“What a curious little boy you have here, Carol. Have you named him yet?”

“Yes. This little angel is named Soar. He really calmed down after looking at the sky outside and watching the birds fly. His father came up with the name because of that and his sky-blue hair.”

“Soar Osmis. What a delightful name.”

“Hi, Sooar~! My name is Dew! I’m a friend of your mom’s! I’m smaller than you are! Aren’t you just the cutest wittle thing~? Yes, you are~!”

Right … except that wasn’t my original name. Hey. How’s it going? Lucas Rantin, IT. Nice to meetcha. Not that you can hear my thoughts, anyway, but how the hell am I even understanding what you’re saying when it’s not even English? Also, since when did I dye my hair sky blue, why are we so small and are you fucking flying?!

The first thing I saw when I came to was an unfamiliar woman that looked big enough to eat me. I was so frightened I tried to move and run away, but I found my body to be much smaller than I last remembered … and much younger at that. It wasn’t until I saw my reflection on the windowsill that I immediately realized I wasn’t the same man as I was before, let alone in the same place I recognized as the U.S. Vibrant colors of nature, a rustic-looking house, even the birds outside had an appearance that would be considered unnatural back home.

Then there was the tiny woman with cerulean hair wearing a dark blue, skimpy one-piece. While she was making dumb-looking faces and speaking baby-talk to me, keeping herself afloat with fluttering butterfly wings all the while, there was a blue gemstone embedded where the sternum and clavicle join together that shined under the sunlight.

Finally, there was the regular-sized caretaker-like woman with realistic fox ears and a fluffy tail that would put a professional cosplayer’s outfit to shame as they twitched and moved in tandem with her movements. There was no doubt, she was one of those beastmen I read in those light novels and mangas.

And like those same media, if I didn’t believe I had somehow been reborn into a new world after dying from that stab up to then, all of my hard work earning that college degree would prove useless for how much I was fooling myself.

The lady who was holding me in her arms, Carol, was my new ‘mother,’ and the tiny acquaintance of hers who went by ‘Dew’ looked to be a fairy. The culture shock … or maybe ‘reincarnation shock’ would be a better term for this had me looking around everywhere in the room and made sure I somehow wasn’t dreaming.

While there were many questions going through my mind, the biggest thing at the moment was how I was understanding what these three were saying even though they weren’t speaking English.

“All right then, Carol, if you would let me?”

Carol nodded in confirmation before Dew moved out of the way. The fox girl held a hand over my head and it started emitting a glow.

Huh? What’s she doing? I’m feeling all tingly.

Seconds later, the fox girl gasped and tensed up while all the hairs on her ears and tail stood on end.

“Renne? What happened? Is there something wrong with my boy?” Carol asked while gripping me a little tighter. Dew also looked to be in a state of shock.

“N-No, on the contrary. In fact, it’s so crazy that I’m frightened of this one’s potential! Your boy, his aptitude for magic is at S Rank!” the fox girl who went by Renne exclaimed.

“I thought I felt something special when I first saw him! It was a feeling at first, but after seeing his magic being drawn out firsthand, I know for sure now that Soar’s got quite a future in his hands!” Dew added.

From that, my eyes widened. Magic? Did they say magic? Was what she did moments ago magic as well? Is there magic in this world?!

“Goodness, did Soar understood you? He’s smiling after you said that,” Carol said but Renne looked to be rambling to herself.

“This kind of thing only happens very rarely. Were the gods smiling on this boy? If he applies himself at a young age, he could be a talented Magician, nay, a prodigy!”

Magicians! That’s a thing! Magic’s a real thing here! Did she mention gods? Gods, if you can hear me, thank you! Thank you so much for bringing me here! Goddamn, I thought this kind of thing was only for Asians! Well, technically, I’m part Asian, but still!

“Renne … would Soar be trained to serve in the guard if this gets around?” Carol asked.

“Huh?”

