◆◇◆
Mother stamped her feet as she called out to Father, who was swinging his sword in the garden.
"D-Dear! Lumi! Lumi!"
"What is it? What happened?"
At Mother’s urgent voice, Father poked his head through the window, his sword still in hand.
Sweat streamed down from the beads gathered on his brow, and he did not seem to have the leisure to wipe it away even with the back of his hand.
"Look, dear. Lumi fell from his chair and was bleeding, but..."
"Lumi, not Rudy? What about healing magic?"
"No. Well... before I could even cast Heal, Lumi’s wound healed on its own."
"What do you mean, ‘on its own’?"
Mother seemed to have too much to explain and could not get the words out properly, so she pointed at the flower blooming from the floorboards.
"Look. A flower bloomed from the floor where Lumi’s blood fell."
"No, what have you been talking about this whole time? Mushrooms can grow from the floor, so perhaps a flower happened to bloom too."
"Oh, honestly! That’s not what I mean!"
"Madam, pardon me for a moment."
Unable to stand by while my parents talked past each other, Lilia stepped between them.
She took my hand from Mother’s arms and pricked the tip of my finger with a needle.
"Tyaa!"
My body reacted to Lilia’s unexpected action.
Yes. This sensation was similar to what I had felt receiving a tetanus shot at the hospital.
I had thought that, having grown old and numb to pain, it would not bother me—but had becoming young again stripped away my immunity to pain?
A bead of blood formed on my fingertip, accompanied by a sharp sting and a burning sensation.
The tiny, pearl-like bead rested on my finger for only a moment before Lilia tilted my hand down and let it fall to the floor.
The drop seeped into the floorboard, with its rippling rings of grain.
Then, at the same instant the blood soaked in, the exact same phenomenon occurred once more.
A sprout pushed through the bare floor, and a blue flower blossomed in full bloom.
Witnessing this impossible sight, Father’s eyes went round like an owl’s. He looked back and forth between me and the flower, then turned to Mother once more.
"H-Hey. What is going on? Why is there a flower where a drop of blood fell...? That makes no sense. He didn’t even use magic... No, even with magic, how could a flower bloom from a plank that is practically as dead as a tree?"
"No. This is the flower that blooms from the wood we used when we asked for this house to be built."
"What? So you’re saying that a plank that was practically dead absorbed Lumi’s blood and came back to life? And Lumi’s wound disappeared... meaning he has an ability to heal his own injuries..."
Having spoken that far, Father and Mother looked down at me with troubled, worried eyes.
For some reason, Lilia also let out a deep sigh and shook her head.
◆◇◆
From then on, I listened carefully to the conversations between my parents and Lilia.
I realized that there were quite a few unfamiliar words.
From them, I learned roughly the names of countries, territories, and regions, but all the proper nouns I heard in their conversations were things I had never heard before.
The words I heard especially often were Asura, Millis, God’s Child, and Curse Child.
The three of them spoke of being targeted by something, or of how no one must find out.
Perhaps Rudy, lying beside me at the edge of the bed, was worried by the grave looks on our parents’ faces.
He rolled over and stared intently at them through the bed rails.
From a baby’s perspective, it was only natural to worry when the parents who always smiled brightly at you suddenly looked so serious.
"Then we’ll keep Lumi’s matter a secret from the villagers."
"I think that would be best. Lilia, you understand?"
"I agree. I will not speak of Young Master Luminous, either. If word got out that there was a child with such an ability, it would bring trouble in many ways."
"It isn’t only the Asura Kingdom. If word reaches the Millis Holy Country, which is especially strict about healing magic, Lumi may lose any chance to ever leave this world. If that happens to Lumi, I...!"
"Don’t worry. If anyone like that comes after us, I’ll protect him with my sword."
"Dear."
"So Luminous will be raised as an ordinary child, just like Rudeus. All right?"
"Yes."
There was one thing I realized while eavesdropping on their serious discussion.
This was not the future, nor was it the Earth I knew.
Place names I could not understand at all, and countries whose names I had never heard.
Those facts made me realize it.
This was an entirely different world from the one in which I had lived—.
◆◇◆
About two years had passed since I was born here.
My body had grown enough for me to walk on my own, and I had become able to speak this world’s language as well.
