Everyone was gathered around the platform with the red carpet for the next event.

I had managed to figure out the purpose of most activity stations after only a few minutes, something I hoped would carry on, but unfortunately this one had me thoroughly stumped.

'No point in thinking too hard about it right now,' I thought to myself, I'd just see what was going on soon enough.

After a few more minutes of delay due to what looked like some last-minute preparations, things were starting.

A member of the crowd who was holding a baby in her arms came up to the platform, placing the baby on top of it so that it was visible to everyone watching.

Then, a different villager approached the platform with a store of seemingly random items.

The first item he brought out was a vine with some berries on it, the same as the ones growing all over the trees surrounding the village and gave it to the baby.

The baby awkwardly grabbed it and bit on the berry closest to his face, in the process also squirting the juices from the berry all over himself.

When the people saw that they said a few words before going quiet again.

The next item the villager presented to the baby was a carving tool that was shaped similarly to a screwdriver, to which the baby played with for a little bit before letting it fall down to the ground.

Again the crowd murmured, this time in a dismissive manner.

This cycle of events continued with a hammer, a spool of string, a toy sword, and so on until the villager had no more items left.

From what I saw, he showed the greatest response to the string but that wasn't saying much, as the conclusion it ended up facing was the same as just about every other item, falling to the ground.

The people started talking again, and before long the discussion heated up to the point that people began taking turns yelling at each other's faces.

Eventually the villager who had brought the baby, likely the mother, finally spoke up after staying silent for the entire discussion up till then.

After hearing what she had to say the people were divided into two opposite reactions, some people cheered while others grumbled in disapproval.

I now had some idea what this ceremony was for, but I was still confused.

'Were they trying to find out what jobs to give these babies at this point in their lives?'

That sounded very stupid, but I decided not to question it, after all a lot of aspects of this world reminded me of medieval history and back then, superstitious nonsense was taken quite seriously, so it wouldn’t've been ridiculous to say the same was happening here.

There was also a chance that maybe it wasn't just superstition here though, since I did just see two people glow bright as the sun while displaying inhuman acts of physical prowess.

Either way, I would be able to choose what job I wanted so it didn't really affect me all that much.

More babies went through the process until the leader's baby came up, the same one I saw on my second day in this world.

I had seen him a couple more times since then due to my mother’s visits, but I never got a good look at his face since he was always wrapped up in a large blanket.

Today was the first time I could get a good view of him as he was dressed in something else, a bright orange baby robe.

He didn't really have hair, just a few clumps here and there, and as the clothes already showed, his eye color was orange just like the leader.

‘This should be interesting’ I thought to myself while paying extra attention to the platform.

He went through most of the items without much reaction like most other babies before him, but then the item that many people, including me, were waiting for came up: the sword.

When the sword was given to him, he grabbed it by the blade and paused, before starting to nibble on its edge.

A few seconds later, he dropped the sword next to him on the platform.

I could see a lot of people were disappointed by this fact however they didn't express it out loud in respect for the leader.

The leader himself also tried to maintain a neutral expression but I could see through the cracks in his façade that he was disappointed as well.

The villager conducting the ceremony shuffled up to the base platform to take the sword back so they could continue, when something surprising happened.

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As he picked up the sword, the edge moved in a parabolic motion that just barely came within the reach of the baby once more, allowing a split second for the baby to lean over and once more grasp the sword.

Sensing the nature of the situation, the conducting villager let the sword out of his hold, and in another twist of events the baby transferred his grip over to the hilt, holding the sword as it was meant to be held.

A few members of the audience gasped at this with happy smiles and started to clap.

The baby swung around the sword some more before it slipped out of his hand and onto the floor.

He started to cry but the villager continued with the rest of the items.

I glanced over at the leader again who now had a proud smile flickering in his face with his calm act almost breaking apart, a complete 180 from his demeanor before.

