Chapter Two: The World After

It's been exactly a year since I was reincarnated. I had died on my way back from work and happened to be reborn as a baby.

Fortunately, I was found by a beautiful young woman called Layla and was taken in as an adoptive child. She's married to her husband named Cliff. I was later given the name Reo Bellar.

Reo is my given name.

Honestly, it came as a shock, it took me about six months to believe, the fact I was reincarnated. Took me a while, but I finally got accustomed to my new body. It felt odd at first and I had a little problem moving and telling it what to do, but I finally got used to it.

I used to believe in reincarnation, but I'd never thought I'd ever be reincarnated, with my memories to boot. Could this be what they call isekai in anime? Reincarnation: getting reborn after death. If luck were on your side, you'd be reincarnated as a human again, if not, chances are there you'll be an alga, a fish, a coral, and the like.

So, there's a 50-50 chance you could end up as a monkey or any other thing other than a human in your next life. But I haven't heard of reincarnating with your memories intact, at least not in real life. If anything, I've only seen this happen in anime or movies.

There isn't anything much to say. Well, I guess maybe, I should talk about my new parents. Cliff is a local blacksmith who spends most of his time in his workshop out back. He is a tall muscular man with dark hair and an arrogant face a good-in looking way. He has a really good build as well. He seems to be in his mid-twenties or late twenties. Not sure of the exact. Leila is a full-on housewife who spends most of her time at home doing housework or chores including taking care of me.

She's an average-height beautiful woman, with long luxurious hair which flows down to her back. Though that said, her hair is most of the time tied up in a cloth to prevent them from getting in the way of work. She has a nice slender body with all the right proportions and she looks a lot younger than Cliff.

It might seem a little odd for me to say this about my mom but, damn she's hot. But, don't take it wrong, it's not like I ogle her every single time or have weird thoughts about her every time.

I guess there is nothing much to say about them. Yeah, there isn't much to say. Since I've been here for a year now, I've finally gotten a good grasp on the layout of the house.

The first room through the front door is the spacious living room, merged with the dining room and a corridor in between. A little further into the corridor, the first room on the left is the toilet and bathroom, and a little further on the right is the store room. The corridor breaks into a T junction with a fixed big window in the middle. The path on the right leads to the kitchen, while the path on the right leads to the back door.

A little out, before the corridor is a stairway leading up to the upper floor of the house which is a long is a long hallway. On one side of the hallway (right side) are two rooms are for rooms opposite each other. One of those rooms is mine and the one right before it is Leila and Cliff's room.

The two rooms on the opposite side are guest rooms. Down on the left side of the hallway is another restroom. Well, that's roughly the inside of the house. I don't want to go into too many details.

I died, was reincarnated, and was given a second chance at life. Now, unlike certain protagonists of certain shows (I don't want to mention names), I'm not going to say how I've been reincarnated is given me a second chance to relive a fruitful life unlike the first.

Well of course, it goes without saying there's no way I'm going to live life the same way I did the last time, even if I wanted to though, I don't have an intention of doing so.

I mean, my past life was going fairly well until I suddenly died from overworking myself. It was fairly balanced except for the hectic work I had going on and the fact I was still single and was nearly a great sage. I can't say I have no regrets from my past life, but hey, I don't think anyone can say that.

I believe life comes with regrets, no matter how small, there are still going to be things you wished had not done or had done. Life is a lesson and that's where I believe regrets take place. I have lots of regrets piled up (like not finishing up my book, for example) from my last life, but I was a bit satisfied with how it went.

Just as in my previous life, I intend on living a slow quiet life with as little excitement as possible. I intend to go to school, grow up, make friends, get a job, get married (for sure this time) and have kids and grandkids, a slow life.

I don't intend on saying clichéd lines like, " I'll live my life to the fullest this time" isekai anime protagonists who say clichéd lines like this, already pulled a red flag on their life and would come back to hit them in the back hard later on.

It's a red flag, at least that's the way I see it. And I have no intention of pulling some major red flag like that. No! This is my second life, and I'm grateful for it, but I plan to go at it as slowly as my past life, with only a few changes and improvements, of course. But wouldn't that be me pulling a different flag?

~two years later~

It's been two years already since I was reincarnated. I've completely gotten used to my new body. I can freely and more fluently move around all over the place with it. Though, doors could be a problem for a three-year-old.

