NBAA Vol. 1 Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
About one year passed since Reito’s rebirth in the new world.
He was intent on learning new skills, but couldn’t acquire any after Observing Eye. As a baby, he couldn’t move as he wished, so it was quite difficult to try to learn new skills.
He thus decided to bide his time as he adapted to this world until his body grew.
He didn’t spend his days while doing nothing, though.
Lying in the cradle, he communicated with Airis many times and learned about the world and the residence’s circumstances.
The communication caused a mental burden on him, so if he continued for too long he would get tired and fall asleep. Sleeping was an important task for babies, as they said, so no one found his behavior strange.
~
One day, Reito asked Airis for his mother’s name and she easily replied.
『Your mother’s name is Aira. She has accepted the current lifestyle and is thinking to live in peace with the servants.』
『Eh…? Airis, you can also tell what people think?』
『Only to a certain degree, but it isn’t difficult to have a general idea of their thoughts.』
『Amazing…』
Reito then asked more questions about his mother. She wasn’t the first wife of the current king, Reito’s father, apparently.
He then tried asking about his father too.
『My father, king Baltros, is so important that he can have multiple wives?』
『You see, the Baltros kingdom is the only country ruled by humans, so its king is the most important human in the world, in a way. The polygamy system is also normal when giving birth to an heir is so important, I think.』
『I see…if Baltros is the only country rules by humans, it means there are other races in this world, then…』
Airis promptly satisfied Reito’s curiosity.
『Yes, there are six races in total. Humans, like you, Elves — characterized by their long pointed ears — , the short and stocky Dwarves, the massive Giants, Beasts — humanlike beings with strong animal-like traits — and Demons, who come in various shapes and forms, but all possess high intellect.』
『Wow…if there are so many races, I guess they probably fight often too…』
『That is true, the six races have a long history of conflict. About 50 years ago, however, they signed a pact of reciprocal nonaggression, which brought an end to the war. The rifts between the races still exist, however. Smaller conflicts still break out nowadays.』
Reito reflected on the six races’ conflicts, then voiced his thoughts.
『Hmm, if I didn’t have these “worthless” jobs I could have become the king of the humans, right? I wonder if my life would have been easier that way.』
Airis thought for a moment, then replied.
『Well, even if you had different jobs, I believe you would have found your share of troubles. There are many citizens of the kingdom who harbor dissatisfaction towards the current king, as well as factions trying to change the law in order to let the former king’s daughters inherit the throne. Your exile from the royal castle might have actually brought you to a safer situation, Reito. If you don’t have any inheritance rights, there is no reason to dispose of you either.』
『I guess that’s true. In any case, I have to learn more skills and become stronger, right?』
Reito was half telling that to himself, and Airis replied happily.
『That’s right. There are many dangers in this world, after all. You will soon be able to move by yourself, so I propose to start our actual training then.』
◆◆◆
Several days later, Reito became able to stand up, albeit with the help of nearby support.
As soon as he did, he started practicing.
“One…two…”
『Please do your best. Let’s start by learning to move your body.』
Also thanks to Airis’ encouragement, Reito somehow managed to crawl to the child-sized desk in his room.
Airis had previously told him how to learn the skills he should strive for first. Following her instructions, Reito climbed on the desk. It was just about 50 cm tall, but for Reito, who had barely learned to stand up, it was quite the height.
Reito steeled his resolve, then bravely jumped towards the floor.
“There…waah!”
He couldn’t land upright, though, and fell down.
Reito, enduring the pain, stood back up. He returned on top of the desk and jumped down again.
“Deyahh!!”
After repeating such a bizarre process several more times, he finally managed to land on his two feet.
That very moment, the status window appeared before his eyes.
.
<Tech Skill “Resilience” acquired>
<Tech Skill “Break Fall” acquired.>
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Reito breathed a sigh of relief and lied down on the floor.
“Pheew….”
.
Resilience — increases physical endurance.
Break Fall — disperses physical shocks.
.
Reito looked at the description of his newly acquired skills and smiled.
