Magic.
I just witnessed real magic!
No matter how hard I try, I can't convince myself otherwise. That wasn't a trick of the light, and I certainly didn't imagine it all.
Elise chanted a spell and healed my injuries with a strange white light. That's the truth.
Why?! How?! What does this mean? Eh? Magic was a real thing all along? Then how come it didn't exist in modern times?! Could it be it was lost with time...? No, there's no way in hell! Magic is too much of a convenience to be allowed to disappear! Just because humans learned to teach rocks to do math and tell little lights to turn on and off in patterns doesn't mean they would casually throw aside the ability to instantly heal a person...
... Could it be possible that this isn't Earth?!
... Is the "I died and got reincarnated in another world" trope more than a baseless fantasy?!
No, wait. Don't rush into conclusions. There's no evidence of this place being different from Earth. Just because I didn't know the language, doesn't mean...
No, but there's the fact that magic is a thing here! And also, those strange artifacts in Roy's workroom... Even if this world was geographically the same as the Earth, you could safely call it a "different world" on account of those two things alone...
But who cares about that! Whether this is another world or a parallel version of Earth, it's not important.
Magic! Can I learn magic?!
Blow away your foes with a gust of wind, Wind Wall...!
... That kind of thing!
At least, I want to be able to cast Fireball! It's just one of those things you absolutely need to do in a world with magic!
Ahhhh... I didn't realize until now, but I was getting so excited I had started to pant heavily and make a strange face. Calm down, me. Let's take a deep breath... Haaaah... Haaaah...
Okay, that's better.
Now.
I need to seriously reconsider my opinion of this situation.
The existence of magic changes everything. My original plans have gone down the sewer. I can no longer afford to wait idly until I can communicate properly. I need to teach this body how to speak, for yesterday.
I need to ask Elise to teach me magic.
At least, the theory behind magic. Even if I can't cast spells right away, I want to understand the principle behind it. To say a couple of words and produce a lasting effects in the physical world: that's not a thing science can explain! At least, not the science I know.
I'm also worried about stuff like magical affinity and mana pool size. I have no reasons to assume the magic of this world will follow the same rules as the countless light novels I have read before, but being born in a world of magic just to get hit with the news that "you don't have any magical affinities" or "your mana pool is so tiny you can't even cast a basic spell" would definitely make me depressed beyond redemption.
I don't know what I might do if it comes to that...
But, again, let's not rush.
I have no real information. Making baseless assumptions won't get me anywhere.
Alright.
Let's update that mental checklist:
3: Learn magic*
That one is a top priority. Sorry Master Roy. The Holdred Secret Flirting Technique will have to wait for later. There are things a man must do.
However, "learning magic" is somewhat vague for a goal.
The key to a life of success is to aim for clear goals that are neither too easy nor impossible to achieve. Or so I heard somewhere.
Since I don't know a thing about magic, there's some steps I need to take first.
One: Learning the written language. I refuse to believe that reading and writing aren't important for the study of magic. At least, there must be books explaining the workings of magic, and probably grimoires full of spell lists as well.
Two: Getting used to speech. I need to be able to speak as soon as possible. That I want to be able to communicate with Elise and Roy is a given, but now that I know Elise can do magic, I can't sit back and wait anymore.
And finally, Three: Convincing Elise to teach me magic. This one might be the hardest of the three. Being a grown adult, I wouldn't even consider putting a tool that can set fire to the house or blow it away in the hands of a toddler. It'll take no little amount of effort, and probably serious commitment from my part.
Also, something I had stopped thinking about too hardly. I don't know much about raising children, since I was the single child of my parents. And as a virgin, there's no way in hell I learned about that stuff before. But I'm pretty sure that a baby capable of rational thinking and fluent speech isn't normal. Not to talk about reading and writing...
"Oh, well, let's just act innocently like it was the normal thing!" Is what I'd like to say, but if I freak out Elise or Roy, I can't say for sure my life won't get complicated.
