Chapter 03: Family Reunions

Despite feeling like years, it had only truly been a single day since my rebirth. I suppose this was the effect of having a baby's attention span. No wonder they were all so needy. My mother had spent the entire day cradling me close to her chest, drifting in and out of consciousness while sitting on the sleeping bag closest to the furthest wall. She was lucky that I wasn't a normal infant, as if I was, I would've woken her up begging for food quite a few times already. Who knew that babies' stomachs could feel so empty so quickly? Speaking of food, we didn't seem to have any. We really are the poorest of the poor, huh?

06:00. If I had to make a rough estimate of the time, that would be my guess. The first stray strings of the morning sun permeated through our glassless windowsills, lightly dispersing through the room and denying me any sleep. I had spent the entire day and night theorizing about what could've happened after my death that made the Sword-Spell crest be considered weak. At first, I had considered the idea that perhaps the Sword-Spell crest truly had weakened over time. But then I reminded myself that I had to keep in mind the knowledge from my past life - one of the main things I had learnt being that no crest is capable of increasing or decreasing in power.

So, if it wasn't the crest actually getting weaker, then what could've happened? I had multiple ideas, but one in particular stuck out to me. Perhaps someone or something had purposefully spread the idea that the crest was weak. At first, it does seem insane. After all, in order to accomplish something like that, it'd have to be an unreasonably large group of people who, based off of just how discriminatory people truly are against Sword-Spell crests, have been around for multiple centuries. But even if it does seem outlandish, it is possible. Whereas, every other theory I had constructed had multiple flaws that ultimately led to me discounting them as viable options.

One unanswered question still remained for my running theory, though. If it truly was a group of people perpetrating this false ideal, why? The only people capable of spreading such an idea to this extent were those in positions of power, but the only thing it would accomplish is discouraging Sword-Spell crests from achieving their full potential, leading to their armies becoming weaker. So it truly made no sense. Yet, nonsense was still the most sensical thing I could come up with.

"BANG!"

A loud knock reverberated through the air, followed by slightly lighter taps on our wooden door. My mother had been in a state of pure sadness for the entire day, the same somber expression never once leaving her face as she lightly stroked the few tufts of hair on my head. However, the second that the original knock sounded, she instantly transitioned into a state of joy - the same innocence and peace that I had first seen on her features finally returning once again.

She picked herself and I up, before practically sprinting to the door. Then, she ripped it open with such a ferocity that the fact it remained intact was truly a miracle. On the other side stood a man who appeared to be around my mother's age, give or take a few years, and a girl who appeared no more than 4 years older than I. My mother handed me to the man, before falling to her knees in order to pull the girl into a warm embrace. At first, I had thought that perhaps this man was actually my father, but judging by his appearance being what I'd describe as my mother gender-bent, it was more likely for him to be an uncle, or some kind of relative on my mother's side. I instantly identified the girl, however. Although, I wouldn't exactly call that an achievement as I'm sure that even an actual baby could've deduced it - she was definitely my sister. She had the same white hair as our mother, along with the same blue eyes. There was one difference, though - her features. Our mother had such inviting facial features that screamed serenity into the hearts of all who saw her. However, this girl had sharp and fiery features, making her constantly look angry and like she's ready to fight.

But I wouldn't consider her actions in that moment to be those of an angry person - she gladly accepted our mother's hug, practically falling into it and squeezing back with a force that seemed unbefitting of her size. During my scan over, I had deduced that she had the Soldier crest, while my uncle had the Mage crest - same as my mother. Judging off of that, my mother must've come from a long lineage of Mage crests, while my father was a Soldier crest. This wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, as if my mother's family consisted purely of Mage crests and my father's of Soldier crests - which I still hadn't confirmed, but seemed probable - then I still had no answer as to why I had a Sword-Spell crest.

Don't get me wrong. This is what I wanted, so I'm not complaining. It's just that I can't come up with a satisfying reason as to why I have the Sword-Spell crest, which was really starting to annoy me.

My uncle scanned me over once, luckily missing my crest, before attempting to start a conversation with my mother.

"So this is my little nephew, huh? What's his name?" He looked down at me with a look of slight adoration.

"Kane. Kane Rey Limitia." My mother responded, trying to manage the challenging task of wiping away tears of joy while still hugging my sister.

"Hmm... Kane. I like it."

As he said that, he did what I really hoped he wouldn't. He lifted his eyes from my face and scanned over me one last time. This time, he didn't make the same mistake he had last time.

"Wait... It can't be... Is he a grey?!"

My mother instantly removed her hands from my sister's back and head, covering her ears instead.

"Trayse! You promised not to use such vulgar language in front of Dina!"

