Mushoku Tensei: Brotherhood
One month later…
I wouldn't necessarily consider myself extremely religious, but I wouldn't say I was not a believer of the supernatural.
Heaven, hell, limbo, God, devil, and whatnot… I had a hunch those weren't just all talk, and especially now of all times. Really, my family was somewhat a mixture of firm believers and non-believers, so I got both sides of the picture. I could probably link my reason for belief to my grandparents, who had been really persistent in teaching every child in the family about the scriptures. Bless their souls.
With all of that also came the idea of reincarnation. I think an idea like that has always been a deeply ingrained ideology in society even before the big religious institutions today. Personally, I didn't really see it as anything more than a fictional escape for most people… which, with an analogy like that, would beg to question my own level of faith. But… honestly… I've been questioning everything for the past month…
I… I've tried to delude myself as to what happened after that day, but with each waking moment it became clear that I could no longer overlook the fact that I had died. I don't know what exactly happened, or what happened to everyone else at the time, but the one thing I'm certain of is that I had died. My life, gone at the sweet age of seventeen…
…yeah, I really didn't know how to react. I was in shock. One moment, I was walking with my depressed brother, and the next I'm dead… and, by both confirming and denying my own beliefs, reincarnated. Something that I once thought as simply an overused trope in entertainment media now being my current situation.
And it wasn't like I was reborn a grown man. I was literally a newborn, and like any other newborn I had all the strength of a tissue paper. My limbs were not in my control, and my bladder could rival a water sprinkler with how spontaneous I'd piss myself. All of these elements, adding to the disorientation of my mind, made me quiet the crybaby in all senses.
Really, what could I do? I was so lost in confusion, hurt, anger, and confliction that I simply let my instincts take hold of me. I guess that was expected of a baby, anyways. The only true comfort I found was from my mother… new mother. The beautiful blonde woman who wouldn't hesitate for a moment to stuff me full with her bosom and sing me soothing lullabies I couldn't understand. It… as embarrassing as it might be for me in the future, her nursing was certainly a remedy.
And speaking of the future… I wasn't sure what was going to happen from now on. I lost everything from my old life and I'm now forced to relive a new one. It… it's boggling, it's unfair, and I was forced to accept it. There truly didn't seem to be any redo button…
…
…but…I've wept for too long already. I… I have to come to terms with this, or I might just live a terrible life. In fact, I should even be rejoicing. I get another chance in life… that's not something that was guaranteed, even through the faith I had.
As much as I'd rather not take it, this was a bittersweet gift. And unless I wanted to spiral down into a pit of depression, I had to wake up and take it like a man.
I've already seen what happened to someone when they completely gave up… and I'd rather not fall into the same predicament.
So, yeah, from now on, I just have to man up…
...
...well, man up in spirit, I guess…
…
…annnd I think I shat my pants again.
'God dammit...'
---
Five month later, Rudeus POV
You know, despite the fact that I was a literal infant, this new life of mine hasn't been all that bad.
In fact, while I was disdainful about it at first, I'm actually starting to like being a baby. I don't remember the last time I was offered a pair of tits so willingly… or, better yet, the last time I was ever near a set of real, warm, grippy, and bouncy tits.
Or even more, the last time I was ever near such a beautiful woman like this blonde chick! It goes without saying that it's been a total blast for me!
…
…well… probably not a total blast. The only drawback I've had aside from my restricted movement was that I had to share my special nursing with my new twin brother.
Mhm, yep, of course. When life seemed to be taking a better turn, there just had to be a curveball thrown right into it.
This couldn't be a solo reincarnation, could it? I already had a tough time with siblings in my past life… no, tough was being too soft.
I had a fucking horrible time, and now I'm yet again forced to deal with the same issue, that of having siblings!
And he, fuck, was really annoying… wouldn't go a single hour without wailing a storm of tears. Even I don't do that much crying… and we're the same age!
