Chapter 4: 4 – Infancy Period – III

Work your body! Move your body! Go work out and be somebody!

...Yeah, affirmations weren't really helping. It was kind of hard to get over the fact that you died with tons of regrets and got reborn as a baby with those regrets still clear in your mind. Especially when you had all the time in the world to dwell on those regrets and the fact that nothing you ever did would make it up for those you disappointed.

Not to mention the scary fact that those memories were slowly slipping away while leaving just the emotions and vague details behind.

But hey, new life!

On the bright side, crawling around a lot was helping me with my coordination. And it also meant that I was out of the crib more often instead of lying around like a little wrapped up bean.

I even got into this little neat routine that let me forget the gnawing pain and regret, you know?

Crawl around in the day to work out. Get fed. Get changed. Nap.

Crawl around some more in the afternoon while trying mess around with that weird thing in my blood then collapse from exhaustion. Wake up. Get fed again. Get changed again. Nap.

Wake up tucked in bed late at night. Do a bunch of visualization exercises, math, and other mental gymnastics to ignore the pillowtalk, moans, and dirty talk that I could actually understand now... Collapse from mental exhaustion.

Wake up, rinse and repeat.

A pretty boring life, but it was something to keep me busy.

I also found out a bunch of interesting things during my daily crawl sessions too.

First, it seemed like I was born into a pretty well-off family.

Our house was a nice two-story wooden building. There were five rooms I could crawl to on the first floor, and there looked like a few more upstairs. But since I couldn't actually climb those stairs... at least not without risking an early second death, I didn't know what was up there.

Either way, it was a nice house. A bit rustic since it was mostly wood, but in the fancy European Victorian way. Or something.

Not only that, but from the glimpses I could see whenever someone lifted me up, we were living on a tall hill in the countryside too, with a village in the distance and lots of scenic farmland.

It made me wonder if my dad was the town mayor or something. Maybe we were some kind of hotshot bigwig?

...Nah. My dad was too irresponsible for that. He was ripped and looked like a fairly decent guy. But whenever he was at home, all he did was flirt with my mom or go swing a sword outside in the courtyard.

Maybe he was a low-ranking knight or something? That would explain the house and the maid. And knights *did* have some fiefdoms and land. Or something. I think.

My mom spent most of the day with me when I was younger, but these days she left the house a bit more often as well. And from what I could gather, she seemed to be helping out at some clinic?

Either way, it turned out that I was wrong. She *was* a doctor. Of sorts.

That meant that I was mostly just home alone with the maid who handed me bottles whenever I was hungry and changed me when I needed it.

She was a bit weird though. First of all was the fact that she was really pretty. Like she had a kind looking face, pretty red hair and nice amber eyes. She also had a sweet smile.

But whenever she looked at me, her expression turned weird.

I thought at first that the jig was up about me being reborn since the first few months she stared at me like I was possessed or something. But these days she seemed to be more relaxed and treated me like a normal baby. For the most part. Her expression still twitched a bit whenever I made eye contact with her.

Anywho, she was weird. For the most part, she was professional. Prim and proper, like a maid should be. But I noticed that she felt... off? Like her emotions were dampened. Or that she closed herself off a bit?

It was hard to describe. But it seemed like she had a bit of trauma. At least, I felt like she did.

Maybe it was one of those things where misery loved company? Like could recognize like?

Dunno.

Anyway, more about me.

Those weird colors I was seeing? Yeah, they definitely weren't illusions. As the days passed by, they got clearer and clearer. I also noticed that people were starting to emit colors too.

My mom seemed to always have some calm golden light around her. Dad had this weird rapidly shifting silver light. The maid had that too, but hers was really soft. But she had some bright violet colors floating around her legs.

It was weird. But babies were weird in general.

Oh, right. I also got names for everyone.

My dad was called Paul. My mom was Zenith. And the maid was Lilia.

As for me... Well, I was apparently Rudeus Greyrat, aka Rudy.

Definitely my mom who named me. I didn't see how a guy with a plain name like 'Paul' could pick out a fancy name like Rudeus.

But that was life. My life.

Anyway, time passed. Boring days, but busy days. Mostly just me hanging around with Miss Lilia and crawling around while she did various chores.

But one day, an accident happened.

It was morning. My mom was home that day and busy knitting a small sweater. Probably because winter was getting close. My dad was outside training as always, and Miss Lilia was cleaning the upstairs rooms.

In short, people were busy.

But that day, I was feeling confident.

My mom had plopped me in the living room with a kiss on my forehead before she started working on her project.

Since she was so preoccupied, I wanted to surprise her a bit.

Probably not the smartest idea.

I'd been crawling around a lot, so I was confident in my leg strength. And I was fairly attuned to my body's coordination, so I tried standing up.

That went fine. I didn't crawl around for nothing.

But then I learned a very harsh lesson.

Just because you knew how to do something didn't mean your body could keep up.

Feeling haughty from easily maintaining my balance, I took a step.

And then my legs promptly did a whole noodle thing and buckled beneath me.

"E-Eh?!"

