Raising a Baby Is No Easy Task
The continent's greatest elven archer.
Raising a baby was an incredibly eventful ordeal. The very first challenge was finding food to feed her. I knew from my knowledge that infants needed formula, but unfortunately, formula didn't exist in this era. What did exist in its place was artificial breast milk mass-produced and sold by the Magic Tower.
With so many abandoned babies in the world and insufficient food for newborns, the Magic Tower had begun producing it specifically for sale to orphanages. It was made by replicating the milk from wet nurses, so its shelf life wasn't very long, but it was common enough that acquiring it was remarkably easy.
That's why, from the very first day I ended up raising this child, I sprinted at full speed to the nearest village and returned with bottles and artificial breast milk. Even though I'd been forced into this against my will and had no real desire to raise her, I couldn't just let this tiny life die.
I warmed the artificial milk in heated water and carefully fed it to her. She drank it somehow, spilling about half of it around her mouth. Then, drawing from memories of videos I'd seen in my previous life, I gently patted her back until she burped. Only then could I finally breathe a sigh of relief and sit down.
“Aigoo… Why is feeding one meal this exhausting…?”
“Uuu… Baa…”
“…Yeah, is your tummy a little full?”
“Daa…”
Even when I first adapted to this world and trained in swordsmanship, it hadn't felt this difficult. Somehow, feeding a baby felt even harder than that. But strangely, that fatigue seemed to melt away a little as I watched her wriggle her tiny hands in my arms.
After rocking her gently in my embrace for about five minutes, she soon fell into a deep sleep. I laid her down on the bed with extreme care so as not to wake her, and an exhausted sigh escaped me without warning.
“Huuu…”
Sitting back down with that sigh, I ran a hand through my hair as worries flooded in.
“How am I supposed to deal with her pooping… There’s no toilet paper or diapers in this era.”
No matter how much magic existed or how this continent had advanced beyond the medieval period I knew in some ways, a medieval era was still a medieval era. Disposable diapers didn't exist yet, nor did toilet paper. The best available were cloth diapers mimicking modern ones or soft disposable paper.
“Plus, I only bought enough breast milk as a temporary measure. That won’t be enough…”
I’d only purchased what was immediately necessary, so I’d have to go back to the village for more. “While I’m at it, I should buy clothes for her to wear and blankets to cover or lay her on. Winter will be here soon.”
Beyond that, I’d need to keep visiting the village to buy everything else required for raising a baby. Having never raised a child before, there were so many things to consider.
It had been an overwhelmingly busy first evening for someone who had supposedly retired. Yet unlike what I’d expected—sinking into sorrow and spending lonely, desolate days—the sadness hadn’t even crossed my mind amid all the activity. A deflated chuckle slipped out.
“Thanks to her, I didn’t even have time to cry.”
I wasn’t sure whether to feel grateful or resentful, but I couldn’t blame an innocent baby. And more than anything, the fact that I’d spent the day busily saving a life didn’t feel bad at all. I took one last look at her sleeping face before closing my own heavy eyelids.
“I’ll just sleep a little… then get moving right away…”
I leaned back in the chair and drifted into a light sleep, ready to wake at any moment. As my mind slipped into slumber, I heard the cold autumn wind brushing against the windows, heralding the coming winter. Fortunately, the usual resentful voices from the battlefield sounded fainter than usual.
***
Though it had been shallow and brief, it was the deepest sleep I’d had recently. When I woke—
“Huu, alright. Time to head out.”
“Uuu…”
I immediately wrapped the baby in a carrying cloth, secured her against my chest, and left the house. When I’d gone for the milk before, I’d run at full speed alone since I only needed to buy that. This time, however, there were many things to purchase. Even if I bought everything quickly, the round trip would take at least an hour, so leaving her behind alone felt too risky.
That’s why I kicked off the ground with her securely bound to me.
“You’re not cold, are you…?”
She was less than a year old with delicate skin, so I worried she might feel chilled even at this speed. But perhaps because I’d wrapped her in multiple layers of cloth, she didn’t seem cold at all. Since I was also suppressing any jarring movements, her face looked perfectly comfortable.
“Good. I can pick up the pace then.”
Deciding it would be fine, I kicked off again and accelerated. Thud. Thud. Bang———!!!
Releasing mana to disperse the impact as much as possible, I raced across the ground at blinding speed. About ten minutes after leaving the cottage, the village came into view in the distance. I gradually slowed down and came to a stop at the village entrance.
“We’re here.”
There was a slightly larger village called Hagen Village at a similar distance, but it took over thirty minutes just to reach it, so I’d deliberately chosen this one. Built along the road to the kingdom but set apart, it required no separate inspections or identity checks. Since it was one of the villages in the count’s territory, there weren’t even dedicated guards controlling entry—only patrols inside.
Most importantly, I was already acquainted with the people here. As soon as I entered the village, a passing young man greeted me.
“Oh, if it isn’t Sir Kael. I heard you came by earlier. Did you forget to buy something?”
“Ah, a few more things came up that I need to get. Things for this baby here.”
At my words, the young man’s gaze shifted to the baby nestled against my chest. His eyes widened and trembled.
“A baby…? D-don’t tell me you got married, Sir Kael?”
“…As if. Someone abandoned her in front of my cottage, so I’m raising her, that’s all.”
I immediately denied his wild assumption and shook my head. I didn’t even have anyone to marry—where did marriage even come from? For me to have a baby this age, it would mean she was conceived while I was still on the battlefield. It was nonsense, so I shut it down right away. The young man gave an awkward laugh, looking relieved.
