Cutter awoke in the morning.

  As he lay in his crib pondering what to do, he decided that he had three very important tasks in the coming weeks.

  His first task was to start his muscle training regimen and voice training.

  The trick was going to be doing it when Felly wasn’t around. Since he felt it wasn’t a good idea to seem too outstanding considering he was part of the nobility.

  He knew well the darkness hidden in the hearts of nobles and those who seek power; being outstanding wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

  His second task was to learn whatever he could about his current circumstances.

  This included his standing in the house, the house’s standing in their place of power, and anything else about the new civilization in which he was born.

  Especially which planet he was on and the possibility of space travel. Otherwise he’d never be able to find the last book of The Tales of Fernando.

  The final task was thinking about what to say when he could finally chew out The Voice for being a dick!

  He considered this an important task because, well, he had nothing else to do.

  He was a baby; he had no muscles, no voice, and a lot of his time was going to be spent wrapped up as a baby burrito being held or at the very least, being watched by Felly.

  That was the plan.

  But Cutter forgot something…

  Newborns sleep a lot.

  He would be fed by Felly, then he would fall asleep. He would get changed by Felly, then he would fall asleep.

  He tried so hard but he couldn’t keep his eyes open for more than fifteen minutes in the first few weeks.

  He was in hell!

  No wonder babies are crying all the time.

  If I didn’t know about life already, I’d be confused and scared shitless.

  At least, there was something he was thankful for, The Voice never appeared again during this time.

  Even then, this hell-like experience wasn’t completely fruitless. He was making progress in feeling out his new body.

  Since the brain and nerve connections were still developing, he was so twitchy. When he tried to lift his arm, his leg would move; when he tried to move it again, his hand would close.

  It made no sense to him at all!

  Cutter was able to work on his voice a little bit, whenever he was able he would be cooing.

  Felly would sing, she was quite good with a rich alto. She mostly sang folk songs to which Cutter was especially vocal.

  She was convinced he was going to be quite a good singer when he grew up and even promised to teach him which made him quite happy.

  Ada would come spend time with Felly once in a while, which allowed Cutter to learn a bit about the estate from their chats.

  This or that maid or butler was sleeping with this or that guard, who was cheating on whom, and other bits of hot gossip were discussed.

  Although Cutter wouldn’t admit it, he always perked his ears up whenever they started getting into the nitty-gritty stuff.

  As for the important things, he learned that he was the youngest of eight children of the House Surefire.

  He also learned that he himself was an unwanted mistake. The pregnancy came as a great surprise for his mother and father.

  He had one older sibling from the same mother, who was currently the heir, while the rest of the six Surefire children had different mothers.

  The next closest sibling was already old enough to go to a boarding school and his sister had already graduated from a magic college.

  No one from his family had visited.

  He didn’t mind and he was quite content to enjoy the peace and mostly quiet with Felly taking care of him. Most of the time he was sleeping anyway.

  Not having anything to hold me down will make it easier to leave I suppose.

  Hmph. When I form my mana core, I’m going to take Felly, leave this planet, and go find Fernando.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  I’ll have to teach her how to use magic, of course.

  ==========================

  The first three months of Cutter’s life passed by in a flash.

  He was finally to the point where he could sleep through most of the night without feeding or soiling himself.

  He was thankful for that since nothing had been as bad as those first three weeks.

  He had also had some visitors.

  Admittedly not for him, but for Felly.

  During one of his naps, he was awoken by a knock on the door.

  He was still a little groggy as the door opened.

  Then, a man stepped inside the nursery.

  He was a house guard; a young man with dark-skin, a shaved head, and light blue eyes wearing a set of dull black leather armor with a breastplate and spaulders.

  The breastplate had the Surefire crest, the purple wisp of flame with a black halo, emblazoned on it. He had a longsword in its sheath attached to his left hip and a kite shield on his back.

  The armor had a light glow that Cutter instantly recognized as being magical or, at least, enchanted.

  Hmm... House Surefire must be pretty rich if this is how a guard is geared out. I can’t tell how strong it really is but still, not bad. Oh, and he’s a lefty,

  Cutter regarded the first new person he’d seen in awhile and also one of the people that Ada and Felly had gossiped about.

  Although, Cutter couldn’t remember if he was dating one of the maids or one of the other guards.

  Or if he was one of the ones who was cheating.

  “Ma’am, reporting,” Kass stated as he stepped into the nursery room.

  “Now Kass, I told you that you can call me Felly. Please, tell me what is happening,” replied Felly.

  Kass visibly relaxed and smiled.

  “Yes, Felly. There’s someone from Vincente who wants to meet with you. He said something about a signature and he wants to introduce himself to the new head maid of the new master,” he explained as he nodded his head toward Cutter.

  “I wasn’t to be disturbed until the little Master was at least six months old. That’s when I’ll officially take over the affairs of the house.”

  “Uhh… should I send him away Ma’- er Felly?”

  “No, it’s fine.”

