This Village Is a Little Weird

It’s been two months since the incident that night, and a few things have changed. Being six months old, I already have a stable sleep schedule that my parents made a routine around. I wake up crying at seven in the morning, my mother gets me ready for the day and feeds me. My father makes breakfast for my mother, who’s still half asleep, feeding me. My parents have breakfast together, while I work on my endurance training, I’m finally able to crawl for 30 seconds without falling on my face! After breakfast, my mother gets ready, and my father cleans the kitchen. It’s around nine in the morning, when both my parents start working. My father fills out paperwork at his desk in the library that doubles as a study, while my mother turns the living room into a help center and talks to the village people about what troubles them. At this time, I would take a nap to recover from my very intense training for an hour. Once I wake up, my father changes me and takes me to the study where he gives me a book, a chalkboard and chalk. I practice writing the language or try to read by myself. It’s 12 in the afternoon, my mother starts on lunch, I always eat a mashed fruit or vegetable. This time it was carrots, which isn’t too bad, I just don’t like the consistency with the taste of carrots.

We all eat lunch together and my parents debrief on what they have left for the day. My father would still have more paperwork to fill out, and my mother had a few more appointments with townspeople. I would lay down for a nap for two hours and my mother would change me after I wake up, then take me with her to her last few appointments. They would be done by three, sometimes four if it’s a long day, and get ready to walk around the village. They would get me ready in a cute baby outfit they would obsess over for a number of minutes before we leave the house together.

Our house was at the end of the village, near the forest, so it took five minutes walking on the pathway to get into the village. Entering the village from the side, we walk to see many cottages with happy people thanking my parents for helping them. We continue to walk to the middle of the village to reveal a marketplace full of people, the once small village stretched into a town. With many villagers owning shops and restaurants, and merchants that traveled to sell their goods. In town, they sold a variety of things from weapons to fashion to medicine. My mother would sometimes sell natural ingredients she picked from the forest or sell monster parts at the adventurer's guild. The adventurer's guild would always look super excited to see her, but I think it’s because my mother was a beautiful woman carrying monster parts she killed in her subspace storage ring. Afterwards, we would always go to the bookstore to buy new books my mother was interested in. My father would always run off to turn in some paperwork at the town hall. I assume that’s where he works and is the reason my mother meets so many people. I wonder if they are assistants to the nobles running this place? By the time my father came back, my mother was still absorbed in books, and he’d wake her out of this trance to show flowers he had bought her. He would always say some quirky joke about the flowers being pretty, but my mom being the prettiest flower in the world. This would always make me laugh, and he would say that he had the most adorable daughter in the world and layer my cheeks with smooches. Sometimes I was able to catch his lips before touching my cheek, and then my mom would end up taking me and kissing me more. No matter where we are, they are affectionate with me, and it always makes me laugh because they were the same in the past, but they gave me hugs instead of kisses. I regret it now, but I would always say I was too grown for their affection and get embarrassed.

After purchasing the books, we would go home at around six, my mother would change me, and we would take a bath together in this big tub of warm water my father made with water magic. While my father got ready for bed, my mother would choose a subject to read about, and we would read for 30 minutes. During reading, I would be fed while my mother had a light dinner that my father left for her on the table. If the book was about magic, both my parents would set me down and see if I could use the magic I just read about or any other magic. Usually, I wouldn’t use magic to not shock them, but today I was really happy, and I used Heal on them. Apparently, my mother got a bruise she didn’t want to make a fuss about or heal with magic, while my father just had a paper cut. My father scolded my mother for not taking care of herself when hunting and pleaded with her to take him with next time. My mother went to hunt on Sundays as a way to relax and let off steam. It also helped that our house was close to the forest, and there were monsters that needed to be subjugated. She always came back with leaves and twigs in her hair and holes in her pants that my father would sew back together. She always managed to hide her cuts and bruises from battles she had with monsters, she would usually heal things that would scar, but left the bruises and few scratches. My mother would always tell my father that she didn’t want to use light magic to heal too often because it was for personal gain, but my father said it’s her magic, and she doesn’t have to save it to use it later.

