Chapter 3 - Alfred Slowlet

The next day after listening to the magic lesson from Kamisama in the white space in the dream.

I immediately tried to practice magic on the baby bed in the morning.

But I can't manipulate it properly at all.

I feel something like a warm powerful feeling around my chest but it doesn't react at all.

I quickly reach out to something in front of me (to be precise, within myself) but like smoke it quickly vanishes.

Anyway, it's irritating.

I understand it somehow because I watched Kamisama's magic.

In this world of swords and magic, it seems that everyone has mana.

From the farmers to the nobles and the king.

From the babies to the adults and the elderly.

It's possible to increase the amount of mana depending on the training but it seems that it's also dependent on the person.

There are people with a large amount of mana initially. A few people.

Although there is a large amount of mana initially, very few develop their mana. Many people. Don't develop at all.

It seems that there are really different people.

And what is magic? It's using mana within yourself and using mana in the air to cause an effect.

Chanting is the key to influence mana.

The words are called as magic characters.

Magic is invocated when mana is activated like this.

If the magic formation is correctly drawn using the magic characters, it's possible to invoke magic just by sending mana.

Recently, it seems that there are magic tools embedded with magic formations that have been developed. It seems to be still few.

For the image of the invocation of magic, it's no problem at all.

Appropriate mana manipulation is needed in order to use magic. Even if a glass full of water is imagined, the effect of the magic falls tremendously when excessive mana or when a small amount of mana is put.

You can actually feel fatigued even with a few uses of magic when a large amount of mana is used.

In order for the mana to flow throughout, it is necessary to manipulate the amount of mana to appropriately match the different kinds of magic.

In other words, mana manipulation is really important. Furthermore, isn't the one which raises more levels the magic amount?

And, in order to increase my mana so that I could use space magic, I need to exhaust my mana.

By doing so, it seems to increase by a small amount.

About 1?1 I'm not really sure, but still, I exhaust it only once every day for 365 days.

No, I don't know if there are 365 days in this world's calendar, but even specks of dust when collected can form a mountain.2

I must continue it properly.

I cannot exhaust my mana even now.

However, I'm still just a one week old baby.

There is still time.

Though I say that, nothing can be done with the current situation, I can't do anything, and it's like even if I grow up I won't be able to use space magic at all...Iyada.3

ーーーーー

One month later.

Thanks to my mother, father, and occasionally, my sister talking to me every day, I was able to understand the language little by little.

Father also decorated the room's wall with a letter chart.

In order to learn the language early, are you trying to have the shape of the letters make an impression on the baby?

Is it similar to listening to classical music when a baby is still in the stomach?

Although there is no need to be hasty, I'm very happy.

「What isー ーーーthisー?」

I point at a letter while smiling and as I see mother giving an explanation, I become happy, mother also becomes happy while explaining.

「Dear! Al is amazing! 」

「You're right. Al isーーーーhoweverーーーー」

Although there are words that I still don't understand, my name is Al. It seems.

I don't know whether it's my full name or nickname, but it was good to know my name.

I quite like it myself.

I who can feel the love my family since a baby am already happy.

My mana manipulation is going well too.

It wasn't possible to use mana in the first week.

I got impatient.

The last day of the second week up until now, only a little mana can be used. It feels like an unmoving faucet was twisted just a little and mana flows out.

When the mana flowing all of a sudden from the chest was felt, I nearly cried in the feeling of accomplishment.

I was able to invoke light magic but it only shines faintly.

I was also able to exhaust my mana.

This is an excellent situation.

ーーーーー

3 months later. Because I can finally understand my parent's words, I am happy recently.

My name is Alfred Slowlet.4

My mother's name is Elna Slowlet.5

My father is Nord Slowlet.6

My older sister is Eleanor Slowlet.7

And, my older brother is Sylvio Slowlet.8

It seems like the house of Slowlet is a baron peerage thanks to the achievements of father, the peerage is low but it's not poor. It seems to be good as it is.

Mother seems to be from a merchant's lineage, she is also able to use a bit of magic. Recently light was used and fireball was produced to delight me.

In fact, my father who has a thin and gentle image was a former adventurer. Is it the type of clothes he wears that makes him look thin? He is actually quite muscular and has a strong body.

I wonder what kind of achievements my father achieved.

Thanks to the aid of my old life's intuition and moderate exercise, I can now roll around in the bed.

If I'm not mistaken, an ordinary baby should be able to roll over at around four to five months.

Although it might be a little early with three months, I'm slowly unveiling it near my parents too.

ーーーーーー

『I demand it. Light that illuminates everything. 』

I chant inside my mind and invoke the magic on my fingertip.

