2 Chapter 2

Another Chance: Learning Again

~ One Year Later ~

Now Ashura Nakamura has lived in the world of Gaia for nearly a year as Kaida Mytheria who was apparently a princess that lived in the middle of nowhere. Though she has yet to speak or walk, her mother Elizabeth Mytheria still cares for her even if she worries at times for her daughter. She was not the only one who worried as they lived with three maids: an elf named Elena, a fox demi-human named Bree, and a wolf demi-human named Alicia.

At the moment, Elizabeth held Kaida in her lap while the former read a story about the great kingdoms. "There was once five great kingdoms that lived in an almost never-ending war with each other. The human kingdom, the demi-human kingdom, the elf kingdom, and the merfolk kingdom were at war for nearly one hundred years. During that time a new kingdom that stood for unity was created at the center of the four, that kingdom was Mytheria."

'Mytheria is the same as my last name. I'm the princess of there and yet my new family doesn't live in this kingdom.'

"The kingdom of Mytheria was home to many races besides the long-dormant demons. It was established by a family of Beast Tamers who had the help of their tamed beasts to build the kingdom and keep the citizens of the kingdom safe. But the royal family was the same family who built the kingdom, yet they were feared because of their most infamous beasts: dragons."

'So dragons exist here as well. I hope I get to meet one.'

"These dragons were feared by the other kingdoms for their high levels and incredible feats. So, the four kingdoms stopped fighting and made an alliance called 'The Four Pillars of Gaia' to defeat Mytheria."

'So Mytheria is gone now.'

"And a year later, Mytheria was wiped off the map and we're one of the last few survivors. Isn't that amazing Kaida~?" She cooed as she lifted Kaida off of her lap and held her above her own head. Of course, this was another attempt to Kaida to say her first words. It usually started with a story then moving Kaida around until she would make Elizabeth stop her.

Though this attempt seemed to be failing like the others, even if Kaida was trying to speak, her vocal cords were a bit undeveloped. "Momma!" She wailed out as Elizabeth stopped moving her in the air for a second. The next second, she hugged Kaida as tight as she could, out of motherly affection of course.

Then, Elizabeth held her little baby close to her bosom before jumping up and down while rubbing their cheeks together. A happy moment which was ruined when the elven maid, Elena, got tired of the shaking throughout the house and went upstairs before knocking on the door.

"Mistress, you're shaking the house." She said politely, though it sounded muffled through the closed door. So the excited mother couldn't hear her maid, which naturally made the maid slam the door open to silence them.

"Oh... need something, Elena?" Elizabeth asked nervously as she held Kaida next to her waist, which was also being hugged by Kaida in pure fear of the elven woman.

Without a word, Elena adjusted her glasses as Kaida got a good look at her. Overall, her figure was quite slender and tall even under a maid's dress, but she was a bit taller than Ashura was on Earth which was a bit annoying. Along with that figure was an emotionless face with a pair of under-rimmed glasses that hung slightly loose on her nose. Her face was framed by dark green hair that was styled into a high ponytail that went down just below her shoulder.

"Keep the noise down. This may be your home, but you're not the only one living here." She said before grabbing the door handle and starting to close the door.

But of course, she was stopped by an overexcited mother whose child was the most important thing in their life. "But Kaida just said her first word! She said 'Momma'!" She happily complained as the maid stopped closing the door and looked at the child in Elizabeth's hands.

Elena eyed the baby with small tufts of silver hair and golden eyes, all interesting features that were noted in her head. "I suppose we can have a small celebration. Maybe you can summon your beasts for Kaida to see. It's been a while since you've seen them and there should be at least two or three alive since the fall."

The suggestion made Elizabeth's eyes become stars if you could describe such awe as something like that. "That's a great idea! When Bree and Alicia get here, I'll go summon them!" She said happily before running out of Kaida's room and leaving her in the hands of Elena.

Now, Elena looked at the infant in her arms who had a mixed expression of excitement and worry. So, the elf started to caress the baby's head softly and held Kaida's head against her bosom. The action soothed Kaida as Elena brought her downstairs into the living room where a leather couch was with a coffee table in front of it.

