Unexpected Revelations

Regis's POV:

It hadn't been long since, ya know, the world collapsed, and everything came down with it.

We've been exploring the harsh terrains of Eleanor, looking for someplace to survive.

My thoughts were always muddled now.

After all, I was born to be Arthur's weapon, something that cuts through his every problem with ease, yet this problem felt infinitely more difficult to solve than fighting Kezess or Argona, even if it was at the same time.

No, this problem was emotional.

Arthur's broken, completely.

It's my job to put him back together again.

I don't blame him for the sudden increase in workload, especially after everything has gone to shit, but for now, all I can do is try to make him laugh and maybe give him some hope for the future.

So that's what I'll do, that's my goal for now.

Make Arthur feel again.

Because…

He never really needed a weapon. It hurts to admit that my existence is rather worthless, especially when I can only keep up with him, I can't pave the way for him anymore.

I don't have the intelligence or strength to do that.

But what I can do is save him from himself.

By killing his demons one joke at a time.

—

Arthur Leywin's POV:

After talking to Regis about my theory, we ultimately decided to sideline it for later, as although it was certainly possible, at the same time it was entirely plausible that it was not the case at all either.

In other words, we had far too little evidence to prove my theory accurate.

But other than that, nothing deviated from the original timeline, including the torture from a severe lack of control (which Regis found absolutely hilarious by the way), well that is what I thought until I became capable of crawling.

—

Benjamin Leywin's POV:

I was the Hand to the King before becoming the King of my nation myself. Even as his Hand, his most trusted confidant and advisor, I was incomparable, in the Paragon Duels if either of us took to the field the other opponent was making their journey six feet under, even without a sword I was incomparably powerful, I could have armies assembled and kneeling in front of me with just the power of a single word to call them to me, and yet I have never been more proud of myself than I am now…

I can crawl baby!

It has been within my plans to go to the library to learn more about my situation, it seems like my brother had the same thoughts as me considering I spotted him making his way to the library at night when no one was awake. I'm almost certain that neither of us are what could be considered human, mostly because our needs seem to be significantly lower than any normal babies would have, not to mention the physical strength and my ability to see these colorful particles in the air, this is after all my reason for going to the library, my situation is rather perplexing, we were both making our way to the library slow and steady, something that would be completely opposite of what a normal baby even has the mental capacity to consider.

It would make sense if he was a reincarnator too, the more important matter being whether he is an enemy or ally if that is indeed the case.

This extension to my life has been… enlightening to say the least, father and mother both have told me stories when going to bed about the world around us and their experiences in it. Something that I found fascinating, after all the prospect of adventuring like my father had was more than appealing to me.

My name is Benjamin Leywin, a fine name for me and one that I have no objections to taking on as my identity in this life, after all, Alexander is gone. After catching a glimpse of myself and my brother on a sheet of reflective metal I nearly tripped over myself wondering if I had won the lottery, after all my features looked as if they had been hand-picked by a god of divine beauty and perfection. The auburn hair that seemed to have a radiance and fervor to it, the azure eyes that looked like the sky above was captured in the form of a jewel, and the milky white, pale skin that had an unbelievable beauty and glow to it brought the image together.

A feat that I would have thought unimaginable, my appearance made me think that I was a painting superior to the Mona Lisa if it had been painted on the air itself and had been given life.

A strange analogy, but accurate to describe the sheer quality of my appearance.

Putting it lightly I was almost guaranteed to be a heartbreaker.

After a few weeks of uncoordinated shuffling, I had finally made it to the library or was it a study? Well, that hardly matters, either way, I made it there whilst mother was hanging the laundry out to dry. Mother to say the least was not pleased with my brother and I, sighing and complaining about the difficulty of taking care of us taking a sudden increase.

—

Closing the encyclopedia in front of me I fell forward to land on my belly, the only comfortable position in this damned body of mine, and began to process the information that was new or lack thereof.

After all, I knew everything in that book.

Yeah…

Strange indeed.

The only difference between before reading the book and now is that it feels fresh in my mind like I had just reviewed it, which for all intensive purposes…

I did.

The key takeaway though had to be that this world is archaic, my world dwarfed this one in technology by miles. But the other takeaway was magic, magic in this world was a superhuman power, it is not the same as ki although there is overlap, it required further research.

Being an expert in ki manipulation, I didn't have an impressive ki center in the least, in fact, it was below the average, my strength was mainly obtained through skills and strategy that I along with my former king, developed to suit myself, I wielded a straight sword and used strategies to win rather than the all too common brute force method of fighting.

But here there was a difference that could make my strength bound forward and reach heights I couldn't have ever imagined in my first life…

Mana, the resource for using magic, was in the atmosphere, it seems like that particle in the air was the different types of mana, which means…

I could see them all, therefore it stands to reason that when I get my Mana Core as they are called, I will likely be able to wield all four elements, an assured advantage considering that there haven't ever even been any tri elementals, let alone quadra elementals, not to mention the mysterious purple particle, perhaps I have an undiscovered element.

Now I just need to find a book that will give me the answers I'm searching for…

Is what I thought until…

"Psst"

Something whispered in my ear to get my attention.