The efficiency rises the more I get used to it, the time to unite the chant and the mind seems to decrease too.

Moderate brightness lights up from my fingertips.

It becomes impossible to smoothly pour a fixed amount of mana when around 30 seconds have passed, and it begins to lose brightness.

Muー, it's very difficult to continue pouring in a fixed amount of mana.

However, the new record is 30 seconds.

The limit was about 20 seconds before. Is the increase in the amount of mana a favor too? Can I invoke light seven times again after 30 seconds?

When I felt the sense of accomplishment in my heart, footsteps can be heard on the other side of the door.

Is it my father or my mother?

「Pardon my intrusion. 」

So as not to make a sound, the woman with the figure of a maid entered slowly and quietly. Her age is probably around 20 years old.

She wears a black dress with a long skirt and an apron with white frills.

She wears a headband on top of her pitch black hair that does not have any creases.

I was also a person with black hair. Somehow, it's nostalgic.

Nevertheless, she is a maid. Well, isn't this thing more or less natural for a noble's family?

I have a feeling that a maid had never come to my room.

Didn't my parents take care of the baby by themselves? Such things as cleaning the room too were all done by my father and mother.

「Because of Nord-sama's absence due to work, it has been arranged that I will be assisting Erna-sama this time. My name is Sarah. My best regards. 」

Sarah bows with beautiful motions.

Ahー, Now that you mention it, I think my father said something like he was going to leave last night.

I was already sleepy and it was too late.

However, lowering her head for a baby that is only three months old since birth. Isn't she polite?

「I will proceed to clean the room at once. 」

I will answer courtesy with courtesy.

「Aiー」

「N!?...Is it a coincidence? I was surprised because the timing was goodー」

Were you surprised with my voice? A natural expression comes out from Sarah.

Though I can see a dignified appearance that looks like an adult, from the natural expression, is she actually around 17 years old?

Sarah continues cleaning from one place to another.

「Please excuse me. Alfred-sama. I am going to replace the futon. 」

To replace the futon, Sarah puts me on the floor with one futon.

Chance! The door is open now.

Sarah is cleaning the bed and turns her back on me. Let's go.

I roll outside the room and explore the residence!

I continue to roll around the red carpet spread out on the corridor.

It looks large and wide probably because of a baby's low point of view.

Oops, if I was in front of a door and someone comes out, I'll immediately be returned.

I continue to roll around the corridor.

Besides a room which is also being cleaned, the door next to it is also opened.

There is no one here. Although there is the minimum, a chair and a desk, it feels quite lonely. Is this a vacant room?

I continue rolling towards the next room.

Ah, it's the stairs heading down. Then, is this the second floor?

When I peeked into the room next to the vacant room, there is a slightly good looking desk in the room, there are bookshelves but it's not crammed to the limit, the books are arranged side-by-side.

Is this place something like a study room? Although I'm interested in the books, I can't reach it yet. It looks like I can reach it if I use a small chair.

Okay, let's go to the next room.

「Huh? Alfred-sama is not here!? Where is he!? 」

I heard the surprised voice of Sarah from my room.

This is bad! I will be returned to my room.

When I was worried on what I should do, I heard footsteps coming from the stairs.

「Yoisho, yoishotto.9 Fuuー10, Water is very heavy to carry. ...Ah. 」

「Au... 」

My eyes met with the brown-haired maid who finished her batch that went up the stairs.

It's over. My adventure.

「Eeeeh!? Alfred-sama!? 」

「Eh!? Mel, is Alfred-sama there by any chance!? 」

Sarah comes over from my room.

「Eh? Yes, we are in the study room. 」

「...When did. 」

「Sarah. Weren't you cleaning Alfred-sama's room? 」

「Actually, when I was cleaning the bed, I took my eyes off of him a little...」

When Sarah's voice became weaker, Mel leaks out a sigh.

「Moー, we left it to Sarah because you have the most experience in taking care of a baby among us. Get a grip on yourself. 」

「Yes, I'm sorry. ...Uー, how did you end up in such a place? 」

「It's still too early to crawl too. 」

「「...How the heck did you do it? 」」

ーーーーーー

Night.

「Madam. There is a report about Alfred-sama. 」

「Ara, what happened? 」

「When I took my eyes off of him today, Alfred-sama moved to the study room unnoticed. 」

「Ara~? Mou, is he able to crawl now? 」

「It is still too early. 」

「Though I've also seen it some time ago, there was no particular abnormality, wasn't there~ Let's observe more carefully from now on. 」

「Yes. 」