[Lilia Pov]
Lilia was a royal maid in the Asura Palace harem.
In addition to her usual duties as a lady-in-waiting, the role also required her to act as a guard.
She was expected to take up arms and come to her master's defense if necessary.
She was devoted to her duties, carrying out her work as a servant without fail or fault.
But when it came to her role as a fighter, her swordsmanship was, at best, merely adequate.
As a result, Lilia found herself completely outmatched when an assassin struck at the newborn princess, her opponent's dagger catching in her leg.
The blade had been coated with poison, the kind that would kill even a member of the royal family, a troublesome toxin that couldn't be cured with purifying magic.
Thanks to the wound being quickly treated with healing magic, and a doctor's attempts to neutralize the poison, Lilia had managed to survive, but there were lingering aftereffects.
They weren't an impediment to her daily life, but she could no longer run at a normal speed; her gait was reduced to a clumsy one.
Lilia's life as a warrior had come to an end.
The palace quickly dismissed her from her position.
Lilia fully understood why. It only made sense to lose a job she could no longer perform.
Although this left her unable to pay even her basic living expenses, given her position at court, she considered herself fortunate that she hadn't been secretly executed.
And so, Lilia left the capital.
After a month of wandering around Fittoa, Lilia finally came across a job that caught her attention.
A low-ranking knight from Buena Village was looking for a housekeeper.
The ad specified that they were looking for someone with experience in childrearing, who could also act as a midwife.
Buena Village was a small village at the far end of the Fittoa region.
It was in the middle of nowhere, even in the middle of nowhere. The location was inconvenient, but otherwise, it was everything Lilia had been looking for.
The fact that her employer was a gentleman, even a low-ranking one, was another unexpected blessing.
It was the employer's name, however, that really caught her attention. It was one Lilia recognized: Paul Greyrat.
The two had a somewhat complicated history together, so he didn't hesitate to hire her when he saw her.
And then the child was born.
The birth itself was uneventful, and everything proceeded as it should according to Lilia's training.
Even in situations where complications might typically be expected, everything went smoothly.
But once the child was born, the child didn't cry.
Lilia broke out in a cold sweat. The child's face was expressionless, its nose and mouth had expelled amniotic fluid, and it made no sound.
For a moment, it seemed as if it had been stillborn.
But when Lilia drew closer, she could feel the baby's warm pulse and the stirrings of its breathing.
However, it did not cry. Lilia remembered something she had heard from one of the maids who had taught her: Children who did not cry at birth tended to have a host of abnormalities.
At that very instant, however, her thoughts were interrupted.
"Ahh! Waah!"
Lilia wasn't sure when she had developed an instinctive fear of the child.
Was it then, with him slipping away whenever he was out of sight, always needing to be located?
Rudeus always wore an expressionless face, even for a baby.
Whether she was in the kitchen watching the vegetables,or the flickering of a candle in its holder, or the uncleaned underwear, he was always muttering under her breath, murmuring words in a language she didn't understand.
She could only wonder why this child was so strange.
Was he possessed by something evil? Had some curse been placed on him? When she considered those possibilities, Lilia
knew she couldn't just stand idly by.
She ran to the store, spending a small sum on what she needed.
Then, when the Greyrats were asleep, and without asking Paul's permission, she performed a traditional banishing charm from her homeland.
When Lilia picked Rudeus up the next day, she was sure: it hadn't worked.
The baby still had the same unsettling aura. Just the look on his face was enough to give her the shivers.
Lilia had once heard a story in the palace harem.
When Prince Asuran was still a baby, he crawled all over the harem, night after night.
It turned out he was possessed by a demon.
Unaware, one of the attendants picked him up, pulled out a knife he'd hidden behind his back, and killed her by stabbing her in the heart.
It was a gruesome story.
And Rudeus was like that. Lilia had no doubt: This was another case of demonic possession.
Oh, the boy was calm and placid now, but once the demon inside him awoke, he would tear his way through the house while the family slept and kill them all one by one.
Lilia had been very, very impulsive.
She should never have taken that job. At some point, she knew she was going to be attacked.
After all, she was the type who took superstitions very seriously.
And so, Lilia lived in fear for the first year or so.
...
[Rudeus Pov]
It had been approximately two years since I was reincarnated.
My legs had finally developed enough to walk.
Also, I could finally speak the language of this world.
It was a long, tedious, and painful process, but I could finally feel some autonomy in my small body.
But even so, that didn't take away from the fact that there's nothing to do in this house. Besides, I'd openly confirmed that this is another world, and magic had fascinated me. So, as a way to pass the time, I set a goal to learn magic, or at least understand it.