'Stupid baby… why couldn't you be a girl or something? I'd be more tolerable in that case.'
Recently, I've been learning to walk, a lot quicker than my new crybaby of a brother and probably a lot quicker than what was considered normal. You see, unlike his sorry self, I planned to make the best of this new life.
Once I could get a better grasp of walking, a whole door of opportunities would grace me, and I'd finally be able to explore this two-story house more thoroughly than how I could by just crawling.
And as a plus, I even get to see that busty maroon-haired maid more often… kekeke.
I've yet to get a grasp on the language of this place, but I'm slowly getting there, and soon I'll be able to learn the names of everyone in this house.
But until then, I—
"Wa-Waaaah!"
'...oh, for crying out loud, pull a pair already!'
---
Four months later, Darius POV
It's been a year now since being reborn as a child to this new family.
There wasn't really a big celebration about it, and I wasn't all that surprised to be honest, considering that I know most cultures don't celebrate a child's birthday this early.
I've heard it was an old practice, but it's whatever I guess. If anything, it really set in stone that I was no longer in Japan, or any related Japanese community.
Whoever my new parents were, they clearly had some European traits, and definitely had a culture in conjecture to that. The same would go for me and my twin brother. Indeed, we were twins, with similar light brown hair and that one mole under our left eyes.
The only difference is that Rudeus had green eyes like dad, and that I have blue eyes like mom. Oh, right, and I guess our personalities would count into the equation… but that's an entirely different topic.
As shameful as it was, I've been letting myself be subjected to the impulses of my body. Whether I needed to eat, shit my diaper, or just wanted to for no reason, I would cry. In a sense, it was an easy outlet to vent out my frustration.
I've already long come to terms that the old me was gone, but it wasn't going to be an easy transition. No, not by a long shot… especially with how helplessly weak I was now, and just how downgraded this new lifestyle is.
'No electronics, no electricity… not even a water pipe system,' I mentally frowned to myself as I blankly watched our family maid change my underwear. Indeed, as I've come to be accustomed to this new world, I've realized that we lacked any and all the basic needs that I had in my old life.
It really put into perspective just how advanced modern society had gotten… and it also gave me a hint about just where the hell I was.
Nameless as this world is for now, one thing I knew for sure was that I was either living in a backwater community, or I had been thrown into the past. The latter honestly didn't seem all that farfetched, considering that me being reincarnated was already a farfetched idea.
And to add on the fact that I was getting my diapers changed by a cute maid, it was heavily implying nobility, and with nobility came some feudal system, and any noticeable feudal system can be traced back during the medieval era. That's just my hypothesis, anyways.
On that note, I found it rather amazing how quickly I was able to catch a grip on the native tongue here. It was surprisingly close to Japanese. Not a perfect replica, but the similarities were stark. I was still able to grasp a few words, and used context clues to figure out the rest.
Yup, all this really meant was that my first achievement in this world was getting a hang on the new dialect. Gotta give thanks to my young mind.
And while I'm on the notion of achievements, I long figured that I didn't have any cheat system at my disposal. I've tried just about everything I could think of, and came out empty handed. This meant I was pretty much raw-dogging the reincarnation trope… which is a bit scary in retrospect.
Was this like a regression reincarnation, or was I actually in a fantasy isekai? Realistically, I should probably hope that it isn't the latter… or anything else that I haven't thought up. My NEET brother was always more informed of this anime genre, anyways.
"...all done," the cute red-haired maid eventually said, gently picking me up and helping me down to my feet. She gave me a small smile—barely noticeable from her usual neutral expression, but one that she never gave to my twin brother. "Now hurry along, Master Darius."
"Thank you," I gave a timid thanks, despite how self-conscious I felt from the diaper change. This maid was a real hard worker, and I've sort of grown to respect her. From the way she talked, it seems she wasn't blood related to us, but I have a feeling she had a deeper tie than a normal employee.
