Chapter 886 886 - Fairy reproduction [2/2]
Erik raised both eyebrows. "Oh," he muttered, not really sure what to say for a moment.
Seeing him stunned into silence, Elora giggled playfully and caressed his chest. "Hehehe, don't tell me you were planning to load me up with three, four, five, or more children? You know I'd love to have children with you, but considering how busy I usually am, I'm not sure I could handle more than two."
Seeing her light-hearted attitude—and not noticing anything strange through their bond—Erik grinned easily. "To be honest, I hadn't thought that far ahead. I suppose I'll make do with two, then."
He gently squeezed the arm wrapped around Emma without looking her way. "If I have the urge to fill our family with dozens of kids, I'm sure I can find other volunteers to help me with that…"
Emma blushed and buried herself deeper into his side. "O-Of course…" she whispered softly. Whether it was her nature affinity or just her personality as a caregiver, Emma enjoyed the thought of mothering however many children Erik wanted to plant inside her.
Erik smiled lightly at Emma's willingness, but didn't otherwise react. He hadn't really thought about this at all before, so he had no plans, either. For now, he wanted to give all his wives who were willing at least one child, and that was it. The future will tell if there would be any more.
"But… are you sure you don't mind?" he then asked Elora, still feeling a little worried despite her light-hearted attitude. Though he didn't believe a woman needed to have five—or even any—kids to be happy, having a choice and not having one were still very different things.
"Hehe, no, it's fine," she smiled, joyful at his care. "It's just the reality, and I've never really known any different. Plus, as I said, I don't want more than two, anyway."
They looked at each other for a moment, love in their eyes, until Elora sighed softly. "Anyway… to get back on point. Every fairy being restricted to two births has had some necessary impacts on fairy culture. For example, every fairy is required to have at least one child before a certain age, and the council heavily rewards those with two."
Erik nodded. In a dangerous world like Söl and an equally dangerous universe beyond it, he imagined keeping up birthrates was an important survival strategy for any species.
"And… that's also why you need permission from the council to… attempt giving birth the non-standard way," she continued, putting obvious emphasis on the word attempt.
Erik's attention was immediately drawn. "Attempt?" he asked, surprised.
"Yeah…" Elora smirked, now a little more sheepish, suddenly. "You see… the second method requires a fairy to enter their protector's soul at the very moment of conception. This way, the genetic material has no time to set before being converted into bits of data… and the fairy can start assembling the DNA of their child themselves."
Unsurprisingly, both Erik and Emma's eyes flew wide open at the fairy's insane statement. They were lost for words.
Seeing their expressions, Elora smirked and continued. "From that moment, the birth is less about the natural process of a baby growing in the womb, and more about whether the fairy can assemble a viable cluster of DNA before the newborn's soul detaches from what was supposed to be its new body."
Suddenly, she chuckled strangely and winked at Erik. "In a way, it's kind of the protector who carries the baby to term."
None of her words did anything to aid their stunned minds. Truly, the entire race of fairies was nothing but a cabal of insane scientists itching to study and then mess with the natural order of things.
Smirking, Elora continued watching them. Deciding she'd blown their minds enough for a moment, she simply sipped her drink and waited for them to come to terms with what she'd told them.
After a few moments, Erik groaned and closed his eyes. "My head hurts," he grumbled, causing Emma to gently rub his forehead, as Erik had no hands free.
He opened his eyes again, frowning at Elora. "You're gonna have to break this down for me once again. Instead of letting nature take its course, you take the fertilized egg with both sets of DNA into my soul?"
Elora nodded with a smile.
Erik continued in disbelief. "Once there, you can mess with the DNA of our future child more easily because of bullshit magic and/or soul reasons? The purpose of which is to incorporate more of my DNA than just my handsome looks?"
Once again, Elora nodded. The look in her eyes clearly told Erik what she wanted, yet he mostly still felt freaked out.
"A-And what's this about the child's soul detaching?" he finally asked, gulping nervously.
This time, he saw a flicker of doubt in Elora's eyes. "Well… that's the reason we can't just create people in a tube by combining some sets of DNA. Something in the natural conception process triggers a universe-related response that binds a soul to the newborn, which we can't replicate in a lab. At least… I don't know of a way."
She cocked her head a little nervously. "So… at some point after I've entered your soul, probably at least a few weeks, our child's soul will appear… and I'll need to capture it. After that, it becomes a race against time, as the new soul will eventually dissipate without a physical essence—a body—to anchor it."
The reason for her nervousness was obvious. After all, a clump of DNA without a soul was very different from the alternative. Erik felt this as well. If he'd carried his child's soul inside him for however long it took, only for it to eventually dissipate if Elora failed to create viable DNA, then… that would hurt.
Suddenly, all uncertainty in Elora's eyes was wiped away by confidence.
"But I can do it!" she exclaimed with certainty, spinning on Erik's lap to put her face in front of his and her hands on his chest. "My mother did it with me, and she succeeded! She told me everything she learned from that experience, and I know I'm a much better geneticist than even she was when she had me! My bloodline abilities make me even better suited for this!"
She leaned closer with promise and confidence in her eyes. "I can do it, my love…" she whispered with certainty, peering deep into his amber eyes. "I want my child to be born in the same way I was. I want our child to carry more from her father than just his looks!"
"And… more than anything…" she continued, her voice becoming a little hoarse with emotion as her eyes turned a little wet and her expression finally wavered. "I'm afraid that… that if I don't at least try… that I'll always look at our child and wonder what could have been…"