I went to the bookshelf and grabbed my little wooden box that I was using to save up money, filled with two years’ worth of allowance that I received for buying the occasional Yaksha berry candies sold at the market. While it pained me not to spend it, I was certain that there would be a better use for it down the road.

Clink clink clink.

Sigh, 24 copper coins. I didn't know how many berries I needed for my plan, but this much wasn't nearly enough.

My strategy was simple, but costly.

The first phase would be to overload my body's mana capacity to such a degree that I would have no choice but to perceive it. This phase would allow me to detect what I called the minimum threshold. There was no knowing what this value was, but I ballparked that around 100 bunches of berries would do the trick. At least, that’s what I hoped.

The second phase would be to slowly decrease this minimum threshold over time until I could sense mana without even needing to resort to extra berries. I figured that I would need to push my limits over a very long time before this could happen, thus necessitating a constant income. But, with some luck, I would be able to sense mana far sooner than other slimes. I would then move onto learning how to form a mana core. Hurray for science and logical experimentation!

But how would I get the money?

I mulled over this problem for the entire afternoon. A skill based job would take way too much time to learn. I needed something that even a child could do. Something that would be consistent for a while. Hmm....

I could go out and help the grannies in the plantations, but I doubted that I would be able to get more than five coppers a day. Given the current price of Yaksha, even at the discounted rate, I would probably need at least one silver leaf per 100 bunches. That wasn't the kind of money you could just come across with a normal job. What kind of person would hire a three-year-old kid, anyway? Hmm...

The other option was to grow my own berries, but that would take months, or even years. And a sizeable plot of land, which would also cost money. Much more than a few silver leaves, that was for certain. Hmmmmmmmm...

Time flew by as I considered various different ways to make money, but nothing really came to mind. After all, if there really was a good idea for making money, someone would have already thought of it and made a profitable business off it. I sighed and decided to ask my parents for their thoughts at dinnertime, instead.

Today's dinner was imported black roasted berries from the lava plantations to the Southeast of Kingdom. Eating them gave me a warm, tingling sensation in my nucleus. They were a little more expensive than the regular berries we ate, but it was good to switch it up now and then.

Once we were finished eating, I thought it would be a good time to ask.

'Mom, what's a good way to make money? I want to buy new toys to play with Lily.'

Of course that was a lie, but I wanted to surprise my parents by awakening early. More importantly, I didn't know how they would react if I told them the truth; the only reason I got the idea was because of my grandfather's journal, which was written in a language that I shouldn't know how to read.

"What do you want, honey? We can buy it for you." Jean smiled and rubbed my head.

'I want to work for it myself.'

I pumped my chest out like I was proud of my statement. Hopefully my acting would dispel any suspicions they had about my reasoning.

"Haha, our son is really responsible. Right, Ellie?"

"..."

'Mom?'

Ellie looked at me with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Bell, we're your parents. You can rely on us."

'It's okay mom, I want to work for it. You guys already do so much for me.'

"No, Bell. You're too young--"

'Mom, don't worry--' I insisted.

"No!"

The tone of her voice was quite angry and stern, and I was taken aback. Apparently Jean was too.

"Ellie? All he wants is to work for his toys. Isn't that fine?"

'Yeah mom--'

"No! You don't understand!" Ellie's shoulders started shaking as she looked down at the ground.

"What's wrong, darling?" Jean tried to put her hand on Ellie's shoulder, but Ellie suddenly stood up and ran out of the room.

"Ah, Ellie! Bell, wait here. Ellie!"

Jean propped me onto the sofa and ran after her, leaving me confused and a little angry.

'What's mom's problem? Did she really have to get angry like that? It's not like I did anything wrong. All I wanted to do was to make some money so that I could become stronger for our family.'

I couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, and silently fumed on the sofa. Regretting asking the question in the first place, I angrily jumped up and down and wiggled my arms in the air in frustration.

"Ellie, what's wrong?!" Jean panted as she ran to catch up to the fleeing Ellie. Jean grabbed Ellie's arm, only to have it jerked away.

"No, go away! You wouldn't understand. Leave me alone!"

