Six months had passed since then.
Despite his disastrous English grades in his previous life, Rudeus was picking up the language of this world at an incredible speed.
Daiki, on the other hand, had been a polyglot in his past life, so he learned quickly. That skill seemed to perfectly complement a baby's fresh brain.
Rudeus picked up the basics of the language by listening to his parents, but Daiki went a step further.
Regardless, both were extraordinary. Daiki simply had the advantage of having studied multiple languages before.
By this time, both of them could crawl.
Rudeus had never felt so grateful just to be able to move his body. 'Moving is amazing!'
Daiki felt the same way, though he simply categorized it as a necessary biological function.
'Wow, why do I always want to go over there?' he wondered.
This was not a problem for them, but it certainly was for their parents.
"The second I take my eyes off them, they disappear." Zenith crossed her arms with a thoughtful expression.
"Both of them?" Paul asked.
"Both of them. Rudy heads for the library and Dai makes a beeline for the kitchen."
"Well." Paul thought about it for a moment and then brushed it off. "I am glad they are so active. Neither of them cried when they were born, and Dai was always so quiet."
"Honey, they still don't cry, you know." Zenith reminded him.
"What does it matter? That phase is over, so it is better not to worry about it." Paul stepped closer and kissed her.
As always, Paul suspected nothing about his sons' peculiar nature. Then again, he had not dealt with many babies in his life. Regardless, he was trying his best.
As for the little escape artists, they spent all their time crawling everywhere. When it came to doing their business, they simply let it go. They could not help wetting their diapers.
It made Rudeus a little uncomfortable, but Daiki genuinely did not care.
'Irrelevant, a necessary biological function.' He repeated this in his mind every time it happened.
Even though they could only crawl, being able to move allowed them to discover a lot of things.
First, they lived in a well-off household.
It was a two-story wooden building with more than five rooms. They also had a live-in maid.
At first, Rudeus thought she might be an aunt. However, her extremely respectful attitude toward his parents led him to conclude she was not part of the family.
Second, they lived in an unknown region where people spoke a language they had never heard before.
That was not all. He also noticed something strange about his younger brother. The way Rudeus moved around the house was not normal, and neither was the look in his eyes whenever Lilia carried him.
Something about his movements was entirely off.
He had the look of an older person trapped inside a tiny body.
'Could it be that he also reincarnated?' Daiki thought.
'Nah, he is just a smart baby. Or could it be?' Rudeus thought on his end.
Rudeus had also noticed his older brother's piercing gaze fixed on him. His twin was too observant, too quiet, and far too unsettling for it to be a mere coincidence. A normal baby should wander aimlessly, not head straight for specific destinations.
Rudeus felt a bit uncomfortable whenever those red eyes watched him, but he could not be entirely sure.
'I am definitely just being paranoid. That cannot be it.' He tried to convince himself.
They lived in a rural area.
A rustic countryside landscape stretched out beyond the window. The neighboring houses were widely scattered. Only two or three could be seen among the vast wheat fields. They were completely in the middle of nowhere.
There were no power poles or streetlights.
'Maybe there is no power plant nearby, or maybe the cables run underground. But then it makes no sense for this house to lack electricity.' Rudeus always searched for a logical explanation based on his previous world. He still believed he was on his original Earth because he clung to the hope of using a computer again.
'Could this be the past? That might explain the strange language, the lack of technology, and the complete absence of anything resembling the modern era.. mmm.' Daiki deduced.
That was what he thought until a certain afternoon.
Having nothing better to do, both of them decided to stare at the landscape. As usual, Rudeus climbed onto a chair to look out the window. Daiki followed. He pulled himself up beside his younger brother with a fluidity that completely baffled him.
Rudeus watched him out of the corner of his eye.
'How did he do that? That kind of balance is not normal. But he is just a baby, right? Yeah, I am just imagining things.'
Once Daiki was up, they both stared intently at each other, as if searching for a missing puzzle piece. Finding nothing, they turned their attention back to the window.
That was when they received quite a shock. Their father was out in the garden swinging a sword.
'Huh? What? What is he doing?' Rudeus thought, blinking in absolute confusion. 'Is that guy waving a sword around at his age really my father? Is he still suffering from chuunibyou?'
Daiki observed the scene with narrowed eyes.
Their father was swinging the sword with actual technique.
His grip, his stance, the movement of his hips, and his weight distribution were not random.
'This is not a game. He knows exactly what he is doing. The real question is, what is he doing it for?' Daiki thought.
'Oh, crap.' Startled, Rudeus slipped off the chair.
His clumsy hands failed to catch his weight. He fell backward toward the floor with the back of his head leading the way.
Daiki tried to react on instinct. He reached out his hand and failed to do anything.
His infant body simply could not keep up with the speed his mind demanded.
"Kyaa!" A scream rang out the moment he hit the ground.
Zenith dropped the laundry she was hanging and rushed over. She covered her mouth with her hand, her face completely pale.
"Rudy! Are you okay?" Zenith exclaimed.
