Chapter 1:
A… Different World?

 

When I opened my eyes, a brilliant light shone before my eyes. I could only squint in discomfort. There were two fuzzy, obscured figures directly in front of my vision.

When my eyes adjusted, I could see the figures more clearly. A beautiful young woman was gazing at me. 

Who… is she? I thought.

Next to her was a young man who looked to be around the same age as the woman, also staring at me. His awkward smile was being directed at none other than me. He looked confident and proud, and he was well-toned on top of that. 

Brown hair? Must be a foreigner. I would have reacted differently if he weren’t so damn handsome. 

The woman smiled at me and began speaking… only I couldn’t understand a word of it. It sounded almost Western, something like a romanic language yet different in a way I couldn't wrap my head around. 

The man replied to her, and his awkward smile faded into a more genuine-looking one. 

Now that’s a pretty face. I thought to myself.

A third voice joined in, but I couldn't see who was speaking. I tried to get up to see them, and maybe ask what was going on. Despite my lack of conversation skills, I could at least do that much.

Or so I thought, as all that came out was, “Waah! Ahh!”

Seriously? What type of brain injury…

And I couldn't move at all. My arms, legs, and fingers failed to obey me. It’s like I was paralyzed. Wait, that could make sense–that truck had pummeled me into the ground, so I’d understand if I was paralyzed. But this place didn’t look like any sort of hospital that I’d seen. I doubted the couple in front of me were doctors, so what was up?

The brown-haired man said something to the other voice, and proceeded to… pick me up? 

Absurd! I weighed over a hundred kilos–err, surely he couldn't pick up a grown woman so easily.

But what the hell? Maybe I had lost weight after being in a coma for a few months? In any case, picking me up without warning was just plain rude. 

He gave me a peck on the forehead, which I would have enjoyed if not for my mind racing trying to figure out exactly what was happening. 

Finally, my arm obeyed me. I lifted it to try to tell them something, only for a tiny, babyish hand to come into view. 

What?

***

Life right now was hard enough just to experience, let alone recount it. So, let’s jump ahead a month. 

About me being reborn. It's been long enough. I couldn't delude myself about this being a dream anymore. This was the harsh reality: I was a baby.

Reincarnation, I presume. I’d heard about such a thing every so often when it showed up in various novel plots. Even I’d written a short story about it. To think I was going through the real deal, with my memories intact?

Enough about that. I came to know that those people I first saw were my parents. If I had to guess, they were definitely in their twenties. Oh, what I’d do to be twenty again. That aside, they certainly were close. They were all over each other half the time I saw both of them together.

This also wasn’t Japan. The language was so different, plus my parents didn't have the natural Japanese facial structures I was used to. My new parents wore strange clothes, as well. My father wore a pale white tunic with a slim pair of pants, and my mother wore a moderate-sized dress skirt and a woven long sleeve shirt. I couldn’t see any pipes under the sink, nor could I find any light switches. 

Wherever this was, it was not a well-developed nation. 

Oddly enough, we had a live-in maid who seemed skilled at her job. So, it wasn’t like we were living off of scraps either. She had pretty, straight reddish hair. She was also wearing glasses and a maid's dress that I never saw her without. 

Maybe she was my father’s relative? Who knows. 

I had wished for a do-over, but this whole predicament was just odd. Couldn’t I have been reborn into some fancy-pants urban household in the States or something?

 

***

 

Within three months of my new life, I came to know the true nature of my doting parents. They were genuine sex fiends, going at it like rabbits day after day. I can see why the maid was so uncomfortable every time they started to… get it on during the day. 

Seriously, enough of that, and maybe the maid would get pent up and… hah. That sounds like the plot of a trashy eroge. I could realistically see it happening, seeing as how good-looking my father was. But I’m not particularly attracted to him. Probably because he’s my father, after all. Probably something going on subconsciously.

My mother would always cook our meals with the help of the maid. We mostly had stew and potatoes, which were extremely bland compared to the ramen I used to have daily.

Well, beggars can’t be choosers.

The maid looks at me thoughtfully every so often, as if she was trying to figure me out. It kinda freaks me out a little how much she does it. But a little staring never harmed anyone. She was nice enough, I guess. 

Daily life here is hard for someone like me. There was no plumbing at all, no electronics to keep me occupied, and the bath that we have is just a shallow bucket big enough to fit two people. 

The rooms are quite spacious, although that might just be because I’m an infant. I like watching the fireplace from where my mother plops me down, which is my one comfort here. It’s a nice distraction from all of the problems I have now.

One thing that I can never get used to, though, is my bladder.

 

***

 

Another 3 months went by. I had been fervently listening to my parents converse with one another, hoping to try to decipher some of it. After a few months of that, I managed to get the gist of what was being said. Even though I wasn’t terrible at English, I was surprised at how fast I had picked it up. Maybe what they say about kids picking up languages more easily is true. 

Around this time, I had finally managed to crawl. The days of being stuck and hardly being able to move around were over. And boy, did I take advantage of it. 

“As soon as you take your eyes off her, she slips off somewhere,” my mother said, smiling cheerfully.

“Hey, at least she’s active. That means she’s healthy.” my father replied, watching me crawl around with a smile plastered on my face.

 “You know, I was worried about her when she was born and never cried,” he said, facing my mother.

“Well, she still doesn’t cry much nowadays either, now does she?” 

