He struggled a bit, but after all, Josiah managed to open his eyes again. The vision came back to him all blurred... But it all slowly became clear again after a short while. He started hearing voices:"We need to start getting ready, Beata.""Oh, he is opening the eyes already! Look at him. He has the mother's eyes…"'What?' Josiah thought to himself. 'What is this all about? Where am I?'He moved his head to look around, but it felt different. It's like the head didn't respond as well as it used to, also the two women in the room seemed very tall for some reason. Maybe a bit too tall? 'Is it because I'm lying on this bed here, or maybe...?'He took a look to his body. He was completely naked. And covered in some wacky goo. And worst of all: he was a baby! His body looked like the one of a newborn.'What the hell!? What is this? Did I die and come back to life? So reincarnation is real? But what about my consciousness? I still remember everything. My mom asking me to exchange the pil
Mirild was carrying Josiah in her arms, covered with a blanket. She had verbally expressed her worry about people in the castle hearing the baby making noises, so Josiah was all quiet."Great. It looks like he is calm, even with all the fight happening outside." Beata, the midwife, observed."It's almost like he understands what we are trying to do here." Mirild pointed out.Thomas; Mirild's faithful servant was now in the room together with her and the midwife. His job was helping the mother carry all the needed things. Mirild wanted to pack up a big box filled with trinkets she said were essential for 'fighting', whatever the hell she meant by that. In Josiah's view, she didn't look at all like the fighter type. Josiah just assumed she was making stuff up since Thomas was going to be the one carrying it all anyway."Got everything there? Let's do this now." Mirild said."Shouldn't Beata perform a last check outside just to be sure, madam? Emperor Eneris may order someone to hold us d
"Here. Take care of my son."The tall servant with grizzly hair wanted to protest, but he himself wasn't as confident in his battle skills as Mirild was, so he complied without questioning.Thomas held the baby in his arms and before the soldiers could advance, Mirild quickly grabbed a short sword from the stash behind her. It was a beautifully curved sword with the blade made of shimmering silver metal, with a dark red colored hilt."A level 42? Could this be Mirild, the early spouse candidate of Eneris?" The high ranked soldier exclaimed with a serious expression. He followed the sentence with a louder order:"Get her! Before she draws more of them!" One of the soldiers advanced immediately, carrying two of his blades on the hands. Nothing in the vision of the baby Josiah hinted Mirild could withstand a charge like that, but one clash with that simple shiny sword and the guy got thrown back, his body falling with the back to the floor.Another soldier started an attempt on his own.
Josiah always thought he would be kept in the dark regarding his consciousness of that new life, as his mind was still stuck in the Josiah of the modern era, however having lived for a sufficient number of hours, things were starting to come back to his head.They were mostly phrases… Excerpts of conversations he overheard. Perhaps they were sentences said by those around him when he was still inside his mother's belly?Emperor Eneris and Mirild used to be close to each other. Four months ago she was supposed to be the consort, the one who would bring the birth to the new emperor of Bucoa."How is he doing?""He is moving. He does it all the time. He won't stop moving. He is going to be a very energetic little emperor.""You bet he is.""Do you think he is really going to be a 'he'?""The doctors said that. There is no mistake. You are going to give birth to the next supreme leader."Josiah remembered his mom's voice and the other one was familiar as well. The whole conversation came v
The storm hadn't even stopped completely and a couple of soldiers, this time soldiers from Eneris' army, were knocking on the door of the old farmer."Excuse me, sir. We are looking for a middle-aged man carrying a baby. You know… The poor fellow was obliged to run from the castle in the middle of the enemy attack. The army is now tasked with tracking back the victims from inside the castle...""Oh, so he is a friend of yours, then?""Yes… You could say so. Then you have seen him?""For sure! In fact, I have been sheltering him right here. I and my spouse have been very kind to the visitor. She even baked a carrot cake for him, you know. He seemed like a nice fellow.""Oh, that's nice of you. Emperor Eneris wants you to take this as gratitude." The soldier took a coin from inside his pocket."Oh, thanks a lot! I appreciate. Come in, he is right here in the…" The man started saying as he invited the soldiers to go inside his house. The entrance led to the dining room, where Josiah and t
Josiah was nervous.He was carrying the knife in his hands, but the hands were shaking.'There is no need to fear, I should just stick to what I practiced.' Josiah told to himself.In that world finding wild creatures like that blue wolf from earlier was pretty common, they were so many it wasn't uncommon for normal citizens having to deal with them themselves. The creature in front of Josiah was a wobbly mass of sticky fluid. It didn't have an exact face, but there was a part of it considered the front, which it was known the creature used for sensing the world around it, and the other part was the back, which was the weak spot.The wobbly mass moved around very slowly, making it very easier to outrun it if one ever wanted to, but didn't exactly make the things easier if one was actually willing to get rid of it. Even knowing it was not the fastest thing on earth, with a knife and a body of that size of his, Josiah had to be careful not to get hit when he was approaching to strike th
"Ready? Let's begin then…""What is this? You are going to teach me the sword...?" Josiah asked."Teach you 'about' the sword, that is. Here, grab it." Thomas did not hold himself as he threw a heavy broadsword at a four-year-old child. Josiah didn't mind and caught it on the air by the hilt, like he was accustomed to it, though."You really are skilled. I used to be skeptical about the stories surrounding the royal bloodline, but watching the son of the emperor grow beside my eyes made me realize the rumors really are true… The superstition surrounding the royalblood is something I never gave credit, but seeing you with these old eyes, I'm starting to believe…"Josiah stopped looking at the sword's shape and brightness and got focused on the old servant's words:"What is this all about royal blood and bloodline you keep saying of?""You know you have been born inside the castle of Bucoa. Those who are born with the bloodline of the emperor or the high skilled combatants are called 'ro
"Listen… I am going to tell you all about the role of the blood on the level system…" Thomas said as Josiah was holding his promised sword given by his mother."…Young master, I believe you must have noticed how the hilts of the blades are very heavy on the design. Do you see this symbol on the very center of the hilt of yours?""Yes. It resembles the one mom was holding…" "You remember!?""Huh… Vaguely, yeah." 'Oops. I almost let it out…' Josiah thought to himself."If you look closely this is a number that is engraved, it's stylized but it is the number '1'.""You're right!"Of course, it was not the sticky figure of the number 1 of the language oh the world Josiah was accustomed to, it was the number 1 engraved on the calligraphy of Bucoa's written language, which he strived to learn in the first four years of his new life."This means this blade is currently at level one."Josiah made a skeptical face. 'Is this really an RPG then?' He muttered to himself."But the power of the bla