It was nighttime, and the mana crystals on the clouds above had faded. The only light came from the floating Yaksha plants on the lake, and their dim, blue glow just shined bright enough to illuminate Ellie's crying face. Jean frowned, not knowing what was going on.

"If you would explain to me what's wrong, I can try to help. Ellie, please."

"It's just that *hic* our Bell always wants to *hic* do everything by himself and he *hic* never asks us to help him with anything! Even though he's our son!"

Ellie’s body shook in the dim light, and all Jean wanted to do was to embrace her and tell her that everything was alright. But she knew that it wouldn't make anything better.

"I don't understand. Is that... wrong?"

Ellie’s statement was confusing. Jean had been raised in a tough household, where it was important for children to learn about responsibility from a young age. She thought that Bell was a wonderful son for wanting to pay for his own toys, and to demonstrate such a high level of maturity already. He even saved up money unlike the other kids, who spent every leaf they got their hands on.

"It's not... but..." Ellie bit her lip. "…Ever since that day when you protected him. He's been... different."

"That was over two years ago! You surely don't think--" Jean's voice faltered.

Jean spent a minute studying Ellie's crying face, quietly remembering the incident. The despairing face on her son, the sadness in his wails of grief, and his tiny, trembling frame.

Was it possible?

...

She couldn't deny that her son had behaved more maturely since then. Helping out with chores instead of playing with kids his age, paying close attention to move slowly in the house, trying to help out with her blacksmithing by carrying materials.... Jean had thought of it as her son growing up a little earlier than the other kids. But if he had been doing so out of guilt….

Slowly, the realization of this fact sank in. What shook her the most was that she had been blind for so long. No. Perhaps she had known long ago, but chose to push it out of her mind because of the potential implications.

"Is it... my fault?" Jean whispered. If it was true, she had singlehandedly ruined Bell's childhood.

"No, Jean! It's not. You protected him. Don't blame yourself for this."

Ellie begged Jean and hugged her tightly. Ellie was afraid of this happening, which is why she didn't want to tell Jean sooner. While Jean was rambunctious, tough, and a little aloof at times, she was a softie on the inside with a huge heart. That also meant that she was extremely fragile, especially when she blamed herself.

"But--"

"It's no one's fault, Jean. No one could’ve expected a one-year-old boy to feel guilty for an accident like that. Please don’t blame yourself.” Ellie squeezed harder, and pressed the side of her head against Jean’s chest. The next few seconds felt like several minutes, but she could hear Jean’s racing heartbeat slow down.

Minutes passed as the two embraced in the dim light of the lake, both of them unsure of what to do. They were new to parenting, and had a sinking feeling that the guilt their son felt was their fault for not noticing it sooner, nor talking to him about forgiveness.

“El… what are we going to do?” Jean asked when she calmed down. She looked down at Ellie, who had streams of tears and snot running down her face.

“*Sniff*…I think we should talk to Bell. I’m sure he has no idea what’s going on right now.” Ellie gave a little chuckle, imagining him looking bewildered.

“Yeah, you’re right. …What do we say though?”

Ellie paused.

“We’ll tell him that we’re a family, of course.”

By the time Ellie and Jean came back, my anger and frustration had dissipated, and I was more worried than confused.

‘Mom, are you okay?’

Ellie walked in holding hands with Jean, and no longer wearing that expressionless mask of hers. I could see that her eyes were a little puffed up and red though, so I assumed that she had been crying. The two of them sat on the ground in front of me.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I don’t know how to say this, but… Bell, we know.”

At this, my heart began racing. What did they mean they knew? They knew that I was a reincarnated soul inside the body of a slime? Is that why mom had been crying? I began to tear up, thinking that I wouldn’t be able to be a part of this family again.

‘Mom, I can explain—‘

“Bell,” Ellie looked at me seriously in the eye. “We know that you’ve felt guilty ever since the accident. We just want you to know that your mom forgives you, and you don’t have to feel as though you’re responsible anymore.”

Whaaaa…? Come again?