The language here isn't anything I had heard of before. But over time, I began picking a few words and immediately learned them in a matter of time. It took me about a year to master it, that's less than I thought.

Just like in my previous life, I've got black hair and eyes. But, something always feels off about this body. Maybe it's because it's different from my last body? I've also noticed a few oddities about this body. It grows exponentially! The body's adaptability is something to reckon with.

In the one year I was reincarnated, as mentioned before, I grasped a full understanding of the language and was then capable of fluent speech, in a space of two years.

Though I'm very well capable of fluent speech, I try not to make it known to Leila and Cliff.

I began walking a little after six months. Though that doesn't exactly sound particularly weird… right? Aside from those two, I barely feel any pain at all. I fell down the stairs but felt nothing. At first, I thought maybe I was lucky, but many similar cases occurred. Things that should most definitely hurt a kid like I don't. But then it might just be my adult mind-numbing by the pain.

I'm grateful, though, but it's a bit disturbing. I have way more strength than a three-year-old should. I could easily lift a shelf with an arm as easily as breathing. I don't feel fatigued or rather, I don't recall ever feeling fatigue, and believe me, I know fatigue when I feel one because I died due to it once. And most times, I levitate in my sleep… maybe that last one was an exaggeration.

All of these strange things, could it have to do with the strange flashes I had when I died?

The time my consciousness faded, there were strange images I had watched flash before me. Even a year later, the memory of the post-apocalyptic world and the mountain of corpses remain vivid in my mind.

Even those eyes...

The eyes of the devil which cursed from above. I shuddered at the vividness of the memory.

Well, that's enough of that for now. Right now I'm planning my first break out since coming to this world. I plan to sneak out into the outside world for the first time since coming to this world. I'm a lot curious as to what country or continent it is.

Of course, I'd been outside before, but only a few times and I never got past the wall.

Judging from the way people look I'd say this is somewhere In Europe. No, it has to be. There's no other place you can find women as beautiful as Leila. But I'm pretty sure Europe has got the technology, though. Ever since I've been here, I haven't come across anything technology-like. And the fact that Cliff's a blacksmith strikes me fancy. I mean a blacksmith in this day and age?

Well anyway, I'm going to find out soon. Right now I'm up in my room. Cliff's hung up in his workshop out back. Leila being a full housewife means she's home a good 95% of the time. The remaining 5% is when she goes out to resupfoodstufftuff or other things. She's on errands.

Whenever Leila is done with the chores and every other thing, she spends her time down in the living room knitting a scarf or something. If she isn't doing that, then she's doting on me.

But please, don't get me wrong. I love it when a beautiful woman like Leila dotes on me, but this wasn't my first attempt at 'operation see the outside world,' but my sixth.

Every other attempt was foiled by Leila at the last minute. She's almost like the watchdog of the living room, an impregnable wall between me and the outside world. But this time, I've got a different plan.

If I can't go through the front door, I'd just have to sneak out the window. Though that said, the window in my room is about three meters taller than me, so getting to it could be a bit of a problem.

Luckily, there's a stool I could use. I push the stool underneath the window and to add a little more height to it, I pile up a bunch of random books I never thought of reading, on top of the stool. I get up on my newly improvised ladder, unsteadily at first. I then face the shot window. I throw open the shield and covers and took a peep out the window….

No way! No way! No way! Uh-uh!

My internal red alarms were flaring at the sight.

....Maybe I should just take the stairs?

....

There's no way I'm doing it. Going down the window seemed like a brilliant plan at first, a good idea. But after attempting it, it made me wonder what made me think that. This is suicide!

My room was on the top floor, looking out the window made it feel like I was a princess locked up in a tall castle, planning to break out through the window. It was suicide! I'll say it again. There's no way I'm carrying on with it! No way! Fine, maybe my new body might be quite sturdy, but I'm not so curious to find out its limit just yet.

Uh-uh! I just got reincarnated, there's no way I'm kicking the bucket this early.

Now realizing how stupid my idea seemed, I shot the window close and quickly got off the stool and dispersed it. Okay… so going out the window is a no-go then. So, what now? I take up a thinking pose with two fingers against my chin. Tsk. I can't think of anything. Ugh!! I've got to go outside.