But compared to Earth, there were no electronic devices like a television, instead, they were replaced with magic objects like a crystal orb connected to different networks. So it functioned as a radio, though there was only one network that spread news across all the kingdoms; the network was based in the human kingdom in one of its many cities.

Other than that, some appliances like the oven and sink in the kitchen, which was next to the living room, was fueled by mana instead of gas or traditional plumbing though it was a bit more eco-friendly since mana was used then restored after some time.

However, Elena simply brought Kaida to the couch as Elizabeth ran through the house in excitement while she waited for the two demi-human maids to get back home from their hunt. As the curious twenty-one year old inside a 1-year old's body, Kaida slipped away from Elena who was busy picking things up and stood on the ground shakily. The little stunt caught the attention of the two women, but Kaida ignored them as she tried to walk forward, only getting through seven steps before falling backward onto her little baby bottom.

"Aww!" Elizabeth squealed before picking up Kaida again and rubbing their cheeks together, much to Kaida's annoyance. "You took your first steps! I'm so proud of my little princess!" she continued to squeal as Elena covered her ears and looked at the infant princess in sympathy.

Well, at least something stopped Elizabeth's squealing. That was Bree and Alicia walking into the cottage, both with their ears held down and a large rucksack full of meat and other materials like bones and pelts.

"Did we miss anything?" Asked the fox maid, Bree, as Kaida was pushing herself away from Elizabeth who kept a strong grip on her.

"Kaida spoke her first words and took her first steps today! Isn't that wonderful?" Elizabeth continued to squeal until Kaida slammed her pudgy baby hand into the woman's cheek to make her stop. "And she's getting sassy~. She's just like me when I was younger~." She teased Kaida at this point, even holding Kaida above her head.

"Mistress, you're a bit loud," Alicia said as Elena nodded in agreement. But Bree was absolutely ecstatic at the news.

"Should we have a party? No, let's just have some cake? Actually, a party sounds delightful." That was her train of thought as she went back and forth between ideas while Alicia took Kaida away. At least someone was considerate to make sure Kaida wouldn't have hearing problems or brain damage from the two overjoyed women.

"What are we actually doing?" Alicia asked as she was basically cuddling Kaida with the way she held the small baby. Although, she was usually the more reserved one of the maids and did many more subtle and underhanded actions when the others weren't paying attention.

Compared to Elena who was nearly emotionless and always calm. "I believe I told Mistress to summon her beasts for the princess to see. Though she seems to have forgotten about that." She replied before going into the kitchen and starting to cook dinner.

Alicia joined her after sitting Kaida down on the couch, making her watch the two excited women until dinner was done. Well, she preferred to check the notifications from the System or as the people of Gaia called the HUD system.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Quest Completed: First Steps

Take your first steps. The amount of time doesn't affect your rewards.

Rewarded: [Instant Level]

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Level Up; Kaida Mytheria Level 2

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Quest Completed: First Words

Speak your first words. The words spoken don't affect your rewards.

Skill Rewarded: [Speech]

'That's interesting. This must be part of the tutorial or something from those deities that made me stuck as a princess. I want to hurt them so much, but this could be worse.' Thought Kaida as the two women continued to talk about celebrations while the other two were still cooking a large meal. 'What does the Speech Skill do?'

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Speech (Passive) Level 1 of 50

Allows the user to speak to anyone. Through further leveling, this skill can be used to trick someone or communicate through different languages.

Skill Unlock Level 30: Multilingual

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

'That'll be interesting. But the earliest unlock is Level 30. I suppose that's fair, it helps with deception and stuff anyway.' She thought once more, but it looked like she was staring off into space if not for the screen in front of her.

"She can use the System too!" Elizabeth exclaimed before hugging her daughter which got rid of the skill information screen. "And she's not even five. You're full of surprises, aren't you Kaida~?" She teased as Kaida nodded her head in response. "Smart too. How about we meet some of my beasts after we eat dinner?" She asked again as Kaida nodded her head, but her eyes almost looked like they were sparkling.