“I’m happy the gods blessed me and Gullivan with such a beautiful child but that’s just it. He’s still so young with knowing next to nothing of the world around him. Gullivan had told me some of the nobles he met in his line of work, and … I don’t want my child to be growing up in such an environment.

“Maybe he’ll want to leave for greater things one day, I’m already dreading at the thought, but I’ll have to accept it when the time comes. For now, I want to give Soar here a chance to live in a way Gullivan and I weren’t able to while we grew up. Give him the time and knowledge he needs to know what he’ll want to do, to find a good Fairy Companion on his own that would help him make important decisions in his life. He’s the product of our love for each other, and so we will do everything in our power to raise and nurture him to become a splendid adult who’s loved by all, just like how we were when we arrived in this town.”

“Carol …” Dew trailed off.

Did my old mom and dad … put this much thought into my future when I was born from them? I thought.

I had become so estranged with my previous parents that they practically became strangers to me … no, that might be too harsh. It would be better to say they were more like my living walking ‘scholarships’ for the education and hobbies I invested my money into from my past life. Trees of money that only let however much I was allowed to use fall from their branches. I didn’t learn much from their own love life or the lives they had before they even met.

Carol really sounded sincere when she talked about me. Like an actual human being. The warmth and heartbeat that sounded from her chest as she held me close told me she was real and alive. Other than the last few moments Shannon held my hand, I wondered how long it had been since I was even held at all.

“… I understand,” Renne then said while bowing her head a little. “I’m positive that there will be many great things for him in the future, but until then, I will keep this hush-hush and do my utmost that’s worthy as a teacher when he grows old enough. You can count on that.”

“Thank you, Renne.”

“And you can bet that I’ll help look after him as well! At least until he finds a Fairy Companion on his own!” Dew exclaimed, to which Carol nodded in response.

At that point, I recalled my last wishes before I died in my previous life: to be bolder and work hard towards what I really wanted in life. I didn’t know what, exactly, but I knew I wanted to really be loved, at the least. I saw Carol’s … no, my mother’s happy smile aiming at me as a sign. I didn’t really do anything worth acknowledging in my previous life, to do something that gave as much impact to those around me as I did when I saved Shannon’s life. Yes, my social anxiety might’ve hindered me from progressing any further with relationships than it did up to then, but that one moment when I actually did something for another’s sake set off something amazing for me.

If I wanted to find love and other things I desired, as awkward as I would likely be at times, I needed to make an effort and offer my hand out to them first, instead of waiting for them to do the same. One of us had to make a move to get anywhere, or else we’d both assume we want nothing to do with each other or worse.

With this newly acquired talent for magic gifted by the gods that brought me to this world, I would put more effort into acquiring the things I desired, to reach out to those I wanted to connect with, to help them when they need it, and react accordingly. My passion and efforts in learning magic from the previous life had led me to that moment, reborn as a baby in a caring mother’s arms.

From that day forth, with the knowledge and memories of my past life to aid me along with my gift of magic, I would start over in my new life, not as Lucas Rantin, but the new me as Soar Osmis, to live and grow again, to become someone who was known to all, and loved by those I cherished most.

I would do whatever I could to help others with my talent for magic, to gain the approval of those who I sought from, and finally, to find a cute girl who would love me that I would love back many times over. It wouldn’t hurt if I could possibly form a harem in my time here, too.

Hey, in a fantasy world of magic like this, there are things a guy like me can dream and strive for, you know? How else had I appeased my loneliness in ‘those times’ when I had magic-related mangas, light novels, and games to fall back on?

~~

One year had passed since I was reborn. My mental age back then would be 40 years old. During that time, since I was a baby, I couldn’t do much other than eat, sleep, poop, and repeat. So, I tried to work my stubby baby limbs as much as I could to get a good habit of conditioning myself ingrained in my body while learning to speak this new world’s language during my development. One may use magic to achieve many feats, but I believed they may not go very far if they rely solely on that while not taking care to maintain their body. So, whatever exercise or conditioning I could recall from my time in the previous life would be essential here.

