Kays Translations

Chapter 5: Growth

Training to expand my vessel by putting it in a slightly ‘magic-eaten’ state is done three times a day. I decided to do it just before my mother changes my diaper. The reason for this is that the timing is the least uncomfortable.

Even though I’m a baby, it is uncomfortable to have something inside my diaper.

Have you ever imagined that? The feeling of it sticking to your buttocks every time you move.

You might say, “Well, you should do it in the potty,” but you don’t potty train your child at one year old. I don’t know at what age one starts potty training, but if it happens, it will probably be when you are able to walk.

That would mean two or three years old.

Until then, I have to get along with these diapers.

I’m worried that the first friend I make in my new life will be diapers, but all’s well that ends well. I hope I make a lot of friends from now on.

“Itsuki, You’ve done a great job of removing magic power today.”

“Machoku! Machoku!”

“That’s right. If you don’t get it out properly, you’ll get a stomach ache.”

I clapped my hands while my mother changed my diaper.

Apparently, she can tell that I’m draining the magic out of my body. And since I’ve been letting it out of my body for training for the past few days, my mother has visibly started to feel relieved!

She must be traumatized by the death of my brother due to the magic eater. I understand that feeling.

That is why I want her to be at ease.

If the magic power is properly emitted out of the body, the magic eating will not occur. It would never happen.

I may look like this, but this is still the first time in my life that I’ve been able to show filial piety to my parents.

I feel relieved when I see my mother feeling at ease. When I think back on that feeling, I was such a kind child when I was a child. Where in the world did I go wrong? Well, I am still a child.

“How is Itsuki?”

“He’s calmed down quite a bit. He seems to have recently learned how to let his magic out, so I’m relieved.”

“I see. Did he learn that on his own? He’s a strong boy.”

My diapers had just been changed my diaper when my father picked me up.

At that time, I saw my mother’s anxious face.

“I hope he continues to grow up safely until he’s three years old….”

“Mm. You’re right. I hope everything will be fine……”

The two of them became smaller at the end of their words, and I inwardly pinched them.

Hey! That’s it!

That’s what I’m worried about!

I don’t want to die as an exorcist, so I’m going to get stronger.

It’s good that I set such a goal, but if I die before I become an exorcist, there’s nothing I can do. That’s why I’m concerned; I wonder what’s going to befall me by the time I’m three.

Since I don’t know that, I’m getting more and more worried.

But I am no longer a baby who just sleeps everytime.

Now that I am one year old, it is time to ask.

“Chan chai?”

I wanted to say “three years old,” but I couldn’t string a sentence together with my mouth, which was not yet full of teeth.

“Hmm? Itsuki! Did you just say papa!?”

But my father, who was even more of a parental idiot than my mother, looked at me with a twinkle in his one and only eye. That’s funny. How does one convert “Chanchai” into “Papa”?

But before I could even get a chance to ask, my mother answered me.

“Dear. This child said three years old (San-sai).”

“Oh! He can already understand words? He’s so smart!”

“Of course he understands. I read him a lot of picture books.”

“Oh, yeah! That’s good!”

My father smiles at me as he “takai takai” me. (TN: basically raises him up and down)

“You know, Itsuki, until you are three years old, you will be attacked by the magic-eaters’ many times.”

“Makui!”

“That’s right. But after the age of 3, your body will stop accumulating more magical power than it needs. Then you won’t have to be attacked anymore!”

“Mm……”

“Haha. It’s still difficult for you, Itsuki.”

Saying that, my father laughed loudly.

No, that’s not what made me grumpy.

It is true that if the magic-eaters don’t attack me, that’ll make me happy. I’m always on the lookout for sudden occurrences and I never fail to check the magic in my body.

However, I can’t be too happy about it.

If the “magic-eating” doesn’t happen anymore, then I can’t grow my “vessel”.

“When Itsuki turns three, there will be a measurement of his magic power.”

“Yes, that’s right. I really want him to grow up safely.”

I don’t know what it means, but it doesn’t matter. The problem is that there are only two years left for training to make my vessel bigger.

If I don’t do anything, the “magic-eaters” will come every two weeks to a month.

I have been forcing the frequency to be higher by manipulating my own magic power, but if I only have two years, it might be better to increase the frequency of training to five times a day instead of three times a day.

As I was being carried by my father with these thoughts in my mind….. he asked my mother in a whisper.

“Hey, Kaede. Hasn’t Itsuki’s total magic power increased?”

“Eh?”

My mother suddenly made a puzzled face when she was called out that way.

The total amount of magic power is the amount of magic power that can be put into a “vessel”.

I guess you can tell from others that it’s increasing.

I felt relieved and happy that the results of my training were not in vain, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

However, in contrast to my reaction, my mother replied with a bewildered look on her face.

“What are you talking about? The total amount of magic power is fixed at birth and will not change no matter what.”

“That’s true, but….”

My father’s expression clouded as he said something that sounded halting.

The amount of magic power doesn’t change from the time you are born.

…… hmm? Then why is my total amount of magic power increasing?

As my father says, my “vessel” is getting bigger little by little through daily training. So, it’s not wrong to say that the total amount of magic power is increasing. The one who is mistaken is the common sense that it does not increase.

“Is it my imagination? No, but when I held him before…..I think it was less than it is now.”

“Dear, isn’t it possible that you’ve been fighting so many monsters.  Maybe you’re tired.”

“…… hmmm.”

The father, who didn’t seem very convinced, nodded his head with a dour look on his face.

But as I listened to him, a possibility occurred to me.

I thought that the total amount of magic power grows up to the age of three.

In other words, it goes like this.

Until the age of three, the “vessel” grows. This is so that it can withstand the magic eatier.

But at the age of three, the body adjusts the amount of magical power to match the vessel. That’s why the magic eating doesn’t occur anymore. The growth of the vessel stops because the magic eating doesn’t occur.

The total amount of magic power is measured only after the growth is completed at the age of three.

From that point on, there’s no way for the amount of magical power to increase.

That is why it’s not known that the total amount of magical power can be increased.

No, is it wrong to say that it can be increased?

If I didn’t know that I could manipulate magic power, I wouldn’t have thought of making my vessel bigger by causing “magic eating” by myself. I don’t think an ordinary baby, who hasn’t yet developed self-consciousness, could do the same thing.

But the fact is that my magic power is increasing.

That’s all I need to know.

All I have to do now is to keep doing this.

So I stretched my arms out as far as I could to get myself fired up.

“Aaaah!”

“Did you just say Daddy?”

I didn’t.

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter