Chapter 2: A Hopeful Wish

I was just a normal reader living a rather average life with an average paying salary. I was barely able to live a normal life due to some unfortunate accident, like how I failed to get a limited character from a collab event banner. Man, I still felt the regret creeping from my past life. But now, I'll try not to make another regretful event by standing upright on my first try!

Hngh! I use all the force from my entire body to perfect the stance to stand. As a baby who has just been a several months old, this is nothing!

HAAAAAAAAAAA!

...

...

...

Ah, I peed myself.

Well, it's unfortunate that I peed myself. However, I need to remember that 99% of gamblers quit before they win big. 

With that in mind, my resolve to stand strengthened. I use the leg of a table to help get me started from scratch. I could literally feel my legs shaking whilst doing this, that's just my muscles developing, right? 

It took me what felt like hours to finally stand on my own without falling or slipping. But, it would feel even greater to stand without holding onto anything. 

Most babies wouldn't be able to do such a thing, but I'm no normal baby. I'm a reincarnated person which means I'm just a superior version of an average human in terms of experience and intel. What kind of experience do I have from working in a normal retail shop? That's right, nothing to this whole fantasy world. What I have in my arsenal is only imagination, knowledge, and intel beyond anybody living in this world.

Back to my standing moment. It's a great feeling to finally be able to stand without having to hold onto anything. It's like finally winning a game of chances after wasting too much.

But the standing moment is better.

What's on my mind now is maybe to try and walk with the body I barely have control over. 

Slip!

Well, better luck next time. Now, time for baby time.

"Waah!"

"Waah!"

"Oh, dear! Seems like mommy forgot to change your diaper." 

Yeah, even though she's the coolest mother I have seen, I still find it hard to believe she's capable of being both a mother and an adventurer at the same time. It must have been hard for her...

No worries, I'll try to cooperate to make it easier for her.

Picking me up and gently carrying me to a nearby table, I was eventually given a diaper change which was soaked wet from all the pee before. Watching the pee dripping from my wet diaper made me feel sick but I shook it off.

I use this chance to get a better look at Mother and...

Woah...

She's such a beauty. One that couldn't be compared to anyone from my world. I don't know if what I felt was just me being her son or literal. 

I can't stop being amazed by how good she looks and her personality is a rare kind back in my world. Her long silk black hair paired with red eyes is just perfection. There's a kind and gentle aura emitting from her, with also a kind of dangerously loving one.

"Haha! Did you forget about our child?"

My father came into the carriage with surprisingly clean armor. I never thought he'd actually wash his armor. But then again, if he doesn't, his armor would probably become 'bad' and useless. 

"Don't laugh Guts or I'll actually pierce your guts now."

My mother is seriously emitting some dangerous aura right now. She's not lying and I doubt she'll not do it.

"Alright, sorry! Don't kill me, I still wanna have a father-son bonding session."

My father, even though he's mostly serious, he also has a secret idiotic side that ironically made him a good person. 

My father, Guts. He is a man with a well-built body that has the strength to swing around a 180 cm sword casually as if it's a normal-length sword. I still wonder where he got that kind of strength because it's just so inhumane. I wonder if my father has a relationship with Gutt Or Toj from my world because they looked quite similar, the difference is my father's both in the same package.

After she was done doing my diaper, both my mother and father went out while discussing something. I want to hear what their conversation is about, but all I can hear from inside are muffled noises. There is one conclusion I could get from hearing the tone and sounds in their conversation which is they're worried.

I mean, who wouldn't be worried when they're doing dangerous jobs while having their own kid with them? I might die before reaching an age when I could be called a child if this goes on.

On the bright side, I could get so much more experience living like this, allowing me to gain an advantage for what's to come.

Is this all worth it?..

Hell yeah! I'll try learning some basics like how to wield a blade and max out my mastery using it or maybe I could be a master mage during my early years.

But for now, I should focus on learning how to walk because the things I had in mind are for grown-ups only. Not exactly grown-ups, but me when I get older.

So what now? 

There's nothing much I could do as of now and my body is giving up on me. This feeling that kept on telling me to sleep was overcoming me.

Is this why babies have a tendency to fall asleep unexpectedly?

I'm feeling drowsy as time went on lying on the table.

No... This drowsiness... I need to do something...quickly! Anything that's not going to get me to sleep so early. I used to procrastinate a lot so-

...

"Ahhhhh."

It's daytime already? I ended up sleeping, huh? Guess I'm not strong enough to withstand the overflowing feeling of drowsiness. 

How long have I been sleeping? Judging from the color of the sky before I slept, it was around evening and now the temperature is around warm to hot. Incredible! I actually managed to sleep for over 10 hours, this is a new record!

No wonder I felt very relaxed, a 10-hour sleep that was impossible to get is now possible as a baby. 

And I'm in a very comfortable place. I can't help but cling to this soft bed I was sleeping on. There's just this feeling that made me wanna sleep again.

"Oh, Luci's awake."

Looking up, I found my mother with her preparing to breastfeed me. No wonder it's so soft here...

Alright, Luci! No inappropriate thinking especially about mother! She's your beautiful mother and you should respect her!

Hold on, Luci? Is that what they'll call me? Like a nickname? Not that I complain, but it sounds like a girl's name. 

Luci = Lucy

Can't they call me like Cian? Because...

Cian = Cyan

That sounds much more like how a boy's name is supposed to be. But I suppose I can't argue with my parents in my current state. There's no telling what they'll do if I start rebelling against them as a baby.

I still have that memory in the past of when my father used his belt to whip me after I accidentally ate his leftovers. I believe the mark still exists on my old body.

After finished breastfeeding, my mother took me for a stroll around the forest. 

I'm guessing they're having their free time? Because it's not like them to be bringing me, who is a baby out to a mission. 

Still, I wonder when I'll be able to learn to develop my mana core. It sounds like an important thing for any living being out there.

This part of the Beast Glades is actually peaceful, unlike most of the part when my father went out to finish off some monsters. 

The breeze here is very calming and refreshing, it's not too strong nor too weak, it's perfect. The scenery is also not bad, with the green of the forest flowing around the place and a life cycle happening right near that tree where a carnivore is eating a herbivore.

I'm not sure that it's something a baby like me should witness.

Mother?

I look up to see her closing her eyes while enjoying the breeze.

Mother? I'm not sure you should be letting your child see a gore and bloody scene.

Mother!

...

Alright, don't worry me. I'm a tough man living inside the body of a baby, this is something I could handle with ease. The thing is I'm dealing with my baby sense and following the rule that a baby should not see this kind of thing.

After some hours, we went back into the carriage with her chatting with me on the way, telling me all sorts of things and I've witnessed all sorts of things.

Back into the carriage, everyone seems to have a rather tense moment. The atmosphere I'm feeling is very, very intense. 

"Oh, Anna. You're back."

"What is it? Why are you guys so..."

"Tense? Well, good news or bad news first?"

My mother hesitated for a bit before answering, "Alright, give me the good news."

"Good news is after this mission, we can all go home."

"Oh! That's great!" My mother's face turns into a sweet, angelic smile.

"Bad news is this mission involves checking an unranked dungeon."

And it dissolves into a face filled with dissatisfaction. Oh, that's not so...bad? It doesn't sound bad, so what's so worrying?

Treya who I see has been watching me ever since I entered, says "Oh look! Luci's confused." This made me the center of attention inside the carriage now.

Geld giggles and brushes his long beard, "So, little Luci. Your mom is sad because we're going on a dangerous mission. There's no telling how hard it could be and what could be there. It's very rare to find a new dungeon nowadays, usually, it might just be a deep cave where many mana beasts are living." Geld stated.

My father put his left arm over Geld's shoulder and added, "Not really. It could be dangerous or perhaps not. We can only hope and wish that it's just a normal basic cave or dungeon with nothing dangerous residing within it."

"B-But..." Goldie enters the chat. "What if there's something big inside that is too much to handle for all of us?"

"Then we run away! Easy as that." Treyni said while playing with my little face.

Stop playing with my little chubby face. I'm an experienced worker, not just a little chubby-faced baby!

"What if we're not able to escape?"

The carriage goes silent after Goldie simply states his worries. My mother's grip tightens and everyone seems worried for their own reasons too. 

What Goldie asks is reasonable. An unknown danger has the potential to be the most dangerous compared to a known danger. Life is full of unexpected things, that's what makes life exciting. But that doesn't mean you should put your worries aside and act naively knowing nothing of something.

"That would be the worst-case scenario. However, we'll manage, right?" My mother responds calmly, breaking the silence that had been polluting this carriage.

"Yeah! We're Berserk! There's no mission or dungeon we've never been able to clear." My father greedily stated wearing his idiotic smile on his face.

"I agree with the dungeon part, but the mission part? I doubt we're able to clear literally every mission given." Geld said, patting hard on my father's back.

"Yeah, I remember Guts failing to catch some rabbits to clear a low-rank mission." Treya laughs seemingly reminiscing the memory of their past.

"Ah, and when Goldie runs away because a newborn mana beast is jumpscaring him." My mother says without holding back.

Everyone laughs and the atmosphere turns livelier with every second. They began starting another lively conversation that brightened the mood of everyone. The once tense atmosphere turns to an exciting and lively atmosphere and all of that is thanks to...

Me!

This night turned into something I'd love to experience myself, but I was instead put to sleep because my baby body told me to and my mother's hugs made my irresistible urge to sleep tougher to resist.

My night ends with a rather unfortunate sleep.

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A/N:

Hello there my fellow readers. How are you enjoying this story so far? I hope all of you find this at least a little bit fine by your standards.

Once again, I don't like giving spoilers, however, MC's life is going to have a huge turn next chapter. Stay tuned for what's to come!