again with many people returning to homes that were once abandoned and businesses that were once closed down reopening. However, that also meant Elsa now had to deal with an influx of children, parents and everything in-between visiting her once quiet candy shop.

This wasn’t a bad thing on an economic level, but on a personal level, it was miserable.

The reason being?

Telepathy was a bitch.

It’s one thing being subjected to the emotions of a new mother that visits once and is never seen again, it’s another thing entirely when several dozen or so new mothers show up and subject one’s telepathic senses to all of the emotions associated with the joys of motherhood.

Much like how being exposed to the constant pain of wounded soldiers made Elsa sick of war, the constant exposure to all of these feelings of motherhood made Elsa began to wonder, "what if".

Not necessarily, "what if she didn’t give up her chance to have a child to save someone else", more like, "what if she didn’t give up her chance to have a child", full stop.

As such, there were multiple times she caught herself imagining herself raising son, a daughter, both, a child that identified as neither or more than that.

In a way, she was mentally preparing herself for the miraculous possiblity of being able to have a child of her own.

It might have been impossible given the laws of science, but then she met a particular couple and had a particular vision and realized that all of her fantasies weren’t in vain...sort of.

There was a massive difference between imagining having a child and then actually having one, so much so, that Elsa realized she was woefully unprepared to communicate with her newborn.

The irony of being unable to properly communicate with someone despite having psychic abilities literally designed to do so wasn’t lost on her.

’Should I ask if they’re hungry or...’

"Are you my mas...no...mother, are you my mother?," Kit asked with curious eyes.

"Huh? Oh, uh...yes. Yes, I am."

"Then...that makes me your child, right?"

"Yes...yes it does."

"Hmmm."

Luckily for her, Kit was the one to initiate some form of dialogue between them.

Kit’s voice was...strange to Elsa’s ears, albeit, it was still a very pleasant thing to hear.

It didn’t have the bass attributed to men, but it didn’t have the softness associated with women.

It was in the downright middle, a voice that could be attributed to either sex with little room to argue about which it was.

"Huh..."

After receiving an answer, Kit lifted one of their hands and began to examine it in detail, flexing it experimentally and noticing the minute details of their fingertips.

Elsa couldn’t help but smile as she watched this moment unfold, a part of her thinking that the feelings in her chest must be what parents felt when they saw their child learn about themselves as they grew. Albeit, this particular child was conscious right from the get-go.

"Interesting..."

"What is?"

In lieu of answering directly, Kit proceeded to take their other hand and grab a finger on the hand he was staring at. They then proceeded to pull it and stretch out the digit before letting the finger retract.

"Hmm."

After it had retracted, Kit proceeded to thin and thicken their hand at will and even changed it’s shape into that of various animal claws before settling back on their default hand.

"Huh..."

"Is something the matter?"

"Mother is a human, but I am not. Mother has a set form, but I don’t seem to have one. I have a malleable form that can seem to take any shape and form I wish...or I can take on a form you wish of me. Mother, did you want me to be a boy or a girl?"

Proving their point further, Kit proceeded to sit up from their resting spot and change their form between a more masculine form and a more feminine form for a few seconds each before settling back to their default state.

"That..."

Elsa had heard of children questioning about themselves and their reality once they reached a certain age, but that was usually after years and years of a parent raising a child to the best of their abilities and actually having the answer to this sort of question prepared ahead of time...sort of.

However, Elsa had the (un)fortunate opportunity of being forced to answer this question immediately after becoming a mother for all of five minutes.

Thankfully(?), she had at least half of an answer ready to go, one that she had given to herself prior when she decided to name the kaijin child before her, "Kit".

"That...is up to you to decide," Elsa answered with a careful tone, "no parent can decide what child they get to raise, the best we can do is to help guide and hope they make the right choices themselves. So whether or not you want to be my son or my daughter or neither, it is up to you decide. Ultimately... I’ll still be your mother, and you’ll still be my child."

"Oh...in that case...hup."

Kit proceeded to jump off the table at this point and stand on their own two legs, wobbling for a second before steadying themselves.

"I will determine the answer to that question myself later, but for now...mother?"

"Yes?"

"I think today is considered my...birthday? Can you teach me what that means?"

Elsa had a funny look on her face as she noticed something a bit odd about her child’s knowledge.

"You know the word ’malleable’, but not the word ’birthday’?," she asked.

"I guess so?," Kit shrugged, "I feel like there are lots of gaps in my knowledge."

"Well then...I guess I have to be a responsible mother than, and teach you all I can. So for now...let’s start with birthdays."

"Okay!"

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’Well, that was awkwardly adorable.’

[To be fair ringmaster, suddenly developing sentience is a a very strange sensation,] Spring Brawler added, [it’s like being given candy for the first time after years of butter tastes. The sensations are overwhelming.]

’Poetic, I dig it.’

[Thank you.]

’Well with that over with, let’s get out of here and head back to-]

[Wait...milord?,] Nepherage interjected, [weren’t we here to find a door with a doorknob?]

’...oh fuck, yeah we were.’

[Why do your plans constantly get derailed?]

’I don’t know...’