All a Baby Can Do Is Cry
A year has passed since I reincarnated into another world... yet the only things I can do are babble and crawl. There's nothing I can do right now. All I can do is accept it and get on with life... Waaah.
The Shadow Family. Its founder was the thief of a hero party made up of six heroes and a single pack mule, formed long ago when the Demon God and the Seven Great Demons of Sin invaded the human realm and slaughtered its people. And the current head of the Shadow Family was suffering through paperwork in her study.
"Boss, is something the matter? You don't look well."
"Haah... Effie, I hate this work right now... Processing paperwork when I could be playing with my son... I hate it so much."
Effie was the one who had assisted Sarah for over a decade and risen to the post of her deputy. Over the past year, she had grown well accustomed to scenes like this one.
"Effie, I'm in a state of physical and mental exhaustion, so I'm taking a break. Go find out what Al and Jack are doing right now."
"Yes, Boss."
With that, Effie disappeared, and Sarah, left alone, turned her eyes to the reports on her desk.
I hear the Secrit family has had a daughter as well, hmm? Should I tie her to my son somehow? Then again, the Shadow Family enjoys no privileges as nobility anyway. Best to simply ignore it, I think.
And with that, she looked away from the report.
In Kurata Village, a small town of three hundred in the southeastern reaches of the Arceus Kingdom, there lived a couple with golden hair and golden eyes. At this very moment, they were being thoroughly blindsided.
"Honey... come out here, quick!!!"
"Honey, what on earth could it... What?! What is this?"
There was one other person there besides the couple. The child was their one and only daughter, Yuna — and right now, she was floating in midair.
"Honey... what we're seeing isn't a dream, is it?"
"No... I don't think it is. Yuna is casting magic right now — at barely one year old!"
Unlike her mother Amy, who was beside herself with excitement, the father, Jason, grew grim.
"Honey, we have to keep this a secret. It has to stay between the three of us."
"What are you saying, honey? Yuna is a genius — a genius for the ages! How could we hide something like that?"
"Think it through, honey. Even though the war with the Demon God ended a thousand years ago, monsters and demons still remain. If word gets out that Yuna is a genius, she'll be dragged off to a battlefield without question... I can't watch that happen! So let's hide it. Please....."
Watching her husband sob, Amy folded her own feelings away.
"All right, honey. This stays between us. I'll go to the city and buy a magic tool that suppresses mana. With that, the mana will be held down and she won't be able to use magic at all..."
"Yes... thank you, honey. Thank you... for listening to me."
And so the couple held each other for a long while, reaffirming their love.
Two years have passed since I reincarnated into this world. A year ago all I could do was babble, but now I can manage a word or two at a time.
"Uh... Mumma... Mummu..."
"Jack, did you hear that? He said Mama! Al called for me before he called for you, Daddy...."
"Ha... fine, just you watch. The next name he calls won't be Mama — it'll be Papa. Hmph! Come on, Albert, say Papa. Papa~"
Oh, for goodness' sake... I'm still little and can barely talk, and they demand so much of me. Ugh... if I don't do it, he'll just whine until I do. Fine, this once!
"Ah...... Poo Ahp..... Pa!"
"Sarah, did you hear? He called me Papa! I'm so glad I'm alive~ Al, say it again for me. Papa."
"Hmph... he really is my son, and he really is adorable. If any woman tries to take my boy away, I'll fight her myself."
And so the couple seized Albert between them and spent an eternity kissing both of his cheeks.
Ugh... somebody, anybody, please save me.
Just then, the door burst open and Effie strode in.
"Boss, my apologies — I have an urgent report and came even knowing it was rude to barge in."
"Haah... Effie, if what you're about to report turns out to be trivial, I don't think I'll be able to forgive you. Go ahead, speak."
"Well, it's that traces of monsters and a demon have been found in the forest near the city's border outpost. I believe you will need to go and see it yourself, Boss."
"Haah... monsters are one thing, but a demon... No helping it, then. Effie, assemble everyone in this city of team-leader rank or above at once. Have the rest focus on tightening the city's border security and double the personnel. I'll go myself."
"Sarah, you don't need to go in person, do you? I'm worried. I know how strong you are, but the enemy is a demon... You're not alone anymore, so please, don't do anything reckless..."
