Chapter 3 - Volume 1 (1/2)

Volume 1, Chapter 3: I became a human

This is bad…. Lately, that’s been all I had been saying to myself.

Not out loud of course. I couldn’t make any words in the first place. I gave a go at using my voice, however,

“…Uh~, ah~”

That was how I sounded. It was nothing to be confused about though. Right now I am a [Human] baby that still hasn’t even grown any teeth, and can’t even coordinate my tongue and mouth properly.

“My! How adorable. Yuru-sama, what ever is the matter?”

Upon hearing me making a sound, a woman wearing a maid uniform came over and cooed over me with a remarkably tender expression.

Well, babies were cute after all…. But you know, even if you ask a baby such questions, there’s no way it could answer.

Still, [Yuru-sama]….I was aware that the nickname [Yuru] came from my name Yurushia, but as a demon, I can’t help but feel more of a connection to my established [Name].

Well, that’s fine. It isn’t great, but I’ll endure.

But the nickname Yuru reminded me of something. It made me think of a [Mascot] that gave off a loose impression.

Now then…. Two months have passed since the time I was born, and I’ve noticed some things.

It appears that I, Yurushia, was born to a rather splendid household.

The ceiling of my room that I saw every day was adorned with ornaments, and the several maids in waiting were all beauties.

Being addressed as [Yuru-sama] by one of those beautiful ladies made it clear that I was an ojou-sama.

……Hm? I’m a girl, right? Becoming a little anxious, I rubbed my legs together. I didn’t feel anything like that “thing”, which was a relief.

At first there was the question of whether I could properly act like a baby… but my mind was influenced by my infant body. When I wasn’t focused, I would cry involuntarily or spontaneously cause leakages.

There was also the issue of language. It most likely wasn’t english. How exactly was I able to understand this language I hadn’t heard of before? It might be a demonic ability.

Thinking back carefully, The dark beast’s words had sounded like the growling of a regular animal at first, too.

However, I wanted to learn it if possible.

Being able to understand speech, but not read and write was a pain.

There was also the matter of food. My current staple food was breast milk.

It wasn’t very tasty….. Although Mother and two other people who seemed to be wet nurses let me drink their milk, I didn’t have much of an appetite.

However, if I drank too little then Mother would worry, so I forced myself to drink. …..It’s tough.

Now then, this is the biggest question:

What am I? A human? Or am I a demon…?

The number of humans that I got to see in person amounted to five. Mother, the wet nurse Trufi, and lastly, the three maids who took care of me, Vio, Fer and Min. …..Mm?　I felt like I’d heard of those three names before….

It was likely that I mixed up their real names and nicknames, but in my present condition there was no way of confirming it.

There probably other people such as the chef, but I’ve yet to see someone among the people of this home that seemed capable of using summoning magic.

In the first place, did magic exist in this world? Well as a matter of fact it did.

Whenever Vio-san turned the light on in the room, she would use what appeared to be magic.

It wasn’t something surprising, seeing as how I came here by summoning magic, but I felt a bit down when I realized that this wasn’t the world from my dream.

They treated me as they would normally treat a baby even though I was a demon, so it was unlikely that these people were the ones who summoned me.

That being the case, it could only have been a natural phenomenon. Or perhaps the accidental result of a failed summoning from elsewhere.

But that wasn’t much to be concerned about. The problem was that I had [Incarnated] into the material plane.

Yes. ….. I all of a sudden thought about [Who] it was that was sacrificed for my manifestation.

I broke out in a cold sweat.

The most likely answer to that question, was that this body of mine… was manifested through the sacrifice of a baby.

The purity of a newborn’s soul and body. Judging from the prosperity of this household, it would most likely be of the lineage of a [Noble]. It was more than enough qualities for a demonic sacrifice.

This is bad, very bad….

It was appalling to think that I might have taken away and replaced the child of such a loving mother.

What should I do….

But, while I was drowning in my worries, my dilemma solved itself of its own accord.

One day, when Mother and Trufi-san saw that I was doing my best in drinking breast milk, they breathed a sigh of relief before entering into a keen conversation.

“…..Yuru-sama is doing so well…it’s such a relief, Ria-sama….”

“Yes….. When this child was stillborn…I was in despair, but to think she would suddenly come back to life…. I must thank Vio for that.”

“Vio repeatedly used healing magic for hours on end….. She was on the verge of giving up, still….. The other children were also delighted.”

In other words, the baby had died at the time of birth. At that point Vio-san, who was capable of magic, continually used healing magic on the dead baby.