I always worried about my mother, I knew she could hunt and fight because she would tell me about the training she did for fun when she was young. There was just something that she would hide from me, I always felt she was lying about where she did training or why she did it. It was true, she had fun fighting because in her last life she would always express interest in martial arts, swords and action movies; but there was something else that made her expression turn dark as she would stop speaking after starting a story. Stories specifically about using her skills in light magic, or saving a comrade from something.

My father would always come with herbal tea, I smelt a blend of chamomile and honey or lavender. It would always calm my mother down, before she put me down to sleep. Normal babies sleep through the night after being put down at nine at night, but I always wake up every three hours. Every three hours, I wake up and turn to see if my parents are still sleeping. This happens every night, without fail. I watch their chests rise as they sleep, and it slowly puts me back to sleep. At three in the morning, I start to mess with magic. I only use water magic since my mother is sensitive to light magic. I’ve learned how to make balls of water, it’s fun throwing it up and down or around the room. In the beginning, the water would slash on my face or in a part of the room, but now I’m pretty proficient at controlling the water ball. After this, I go back to sleep at four and wake up crying at seven, and the routine is set.

The next day was a Tuesday, instead of walking around town like usual, we went straight through the town’s marketplace. We walked all the way to the end of the town to find a cathedral on a hill. It was a large white building with architecture reminiscent of European churches, there were colorful stained-glass windows seen in the front. Inside there were high ceilings making the room seem enormous. All the walls inside were white with large stained windows telling the story of the Edraevia Kingdom's founding; with the carpet and seats being maroon, it looked like older churches built in the medieval era from my previous life. At the end of the spacious hall is the altar and behind it is a large statue of the Goddess, she looks familiar to me. I don’t know where I would have seen the Goddess, I just feel like I’ve seen her face.

My mother, holding me in her arms, takes a deep breath and is patted on the back by my father, who smiles with reassurance. They both seem nervous for some reason. When they make it up to the altar, they are greeted by a nun asking for the reason for their visit. My mother clears her voice to say, “Can we speak to Sister Aileen, it’s important.”

“I’m sorry, do you have an appointment with her? We usually have the Father, or another Priest, speak to people with important issues.” The nun says, signaling to another nun to get the Father. My mother grabs her arm to stop her from calling someone else. “I don’t have an appointment, but I know the Sister and I will only meet with her.”

With a smile, my mother tightens her grip on the nun, as if pleading with her to call the Sister. The nun smiles and my mother lets go, only to clutch onto me when she hears a loud voice. “Where’s this peasant woman wanting to have a meeting with me, I’ll bless her personally.”

My mother shakes and my father looks at her to give me to him, and she complies, worried she might have hurt me. My father tries to cover my face to shield my face from being seen. “Please call Sister Aileen and tell her it’s the Paladin.”

My mother has a commanding voice, and out of the corner of my eye I could see the nun in shock. She then apologizes for not recognizing her and runs to go get Sister Aileen. Did she just say Paladin? My mother just called herself the Paladin. I know I’ve had a lot of questions about my parents, but just what happened in this world before I came. When the nun runs out, an old man with a large, protruding stomach walks in. The top of his head shined without hair, with a short beard and a villainous looking mustache. He saunters over and looks at my mother up and down, his eyes are disgusting, and my father steps between them. “Hello, Father, we just came here to pay respects to a Sister currently working here. We heard she was transferred here a little while ago. We will just meet with her quickly and be on our way.”

My father seemed anxious, but kept a smile on his face. The old man scoffed and walked closer to try and see my mother, but my father kept blocking him. “Well, the nun that summoned me told me you had something important to discuss, so out of the goodness of my heart I’ve come to personally bless you.”

Right when the old man was about to touch my father’s shoulder to move him, two nuns rushed in. The one from before and another with an angry look on her face after seeing the old man. “Get your hands away from my guest, you dirty old bastard!”

I’ve never seen a nun curse or insult a person before, just what kind of people are my parents hanging out with? The old man seemed stunned and backed away from my father. He coughs and deepens his voice, “Sister Aileen, we are in a church, please act accordingly.”

Sister Aileen scoffs, “Act accordingly, my ass, you try and feel up women with your sick versions of blessings. If anyone should act accordingly, it’s you, you disgusting perverted bastard. Your wife and kids must be so ashamed, I bet that’s why they kicked you out the house, or was it the harassment of saints in training, nuns and female soldiers during the war that landed you in this position.”

