Part I - Childhood
Well… this situation was not ideal.
"Dammit! Is the ambulance here yet?"
"No! Just… keep the pressure on it!"
"I'm trying, but… it won't stop bleeding!"
Please… be quiet for a moment. It hurts to think right now.
I flinched as another wave of pain assaulted me, though it wasn't as bad as the first one.
Now, whether that was a good thing… that was up for debate.
To think that a simple walk in the park would end up in me getting shot… that really was my luck.
When I saw the man pull out his gun while facing the crowd, my instincts simply took over me, leading me to tackle him before he could hurt anyone.
Fortunately, it worked, as the people around us quickly realized what was happening and helped subdue him.
Unfortunately… I didn't include myself in the 'anyone'.
To think that getting a bullet in the hip could take me down so easily… the movies really didn't do it justice.
I opened my eyes to see a bunch of people standing over me, their eyes clouded with worry and fear, and some with morbid curiosity as they watched me bleed out on the ground.
Shit… couldn't I just get some peace in a moment like this? Please?
Clenching my teeth, I began thinking over, well… everything.
What about my cat?
Mom will take care of her, right?
And speaking of my mom… she'll be sad, won't she?
No, it's obvious she will.
She raised me, loved me, did so much for me… sacrificed so much for me… and now I'm leaving her like this.
Without even doing anything for her, or my other parents, for that matter.
What a joke.
What a failure.
Or maybe… maybe I'm just unlucky.
I was just barely starting my life, and university was going so well too, but then… this.
My vision dimmed, the edges of the grey sky growing darker with each passing moment.
Breathe in, breathe out.
I ignored the weight in my lungs as I did so, wincing at the pain as I began to shut my eyes.
Damn… this really did suck.
But things were finally starting to fade.
The pain, the fear, the guilt… everything.
The feeling of a dull haze flowing through my system, as if I was going to sleep.
Ah… this… this must be death, right?
It must be something like this feeling… an unstoppable sleep.
Breathe in… breathe out.
It was much harder this time, with a heavy pressure across my chest, the feeling of liquid choking my throat, and a lethargy unlike any other assaulting my mind.
Right… an unstoppable, infinite sleep… that was death.
Then… I suppose I should just stop trying then.
If it's this calm and comfortable, there was just no use in fighting it.
And with that final, admittedly morbid thought… I let go.
My rambling mind came to an end, as did the world around me.
And thus… as did my life.
—
Huh?
Wait… what was this feeling?
An intense grogginess… no, simply calling it 'grogginess' didn't do it justice.
My mind was numb, body nowhere to be felt, and everything was just… not there.
What the hell?
That was the only slightly coherent thought I could even think as a wave of emotions rushed through me.
Warmth. Itchiness. Cold. Warm again. Fear. Confusion. Comfort. Warmth. Comfort. Love…
Something wiped across my face, causing a wave of discomfort to shoot through my body, eliciting a cry.
Or, at least, I think I cried.
I still wasn't sure.
A moment passed as I felt myself smothered by warmth, my cries calming down, and then… there was light.
Blinding light.
So bright that immediately I shut my eyes on instinct.
What… what was happening?
My memory was slowly coming back.
The gunshot. The pain. The numbness. My… my death.
So then… what was this?
Some brain-influenced trip as a final act of defiance before the end?
I wasn't sure… but with my body beginning to succumb to an intense fatigue, I would have to wait a while before knowing.
—
Well… some time had passed, and it seemed that the situation was much weirder than I thought.
Mainly in the fact that I had reincarnated.
At first, I still didn't know what was going on, but after a few flashes of consciousness before fading away to sleep, I was able to catch a glimpse of my pudgy, little hands.
The hands of a baby.
And no, I was not dreaming… at least, unless dreams lasted days.
Well, perhaps I was dreaming, but if that's the case, it didn't really change anything, as I couldn't even move in my current state.
After understanding my situation a bit more, I began to take notice of my surroundings, as my previously blurry vision had transformed into something… better.
It still felt like how I used to see without glasses, but I could only hope that was due to my body's lack of eye strength for focusing, and not that I would be plagued with horrible vision right away.
