Helga

Brother, you said I would just have to defend and escort the kid; he is so much more work than that. I cursed as I sprinted through the castle looking for the Emperor and his Chief Advisor. That kid was a near bottomless source of worry for his mom. His was developing way too fast.

Normally a baby developing their wasn’t a problem, as the growth rate shouldn’t come close to exceeding what the body could handle. level had small tolls on the body when consuming the necessary . and above all had larger tolls than a baby could realistically handle. Even the of when he expanded it too far almost fried his . A normal baby wasn’t just going to randomly use or . More of masses of or the most simple, rudimentary version of them. Build up their than anything else. Not Crown Prince Nil. His control, , and known were increasing way beyond a normal baby. He could properly use two and a ; Crown Prince Nil seemed to be learning them all on his own. Originally his parents encouraged his growth, then switched to much harder tasks under the guise of games to try and slow down his growth a little. Instead, he not only succeeded, but started growing faster. His reserve was on par with that of a talented two year old. It was very likely his was about to exceed what his body could handle. It was a problem all faced. Training your body sucked at times, and things to toughen and strengthen your body as a whole as well as your channels was very time consuming, but it allowed one to use more advanced without worry of dying to the expended . Another concern was overloading the amount of your body could withstand and slowly suffocating from it, a terrible way to die. The rate his was increasing was perhaps more concerning because it had to be getting close to what the body of a baby could take. It wasn’t limitless, even for demons. How Crown Prince Nil wasn’t in near constant agony at this point from his use was baffling. There were two rapidly approaching ways he could die: using where he couldn’t withstand the or die to .

He does have some pain tolerance though; I should have realized when I accidentally dropped him. His ability to handle pain isn’t normal for a baby either. I thought I might’ve just bumped him less than I thought. I should have reported it and faced the consequences. That was so stupid. I chastised myself.

I quickly reached the office of the Emperor. Hopefully Emperor Azzeck and my brother were in there. I barged in, throwing open the door. I did not have time for pretense. Empress Senna needed her husband yesterday.

“Maid Helga!” my brother snarled as he and Emperor Azzeck shot me the dirtiest glares I had ever seen. Both had already a weapon ready to smite whatever threw open the door.

“I have an urgent summon from Empress Senna. Please make your way immediately to Crown Prince Nil’s room.” I blurted out before either of them could press further. Both of them immediately their weapons and began to move.

“What happened?” Emperor Azzeck asked as he stored all the papers they were discussing.

“Crown Prince Nil used three separate times we know of. I witnessed one of them. Brother, where is Magus Erli?” I quickly explained.

My brother a ring onto his finger and snapped. In an instant, Magus Erli appeared from thin air. Emperor Azzeck motioned for her to follow him and we rushed back to Crown Prince Nil’s Room. In total, it took us less than five minutes. Emperor Azzeck hurried to his wife’s side to comfort her and check on his son.

“What happened?” Magus Erli inquired, feeling the tension in the air.

“Nil used ; he very clearly used . I suspect three times. I didn’t see the first one, but I saw the second and third time.” Empress Senna answered, looking a bit stressed.

“Magus Erli, is there any way to the body of a baby?” Emperor Azzeck checked despite knowing the answer. No.

“Your Imperial Majesty, I am sure you are aware that it simply cannot be done. It requires focus and preparation a baby just simply is not mentally capable of.” Magus Erli informed him, looking like she hated having to say it.

“If I may contradict my colleague, in the case of Nil, I think it may be possible. In my observation, there does seem to be some intelligence and recognition in his eyes. He is able to understand concepts and seems to be quite intuitive for him.” Cesar interjected to our immense surprise.

All eyes turned to Cesar. It was extremely rare for him to straight out contradict someone. While he was still quite tactful, Cesar was not one for direct disagreement. And to contradict an on the subject of regarding the Crown Prince? What is he thinking?

“What are you saying Cesar?” Emperor Azzeck asked, his eyes made it clear he believed his friend was lying to comfort him.

“When he used , what did he ?” Cesar probed with odd confidence.

“A blanket on me.” Empress Senna replied. You could see the gears turning in her head as she started to realize something.

“And do you not wrap him in a blanket whenever he is tired? Or when he is distressed? In a sense, the act putting a blanket on someone is a symbol of affection he could have been trying to mimic.” Cesar elaborated. A few things clicked in my mind. When I dropped him he didn’t cry because he knew I would get in trouble.

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“Are you proposing that a baby is capable of understanding such concepts? That is an incredibly risky gamble Cesar. It could be pure coincidence.” Magus Erli retorted, trying to be a voice of reason.

“I-I-If I may s-speak, I m-might ha-a-ave a story that may help.” I said sheepishly. I am about to confess.

“Speak Helga.” Emperor Azzeck ordered, not getting why I was so nervous.

“About a month ago I accidentally dropped the Crown Prince as I was swaddling him as I placed him too close to the edge. I thought he bumped his head before I caught him, but he didn’t start crying. He fell maybe a foot and a half and I thought it was my nerves making me paranoid.” I confessed, dreading what was next.

There were mixed reactions in the room. First of all, the Imperial Highnesses were quite angry. I am so going to be punished for that later. Then they realized what I was saying. It was a long shot he was able to grasp ideas like this, but it was a chance. It was better than their kid unknowingly approaching his own execution.