Expecting to find a pedophile preparing to molest me I prepared to attack, only to find something that in all my years will never make any sense to me. My brother was staring at me alongside a freaking ghost! It even has some horns on its head. What the hell is even happening today.

First I find out that I have knowledge of this world somehow and someway and then I find my brother staring at me with a ghost alongside him.

"You think I'm a ghost don't you, he thinks I'm a ghost doesn't he."

The 'ghost' asked me before turning to my brother asking for confirmation, my brother just shrugged unable to answer, but in a manner that showed a mental acuity too great for him to be anything other than reincarnation.

After a moment the ghost shook his head exasperated before saying something that surprised me further.

"Princess here has prepared for you a book with all the information on the magic in this world that you'll need for now, also before you ask, that purple stuff that I'm guessing you can see, yeah definitely don't mess with that."

Looking at the book that my brother had prepared for me, its title suggested that it fit my needs perfectly.

"Beginner's Guide for the Privileged Mage"

Looking back at my brother he was looking at me, his gaze burning into my skull, it was clear that he knew already about me being a reincarnation too, otherwise, he would never have pulled that gamble with the flying 'ghost' or whatever that thing is, but the fact that he has something like that tells me that his situation is different than mine, where I came here from another world, it was like he had been here for years already.

Certainly possible, and perhaps even likely, but that's beside the point, for now, it was important to look over what he had annotated and figure out how this world's magic works.

"Oh and before you start, read the whole book, and again do NOT try to interact with the purple particles. Do I make myself clear?"

Why is it telling me not to touch the purple particles, well if he is warning me about it then it must mean that it is really bad news for me if I decided to mess with them. But further, than that he told me to read the whole book, I guess that there is the knowledge that I might have skipped over given the fact that I know it already, but it seems like that knowledge only comes to me when I have been reminded of it, so it seems like that suggestion will help me in the long run.

Not like I'll listen to it though…

Getting started with the book I prepared my baby brain to handle the influx of knowledge that was about to occur and began reading.

—

Arthur Leywin's POV:

Seeing that my brother had listened to Regis and began reading the book rather than playing dumb and pretending to not understand the situation. My gamble had indeed paid off, it seems like he was already looking for the book, so I had prepared it in advance during the nights when I was sneaking out of the crib. But it seems that further than that my brother was intelligent, after all, he clearly understood the unspoken statement we just made to him.

We know what you are.

Looking back at the shelf I had noticed something wasn't quite right when I had first arrived at the library or was it a study? Jesus why can't I remember something as simple as what this damn room's function is?!

Anyways…

There was a book that hadn't been here last time, and it was sticking out like a sore thumb…

Crawling with this dreaded body took a while but I eventually made it to the book and began reading with the developed reading prowess I had gained from my life after this world went caput.

Looking at the title it was not surprising the amount of shock that was written on my face.

"The History and Legend of the 6 Heroes"

Opening the book, I saw a note fall out of the book and land in front of me.

"Read the annotations they will be important later on in your journey."

-G

G? Who the hell is G? Or rather who the hell could G even be that makes sense?

Well… there isn't anything that I can do regarding that for the time being so I guess that I'll just listen obediently and read the annotations…

Haaah…

I've always hated being told to do things, especially by strangers, so this was peeving me quite a bit and I had a tick mark growing on my head.

After all, some random person was essentially telling me that my journey was going to be related to a freakin children's book.

Well… fuck it.

"The 6 heroes first descended when Mana Beasts plagued the continent and with their help, they were repelled from the land that now makes up the three kingdoms, it was said that they will descend once again when calamity strikes and serve to protect the continent and this world from those calamities. The heroes of legend are not any of the three main races and have unique magics along with quadra elemancy, their appearance is that of humans although they aren't humans, they were people summoned from another world to serve as the guardians of the world."

Certain notes caught my eyes in the annotation that made me widen them in response, the first was next to the initial 6.

"6?"

It seems the one who annotated this was not sure of the accuracy of that number, how curious.

"'Continent and this world' Dicathen, Alcraya and Ephotheous."

The annotations and notes suggest that the person who annotated this for me is aware of the three continents, which rules out many of the people who could be this G.

The last note shocked me to my core…

"'They were people summoned from another world to serve as the guardians of the world.' Then where were they when you suffered for so many years, Arthur or should I say, Grey?"

…

Well, that fucks with my list of candidates sending the number straight to zero.

Zilch,

Nada.

Closing the book I turned to my brother seeing that he had started meditating after reading the book I had given him at an impressive, even absurd rate.

I began meditating, drawing the mana alone to my core whilst thinking about what I had just read and more importantly.

Who is this G?

"There you boys are! Art, Ben, boys, are you having trouble taking a poopy?"

My brother had an incredulous look on his face at the comment, probably thinking something along the lines of how he was starting his journey to become the greatest mage in the world, and further than that, to not think of him as a constipated baby.

Little did he know we had both been sitting in our bile for a time now…

My mother picked us up from our sitting positions and began taking us over to where she changed our diapers.

But what I wasn't expecting was that the book I had just read was no longer there.

To calm my paranoia from the mysterious situation that I had found myself in I looked at my brother who had just noticed the shit in his diaper, his face warped into that of surprise and embarrassment, haha, it was pure gold.

Well…

Until I noticed the amount of shit in my own diaper.