Empire Builder 1: Breed, Populate, Conquer by Dante King (free e books to read online txt) 📕

these children with a reincarnated dark lord was considered strange here as well.

With a final crack, the top half of the eggshell was splintered and jettisoned onto the floor. A pair of furry paws clawed at the upper rim, scrabbling for grip.

The egg tipped over onto its side, and Ben and Melody got the first glimpse of their offspring, clambering out of its shell on unsteady paws. It was a kitten.

The little beast took its first steps out onto the wooden floor and stood looking up at us in the light coming in through the window. It had large, sharp teeth, pointed silvery ears, and white fur. Short purple stripes criss-crossed through its fur.

The kitten opened its jaws wide and yawned, displaying its fangs and the warm pink of the inside of its mouth while its long thin tail flicked back and forth.

The beast set its wide eyes on its mother and father and mewled.

Melody sighed. Her doe eyes were moist.

“It has your eyes.” Ben chuckled. The eyes were a deep purple with a thin black pupil running through each.

A broad smile almost split Ben’s face.

I’m a father now.

The kitten came up to him and rubbed its face against his leg. He picked it up and held it close.

“Our first child, Melody,” he murmured, pressing his face against the creature’s fur.

Melody pointed behind them. “And there is your second.”

Another large round egg sat on the bed behind him. “How do you do that, Melody? I didn’t see a thing.”

She smiled with satisfaction. “We women have our secrets. Now, let me hold our child.”

Ben held the kitten up to her. It stretched its paws out and mewed. As Melody took the creature, it lifted its head and began happily licking her face.

Melody beamed down at the kitten, motherly love radiating from her. “Your empire will grow mighty very soon, Benjamin.”

Defensive instincts rose in Ben as he looked first at the monster child they had just welcomed into the world, then at the egg of the second child they were expecting.

“I’ll do whatever I need to create a safe home for our children,” He promised. “Starting tomorrow, we will fight and build until the empire becomes what it once was.”

Melody smiled. “I knew we chose rightly. The Forgotten Ruler has returned.”

Chapter Eight

Ben woke up with a huge smile on his face. His brain was foggy, and he couldn’t tell exactly why he was feeling so good, but there was a warm glow of happiness inside him.

Inside me?

There was a swirling sensation of warmth in his stomach. It didn’t feel like digested food. Then it all started coming back to him.

He was feeling mana.

He almost laughed aloud at the thought of having a mana pool inside him, just like in all the video games he used to play. But he wasn’t just a mage. He was a reincarnated ruler in this world.

Through half-lidded eyes, he glanced over and saw a purple mass of hair shrouding the face of the beautiful catgirl who had guided him to this world. Her sandy-colored tail swished back and forth.

An object rested against Ben’s stomach, a ball that radiated heat. He put his hand out and touched it. It was a soft ball of fur. Right, the kitten that had hatched out of a giant egg last night. The child of his union with Melody. His sleep had been deep and dreamless, and he’d momentarily forgotten all about the events of the previous day.

The vision he’d seen in the hotel room flashed before him. A large woodland predator with long fangs and vicious claws. Ben wasn’t quite sure how visions inspired by giant monster eggs worked, but he assumed it meant this adorable ball of fluff would turn into a menacing predator one day. He could hardly wait.

Under his hand, he could feel the kitten’s little stomach rise and fall peacefully. No other sound came through the glass windows of the wooden hut. The ruined village and the forest outside seemed to be just as calm.

Melody stirred. She let out a yawn that sounded vaguely like a meow. The kitten-child immediately mewed in response and rose to its feet, wriggling out from under Ben’s hand. It stumbled on weak legs over to Melody’s face and started licking her.

Melody giggled and took the creature in both hands, pushing herself back to sit up in the bed. “Good morning, Benjamin,” she greeted me.

He looked up the beautiful woman holding their child for a moment, enjoying the haze of his sleepy brain. This was his new family. He almost felt like pinching himself again, it was so unreal.

He sat up and put his arm around Melody. She nestled into his side. The kitten stretched up toward his fingers. Ben reached down to scratch the top of the small animal’s head. The kitten purred and closed its eyes. Then it snapped at his hand and nipped his fingertips.

“Ow!” Ben drew his hand back.

Melody laughed, her voice sounding sleepy. “Did he hurt you?”

“Not at all.” He chuckled ruefully. “I just didn’t expect to be attacked by my own child on my very first day as a father.”

“He will grow up to be savage and strong,” Melody declared, pride in her voice.

“I don’t doubt it. It is a ‘he’ then?”

Melody nodded. “Yes. And he needs a name.”

Of course—that was part of being a parent too.

“What will we call him?” Ben asked, stretching out a finger to scratch the kitten’s head again, and dodging the little guy’s impotent attempts to bite his fingers.

Then a name occurred to Ben as he watched the kitten take tiny chomps at his fingers.

“I’ll call him Nipper,” he said at last, inspired by the young child’s savagery.

“Nipper.” Melody rolled the word around on her tongue, as though it were a totally new sound. Perhaps for her it was. “That name will work.”

Nipper began pawing and prodding at Melody’s chest. He was growing steadier on his feet very quickly. Ben had seen cats prod like that before, and it