I gasped and quickly flailed my arms to try and block my fall. You know, the reasonable thing a person would do.

Unfortunately, I underestimated the fragility of a baby's body. I also overestimated how much coordination I really had.

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*SNAP*

A loud crack. My arm bending at a reeeally weird angle. My legs too. And pain. A lot of it.

When I put it in perspective to getting crushed before I died and tossed in that helpless state... it really wasn't too bad.

Still hurt though. And embarrassingly enough, my eyes started watering.

Though maybe that was better considering it let me not see the disturbing twisted baby limbs.

A scream cut through the air. My mom. Immediately after, I heard stuff fall to the ground and then her run over.

"Rudy! Oh no. Oh nonono... Okay. Okay. Calm down Zenith."

My vision was blurry, but the panic was still clear on her face. Seeing a beautiful woman like that in such distress... well, I felt pretty guilty. Especially since this was my mom. Well, my mom now.

That was still a weird mental thing to get over.

But anyway... Yeah. Sorry, new mom. Seems like your son was an idiot.

Thankfully, she seemed to know what she was doing.

My mom didn't try to pick me up or anything. Instead, she carefully laid me down on my back to check the damage. "Alright. I can fix this. This is fine."

...Not sure how I can avoid being a cripple after this, but if that helped her feel better, I wasn't going to judge. Still, maybe I should try to make her feel better?

I tried to smile. But when I did, I felt a sharp pang of pain and involuntarily sniffed.

My mom patted my head and said, "Don't cry, Rudy. Mommy's here. Mommy will make the pain all go away."

I don't think that would really help, but-

"Let the power of God be converted into a bountiful crop and bestowed unto those who have lost the strength to stand once more! <HEALING!>"

Eh?

A sudden flash of light. At the same time, the golden light usually floating around my mom gathered and flew into my broken arm and legs. Then, before my eyes, the twisted limbs snapped back without any pain.

...Wait. What?

My mom let out a sigh and then gave me a bright smile. After that, she picked me up and poked my nose. "See? Mommy was a renowned adventurer, you know? I healed a lot worse before... Mostly your dad." She furrowed her brow and said, "He's good, but seriously reckless at times..."

Wait. Back up. What was this about healing? Was that magic? No, what's this about an adventurer?

The door slammed open and my dad ran over, his muscular body drenched in sweat. "Zenith! What happened!"

My mom bobbed me up and down a bit and then turned to face my dad. "It seems like our son inherited your reckless streak. He managed to stand up and walk. But then instead of falling on his butt, he tried to stop his fall with his arm and broke it. And his leg."

My dad blinked. And then he laughed. Walking over, he grabbed my hand and shook it. "You're a lively one, aren't you? Looks like we've got a natural swordsman on our hands."

"Hmph." My mom shook her head and said, "You don't know that yet. Maybe our son has a better affinity with magic?"

My dad frowned. "Yeah. But you promised. If we have a son, he's going to be a swordsman."

"...Well, you break your promises all the time. And besides." My mom looked back at me and smiled. "Rudy's such a smart baby." She laughed and said, "Maybe he'll be casting spells on his own before we know it?"

"Heh. As if."

"What? Don't have faith in your son, Paul?"

"Of course I do, Zenith. Just as a swordsman."

My mom rolled her eyes and then set me down on the floor again. When she did, she smiled and said, "Be careful, okay, Rudy? Mommy doesn't want you to hurt yourself."

Still processing that bombshell of info that I got, I absently nodded.

"Kyaaaaa!" My mom placed her hands on her cheeks and said, "See? See?! He understands us!"

Oh crap.

My dad shook his head. "I think you're just reading into things too much, Zenith."

"No! I'm sure!" My mom picked me up again and said, "You understand mommy, right Rudy?"

I started to sweat. My dad... No. Paul.

Paul sighed and said, "Just leave him be, Zenith."

"...Hmph." My mom... Well, I guess 'Zenith' put me down and then turned to look at Paul. "Since our son is so naughty, I'm worried about what will happen if i leave him alone for too long..."

Paul walked over and wrapped Zenith in a hug. "It'll be fine. After all, you can just heal him."

"But what if I can't?"

"You can." Paul smiled and then kissed Zenith.

She blushed and turned to look at me. "P-Paul. Not in front of-"

"You're the best healer I know. There's nothing that can go wrong."

And to emphasize how sure he was, Paul kissed Zenith again.

I gave the two a blank look and then crawled away. Might as well give the two love birds some privacy before they forgot about me completely and started going at it.

After crawling out of the room, I came across Miss Lilia wiping down some vases in the hallway.

She paused and turned to look at me. Tilting her head, she walked and crouched down to look at me. "Exploring the house again, young master?"

I started to nod. But then a noise echoed from behind me. A low moan.

Miss Lilia looked over and sighed. "To not have restraint in front of their child... Well. I suppose they love each other that much." She gave me a faint smile and picked me up. "Since they are occupied, I shall accompany you for a while, young master. But first, let us give your parents a bit of privacy..."

Yeah. That's... probably for the best...

"Ahn~!"

...