Chapter 3: Baby Life

The Month of Ninsum Day 3 Year 675 Of the second holy calendar

Dominic sat up with the help of a cushion and he squinted his baby eyes at the bright sunlight coming from the window. The scene outside was not particularly interesting there was nothing but a muddy patch of grass. Repeatedly trampled by a group of soldiers who trained on it with horses or by sparring. No one was training right now as it was afternoon, so there was not much to look at. When they were training it was an exhilarating sight. Dominic had been a fan of historical movies particularly medieval ones with battle scenes. However, watching those Movies and a real Combat drill we're too entirely different things.

However, despite the lack of interesting things outside Dominic continued to stare out the window, out of sheer boredom. A light giggle came from behind him “Lord Dominic enjoys looking out the window.”

He struggled to turn around made difficult by his lack of muscles and generally clunky baby body to look at the person who had spoken. Jane was his constant companion for quite some time now, maybe since he was born. She was a girl who looked about 12 years old with black hair and green eyes. In the future, she will surely charm many men with her good looks but for now, she is just a cute 12-year-old. She wore a black blouse that was tucked into a white skirt that went all the way down to her ankles.

After watching interactions between his presumed relative who he now identified as Luce he judged her position to be close to that of a maid outfit. Unfortunately, she wasn't wearing a traditional maid. Dominic wasn't particularly interested in girls who were mentally 8 years younger than him but he still thought that she would have been cute in a purely platonic way. That being said her outfit was more practical and Dominic found himself growing fonder of her every day. It was probably a natural result of spending so much time with her.

Over time Dominic had come to understand a few things one was his name, Dominic. Most people generally called him with honorifics so he concluded that he was probably of high status, not that he understood the honorifics. The second was that Luce was likely his mother, the reason he concluded this was simply her attitude. But the main reason was realizing that this is an entirely new world separate from Earth or at least the distant past. Judging people by modern sensibilities was downright stupid here. In his world, someone in their early twenties having a kid would be considered weird but thinking about that from a historical context it was the people of the modern world who were weird. Most cultures throughout history married their teenagers off and not being married by the age of 20 meant that something was wrong with you. It was also perfectly normal for those people to have children before turning 20. Dominic felt somewhat embarrassed that this realization hadn't come to him sooner. The second major realization he had was that this world had magic.

As for Jane, being a 12-year-old working as a maid Dominic just chalked it up to more or less the same thing. Child labor laws probably didn't exist in this world and the girl herself seemed pretty happy with the arrangement. Oliver had just been one to go with the flow in his previous life and Dominic had inherited that personality trait. Dominic was also not some sort of hero who cared about saving the world as Dominic and Oliver only cared about himself and people close to him. Which meant one could generously describe him as a very kind man who cared about friends and family above all. Put truthfully he was generally Apathetic to other people who were not his friends and Family. If Jane was unhappy then he would have done something about it but since she was fine with it he didn't care. Not that he could do anything at the moment.

Jane had just changed his diaper and was busy fiddling around with something. Dominic, having seen this before was not particularly interested but still watched primarily out of boredom. She set the diaper down on the table where he'd been changed for some reason he was always moved before this process began. She removed a stick from a specially designed holster attached to her skirt. The stick was only about 8 inches long at the most. It appeared to be made of some sort of white material although he had never been able to examine it close enough to figure out what it was with a green stone attached to the hilt. Pointing her stick at the diaper she murmured some words and a magic circle appeared at the tip. The magic circle was about 1 inch wide and 1 inch tall. It had a smaller Circle in the middle and what appeared to be five smaller glyphs on the edge of the circle.

The diaper went through a series of miraculous changes in just a small amount of time. The filth was removed from the inside of the diaper then it got wet then dried in just a few seconds. Once the spell was completed Jane casually picked up the now-dry diaper and folded it when she was done she put it back in the diaper drawer. Dominic had the same realization that he always did at this point and that was that having your diaper changed was embarrassing. But watching someone clean it, then fold it, and then put it back in the drawer was even more embarrassing. Dominic sometimes questioned the sanitary nature of reusing diapers but they have been doing that ever since he was born and no problems have occurred as of yet.

Jane approached him and picked him up like you always due to a baby. Dominic had originally felt embarrassed by this just like everything else about being a baby, but eventually, he got used to it. “it's almost time for your daily routine.” Jane said smiling.