*sigh* guess there's no other way. I have to go through Leila. After coming to a stern and final decision, I ball my fingers into a fist and head out to the living room downstairs. I squat a little by the stairs observing Leila in the living room. As expected, she was there.

She was on one of the couches doing her knitting. Ok, now all I just need is a little distraction. Hmm, but what? And then suddenly, there was the sound of shattering plates coming from the kitchen. Leila, reacting to this hurriedly left what she was doing and went straight for the kitchen where the noise came from. I'm not sure what it was, but this was my chance.

I waited for Leila to completely leave the living room before I proceed with my plan. When she was finally out of the room, I went straight for the door as quickly and silently as I could.

Finally, I had overcome many obstacles before finally getting to this point, and many levels of difficulty before arriving at this point. But, here it is, the last level, the last obstacle, and the hardest of them all. The final boss, the doorknob!

I stop and glare daggers at my natural enemy which looked down on me from its unfair height where it was. The final boss shows itself finally. Every other time I make it this far, the door stood in my way in opposition to my plan. The doorknob is the natural enemy of kids my height. However, I don't intend to face the doorknob head-on. Well, at least not today, not at this height.

I head for a window beside the door. Luckily, it wasn't nearly as tall as the one up in my room. There was a small stool underneath it. I used the stool to boost myself out the window into the front yard. But man, who would have thought the first time I'd sneak out would be at three? How would I react if my kid was in his rebellious phase at three?

I lounged myself out the window into the front yard successfully. The cool breeze washed against my face. It was a sunny day and the skies were clear. It had this nice feeling to it. Operation; see the outside world is a success!

Though I'm out of the house now, I'm still in the front yard which I'm quite familiar with. So, saying the operation is complete, isn't exactly right and neither wrong as well. My main goal is what's on the other side of the wall.

The house is surrounded by a finely made stone wall, with a gate at the front yard. I quickly head towards this gate, exiting the compound. The area is filled with so much greenery, it's only expected the air is as fresh as it comes. I take in the wonderful air, with a big breath, before exhaling heavily. The fresh air with the mix of success and freedom felt really good against my skin. And without further ado, began my exploration.

Our house was placed atop a small hill. I could see a few other houses made of similar materials just like our own. The houses were either made of stone, wood, mud, or a mixture of all three of them, as well as large plains and fields. It had this middle age feel to it. Is there no technology in this part of the world?

I head right, descending the hill into town. With no particular destination in mind, I go into a bush searching for plants or insects that could probably help give a clue about what country or continent it is.

The good news is, I found a lot of really weird and abnormal plants and bugs, the bad news is, the plants and bugs were just so weird and abnormal, and I got freaked out. Still, I couldn't identify where I was. I just had never heard or seen anything like them before throughout my past life. Maybe they're some rare new species or something?

After a while of pointless and unfruitful wandering through the bushes, I decided to finally come out and search for some other clue and was greeted by a golden sea of wheat, which spread as vast as the eyes could see.

The wheat formed wave-like movements and patterns as it bent toward the direction the wind blew. It was a majestic sight and for a moment there, I was struck with awe. This was something I had never actually seen in my past life. Well, at least not live. I'd seen them in pictures and all, but who would've thought they were just… breathtaking.

I take a few more minutes to admire this wonderful sight before me when a sudden thought ran through my head. How on earth do they plant and harvest such a vast field without the use of tractors or the like? Well, I know it's possible but the amount of manpower required for that is unimaginable.

Just as I thought that I heard the voice of a young woman a little in the distance, in a field. I couldn't exactly make out what she was saying but, she then held her hands up above her head, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, a sphere of water appeared and accumulated in her spread-open palms. The big sphere of water then popped and dispersed into rain drops which poured over the field.

Wh-what just happened?

I rub my eyes in shock and doubt trying to comprehend the scene which just unfolded before me when I then caught the sight of a man not too further away from the woman.

Just like her, said a few words I couldn't make out from the distance. He waved his hand a little and suddenly, a slight gust of wind in a vortex manner similar to a tornado but much smaller and weaker. It went through the field around and began uprooting the crops.

I had considered this, but banished the thought; it wasn't that I happened to have been reincarnated in some undeveloped part of a continent or state, they just didn't have the technology, well to be more precise, they had yet to invent it, but they've got something else in replacement for it- something better- something most people wish they could have or do- something that could shake the world more than the invention of technology- something that could rival it.

They had MAGIC--