Infancy Period Read online

  By this time, I was able to crawl.

  Being able to move is a wonderful thing.

  I have never felt such gratefulness for being able to move.

  [If I leave my eyes off him for just a second he will run to another place.]

  [Isn't it good to be active. I was worried to death when he didn't cry at all when he was born.]

  [He doesn't cry even now.]

  My parents said, when they saw me crawling everywhere.

  At least I'm not an age who will cry loudly when I'm hungry.

  But even if I try to hold it, the stuff that comes from below will still leak out, so I just left things alone as they were.

  Even though I could only crawl, once I did so I understood a lot of things.

  First of all, this family is quite well off.

  The building is a 2 story building made of wood, and there are over 5 rooms. One maid is hired.

  At first I thought the maid was my aunt or something, but her respectful attitude towards my parents made it seem that she's not family.

  This place is a village.

  From the scenery outside the windows, I could see a tranquil rural landscape.

  The other houses are scattered around, and one side of a wheat field will have 2 or 3 families.

  Quite a rural place. Electric wires, lamps, or something akin to that could not be seen. Perhaps there wasn't a generator nearby as well.

  Though I heard foreign countries place their wires below the ground, if that's the case, it is strange that this house does not have electricity.

  It's too rural. It was painful for me who had been washed by civilization's wave. Even if it was reincarnation, I still wanted to have a personal computer.

  This thought ended on a certain afternoon.

  The me who had nothing to do wanted to admire the field's scenery, climbed up onto the chair as usual, looked out the window, and got shocked.

  Father was waving a sword in the courtyard.

  [Wha, huh? What is he doing?]

  Already so old and still waving that thing is my dad? Chuunibyou?

  [Ah, crap....]

  Due to the shock, I fell down from the chair.

  My arms that were not yet big enough grabbed the chair, but it was unable to support my body, and my heavier head hit the ground first.

  [Kyaa!]

  I heard a scream, just as I hit the floor.

  The clothes that were just washed fell from my mother's arms, and she put her hands over her mouth, overlooking me with a deathly white face.

  [Rudi! Are you okay!?]

  My mother rushed over to me and carried me up.

  After exchanging looks, she stroked her chest and became relieved.

  [..... Ah, you seem to be fine.]

  (Madam, it's better not to move someone after their head has received a blow.)

  I reminded her in my heart.

  From her anxious attitude, the way how I fell was quite dangerous.

  It might be possible that I possibly become an idiot due to the knock to my head. Maybe there wouldn't be a difference.

  Come to think of it, there's a throbbing pain on the back of my head. Well, grabbing the chair with my hand lowered the velocity.

  From my mother's reaction that's not too panicked, there shouldn't be any blood. It's probably just a swelling.

  Mother took a careful look at my head.

  Her expression seemed to say, if there's an injury it would be serious.

  Finally, she placed her hand on my head,

  [To be safe....... Let the power of God be converted into a bountiful crop, and bestowed into ones who had lost their strength to stand up once again, 『HEALING』]

  I nearly burst out.

  Hey, hey, is this this country's [Pain, pain, quickly go away]?

  Or is it, besides my sword-wielding father, my mother's also a chuunibyou?

  A warrior and cleric's wedding?

  Just when I was thinking of that.

  My mother's hand emitted a dim light, and in an instant, my pain disappeared.

  (...... Eh?)

  [See, it's okay now. Your mum was a slightly famed adventurer, just so you know.]

  My mother said in a boastful manner.

  I was instantly plunged into chaos.

  Sword, warrior, adventurer, healing, chanting, cleric. All these words swam in my head.

  Just what was that just now? What did she just do?

  [What's wrong?]

  My father looked into the window from outside when he heard my mother's scream.

  Due to wielding a sword, his whole body was sweaty.

  [Listen to me dear. This child Rudi actually climbed on top of a chair..... Today he nearly got heavily injured.]

  [Well well, it's not good if a boy isn't active.]

  A slightly worried mother, and a father who didn't treat it as a big deal and placating her.

  A commonly seen event.

  But, perhaps the reason of the back of my head hitting the ground first, my mother didn't back off.

  [Just a moment dear. This child hasn't even reached a year since he was born. Will you worry a little more!]

  [Even if you say that, a child is meant to grow up falling down. That way he will become healthy. Besides, even if he's injured, isn't it fine to let you treat him.]

  [But I'm really worried, once I think of him getting heavily injured and unable to treat him......]

  [It will be fine.]

  My dad said that and hugged her tightly.

  My mum's face turned red.

  [I was worried when he didn't cry at all in the beginning, but if he's so naughty, it will surely be fine......]

  My dad kissed my mum.

  Hey, hey, you're showing this to me on purpose, the two of you.

  Later on, the two put me in the next room to sleep, moved on to the second floor, and started to do the assignment of making siblings.