While my discoveries had been confined into the house, with the ceiling being my most common sight, I had learned about three main things.
First, there was my mother.
She had long blonde hair, warm red eyes, and a beautiful face that always directed a smile down at me.
I wasn't completely sure, but from her looks, she seemed to be in her mid-20's.
And on the topic of my mother, there was also the issue of being fed… naturally, from her breasts.
While I could appreciate her figure, I felt no lust when I drank her milk, nor did I feel any embarrassment or shame.
It just felt… natural. Even though it shouldn't, considering I was meant to be a nineteen-year-old mentally.
I suppose instincts were to thank for that.
Anyway, moving on from her, there was the second person I had seen in this life.
My father, at least I assumed so.
Unlike my mother, who constantly spoke to me in an unfamiliar language, he was quite stoic, with his face set in a neutral expression save for the odd smile, and he didn't babble to me at all.
He had short, dark brown hair, deep brown eyes, a muscular body, and a rugged face with a light stubble and a few scars.
He seemed to be a bit older than my mother, nearing his late-20's, though that just might be due to his mature face.
Ah, and he constantly had a sword at his hip, even when he was inside the house.
My parents both seemed like normal, kind people, and were very loving towards me, though my father rarely showed it.
And while they didn't show too much affection for each other during the day, once I moved into my own room, I unfortunately discovered that they were very loving at night.
Yeah… let's just say the walls were not as thin as I would like, and my mother was quite the vocal lover.
I wish they could have some modesty, but then again, they assumed I was a normal baby who had no clue what those noises meant, so it wasn't like I was that annoyed.
And lastly, there was the house, as well as an assumption born from it.
The house was simple, made mostly of wood, and from what I had seen, it was quite small and lacking any modern technology at all.
There wasn't even a gas powered oven or an old radiator.
And as for my assumption… well, I doubt I was just reincarnated, but rather, reincarnated into a different world.
The unfamiliar language, medieval setting, and the act of reincarnating in itself… well, it all led to the same conclusion.
A conclusion that would only previously been possible in my high school delusions.
And that was before a few minutes earlier, where my mother had said a steady string of words, causing her hands to glow as she pressed it against my father's freshly cut finger, healing the wound after but a few moments.
Reincarnation.
Reincarnation into another world.
Reincarnation into another world… with magic.
Now that… that sounded exciting.
I was still sad about leaving my mother, my family, and my progress behind, and death was not a pleasant experience despite being peaceful, but with this… well, I didn't feel as sad anymore.
Rather… I was excited.
Embarrassingly so.
I mean, I was nearing my twenties. I was supposed to be more mature than this.
But yet, with the anime, light novels, and other media I had secretly adored consuming after classes… I couldn't deny it.
It must just be the physical parts of a baby brain doing this for me.
Yeah… definitely just that.
—
As I had learned, being a baby was… boring.
Sure, I was constantly getting better at, well, being a human, but that wasn't very interesting when I had died as a fully functioning young adult.
So yes… it was mostly boring, save for the embarrassing moments in between.
Breastfeeding, I was mostly okay with.
Having to get changed after pissing or shitting myself… I was not.
At the very least, I learned that I had indeed kept my gender after my rebirth, so that was good.
It would have been quite weird being a girl, and while it sounded interesting to experience for a bit, I wouldn't want to live my entire life as one.
Anyway, while time was tough to measure as a baby, thanks to the constant napping, I could confidently guess that around six months had passed.
And the world… it was about to get a whole lot wider.
Because I could crawl now!
And crawl I did.
As I quickly discovered, our house only had one floor, and contained a living room, kitchen, my own room, and then my parents' room, which was currently blocked off by a closed door, with the handle being too tall to reach.
Such discovery would need to wait for another time.
The living room and kitchen were just an open space, so I turned away from my parents' closed door and headed towards the window, wanting to get a look at the outside world.
At least… that was before I felt my body slowly rise, with two hands grasping under my armpits.
"Zhalasa migan no iteki," my mother said, turning me to face her. "Vincent?"
I didn't understand the first half of her gibberish, but I definitely knew the last word.
