After gaining the ability to walk, my routine became fixed.
First, I would wait until nobody was watching me.
Moments like the switching of shifts between maids, or when they nodded off from sleepiness during late-night or early-morning shifts.
Using the powerful grip a baby was blessed with, I would stack my pillows near the crib's edge, then push a few over the side. After that, I'd climb over and fall safely onto the cushions. It was just a meter or so—not anything dangerous... unless I fell head-first.
After safely escaping my prison, that's when my exploration began.
Of course, I'd done this several times by now.
And I was proud of the fact that they still hadn't figured out how I kept leaving the crib. Erasing any evidence was my top priority after getting down, after all!
Anyway, after several rounds of exploring the place, I'd figured out a few things.
The floor I was on wasn't the ground floor.
It was connected by a grand flight of stairs leading lower.
How many floors up? I had no idea.
I didn't dare go down a set of stairs where each step was basically my crawling height. One misstep and I'd roll until I hit the bottom. Death would be swift in that case.
Bururu…!
Just imagining it sent shivers down my spine.
On this floor, my room—the nursery, as I called it—was to the left of my parents' room. That meant even when I was in there, I could still hear their voices through the thin wooden walls.
Beyond their room at the end of the corridor was Father's office, or study, whatever you'd call it.
I'd been brought there once, so I could tell. And although it pained me to admit it, Father's working figure was quite cool. No wonder Mother was head over heels for him.
On the other side of the corridor, with the stairs acting as a divider, were a couple of vacant rooms. I was told they were for distinguished guests if any ever visited—other nobles and such.
Wouldn't that be a security risk, though? The lord of the manor staying on the same floor as guests?
Well, setting security aside, those rooms were practically empty, so I found them boring.
"Today… this book…"
Thus, my way of passing the time was going through the books in Father's study. There were tons of books there, after all.
I enjoyed looking at the images and memorizing the characters of this new language, but... I still couldn't read properly. Of course, I could read a few letters and words since the maids sometimes read storybooks to me.
However, that wasn't nearly enough to parse the complicated contents here.
Studying the words, their meanings, and their usage was my priority—looking for patterns, understanding how each word related to another, and so on.
Lexicography, for short... No, was it lexicology? I always forget...
Anyway, I don't know if it was just a baby's powerful memory or something else, but everything I read I could recall from start to finish.
Is this what they call photographic memory?
I'm not entirely sure what I'm saying sometimes, since I'm no expert. I was just a college student working several part-time jobs to make ends meet. My grades were average at best, but I wasn't a flunky. So, no genius here.
Though if it came to light novels—isekai in particular—I could answer anything you asked.
I was so into the genre that I'd even made my own to-do list in case I actually got isekai'd... Not that I made one specifically for reincarnation, but I guess I could still make use of it with a bit of adaptation.
"Young Master Rex! You're here again!"
"Buh…?"
A few hours later, just as I was starting to get sleepy, a maid found me.
"Really, how do you keep leaving your crib?"
Without the ability to protest, I was swept into her soft embrace and carried back. I was definitely not enjoying her puffies during the ride, nope. After getting caught, security always tightened, so the chances of slipping out again that night were nil.
Tonight's adventure ended here...
Good night…
---
Days passed, turning to weeks. Then months.
And then, just as I reached six months old—able to walk steadily, speak clearly, and convey intent... not that I was revealing that fact yet, since I was sure they'd call me a genius and make a fuss—
"Congratulations, Missus!"
"Congratulations, Madam and Sir!"
Good news (?) arrived at our household. Apparently, Mother was expecting again.
I wasn't surprised after having to listen to—or witness—their nightly activities for the past few months. Father hadn't had any business outside the territory, so luckily for him, he'd been home.
And so that day became a celebration.
For the first time, I was brought to the ground floor, three floors down, and saw several new faces.
As expected, all the maids here—even those who didn't work shifts watching over me—were well within my strike zone in terms of looks. And not just their appearances; they all had generously "big" assets as well. Yep.
Although I also learned why... and I felt low for a few days after watching Father go at it with one of the maids, Celine, during her shift, with Mother joining in as well. A 3P, per se.
This...
I guess it was just a cultural gap, but... I felt NTR-ed.
Not that Celine was mine, though.
Anyway, today was a celebration!
I'd enjoy it to the fullest!
Though I still couldn't eat solid foods yet, or drink anything other than milk...
So I enjoyed it in a different way from the others.
'Appraisal!'
I appraised every single person in the room, checking their names and abilities.
And to my surprise, the knight-looking men were actually quite strong!
They had an average of C across their physical stats (STR, AGI, and END)! Although their magic stats (INT and MP) were low at E-, they were still impressive!
"Hmmm~?"
"...!"
And just as I appraised a fox-like woman chatting with Mother, her golden, sharp, alluring eyes snapped right toward me... I realized why soon enough.
---
Name: Krystal Lenners
Age: ??19 years
Title: Witch of the Black Forest
Status:
STR: C-, AGI: D, INT: A+
END: B+, MP: A+, LUK: C+
Skills:
Mana Detection Lv. 100 (max)
Mana Manipulation Lv. 100 (max)
Elemental Magic (Water-Attack) Lv. 100 (max)
Elemental Magic (Water-Defense) Lv. 100 (max)
Elemental Magic (Water-Support) Lv. 100 (max)
Elemental Magic (Wind-Attack) Lv. 100 (max)
…
Appraisal Lv. 100 (max)
---
It was the first time I'd seen max-leveled skills... and someone with skills numbering over a couple of dozen at that!
"Little brat~!"
The woman, Krystal, chuckled as she poked my forehead playfully and whispered:
"Looking at a woman's status without permission... naughty, naughty~!"
I could tell she was punishing me lightly for my "misdeed." Mother looked confused by her words.
However... I couldn't help but feel a faint killing intent when my attention lingered on her age.
Why were there question marks there, anyway?
Was her age some kind of complex?