“It may be possible. Before I try and devise a method for a baby, I believe it would be prudent to test him. A simple test or two. One that requires concepts, or more accurately would demonstrate he is capable of grasping more abstract concepts.” Magus Erli proposed with a bit of a sigh.

“Having him find the ball with and to it demonstrates some ability to Magus Erli.” Cesar replied, and it was something we all saw him do.

“He likes the ball. It is a toy we are hiding and he is recovering. We need to know definitively he is able to grasp concepts enough to . Does he grab the ball because he wants it or because we ask him to? We should test if he knows the distinction on that first. We need to be absolutely sure because otherwise it is an incredibly reckless and dangerous idea. After we need to test can he understand abstract ideas.” Magus Erli retorted.

“What test should we do then?” Empress Senna asked in a bit of a defeated tone.

“I think I have one that might just do the trick.” Magus Erli replied with a smile.

*

Nil

When I woke up, there were five very concerned looking adults around me: Magus Erli, Cesar, Helga, and my parents. My mom was sitting next to the crib holding something. I was definitely in my crib. I saw a few small objects pinned to the walls in my sight. What is happening? Why do they look so concerned?

“Nil, look at mommy.” my mom instructed. I turned to face her. Why do I have a sense of dread? The air in here is so tense.

“Can you get mommy this item?” she asked while holding a painting of sorts depicting an orange.

This is odd. All words I had heard her say before, and an actual question. Usually she demonstrated the words she was saying, or shows me these pictures and told me their names. Should I show I know what she asked? Some voice in my head was screaming yes, like this was important that I did. I almost felt compelled to, but I didn’t feel any , so why did I feel like I should? The adults were looking at me with such intensity it was stifling. I looked at my parents. I recognized that expression, it was one that decorated many of the faces of my classmates on days of exams: desperation. I used and brought the orange in front of us.

“That’s great Nil! Can you get mommy this item?” mom requested, holding up a different painting.

I had no idea what the picture was. I didn’t recognize the item. It most certainly wasn’t pinned to the walls. She always would demonstrate ‘no’ by shaking her head. Is that what she wants? A human baby my age wouldn’t know how to do that. I’ll just lay here I think is my best bet. I have no idea developmentally where a demon baby would be though.

“That’s okay Nil. Can you get mommy this item?” she asked after about a minute.

This time the painting was depicting a toy train on the wall, which I used to bring to her. My reserve was starting to get low. For some reason though, Mom and Dad looked like the world was slowly being lifted off their shoulders.

“We can confirm he understands being asked to retrieve an item and can match the painting to the item.” Magus Erli said, also sounding relieved.

“How do we test if he understands abstract ideas?’ Dad inquired with a peculiar hopefulness in his voice.

They seemed really concerned with the results of these tests. Am I behind developmentally? Or is it something else? They seem terribly concerned about something. Again, I just knew that I had to demonstrate this. Without a shadow of doubt in my mind. Why am I so overwhelmingly convinced that I need to demonstrate I understand them? Is this a they are using? I doubt that, but why are they so scared? They were keeping their tones happy, but there was clearly something stressing them. I was starting to feel quite uneasy. If only I could talk! I think we would both feel a lot better!

“Technically he doesn’t have to understand them, just follow them. This is the key part he needs to somehow be able to do. Have you used any abstract words around him?” Magus Erli asked. The tension in the room was clearly rising. My parents looked desperate. Why is this so key?

“Love. I tell him I love him a lot.” Mom replied with the desperation returning.

“We will try that one first. Emperor Azzeck, refill his .” Magus Erli instructed. Then each person held up a painting of themselves. I understand Mom and Dad, but the others have paintings too? Unless there is a to make the paintings fast.

“Okay Nil, who do you love?” Mom checked.

I used to grab her painting and immediately did the same to grab Dad’s painting. My parent’s eyes absolutely lit up. I am not sure if it is love I feel towards them, but I like them around, and it is definitely the answer they would expect. For some reason I was hit with a pang of guilt after I thought that.

“Has he ever heard the word hurt? Or have asked him after the ?” Magus Erli inquired as she was clearly trying to gauge something.

I didn’t wait though as I Helga’s painting in front of her. The adults all looked at it dumbstruck, followed by laughter from Cesar and Magus Erli, tears of joy from my parents, and Helga turning beet red. My reserve was a bit low after that last but hopefully it proved the point. My dad refilled my before looking around, a mischievous glint in his eye.

“I think I have one more. Who drones on?” he asked. I Cesar’s painting to him. His face looked absolutely ecstatic while Cesar scowled.

“The chances of that being coincidence are quite low. It looks like he possesses some sort of which helps with comprehension. It could also explain this ridiculous growth of his. It does give hope he might be able to his body. We should be able to stop him from suffocating from his own at least. He has some innate intuition of what not to cast.” Magus Erli proclaimed with a bit of laughter still in her voice.

DID SHE JUST SAY I COULD SUFFOCATE FROM MY OWN ?! THAT’S POSSIBLE?! NO WONDER MY PARENTS WERE STARTING TO LOOK WORRIED! I was definitely feeling a bit distressed. Okay, maybe a lot distressed. How close to the suffocating to death on my own was I?! My mom picked me up and cuddled me close.

“Thank the Lords of Tenebrae.” she whispered softly as she cried. Her holding me so close was oddly calming, and temporarily distracted me from the fact I had been unknowingly approaching my own demise.