"Jack, I know what you're worried about. I know it too — that demons are strong, and that I have a family I'm responsible to. But you know as well as I do how few people besides me can stand against a demon... And you and Al are here in this city, which is all the more reason I should go. Isn't that right, dear? I'll be back soon, so keep Al company a little longer."
With that, she left the mansion.
Hmm... a demon. Right, this world has both demons and monsters. According to the books Papa read me, there's magic, and dragons, and every manner of strange thing. If I want to protect Yujin, I'll need power too. So once I'm older, I'll have to start training.
And so Albert steeled his resolve.
Meanwhile, Sarah was reviewing the forces Effie had gathered.
"Listen well, all of you. I, Sarah Shadow, command you. From this moment, you will sweep the forest and report anything suspicious. There is a chance — a slim one, but real — that a demon is present. You will search in teams of three. If you do find a demon, survival comes first. The forest search begins now. Everyone, move out!"
"Yes, Boss!"
"Effie, realistically, what odds would you put on a demon actually being there?"
"According to the report, monsters were used as materials to summon a demon, and the summoning appears to have succeeded. In my judgment, the odds that the demon is still here are more than high enough."
"Effie, that summoning site may hold clues. We head there first."
"Yes, Boss. I'll guide the way — this way, please."
About ten minutes later, a vast clearing came into view. The trees around it had been blasted apart, the grass lay dead, and not a living creature was to be found anywhere.
"This looks like the place. I can feel an enormous demonic aura. A mid-tier demon, most likely. Effie, how many people in our organization right now can take on a mid-tier demon?"
"To face one, I'd say we'd need at least three department-head-level members."
"The organization has roughly five hundred members of department-head rank or above... and only thirty took part in this search. That'll be enough. Where's the temporary command post?"
"As expected of you, Effie — your preparation is superb. Let's head there."
Just then, a tremendous explosion sounded from one side of the forest.
"What is that sound? We move now. Stay with me, Effie."
"Understood."
Where Sarah and Effie arrived, corpses littered the ground, and organization members were fighting a demon while shielding two small children. The demon had blood-red skin and two massive horns jutting from its head.
"That wretched humans dare oppose me — how utterly revolting. Humans ought to crawl and cower in the dirt where they belong, yet they make such pitiful gestures of defiance."
"Shut your mouth, demon. Look at what you've done! You slaughtered every soul in this village, and now you run rampant as you please?"
"Humans are meaningless creatures whether they live or die. So count it an honor that I, the great demon Devilcook, deigned to kill you myself."
"Silence, demon. You'll be erased from this place soon enough. All members, listen up! The Boss is on her way here, so hold on just a little longer. And we protect those children to the very end. Understood?"
"Yes, Department Head!"
"Vermin banding together are still vermin. Now, die."
Devilcook raised one hand and began to chant a spell. In that very instant, there was a flash of light — and the demon's arm was severed.
"Gyaaaaaaaaaaah! Who did this?! What wretched thing dared cut off the arm of Devilcook?!"
"Even a filthy demon's screams are loathsome. Quiet down and be erased."
In that moment, Sarah was carving Devilcook to pieces at the speed of a flash of light.
"Why... why must I, of all beings, be felled by lowly humans — Gyaaaaah! Do you think I came to the human realm alone? It will be your eternal regret that you never see your kind's end—"
And with that, Devilcook was no more.
"Situation resolved. Who is the senior officer on site?"
"Yes, Boss. I'm Mary, department head of the eastern Merhen region, and I'm the commanding officer here."
"Good work, Mary. Give me the situation report."
What followed was a report nothing short of shocking. By the time Mary and her team had arrived, nearly all of the village's people were already dead, and several organization members lay among the corpses. Mary had fired a signal flare to summon senior leadership — and that was the sound that had brought Sarah and Effie running.
"That's how it happened, Boss."
"I understand the whole of it. Now then, you two little ones. Do you have anywhere to go?"
The children, who looked to be brother and sister, hung their heads.
"Haah... I could hand you over to an orphanage, I suppose, but meeting like this must be fate. You'll work in our household. I'm making you my son's personal attendants and servants. Any objections?"
The children nodded their heads fervently.
"Then, what are your names?"
"I'm the older brother, Luke, and this is my little sister, Lara. It's a pleasure to meet you, Boss."
"I have no taste for being called Boss by children. Just call me Lady Sarah."
And so the Shadow Family gained two new members.