One of the first things I'd realised after being reincarnated, was that the life of a baby was not something I was fond of.

  At all.

  Being one was just… awful.

  Not that I'd thought it'd be fun. It was just… worse than anything I'd imagined.

  It isn't something most people think about, and for good reason at that, but as the first person to be experiencing this, I would much rather not be.

  From the moment I'd realised I was dead on that bridge, to the night I was reincarnated here, all of it was bewildering, at minimum.

  All of That had happened so fast, that it was only the morning after that I'd realised—

  I can't do anything.

  It was horrible, in so many ways.

  One, it was mind-numbingly boring.

  Every day was exactly the same as the one before it, bleeding into one massive mundanity. It had been around four or so months since the day I'd been ‘born’, and I couldn't recall a single memorable event in any one of them.

  It has been four months… right? Urgh, I can't tell.

  That was one more thing. My mental faculties had massively deteriorated. I hadn't been able to even properly think until now.

  And because of this, my ability to tell time had gotten really screwed. My ever-reliable internal clock, which I'd relied on for practically my entire past life, had now up and vanished into the same void my past body had fallen into.

  That I spent nearly a third (was it a third?) of the day asleep, only added to that.

  But, it wasn't just boring. No, no, why would it only be that.

  It was also utterly humiliating. Being that, I was constantly soiling myself two, three, four times a day. Then, I also had to have someone clean me up too.

  Of course, can't forget how weird it felt to be breastfed either.

  Uggh.

  Horrible. Extremely horrible. Just the worst. But, even that was something I could tolerate. Dissociating wasn't even that hard.

  No, out of everything, the really, truly, actually horrible part of this was that I couldn't move!

  Embarrassment? l could bear with it. Boredom? I'd already gotten used to that.

  But this? This was the worst. I had never felt—

  Calm down.

  I sucked in a deep, shuddering breath as I forcibly calmed myself down. Even with that, a stray tear or two still dripped down my cheeks.

  See?

  This was what I meant. I'd regressed so much that, when I got even a little worked up, a river started flowing out of my eyes. Whatever maturity I had before? It was now subordinate to my brain's whims.

  I shifted a bit, the cotton baby-clothes I was wearing uncomfortably scratching against my skin.

  Right at that moment, a stray ray of sunlight beamed through the window and hit me right in my overly sensitive baby eyes.

  Argh!? What the hell?!

  In pain, I rolled over onto my side unconsciously. Normally, I wasn't able to move my body according to my own will. I guess this was enough of a shock to my system for that to happen.

  Why Sun? Why!? What did I do to deserve this?

  I laid there in pained silence, as cringed whimpers leaked out of me. The ray of sunlight was still hitting my cheek head-on, heating it up to an uncomfortable extent.

  Finally, blissfully, after some time, the pain in my eyes finally receded, and I opened them again. Unfortunately, I was now feeling tired again, as my eyelids began feeling heavy, drifting closer and closer to shut.

  ...How annoying.

  Why'd I even get reincarnated? Not like I wanted this.

  …

  In the blink of an eye, another two months passed, just like the ones before it. Nothing particularly important had happened, other than my increase in age.

  But, even if nothing else had happened, I had learnt something. Actually, it'd be better to say I had something confirmed to me.

  My new parents, these two people the same age I had been, were… good people. Great, actually. And, that went for their parenting as well.

  Which was… new.

  My parents in my past life had been far colder. Not abusive per se, just… weren't very attentive. To me or my previous older siblings.

  These two, on the other hand, were completely different. It was almost overbearing, how much attention they put on me.

  It was like I was the most precious thing in the world to them.

  I guess it's a sign of the times, then?

  And now, being that I was already on the topic, it wouldn't hurt to mention the last member of this family, being the older sister I had.

  Seems like it's simply my fate to be a little brother in every life.

  I'd seen her peeking over my crib and looking at me sometimes, like she was trying to make sense of what I was.

