…

The next day, Jacob appeared in the doorway of Fate’s room. He promptly dressed Fate and carried him out of the room.

-Seriously, it’s early, why are we doing this?!

Fate was perplexed, for Jacob should have no good reason to take him out of the room. Neither his first experience with mana nor his crib being rebuilt warranted a change of scenery, so what was the explanation for this?

The clack of Jacob’s shoes against the wood floor resounded throughout the hall. It made it seem as if he was the only person in an empty world.

-They took me to some sort of office when Father tried to hire that nut-job alchemist as my teacher so maybe Father wants to see me?

This could very well be the case, but Jacob had a cold look in his eyes. If he was truly going to meet the Lord, he would probably take steps to hide what was, most likely, his natural state.

-I genuinely hope that this isn’t what I think it is. Because it’s probably…

The clack of Jacob’s shoes ceased, right in front of a large wooden door. The door was not carved with any symbols nor was it bordered with any sort of extra material, it was just a very large wooden door.

*knock* *knock*

Jacob knocked his knuckles twice against the door before stopping, presumably to wait for a response.

Agatha: “Enter.”

-Oh, sh*t it’s Mother.

Jacob: “Yes, my lady.”

Jacob pushed the door open, revealing a large hall filled back to back with enormous bookcases. However, there was a small area with a few couches, tables, wooden chairs, and a window that nearly stretched down from the ceiling to the floor.

Jacob: “My lady, I have brought the child as requested.”

Agatha: “Very good, now please set the child down and excuse yourself from the room.”

Jacob: “Yes, my lady.”

Jacob set Fate down on a small wooden chair opposite Agatha before bowing to her and promptly leaving the room, closing the door with a large creak.

*creak-k-k-k*

Agatha now glared daggers at Fate, her own child whom she barely knew. She had no intention of being cordial towards him.

-....This is like a horror movie made real. I can’t stop having goosebumps and she won’t stop staring at me like I’m her vicious enemy.

Agatha reached out her arm and grabbed a small, leather-bound red book from the table in front of her. She proceeded to stand up from the couch and walk over to Fate, with the book still tightly grasped in her hand.

……………………….

-Just who taught it what a ‘papa’ was or how to say it? How did it even learn to speak a word?

This was what was troubling Agatha as she gazed coldly at her own child, the fact that it had learned when seemingly no one had taught it to do so. Normally, young children who could speak had picked things up by word of mouth from their parents or their parents had specifically put effort into a certain few words to get their children started. But according to her order, none of the mansion staff were to come anywhere near the child’s room, except Jacob of course.

-Yet this thing, not even a year old and with no one to instruct it, managed to speak out in front of my beloved and win his favor.

She continued to advance further until she stood directly in front of the small child on the chair. She began to slowly open the book and flip through a number of pages, before landing on a page with Ilthea’s basic language on the page. In other words, she was going to test her child with the alphabet.

-There are a few other options, but this should be a good way to test it.

Agatha: “Can you understand me, child?”

Agatha waited a few moments, waiting to see any sign that the child understood her words.

Fate: “Ma..ma?”

She got a reaction she did not expect. Since the child had managed to learn at least two words, she thought that it would’ve known yes, but it seemingly knew nothing of the sort.

-Is it attempting to feint me? Or is it possible that I’m reading into this too much? I can’t see through its soul and I can only make assumptions based on evidence…

Agatha stood there, silently pondering what to do. The child cocked its head to the side as if asking her what was wrong with her.

-It can at least make motions like that...I wonder...

Agatha: “I will ask again, can you understand me? Nod your head if you can.”

She looked at the child, hoping it would yield the result she craved.

Fate: “No...ow...d?”

Again, it was neither a response she had expected nor a response she wanted, but it showed progress. If it could at least pronounce words, it was clear that it would listen to her.

-At least it can listen, but it seems I’ll have to show it how to do certain actions in order to make any headway.

Agatha reached her empty hand toward the child’s head.

Agatha: “Nod.”

She spoke in a cold, demanding voice. She grabbed the back of the child’s head and pushed it down slightly and continued the process repeatedly.

Fate: “No..od-d….”

-Does it think that it must clear its speech?

Agatha: “Nod.”

Fate: “No..d-d…”

She again reached her hand and repeatedly bobbed the child’s head up and down. This time though, she made sure that a bit of her index finger’s nail poked into the child’s neck as she bobbed its head.

-Understand.

She drew her now slightly bloody fingernail out from the child’s skin and released her grip on its neck.

Agatha: “Nod.”

Finally, having had the gesture seemingly drilled into its head, the child nodded for her. She had made progress with a child she cared not for in the least and there was still so much time in the day and so much to make this child understand.

----------------------------------------------

-Motherf*cker this hurts!

Fate was now back in his room, in his crib. Of course, only a few hours had passed, but he had been disciplined like a dog for all of them. Jacob was called with a magical pearl in his Mother’s necklace and he was then taken back to his room. But somehow…

-My 【Endurance】stat actually managed to go up to by 0.675, which if I’m being honest..seems a little cheap for all my suffering! I question if the person who made this system was f*ck damn sadist!

Indeed his 【Endurance】had increased as well as his【Stamina】, due to the fact that he had to force himself to not pass out from the pain.

-I passed out somewhere around 3 minutes and I woke up with her nail in my neck, again...I seriously didn’t think I would survive that.

It was tough, but it was definitely clear that she was intent on breaking him like a dog. It might’ve been better to use magic or hypnosis, but she had left visible marks on his neck and shoulders. For Fate, this was a clear sign and not a good one.

-I think she’s saying that she can do whatever she wants to me and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it…

Fate: *sigh* “Terrible.”

Along with the increase in his stats, Fate was now able to pronounce some words painfully clearly.

-Seriously, she swung my head to ‘learn’ the response for no, then she dug her fingernails into my hand when trying to get me to point to the right letter. I f*cked up 14 times in a 26 letter alphabet when trying to find the letter ‘A,’ but who puts the letter ‘A’ as the third in the alphabet?!

There were definitely a few differences between the languages of Earth and Ilthea- such as the placement of letter, design, and some of the pronunciation. But having simple words and letters forced into you with pain was something that scientists on Earth were familiar with.

-Might as well take a look at my stats…

Fate’s spectral blue journal appeared once again.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Name: Fate
• HP: 5.35/12.27
• MP: 1.98/1.98
• Level: 0
• Race: Human
• Age: 6 months old (18+ years old)
• Job: None
• Previous Jobs: None
• Titles: 【Familiar of Fate】

--------------------------------

• Stats:
  • Strength: 2.850
  • Endurance: 3.750
  • Wisdom: 3.5
  • Intelligence: 2.3
  • Stamina: 3.459
  • Agility: 1.9
  • Fortune: 1.0
  • Magic: 0.47

---------------------------------

• Passive Skills: None
• Active Skills: None
• Unique Skills: None
• Equipment: Fate’s Journal(Soul-bound)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-I guess it is an improvement but is every day going to be that sh*t?!

Fate was tired and so, retired to sleep. He would await the next day, but it would be much the same as the one he was sleeping to get out of.