Chapter 1:
A… Different World?

When I opened my eyes, I saw a brilliant light shine before my eyes. I could only squint in discomfort. My vision was extremely blurry, but I could make out two figures.

When my eyes adjusted, I could see the figures more clearly. There was a beautiful young woman gazing at me.

Who… Is she? I thought.

Next to her was a young man who looked to be around the same age as the woman, also staring at me. His awkward smile was being directed at none other than me. He looked confident, proud, and he was pretty well toned if I may add.

Brown hair? Must be a foreigner. I would have reacted differently if he weren't so damn handsome.

The woman smiled at me and began speaking… only I couldn't understand a word of it. It sounded almost western in nature, something like Spanish yet different in a way I couldn't wrap my head around.

The man replied to her, and his awkward smile faded into a more genuine-looking one.

Now that's a pretty face. I thought to myself.

A third voice joined in, but I couldn't see who was speaking. I tried to get up to see them, and maybe ask what was going on. Despite me lacking conversation skills, I could at least do that much.

Or so I thought, as all that came out was, "Waah! Ahh!"

Seriously? What type of brain injury…

And I couldn't move at all. My arms, legs, and fingers did not obey me. It's like I was paralyzed. Wait, that could make sense.

The brown haired man said something to the invisible other person, and proceeded to… pick me up?

Absurd! I weighed over a hundred kil–err, surely he couldn't pick up a grown woman so easily.

But what the hell? Maybe I had lost weight after being in a coma for a few months? In any case, picking me up without warning was just plain rude.

He gave me a peck on the forehead, which I would have enjoyed if not for my mind racing trying to figure out exactly what was happening.

Finally, my arm obeyed me. I lifted it up to try to tell them something, only for a tiny, babyish hand to come into view.

What?

Life right now was hard enough just to experience, let alone recount it. So, let's jump ahead a month.

About me being reborn. It's been long enough. I couldn't delude myself about this being a dream anymore. This was the harsh reality: I was a baby.

Reincarnation, I presume. I'd heard about such a thing every so often when it showed up in various novel plots. Even I'd written a short story about it. To think I was going through the real deal, with my memories intact?

Enough about that. I came to know that those people I first saw were my parents. If I really had to guess, they were definitely in their twenties. If only I could be twenty again… Anyways, they were practically kids to me. Although, I was jealous that they could be loving it up in a love nest at that age.

This also wasn't Japan. The language was so different, and plus my parents didn't have the natural Japanese facial structures I was used to. They also wore really odd old-timey clothing, which put me off. Nothing about the house hinted at modernity, nor was there any electrical appliances anywhere.

Wherever this was, it was definitely not a well-developed nation.

Oddly enough, we had a live-in maid. So it's not like we were living off of scraps either. She had pretty, straight reddish hair. She was also wearing glasses, and a maid dress that I never saw her without.

Maybe she was my father's relative? Who knows.

I had wished for a do-over, but this whole predicament was just odd. Couldn't I have been reborn into some fancy pants family in the States or something?

Just three or so months later, I had realized how much horny my parents really were. They were going at it like rabbits day after day. I can see why the maid was so uncomfortable every time they started to… get it on during the day.

Seriously, enough of that and maybe the maid would get pent up and… hah. That sounds like the plot of a trashy eroge. But seriously, my father is really good looking. But I'm not particularly attracted to him. Probably because he's my father, after all. Probably something going on subconsciously.

My mother would always cook with the help of the maid and compared to the ramen I used to have daily, it's sorta bland.

Well, beggars can't be choosers.

The maid looks at me thoughtfully every so often, as if she's trying to figure me out. It kinda freaks me out a little but I put up with it. She's nice enough, I guess.

Daily life here isn't terrible. Even though the toilet has no plumbing, and the bath is literally just a tub of water that you soak yourself in for a while and get out.

The rooms are quite spacious, although that might just be because I'm tiny. I like watching the fireplace from where my mother plops me down, it's almost comforting.

One thing that I can really never get used to, though, is my bladder.

Another 3 months went by. I had been fervently listening to my parents converse with one another, hoping to try to decipher some of it. After a few months of that, I had managed to get the gist of what was being said. I found that strange, since my English grades were always abysmal. Maybe what they say about kids picking up languages easier is true.

Around this time, I had finally managed to crawl. The days of being stuck hardly being able to move around were over. And boy, did I take advantage of it.

"As soon as you take your eyes off her, she slips off somewhere," my mother said.

"Hey, at least she's active. That means she's healthy." my father replied, watching me crawl around with a smile. "You know, I was worried about her when she was born and never cried."

"Well, she still doesn't do that, now does she?"

I had the mind of a 34 year old, so I wasn't exactly compelled to whine every time I got hungry. I still did occasionally cry when I tried yet never seemed to manage to control my bladder.