  Even if the two of you go to the second floor, I can still hear the nyan nyan noises, damn offline reality.

  (But, magic huh.....)

  Part 4

  Later on, I started paying attention to the conversations between my parents and the maid.

  And then I found a lot of terms not in the vocabulary that I heard.

  Especially country names, district names, and various names of places.

  Some proper nouns that I never heard before.

  This place could possibly be.....

  No, I'm certain of it.

  This wasn't Earth, but some other world.

  A different world that has swords and magic in it.

  At this moment, I had a flash of inspiration.

  ....... If it's this world, perhaps even I can achieve it.

  If it's a world of swords and magic, a world that's different from common sense, perhaps I can do it.

  Living like a normal person, working hard like a normal person. Even if I fall down, I can climb back up and live my life fully.

  I was full of regret when I died in my previous life.

  Dying with the burning restlessness over my helplessness and the fact that I accomplished nothing.

  But the me who experienced all that, retaining the knowledge and experiences, perhaps I can really do it.

  To live on seriously.

  Chapter 2 - Expressionless Maid

  Part 1

  Lilia was once a guards-maid for Asura's concubine palace.

  A guards-maid: a maid who has the quality of being a guard.

  Usually doing a maid's job, but if there's anything that happens, they would pick up a sword to protect their master.

  Lilia faithfully accomplished her own duty. As a maid there were no complaints.

  But as a swords fighter, she only had average ability.

  Because of that, in a battle against the assassin who targeted the princess who was born not too long ago, from one moment of carelessness, she was slashed and injured on the leg by the opponent's short sword.

  Poison had been ap
plied to the short sword. It was a poison specially made to assassinate royalty.

  There was no antidote or curing magic that could treat such a troublesome poison.

  The wound was immediately treated, thanks to the doctors trying out various methods to cure the poison, but even though her life was secured, there were side effects left from it.

  There were no problems in her everyday life, but she could never run or stomp with her full strength.

  The kingdom sacked her without hesitation.

  It wasn't anything uncommon. Lilia also accepted it.

  Losing her ability, it's a given to be sacked.

  Even though compensation money wasn't even taken, it was considered fortunate that she didn't get silenced in secret just for working in the concubine palace.

  Lilia left the capital.

  The mastermind behind the assassination attempt was not found.

  Lilia knew deeply of the rules in the concubine's palace and that she might become the next target.

  Or perhaps the kingdom purposely made Lilia leave to lure out the mastermind.

  She always wondered why she, who had no background, was accepted in the concubine's palace. Then she finally understood why: they only wanted to hire a maid who could be used and then discarded.

  No matter what, for her own safety, she had to leave as far away as possible from the capital.

  Even if the kingdom treated her as bait, since she wasn't given any orders, there was no reason to be bound.

  And she had no thoughts about completing the duty out of loyalty.

  Changing horse carriages, she arrived at Fedoa on the far borders which had extensive agricultural lands.

  Besides the city of Roa, the heart of this place where the ruler was living in, there were only extremely wide wheat fields, a quiet place.

  Lilia intended to find work here.

  But being injured, she was unable to find a job based on strength.

  It's possible to teach sword dueling, but it's best to be hired as a maid.

  Because the salary is higher.

  In that place, the number who can use and teach swordsmanship is high, but a maid who had been fully taught to handle house affairs is relatively uncommon.

  The salary will be higher when there is less competition.

  But getting hired by the ruler of Fedoa or any similar upper class noble is dangerous.

  The people of that level definitely had ties to the king.

  If they knew that she was a maid who worked for the concubine palace, there was a possibility that she would be treated as a tool for politics.

  And because of that, Lilia stayed far away.

  She didn't want to experience that kind of near-death situation again.

  Even though it was a little unfair to the princess, Lilia hoped to stay far away from the royals' contention for power.

  But if her salary was too low, there wouldn't be enough money sent to her family.

  Trying to find a safe job and guaranteed salary wasn't easy.

  Part 2

  After running around everywhere for a month, Lilia came across an advertisement note.

  In Fedoa's village of Buina, a lower class knight was hiring a maid.

  On the top of that, the note said it would give special priority to someone with experience in taking care of children and knowledge as a midwife.

  Buina was a tiny village at the edge of Fedoa.

  A village among villages. A super rural village.

  Even though it was very inconvenient, this was the place that she sought.

  The employer being a lower class knight was also an unexpected find.

  But most importantly, she had an impression on the employer's name.

  Paul Greyrat.

  Lilia's kouhai.

  A noble's son who suddenly barged into the dojo one day where Lilia was learning swordsmanship.

  According to him, he left home after quarreling with his father and came to the dojo to learn swordsmanship.

  As he had also learned swordsmanship from his home, he surpassed her not long after even though the style was different.

  To Lilia, this wasn't anything interesting, but she understood that she had no talent and gave up.

  The Paul who was brimming full of talent left the dojo after making a mistake.