It was the word I had heard the most, after all.
My name. Vincent.
It was nothing grand, but I liked that about it.
A simple, good name.
But that wasn't the only word I knew.
"Want to go outside?" she asked, tilting her head.
Learning a language from nothing was… weird.
Unlike when I tried my hand at another language back on earth, there was no native tongue to use to understand what things meant.
Instead, a lot of the understanding came naturally from simply knowing the context of what was being said, and the only way to actively advance it was to constantly focus on my surroundings, especially when my parents were talking.
But there were ways to learn faster too.
For instance, in what she just said, I only knew 'want' and 'outside', but after knowing those, it's easy to guess what's in between.
So, did I want to go outside after six months in captivity?
"Yes!" I said, though it came out more like an 'es' thanks to my infant body.
Indeed, alongside understanding more of the language, I had also begun to speak it.
Right now, my vocabulary was quite limited, it being "yes", "no", "Mama", and "Dada", but I was getting there.
And fast too.
Thankfully, my parents didn't seem put off by my advanced mental capacities, nor the fact that I was quite well-behaved for a newborn.
Instead, my mother simply smiled down at me, lightly pinching my cheek before carrying me to my room.
After getting wrapped in a blanket, and having my diaper checked, my mother then hoisted me into her arms before heading to the door, and from the sack in her other hand, it seemed that she would be shopping today.
My first impression of outside was simple… snow.
Lots of snow.
Luckily, despite that, I didn't feel too cold, as my blanket was working to keep me warm, and there wasn't much of a breeze.
As my mother began walking down the road, I made quick note of my surroundings, as my vision had thankfully stabilized over the months to where I could see clearly.
It was a relatively small village located in what seems to be a large valley, with mountainous ridges on either side of the collection of houses.
And while I couldn't see a castle, like I had expected, near the back of the village, there seemed to be a large, Japanese-style house sitting atop a large hill with a wall surrounding it.
Was that where the ruler of this place lived?
Either way, it didn't matter right now.
I would learn more of that later.
Aside from the village itself, there were also the people, and while I couldn't note anything particularly interesting about them… they all had swords.
Well, not all of them, such as my mother, but practically everyone had a blade at their hip.
Was this world… quite dangerous?
I hoped not.
I wanted to get started on learning magic as soon as I could form a coherent sentence regardless, but I would rather not have the threat of survival urge me to do so.
After heading over to what seemed to be a baker, where my mother purchased some bread, and then grabbing a few jars from a merchant stall, my mother then began taking me back home, having talked to me the entire time during the outing.
Not that I could fully understand yet, but it certainly helped.
Thanks, mother.
As we headed towards our home, I saw what I expected.
A single floor, small, square house with a chimney, as well as a small yard out front.
What I hadn't expected, however, was to see my father training his swordsmanship in said yard.
My mother paused as he took a swing.
But calling it a simple swing… that was vastly underselling it.
His blade practically teleported downward, and the air echoed with a crack from the sheer speed, a small line stretching across the snow from the resulting wind pressure.
What… the fuck?
So swordsmanship isn't normal here either… though I should have expected that.
"Dada! Acool!" I said.
It seemed that my pronunciation of 'amazing' needed work.
My father lowered his sword as he looked over at us, a bit of surprise appearing on his face as he saw me, before he settled into a smirk.
It seemed that my father was quite the proud swordsman.
—
A few more months had passed, and I was progressing quite well, as I had achieved three major accomplishments.
The first, and most notable, was how I was now able to walk on my own.
I really had taken walking for granted.
Not only did it mean I could freely explore the home and the outside yard, but I could now also use the outhouse on my own, save for having my mother reach the doorknobs for me.
No longer did I need to embarrass myself by constantly needing to have my diaper changed.
I had also received my first few teeth as well, and due to that, I no longer was required to breastfeed.
Another shameful action I was saved from experiencing.
But that wasn't all.
"Vincent, did you need a bath?" mother asked.
"I already took one!" I answered back.
Indeed, I was now able to understand many more words, and could talk pretty well too.
And the secret to that, was how my progress in the language was exponential.