“We’re a family, right? That means we forgive each other for our mistakes, because we love one another. That’s what family’s all about.”

So… I wasn’t found out? I didn’t know whether to breathe a sigh of relief or to collapse. I thought my core was going to burst out of my chest.

Shaking myself away from these thoughts, I focused on what Ellie had said before. That I could rely on her and Jean more, that I’d felt guilty about the accident, and that we forgave each other for our mistakes…. Ah… was that what this was all about?

I thought about my actions the past two years, and I could clearly see what the issue was here. She wasn’t wrong. I did feel guilty about hurting Jean, but everything that I had been doing was more than just taking responsibility. I wanted to be a source of strength for our family. The issue was that in their eyes, I was still just a kid.

I mentally smacked myself on the head. Of course. A kid doing all of his chores willingly, wanting to work for his own money to buy a toy, not eating candy when offered by an adult, everything else that I had been doing. What kind of normal child would do that? Even I would be worried for a child who wasn’t spending every hour of the day outside and having fun. Why didn’t I realize it sooner?

But… I didn’t really want to tell my parents that I was actually turning 23 this year, mentally. I was afraid of their rejection. If they found out that I was a reincarnated slime, they would probably never treat me the same way again. They might not even see me as their own son, but as a freak. Perhaps I would tell them the truth one day, but definitely not in the near future.

Then how could I clear up the misunderstanding? I didn’t want them to worry about me, but I didn’t want to tell them the whole story. Just plain lying didn’t sit right with me either. In the end, I decided to tell a half-truth.

‘Sorry mom… I actually have to tell you something. I should’ve told you sooner. I did feel guilty about Jean’s hand, but I knew that she had already forgiven me. She told me that before she left for the hospital, remember?’

Both of my moms looked at me in surprise. Oh shit, right. They weren’t supposed to know that I could understand them when I was so young.

“You could understand what Jean was saying when you were only eight months old?” Ellie asked, incredulously.

‘Ah… yeah, I could understand most of what you guys were saying ever since I was six months old, actually. I should’ve told you guys that too. Anyways… the reason I’ve been working so hard and trying to be independent is because I love you guys, and I want to grow up to become a strong person for our family. I’ve been having a lot of fun. Doing chores and helping you guys work makes me happy. I get to go outside and play in the park with Lily a lot too.’ I added.

‘So don’t be sad, mom. Okay?’

The two of them stared at me silently. Did I speak too maturely for my age? I guess I did…

...

"So, I've been worrying all this time for nothing? *sniff* Haha..." Ellie's body seemed to lose all its energy, and began to tilt towards Jean, who caught her in surprise. Jean was about to ask her if she was okay when she realized Ellie was smiling.

“Haha *sniff* haha, Jean, we have a great son, don’t we?” Ellie looked up weakly at Jean.

“Yeah, we do.” Jean agreed. “And a smart one too. Our little genius~”

I stayed silent, but before I even could think of something to say, my parents scooped me off the sofa and embraced me.

We stayed like that for a while. To my relief, their faces looked a lot better than they did when they had come back into the house. My explanation seemed to have done the trick.

“So. Bell, you said you wanted to earn some leaves, right?” Jean asked, interrupting my thoughts.

‘Ah, yeah… is that alright?’

“Yeah,” Ellie said. “But, you have to still rely on us more, okay? We’re a family, and you’re still our baby, Bell.” She nuzzled me with her face. Ewww... snot.

‘I’m not a baby anymore though—‘ I tried to retort.

“You’ll always be our baby~” Jean interrupted. “And we’ll always be your parents. No matter how old you are, or who you become. Okay, Bell?”

I sighed, ‘I guess so…’

Ellie giggled and plopped onto the sofa beside me, putting me on her lap as usual.

“Family meeting time! The topic today is~ how to make money!”

“What about making candies of our own and selling them at the trading post nearby? Or what about--”

The evening went on like this late into the night, as my parents fired ideas off of each other and criticized each other’s lack of creativity.

At the end of it all, we didn't really make any progress. However, one thought kept pulling away at the recesses of my mind.

‘What's going to happen if they find out who I really am?'