  He only left a sentence to Lilia. [I'm becoming an adventurer.]

  A tempest-like man.

  That farewell had already lasted 7 years.

  And he actually became a knight and got married.

  Though she didn't know what sort of hurdles he had in his life, in Lilia's memories, Paul wasn't a bad guy.

  If she spoke about her problems, he would certainly help her.

  If it doesn't work out, then she would use a few events from the past.

  There were a few things to negotiate.

  Lilia decided that and headed to Buina.

  Paul employed Lilia without any fuss.

  It seemed that his wife Zenith was about to give birth, and he was very anxious.

  Lilia was fully taught in knowledge and technique for the princess's birth. Moreover, she was someone that he knew, and her birthplace was already known.

  Lilia was received with a warm welcome.

  Lilia's salary was more than what she had expected, and her wish was also achieved.

  Part 3

  The child was born.

  There weren't any labor problems or unexpected incidents. It was the same as what she had trained for in the concubine palace.

  No problems at all. It was very successful.

  Except, the child didn't cry when he was born.

  Lilia broke into a cold sweat.

  The baby drew out amniotic fluids immediately after he was born, but he merely lifted its head up without any emotion and made no sound.

  The expressionless face made people think of a stillborn.

  Lilia felt the baby, and a heartbeat was present. He was breathing too.

  But he's just not crying.

  Lilia remembered the guards-maid senpai's words.

  A baby who doesn't cry at birth usually have some complications.

  The instant when she thought of this.

  [Ah, ah.]

  The baby looked over to her, and mumbled something in grogginess.

  Lilia relaxed after hearing that.

  Even though there's no evidence, she felt there should be no problems.

  The child's name was to be Rudeus.

  A child that made people feel uncomfortable. Completely not crying or fussing. At first it was thought that his body was slightly weaker so taking care of him should be easier, making it a good thing.

  But that thought was only during the beginning.

  After Rudeus learned how to crawl, he started to move everywhere in the house.

  Everywhere in the house. Kitchen, back door, storage, the place where cleaning supplies are kept, fireplace...... etc.

  Even the 2nd story, but one doesn't know how he climbed up there.

  In any case, once eyes are off him, he's immediately gone.

  But he would be found somewhere in the house.

  Rudeus never left the house.

  Even though he would occasionally look outside the windows, he was probably still scared of the outdoors.

  Lilia was afraid of this baby by instinct. Just when did it start?

  It was probably the moment when he disappeared and was later found.

  In most places, Rudeus was smiling.

  Sometimes he's looking at the vegetables, staring at the dancing candles' flames, or just looking at panties that haven't been washed.

  Rudeus mumbled sounds and showed a smile that made people feel disgusted.

  That was a smile that made disgusted people by nature.

  When Lilia was working in the concubine palace, she had to go to the main palace for her missions. The higher ranked nobles that she met had similar smiles.

  Bald-headed with a fat shaking stomach, sta
ring-at-Lilia's-chest type of smile. Compared with a baby who was just born not long ago.

  The scariest thing was carrying Rudeus up.

  Rudeus nostrils would flare up, the corners of his mouth rise, and his breathing quicken as he buried his face into her chest.

  And then he would make strange noises, as if hiding his own laughter, with [Huuu] and [Orhhh] in between those sounds.

  At that instant, Lilia's whole body was assaulted by a terrible shivering cold.

  And she couldn't help but want to throw the baby and smash him into the ground.

  Cuteness, this baby has not.

  That smile made people afraid.

  The same smile that the high ranking nobles had, the people who were rumored to purchase many young female slaves.

  Even though it's a baby that was recently born.

  Lilia felt unbearable discomfort, and even experienced the feeling of peril.

  Lilia thought things over.

  This baby was very strange.

  Could there be something bad that possessed it?

  Or something similar, like a curse.

  Lilia stood up in anxiety.

  She went to the item shop and spent a little money to buy some necessary things.

  When the Greyrats went to sleep, she did her home's ritual to chase evil away.

  Of course, this was kept from Paul and his family.

  The 2nd day, after carrying Rudeus again, Lilia understood.

  It was useless.

  And he was still disgusting as usual.

  A baby just showing off this expression made people feel scared.

  Zenith said, [When feeding this baby milk, he will lick.....]

  This had become serious.

  Even though Paul didn't have any restraint towards women, it wasn't as disgusting.

  This hereditary thing was just too strange.

  Lilia remembered again.

  She had heard of a story in the palace.

  In the past, an Asuran prince was possessed by a demon. To revive that demon, he would crawl around with his limbs every night.

  And when a maid who didn't know anything at the time hugged him, the prince used a knife that was hidden in his back to stab that person's heart, killing her.

  It was too scary.

  Is Rudeus something like that?

  There was no mistake. It's that kind of devil.

  He's still safe now, but one day he will awaken, and when everyone is asleep, he will one by one.......