After the villager was done entirely with the rest of the items, arguments fired up again within the audience

Unlike what I expected though the arguments this time around were way more intense than the previous ones.

‘Was I not getting something here?’ I thought to myself.

His reaction to the sword was clearly stronger than any of the other ones and as far as I knew there was only one job he could have based on that, there was only one obvious choice.

Eventually, the leader's wife said something that settled the arguments with similar reactions coming from the winning and losing sides as all the other times.

I was confused as to the reason they argued so heavily, but I put that on pause as the mother began approaching the platform, it seemed it was my turn to go.

Once on the platform I observed the various faces of the crowd around me.

They looked conflicted about how they should feel regarding the situation but the villager in charge of this event, not skipping a beat, continued as normal with his task.

First, as always, he handed me the vine berries, which I held for a few seconds before gently laying it next to me.

That seemingly caught a few people off guard as every other baby but me had eaten a little bit of the berries as they were likely conditioned to.

Next was the carving tool but again I responded the same way, gently placing it next to me until it got taken away.

Then with the hammer, and again with the spool of string, until what I wanted finally came up: the sword.

When the villager gave it to me I took it by the grip using both hands, showing no sign of ignorance to the function of the object in my hand.

The crowd, which was wildly murmuring at my reactions beforehand, went even more crazy now that I had finally given attention to one of the objects.

Minutes went by without me doing anything in particular.

They might've found this suspicious but at the end of the day, it was more important to me that I ended up with the job I wanted.

Even more time passed until they decided they had to move on and they took the sword away from me.

I didn't let go immediately as a precaution to anyone who wanted to make metaphorical connections, however I also didn't try too hard in my attempt to overpower a fully grown adult.

With the remaining objects I showed no reaction, not even the initial receiving it to put it to the side.

After all was said and done, the audience was completely silent.

Just about everyone was in a state of astonishment, except for one standout person in the corner of my vision, the father.

Rather than surprise, his expression was a mix of worry and regret.

'Huh?'

Before I could analyze any further, the leader unexpectedly spoke up amidst all the silence.

There was nothing that I understood from what he said, but one word in particular stood out to me, a word I had never heard anyone else say before then.

"Vaikus"

In the other babies’ turns he had stayed quiet and impartial, likely because if he did end up saying something everyone would've unilaterally supported his decision, killing all the debate.

Not this time though, and as I figured, none of the other villagers dared to argue with him.

The father looked as if he was about to speak out but before he could mother's hand shot over to his chest, keeping him from saying anything.

She seemed to have made her decision and confirmed it by saying the “Vaikus” word again.

Without much delay, she took me off the podium and into her embrace, allowing the remaining families to continue the ceremony.

Two more babies went through the test though theirs was not as eventful, and once it was over, the people dispersed off into different areas.

Some of the villagers went home while others went to go get more drinks and carry on with the socializing.

The father said some things to the mother before taking me from her hands and joining the group that was heading home along with the brother.

I got one last glance at the tree that was situated in the hole the villagers had dug out, which by then had completely burned down.

The festival was over.

Once we entered the home the brother began energetically jabbering to the father.

It was likely concerning the duel between the father and the leader as he didn't get to talk about back during the festival.

Left dealing with his bottled-up excitement, the father tried to settle him down with no success until he eventually ran out of energy and was convinced to go to his room, finally allowing the father a break.

Not too long after, the father took me into our bedroom and laid me down into my crib.

Instead of leaving or going to bed himself though, he continued to stand there watching me.

He looked really sad for some reason.

I didn't know what I was supposed to do but something irked me having to see him like that, so I tried reaching out to him with my tiny hand.

I couldn't reach all the way over to him, but seeing what I was trying to do, he gently laid his large hand over my ribcage.

Now within my grasp, I covered his hand with my own in a hug.

We stayed like that for some time, neither of us moving.

Soon enough, the sadness on his face was replaced with a soft smile.

With the passing of time, I became more and more drowsy until I fell asleep, holding my father's hand.