Chapter 1: Baby's First Scheme

I started my training roughly 3 months ago and the results are far more than I could have asked for. Running glow through each layer of my body’s composition was supposed to be an exercise in control, but I realized that doing so left me able to feel the presence of that glow strongly throughout my entire body.

Moreover, I suspect that it had a synergistic effect with my mobility exercises, as my body feels light despite my rapidly growing size. I also feel much stronger than I suspect a baby should feel, when left alone I’ve managed to stand on my bed and thus added squats to my routine. I’m not sure how well received a baby so far beyond its years would be, so I’m careful to play helpless in front of the giants.

While I was never an expert on nutrition in my last life, I recall that eating a number of small meals throughout the day was ideal for growth. I request milk from mother six times per day and do my best to alternate between the spouts. This has increased the volume of each meal and mother seems to be in less pain compared to when I was glued to her left spicket.

If there is a single largest challenge of this new life it is the boredom I feel, I may increase my glow training to twice per day so I have less idle time. I hope women work in this world so I may attain freedom from a young age, but this house doesn’t appear to have electricity, so I doubt there is a modern society beyond its walls.

***

I'm nearing a year old and finally met what I suspect are an aunt and uncle along with their children. I’m able to pick up bits and pieces of the language now, between that and the familiar greeting my family gave the same age giants makes me certain they are close.

I started crawling around a lot after feeling the impact of my training and last month I took a risk and started to walk in front of my parents and Shayna. They seemed surprised, but no one tried to burn me at the stake, so I think it’s fine. Unfortunately, my aunt and uncle looked like they saw a ghost when I walked up beside my parents and greeted them with a polite bow. My boy cousins were pleased, but their younger sister looked sorely disappointed. Perhaps she wants to play with and carry a baby around. Women are a mystery to me even in my second life.

My boy cousins looked to be around 10 and 8 with their younger sister perhaps 6 or 7. Her speech seemed more broken than the boys which is truly a disaster for me. I had hoped to hold off on displaying language understanding until around 2 years old, but if a 6 year old has poor language skills, I may need to stay my mouth even longer.

The family event was nice, I was allowed to play under my cousins supervision for a time and got a rough understanding of the strength they could display. I could likely hold one over each shoulder while running if my arms were a bit longer, but it’s useful information for me. I got a bit excited about the freedom and fell, scraping my knee, this was perhaps the highlight of the weekend for me.

My family has another attendant who I hardly see named Celia, she has long silver-blue hair with similar colored eyes. She’s also the youngest person in the house aside from myself and I find her captivating.

Celia cleaned my knee then pushed her glow into the air around the wound. It felt much more controlled compared to father's, though Celia doesn't radiate as much glow. And to my surprise her glow had an interaction with the fog in the air, it looked like it combined before turning green and moving towards my wound. In a matter of seconds my skin started to repair itself and before long it was as though I never had a wound to begin with. I’ll forever be grateful to my Uncle, Aunt and cousins for their visit, though they’ll never know why.

My training regimen going forward will need to be updated. Morning will be body training, afternoon will now be fog interference training and nighttime will continue to be running glow through the composition of my body then letting it all dissipate out before I fall asleep. I haven’t felt so excited since I first saw my father juggling fireballs to ease my crying. I hope this will abate my boredom for a time.

***

My second birthday came with the greatest present I could have asked for, my own room. While this also means my diet will no longer consist of breast milk, I think I’ve had my fill of it for this life. My body doesn’t seem to require as much sleep as I’ve been accustomed to, which means I can increase the intensity of my training for the next few years in private.

I haven’t seen as much progress with fog interference as I would like, currently I’m only able to replicate the healing glow used by Celia, though mine seems to be stronger based on appearances. It sounds a bit emo, but with my newfound privacy I’ve been practicing healing myself after slicing through my skin. I’ve gotten quite good, but what’s really interesting is how tough my muscles and bones are against a sharp knife. Maybe from the daily glow infusions? Regardless, I need to get a hold of something sharper, I’m pretty sure I can use healing magic to regrow appendages, but cutting a glow hardened finger off is difficult.