I had the mind of a 34-year-old, so I wasn't exactly compelled to whine every time I got hungry. I still did occasionally cry when I tried yet inevitably failed to control my bladder. 

Being able to crawl opened up tons of possibilities for me. I explored everywhere. It's hard not to get bored if I stay in the same place for too long. I found out a few things. This house was certainly a rich person's house. The house was a wooden, two-story structure with over five separate rooms, and we had one maid on staff. 

Speaking of, the maid deferred to them the way a servant would to a lord, so my sibling theory was thrown out the window.

Our house was located in the countryside. Outside the windows stretched a peaceful, pastoral landscape. From the looks of it, we lived in a sprawling village. There were a few houses here and there dotting the landscape, usually near wheat fields. Seriously, we lived in the middle of nowhere. There were also no telephone poles or streetlights to be found. 

I had more or less come to the conclusion that I was reborn sometime in the past. But, I never dwelled on it too much. The thought of there being no electronics anywhere in the world depressed me.

This place was way too pastoral. It grated on me more than I’d care to admit. This place, albeit peaceful, was a bit drab to me. Here I was, having been reborn, dying for some source of electronic entertainment. I’m sure an insane amount of people would’ve loved to live in this place instead of me. I carried on regardless, the feeling of boredom always at the front of my mind.

However, all of that changed one afternoon. 

Even with the added luxury of being able to crawl, my options were limited. I’d already explored all of the house, so there wasn’t much more I could do. I decided to view the scenery again by climbing on a chair and looking out through a window. My eyes widened as I saw my father swinging a metal sword around. 

What on earth was he doing? He was old enough to know better than that, seriously. Was he one of those people? I shuddered at the thought. 

In doing so, I started slipping off the chair. I tried to catch myself, but I was still subconsciously operating under the assumption that my body was the way it used to be. The room flipped upside down as I slipped off of the chair.

Oh… right in the head!

I heard a cry of alarm. “Lumi!” My mother rushed towards me. 

The maid followed swiftly after her, saying, “Young Mistress!” My mother reached me and cradled me in her arms.

Our eyes met. She sighed in relief and stroked my head. “Thank goodness.” 

Could you be a little gentler with my head? Whammed it into the ground just now, you know. 

“Even after that she isn’t even whimpering…” The maid anxiously stated.

Given the look on her face, I must've had a hell of a fall. Was I going to be permanently brain-damaged or something? Wouldn’t change much if that was the case.

God, my head was throbbing. I wasn’t used to this kind of pain. My mom seemed to be on cloud nine, however. That probably meant I wasn't bleeding or anything. It was probably just a bump…

A sharp pain coursed through my body. I winced and tried to reach out to my mother, but couldn’t muster the strength to do so. Was I seriously going to die this fast? 

“Mistress Zenith!” The maid exclaimed.

My mother panicked and placed her hand on my head. What was that going to accomplish? As I peered up at her, she began to speak.

 “Let this divine power be as satisfying nourishment, giving one who has lost their strength the strength to rise again.” 

What? No, you're kidding me. Is this the country’s equivalent of kissing a boo-boo to make it feel better? What a joke. Not only was my father acting like that, but my mother was like this too. Just what family had I–

“Healing!”

My mother’s hand shone with a dim light, and the pain in my head was instantly gone.

Eh? 

My mind exploded. What had just happened? Magic? Sorcery? Witchcraft? All sorts of terms flew around my head. 

My father, seemingly having heard my mother’s shriek, came inside. “What’s the matter? Is Lumi okay?” He was sweating, most likely from all that sword swinging he was doing. I was starting to see things in a new light–was my father a genuine swordsman?

“Honey, you’ve gotta be more observant! Lumi here climbed up on the chair and could have been seriously hurt.” 

“Aw, that’s on me. But you’ve gotta admire the kid's spirit. She’s got a ton of energy.” 

“Sweetie, she isn’t even a year old yet! Surely you could spare some concern.”

“It’s not that much of a problem, really. If she gets some scrapes and bruises here and there, she won’t be a dainty little princess when she grows up. And besides, if she gets hurt, you can just heal her!”

My mother pouted. “I’m just worried that one day she’ll be badly hurt to the point that I can't heal her.”

“She’ll be fine.” My father offered.

My mother pulls me in closer, her face getting red. 

“You were worried about her not crying, but if she’s this energetic, we’ve got nothing to worry about.” My father then leaned in to kiss her. 

In front of the kid? Really now?

After that, they put me down and headed upstairs to make me a sibling. I’m not kidding, they were loud enough for me to hear it from here. I guess there was more to this life than boredom and confusion. 

And also… magic?

 

***

 

Because of all that, I began paying close attention to the conversations my parents had. Thanks to it, I noticed they used a ton of different names. I assumed these were countries, regions, and towns from the way they talked about them. All of which were completely unheard of to me. I would have normally passed this off as me just being uninformed about the world, but thanks to that whole show, I think otherwise.

That could only mean one thing: This place, whatever it was, wasn’t Earth. In other words, I was in a different world. A world of Swords and Sorcery. 

Isn’t that so damn exciting? I spent my whole previous life worrying about the future and things I had no control over. But here? I could live as a regular girl doing typical things in this world. Whenever I tripped, I could pick myself up, dust myself off, and continue moving forward. 

My former self lived a life full of regret and pain, feeling frustrated at how she never accomplished anything. But here I could do it differently.

I could finally live life right.