I need to do this fast enough to satisfy me, but just slow enough not to give my new family the creeps. It's a delicate balance, but I have no choice but to do this.
That's the only path I can see to a future without regrets.
***
Another month passed. It has been roughly five months since my birth. During this time, I waited.
I said I couldn't hold back anymore, but that doesn't mean I would just rush straight into things without a thought. First, I needed to get Elise to lower her guard. If I tried to go down to Roy's room just the day aftee falling down the stairs, she would definitely snap. Instead, I took some time to let her forget about the incident.
Of course, I wasn't just idling around either. I used that time to get used to crawling and climbing stairs, using the stairs to the bedrooms above to avoid the risk of falling again. I also started disappearing more and more from Elise's line of sight, to get her used to not seeing me all the time. When I try my little "adventure" again, I don't want her to notice right away and cut my time short.
I was also keeping my eyes and ears open in case I came across some interesting information on magic, but Elise didn't mention the thing once after the incident. She mostly talked with Roy about the things they needed to buy in the village, or the parts of the house that needed maintenance. When she wasn't flirting. Roy on the other hand mostly spoke about herbs, and the people in the village who came to him for help. When he wasn't flirting.
These guys sure are a loving couple. Almost makes me want to puke rainbows. You won't get off easily, Roy. I'm learning that secret, if it's the last thing I do...
That said, after all that time I'm now ready to go down again and try my luck with a juicy book. Learning to read and write takes precedence. If someone caught me trying to read a book, I could probably pass it as childish curiosity towards the unknown. Speaking is a different story.
Alright. I have everything planned. I can stay awake for roughly four hours. That means I have about three hours left...
Great. Operation, start!
"Agh... Aaaaahhhhh!!!!!" I yelled to the top of my lungs, using that amazing ability to disturb anyone that hears a baby's cries. I kept screaming until Elise showed up with a smile.
"What's wrong, little Zack? Are you hungry? Did you wet yourself again?"
Ugh, don't remind a man of his dark past, woman!
After making sure I hadn't soiled myself, she picked me up and started uncovering her breasts. Yeah, no thanks! I'm not hungry, and it's embarrassing!
Before she had the time to go all the way, I started rocking around and repeatedly throwing my arms down, looking at her and then to the ground again. Come on, lady, please take the hint...!
"Mmh? What's that? You want to play around for a bit?" She smiled even deeper, her turquoise gems practically sparkling with delight. "You're shaping up to be such an energic boy, little Zack! My, my, what am I going to do when you grow up...? Fine, I'll let you down for a bit. Don't do anything crazy, though! Mommy will get angry!" With a final nod, she put me down in the wooden floor, running back to the food she was cooking.
Don't worry, Elise. I won't do anything crazy... where you can see me, that is.
That said, I need to make sure not to give her much trouble later on. It'd be a bother if she thought of me as a problem child.
Well, for now let's do what I'm here to do!
Fortunately, the stairs to the underground room are somewhat hidden between the walls of the living room and the dining room, so I could do my thing in privacy.
I walked... Or rather, I crawled up to the very edge of the stairs, before taking one big gulp of air.
Okay. Here I come!
I put one foot in the next step. Nothing happened.
I put the next foot. All okay.
I let my upper body drop down in that step completely.
No injuries. And mostly no effort. I can do this!
I kept crawling my way down like that for a while. After roughly half an hour later, I managed the last step and came to a rest in Roy's workroom at last.
That was much more exhausting than I anticipated. There's too many stairs! What's the big idea, Roy? I didn't take you for a fan of muscular training! Are you the type to take leg day seriously?
Well, I never did go to a gymn myself. I had a friend who was a diehard gym addict though. Let me tell you, they get annoying.
Alright, back to our main goal!
I took some time to observe the room again. Last time I thought this as well, but this place really looks like the lair of an alchemist... The strange cauldron is in the same place.... Mmm?