But there was something crucial I had to attend to: reading and writing.
Yes, I had some long-term plans that I jotted down and crossed off on an imaginary list in my head:
learn to walk, learn to talk, learn to read and write.
I could cross off the first two, but the second half would become my main priority.
So now I decided to learn to read. There were only five books in our house.
I didn't know if that was because books were expensive in this world or because Paul and Zenith weren't big readers.
It was probably a combination of both.
However, even five books were enough to learn how to read.
The language of this world was close to English, so I was able to learn it quickly enough.
The written characters were completely different, but the grammar was close to what I knew, which fortunately meant I needed to learn vocabulary, a good chunk of which I had already been exposed to. My father read to me, which allowed me to easily grasp the words.
My new self being better at learning things probably also had something to do with it.
Once I could read, I found the content of our books quite interesting.
I had never had fun studying at any point in my life, but after thinking about it for a bit, I realized it wasn't so different from looking up new information about online games.
And that wasn't so bad.
Anyway, I wondered if my father knew his little boy understood the things he was reading.
I mean, I was fine with it, but I thought a normal boy my age would throw a tantrum or something, so that's what I did.
These were the five books in our house:
Wandering the World, a reference guide to the different countries of the world and their unique characteristics.
The Ecology and Weaknesses of the Monsters of Fittoa, which details the various monstrous creatures of the Fittoa Region, where they lived, and how to deal with them.
A Magic Textbook, a manual of attack spells, ranging from beginner to advanced levels.
The Legend of Perugius, a fairy tale about a summoner named Perugius and his companions, who battle a demon and save the world in a classic epic of good versus evil.
The Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth, an action-adventure story where three master swordsmen of different styles meet and delve into the depths of the labyrinth.
The last two were fantasy books, simple fairy tales for normal children, although I must admit they are quite interesting.
As someone who came from a world without magic, the opportunity to read actual documentation about it was very relevant to my interests.
Reading the book taught me some of the basics.
First, magic came in three types: Attack magic, for combating others; Healing magic, for healing the wounds of others; and Summoning magic, for summoning things.
And that was about it.
It seemed like there were many other things you could do with magic, but according to the textbook, magic was something that was born and developed in battle, and therefore wasn't used much outside of combat or hunting.
Second, you needed magical power to use magic, meaning anyone could use magic as long as they had magical power.
Third, there were two ways to do magic: incantation and magic circles.
This didn't need much explanation: It simply referred to reciting words or inscribing mystical patterns to cast a spell, respectively.
For the time being, I decided to try my luck with the simplest magic I could.
The most skilled of mages, the book said, could cast spells without incantation at all, or at least drastically shorten the incantation time.
However, I wasn't sure why training allowed people to circumvent incantation.
With A Magic Textbook in my left hand, I extended my right hand and began reciting the words.
"Let the vast and blessed waters converge where you will and let a single, pure stream gush forth... Waterball!"
I closed my eyes while I waited for the result and...
"Oh..." my voice came out involuntarily, having achieved nothing.
It's okay, it's okay, it's not like you're going to achieve everything on the first try.
But I still couldn't help but frown at the unfolding events, but crying won't help me here at all.
"Fuu...concentrate," I muttered to myself as I pointed my hand again toward the window.
"Let the vast and blessed waters converge where you will and let a single, pure stream gush forth, Waterball!"
I cast the spell again and felt a strange sensation in my arms. It was as if a chill ran through my veins to the palms of my hands, and then...
"Nothing," I muttered now with a frown.
But it was so good, so good? What was that feeling in the first place? Who knows how many years it takes to master an art like this?
"Third time's a charm!" I announced in a hopeless tone, and when I raised my hand again toward the window in my room, my vision blurred.
"Uh?...Wh-what's wrong?" was all I managed to mumble.
I felt terribly tired. My body felt heavier than usual, and I couldn't help it, but I fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes.
Have I really used up all my mana? I couldn't even cast a single spell!
...
I woke up after who knows how long, with a hand caressing my head.
"Rudy...remember to go to bed when you feel tired, okay?" my mother said softly, and I nodded.
"Dinner's ready. Are you hungry?" she asked, and I nodded again. Ha, so it's dinner, huh? I must have passed out for at least three hours.
Dinner was vegetable soup and a drink that looked like milk, but I didn't dare ask what it was.
My first attempt at magic ended in failure, even after three attempts, and with the news that my mana reserves are minuscule...
But that's no reason to cry. I lived more than two decades without magic.
What's another life without magic again? Besides, I felt very close.
I was never one to give up on the first try; this was simply the first test of this new life.