Maybe Ms. Renne, the fox girl caretaker/teacher, sort of expected it after she used whatever magic to check my aptitude, but I think being able to speak coherent sentences 2 months after being born and another 4 months after that to walk was an impressive feat. I mean, it was enough to make her faint, so that had to count for something, right? But that wasn’t a big deal to me.

What was, however, was when I suddenly started seeing something resonate in people’s bodies when I saw them perform spells. Pulsing light that resembled a firefly’s, but they emanated different colors, amounts, and brightness depending on the user’s concentration. When I concentrated to peer into their lights deeper, I would make out small veins that course through their bodies, similar to blood vessels from the cardiovascular system, but far simpler and less complex. They would be akin to paths of diverging streams that came together from the spine, running up to the chest and head where the heart and brain would reside respectively. They would flow differently in various places of their bodies, too. I tried using that same concentration on myself once in a meditative state and found my magic to be quite different from the others. This was how Ms. Renne checked and found my magic aptitude as an ‘S-Rank,’ and compared to what I had seen from the other townspeople, Ms. Renne’s aptitude was ranked one of the top people in the town I was living—that I learned its name was Lunargrove—and I would be sitting at the peak.

It wasn’t just the people I saw the sources of magic where the spells got their power from, either. The air, plant life, food, animals, insects, even running water, rocks, and soil. Whatever it was, it surrounded us every day. There were some cases when I found balls of colorful light randomly appearing and fading away from my sight that resembled Mom’s and Dad’s respective Fairy Companions, Dew and Tyra. Based on that and hearing how fairies normally hide from others in public, I assumed they would be those lights I was seeing, but why I was able to see them, I didn’t know until later. Aside from the occasional stare, I didn’t pay them much attention most of the time.

Even if I wasn’t getting the full details of what was going on, I learned a lot just from observing and familiarizing them from how they resembled things in my previous life. From watching how other people cast magic and the knowledge I learned about it from Earth, I tried to do it myself when I was alone. Amazingly, I could pull it off, so I tried to familiarize myself with them further when I had the chance on my own. As I cast more magic, I noticed I was getting exhausted, which meant that there was a limit to how much magic I can use per day; however, as I kept practicing, I was able to hold myself out more and more, meaning I can improve my capacity by using what magic I could do, rest long enough to get my strength back, and repeat. Pretty much the same as what you might expect from workout routines like weightlifting.

What was strange as I practiced from that point though was that I noticed fairy lights would hover around me longer than others while still in hiding, but I tried not to let it bother me. When I wasn’t focused on learning about the new world, I did what I couldn’t do before on Earth and tried to get to know my new parents.

My new mom, Carol, when she wasn’t looking after me, she was your typical housewife that did most of the chores and housework while tending to a large vegetable garden with the help of her Fairy Companion, Dew, by producing Water Magic. I wanted to help her with those chores, so that gave me more motivation to put myself through my personal workouts and get strong enough to do menial tasks for one of my size at the least.

Meanwhile, my new dad, who went by Gullivan, was what this world dubbed as a hunter, one of its many available occupations to make a living from. From what I had heard the adults talked about, he was a pretty well-renowned one in a city much larger than Lunargrove while working with his fairy partner, Tyra, with Earth Magic as his specialty and Wind Magic on some occasions just to keep himself polished. They both moved after he married Mom, though. Dad would switch between hunting monsters and herbs, to taking night watch through the town, to teach growing kids the basics of fighting and hunting. He was pretty well-known for his proactive service for the community. On his days off, he and Tyra would take me on walks around the town and show me many things within the safety of its boundaries. I was intimidated by his rugged exterior when we first met as father and son, but like Mom, Dad really cared for me and was proud to have such a gifted son when Ms. Renne told him the news of my aptitude. He took me to a variety of places in the village while showing off his pride and joy when I was able to speak coherently. I wasn’t used to receiving such praises so I got embarrassed, but it was one of those good kinds of embarrassments, you know?

Either way, this world may not have been as advanced as Earth was, but I was really digging the simpler lifestyle and starting to have fun with it, too.