I’ve also noticed my memory since being reborn is perfect. I haven’t forgotten a single thing I’ve seen or heard. Maybe that’s also an effect of glow infusing my brain? I’m going to start running glow through my eyes and inner ears, if I can improve my senses, it’ll be easier to train in my room without getting caught. There’s still so much I don’t know about this world, I’d like to start asking my parents questions directly, but I don’t want to be seen as a freak. I’ll play it slow for at least another year.

***

“Alfred, where are you son?” Father's voice calls through the hall beyond my room.

Well father needs something, I guess my training is done for now.

“In my room father” I reply and he enters.

“There you are, let’s go son, your mother wants to show us how nicely her flower garden has turned out” father says before taking my hand and leading me from my room.

Shortly after I turned three, I couldn’t take it anymore and started speaking, first in little pieces then in sentences. It’s been half a year since then and I’m using full sentences whenever possible. Mother and father weren’t very shocked when I started speaking, I guess with how early I started walking they expected me to figure out the language quickly. I started asking so many questions they agreed to get me a tutor so I would read to find answers instead of pestering them. It couldn’t have gone better if I had planned it.

The glow as I’ve always thought of it is magic, some kind of energy humans make in their bodies that can produce world altering things. Nothing shocking there, but it doesn’t seem that anyone else can see it as clearly as I can.

And no one sees the layer of fog around us. Supposedly my parents have a lot of magic, what’s more interesting is that Celia’s healing magic is quite rare. People seem to think that healing magic is a gift from god since no one who uses it can really teach anyone else how to use it. I guess not being able to see the fog around us is a pretty significant handicap.

Father leads me through an outer door and into the estate's garden. Mother is crouched and inspecting a row of flowers.

“Sweetie, what do you think of the garden?” she asks.

“Incredible mother, you’ve got a green thumb!” I answer enthusiastically.

Mother looks down at her hands with a concerned expression.

“Oh, is there something on my thumb?” she asks.

Idioms don’t translate well, once a week I say something like that and my parents look at me like a dog looks at a high-pitched noise. Whatever, I’m three, they can deal with some language oddities. My mother’s garden is quite impressive, it spans the entire front of my family’s estate, though I’m not sure how much work she puts in personally.

It turns out my father is a count and the domain lord of this area, if anime didn’t lie to me in my last life that’s a mid-ranking noble? While I don’t have to worry about my basic needs and wants being met, it presents a large problem, if my parents don’t get back to fucking I’m going to be in charge of all this someday.

I’d rather die again, I’m full of magic, the air is full of something magic like and I just got a tutor to broaden my horizons. I need to think of something, some way to get them to spend some more time together alone… I’ve got it.

***

My tutor comes for a few hours a day Monday-Thursday then spends most of Friday with me reviewing everything we’ve gone over during the week. For a pre-electricity world, I’m surprised the tutor my parents found has such a good teaching routine. Her name is Mia and I think she’s in her late 30s, her bottom half is thicker than mother or our maids, but her other features remind me of mother. Dark hair, symmetrical facial features and glossy lips. Her bust is maybe ¾ of what mother has, so I’m sure her children were well fed.

“Hey Mia, you said my father gave you an allowance to buy whatever books I may need?” I ask. We're seated in a small study near my bedroom.

“Yes, Master Alfred, your father is a generous man and is devoted to helping in your studies” Mia answers then turns to look at me with a gentle smile.

“That’s nice of father, but can you take me book shopping sometime? Maybe this Friday since we’d spend the whole day together anyway…” I ask shyly.

“I can ask Count Pruss for his permission, but it will be up to him not myself” Mia responds with a serious expression.

“That’s fine, thanks Mia” I say and give my own warm smile.

Score, step one of get a baby brother to foist all familial responsibilities onto is a go. Mia is pretty receptive, I suppose she’s paid well, but if I don’t see progress in a couple months, I might just ask her how I can get my parents to make me more siblings.