Once I could move and speak for myself, I began to feel restless.
It seemed that, now that I was a child, my body was brimming with energy.
Like Rudy, I wanted to go up and down from the second floor and look out at the view from high above.
But I was not permitted to do that.
"Lumi, stay still. If you fall and hurt yourself, it will hurt, won’t it?"
"Uh... ngh."
"That expression won’t work, either. Mommy will read you a picture book, so you’ll lie in bed and go sleepy-sleepy, all right?"
If I disappeared from her sight for even a moment, Mother would come rushing over like an arrow.
I was receiving attention that was almost tantamount to surveillance.
Ever since they discovered that flowers bloomed from my blood that day, my parents had begun to treasure me even more dearly than Rudy.
Of course, it was not as though they neglected Rudy or found him bothersome.
They treated us both equally. The only difference was that they always sat beside me, watching my every movement.
Even if I wanted to move about energetically like Rudy, my parents only wanted to keep me beside them, seated in bed or in a rocking chair.
As though they were handling an expensive Western ball-jointed doll.
They worried over me terribly, like a collector afraid of even the smallest scratch.
I wanted to show them that I was healthy and insist that I was fine, but Mother kept me by her side as though soothing me.
Father smiled wryly and cautiously said that there should be no problem if I stayed in the house for now, at least.
"No! What if Rudy sees him and goes outside to tell other people? And if Lumi knows that even when he gets hurt there is no problem, he might go around thinking injuries are nothing... So I will stay right beside him until he is old enough to understand his own power and be careful with it."
"Isn’t that a little too serious? If you treat only Lumi like some priceless treasure, Rudy might feel hurt."
"It’s fine because we love Rudy just as much. Whenever I need time to care for Rudy, Lilia looks after Lumi."
"Well, if that’s the case, then I suppose there’s no problem."
Overwhelmed by Mother’s forcefulness, Father accepted it.
I had hoped Father would at least support me and help me escape Mother’s watchful eye.
But because Mother held more authority in matters of childrearing, Father could not properly assert himself.
Except when I was asleep, I spent most of my time in Mother’s arms.
Since I had scarcely moved since I was a baby, it was not a problem so long as I thought of it as a way to pass the time.
And it was not as though I had no free time at all.
"Oh my, it’s already this late... Lilia, please watch Lumi for me."
"Yes."
It was when Mother entrusted me to Lilia so she could do the housework.
After picking me up, Lilia made sure Mother had gone outside to tend the trees and vegetable patch in the garden, then set me down on the floor.
Right on cue, Rudy opened the door and came looking for me.
"Lumi, Lumi... let’s go."
"...Okay."
I took the hand he held out to invite me from the room, and we left together.
Lilia, who had taken on the role of caretaker in Mother’s stead, merely nodded without a word and readily let me go.
Unlike Mother, Lilia did not put many restrictions on my movements.
She even allowed me to leave the room.
She did not talk much, but she was kind enough to make me think she was a very good person.
The same was true of Rudy, who led me upstairs.
Normally, one might envy and resent a sibling who stole their mother’s affection, perhaps even lash out at them. But Rudy did not mind that at all. Instead, he worried about me and tried to look after me.
He was like a volunteer caring for an elderly person living alone.
Whenever there was a snack, he always let me choose first. And whenever Mother was away, as she was now, he would secretly come to spend time with me. He was a good child.
Mindful of me, Rudy did not play as rough as other siblings might.
Rather than playing by moving our bodies, my twin brother took me to a room on the second floor, where we read books together.
We read aloud, and whenever one of us did not know something, we taught the other.
There were not many books in the house.
Rudy found five books and handed them to me.
Books were expensive items in any world.
Books had become cheap in the modern age thanks to technology that could print hundreds or thousands of copies at a time, but in an era when every word had to be written by hand, it was only natural for books to be costly.
Though there were only five of them, they were enough to learn how to read.
Thanks to becoming young again, I learned this world’s language as easily as Japanese.
I was not yet familiar with the shapes of the letters, but by looking at the context, I could make reasonable guesses.
As Rudy focused on reading, I naturally found myself concentrating on the books as well.
It also helped greatly that Mother read me picture books and I picked up unfamiliar words naturally that way.