The fact that she had repeatedly used magic in that manner must mean that the baby didn’t revive. It would have been a different story if she was a user of resurrection magic, but it would have been strange for such a person to be a maid.

Therefore, going by the current situation, it was most likely that the baby’s body alone was used as the sacrifice for my manifestation.

It might have been slightly lacking as a sacrifice, but I suppose as a demon I only amounted to that much.

There was also the factor of me forcefully opening the summoning gate as well.

That I was a demon that sacrificed a baby to manifest… wasn’t something I was entirely sure about.

For a demon, my [Power] was much too meager.

Of course, I did possess the ability to decipher languages and didn’t hunger easily, but apart from that I was truly just a [Human] baby. I couldn’t even crawl yet.

For the time being, I suppose I’ll just wait out the situation while gathering information….

＊＊＊

Although I wanted to gather information, I had mostly made no progress.

The reason for that being that I was never taken outside of the house.

A year had passed, and the clumsy me had finally became capable of walking on all fours. I couldn’t hope to go outside on my own, but I hadn’t expected not even being taken along for shopping.

Was that how it normally was in this world?

Nevertheless, there was something that I had come to understand to a certain degree.

My place of residence was said to be a mansion, but it was a smaller place compared to the other mansions I could see outside the windows. Our place must be the villa of a noble, or the house of a wealthy merchant. That was why, even now I’m not sure of my social status.

Mother’s name was Riastea. Ria was her nickname.

I have yet to meet Father. From what I’ve put together from the conversations I’ve heard, he had apparently come to visit me only once, around the time when I was just born and wasn’t able to see well yet. I’m sure he was busy with work.

In our residence, there was a chef, and a slightly younger man who worked as both gardener and guard. I still don’t know their names.

I should probably mention this also. It was something I had suspected since the first time I saw magic being used for illuminating rooms, but there was no electricity. I guessed the cultural level here was around the Middle Ages of Europe.

The meals weren’t tasty…

It was quite problematic.

I knew the reason for it though. It wasn’t the fault of the cook, but instead my sense of taste.

I did find a way around it, but it wasn’t a solution to the cooking. Whenever I would receive milk from Mother, I would cling to her chest, and from her I could smell a fragrance that just a little sweet. Of course, Mother’s smell was a good smell, but it was different from that.

It was the same light intoxication I felt from when mofumofuing [Him]. I could feel that same intoxication from Mother and Trufi-san, and by taking in that sweetness at the same time as drinking milk, it became tasty.

What exactly was that smell, I wonder…?　I should find out eventually.

One day, a few days before I was to turn into a 1 year old, I was made to wear pretty clothing for babies.

It wasn’t a kimono or anything, and the clothes I usually wore were also good looking, but I presumed that it was clothing for going outside.

That’s right. Today, I would be going outside of home for the first time.

Th-this is bad.

It’s seriously bad.

My mood that was full of cheer at the thought of going out with Mother deflated like a balloon.

Inside of the carriage that was heading out, was me and Mother, Fer-san and Min-san.

Well, to summarize the information I gathered while being pampered by the women for several tens of minutes, an unthinkable fact came to light.

I was in a strongly religious country called the [Holy Kingdom].

Almost all the priests of this country were capable of using the so-called [Purify] magic that was holy magic.

In this country there was a custom, where infants would receive [Blessings] at a church through the use of holy water, but of course it wasn’t something enforced by the law. It even costed money after all.

For some reason, though, this time, there was an official notice dictating that while the government would cover the costs, all children born within this year must receive the blessings…

From all over the country…including those from the outskirts of towns, villages and the slums, even the children of immigrants and traveling entertainers would be thoroughly investigated. In other words, it was now something compulsory.

This was bad wasn’t it. This was what you’d call bad, right? Holy water and blessings, wouldn’t a weak demon perish from those things?

I’m a baby you know. Terribly frail, okay?

Upon seeing me trembling in fear, the three women assumed that it was the fault of the carriage and that it was my first time outside, so they comforted me in various ways, even telling me that horses weren’t scary, but I didn’t feel any better. It would have been stranger if I did.

Why of all times, did they have to do such a thing now…..

……We’ve arrived at the church.

The building didn’t appear so different from the ones in my dream. If I had to point out something though, it was that the cross symbol at the top part of the church looked more like a plus sign.

Min-san told me that the goddess-sama of good harvest is worshiped here, but I’m a baby that can’t understand you know? If I could, that would be strange you know?