  She seemed around… five or so and looked just like her—our mother (still didn't come naturally to me). Same blonde hair, same green eyes, just a bit paler skinned, not sun-kissed like our mother.

  A shrunk down version of her, really.

  She was a cute kid, though I didn't know her very well. I only saw her from time to time and since I didn't know the language, I couldn't understand whatever it was that she said to me.

  She seemed like a pretty reserved child. Didn't talk much, and kept to herself. Despite me being her 'younger' brother, I'd seen her come here only a few times per month.

  Who knows. Maybe she's busy with something.

  As busy as a five year old could be, at least. Still, she was only five. Children changed a lot as they grew up, something I was an example of. She could definitely change a lot these coming years.

  And that was about it.

  Even with my physical ability having improved slightly, which I was grateful for, it still wasn't good enough. I'd barely started crawling a month ago, and it was rough.

  I shouldn't have to say for you to understand just how annoying that was. It just itched at me in just the worst way possible.

  And of course, I would complain more, and believe me, I definitely wanted to, but that'd do me as much good as trying to drive a nail into a rice bran.

  So, instead of wasting my time on useless venting, I think it'd be far more effective to use it on something actually useful. That being, learning the language of this place.

  It was pretty annoying to have to constantly wonder ‘just what are they talking about?’ whenever anyone said something around me. If I wasn't able to walk, then I'll at least try to get what the people around me are saying.

  …

  You know, it wasn't like learning a new language was something I was unfamiliar with.

  I'd had to learn more than a few for my job and because of that, picking this one up wasn't difficult at all.

  I'd been making quick progress, and by now, I could parse through some of the things they said.

  “Kl’aa’venn thiur ho’ldeen… b’rek’fasst, b’rek’fasst.”

  Ah, funny timing.

  Looks like Grace is cleaning the halls again. It must be afternoon now.

  The night of my rebirth, I'd seen another two women alongside my two parents. One of those woman was Grace, who as I'd learnt not too long ago, was the household help.

  A maid for some kind, if you would. She muttered a lot. A habit she shared with the rest of this household.

  One that was very beneficial for me, actually. It gave me quite a lot of material to help in deciphering this language.

  Also, her presence here was just another thing pointing to that my parents were wealthy. Not super rich probably, considering we didn't live in a mansion, but certainly comfortable.

  In fact, because of that, I was sure now that the both of them had jobs. It was nice to know, and would certainly come in handy some time, but I’ll get back to Grace and her mutterings for now.

  While the first part of her sentence wasn't as clear, the last part was. I had heard it often enough and had enough context clues to understand that it definitely meant breakfast.

  It was pretty late. She was probably asking Elise about be tomorrow’s breakfast. Elise, by the way, was my mother's name.

  Elise Bluestone.

  Of course I'd learnt my new father's, mine and my sister's names as well. Which were Aaron, Caelum and Ariane Bluestone, respectively.

  My progress was steadily increasing, and I was sure I'd have it all down pat soon enough.

  If only my physical progress was this fast.

  I could sit up pretty comfortably by now, which was pretty sweet. Unfortunately though, I still couldn't. Trust me, I've tried. More than a few times at that. And yet, it was impossible.

  “Haaaah…”

  Another sigh. I've been doing that a lot these days.

  Probably a sign of the utter lack of stimulation I had. If only I had more freedom of movement. At least that way, I'd have some way to occupy my time.

  …I guess I'll just have to be satisfied with crawling for now.

  Looks like it's rolling and crawling around for the foreseeable future. Surely doing those repeatedly would speed things up. At least a bit.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  It had to—

  Creeeeeak.

  Huh?

  I sat up, looking at the door. It was Elise, carrying a handful of unlit candles.

  “Oh Cae. Yuou're stiolu’ll auw’ke.”

  I nodded, and then stared at her with what, I hoped, looked like a curious gaze.

  “Don't miu'nde me dear. Yuou go buack to suoleep, okiay? It's nuot’ por'peur for cohil’druion to suita’y up late.”

  She set the candles down on the table and came over to tuck me in. I didn't resist and let her pull the cotton covers over me.