Maybe a friend of my new parents? Probably… I've noticed how my dad looked at her sometimes. That guy can be a shameless creep.
On that note, I figured out that my new name was Darius. Darius Greyrat, and my brother Rudeus, or Rudy as our mother would call him. I'm still figuring out the names of the adults here, but I know my mother's name starts with Z, and my dad with a P. It's not easy to gauge when they always call each other by nicknames...
…if anything, those two were absolutely lovestruck. And here I never got the chance to even get a girl in my old life… geez…
In any case, with a friendly nod in return from the maid, I gave farewell and wandered through the house, eventually coming across my brother Rudeus.
Wearing a duplicate copy of my own clothes, he was perched on top of the chair, intently watching something outside the window. Curiosity taking hold, I waddled my way over.
"...nii-nii?" I called out to him, only to receive a sideways look that quickly diverted back outside the window. This reaction caused me to frown. For a long time now, he's been giving me a real cold shoulder.
I wasn't sure why, and frankly it felt weird, but I tried not to think too much about it.
"Whatchu doing?"
"...watching otou-sama practice," Rudeus said flatly—clearly reluctant, though it was nonetheless revealing news to me. Our father was practicing? Practicing what, exactly? I had a hunch that man was an athlete, considering his insane build.
For a moment, I paused, fiddling with my fingers before speaking up again.
"...can I see?"
Rudeus gave me an incredulous look, and for a moment I concluded he wasn't going to let me see. But eventually he let out a dragged sigh. What's up with that? I don't think a one year old should be sighing about anything.
"Fine… come here."
A small smile adorned my face. So maybe he really wasn't a complete jerk… maybe he was just having a stomach ache? Whatever it was, it's good to see him being nice for once. I came up to the seat, where he scooted over a bit to allow me some space.
With a little struggle and a tiny bit of help from his part, I managed to get in a sitting position on my knees, using the window stool for support.
"...woah…"
The moment my gaze fell to the outside world, my eyes widened. In the backyard of our house, my father stood in a wide and firm stance, sweat glistening over his shirtless torso as he swung his metal sword around in fluid motion.
I couldn't even begin to fathom the level of expertise required to handle a real weighted sword like that, but it was really amazing how graceful he was performing.
"Pretty cool, right?" Rudeus eventually said, giving me a snarky grin.
"Y-Yeah…" I nodded, really unsure of what to say. This was the first time I've ever seen this type of swordsmanship in person… and I was genuinely impressed. It also brought more abstract questions… like, a question being why exactly our dad even needed to train with the sword.
But that was a useless question, because I already knew the answer… I've known about it for a long time now.
Sure enough, I'm smack dab right in the middle of a fantasy world. And if there's swords in use… then there's gotta be magic as well.
'A world of swords and magic… but I haven't seen any magic yet,' I hummed, resting my head down at the window, eyes never leaving our sculpted dad's form. If I really was in a world of magic, I would've expected myself to see it at least once, right? But so far I haven't seen any… which makes me wonder whether or not I was just getting too excited or not.
Regardless of the ifs and nots, I think just having swordplay like this being more common is a cool thing anyways. Nowhere near as effective as a gun, sure, but… I'm sure every guy has dreamt of wielding a sword once.
I wanted to, at least…
"...hey, move over. You're taking up all the space," Rudeus suddenly complained out of nowhere, nudging my shoulder rather harshly.
Alarmed, my hands gripped on the chair, not wanting to fall off from the sudden push.
"W-Wait… nii-nii, I'll fall!"
"I'll fall too if you don't share! Scoot over!" Rudeus persisted, nudging me so hard it was almost like he was trying to throw me off. No, literally, it felt like he was trying to throw me off! What the fuck?!
"No, stop! We share!"
"Nuh uh, I only let you up here to see Dad practice. Now get off!"