Dominic would have shifted uncomfortably if he could have, he didn't have access to a watch but by watching the shifts of the soldiers training he could figure out the time. She carried him to his cradle just as she placed him down the door opened. Several women entered the room led by the lady of the household herself Luce. Jane, after safely placing Dominic down turned around and curtsied without even confirming who she was looking at. This had become a daily routine for all of them although Dominic hated it. “Lady Luce it's nice to see you. I see you brought along the usual crowd.”

Luce responded the way she always did “They just followed me here.” “Well, you can't blame us the young Lord is cute.” “The fact that he always tries so hard warms my heart.” “Of course, we followed we wouldn't miss the cutest thing in the world.”

Dominic only understood half of what they were saying but by this point, he got the gist of it. Rolling his eyes he started before they could finish their chatter. Although they viewed it as a performance he was certainly not here to entertain them. Dominic had poor health ever since he was born, spending much of his early days running a high fever. His poor health seems to be a combination of his natural temperament and his refusal to drink breast milk when he was younger even now he is rather small for his age as a result he did exercise hopefully to aid muscle growth. He rolled over in his cradle and started a baby plank. By moving his knees and by rubbing his upper arms against the cushion of the Cradle he started what could be considered a crawl but was closer to dragging/pushing himself along. After he reached his destination the wall of the Cradle he positioned himself into something akin to a push-up position. This was all to stand on his knees. After working his arm muscles his leg muscles and then grabbing onto the edge of the crib he managed to stand on his knees, but only while holding on to the edge of the Cradle.

Dominic then pulled himself with his arms and pushed himself with his knees close to the edge of the crib. His crib was typical in its design with bars connected to the bottom into an upper rim at the top, his goal was the rim. After reaching close enough Dominic reached his arms upward from his kneeling position. This was usually difficult to impossible for a baby of his age but after training his arm muscles and with great difficulty he could do it. He reached the rim before grabbing pulling and pushing with his legs and his arms until he was fully upright and standing. He was standing up albeit while holding on to the edge of the crib he was fully standing. Dominic raised his voice into a war cry reminiscent of a professional Boxer who just scored a KO. Of course, in reality, his war cry was the adorable scream of a child and not the Magnificent Bellow of a man but Dominic could imagine and more importantly he could ignore certain women going. “oh my how cute.” or “This is my favorite part.” or “I love his little scream when he gets this far he's usually so quiet and docile.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Dominic's legs were shaking like crazy his arms were too as they were put through immense strain just by standing up, nearby Jane had started Counting 4 5 6 7. But he could barely hear her focusing solely on his arms and legs trying his absolute best not to fall. This was a strenuous workout for his baby's body. Today Dominic had put his mind to beating his record. But naturally, exhaustion in his physical body had its limits. Limits that couldn't be breached with willpower alone such as 40 seconds of standing up. As Jane said 35 Dominic's arms gave out and he fell forward. He would have bashed his nose straight on the rim of the crib if it wasn't for Jane who grabbed him with one arm while the other still held her watch. Lifting him in the air and carrying him with one arm while straightening out the bed sheets which had gotten completely messed up during his exercise then putting her watch away.

After finishing her task she laid Dominic down on the cushion. “you beat your previous record young Lord by 6 seconds.” Dominic still didn't entirely understand what she meant but he grasped that he defeated his record thanks to the Happy look on her face. In that sense Jane was exactly like a child when Dominic failed to beat his record or at least match it she would look upset and when he succeeded she would look happy. With his daily routine complete Dominic happily fell asleep while ignoring the happy murmuring of the women around him who treated him like some sort of pet. After all his baby body did require quite a bit of rest napping was an important part of his life.

After his afternoon nap, Luce decided to go on a walk taking Dominic and his presumed sister whose name was Nora out on this little Excursion with her. Although it was called a walk it was far from a pleasant stroll through the garden, primarily because there was no Garden. It was more like going outside onto your front lawn.

The residence which they lived in seemed to be a small mansion surrounded by a low-lying wall. The wall itself was three times higher than the height of an average man, Dominic estimated, and wide enough that two people could stand shoulder to shoulder on top of it. Several small Towers that jutted inward instead of outward rimmed the wall. The wall itself was made of black stone which contrasted with the white of the mortar. Dominic was a bit surprised by the wall. He knew certain Mansions of rich people had fences surrounding the entire property but he thought that was more just to Mark the property and keep poor people out. The wall surrounding the residents was an actual wall with guard towers and people constantly guarding them. The soldiers when not guarding the walls constantly trained and almost seemed like they were surrounded by enemies or in a military installation on the front line, with constant tension from the soldiers.

