After the excitement of the announcement of his birth had passed, Edward returned his focus to the screen in front of his eyes.
He still had much to consider about the consequences of what had been revealed, but for now, understanding the system was more enticing.
The initialization took an eternity to complete. Watching that percentage bar slowly increase was agonizing.
Edward began to realize that probably only he could see the screen. Eliza's behavior made it clear that she couldn't see the floating image in front of them.
He was so distracted that he didn't even notice the Bishop leaving. But then, a conversation among his new family caught his attention.
"When will you meet with Duke Astoria?" the eldest son asked.
"There's no need to rush. Now that we've confirmed Edward has royal blood, there's no reason for the Duke to cancel the engagement. Your marriage to Victoria is secured," the Duke replied.
Edward would only understand the importance of having royal blood in the ducal houses much later.
The Western Empire, where they lived, was a union of several ancient kingdoms.
Instead of a centralized monarchy, a parliamentary system of government was created, though not a democracy, but an aristocratic system where only those with noble titles had the right to vote.
An Emperor was elected from among the twelve Archdukes, but actual power rested with the Imperial Senate, which chose the Prime Minister, who wielded the true authority in the Empire.
To maintain their status as a Ducal family and maintain their political power, at least one member of each generation of the family needed to hold a royal bloodline.
That was where having a member with royal blood became important for Ducal families.
If a family went an entire generation without a member awakening a royal bloodline, that family would lose its political rights for that generation.
Such a situation meant a significant loss of political power, inevitably leading the Duchy into political stagnation.
The Duke's marriage to Eliza had taken place precisely because the Duchy of Demetria risked losing its political rights in the next generation. None of the Duke's four previous wives were of royal descent.
They were all noble daughters of high rank within the Archduchy, but none of them had royal blood.
As a result, none of the Duke's children had awakened a royal bloodline.
Eliza was a princess, as were Selena and now Edward, the daughter of a Duke who had awakened a royal lineage.
Their marriage had been arranged to ensure that children born from it would secure the political powers of the Duke's eldest son when he inherited his father's position.
But Eliza had lost three children. They had been married for two years and still had no children.
There was growing pressure on the Duke to annul the marriage and wed the daughter of the
Archduke of Emeria, where the Duchy of Demetria was located.
His four wives supported this idea, but the Duke had fallen in love with Eliza and remained loyal to her father, his comrade-in-arms.
Thus, Edward's adoption took a heavy burden off the couple's shoulders. Their marriage was no longer at risk. The next Duke of Demetria would have his political rights secured.
The Duke's eldest son was also relieved. With the threat of losing his political rights, his engagement to Victoria, daughter of the Duke of Astoria, was at risk of being canceled.
Victoria was a princess, like Selena, Eliza, and Edward. Marrying her was essential to ensure that the Duke's grandchildren also retained their political rights.
Unaware of all this, Edward didn't understand the conversation between his adoptive father and his new older brother.
He was very curious to figure it all out, but the system screen was still more interesting.
When the initialization finally ended, he couldn't hide his excitement.
The natural reactions of his baby body were embarrassing. Eliza mistook those ridiculous spasms for hunger.
"Just wait a little longer, sweetheart. These people will be gone soon, then I'll give you your milk," she whispered softly.
He wanted to bury his face in a hole from the sheer shame of the ridiculous situation.
He tried to focus on the system screen to forget it all, but then another one of his brothers spoke up.
"Our little brother might have royal blood, but he only got a Crafter Class," the teenager said, muffling a mocking laugh.
The brat had sneaked over to read the stone tablet the Bishop had left on the altar.
Apparently, that wasn't good news for Edward. He could tell from the pleased expressions of the four wives and the Duke's disappointed face.
Eliza didn't seem to care, but she wasn't pleased either.
"What class?" one of Edward's sisters asked.
"Wizard Engineer. Has anyone ever heard of it?" the brother reading the tablet replied.
"It's an advanced Magecrafter class, SS+ rank," said the nerdy brother of the family.
"What a waste. An SS+ Craft class?" the sister who asked earlier remarked.