  As soon she turned around and sat down however, I immediately sat back up again, staring at her again.

  I wonder why she didn't light those candles up beforehand. I'm pretty sure matchsticks haven't been invented yet.

  Elise sat down by the desk in the room, after which she took one candle from the handful she'd brought. The fingers of her right hand stretched out then, as she held the candle in her left hand.

  What is she doing?

  And then something truly fantastical happened.

  Her eyes scrunched up in concentration and not even a second later, a tiny ball of fire floated into being above her palm.

  What?!

  She just made a ball of fire appear! Out of nowhere! What the hell!?

  She's using a magic spell!? To light up a candle?! She didn't even break a sweat! Like it wasn't even something to think about.

  This isn't some medieval Earth. Not at all. This is a completely different world.

  A terrible chill ran down my spine. Suddenly, I felt short of breath. Like I was being crushed into the ground by a ponderous stone.

  I wasn't ignorant of the dangers that would have existed in such a time period. Nor did I think I would somehow be shielded from it my entire, cloistered away from peril.

  Danger wasn't a stranger to me at all, and nothing a medieval Earth had would catch me off guard.

  But this… this was different. Entirely different.

  I don't know this world.

  If Elise, who casted magic like it was nothing, wasn't extremely wealthy, then magic wasn't some rarity.

  It was something accessible.

  As I lay there, listening to Elise’s faint breathing and the scratch of her needle threading fabric, a bead of cold sweat rolled down my forehead.

  I couldn't stay like this. Ignorant, weak, vulnerable.

  Not to mention, whatever it was that had happened on that bridge, which still itched at my mind.

  I need to understand this world. And I need to learn magic.

  Fast.

  …

  The day I'd discovered that this wasn't Earth was like gaining another eye.

  All of a sudden, many of the oddities I'd brushed off clicked into place, like the pins of a lock.

  I didn't know the specifics of medieval technology, but I did know that the insulation, preservation, clothing and food here were pretty far ahead of Earth.

  The signs had all been there, and I'd been too sure in my assumptions to have thought otherwise.

  I really need to work on not being so tunnel-visioned and sure of myself. Probably wouldn't have even been dead otherwise.

  Now, as for how my progress in remedying said ignorance was going, well, it was certainly… going, at a pace.

  An annoyingly slow pace.

  I'd declared it with such conviction, that I absolutely would not let this world, this new world, stay an unknown to me.

  And I had meant it. Genuinely meant it.

  But, since I was still just six to seven months old, I couldn’t get right to it. That was mostly because I couldn't read. Yes, that was the big hurdle I had to metaphorically vault over. I also couldn't walk, which was the other hurdle.

  Books were the way I would make this world known to me, and to do that, I had to both be able to reach them, and read them. And I knew there was a large stockpile of books in this house.

  Elise and Aaron had both read more than enough books to me for there to be no doubt about that. So, figuring these two out were my current priorities.

  And of them, there was only one I could actively speed up.

  “Abuh-gah!” I said, excitedly cheering at the fairytale anthology Elise had walked into the room with.

  “My, you really do love these stories, don't you Cae?” She said, a mix of surprise and delight evident in her voice.

  I nodded up and down, almost bouncing in place, as I reached out for her to pick me up while I put on the best impression of a happy child(which it was).

  It made Elise happy and more willing to indulge me. And it's not like I wasn't happy about it either. Win-win for both of us.

  As she picked me up and placed me in her lap, I thought about how it was truly a blessing of fate that I'd been born into a family that was literate.

  Because of that, my first step was as clear as the cool breeze of a spring morning.

  I need to be read to as much as possible. And through that, I could pick up which letters, pronunciations and much more.

  I snuggled into Elise’s lap(it was very comfortable), the heat from her body seeping into mine and warming it of the cold that had begun setting in.

  I was quite satisfied with myself, for having set this up. Elise and Aaron used to read to me only about every three days or so which, while beneficial, simply wasn't enough.