The lamp is turned on. The little knob on the base is moved, and... The scarlet-red quartz inside is glowing, projecting a slightly unsettling light in the room.
That glow is just like...
Just like Elise's magic...
The color is wrong, but it's the same feeling. So this is a magic lamp... Does it mean the thing inside is a magic stone? There's so much I want to learn...!
But that's the very purpose I came here for!
Alright, books. There they are! Fortunately for me, There is not a shelf in the walls. All the books are stored in a rack that's close enough to the ground for me to reach.
I assumed since the development level of this place matches the Middle Age there wouldn't be many books in the house of a common person. In fact, I found only two in the rest of the house, and one of them seemed to be the notebook that Elise was using before. Incidentally, the other was the one she was reading. I noticed a third one, but the fact Elise was looking at it as she cooked tells me it's probably a recipe book. Not sure if that's something she should spend money in, but I guess my family has no problems with finances. I guess she can afford herself a little gift now and then...
Roy had four books. One of them was clearly another notebook, so I left that one aside for now. I grabbed the thickest looking one out of curiosity... But as soon as I opened it I was greeted with a lot of convoluted text and images of plants and their parts.
Most likely a botanist's manual. Definitely not what I want to start with. There's probably lot's of technical terms here that I won't be needing anytime soon.
Let's see... Next is another notebook. This one doesn't seem to be Roy's. The writing is different, and there are also anotations alll along the borders of the pages... The little drawings of limbs and other body parts tell me that's most likely some notes about anatomy and medicine in general.
All the books I've seen until now match exactly the image of what an herbalist ought to have in their room. Now, for the last one...!
... Hmmm.
This one is different.
The cover is thicker than the others. The letters are written with flair, and colored bright yellow. There's a symbol in the very center. A golden feather wreathed in fire...
This one... looks interesting!
I opened the book with increasing excitement, quickly going through the pages...
Oh!
Ooh!
Ooooh!
It's a storybook! Amazing! It even has drawings of some of the scenes!
This is great! This is exactly the type of thing I was looking for! It's a storybook, which most likely means it's meant for children. The language can't be too complicated, and it comes with images to boot! It's the ultimate learning material!
Also, the scenes look really cool. There's lots of swordfight and monsters. Something that looks like a phoenix is depicted in several images. In lack of a light novel or a sci-fi book, this one will do wonders with my boredom!
Learning to read and write while reading a new story. Is there something better?!
I sit back and go back go the first page, tracing carefully the words with my eyes. I get in a comfortable position, and soon get absorbed in the wonderful world of books.
***
I am not a fan of timeskipping. But the following days were filled with me sneaking into Roy's room to study that storybook. I started thinking aloud as well, as a way of training my vocal chords. Not much else happened, unless you counted the times where I could hear my parents making a baby sibling for me.
Looks like Elise is the dominant one. That's information I really, really didn't want to know. The picture doesn't fit my image of her at all.
In any case, six months went by in a breeze.
It's amazing how quickly time goes by when you're doing something you enjoy. In my past life, I would become lost in the books I read, sometimes passing entire weeks without doing anything but reading, eating, bathing and sleeping. That's how much I like books.
"Chronicles of the Red Blade" Isn't a long book, but the fact I had to learn the language as I went made it a much slower read to me. I don't regret it, though. It only means I enjoyed it more.
I finally got a decent grasp on the written language. It's somewhat annoying, because instead of normal words, you have different "characters" that have their own meaning, and when joined together can take on different meanings. The difference between the words "pitiful" and "scary" for example is in the order you put the characters in.
It's like kanji, but worse. I never really liked kanji to start with.
Whatever the case, thanks to this wonderful fresh brain of mine, I managed to overcome all trials, and the weird language isn't a problem anymore.
Like I said, the book I was reading is called "Chronicles of the Red Blade." It's a storybook about a nameless warrior consumed by his desire to grow stronger. One day, he meets a mysterious fire spirit and agrees to enter a contract with it. In exchange for his left eye, he is granted the spirit's power. With his newfound strength, he journeys around the word in search of a worthy challenge. The story is somewhat simple, as expected from a children's book, but...
