The Baby Squad came back eight days later.
Come to think of it, the Monsters around here had gotten pretty sparse, so they probably had to go a long way to find any.
Thanks to that, I nearly starved to death over here.
I only have 3 SP.
I'm dying.
I had no choice but to eat whatever I could find nearby — eggshells — to stave off the hunger.
Eggshells, unlike bird eggs, are soft, so they were at least edible.
Eating something you produced yourself feels kind of gross, but beggars can't be choosers.
So I ate the tasteless shells.
Eating them restored a tiny bit of my Status.
It's a negligible amount that recovers over time too, but it does recover.
At this rate, if I could get a proper meal, a full recovery seems possible.
That's how I endured eight days of starvation.
When the Babies finally returned, their numbers had been cut down considerably.
About half?
Well, they're weak.
And I was on the verge of starving to death too.
Honestly, it's impressive that even half of them survived.
What's more, their Levels have all gone up in general.
Wait a second — haven't their Stats gone way up?
When they were Level 1, all their Stats were 3, but now at around average Level 5, they've got Stats of about 50 across the board.
A gain of about 10 per Level?
Come on.
My growth rate when I was a kid was 1 per Level.
What are these overachieving brats?
The Babies carried in the prey they'd caught.
Oh. Oh wow.
That's quite a lot.
Ten Monster carcasses were brought in.
What are these overachieving brats?
Let's see — ah, it's a frog.
Various other Monsters I recognized were laid out as well.
Looking at them closely, they'd all been bound up with silk and bitten by Poison Fangs in multiple spots.
What, do these guys coordinate — holding prey down with silk and then all biting it at once with their Poison Fangs?
Come to think of it, most of the Babies have a Coordination Skill now.
I don't even have that Skill.
What are these overachieving brats?
And sure, they only brought back ten this time, but they clearly killed more than that, right?
They probably ate some themselves to fill their bellies — which, fair, or they would've starved to death.
With just ten, there's no way all of them would've risen to Level 5.
How many Monsters have these guys actually taken out?
Well, they went to the trouble of catching these, so I might as well eat up.
Mm.
Tastes bad.
Ugh, I miss something sweet.
But I can't be picky.
I'll hold out until my Stats recover.
Will my Level going up speed up the recovery?
But my current Level is 30.
It's not going to go up easily.
I'd better take it slow and wait for a proper recovery.
So then, Babies!
Go fetch me more food again!
Without a single complaint — well, they don't have vocal cords, so they couldn't complain even if they wanted to — the Babies marched off once more.
Creepy as always.
Seven more days passed.
The Babies came back with prey again.
Well, well.
Some of them look like they've gotten bigger?
Mixed in among the palm-sized baby spiders were some that were about thirty centimeters — a bit larger — roughly one in every ten.
『Mini Lesser Horo Nea — Level 1 Status HP: 125/125 (Green) (Details) MP: 125/125 (Blue) (Details) SP: 125/125 (Yellow) (Details) Stamina: 120/125 (Red) (Details) Average Attack Power: 125 (Details) Average Defense Power: 125 (Details) Average Magic Power: 125 (Details) Average Resistance: 125 (Details) Average Speed: 125 (Details) Skills "Magic Power Perception Lv4" "Magic Power Operation Lv4" "Poison Enhancement Lv1" "Poison Fang Lv4" "Spider Silk Lv3" "Coordination Lv4" "Dark Vision Lv8" "Poison Magic Lv2" "Shadow Magic Lv1" "Poison Resistance Lv4"』
They've evolved from Mini to Mini-plus.
And they've probably gained Shadow Magic as an effect of the Evolution too.
What are these overachieving brats?
Their numbers haven't dropped much this time, and they brought back twenty Monster carcasses.
They came back a day earlier than last time, with twice the haul.
What are these overachieving brats?
I gratefully accepted the prey.
My Status has recovered quite a bit — up to around 1000 now.
My body's gotten bigger as a result.
Since my species didn't change or anything, it wasn't from an Evolution or anything like that — I just got bigger, plain and simple.
I went from palm-sized to about thirty centimeters.
About the same size as the Minis now.
Anyway, once the Babies dropped off the prey, they headed back out again before I even gave the order.
Huh?
They're making their own judgment calls now?
Wait, aren't they also kind of smart?
What are these overachieving brats?
I'm so glad I gave birth to them.
And I'm so glad I didn't just eat them when I was hungry.
Well, okay, I did think about it for a second.
Wouldn't it be easier to just eat them?
But in the end, I figured I'd get more out of using them than eating them, so that's why I held off.
My prediction came through perfectly.
Honestly, it even exceeded expectations.
A mother couldn't be happier with such capable and endearing children.
Now keep up the good work and keep providing for your dear old mom.