“Ahaha… I see. Still, abandoning a baby like that… what a despicable person.”
I had no idea what part of me not being married he found relieving, but it wasn’t a question I particularly cared about. I simply nodded at his words.
“Yeah, a truly despicable person. Anyway, I’m here to buy things, so don’t go spreading weird rumors.”
“Of course. When have I ever spread weird rumors?”
His answer already sounded suspicious, but rumors weren’t something I could stop just by trying. If anything, trying would only make them spread faster. So instead of adding anything else, I simply turned away from the young man—Hans, I think his name was. I had too many things to buy in the village to waste more time on him.
“I’ll be going then.”
“Yessir! Take care shopping and get home safe!”
After parting with the young man, I headed to the market and checked the coins in the leather pouch at my waist, letting out a small hum.
“Hmm… I brought enough so it shouldn’t run short, right?”
I’d received an absurd amount of money as a reward for my achievements in the war, but what I carried now was only a tiny fraction of it. I worried it might not be enough, but even a fraction was still a huge sum, so there was almost no chance I’d come up short.
Shaking off my concerns, I wandered through the market streets. With every few steps, I felt eyes turning toward me from all directions.
‘It really is an eye-catching sight, I suppose.’
I knew exactly why those gazes were fixed on me. To the people of this era, the sight of a sturdy adult man over 180 centimeters tall walking around with a baby in his arms was anything but ordinary—especially one with a sword at his hip and muscles honed from battle.
Unfortunately, there was one thing I didn’t know: the stares weren’t the only thing being thrown my way.
Step. Step.
“Well now, Sir Kael. What’s with the kid? Did you get married?”
“…I didn’t get married. Ask Hans for the details.”
At the stall where I bought the baby’s milk.
“What? Sir Kael got married?!”
“I don’t even have a woman to marry.”
At the furniture shop next door where I went to buy the carrying cloth.
“Huk?! Sir Kael, what’s with that baby?! Did you already get married and have a child?!”
“…Someone abandoned her in front of my house. I’m the one raising her.”
And even at the general store where I bought cloth diapers and soft paper to use as toilet paper.
The moment the shopkeepers saw the baby in my arms, they didn’t stop at staring. They all asked the exact same question Hans had earlier. Naturally, seeing me with a baby had led them all to the same conclusion—that I must have gotten married and had a child. Even I could see how the misunderstanding formed, but hearing the exact same one over and over was driving me insane.
“You’re sleeping so peacefully through all this…”
The baby who had caused all this chaos was sleeping soundly in my arms, looking utterly innocent. Of course, her cuteness far outweighed the annoyance, so it was forgivable. I gently stroked her hair once, then lifted the pile of goods stacked beside me.
“Ugh, that’s a lot.”
Ten carrying cloths for the baby, ten bottles of breast milk, and five hundred sheets of soft disposable paper to use as diapers and toilet paper. Altogether it weighed at least fifty kilograms, but after training this body in this world, I could lift it without much effort.
With one hand gripping all the packages and the other securing the carrying cloth so it wouldn’t come loose, I left the village and began picking up speed. It was already evening, with the sun starting to set. If I dawdled, we might become targets for bandits or wild beasts. Better to get back to the cottage before I gave the baby any reason to wake up.
Tap. Tap———!!
With each kick against the ground, the surrounding scenery blurred past and disappeared behind us. Just like on the way there, after running at a reasonably fast pace for about ten minutes, the remote cottage came into view.
But unlike when I’d left, I couldn’t help but frown at the sight of a figure standing in front of my cottage.
“…A person?”
There was almost no reason for anyone to come to such a rural place, especially one with only a single cottage. The robe the person wore was far too luxurious to belong to someone who had simply stopped by while passing through. That meant they had come here intentionally to see me.
“How did they find this place?”
I felt a surge of suspicion. No one except Enoch, who had built the house for me, knew its location. Had an assassin come for me? Dozens of thoughts flashed through my mind in an instant. I slowed my pace and came to a stop behind the figure standing in front of my cottage.
“You. Who are you? How did you find this place?”
“…Ah.”
At my question, their shoulders flinched. Then they slowly turned toward me. Once their body had fully faced me, she lowered the hood of her robe and looked at me. At that familiar face, my eyes widened in shock.
“…Luina?”
“It’s been a while, Kael. I heard you retired, so I came to find you.”
The woman wearing the robe was none other than Luina. The greatest archer of the elf race and a war hero who had fought alongside me in the war that ended just a month ago. She smiled brightly as she spoke.
She had heard I retired and came looking for me. The rumor that I was retiring had only started spreading a little over a week ago—how had she found me so quickly? I clicked my tongue inwardly at the terrifying speed. Smiling, Luina slowly approached me.
“You told me before that if you retired, you wanted to live quietly in the countryside, right? So I figured you’d be in the territory the king granted you.”
“Wow… You really know me well.”
“Of course. It’s about you, after all. It’s been so long—would you like to catch up for a bit…”
But just as she drew near, Luina suddenly froze in place upon seeing the baby in my arms. It was as if she had been hit with a petrification spell.
“A… a… a baby…?”
Her voice trembled with disbelief as she voiced the question. Then, with an expression that looked like it might collapse at any moment, she cried out.
“Kael, did you get married?!”
“…I didn’t.”
That question was really starting to get old.