Thinking back, I once liked babysitting my niece. But when my other Aunt left my twins, managing three kids was a pain. Now I really hate babysitting because of it.

***

Now, me, mom, Cherry, Matt, and the unconscious Petal, are inside the room in silence. None of us can comprehend to what just happened. And to add to that, I’ve been carrying the little girl that is just about a year old for a while now. She’s sleeping soundly while drooling on my shoulder.

“I really don’t get what’s happening. Can someone tell me why am I carrying a baby right now?”

Just like my question, everyone looked like they had something to yell about. But since there’s now a baby around, we can’t.

“First of all; Mom, is Petal really just a Fantasy Android?”

“I don’t know much about her structure, but I’m sure she’s not human.”

“Not even homunculi?”

“I’ve seen your grandfather build her from her skeleton, of course she’s not a homunculi.”

Then suddenly, Cherry stood up from her seat and walked towards me.

“Leave that aside for now. I want to know just how this child appeared, if she is the child of Petal, who is her father? If you can’t tell me that now, I’ll assume that it’s you.”

Judging from her rising tone, I can tell that she’s pointing me like I’m a criminal.

“Come on! You can’t just assume I’m the father. I didn’t even touch Petal. She’s not even human to begin with.”

Then, Matt also stood up. She grabbed Cherry and pulled her away from me.

“I believe you Key. However, I do think that the father is you.”

“What makes you say that?”

“From where I stood, the color of her hair is brownish black with a hint of violet strands, same as yours, the color of her skin, also the same. And also, she even called you ‘Pa’ when she appeared. She didn’t even hesitate to grab unto you.”

--I want to retort, but somehow, I can feel that she’s right.

And finally, it’s mom’s turn to stand up.

“Before we’ll talk about who the child’s father is, I want to ask you, how did you make the scripts appear and control them?”

“Long story, but--”

As much as I’d want to explain everything to mom, a part of me is telling me not to. So I only showed her the ring on my right hand as an answer for now.

“This ring is a [Divine Tool], the [Rune Grabber]. It lets me convert magical scriptures into runes and modify it with my will alone.”

Then suddenly, I noticed my middle finger has a shallow cut. It isn’t bleeding, but I can see blood on it.

“Wait, I think I know the reason why she appeared.”

When I said that, everyone turned their attention to my hand. Everyone can see the cut on my hand, but still, only mom had the same idea as I am.

“The spell I created just now was experimental, therefore, it’s imperfect. Probably, along the way, my finger got cut inside Petal. My blood probably touched the tumor core.”

I noticed the little girl waking up. Then she pushed herself a little away from me to see my face. She suddenly smiled and said ‘Papa’ over and over again.

I’m not ready to become a papa yet.

“Since the tumor core has a modified version of [Regeneration], it probably recognized my blood as its own and reproduced the parts.”

Matt went close to the little girl and looked straight to her. Then the little girl gently touched Matt’s nose. Probably because of Matt’s [Mana Drain] ability, the little girl pulled her hand immediately with a startled expression.

“If that’s so, theoretically; the amount of mana needed for such drastic reproduction of her body parts would be vast, unless she has the same ability as me which drains mana from you.”

“I wouldn’t say that’s impossible. But she and Petal have the same script, so probably she took the mana from the mansion [Core]…”

“Mansion [Core]?”

--Fuck it slipped.

“Ignore that for now. If she took the mana, from there, it’s possible that it was used as a catalyst for the [Regeneration].”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that this girl suddenly appeared without any materials for summoning or conjuration.”

Then Cherry’s expression became distorted. It looks like she has a good idea.

“Do you have something to say Cherry?”

With one snap from Cherry’s fingers, a white book suddenly appeared out of nowhere. She flipped through its pages and read something.

“As I though…”

“What did you see?”

“It might be a baseless theory, but it might be possible for the core as the only material needed for the conjuration. It’s also a possibility that the [Core] you took out from Petal was converted into, body parts.”

