Miss Lilia was nice. A bit scary, but nice.

Because of my little slip up and panic... stupid baby body and uncontrollable expressions.

Anyway, because of that, she realized that something was up with me.

Thankfully, she just thought I was a natural born genius instead of a reincarnator. But the fact that she picked it up was impressive.

Or maybe my parents were just oblivious.

...That was probably more likely. I didn't think I was that great of an actor either, so it was definitely that.

But anyway, Miss Lilia and I started spending a bit more time together after that. Unlike with my parents, I could relax around her.

I wasn't too sure why. Maybe since she also seemed a bit 'broken?' Jaded?

Either way, Miss Lilia was super nice to me after that. And she also helped me out whenever I wanted to do something, like reading a book or practicing how to walk.

Right. I learned how to walk. Properly this time.

Turns out that the whole parents holding the baby's arms while they toddle around wasn't just for show. After a week or so of secret practice with Miss Lilia's help, I managed to be able to walk around by myself.

...I also learned that baby's butts were very squishy and that it was definitely the best way to break your fall.

My mom was super happy about my newly obtained walking ability when I surprised her with it. And Paul was even more adamant about me being some sort of natural born genius that would turn into some master swordsman.

As if. I wasn't a genius. I just had a leg up on everyone here since I had time and not a single concern in the world. Not only that, but I had to work super hard to get to this point, you know? Most other babies would just get it without thinking. *I* had to actually think about how to make things work!

But that was just me complaining.

And like that, time passed. Nothing too exciting other than the fact that my dad left the house more often on patrols or something and that my mom spent more time in the clinic.

Or something.

I had a feeling it was more like they wanted to just be loveydovey outside of the house since I was starting to get a bit more independent, but I wasn't about to test that hypothesis.

Speaking of hypothesis...

Magic was real.

I was convinced of it now. Especially after Lilia read me that story book.

Three swordsmen who dove into a magical labyrinth with a hundred floors and leaving with crazy sword styles that could do things like slash at light speed... Paired with the fact that my mom definitely healed my shattered limbs with a magical chant and all the weird colors floating around, I was about 95% certain this place wasn't Earth.

Well, unless magic existed back in the day on Earth and the records were just erased. But I saw a map hanging around my dad's office and unless the world had changed *a lot* or we had been kept under a giant lie, this wasn't Earth.

Anyway, I was apparently reborn in a fantasy world. Who'da thunk it?

Then this weird thing I kept feeling was... probably mana? And the colorful lights were probably mana too.

I was really tempted to try to mess with those floating colors. But considering that I had bad enough luck to get killed on the way home for Christmas in a freak accident, I didn't want to tempt fate.

Instead, I just focused what I had floating around my body.

Now that I knew what I was looking for, I could actually see it. Like everyone else, I had a weird color floating around my body too. But unlike the others, it was... different? A lot denser. Not only that, but where theirs was like a mist that hovered around them, mine was mostly in my veins and blood vessels. Or at least, it traced out something that looked like my veins and blood vessels.

I had to squint to see it though, so I wasn't too sure about that.

What I did know was that the light was a bloody crimson color and that it moved in sync with wherever I focused that 'flow' or 'pressure' I was used to feeling.

Conclusion: 90% probability that it was my mana.

And since it was mana, it was probably a malleable energy source that I could use at will... which meant having more of it was probably a good thing.

So, between doing some daily exercises, hanging out with Miss Lilia, my mom when she came back, and Paul whenever he wasn't flirting with my mom, I spent my free time focusing on figuring out what I could do with my mana.

Well, that and practicing math. Also some memory techniques.

Since magic existed, I was sure that memory was going to be important later. Especially if it was something like the Dungeons and Dragons system where you only had specific spell slots.

I didn't *think* that was the case since my mom's spell didn't seem to work like that. But either way, memory was useful.

As a result, my daily routine looked something like this:

Get woken up and taken out of bed by my mom or Miss Lilia.

Walk around while babbling and trying to get these developing vocal chords to work.

Get fed.