As my body grew, and my mouth muscles finally got under control, I could say more than just the basic syllables, and thus… I could actually speak.
After that, my understanding exploded, as instead of simply going off of situational queues, when I didn't understand something, I could just ask "what does that mean?" or "what is this?"
Questions really were an amazing thing.
While my mother remained just as loving, and my father as quiet as before, I was certain that underneath their kind smiles, they were a bit annoyed due to my unending curiosity.
Because I asked a lot of questions.
And today… would be no different.
"Mother…" I said, leaving her room with a certain object in my hand. "Can you… read me this?"
The object in question was the fruit of knowledge.
A book.
Without any books around, and no signs in the town, I had thought that this place was illiterate, but thankfully, after going into my parents' room, I had discovered that wasn't necessarily the case, as this was resting on top of a storage chest.
I knew how to read in my past life, and I planned on doing the same in this one.
"A book? Hmm… I suppose so. Here, how about you bring that to your bed, and I'll join you in a moment," she said, putting away the last of the dishes.
I did as she asked, heading into my room, and thanks to my recent development of being able to get up into my bed without any help, I quickly snuggled under the covers as I rested my head on the hay-filled pillow.
It didn't take long for her to come in, and I was surprised to see that she was carrying another book with her.
"Mom?" I questioned. "Another book?"
"Yes, Vince. We only have these two, but you're lucky we have any at all," she said, walking towards me.
"Books cost a lot of money?" I asked.
"Yes, but that isn't the main reason," she replied, laying down next to me. "I am one of the few people here that can read. Even your father can't. So many do not have books at all."
Oh.
That was… an interesting insight, but at least I had my mother.
Having to learn it by myself… that seemed practically impossible.
With the two books laid between my legs, my mother pointed to the smaller one I had brought to her.
"Now as for which one you want to start with… this is a story about the first Sword God and his travels," she explained before pointing to the other, much larger book. "And this here is a… well, let's call it a book of knowledge. It talks about different lands, cultures, and places."
I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but I'm guessing it was something like a world atlas?
In that case, that was perfect.
"That one!" I said, pointing to the atlas.
"Really? But the story is fun. This is just boring," she said, raising an eyebrow.
"I want that one!" I insisted.
"If you say so…" she said with a small smile, flipping the first page.
With her finger going down to the first words, she slowly went through the opening page, which was just the title and authors, as well as a brief description.
Rather than caring about that, I was more interested in the random symbols written below.
Luckily, it seemed to be an alphabetical system rather than a symbolic one like Chinese or Japanese kanji, so learning it should come fairly quickly.
Deciding to ask mother for some paper and ink tomorrow, I focused as she turned to the next page, and what I saw… it shocked me.
A map of the world.
Very interesting, yes… but I wasn't intrigued by the geography itself, but rather how familiar the image felt.
"Here in the top left, that's where we live, in the Sword Sanctum, located on the Central Continent," mother said, trailing down the map. "And then we have the Begaritt Continent, Millis Continent, Demon Continent, and finally the Heaven Continent at the top."
This… this was the world of Mushoku Tensei, wasn't it?
No, it definitely was.
So this village… it was the Sword Sanctum… that certainly explained a few things, such as how everyone carried a sword, and no one apparently knew how to read.
I had heard the name 'Sword Sanctum' before from my parents, as I had already asked them where we lived, but I couldn't connect it to English, as I only heard it in this world's language.
A few questions immediately popped into my mind.
I had never heard of a 'Vincent', so did that mean I had inhabited a stillborn like Rudeus, or had I taken over someone else's life?
Secondly, was this version of the world the same as the story I read?
Orsted went through many loops, so was this one of them? Was Rudeus, and all my knowledge of the past or future, even a thing in this world?
And lastly, and most importantly… when was I?
I don't remember many specific calendar dates, other than Rudeus being born in the year K407, I think, so that would give me a baseline… as soon as I learned what year it was.
And so, with that shocking revelation, I continued listening to my mother read through the first few pages of the book, my mind understandably preoccupied as I did so, before the fatigue of the day eventually took its toll as I closed my eyes for the night.