I’ve never seen a man so physically defeated by a woman's words. She laid it on thick, there is no returning from this kind of insult, so he huffs and walks away. Sister Aileen rushes over to my mother and gives her a victorious hug, they both laugh. My mother, letting go of Sister Aileen’s embrace, jokingly says, “Aileen, I thought they sent you over here to fix your temper.”

“You know that he deserved that after everything he put you and our sisters through. It’s still crazy to see you not snap back? Have you been domesticated, Edwin, I swear if you have my sister turning into a boring old housewife I’ll kick your ass.”

My father laughs, “I would never do that, my wife is a mighty warrior, who could shackle her to washing dishes.”

My mother nudges my father to tell him to stop joking around, “Now for the main reason we are here Aileen, we need a magic element affinity test for our daughter.”

Sister Aileen looks confused at my mother, “I’ll take you to my office, but I thought those tests weren’t done until the child is five. Your child didn’t magically grow to five in the year and half that I haven’t seen you.”

We walk through a side door on the right from the big hall, we go through an open hallway. On our right there are doors along the wall and on our left is an open wall with pillars leading to the open yard to see children playing and nuns studying. At the end of the hall there are stairs going up and a smaller hallway with two doors. We walk into the first one, it’s a study that nobles would usually use. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before. My mother speaks first to explain the situation, “My daughter is only six months old, Aileen, but she cast a Blessings spell in the middle of the night two months ago. I need to know her elemental affinities and her magic potential, so we can prepare lessons accordingly in the future.”

“Damn Vivian, I knew you were special when you were named the Saintess, but to have a daughter of a few months already casting light magic. The Goddess must be obsessed with you and the child.”

My father speaks up, “All jokes aside, we really need these tests done to find out what to teach her and how soon. She’s most likely inherited a high magic capacity and control because of her eyes.”

My father takes the cloth off my face and hands me over to Sister Aileen. When I saw Sister Aileen, face to face, I realized she’s my Aunt from my past life. She was my mother’s sorority sister and helped me while my mother was in the hospital. They are still sisters in this life too, this is getting too coincidental. Also, she called my mother the Saintess and my mother called herself the Paladin. In this case, my mother seems to be an important figure, but how important to history? Does this have to do with the title I got before? I need more information. My Aunt, Aileen, looks at me with wide-eyes and I smile at her, motioning for a hug. She gives me a firm hug and looks over to my parents while patting me on the back. “Your daughter has the eyes of the Mortem Duchy, do they know about this? How was she able to get into the church without people making it a big deal? Are you guys okay?”

My aunt is panicking, but my parents both say in unison, “No one knows, and it has to stay that way.”

My father adds on, “I know the dangers, that is why she needs to be trained as soon as possible. Please administer the tests, we need to know.”

My aunt holds me as she reaches into a drawer at her desk and takes out two items, one is a crystal ball and the other is a stone slab with a handprint on it and many mana stones around it. “What was the name you decided on?”

My mother responds first, “Violet, the color of her eyes and my favorite flower.”

“It’s the flower you were compared to by Edwin, the most, what a coincidence it’s your favorite flower.” My aunt says with a knowing smile and my mother's face flashes red, and she turns to the side away from my father, who is also going a bit red. My father replies first, “It’s a beautiful flower, just like my wife and daughter! This is all I have to comment on, so continue on with the test, please.”

I laugh, but it comes out as a baby giggles, my aunt on the other hand is trembling trying to hold back her laughter. “All right, I get it, you two bookworms are made for each other! I’ll just stay the cool aunt, no kids from me and no marriage. I’m a woman ahead of my time, it’s also part of the reason I have to join back into this nunnery after fighting in that damn war, but back to your kid.”

My aunt took my hand, she had calluses on her hand, most likely from holding a sword if she said she fought in a war. Wait, the war? My aunt fought in the war! This must mean my mother had some part in the war and if she’s connected to the Empress it might make more sense that she played a major role as a Paladin or Saintess, since light magic is used to heal wounds and my mother is able to heal and fight. This is all speculation for now, but I need to find out what else is going on, so I can protect my family and eliminate anyone who stands in my way.