I followed after Rudy, reading the books he had already finished and those he had left behind.
These were the five books in the house.
Walking the World
▶ A guidebook containing the names and characteristics of countries throughout the world.
The Ecology and Weaknesses of Fittoa’s Monsters
▶ The ecology of monsters found in the region called Fittoa and methods of dealing with them.
Magic Textbook
▶ A mage’s textbook containing offensive magic from beginner to advanced level.
The Legend of Perugius
▶ A tale in which a summoner named Perugius fights the Demon God alongside his companions and saves the world, rewarding virtue and punishing evil.
The Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth
▶ An action-packed adventure in which three genius swordsmen from different schools meet and enter a deep labyrinth.
Of these, the books that particularly interested me were The Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth and Magic Textbook.
The schools of swordsmanship practiced by the swordsmen in The Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth, along with their exploits, made my heart race.
Magic Textbook, meanwhile, gave me the fresh sensation of returning to the childhood innocence when I had believed in yokai and sorcery.
And because Rudy could join in and talk with me whenever I read Magic Textbook, I read it more often.
1. Magic can broadly be divided into only three types.
Offensive magic—attacks an opponent.
Healing magic—heals an opponent.
Summoning magic—summons something.
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2. Mana is required to use magic.
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3. There are two methods of activating magic.
Incantation = A method used by most mages, in which one speaks the words aloud while forming an image of the spell.
Magic circle = A method of activating magic by drawing a spell formula that can invoke magic, or inscribing one upon an object. Rather than forming an image, it uses an object as a medium to invoke magic.
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4. An individual’s mana is largely determined from birth.
※
Once I had read a fair amount, Rudy and I began to read books about magic and imitate what they described.
I doubted whether we could truly do it, but this was a different world from the one where I had lived. It would not hurt to make such a skill part of myself at least once.
Thinking that, Rudy and I began practicing magic together as though it were a game.
◆◇◆
When we tried using magic, Rudy proved to possess truly extraordinary talent.
Unlike what the book described, he created a droplet of water with his bare hand and without an incantation.
"Oh!"
My brother rejoiced at the fist-sized sphere of water that had appeared at the tips of his right hand.
With sparkling eyes, Rudy held the water sphere out to me.
"Look, Lumi! I did it!"
"...Yeah. Rudy, you’re really amazing."
"R-Really? But Lumi is amazing too!"
Perhaps he felt bad that he was the only one who had succeeded.
Rudy did not stint on praise for me, either.
As he said that, however, his eyes were directed at the dew-sized sphere of water I had made with magic.
Unlike Rudy, I could not use magic through an incantation.
I could roughly understand how to draw out mana, but forming the image in my mind was an unbearably difficult process.
Speaking while simultaneously constructing the image of a spell in my head.
It was not a method well suited to me.
After thinking long and hard about what to do, I chose a magic circle.
If I used one, perhaps I could invoke magic simply by channeling mana into it.
With that thought in mind, I roughly copied a diagram and drew it on the floor. Then, when I chanted an incantation and poured mana into it, I succeeded in using magic for the first time.
Well, compared to Rudy, who could make a fist-sized sphere of water without a word, it was terribly cumbersome and very small.
Still, my heart swelled at the fact that I had managed it, and excitement rose within me on its own.
A thrill like the one I had felt the first time I wielded a sword and defeated an opponent ran through my fingertips.
But then—
"H-Huh?"
"Lumi, are you okay?"
"...I’m tired."
"U-Um. Actually, so am I."
The more water spheres we created, the more overwhelming fatigue followed.
We kept practicing by making water spheres, until we fell asleep for a nap while holding each other.
After that, Rudy and I went upstairs whenever we had time and practiced magic together.
It might have been boring alone, but we spent our time encouraging each other and exchanging praise as we eagerly pursued our studies.
For me, these free hours without Mother’s watchful eye were tremendously enjoyable.
And for someone who had never had siblings, Rudy’s presence gradually became more and more important to me as family.
"Lumi, let’s go again today."
"Yeah!"
The very fact that we were enjoying secret time without our parents knowing was tremendously fun.
When you had a sibling with you, there was never time to be bored or lonely.
It was one thing I came to realize while living my second life.
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