  Therefore, the frequency of these reading sessions would have to increase if I wanted to be able to read anytime soon.

  And now, through a bit of emotional signaling and acting, I had managed to bump up the number from twice a week to twice a day.

  I was quite impressed with myself. Then again, acting was one of my few skills, so it wasn't that much of a surprise.

  Now, hopefully, they'll begin teaching me to read soon enough. That'd make things go even faster. Parents started doing that a year or two in, didn't they?

  Now, since I've set that up, the only things left for me were to give it my all. And keep working on getting myself walking.

  Finally, another step closer.

  …

  “Come on now! You can do it, Cae! Just a bit more!”

  “Steady now Cae! You're almost there!"

  Two voices rang out together in the living room. One, usually deeper and more measured, now high-pitched in excitement. The other, usually clear and graceful, now excitedly cheerful.

  Under the gaze of their owners, as well as that of Grace's, I pulled my body up, lifting my body from where it was resting on its knees to upright.

  I sucked in another breath, the cool air of spring tenderly settling inside me, as I let go of the wooden stool I had been holding onto, and took a step forward.

  Don't fall! Don't fall! Please don't fail me now legs!

  My first step was stable, as was the second, and the third and fourth as well. I continued taking steps, little by little, until eventually, after a full minute passed, I’d fully crossed from one end of the living room to the other.

  And so, because of that, I could now confidently state that—

  I CAN WALK!!

  “A-ha! Ha-haha-h!”

  A laugh tore out of me, shaky and child-like. It was a happy one, the happiest I could remember. My shoulders shook from the sheer intensity.

  Let's go! Finally, I can walk!

  “You did it! Congrats Cae!”

  “Thank Auroeus! Congratulations Cae!”

  Thanks Aaron, thanks Elise. I couldn't have done it without your help. Literally, since I wouldn't have even figured out how to stand without you two helping me practice the feeling.

  Ah. This… feels great. It's only the first step, I know.

  But still, making progress had always and still did feel amazing. Nothing could get me down now. I turned and began making my way—

  Air rushed past the back of my head, as I saw the floor rapidly approaching me. With a loud thump, my forehead had a passionate, teeth-knocking kiss with the hardwood floor.

  …Come on now?

  An annoying, disturbing, painful ache pulsed on my forehead as I stayed laying there. I reached up a hand and felt the distinct, utterly familiar, sensation of bruised skin. Along with that, a wet, sticky something was also there on my fingers.

  Why's the floor so damn hard?! What kind of wood can scratch skin this easily?!

  Tears and drops of snot from my eyes and nose, as well as of blood from my forehead, dripped down together, pooling onto the horrible wooden floor.

  A warbling, shaky cry made out from my lips. It was an unconscious reaction, yet one I felt had to happen. One of the many reminders that I still had a child's body.

  Of course, just because it had to happen, didn't mean I did actually want to cry in pain. It was just my body.

  Really!

  “Ah! Cae! He fell over! Grace!” said Aaron, characteristically panicked.

  It was just what I'd expected from him. An emotionally charged shout of concern.

  Elise had said something too, though I hadn't heard what exactly. She too had yelled for Grace, a rare panic in her voice.

  “Yes,” said Grace, smoothly making her way over to me.

  Hmm? What's Grace going to do?

  It wasn't as though I'd never been injured before. Even without taking my past life into account, I'd had more than my fair share of falls, trips and hitting my head.

  Of course, they'd been out of anyone's sight. They’d heal up in just a minute or two, with even the residual pain completely vanishing. It was surprising really, how fast my injuries got better.

  Even if the injuries I'd had before now were extremely minor, they shouldn't have taken so little time to get better.

  Maybe it's genetics? Something inherent to the people of this world? Could it be something to do with there being magic?

  Regardless of the cause, they'd heal fast. So fast, I hadn't ever thought to say anything.

  And because of that, I didn't know what Grace was going to be doing now. She appeared in my line of sight, staring down at me with her dark grey eyes. She knelt down beside me, extending out her right arm.