Reito wasn’t inflicting pain on his body for no reason: his repeated jumping from the desk was for the sake of acquiring new skills.
“Resilience” and “Break Fall” were normally learned by martial artists, but other jobs could acquire them too with proper training.
“Haha…ouchie.”
As Reito uttered the words, in a rather childish way, he heard light footsteps approaching.
Reito thought that his mother was coming, so he hurriedly looked out of the window. He checked that it was almost evening, so he closed the curtains and climbed on the bed. He then quickly pulled up the blanket and pretended to sleep.
A few minutes later, the door opened and his mother, Aira, came in.
“Where’s my lovely little baby? Mommy came for you…oh, are we napping?”
“Zzz…zzz…”
“Hehe, look at my sleeping angel…I should let you sleep in peace. We’ll eat later, okay?”
Aira apparently thought Reito was really sleeping. She glanced at the candles in the room, but did not light them and left the room.
Reito waited for his mother’s footsteps to disappear, then opened his eyes.
“Sorry, mommy.”
Reito awkwardly apologized for tricking his mother, then waited for the room to be completely dark.
~
Soon enough, the sun set completely and Reito’s room turned pitch black.
There was only one window in the child room, as well as no ceiling illumination. The candles on the wall were the only source of light available.
“…I can’t see anything…oopsie daisy…ah”
Reito tried getting off the bed but stumbled and fell, face-first on the floor.
Strangely enough, however, he felt little to no pain.
It was thanks to the “Resilience” and “Break Fall” skills he learned earlier that day, apparently.
(So the skills really work…)
Reito then fumbled in the dark, trying to grasp the surroundings.
“Ouch!? Wah!? Aaah!!”
He bumped into furniture, stepped on toys, and fell down more than once, but thanks to the skills there was minimal damage to his body.
His eyes got used to the dark in a little while, so he could see what was around him a little better.
“One…two…one..two…phew.”
This time Reito didn’t exhibit particularly strange behavior: he sat down, stood back up, practiced walking, rinse, and repeat.
“Kinda boring…a, b, c, d…e, f, g, h…”
Reito continued walking around the dark room, while practicing the alphabet.
In order to learn the next skill, Airis advised him “to move around in the darkness with confidence”. Reito had pretended to sleep when Aira came into the room so that she wouldn’t light the candles.
Reito eventually became able to grasp his surroundings perfectly, despite the darkness. The status window then appeared before him.
.
<Tech Skill “Night Vision” acquired.>
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“Great!”
Reito celebrated the acquisition of a new skill. His goal achieved, he immediately checked the skill’s description.
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Night Vision — enables the user to see in the darkness.
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He then called Airis.
『Airis, I managed to learn the skills.』
『Yes, I was watching you. Very well done!』
『Are all skills so easy to learn, though?』
Reito was happy to be complimented by Airis, but felt a little perplexed after learning three skills in one day.
Airis answered his doubts.
『It depends on your age, Reito. It’s not common knowledge, but the people in this world can learn skills the quickest in their infancy. All skills also have difficulty levels: Resilience, Break Fall, and Night Vision, the skills you learned today, are basic skills but normally require extensive training to be learned, you know.』
『I see…by the way, how many skills can a person normally learn?』
『It depends on the environment they live in, but on average people learn about 10 skills in their lifetime. Because of your “worthless” jobs, however, that number is surely not enough, so let’s keep learning new skills. Some skills will be out of your reach because of affinity issues, but there is no limit to the number of skills you can learn. Learn as many as you can, they can only help you.』
Airis sounded rather excited.
『You make it sound so easy…anyway, I’ll be counting on your advice, Airis.』
『Leave it to me!』
Reito closed the communication and reflected.
(Thanks to Airis, I could learn three skills in just one day. If I continue to train following her instructions, I should be able to become stronger, even with these “worthless” jobs!)
Reito felt brimming with excitement and shouted out loud.
“Oookay! I’m going to go for it!!”
Reito’s tiny yell echoed in the empty room.