How to say this? It's graphic. Though, well, it's true that modern children's stories are tame compared to their original versions. The Grimm brothers' tales are supposedly really dark compared to their moderm versions...
That said, it's not like the story on itself is grim. The Red Blade, the warrior, eventually learns some important lessons, like "not everything is solvable with violence" or "your strength is for the sake of helping others" and whatnot. I guess that much is natural for a children's book. You'd want to teach those lessons to your kids, too. I approve.
In the end, the Red Blade gives his life to protect his friends and goes away in a big blast, burning all of the spirit's power at once. Talk about a cool way to die.
I enjoyed it a lot. I can't wait until I can ask Elise for another book... Though, it's kind of embarrassing to be asking for a children's book. I suppose I, for one, am a child now. Even at the time of my death, I had just barely reached my twenties, so one could argue I'm pretty young...
Bah. I'm overthinking it. I want the book, so I'll ask for it. No mulling over useless stuff.
Incidentally, since I finished the book I tried reading the technical stuff as well. But as expected, there's a lot of words I don't understand. They're more of support material rather than stuff to learn from scratch. There's some basics I understand, like "these are poisonous" or "these help with stomach aches," but the complicated stuff is beyond me at the moment. Even so, I'll keep reading. At the very least, it can't hurt to know about the local flora.
Survival skills are one of my fetishes, after all! I wanna go camping...
Well, I'm still too young for that stuff.
Setting that aside, I also completely mastered my own body in these last six months. That means I can move like I want, walking included, without any discomfort. And of course, talking.
I can finally talk as I want! Sayonara, meaningless babbling. Hello articulated speech!
"Though I got used to thinking aloud... Well, I gues that too was a part of my training, so there's no demerit on it, right?"
Hmmm? Talking to yourself is what crazy people do?
Listen here pal. I literally died and reincarnated in a magic world. If I'm not crazy, I don't know what I am.
"Well now... I can walk, and I can speak. I can read and write... I guess you can say I'm a normal human being now! Though I don't know if a one-year baby doing that stuff counts as normal..."
And therein lies the problem. How do I present this situation to Elise and Roy without freaking them out...?
It'd be a problem if that made the situation awkward. Maybe I should keep it to myself for a while? Though at about this time babies start saying their first words...
"Aaagh! Regulating my vocabulary is gonna be so complicated! Can't I pretend to be a bit slow and just stay silent for a while...? No, that comes with its own problems... Damn! I'm blocked!"
I'll have to give some more thought to this.
Well, it's not a problem. I still have books to decipher. I'll come up with something... Eventually.
***
As it happens with these things, the opportunity to reveal I could speak presented itself sooner than expected. Well, it would be more accurate to say it took all of us by surprise.
It was a particularly sunny afternoon. The weather in this place was almost always a pleasant sort of chilly, but summer apparently had arrived, and it wasn't pulling any punches. Fortunately, I am pretty resistant to heat, so I wasn't particularly bothered by it.
Roy had come back a bit later than usual from his regular trip to the forest. The reason was hanging from his hands at the time, as he presented it to Elise with a grin that went from ear to ear.
"Honey, look what I found today!"
Alright, pop quiz! It's red, it looks like a baby octopus and it has long, purple leaves!
Yes! You guessed it right! I haven't the slightest idea what that thing is! Incidentally, I don't know what made Roy so happy from finding it either. If my hand came even close to something like that I'd immediately drop it and start running in the opposite direction.
"Ooooh! Are those...?!" Well, Elise didn't seem to share that opinion. Here eyes were sparkling and her hands were joined in her chest as she gazed at the weid... uh, "vegetables."
"Yep! Bloodroot!"
Even the name is scary! Please keep that away from me!
