Four years have passed.
Life is just plain boring. I thought being born again would be fun and new. But no, it's just boring, day after day. Why? I'm stuck in the body of a little kid. People watch me all the time, which makes it hard to follow my main plan: not dying.
I couldn't believe it, but I was born into a world I knew from stories. It's the world of DxD. In this world, strange things can give you power, and many people are strong enough to break a whole country in a few seconds. My new name is Joseph Barbatus. I am the son of a very important devil family.
This means I need to start training as hard as I can, right now. I can't waste a single second. But here's the problem: I'm not allowed to train.
Well, that's not fully true. I can train at night, in my room, after everyone thinks I'm asleep. I don't really need much sleep anyway. This new body is amazing. I only need about 30 seconds of sleep a day. I don't even have to lie down. I just close my eyes for a moment, and I feel fresh again.
That's a good thing, because servants are always watching me. One time, I tried to practice my moves in the garden during the day. They saw me and told my mother. She talked to me for a whole hour about being a good boy and not doing dangerous things. But she did promise to find teachers to train me when I turn five years old.
I also had to go to my first big party. It was to show me to all the other important families. It seems a lot of new children were born around the same time as me. The grown-ups wanted us to meet and become friends. It was so boring. The other kids were crying or playing with blocks. I just wanted to go home.
My mother saw that I wasn't interested in toys or silly baby shows on the TV. The shows were so dumb, I couldn't watch them. So, she hired a teacher to show me how to act like a proper young man. She also got me books and tutors to help me learn things early.
At least one thing here is fun. Her name is Peko Yama Peko. She's my bodyguard, but she's still training. She is a very cute little girl. She looks like a perfect doll. Every time I see her, I just want to give her a cookie and pat her head. She is so sweet. She has white hair in two long braids and bright red eyes.
Sometimes I run, and she tries to chase me. She hugs a big sword that is too heavy for her. "Wait for me!" she shouts, trying to keep up. It always makes me smile. Her father is my father's best fighter, his Knight. Her mother is one of the helpers from my mother's group. So it's normal for her to live with us. She was born just a little before me, and she's my only real friend here.
"Joseph! It is time for classes!"
That's my main problem for today. Her name is Yukizome Chisa. She is the leader, the Queen, of my mother's team. She works very, very hard and wants me to be great. I know she cares, but she worries too much. She is always watching to make sure I don't run off to do something "stupid," like training. She says my body is too young and weak.
She's wrong. My body is not weak at all. It is very strong for my age.
I have a secret. I can only practice one special skill, a power called the "black heaven and Earth technique." It has made my body stronger and tougher every single day, even before I was born. Right now, I could probably fight a devil who is eight years old and win easily.
"Coming," I said. I was sitting on a branch high in a big tree. A normal four-year-old could never climb this high. I jumped down, landing softly on my feet without a sound. Now, it's time to go back to the land of boring lessons.
Another good thing about this body is how fast I can learn. It's almost silly. A teacher gave me a math book. I just looked through the pages for a minute, and I already knew how to solve all the problems. It was the same for history, science, and everything else. I am just too smart for these lessons.
But the real jobs I have to do are not easy. They are very, very hard. When I was born, I saw a list of missions I have to finish. I can't see all of them yet, but the first few were so scary they almost made my heart stop.
Stop a bad man named CaoCao from causing a big fight in a city called Kyoto.
Kill a fallen angel named Kokabiel before he destroys the town of Kuoh.
Win the big fighting contest for young devils.
Make sure the big meeting for peace between the three main groups does not fail.
Get at least one person with a super-weapon called a Longinus on my team.
Help a cat-girl named Kuroka so she does not have to leave her little sister, Shirone.
And that's just the start of the list. There are more, but I don't know what they are yet. This means I need to find someone with a Longinus. And I have to fix Kuroka's problem before it gets bad like it did in the stories I remember. That will happen in just a few years, so I need to get ready now.
...But there is nothing I can do at this moment. I am too young and too watched. I guess I will just go to this class Chisa is calling me for.