Eventually, our struggling turned into a full blown wrestle. Being the twins we were, it felt like a total stalemate in strength, but it felt like Rudeus definitely had the upper hand. Maybe it was just his posture or something, or the fact he was a few minutes older than me.
Nonetheless, the guy was being an asshole! The chair began to rattle around like crazy from our struggle, and it was only a matter of time before our bickering caused it to topple over.
"...!?" Eyes widened, we could only yell in shock as our forms fell down with the chair, slamming into the floor rather harshly.
CLATTER THWACK THWACK
"O-Ow!" I winced with a squeaked cry, feeling a sudden flare of pain across my right elbow. I had to bite back a whimper, but I couldn't hold back the tears forming from my new wound on my elbow. The sensations felt almost amplified, wracking my toddler body with foreign pains. I had almost forgotten that youth came with a fragile body.
For his part, Rudeus also let out a weak cry of his own, hands going towards his head that had landed on.
Clearly, we had done too much.
'Fuck… this hurts…'
Suddenly, the door to the room burst open, and our mother came rushing in, the maid tailing behind. She looked down at our downed forms, and an expression of genuine fear covered her face. She swiftly swept the room and crouched besides up, gentle hands enveloping our forms.
"Oh, my sweet babies, are you two alright?!"
"Y-Yeah," I nodded weakly, my voice clearly shaken. But who was I kidding? Even trying to wipe away my tears didn't hide the fact I was hurting.
"Oh dear… you fell from the chair, didn't you?"
"...Darius pushed me," Rudeus grumbled.
I snapped my eyes over at him in bewilderment, only to find a pouty whimper.
Oh, no, that was not pouty. He was deliberately being cheeky!
"N-No, you did, nii-nii!" I shot back, appalled at the fact he lied in front of our parents. Geez, not even a year old and he was already becoming like this? What was this kid's deal?!
"I didn't, you did!"
"Nuh uh, you—"
"Now now you two, there's no need for arguing," our mother interjected softly, causing the two of us to shut up. She brought us closer, examining our injuries. "...oh, poor Darry... your elbow is a mess! Let me fix it up for you, okay~?"
"...H-Huh?" I tilted my head in confusion, slightly wincing as she moved my arm. What was she planning to do? I didn't see any first aid nearby…
…
…does that mean—
"Let this divine power be as satisfying nourishment… giving one who has lost their strength…"
—holy fuck… she is! She's actually going to use magic!?
"...the strength to rise again… Healing!"
And then, with a dim greenish glow, our mother's hand was enveloped in light, a light at which cascaded down onto my injured elbow.
Both me and Rudeus were equally thrown into shock, gazing at the magic with the wonder befitting our current ages. Gradually, the peeled skin began to reshape, my wound sealing as if it were never there.
The lingering pain subsided, and I was left with a smooth chubby elbow. Like nothing had ever happened.
'Wow… that… it… wow...'
I blinked away my stupor, gazing up at the blonde woman who smiled warmly at me.
That... that was amazing! So this was magic?!
Hearing about it through books and television series was one thing, but… actually seeing the real deal… it was something else entirely!
And… now… it really sealed the deal. Magic was real… all the fantasy stuff is real. I really am in an isekai!
And with such a confirming revelation, it made me wonder… it made me wonder if I could do the same thing. If I'm capable of casting magic like that… and there's a big chance that I could do it!
I couldn't help the smile that stretched my face, my stomach fluttering with butterflies. Hot damn... things just got even more interesting!
"Now, as for you, Rudy~" our mother chortled lightly, moving over to my older brother. Like me, she examined my body for injuries before humming. "Hm, you didn't seem to hurt yourself quite as much as your brother… but just for safety measures…"
And so, she reenacted the same magic spell on Rudeus, healing any wounds that weren't visible. Really, he didn't even seem all that hurt. I was the only one who got hurt from his jerkish move… which I still don't know why he did that.