Being able to crawl opened up tons of possibilities for me. I explored everywhere. It's hard not to get bored if I stay in the same place for too long. I found out a few things. This house was definitely a rich person's house. The house was a wooden, two-story structure with over five separate rooms, and we had the one maid on staff. Speaking of, I had thought her to be a relative, but given how she treats my parents, I really doubt that.

Our house was located in the countryside. Outside the windows stretched a peaceful, pastoral landscape.

We also were not alone. There were a few houses here and there dotting the landscape, usually near wheat fields. Seriously, we lived in the middle of nowhere. There were no telephone poles or streetlights.

I had a few hints that I had been reborn sometime in the past. I didn't think about that too much, since the thought of no computers or phones depressed me.

This place was way too pastoral. It grated on me, since I was used to the comforts of modern civilization. Here I was, having been reborn, dying for some source of electronic entertainment.

However, all of that changed one afternoon.

Even with the added luxury of being able to crawl, my options were limited. I decided to view the scenery by climbing on a chair and looking out through a window. My eyes widened as I saw my father swinging a metal sword around.

What on earth was he doing? He was old enough to know better than that, seriously. Was he one of those people? I shuddered at the thought.

In doing so, I started slipping off the chair. I tried to catch myself, but I was still subconsciously operating under the assumption that my body was the way it used to be. I fell to the ground with a thud.

Ow… right in the head.

I heard a cry of alarm. My mother rushed towards me, and picked me up. "Lumi! Are you alright?" Our eyes met. She sighed in relief and stroked my head. "Thank goodness."

Could you be a little gentler with my head? Whammed it into the ground just now, you know.

Given the look on her face, I must've had a hell of a fall. Was I going to be permanently brain damaged or something? Wouldn't change much if that was the case.

God, my head was throbbing. I wasn't used to this kind of pain. My mom seemed to be on cloud nine, however. That probably meant I wasn't bleeding or anything. It was probably just a bump…

A sharp pain coursed through my body. I winced, and tried to reach out towards my mother, but couldn't muster the strength to do so. Was I seriously going to die this fast?

My mother panicked, and placed her hand on my head. What was that going to accomplish? She began to speak.

"Let this divine power be as satisfying nourishment, giving one who has lost their strength the strength to rise again."

What? No, you're kidding me. Is this the country's equivalent of kissing a boo-boo to make it feel better? What a joke. Not only was my father acting like that, my mother was like this too? Just what family had I–

"Healing!"

My mother's hand shone with a dim light, and the pain in my head was instantly gone.

Eh?

My mind exploded. What had just happened? Magic? Sorcery? Witchcraft? All sorts of terms flew around my head.

My father, seemingly having heard my mother's shriek, came inside. "What's the matter? Is Lumi okay?" He was sweating, most likely from all that sword swinging.

"Honey, you've gotta be more observant! Lumi here climbed up on the chair and could have been seriously hurt."

"Aw, that's on me. But you've gotta admire the kids spirit. She's got a ton of energy."

"Sweetie, she isn't even a year old yet! Surely you could spare some concern."

"It's not that much of a problem, really. If she gets some scrapes and bruises here and there, she won't be a dainty little princess when she grows up. And besides, if she gets hurt, you can just heal her!"

My mother pouted. "I'm just worried that one day she'll be badly hurt to the point that I can't heal her."

"She'll be fine." My father offered.

My mother pulls me in closer, her face getting red.

"You were worried about her not crying, but if she's this energetic, we've got nothing to worry about." My father then leaned in to give her a kiss.

In front of the kid? Really now?

After that, they put me down and headed upstairs to go make me a sibling. I'm not kidding, they were loud enough for me to hear it from here. I guess there was more to this life than boredom and confusion.

And also… magic?

Because of all that, I began paying close attention to the conversations my parents had. Thanks to it, I noticed they used a ton of different names. I assumed these were countries, regions, and towns from the way they talked about them. All of which, completely unheard of to me. I would have normally passed this off as me just being uninformed about the world, but thanks to that whole show, I think otherwise.

That could only mean one thing: This place, whatever it was, wasn't Earth. In other words, I was in a different world. A world of Swords and Sorcery.

Isn't that so damn exciting? I spent my whole previous life worrying about the future and meaningless shit. But here? I could live as a regular girl doing typical things in this world. Whenever I tripped, I could pick myself up, dust myself off, and continue moving forward.

My former self lived a life full of regret and pain, feeling frustrated at how she never accomplished anything. But here I could do it differently.

I could finally live life right.

Author's Notes:

Thank you for reading! I really appreciate it. I plan on continuing this fan fiction for awhile, and i have a ton of ideas. Contact me on discord at mushoku_tensei (Not kidding). Hope you enjoy my series!