His mother ran to pick him up.
Frantic, she scooped him up into her arms and quickly examined him.
"Phew. It looks like you are okay." She sighed in relief.
'When someone takes a blow to the head, you really should not move them around so much, lady.' Rudeus thought.
The woman then glanced to the side and noticed Daiki with his arm still reaching out.
"I see. You tried to catch him, didn't you? Don't worry." Zenith said softly.
Rudeus's head was throbbing, but he had managed to grab the chair slightly on his way down. The fall was not too severe.
Finally, Zenith placed her hand on the little boy's head and chanted.
"Let us see. Just to be completely sure. Let this divine power be as satisfying nourishment, giving the one who has lost their strength the power to rise again. Healing!"
'Hey, hey, is this the local equivalent of kiss it and make it better? Or is my mother also infected with chuunibyou, just like my dad swinging that sword around? Did a warrior and a cleric really get married?' Rudeus wondered.
'No way.' Daiki froze on the chair with his eyes wide open.
A soft green light radiated from Zenith's hands directly onto little Rudeus. The light was no cheap parlor trick. There was no hidden magical powder. Her sleeves were rolled all the way up, and it involved absolutely none of the illusionist tricks he knew of.
"There you go. You are all better now." Zenith smiled. "Still, you are quite lucky your mother used to be a rather famous adventurer, you know."
Rudeus could only process a few specific words in his mind.
Sword.
Warrior.
Adventurer.
Healing.
Incantation.
Cleric.
'What was that? What did she just do?' Rudeus questioned himself.
Still sitting on the chair, Daiki continued to process what he had just witnessed.
The light.
The glow emanating from his mother's hands.
The discomfort that instantly vanished from Rudeus's face.
The sheer shock of his brother, who had even brought his hands to his own face before staring blankly at the woman.
Ever since opening his eyes in this world, Daiki had been analyzing absolutely everything.
They had a two-story house, multiple rooms, and a live-in maid. Yet they completely lacked electricity, spoke an unfamiliar language, and had entirely different customs.
Nothing matched the world he knew. Magic was the definitive proof.
That certainly did not exist in his homeland. At least, that was what he thought, considering he used to speak with the elements in his previous life.
Hearing Zenith's scream, Paul poked his head through the window.
"What happened?" Paul asked.
"Listen to me, honey! Rudy climbed up onto a chair and nearly injured himself terribly!" Zenith scolded.
"Well, it's healthy for kids to be that active." Paul replied calmly.
A hysterical mother and a father taking things too lightly was a scene that played out often. This time, however, she refused to back down. The sheer terror of watching her son fall backward was likely the cause.
"Look, this poor child hasn't even been alive for a year. You should be much more worried!" Zenith raised her voice.
"Even so. Kids build character by falling and bumping into things. And if they get hurt, you can just heal them every time, right?" Paul asked.
"And what if one day I cannot heal them?"
"Everything will be fine." Paul assured her.
With those words, he walked inside the house. He approached them and wrapped them in a hug. He extended an arm to pull Daiki in as well, and the boy complied without putting up any resistance.
'A family. Could this really be?' The older twin thought. 'It feels strange. Comforting, perhaps? It is certainly something I forgot a long, long time ago.'
"When they were born, I was so worried because they wouldn't cry." Zenith's face turned bright red. "But if they are going to be this mischievous, then I suppose they will be just fine." She murmured.
Paul gave her a quick kiss.
'Oh, come on. You two are really showing off, aren't you? So sickeningly sweet.' Rudeus glared at them in annoyance.
'A happy couple doing happy couple things.' Daiki simply turned his head the other way.
Afterward, their parents left them in the adjacent room to sleep and headed upstairs to make them a little brother. Or perhaps a little sister, who knows.
'Happy little couple of sh. But wait. Magic, huh?' Rudeus pondered.
Daiki lay wide awake in his crib. He stared blankly at the ceiling and completely ignored the noises coming from upstairs. It was a stark contrast to Rudeus, who seemed deeply uncomfortable or perhaps a bit envious.
'Magic. Swords. Adventurers. Does all of that really exist here? That means I won't be considered such an anomaly. That...' Daiki deduced in silence.
In his past life, he had mastered his own body and witnessed things that most people would deem entirely impossible. When he realized he had lost his elemental friends upon reincarnating, he had felt completely empty. However, confirming the existence of this new magical world brought him a strange, profound sense of relief.
Beside him, in the other crib, Rudeus was also staring up at the ceiling.
From that day forward, both of them began listening closely to the conversations between their parents and the maid.
Soon enough, they noticed something strange.
The names of countries, territories, and regions were entirely unfamiliar to them.
It was another world altogether. A world of swords and magic.
Rudeus accepted it as a second chance to live a far better life than his previous one.
Daiki treated it as a cold fact to be analyzed. His mind was still the exact same, even inside a brand-new body.
From their respective cribs, they both also came to a mutual, unspoken realization. The other twin was definitely not a normal baby.
But neither of them did anything about it. At least, not yet.