4th story complete, barely on time! Apologies for that, some things came up and my usual spontaneous idea slowed down. This one might not be as strong as the others... But as always, please enjoy!

Summary: A tigress decides to see what's so special about the ancient temple that everyone keeps talking about, and gets an unexpected outcome...

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What happens when one decides to take on a random quest which might lead to a wild goose chase, only to discover something unexpected that can cause significant changes in your life?

You get pregnant, which is what happened to Lillian after exploring an ancient temple that was said to be the place where people prayed to the statue of their goddess. In her eyes, that sounded like easy money to get once one got through the many traps that had stopped other explorers from continuing. Like magic, every tale of attempted entry sounded vastly different from the other. What made it stranger was that each story described the tempering perfectly, which meant that it wasn't a case of persons going insane after coming out.

Thinking it to be some kind of hoax to deter others from exploring the temple, she had set off Thursday night with adequate rations and healing potions. If she encountered danger, she even bought a rather expensive escape scroll. When the escape scroll got used, it would teleport her a few miles from her original position. Apart from the mild nausea she would get, it was countless times better than being left to rot in the temple.

With everything prepared, Lillian was ready to break through all the traps and escape with a bag of treasures. Surprisingly, everything had gone easier than she expected. Even though every story seemed different, it was less dangerous than the tigress had thought. Of course, the tigress still got injured before she got to the treasure chamber. What greeted her was piles of gold and jewelry, and in the center was a small golden statue, around one foot in height. While she was ecstatic about finding the treasures, however, she came to learn two things. The first was that the statue was a fertility statue, complete with a curvaceous figure and a swollen stomach. As for the second?

Its magical properties were still active. At first, the treasures Lillian stuffed into her bag allowed her to make a small fortune. For some reason, she decided to keep the statue though it would sell quite handsomely. That was her first mistake. The second mistake was keeping it on her bedside in the new house she bought. It had a pull she couldn’t escape from. Something in her gut told her not to sell it or give it away.

After three months, she realized it became two somethings in her gut preventing her from selling the fertility statue. When she got sick a week after exploring the temple, it had already done its magic. Now, she was carrying a healthy pair of twin tiger cubs, swelling her once slim stomach to a substantial size. Waking up with a boulder attached to her body wasn’t what she expected after her last adventure. At the same time, she wasn’t in any condition to go on any other adventures until they were born.

While taking deep breaths, the tigress rose from her bed with one paw resting on the underside of her baby-bloated belly. She had been growing steadily enough that there were no complications with her body. That was a good thing, at the very least. Still, she didn’t know the first thing about being a mother. Lillian was also too embarrassed to ask anyone for help. Because of this, no one at the tavern knew of her progenitive predicaments. She wouldn’t want them to see her with a swollen stomach in the first place.

Walking got reduced to waddling with her weighted womb. After washing and drying herself, the twin ‘treasures’ within her began kicking intensely. She groaned in response but, with a sigh, decided to get something big to eat. With her increased appetite, the tigress cooked a large meal that guaranteed to keep them from moving. Or so she hoped.

After half an hour, Lillian stuffed herself with enough food to make her feel a little sleepy. While she hoped the meal was enough to put them to sleep, the cubs became even more active. Every few seconds, her stomach shifted softly. At least they were well-fed, but she wanted them to stop moving so much. There was nothing she could do about it at the moment.

When the babies finally slept, the tigress wondered what she would do about the cubs. There was the option of giving them away. However, when she thought about it, her mind instantly thought it was a bad idea. She wasn’t sure if it was an effect of the fertility statue. It could be her motherly instincts starting to form. Regardless of which, she gave up on that idea. The house was big enough for her to take care of them.

Another problem arose from that, though. When the tigress gave birth to the cubs, who would care for them? Would she need to give up exploring for a while? After all, she didn’t know anyone she could trust with her cubs. Even though she had gotten them suddenly, they had already grown on her. And in her, of course. After thinking about it, there was nothing else she could do.

Shaking her head softly, Lillian got up and decided to go out. There was no point in staying cooped up in the house. At the very least, she needed to think about her next move after the cubs were born. While getting dressed in clothes that barely fit her, the tigress picked up the fertility statue again, feeling the bump with her paw. What followed was a soothing warmth spreading through her body. When it finished, she had calmed considerably.

After that, the tigress went outside and bought things she’d need to care for the cubs. It wouldn’t do any good to have nothing in her house. While doing so, she had the fertility statue tucked into her bag. That was her third mistake because the same warmth coursed through her body again.

At first, while she shopped for necessities, Lillian assumed she was getting more tired due to walking around so much. She had been out of the house for a few hours, and by the time she returned, the tigress was sweating. Little did the tigress realize that her body and stomach were slowly but surely growing bigger and bigger. It was a miracle that her clothes didn’t burst off her while she walked. Some of the buttons on her tunic even popped due to her growth.

As she sat down, however, she felt a heavy kick from her cubs which were now bigger. There was even a new occupant within her womb. She was now pregnant with three cubs instead of two. After feeling them kicking more intensely, the tigress hurriedly took the fertility statue out of her bag. Another surge of warmth coursed through her body when she touched it. At the same time, the statue’s eyes began to glow.

Lillian immediately realized that she would be having a lot of cubs soon at the rate this was going…