  I instinctively touched my forehead again. While the sticky drops of blood were still there, nothing else was flowing out anymore.

  Really, really weird.

  It's gotta be something about this world that's causing this.

  A glowing blue light shone upon me then, radiating out from Grace's palm.

  It was a warm, comforting light, like being wrapped in a thick blanket in the middle of winter, a cup of steaming tea in hand.

  I looked up at her, eyes still wet with tears, as the pain contracted, shrunk and then disappeared. I physically felt the skin on the back of my head smoothen out and heal, not even a trace of it left.

  This is healing magic isn't it? It has to be right?

  All of a sudden however, I realised that I felt very drained of energy. I was perfectly clear-headed just a moment ago, but now I felt exceedingly tired.

  Huh. That's strange. Why am I suddenly so tired? Is this some kind of side effect or something?

  “Are you feeling better, young master?”

  I nodded at her, teary eyes nearly blinking shut.

  She both stood and picked me up in her arms in one go, handing me over to Aaron, who squeezed me tight to his chest.

  Okay… okay. I know you're worried, but lighten your grip a little please.

  “Ahh! Daddy's sorry Cae! I should have caught you!”

  … How would you even do that?

  “We're really sorry dear! I hope you're feeling better now at least!”

  ‘Really, I'm fine.’

  ‘It didn't even hurt after the first few seconds.’

  All things I did want to say to them, because it was the truth, though, my body didn't allow me to actually talk just yet.

  I did want to console them, since I really was completely okay. It was actually more strange that they were still hung up on this?

  I mean, it's not like I'm still bleeding or anything.

  Ah well, probably some otherworldly cultural difference.

  “How about we take a nap for now, and you rest up a little. Is that okay with you dear?”

  No. Not really.

  Unfortunately for me though, my own body disagreed with me. I was… very tired. And so, I reluctantly nodded yes.

  As soon as I did, they took me out of the room and up the stairs. Aaron cradled me to his chest as he went up the stairs.

  Now that I think about it, isn't this kind of weird?

  I mean, it was embarrassing for me, sure. I was twenty four before I got reincarnated here, and I was being babied by people my age.

  Not only was it humiliating for me, it was also something really creepy for them.

  I mean, isn't it really horrible to think that your child was secretly a grown man? At least, it was pretty bad to me.

  I am never telling them that I'm a reincarnator. I didn't see a single benefit, for me or for them, in doing that.

  Because of that unsettling realisation I just had, I instinctively inched away a bit from Aaron.

  Well, even with that, I was still pretty satisfied with myself. Only a year in, and I could already walk, albeit very slowly and steadily. It was progress and it felt good.

  The last thought I had before my trip down to dreamland was a promise to myself.

  I definitely have to get to those books, whichever room they're in.

  …

  I tiptoed across the hall outside of my room, and with as delicate of a touch as possible for a two year old, I creaked open the door.

  This room was where the books were kept. A small library of sorts. As soon as I stepped in, the smell of dust and old books wafted in. No ink though, probably because neither Aaron or Elise wrote much.

  Tucked into the corner of the room was an average-sized wooden desk, and right beside it was a small shelf. One that was, luckily, short enough for me to reach easily.

  I closed the door behind me, cringing at the creaking noise it made.

  Hope nobody heard that.

  I waited for a bit, listening for footsteps. Thankfully, none were heard, which meant I was safe for now.

  Standing on the tips of my toes, well tips of my shoes, I reached in and grabbed three of the four large books. The smaller booklets I took a glance through.

  Nothing about them interested me now, though. Most of them were practical manuals, like weapon maintenance, foraging, butchering and such. I didn't need such things just yet, though I would be coming back to them later.

  Of the three volumes I'd taken, the one that stood out to me first was the thickest one.

  The Encyclopedia of Avon, is it?

  Just what the doctor ordered.

  I set the other two, which were a geography and history book respectively, aside and laid down on the floor, since I couldn't reach the desk.