This made me giggle a little. Sure, it wasn't actually that funny for them, but hearing a colour being referred to as a 'vulgar word' was quite humorous to me. I didn't realize it, but I must've laughed out loud, too. Although, if I'm honest, that actually probably helped my uncle's image of me, as it must've reminded him that I was still a human - a mere child at that.

After a few more seconds, Trayse seemed to be able to partially recover his composure, before apologizing to my mother, "S- Sorry, Elena. It was just... very unexpected. How did- how is it even possible for your son to have a Sword-Spell crest?"

My mother kept her hands on my sister's ears, before pulling her even closer somehow, and resting her head on-top of hers.

"I... Honestly, I don't know. It really doesn't seem possible, does it?"

"No, it doesn't. But I suppose it happened. How- How are you gonna get around this? We have to report the birth of any gre-" My uncle stopped himself. "Of any Sword-Spell crests to the royal family."

"NO!" My mother lost her cool for a second. "P- Please, Trayse. You know what they do to them after they're taken away, right? They're sold off as slaves!"

"But..." My uncle seemed extremely conflicted. "But if we don't and they find out, we could face up to ten years in the kingdom's dungeons."

Ten whole years in the dungeons? Really? If the concept of 'dungeons' was still the same as my last life, then they were a place where an uncountable number of monsters resided, but due to the fact that the terrain naturally regenerates due to the area's magic potency, they were extremely rich with rare materials. So, the royal families of kingdoms from my past life had decided to condemn any criminals they deemed unredeemable to work in them until they die, either from age, or, most commonly, a monster attack.

Even one month seemed like overkill for simply not reporting the birth of a child. Although, if they truly did know that Sword-Spell crests were the strongest, then it made complete sense. Yes! This was the last piece of evidence I needed to practically confirm my theory that the royal family and other influential people had spread the idea of the crest's weakness. The question of why still remained, but at least I knew what had happened. That was good enough for now.

"Trayse, I beg of you. What does him having the weakest crest truly matter? He's still my son! I can't have him taken away from me, and I definitely can't have him become a slave!"

"Elena... I don't know about this. I have to keep your, Dina and I's best interests at the forefront..."

Wait... If the conversation kept going this way, wouldn't I become a slave? The gravity of what was being discussed right in front of my eyes had only just started truly sinking in. I couldn't let that happen. I didn't really feel like being a slave. I decided that I'd just have to appeal to his sense of protection as my uncle. Sure we'd only just met, but we were connected by blood. That was something I could exploit.

I stuck both of my hands into the air and gestured towards Trayse's face. I would appeal to him with my infantile innocence and cuteness. As he noticed my hand pointing towards his face, I made sure to release a high-pitched coo.

"Hah... Probably not the best time for him to be doing this." My uncle told my mother in a slightly lighter tone. "I guess he's someone who likes fuss, huh?"

"Wow... No, I- I don't think so at least. In the past day, I think I've only heard him make any noise once. He's quite quiet, especially for a baby." My mother responded, an intrigued and delighted grin spreading across her face.

"Really?" He looked down at me, and I knew that this was the moment that would decide my fate. I forced all the innocence I could into my smile, all the joy possible into my eyes and most of all, all the strength my one day old body was capable of mustering into having my hand slightly tap his nose.

Instantly, his expression changed. It changed so dramatically, in fact, that I was unprepared. He fell to his knees - now at the same eye-level as my mother - and began crying slightly.

"I- I'm sorry, I don't mean to cry. It's just... I can't believe that I actually considered giving him up as a slave."

Yes! Looks like my efforts weren't in vain.

My mother removed her hands from my sister's ears and began comforting my uncle, albeit it did only take him around half a minute to regain his composure. He handed me back over to my mother, before wiping his eyes one last time. As the two continued their conversation about what they'd do, I noticed my sister. She seemed to be staring at me with a look like she was going to kill me. Although, going by how she acted with mother, I may be judging her too quickly - she is a child, after all.

"Mama... What's that hairless rat that you're holding?"

Seems that I was right to judge.

"Dina! Don't say such rude things! This is your brother!" My mother defended me.

"Wait... This is my brother? But... where's his hair, and why's he so fat?"

"That's just because he's still a baby. Believe it or not, you also looked like that at one point."

"I did?!" My sister's offence drove a stake through my heart. I guess this is what it feels like to be able to understand everything as an infant.

"Yes, you did. Now, you need to protect this boy with all of your strength. He is your little sibling. Even if you think you don't like him now, you'll end up loving him so that you'd sacrifice everything else for him."

Yeah... I don't know about that. She doesn't exactly strike me as the type.