Laudat looked up, staring straight at her eyes, unbefitting of his age of mere five months, and opened his mouth.

"Mama,"

A single word that made everyone on the table silent.

"Hey, dad?" Naya nudged her father with her elbow. 

"Yeah…?" 

"Did the baby just talk?"

The baby in question stared at them, as if, no, understanding their conversation, which left them even more baffled.

"Dadda~!"

"The kid's talking! He called me dada~!" Laudat held his laughter in, as he saw his father jump up and yank him from his mom's lap. "You love your Dadda, little guy? Wanna go around with him for a while?"

"Dadda, Dadda!" Laudat laughed out loud, repeating his words consciously, as he looked around to see his mother's bright expression. 

Of course, anyone would be happy if they kid was to start talking so many weeks before normal. Lucas himself only knew of one such case of a baby talking at his current age from his past life, which was seen as something outrageously absurd by some people even in the 2000s, let alone at this time in development. 

"Eh, but he… Laudat is so smart!" his small sister started speaking, but soon Kau changed her way of speaking completely, as she was covertly instructed by the toddler to remain silent. Yes, he had put a finger on his lips as soon as she started talking.

After all, she had seen him learning to talk many times over the last few weeks, while he thought everyone was asleep.  She giggled a little, as they checked around whether the rest of the family knew something was up. Kau and Lau were accomplices now, and that felt thrilling for the two of them, smiles plastered across their faces.

The diner ended quickly, with most of the sisters taking turns in holding the poor nauseated baby up, trying to have him to say their names.

'Oh, come on, I made a grave mistake! A GRAVE MISTAKE!' Laudat held himself from starting to cry, something about his baby body taking a toll on his ability to control his facial expression and contain his real feelings.

"Mom, you should do something. Lau is about to cry!" The relief he felt when Zhay saved him from the whole ordeal was enormous. And he extended his arms towards his mother. It should go without saying that, aside from this moment, Zhay had spent the entire time eating. For a few months, Laudat had just looked in awe at her small face with round cheeks, wondering how she didn't grow fat. It was only when his mother took him to the fields, and he saw the girl run around carrying stuff to their father and sisters that he understood. While everyone else was strong, Zhay was fast! And well, the entire family used her speed to its fullest. 

"Come here my boy, don't cry. They are just a bit too excited about you talking." She put him to rest on her shoulder, shooing the rest of the family to their room, including Zhay and Kau.

Laudat felt a little bad for the two of them, since they had helped him so much tonight, and stared as Zhay went to the room behind his mom while taking Kau by the hand. As soon as he saw Zhay looking at him, he extended his hand towards her, opening and closing, which made the girl stop for a second, and blow him a kiss.

'My sisters are so damn cute!' Laudat thought, his face growing a little red. 

"Time for your dinner," his mom said, doing her usual thing. She put him on her lap, since she needed both hands free in order to pull her dress down and expose her breasts. If Laudat was just a normal adult, it could've felt extremely inappropriate for him to be doing this kind of thing, but he honestly did not care. After all, this was his main source of sustenance. Even in the case he were to feel nervous, anxious or even embarrassed, his other choice was starving. 

It was quick for him to get used to being breastfed. Also, there's no way a person who was used to seeing others naked professionally would not be able to not see nudity in a sexual way, especially his new mom. 

But there was one thing the baby Laudat could not, ever, no matter what, defeat. His sleepiness after eating, and the unfightable urge given from his bowels as soon as he filled his stomach. And so, like clockwork, he would eat, change diapers, and sleep.

Only to wake up a couple of hours later, while everyone was asleep. 
'Good, perfect timing," he thought, sitting up in bed. After a couple of months spending the night looking blankly at the ceiling, Laudat had finally figured out how to sit up as a baby. It was a lengthy process, which involved turning around, raising his chest with both arms, and kneeling on the bed, before letting himself fall back into a sitting position. He knew there had to be a better way, but he hadn't found it yet. 'God, I never expected to regret not studying more about developmental practices for babies… Had I studied those, maybe I would know how to gain control of this body faster,' he thought,  slowly getting into a lotus pose. Not because there was a need for it, but because he couldn't properly cross his legs yet. 

After a few months, Laudat had started feeling a weird tingling on his skin when he was completely silent, and he was now trying to tack that tingling down. After all, this world had magic.

*pling*

'Got it!' Laudat thought, as he pinpointed a tingling place. 'Focus…' he closed his eyes, focusing on a part of his arm where the feeling was happening. And slowly, he felt what it was. It was like a wave, slowly running through his body. The tingling place was the entry point and following that feeling he found another, on the opposite side of his arm, though the feeling was much smaller there.

'Could it be this is what mana is? And that I'm absorbing some of it?' he thought, not realizing he was kind-of spot on. 'Now… if it's being absorbed, shouldn't I be able to feel where to?' he thought.