Chapter 04: First Year of Life

Today I turned one year old, I made a lot of progress in terms of my abilities, I can understand the local language in its entirety, from speaking to reading and writing.

The city in which I was reincarnated is called Khalkos, a small city in the middle of the Denizi peninsula, the third largest territory of the Vaalpu empire, but also one of the poorest territories in terms of economy, all this is due to its geographical position.

Denizi is a peninsula with a territory of 89 Taramis, a unit of measurement of this place equivalent to 8,900 square kilometers approximately with 8.3 usable Taramis, that is to say that of the 8,900 square kilometers of the territory only 830 square kilometers can be used which seems a nonsense but there are reasons for this.

The first reason are the delimitations that exist in the peninsula, on one side is the sea of widows, an extensive territory made only of salt water but with many dangers, therefore sailors tend to avoid it, access by a port is a bit complicated, some people mention sea snakes and mermaids but my father said they were just stories.

The second reason is on land, the end of the peninsula is delimited by a large mountain range called the frozen wall range with a length of approximately 3,000 kilometers, a rather annoying length, the highest point of the range is not yet measured unfortunately.

With the two entrances blocked it can be assumed that the exchange of goods has a great difficulty and is practically non-existent, but that is not all we have in this territory. In addition to the two delimitations there is also a forest that covers almost the entire territory, the so-called land of spirits or in its formal name Mirtis.

In total the city of Khalkos has about 6,500 inhabitants, maybe a few less but not more, of course the diversity of the population is 40% elderly, 20% children and 40% adults or young people in development, which also mentions that the population turnover is becoming lower and lower and this is the fault of the economy or of course the diversity of population.

But besides the inhabitants of the city of Khalkos there are also some small villages in the surroundings, near the coast or near the mountains which my father calls the people who were there before but in my dialect they are simply natives of the territory and we are foreigners or something like that but the truth remains unimportant to me. I don't have more information about the native tribes, my father doesn't usually talk in detail and all the books I had access to don't mention them. But it's not all bad news, after many attempts I can now control my body to the point that I don't have to go to the bathroom at random times, I can hold it, I feel more and more independent in this tiny body.

Another thing I can do now that I am one year old is the fact of crawling, it is not something difficult considering that the floor of my house is made of wood and it is always shiny, daddy has several maids to take care of the mansion. As I am a baby there is always someone watching over me and of course it is usually my mother but there are times when she is not available, in those cases a trusted maid watches over me, Clara, she is the daughter of the financial manager of the territory, a young woman just entering her twenties with several suitors in town but at the same time she seems to be a very cold and strict woman, I don't like to make her angry but it is necessary when I have to gather information, of course she can only sigh when she finds me and chooses to take me to the cradle once again, advantages of being a baby and the son of the lord of the city.

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Clara's point of view

The young master turned one year old, he is a baby that you always have to keep an eye on and it is not because he always cries or some accident happens, it is simply the fact that he does things that a baby could not do.

I have known Mr. Joey and Mrs. Lauren since before they were married, when I was still a child. My father was the finance manager for as long as I can remember and served the previous two generations of lords. When the time came I was able to work at the manor with great ease after all I knew the manor better than Mrs. Lauren herself. My work as a maid consisted of small things as I had to supervise the work of all the other maids.

When Mrs. Lauren announced her pregnancy all the servants were happy, we would have a new generation of leaders meaning that the territory would not yet be in conflict for the successors, of course I was assigned the task of taking care of Mrs. Lauren during her pregnancy.

I remember what it was like to work for her when the young master was in her womb "Your tea Mrs. Lauren" I had to bring a tea made with herbs to strengthen her weak body during the pregnancy stage, by nature Mrs. Lauren was weak.

"Thank you Clara" the taste of the tea was not at all pleasant but she drank it without fail every day, showing her tenacity, whenever I observed her she was caressing her belly with a smile on her face, it caused me pain "why do you have that face Clara?"

"i-it's nothing" I answered awkwardly to her question.

"do you also think I should follow the doctor's recommendation?"

"I just think it's to maintain her health, but I understand that she doesn't want to allow lord Joey to make an heir with another woman" I bit my lips slightly, the doctor in charge of lady Lauren's health had indicated that having the baby was dangerous and she had to get rid of him as soon as possible, besides to follow the line of succession she should take a concubine and get a successor that way. I know the lady is strong but having all those suggestions at the same time must have been overwhelming, still she, she stood strong and firm to her decision.

"it doesn't matter if Joey looks for another woman, he can do whatever his judgment dictates, I wouldn't mind if he doesn't make our son his heir either, I just want to hold this baby in my hands and I know he can be born healthy" she continued caressing her belly softly "that's why I have to do my best, stand firm and never doubt".

"what will happen if he doesn't survive" I had the question in my mouth and I said it in one breath.

"it won't happen" she said with full confidence, her eyes showed me her conviction, there was no need to insist on more questions, it was enough for her to stay strong. Of course things turned out well for both Ms. Lauren and Mr. Joey. Only that due to this crossroads a few problems were created, such as the fact that there are two heirs to the territory.