It has been a month or so since my birth and I have to say that I am coming along quite nicely. At first, I had thought that Mom and Pops were at some level of influence due to living in a very nice house, but after what I think was two weeks we moved out and into some third-world-like house. The walls were made of straw and dried mud, the roof was simple wood beams with a thatch covering. I would tell you what our door looked like except that we did not have a door, just a wood panel that covered the entrance at night. There was only one room in our house which was substituted for a bedroom, living room, and kitchen.

I do not think I would stay sane if I stayed inside that house all day. Luckily, Mom was there to carry me to work. Though ‘work’ is a bit of an overstatement as she just washes the clothes, hangs them, and then brings us to what I assume to be a knitting club. That is not to say that it was not appreciated as the gossiping ladies were too focused on knitting and talking that they didn’t notice my avid listening. Coupling this with the other babies in the room causing a ruckus meant that I could train not only magic, and language but also my muscles. This meant that in merely one month I could almost fully understand what everyone was talking about.

Impressive, no?

Well, barring my linguistic genius aside I have made some progress on the magic front. After about eight days of experimentation, I have found that making a ring in the mana skin causes visible light to be produced. By changing the amount of mana flowing through the ring the luminosity changes. The light itself is just plain white which is probably explained by my mana color but I’m not completely sure. Looking back now I should have gone for a ring immediately… but that is all in hindsight. I did think that counting to 100,000 with the mana skin was important.

Now back to linguistics, I-

WAAAAaaa!

The dumb baby next to me started to cry for no reason at all as I stared with contempt.

Zeverues waited somewhat patiently as Newts mom came over and picked him up. She swayed and bounced him until he fell back asleep. Kerue, perhaps feeling some sort of maternal instinct, came over and picked Zeverues up, bringing her to where the adults sat. The other ladies stared and made funny faces at Zeverues and she reacted with her baby laughs.

Newt's mom softly sat down next to them carefully to not wake the sleeping baby. The ladies as a whole quieted down to whispers.

“She is quite well behaved for a baby, you must be very lucky.”, said one of the middle-aged women. Severus wobbled her head to face the women, but only ended up tumbling backward as her oversized head was too difficult to control.

Kerue caught and handled Zeverues setting her to face into the circle and held close. “Yes, we are blessed to have her. She rarely cries and is always so joyful. Definitely a great first child.”

She played with Zeverues hands bopping them back and forth and smiled. “We both love her very much.”

The women then turned their attention to Sophie. “How is Newt like?”

She was wrestling with her baby as he squirmed his way around in her hands. “Haha-, well… he is really sweet and loves to explore but it has been very hard to get proper sleep with him around.”

Some of the women went back to work as their talking died down a bit. Zeverues squirmed uncomfortably as she felt a small pressure mount up in her stomach. She turned to look un at Kerue who was kiting a pair of brown mittens. Zeverues did her best to get her attention, but as the time when on it was clear Kerue was immersed in knitting. Zeverues furrowed her brow and-

“Mowmwa!”

The duke lazily watched the scenery pass by as his carriage rolled down the packed dirt road. Outside were the harvested fields once filled with grain but now looking like a wasteland. No serfs were out working presumably they had gone to the cities to escape the winter cold. That had left the countryside almost empty. There were a few forts around that kept stall all year round but those forts were mostly situated at the border. The well-protected and internal villages such as the one he was passing through would always be empty this time of year.

The duke slid his window open and peeked at their destination. Up ahead the fields gave way to clearings and those clearings gave way to the forest. That forest, called Kernotch, was covering four hills. Three of the hills were in a triangular pattern and the fourth hill was sent in the middle. Two rivers came from the northwest and northeast converging at the southern end of the fourth hill creating a natural mote. The duke's summer mansion sat on top of the fourth hill, though it was only part mansion as it was situated in the middle of a large star-shaped fortress.

His wife had been staying there for the last two and a half years. She was the first daughter of some Barron and had been married so that he could absorb their land. After a few 'accidents' in both their houses, they had inherited about a quarter of the kingdom's landmass. Usually, that would end with them being stripped of their titles but knowing the King personally granted you some perks. She had retreated here to escape any assassins that could come her way. The duke would come every winter when his political opponents were too stuck warming themselves to visit her.

"Anxious?” The duke turned to Garry who was relaxing in his seat with his legs up and on the seat opposite to him.

"Hardly. She would get pregnant eventually and I have already come up with a training schedule for when the child is born." He replied calmly.

"I was talking about the revolutionists. If they figure that thing out it would be no hassle at all for them to kill us." Garry stared at the roof with worry.

"I doubt it. The amount of intelligence and effort to open it is too large for them and even if they do they would then have to translate the damn thing." The duke sighed, "they might have the locked box but we have the keys to open it and glasses to read."

The duke went back to looking out his window until they finally arrived at the mansion after going through the main gate. She was waiting for them in the front yard laying on a lounge chair wearing a thick black woolen dress that obscured her bloated stomach. The doctor stood next to her with a parasol in his hand providing shade. He was visibly tired with his pale skin and dark bags beneath his eyes. The duchess was starring daggers at them as they pulled around to have the side of the carriage face her. The duke got out of his seat and opened the door.

"Is she angry?” The duke looked back at Garry who just asked, only giving him a certain look. "Thoughts so..."

He steadily made his way out of the carriage before heading to its back and grabbing a large, long box. The duchess was not so thrilled with him taking his time as she intensified her glare. He made his way over to her, ready for the talk down she was going to give him. She waited until he was standing right beside her.

Before she could open her mouth the duke opened the box revealing a decorated sword. The blade was a minty green color with slivers of silver gold that extended down to the hilt. The hilt looked to be made of a singular carved bone that took the shape of wings. Two wings were swept up forming the crossguard and two longer wings swept down forming a wrist guard. The handle was a pearl-pink rubber material with diamond-shaped grooves running around and up the handle. The pommel was a yellowish crystal that had cracks running throughout it, filled with mithril. The duchess observed the sword for a little while before calling over a guard and tasking him to take it her collection. She never turned to look away from the duke the whole time.

"One month. One ENTIRE month. What the hell is wrong with you?" "I came as soon as I heard the wonderful news, dear!” She leaned her head over and glanced at the carriage behind him.

"Oh, sure." Her voice oozed sarcasm. "I'm sooo sorry for taking up your precious little time Felix. I'm 'only' your wife- no I'm your pregnant wife at that! No need to worry it will all work out in the end! God's plan and all that!" She looked him in the eyes and said in earnest, "I'm was worried sick you know? I was worried that you got killed you were taking so long." She started to cry, " And I-I wouldn't k-know what to do if that h-hap-pened!" She broke down and began weeping into her hands.

The duke shooed away the doctor, taking the parasol out of his hands, and sat down to console his wife. He moved her hands out of the way and put her grand into his chest. “My dear love, nothing bad has, is, or is going to happen to me." Felix kissed her on her four head, "after all I have you by my side." The duke pulled away from her and stood up. Her crying had stopped leaving only red eyes and a big loving smile looking up at him. Felix helped her stand up. They walked out of the cold winter air and into their cozy mansion where they held a meeting with the doctor. It was rather short, only half of an hour, but it covered what they would be facing in the coming months. There was nothing left to do after their little meeting so he and Ruth went and cuddled until dinner.