/
CHAPTER 4
Two years passed since Reito was reborn in the new world. The 2-year old Reito, thanks to his training, was now able to walk.
He often walked around the residence, much to the servants’ dismay.
They often chased him around, worried about Reito’s energy and dangerous behavior: they played their game of tag day after day.
This day was no different; today’s game of tag was about to end in the servants’ victory. Reito approached a study room in a corner of the residence, when a maid grabbed him by the neck.
“Young master! This corridor wasn’t cleaned yet, please stay away!”
“Nooo! Let me goooo!”
“No complaints! Honestly
why are you trying to go into the study room all the time? You can’t even read yet
”
“I caaan!”
“Yes, yes
be a good boy and stay in your room.”
In the last year, Reito had become able to enunciate pretty well. His protests, however, were ignored by the maid, who brought him back to his room.
Things were not going too bad until then, but the maid saw picture books scattered all over the room and sighed deeply.
The maid’s name was Aria. She was an Elf and, as typical for her race, she had blond hair, blue eyes, and long, pointy ears. She was supposed to be in her early 20s, but her appearance was much younger than that: to Reito, she was like an older sister.
Aria sounded pretty troubled at the moment.
“Young master, how many times do I have to tell you to keep your things in order? Honestly
”
“I’m very sorry ma’am.”
“You sure take after your mother
ah!! Don’t you dare sneak out of the room!!”
“Aw
”
As soon as Aria started putting away the picture books, Reito immediately took the opportunity to go out, but Aria easily caught him again.
Reito was not sorry at all, however, and made her a request instead.
“Then, then, teach me magic, Aria!”
“That again? Like I told you many times already, young master, it’s too early for you to try magic. Besides, I can’t use Support Magician spells.”
“Just show me some~”
“I said no! Let’s put our things in order first.”
“Blah
”
“Hehe, you sounded just like a sheep right now
”
Reito acted spoiled, as typical for a child his age. Aria chuckled at his antics but continued shelving the books.
In this world, only those with Magician or related jobs could use magic. Most Elves had Magician-type jobs, either as a main or sub job, so all of them could use magic to a degree. Aria’s main job was Spirit Magician, so she could definitely use magic, but Reito had never seen her do it.
Reito pouted and protested.
“Aria, you meanie!”
“Yes, yes, I’m the meanest maid in the world. Magic is dangerous, it’s not something you should play with.”
“I know that, but
”
Reito was still unhappy at the loss of a chance to see magic. As a small token of revenge, he decided to pull a prank on Aria.
He assumed the most nonchalant air he could and called the maid’s name from behind her.
“Hey, Aria~~”
“What is it this time, young mas
eh?”
Aria turned around but found no one. She hurriedly looked left, right, everywhere, but Reito was nowhere to be seen.
“Young master!? Where did you go!?”
Aria raised her voice, confused.
At the same time, Reito jumped on her from behind.
“Gotcha!”
“Waah!?”
Aria turned around, utterly surprised.
“Yo-young master? Where were you hiding?”
Aria was still shaken, but Reito didn’t let go of her back and just smiled.
“I was behind you the whole time! But you didn’t notice, right?”
“I can’t believe it
wait, but if
no, it can’t be
”
Aria looked positively shocked, so Reito thought he went a bit overboard and regretted it. He then let go of the maid’s back and apologized.
“I-I’m sorry, Aria
I just wanted to prank you a little
”
“No, that’s fine, but
what a mystery.”
Aria couldn’t understand how Reito hid from her: she eventually finished putting the room in order and left, but the mystery still left her confused to no end.
Now alone, Reito started his communication with Airis.
『Airis ~』
Airis’ reply was in a rather cheerful tone.
『Yes, I’m here. I thought it was going to be hard for you to play the small child role, but I see you’re having fun. To use the Stealth skill to pull a prank is really fitting behavior for a child, I suppose.』
『Yes, I am having a lot of fun, honestly.』
In the two years since his rebirth in this world, Reito learned several skills under Airis’ guidance. Stealth was one of them.
It was a Tech Skill often used by Assassins, which allowed the user to suppress their presence to a minimum. Reito learned it while hiding from the servants when they were looking for him.
The boy then told Airis about something that had been troubling him for a while.
『It’s pretty boring to have to stay inside all the time, though. It’d be nice if I could climb over the iron fence and explore the forest
』
Reito was not allowed to leave the residence’s premises by himself: he normally played in his room. He tried pleading to his mother, Aira, to let him go out of the residence, but she never said yes. According to her, the residence was surrounded by the dangerous “Abyssal Forest”.
Reito tried putting his imagination to work.
『I wonder what it’s like outside
』
『The forest is extremely dangerous, just like your mother says. This residence was initially built to keep undesirable people away.』
『Really
when you put it like that, it sounds like a prison. It must have been pretty difficult to build a residence in a place like this though.』
Airis promptly answered Reito’s question.
“That is true. Many monsters inhabit the forest, so normal people wouldn’t even be able to come close to this place.”
“By monsters, do you mean stuff like Goblins or Orcs?”
『Correct. Other animals from the realm of fantasy in your world, like Unicorns and Dragons, actually exist here.』
Airis’ explanation was very easy to understand for Reito, but because of that, he realized what a terrifying environment he was in.
『
it really is dangerous
』
『On the other hand, as long as you stay here it will be difficult for dangerous people to come here to do you harm, so this residence can also be said to be safe.』
『Why are the servants living here though? If I’m an accursed child that must be kept away from the castle, why would they send servants to take care of me?』
『You’re still part of the royal family though. They might be thinking of using you in the future, so it might be troublesome for them if you died, I suppose. You might have “hopeless” jobs, but you are still the king’s sole male heir.』
Reito was somewhat impressed by Airis’ very pragmatic hypothesis, in stark contrast with her divine powers, then expressed his understanding.
『I see. Well, now I know why I should stay out of the forest.』
『Let’s continue training, so you will become strong enough.』
Reito cut off communication with Airis and continued training, day after day.
E/N(Uxorious):
Aira – mother
Aria – maid
Airis – goddess
This is very confusing