The residents only had 4 buildings on it an Armory, the barracks a stable, and the house itself. The front of the residence was where the training grounds were as well as the stable that was also where the gate was. The barracks in the armory were located on the right side of the main building. The Garrison as far as Dominic could tell was approximately 300 strong. The backyard also had a small lawn with three whole trees and grass growing on it. The grass was unhealthy looking, the trees also seemed to be more like spruce trees than trees you would want in a garden. But still, it was the only green in this place which seemed to be made of black and dark colors. People also tended to wear black or dark colors like they were in a Perpetual state of mourning.

Luce had spread out a blanket on the ground and she was calmly watching Nora and Dominic play together. The play involved Nora rolling the ball towards Dominic who would then flick the ball back to Nora. When Dominic was even younger Nora would play a similar game where people would throw the ball rather than just roll it, she seemed to enjoy it more. But ever since Luce started taking Dominic out with her Nora had started playing this instead seemingly to include him. Dominic got a warm feeling in his chest whenever he thought about this, he felt like a father watching his daughter grow up.

Nora rolled the ball into Dominic's spread-open legs. Dominic then pulled his arms back and hit the ball towards Nora, She caught it with the wide-open palm of her hand before smacking it back in between his legs. They repeated the process numerous times but Nora found childlike joy in it. Dominic played along with it even when his arm started to tremble from exertion. Luce had only started taking Dominic out recently probably because of how sickly he was.

Eventually, Nora began to tire of the repetitiveness of the game seeing that Luce pulled a thermos from the basket she brought along, although that was the only thing in the basket. She spoke right as Dominic was pushing the ball towards Nora “Do you want some Ripple juice.” she asked while smiling.

Nora completely forgot about the ball focusing instead on the offered thermos. Causing the ball to roll past her and down the hill, Jane who had accompanied them started running after the ball. Nora completely ignored that and instead, she ran over to Luce. Dominic didn't begrudge her largely because he couldn't keep playing anyway.

He looked at the thermos he didn't know when thermoses had been invented but he did know that this seemed rather advanced for the civilization that he appeared to be in. There were several anomalies like this such as a magic lighting system and the fact that the house was constantly kept at room temperature even though air conditioning and heating should be impossible. Is it magic or something else, if Dominic was reincarnated here others might have been as well but his range of movement and knowledge is very limited.

He felt the same sense of crushing powerlessness that he always felt in situations like this. Dominic had almost no information about the outside world, no ability to go there or the ability to find out he hardly even understood the language. All of this resulted in a deep-seated feeling of helplessness which he hated. Glancing over at his presumed sister who was happily taking a cup of dark red liquid from Luce. “Well, I suppose there's no urgency I am a baby after all the adults will protect me for now from whatever danger happens to lurk or not be lurking outside these walls And I can just take my time.”

Jane came running back seeing that Nora was indisposed at the moment she sat down and rolled the ball toward Dominic. He unenthusiastically rolled it back toward her Jane pouted a bit “Young Lord you were so happy earlier playing with Lady Nora.”

Dominic could only smile bitterly at that, Nora was a literal child and so when he played with her although it was two children playing together it felt more like he was playing with a little sister or even his child. But when adults played with him, he got the exact opposite feeling of a child being played with. Dominic's musing was interrupted when he noticed that Jane was staring with gaped mouth astonishment at something behind him. Turning his clunky baby body around he spotted a soldier running towards them.

Dominic immediately got a bad feeling about the running Soldier as he felt like he just Jinxed himself. His prediction was proven correct when the soldier ran directly up to Luce after giving what Dominic thought was the standard military salute in this world pressing one fist over the heart, the other over the tailbone, and bowing the soldier shouted in a loud voice. “A message arrived for you Lady Luce from our contacts at the border Antlatur is gathering their troops at their capital, intelligence suggests they intend to invade.”

Dominic recognized the soldier as he was the captain of the Garrison, usually acting calm and dignified, but now he was panicking. “Does the council and the queen know?”

The captain shook his head “I don't think so. My contacts stated that Prince Francis was still in denial he might not have sent a report back to the capital.”

Luce nodded calmly “Quickly send a letter to Fort Frances to inform Prince Valerius.” The moment Luce gave her orders something in the captain seemed to snap into place he saluted and quickly departed. Dominic observed Luce’s expression although he didn't understand the conversation he fully understood that it was a serious topic. Although she tried to hide it in front of the captain the moment he was gone a look of concern crossed her face.