  Felly sighed as she looked down and straightened her maid outfit. She looked a little tired.

  Cutter felt a little bad because she’s been having to get up at all hours of the night for the last few months to take care of him.

  Even though he felt like he’s been a good baby; a baby is still a baby in the end.

  In other words, high maintenance.

  Kass relaxed again and said, “Well then, I’ll take my leave.”

  “Then who will stay here and watch the baby?” Felly asked and continued, “It will be for but a minute. You’ll be fine, dear.”

  “Uh… yes ma’am.”

  Felly headed for the door and explained, “Don’t worry. As far as babies go, he’s very quiet. And if all else fails, he seems to really like singing.”

  She headed out the door, only to poke her head back in the room.

  “Oh, and if something happens to him… well,” she left an open-ended threat before she closed the door.

  Kass sighed and crept toward the crib as gingerly as a well-armored person could. “Talk about shooting the messenger. Am I right little baby er- Master?” he asked the baby.

  Cutter watched with some amusement raising his right eyebrow.

  This kid is great. Should I scream my head off just to mess with him or play nice? He glanced at the sword on Kass’ hip. Right! He’s my protector, there’s no reason to not make a good impression.

  With that thought Cutter used the only weapon in his arsenal: a squeaky baby laugh.

  It must have been a direct hit because Kass’ nervousness from before evaporated.

  “Felly was right. You are a good little Master.” He put his arms on the side of the crib and continued, “Well, keep this between us, but since you’re so good, how’s about a raise, or even a promotion?”

  Cutter laughed again; this time for real.

  In all my long lives, I’ve never seen someone ask a baby for a promotion. What a doofus.

  Hmph, well, you better have the skills if you want that.

  He still thought it was amusing and so he spent the next ten minutes letting himself be entertained by the guardsman Kass.

  Cutter made sure to, at the very least, act like he was enjoying Kass’ performance.

  When he talked he laughed, when he played peek-a-boo he pretended to be surprised and laughed, and when Kass talked in funny voices he laughed.

  The only time he didn’t laugh was when Kass tried to sing because he truly couldn’t bear the noise, he actually scowled instead.

  Thankfully, Kass was quick on the uptake.

  Since it didn't go over very well with the little Master so much so that Kass thought Felly was pranking him when she told him to sing.

  Just as Cutter was getting tired of humoring the guardsman, Felly returned.

  To the relief of both Kass and Cutter for different reasons.

  Felly seemed quite pleased seeing the smiling little Master and Cutter wondered if a promotion would be in Kass’ future after all.

  At the very least, Kass seemed to win some brownie points with the new head maid, which couldn’t hurt his chances.

  Kass made a few more funny faces at Cutter, who kept up his act of entertained baby til the end, and then the guardsman left.

  Once again, the nursery returned to its usual peace and quiet.

  =========================

  Time passed quickly while Cutter focused on his tasks.

  At four months old, he was able to start crawling.

  Still a bit twitchy, he was quickly getting used to his new body.

  He decided to let himself show off a little in front of Felly.

  He was so sick of laying around doing nothing, and as he was able to control his body more and more, he couldn’t sit still anymore.

  Naturally, Felly was overjoyed, which also made him very happy.

  As for talking, he was confident he could sound out words to a somewhat decipherable level.

  He refrained from saying words when Felly was around though, no need to show off too much.

  He continued practicing what was perceived as random baby noises around her.

  At five months old, he was able to stand with assistance by holding onto something like the slats of his crib or the legs of a table.

  By the end of the fifth month, he was slowly doing laps inside his crib.

  At six months, he was able to walk without help.

  He was clumsy and he tired easily, but he was still taking steps.

  Cutter had tears in his eyes as he made the trek from the crib to Felly sitting in a recliner chair she used when she was feeding.

  A whole five feet apart!

  Shaky but steady; Felly cheered him on. As he took his final step and touched her leg she picked him up and gave him a big hug.

  He was ecstatic!

  Not so much from learning to walk, since he’s done it many times, but he felt like he had freedom for the first time in a long time.

  Although, the big hug was also nice.

  He started spending most of his days walking around as much as he could.

  When Felly wasn’t looking he’d try to do squats, or a sit-up, or a pushup here and there.

  He thought that he was probably the strongest baby on this planet, which made him chuckle and feel a little bit smug.

  ==========================

  But, good things never last, as they say.

  A few days after Cutter had started walking, he heard The Voice inside his head say, “Wow. Human babies do grow fast do they not?”

  Cutter was reaching for a new personal fitness goal.

  A walk from his crib to the window, a staggering twenty-five ft.!

  When he heard the voice, he stopped.

  Well, more like he fell on his butt.

  Regardless, The Voice had returned.

  “Tonight,” Cutter said as he pointed at Felly.

  Since Cutter still couldn’t enunciate clearly it sounded more like “te-noit” but it seemed The Voice got the message.

  “Fine, little poopy Master.”

  This ass!

  Looks like it’s finally time to have a chat with my “savior.”