  Taking a deep breath, I cracked it open, a curious, nervous anticipation swirling inside me. I flipped past the first few pages, until the table of contents appeared. In it, each division of this four hundred pages long book was listed, in order.

  The first section, and the one that caught my eye, was titled succinctly and yet, was all the more interesting for it.

  It was “A Brief Introduction of Our Home, the Grainmill Continent, Avon”.

  Well, here goes nothing.

  …

  Snap!

  I set A Brief History of Alfrein beside me, as I turned over onto my back.

  I stared up at the ceiling, counting spots where moisture had darkened the wood while I gathered my thoughts.

  It had been two months or so since I'd started reading the books here, one for figuring out how to read the more complicated words and another for actual learning.

  Over this period of time, I'd learnt quite a lot.

  First and foremost, let's start with the good news. The village that we lived in, Brockley Village, was in a very safe location. It was in the Kingdom of Alfrein, in a border county, far from the capital and from any kind of political nonsense.

  Even better, Brockley village itself was not anywhere near said border either. It was far away, at least a few hundred kilometres from my estimates.

  In fact, there was a massive mountain range, called the Wintra Mountain Range, right in-between the county this village was in and the actual borders.

  That would make invasions quite difficult, and very costly.

  If it's true, that is.

  A publicly available map was far from trustworthy. Who knew how many secret routes, tunnels and traversable paths there were. Not to mention what effects magic would make on travel.

  Unfortunately, it:s something I'll have to accept for now. Not like I could cross-reference with another map. Or that there was a better one available.

  Fortunately, something did assuage my worries slightly. Apparently, Alfrein was one of the two continental powers here, only rivalled by one other nation, that being the Empire of Svyatozima.

  And along with that, Svyatozima itself was all the way on the other side of the continent, and had the Arm of Wintra blocking it for hundreds of kilometres, by my estimate.

  Furthermore, in the current year, the other countries surrounding Alfrein, being Camryn, Taranor and Albion, were also in a calm lull of sorts.

  Overall, the entire region was politically stable and from the general trends, would remain so for at least a few decades, which would be more than enough time for me.

  Well, that's great.

  Just hope that it's true, and not the writer's misplaced sense of patriotism.

  That was it for the good news.

  As for stuff outside of the Avon continent, there… wasn't much mentioned. There were three other continents mentioned, being Sanctus, the Primus Continent, and Jador, the Magic continent.

  The only thing mentioned was that the founding king of Alfrein was from Sanctus and travelled a perilous journey over the oceans, which were still dangerous, all the way to Avon to pave his own way.

  That was it. Literally nothing else was mentioned. The author didn't even say anything besides Jador’s name.

  It was actually really frustrating, honestly. I know scribes and writers can be biased and whatever, but this was a bit much!

  Ahem.

  Regardless of my personal feelings about it, there wasn't any more information about the wider world available.

  Now for the slightly interesting news.

  Monsters.

  Now, while their existence wasn't surprising at all, their proximity definitely was.

  The Near Forest, the name of the outermost part of the Wintra Mountain Range's sea of trees, was only a few dozen kilometres away. Which meant any of them were only a few hours away, at most.

  It was said that monsters didn't go very far from their habitats. Still, I hope there weren't any exceptional circumstances to prove that wrong anytime soon.

  I'd read about ‘beast tides’ and things like that in novels, and boy were they a terrifying thing to think about. Let's hope nothing like that exists, and if it does, I hope it doesn't happen anytime soon.

  Even with that, I was kinda excited to see what they'd look like. I wonder if there would be any differences?

  The ones I remembered were utterly horrific. Any luck, and these wouldn't be as puke-inducing. Who knew, maybe I could even use them for training. Regardless of where my talents lied, for or against combat, I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity.

  And, that was about all the information that I felt was relevant for me. There were other things, but they weren't anything that would likely affect me, so I wasn't as focused in on them.

  So, I put it away, my eyes drifting onto another book. One much thinner, and also, much more interesting.

  The Principles of Magic.