"We're going to have a feast tonight!" Elise twirled in joy as Roy unceremoniously dropped the basket with "Blooroots" in the table.
Hey, uh... Guys? You're kinda scaring me. You can't be implying that we're gonna eat those... right?
Right?!
"Leave the processing to me! I have high expectations of tonight's dinner, honey!" Roy flashes a smile and grabs the Bloodroots, heading towards his workroom.
Oi oi oi! If you have to take care of it in that alchemist lab instead of the kitchen, can you really call it food? It looks like I'll be cursed for life if I eat that! Are you guys serious?!
At least let me refuse, goddamnit!
And so, the feared night had come. The temperature was hot enough that even I was sweating profusely, thought that wasn't the only reason. I had taken a bath with cold water, both as a means to cool myself and as a rite. I don't know a lot of ceremonies, but I needed to prepare for what was coming. I was long past the point of relying solely on breast milk for sustenance, so of course, I would be having a bite of that hellish vegetable as well.
I silently said my prayers as I headed towards the dining table, hoping the curse wouldn't hurt me too badly. As I approached, the devil's scent reached my nostrils...
Hmm?
Hmmm...
Wait, it doesn't smell half that bad... But...
That's not what concerns me.
This aroma... This salty smell that assaulted my nostrils... It could only be associated with...
No no no. There's no way in hell right? As much different this world might be, common sense can't change so drastically, right?! Because, I mean, this cant possibly be...!
As I absolutely refused to acknowledge the truth, my eyes were forced open by the harsh reality and Elise's excited voice.
"Well then, everyone! Let's say our thanks for this wonderful dinner! We were really lucky to find a patch of Bloodroot in this season!"
"Well, you normally eat this in winter, when the stuff normally grows but... Since we're here, let's enjoy! Thanks for the food!"
My eyes opened to confirm my worst fear.
Dense red liquid, not unlike blood, littered with chopped vegetables and spices. chunks of what I assume to be the Bloodroot floated around. A cloud of vapour that made my face itch and my eyes water on contact...
Yes. The truth was undeniable.
These people... These people...!
"You cooked spicy soup in a hot summer niiiiiiiight?!?!?!?!"
The words unconsciously escaped my mouth as I was faced with the blasphemous sight in front of me.
"Of course you only eat this in winter, it's obvious! This thing is hot enough to warm your bones in the coldest night! Just looking at it makes my eyes water...! Am I supposed to eat this in the middle of...?!?!?! ... uhm, summer...? Eh..."
"..."
"..."
My body froze. My hands went to my mouth.
"... Oops..."
I became so used to thinking out loud my tongue slipped.
"... Er... Well... Since Father went through the effort of finding it and processing it..."
I looked to a slack-mouthed Roy with a neutral expression. My face felt like metal molten into that deadpan shape, barely able to move my lips.
"... And Mother spent all that time preparing it..."
Elise was looking at me with the smile of a person who walks into an awkward situation and didn't know how to react.
"... That was rude. I'm sorry. Thanks for the food."
I decided to act like nothing happened and stuff a spoonful of soup in my mouth before I had the chance to mess up further.
"..."
"..."
Elise and Roy looked at each other with unreadable expressions.
Crap, crap, crap! It's the worst scenario! Now what? Please don't get rid of me! I can't live on my own with this body! If you abandon me in the woods, I'll die...!
"..."
"..."
After an awkward silence, they both look at me and open their mouths.
"... Well, I suppose we went too far with the spice, so..."
"... Maybe cooking Bloodroot in the summer wasn't such a great idea...?"
They both grabbed their spoons and took a sip of their plate without another word. More than fear, their faces were locked in an awkward smile.
Unable to say another word, the three of us continued to eat in complete silence, and went to sleep without changing our faces.
The fact that no noise came from Elise and Roy's room says enough about the situation.
With that, the cat was out of the bag.
Incidentally, the soup tasted amazing, like a salty tomato sauce, with tiny chunks of meat. I hope I can try it again in the winter.