--If she says it like that, it would mean that the core acted the same as ‘stem cells’. To think science can also get related to this fantasy world…

“If what Cherry says is true, then that would mean that that child’s nature is…”

“… That’s highly the possible outcome.”

Both Cherry and Matt looked at me. After that, their thought was transmitted to mine.

“Okay, okay. I’ll test it. But as a reminder: the ring doesn’t work on living things, only on magical scripts and magical items.”

I put my hand with the ring on the little girl. I placed it on her chest, but she grabbed and started to nib it which tickles.

“>”

After invoking the activation words, the ring sparkled. However, there was no response on the core.

“No way…”

“It’s impossible.”

Both Cherry and Matt’s expression were in indescribable shock. I can understand them, because the ring did not display the [Core’s] script which it supposed to.

“… So, I made a human… using a core… from an android… which isn’t human… Crazy.”

Mom then took the little girl from my arms. The little girl tilted her head as mom look straight at her.

“I guess you did. She even looks like your little sister when she was still in this age.”

Then, Petal finally regained consciousness. Though she staggered a bit, she seems fine.

“I apologize for the inconvenience I caused earlier young master.”

“Petal, thank go… oh wait, the gods are my enemies.”

Then she walked towards me and then bowed like nothing happened.

“Petal, do you have any idea what just happened to you?”

Petal shook her head in denial. She then noticed the little girl mom’s holding. For some reason, they’re both staring at each other carefully. Then out of a sudden—

“Mama!”

--The little girl smiled brightly and called out to Petal.

For the emotionless Petal, she suddenly made a surprised face. She looked around—behind her to see if the little girl is calling out to someone else. She pointed herself as she looked at the little girl, and the little girl once again called her ‘Mama.’

“Come here Petal, take her.”

Since the little girl is moving around a lot in mom’s arms, she called out to Petal to let her carry her.

Petal slowly reached out her arms to the little girl. Though she hesitated, she still continued to open up her arms.

“Mama! Mama! Mama!”

Noisy, yet this scenery is both heartwarming and cute.

When the little girl got to grab ahold of Petal’s uniform, she used all of her strength to pull herself towards Petal from mom. Since Petal looks like she doesn’t know what to do, she’s moving her arms around the little girl to find the right place to put her arms.

After Petal finally able to carry her on her own, she kept staring at the little girl in puzzlement.

“Young master, I believe that this child is having a misunderstanding.”

--Uhgg… it pains me that Petal looks like a mother that got into an accident and got amnesia.

“Don’t say that Petal. Believe me or not, that little girl came from inside you (literally).”

“Are you sure young master? She looks like you more than she looks like me.”

“It’s hard to explain in detail for now Petal, but please accept that little girl. She really IS your daughter.”

“But young—”

“No buts!”

Looks like raising my voice worked, but since the girls looked at me with slightly pissed off eyes, I apologized.

“Since the child is human, I think we’ll need to buy milk for her.”

Mom then suddenly stated her thought. It slightly startled me because she was standing behind me.

“Hm… milk. Right, Petal can’t produce milk so we’ll need to buy one.” (Me)

“But young master, can’t she eat normal food like ours? She has complete set of tooth.” (Petal)

“Really? Ah wait… She’s just a little girl. She’ll need milk more than anything. Hard food is a big NO.” (Mom)

“But she can’t drink milk except through breast feeding, can she?” (Cherry)

“I honestly don’t know what to do so I can’t help.” (Matt)

While we were talking in what to do, we forgot the most important part about the little girl. When I looked at her, the she extended out her arms towards me. I think she’s asking to be carried by me.

After taking her from Petal (who seems to be enjoying with her), I called everyone’s attention.

“Before we get out of this room, we need to have this mentioned.”

Then I looked at Petal. Wait, since when did she look like she wants something!?

“Petal, what do you want to call her?”

And again, Petal became puzzled with my question.

“I mean a name. What name comes first in your mind?”

Petal fell into her usual silence. She looked around the room, and then to the little girl I’m carrying. Then finally, she looks like she came into conclusion.

“If I may, I would like to call her ‘Marie’.”