The Rise Of A Porter

"Arnold, I've had enough!" Nina smiled with a mouthful of food. 

He smiled, "You're eating for two, I'm caring for two. So let me do the cooking before I leave today. And no, you have to eat a bit more now, Madame. I'm not letting you starve our daughter."

"Okay, Mr chef. May I ask why do you want a daughter?" Nina asked him, swallowing a mouthful of pasta Arnold had made for her. 

"I have my reasons. For one, if it's a boy, then there are high chances that he'll turn out to be a brat like me. And I don't think either you or the world is ready for that. So I was thinking, a beautiful little princess like you would be better and lighten up the world." Arnold smiled while serving Nina some more pasta. 

"You think I can't handle another brat?" Nina scoffed, pulling Arnold closer to her face, "Think again pretty boy, I'm a warrior. You'll be surprised about the things I can do."

"Yeah, like an unplanned pregnancy."

They both laughed before kissing one another. While they were at it, Arnold pulled out a small but beautifully warped package from his inventory. He presented her with the box. Arnold never bought her something grand but this time he did. It was a platinum bracelet, studded with diamonds, and was divided into numerous rhombuses, each joined with two other through the edges. It was a simple yet elegant bracelet. One not everyone could possess. 

Nina stared at Arnold in disbelief. She didn't know what to say. Arnold was someone who would cringe just by the thought of doing something like that, but now he had gifted her something more expensive than her car. Nina felt pretty bad because she never bought him a gift... 

"I-I don't know what to say..." She mumbled. 

"Generally people say thank you when they receive a gift." Arnold had a smug look on his face. 

"Oh, do they now?" Nina faked being surprised by the fact, "Well, I guess I could thank you. But what brought about this spending spree, eh?"

"Nothing particular. Just thought my girlfriend deserved something to feel appreciated, you know? Go on, put it on."

Although Arnold tried to give the bracelet to Nina like it was an ordinary gift. In reality, it was something more. Arnold had Talos modify the bracelet to act as a tracker coupled with a device to monitor Nina's mana usage. The bracelet was then connected to his bionic arm. You could say that the bracelet was one of Arnold's ways to ensure that nothing wrong would happen to her or if something did happen, he'd be there to help her. 

Arnold, however, knew that if he told Nina about the real purpose of the bracelet, she might not wear it. And he'll come as paranoid. After all, she didn't know what the future had in store for her, with Arnold getting threats from the demigods as well as the paladins. So he decided to hide the fact from her and let her have a tension-free pregnancy. 

'It's not a lie if you don't don't admit to it, is it?' Arnold smiled as he remembered what happened earlier in his domain. 

***

A few hours ago, inside Arnold's domain... 

Arnold had just gathered his elite summons to inform them of one thing, "Nina's pregnant."

Arnold knew Duke, Cerberus, Asterios, and Dread wouldn't care much about the news since they were essentially beings devoid of feelings such as love, but their reactions confirmed otherwise. Duke and Dread started slowly clapping while Cerberus started making rounds around them. Asterios, however, was by far the most excited and was huffing loudly with all his might as if he was the one becoming a father. 

Bad-Breath's reaction was as Arnold had expected. He didn't care about anything but fights. But regardless of that, he did congratulate Arnold just like the others. Alice looked genuinely happy for him and Nina as she expressed so by hugging him. Natasha, however, looked somewhat upset but kept it to herself. Scylla was busy napping, so Arnold left her alone. 

Talos was as sarcastic as ever, which was evident from his reply, "According to the internet, this is a moment where I should congratulate you. Who would've guessed that you, a man who was a virgin not long ago, would someday experience the joy of fatherhood? Benefits of having unprotected sexual intercourse, I guess. Either way, congratulations and best of luck with your new adventures. Also, Cheers to the broken condoms!"

Arnold shook his head at Talos' comment. He didn't know whether he should laugh or cry. He did know, however, to keep Talos away from his child. God knows what he'll teach the kid.

In the end, however, it was a happy occasion. And he let his summons know that. Apart from Nina and Nicole, his summons were the closest thing he had to a family. The Black family was his family too, but to be honest, he didn't even know half of the family members as well as he did his summons. His summons were the ones to protect him and his loved ones day in and day out, and he felt they were the ones who truly cared about him.

He thanked each and every one of them. He made a mental note to forge something for each of them when he had the time to show how much he appreciated them but first, he had to collect something. 

"Talos, is the bracelet ready?" Arnold asked the automaton. 

"Yes, master. I assume it's for the mistress?" Talos asked while one of the other automatons went to fetch the bracelet from the forge. 

"You got that right." Arnold smiled as he looked around. The place looked livelier than usual. And Arnold noticed exactly why, "Looks like you've been busy, Talos."

"Ah yes, there isn't much to do here so I thought of utilising the time and made a bunch of automatons. That's however not all. I performed little upgrades on myself as well as the others with the help of Devon."

Talos was telling the truth as Arnold could see himself. Talos' exoskeleton was more rigid than before. Even his joints were reinforced. His power core, shone brighter than before as he was now running on twin cores. One powered with the star shard while the other ran on beast crystals. Energy from the star shard was now only used during combat. The remaining times the automatons now ran on the power from the beast crystals. Similar upgrades were done to the other automatons as well. 

"Impressive. Just how many automatons are there now?" Arnold asked because no matter where he looked, he found automatons... Everywhere.

"Master, including myself, you now have 2500 automatons under your command."