So after a large dinner for the household of five, they went outside where Bree held Kaida and even tickled her with her fox tail. Which made Kaida laugh and Alicia a little jealous since her wolf tail couldn't be like that when she held Kaida.

Anyway, Elena pulled out a silver bow out of thin air just in case. With that precaution, Elizabeth walked a bit further away from the cottage and held her hands over her chest, the right hand clasped over the left hand.

"[Beast Summon: Nera]!" Elizabeth shouted as the marking on her left hand glowed a soft blue color which matched the summoning circle that was created from under her. And a few seconds later, a sea blue dragon rose from the circle and was taller than a five-story house.

Looking over the dragon, it had dull colored scales so it was probably a female. But it was specifically a wyvern, a dragon with wings connected to its arms or the legs near the head. She also had a barbed tail that seemed like a spearhead while it was easily double the length of her neck. While her head held two horns on the side that went back and curbed inward near the tips and the rest of her body had a small trail of spikes along her spine.

"My Queen, why have you called me here?" Nera asked telepathically which amazed a one-year-old Kaida who amazed the two maids watching over her that she understood Nera at all. Usually, Beasts don't open up their mind links to people they haven't met or bonded with. "*Sniffs* I smell Dragon Blood, so your child lived after all."

"Of course she did, she's my daughter! And she's got some dragon blood from me too, so she can communicate with nearly any creature, just like me!" Elizabeth boasted which would've gotten her killed by most dragons, but Nera looked more intrigued as she extended her head closer towards Kaida.

Yet Kaida didn't seem scared of the creature that could swallow her whole if it wanted to, rather she was intrigued and even touched Nera's nose when she got close enough. "You're an interesting one. Awakening Dragon Blood so easily and you're barely an infant." She said in interest before walking over to Elizabeth and wrapping her body around her in a protective manner.

"Now that that is done. [Beast Summon]!" Elizabeth shouted once again as two more spell circles were formed on the ground. The first created a manticore that roared once it was summoned. The second created a white fox with nine tails and blue flames on the tips of each of them. "So only Miles and Kuriyuki survived the fall..."

"I am sorry, Eliza. It was too overwhelming and we could barely help evacuate the ones you told us to." Said the nine-tailed fox or Kuriyuki as Kaida would assume.

"It is truly our fault, Mistress." The manticore bowed down in front of Elizabeth this time so it should be Miles. "We weren't strong enough, but I was in the middle of a nap."

For some reason, Elizabeth facepalmed at the comment and just petted Miles on the head before petting Kuriyuki a bit. "It's fine, but before you go how about you meet my daughter? She spoke her first words and took her first steps today."

This time the two creatures didn't say anything as Miles was at least as tall as the first floor of a building and Kuriyuki was just slightly bigger than most foxes. Yet they calmly walked towards Bree who held Kaida in her arms before Kuriyuki tickled her with one of her tails. Once the fox did so, Miles sniffed the girl and eyed her carefully afterward.

"Dragon blood... in such a little girl. She's an enigma, but I must get going before someone tries to take my territory again." Said Miles before a spell circle formed under him and he sank into it.

Leaving the kitsune or nine-tailed fox and the dragon with the Mytheria family, Kaida looked at Kuriyuki carefully. After a few seconds, the fox noticed and tickled Kaida a bit with her tails.

"She'll be doing great things when she's older. She even has the eyes of a hero, just like her mother." The fox said as Elizabeth looked proud of what she's done. "Keep an eye on her, she gives me the feeling of adventure and danger that I haven't felt since you fought in the war."

"Let's just hope she isn't too much like me then," Elizabeth said nervously before Kuriyuki left as well through another spell circle. "Anything to say Nera?"

In response the blue wyvern looked around the forest, then at Kaida, a little glint in her eyes. "I may have a gift for her fifth birthday if she becomes a beast tamer as well. But you'll have to wait until then." She said before a light blue spell circle that matched her scales appeared under her, making her sink into the ground and appear somewhere else.

With a sigh from Elizabeth, this chapter ended. But next time, Kaida will be a little bit older and I'll have a stat sheet for all of you to refer to.