'Talk about rude… heh, rhymes with his name even. Rude Rudy. Rudy Rude. Rudeus the Ru—'
Eventually, the door opened again, and in came our bodybuilder of a father, a coat of sweat glistening on his skin. Man, even our maid was staring longer than needed. This guy was taking every moment to flex, no matter the situation.
"What's the matter? I heard some ruckus." He asked rather blandly.
"Paul, you need to be more attentive," our mother huffed, chiding the man with weak annoyance, "our sons just fell from the chair, you know. They could've been seriously hurt."
"Hm… I don't see the problem. Boys do what boys gotta do," our father said dismissively. Wow, a bit insensitive there dude… and your name is Paul, huh? Ehh, that's a bit generic…
"Honey, they're barely a year old. Would it kill you to show just a little concern?"
"Falling, stumbling, and getting bumps and bruises… it's like I said, sweetie: that's how kids grow up to be tough and gritty, especially for boys," Paul insisted, a somewhat proud-looking grin on his face, "and besides, we've got the best healer in the village right here in case anything serious happens! It's all fine in the end!"
Our mother's complexion seemed to ease from his reassurance, though from the way she suddenly hugged the both of us, it was clear she was still worried. "I'm just worried they might get hurt so badly that I can't heal them…"
In a rather affectionate move, Paul knelt down beside our mother, wrapping one arm around her shoulder with a reassuring smile. "They'll be fine, Zenith. These two've got out genes… they aren't going to break like glass."
Ohh... so her name is Zenith. That's a beautiful name...
...and damn, Paul. That's one hell of a body odor.
"Otou-san... you stink…"
I didn't really mean to say that part out loud, but it still slipped out nonetheless. What surprised me, though, were the reactions that followed suit.
A sudden stifled giggle from our mother, a snort from Rudeus, a hand placed over our maid's mouth, and an absolutely flabbergasted expression on our father.
'Ah, I didn't… was... was it that funny? I was only stating the obvious…'
"...h-haha, you've got quite the mouth there, Darry," Paul chuckled awkwardly, seeming very self-conscious now as he moved back a bit, "your father just came back from practice. It's only natural that I work up a sweat, you know."
'Yeah, go figure… but it's also natural to hit a shower afterwards,' I decided to not say that out loud, and instead averted my gaze, giving a wordless nod.
"Would you like for me to prepare a bath, Master Paul?" The maid asked from the back, being sensible as always.
"Hm? Ah, yeah, that'd be great Lilia," Paul grinned, giving her a thumbs up. So she was Lilia? Great, just from this small incident alone, I've got all the names down now!
As our maid left the room to prepare the bath, a thought seemed to cross our dad's eyes, and he gave one of those lecherous grins at our mother.
The ones he'd give mere moments before they found themselves migrating towards the bedroom and making great use of their youth.
'Oh boy.'
"It seems you've also worked up a sweat as well, Zennie. How about we go wash it off… together~?"
Our mother clutched us tighter, her face going red. I guess with a facecard like dad's, it wasn't that hard to fold so quickly.
"...well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt. It has been a while since we've done it like that~"
"Hehe, then let's take a trip down memory lane… maybe make some more memories from it, even," Paul wooed, helping our mother up with a hand.
And so, as Rudeus and I sat on the floor, we watched as our parents left the room, Paul's hands so firmly gripped on our mother's curved waistline that I began to question whether I was living in an ecchi isekai rather than a normal one.
Or, well… there normally wasn't much of a difference if I remembered correctly. But, like, damn, if you couldn't make anyone feel more jealous than this…
"...lucky bastard…"
'Huh?' With my ears catching the faint whisper, I glanced over at my brother with bewilderment. 'What the… did he… really just say that right now?'
Shocked as I was, all I could see was him staring down at his palms, a very serious expression on his face, deep in thought. I let my gaze linger for a bit longer before I sagged my shoulders, shaking my head.
'...must've been the wind...'