"His stats are weird," the brother reading the tablet commented.
Everyone seemed intrigued, Edward included.
"His Athletic Constitution is just B+, as expected for a Crafter. But his Mana Pool, Intelligence, and Perception are all S+ rank or higher," he added.
Edward didn't fully understand what it all meant, but he had a personal gauge to determine if something was good or bad.
If the four harpies liked what they heard, it was bad for him. If they didn't, it was good.
And judging by their faces, it was definitely good.
"That's just potential. It doesn't mean he'll ever reach the top. Especially the Mana Pool, he won't reach the Special Rank with only B+ in Athletics," the sister tried to downplay Edward's stats.
"Yeah, but if he does reach his potential, he could have a Mana Pool at least ten times greater than any of us could ever hope for," the nerdy brother replied.
"Right, so he'd become the greatest Support of all time. Big deal," the sister said, and several people laughed.
The Duke didn't like that. With just a look, he silenced everyone.
"The important thing is that he's healthy," the first wife said sarcastically.
That conversation seemed to have exhausted the Duke's patience. His family had meddled too much in Eliza's privacy.
He didn't need to tell anyone to leave, just one look, and his wives and children began to leave, one by one.
Once Eliza and the Duke were finally alone, they resumed their conversation.
"You seem disappointed," Eliza noted.
"I won't lie, I didn't expect the Commander's son to have a Crafter class," the Duke admitted.
"That doesn't change anything, does it? You're not going to treat Edward differently because of that?" Eliza asked.
"Of course not. I must honor the Commander's memory by raising his son as best I can. It's just that..."
The Duke was about to say something else, but Eliza finished the sentence for him.
"You expected Edward to become a Sword Saint like his father."
Eliza seemed to know exactly where the Duke's frustration came from.
"Can you blame me for thinking that way?" the Duke asked.
"Selena was a genius Magecrafter. Is it such a sin for a child to take after the mother instead of the father?" Eliza replied with another question.
Edward was fascinated by the conversation. What was just small talk for the couple was a cascade of major revelations about his past.
He was so engrossed that he forgot the system screen still hovered in front of him.
"Edward has royal blood, so he won't have a choice. He'll have to serve as an officer. Life as a Crafter in the military can be tough," the Duke said.
"Are you already planning sixteen years into the future?" Eliza remarked.
Mandatory military service? Edward didn't like the sound of that, but he had already survived a rough military stint once; a second time didn't scare him.
"You're right. For now, we need to focus on more immediate problems," the Duke concluded, ending the conversation.
Edward was thrilled by everything he had just learned. Now he would finally have time to study the system screen in peace, or so he thought.
"It's feeding time, sweetie," Eliza said in one of those ridiculous baby voices.
Edward didn't know what was more humiliating, a probably younger woman talking to him like that, or the fact that she was preparing to breastfeed him.
[I wish I had a way to turn off my brain during moments like this. It's going to be hard to see Eliza as a mother if I keep suckling her breasts all the time.]
Edward had only thought that to himself, but then he got a reply, and it almost made his soul jump out of his body.
[Would the Player like me to implement that function?]
A female voice spoke in his mind.
[Who are you?] Edward asked, startled.
[I am your system interface. In this world, people would call me a guardian spirit. You haven't named me yet, so I have no name to give you,] the voice in his head replied.
Edward was thrilled. His mind began generating theories to explain the system and this world's gamified nature.
Was he the only player, or were there others? Was this the true nature of the world or the interference of an intelligent being? Was it all magic, or some kind of simulation?
Every discovery brought a dozen new questions he couldn't yet answer, and that was incredibly exciting.
His infant body once again reacted to his excitement with the typical spasms of a baby.
Eliza interpreted it as him being in a hurry to be fed and began speeding up her preparations.
[Alright, you can implement the function to shut off my mind during breastfeeding. I'll give you a name later.]
He commanded the system, desperate not to go through that traumatic experience.
[Implementing function: "No mommy's milk for Edward"]
What kind of name was that? Before Edward could protest, his mind was already being shut down.