Try manipulating my mana in different ways to get better control of it. At the same time, hang out with whoever wanted my company at the time. Usually either Miss Lilia or my mom. Though Paul brought me outside once to watch him swing his sword around.

That was pretty cool. Especially with how the silver light kept swishing around with his body and sword.

Anyway, after that, more food. Hanging out with Miss Lilia or my parents in the evening. And then I got tucked in by my mom... or Miss Lilia.

Seriously, she was basically like my second mom. And she reminded me a lot of my real mom too...

Ah. There's the familiar gnawing regret.

Moving on... after being tucked into bed, it turned into a frantic race of me practicing mental math, memory techniques, and manipulating my mana to wear myself out enough to fall asleep before I had to listen to my parents and their 'pillowtalk.'

And that was pretty much it. Peaceful days hanging out with my new parents, spending time testing out various hypothesis, relaxing by following Miss Lilia around and watching her do chores... An easygoing fantasy life.

And like that, two years had passed since I was born.

-LIV-

"Hm." I looked at the stairway and placed my hand on my chin. "Should I go take a look?"

I was two years old now. A toddler that could walk around the house with ease.

Because of that... the formerly big house wasn't that big any more. I'd seen all of the rooms in the house now, at least on the first floor.

They weren't much either. A dining room/kitchen combo. A living room. A master bedroom for my parents. Miss Lilia's room. And then a bathroom.

Ah, I slept in the living room by the way. It was in the middle of the house, so it had easy access for everyone in the house in case of an emergency.

That was... probably why I was put there.

I'd like to think that was the case anyway.

But anyway, the second floor.

I knew there was at least my dad's office. Miss Lilia took me there sometimes. And I knew there were a few spare guest rooms since I'd seen Miss Lilia clean them out.

And there was a storage room.

That was what I was curious about.

I remembered seeing a dusty thick tome there when helping Miss Lilia clean one time. And if I remembered right, it was definitely something about magic.

So... today was the day.

Paul was out on patrol. Mom was helping out the doctors in the village with her healing magic. And Miss Lilia was doing laundry outside.

Technically, she was supposed to be watching me. But we had developed a bond and mutual understanding that I was free to do whatever I wanted.

And today I wanted to seriously try to figure out magic.

My coordination was top notch. After that mistake when I was younger, I made extra sure to improve my coordination.

Always when Mom was nearby though. Always had to have that safety net.

Anyway, my coordination was top-notch... at least for a toddler. I wasn't clumsy, and I was very skilled in moving around.

Well, that's what I told myself. Affirmations were key to a positive mental attitude!

So, climbing the stairs was a cinch. Should be a cinch.

...Will be a cinch?

I looked at the dozen steps leading up and sighed. "Here goes nothing."

One.

Two.

Three...

Six...

And I made it.

Nice!

...I didn't know how the heck I was going to get down, but that was a later problem. Right now...

I walked over to the storage room and fiddled with the doorknob.

It was unlocked. Good.

The door slowly swung open to reveal... a mostly empty room.

There was a wooden box in the left corner of the room with some old clothes and what looked like adventurer gear. Leather armor and stuff.

I ignored that. It was cool, but I was too small to do anything like that anyway. Instead, I looked at the right corner of the room.

There, a leather-bound tome lay forgotten on the floor.

Well, not completely forgotten. Considering how there wasn't a speck of dust in the storage room, it meant that Miss Lilia probably left if there after cleaning it up.

Or maybe mom used it as reference and placed it on the floor? She seemed kind of ditzy at times, so I wouldn't out it past her.

Anyway, I walked over to the book and plopped myself down. After that, I picked the book up and turned it over to examine it.

"Guide... to... magic? Magic."

I was pretty sure that's what the book was called. Letters in this world were still a bit weird, but at least they were letters instead of characters like with Chinese or Japanese. It was basically the alphabet. I just... wasn't very fluent with it yet.

Yet.

"Let's see..." I opened the book and started reading.

And then I realized that I needed to do a lot more practice before I could even begin to think about magic since I didn't understand a single word of what I was seeing.

"...Okay." I closed the book and put it back. "...Maybe some easier ones first."