“-ur Imperial Highness, while I understand wanting to spend time with your son, you have duties that you are currently neglecting, not to mention the fact you tried making his maid disobey an order from the Empress herself. Such behavior is unbecoming of someone of your stature and position.” Cesar was lecturing before Helga coughed awkwardly to get his attention.

“Helga, you may be my sister,so you should know that you are not in a position to interrupt the conversation of the Emperor and his Chief Advisor.” Cesar snapped.

“I know it is not my place, but his Imperial Highness Crown Prince Nil just used rudimentary <Magic Sense> to cast <Warp> directly behind his father.” Helga interjected, immediately following I heard my father and Cesar gasp.

“That is my son!” my dad exclaimed as he picked me up like I was some amazing trophy, holding me high above his head.

“What terrifying innate talent.” Cesar muttered. Talent? How was that talent? That was brute force and insanely draining.

“I was taking the time to help develop the next Emperor of Speranza by testing his ability to adapt his use of <Magic>. As Emperor, it is my duty to see that my successor is properly trained and cultivated to the fullest capacity of his talent, which you neglected to include in the schedule.” my father retorted quickly. What a load of garbage, we both know you were spending time with me while shirking work.

“And the <Cone of Silence> was to prevent outside ears from hearing the divine knowledge you were imparting onto your successor? Not to cover the fact you were ranting and rambling?” Cesar asked. His tone made it clear he knew my father was full of crap.

“That is correct. It is a Crowthorne family <Legacy> that cannot be heard by those outside of the family.” my father replied. I could hear Cesar’s eyes roll.

“I will make sure to make room in the schedule for ‘cultivating the talent of your successor’ from tomorrow on as time provides. Should I also schedule it for the same time as the Empress’s time slotted for ‘ensuring the nourishment and instilling a sense of duty and honor into the future generation’ or at a different time?” Cesar asked after a long sigh.

“Overlap them halfway Cesar. Helga, that was an important discovery you noticed and shows great diligence in your work. Please continue this level of dedication and sincerity in your work.” my father instructed as he handed me to her and began to walk away after one final pat on my head.

“Yes Maid Helga. Thanks to your astounding attentiveness we were able to properly document and notice a key stage in the ‘development and cultivation of the future Emperor’ and all of Speranza thanks you. Please continue the excellent work.” Cesar praised as his voice was monotone and completely deprived of any emotion, like a robot’s.

It was odd, both my parents were so busy but trying so hard to spend time with me. They had so many responsibilities that needed their attention. And they still made time for me. They went out of their way to spend even a little time with me. Is this how parents are supposed to be?

Helga let out an immense sigh of relief once the two of them were clearly no longer within earshot. My stomach let out an audible growl. Again, a breast was shoved in my face. This is necessary for survival, this is necessary for survival. I chanted in my head as I fed. I felt terrible. This is natural, I am physically a baby.

“I attacked his Imperial Highness and got off without so much as a slap on the wrist. How many people could say that?” she stated, a look of amazement on her face.

Helga seemed a lot calmer than earlier. After attacking the Emperor I guess there isn’t much more you can step it up from there. Using <Magic Sense> exhausted my baby body. That was just not something I was used to doing. I settled down, and closed my eyes. I fell asleep almost immediately.

*

I stirred from my slumber. It was darker than usual, but I could still see. Do I have night vision? I was probably the only one awake at the moment, so this was probably a good time to train. Was <Magic Sense> necessary to use <Warp> somewhere I couldn’t see, or was there an alternate method I just didn’t think of?

I tried anchoring two inches towards the top of the crib. Nothing. I tried anchoring where I could see a foot above where I was. The anchor was almost instantaneous. I used my incredibly inefficient <Magic Sense> to feel two inches towards the top of the crib, the anchor formed.

Maybe <Warp> required me to visualize the location? I thought about the room where I was born. In the distance, I felt the anchor form after a few seconds. If I cast <Warp> now I think the <Backlash> will straight kill me. So the key was visualizing the location. For this baby body that’s quite restrictive. Why did father think I could <Warp> behind me? Did he simply forget that criterion? He might be too familiar with it to realize a baby would struggle with that.

Are they called <Spells> I wonder? <Magic Sense> seems more like a technique rather than a spell, whereas <Warp> definitely feels like a stereotypical <Spell>. My parents keep wanting me to practice warp, so I should probably practice something at this time. <Warp> seems like a bad idea to practice without an adult around though.

From what I could tell, <Magic Sense> required me pouring <Mana> into the surrounding area. There had to be a more practical way. If it required a constant stream of <Mana> the technique would be near worthless.

I took a few deep breaths (okay maybe just huffs because of the baby body) to try and clear my mind. When I used <Warp> my available <Mana> decreased sharply, then replenished on its own. So either I generated the <Mana> or it came from somewhere. I would assume generating <Mana> should require energy; my hunger doesn’t seem to depend on how much <Mana> I have exhausted though. If <Mana> was ambient, it wouldn’t be too surprising. It did raise a question though: how on Tenebrae (?) did I use <Magic Sense> through it?

After struggling for what felt like hours, I gave up. My head felt like it was about to split open from all the exertion. I also depleted nearly all my <Mana> trying to get a sense of how this worked. Throwing out random probes of <Mana> was a long shot that most certainly did not yield much. I could say the probes started as basically slabs of <Mana> and evolved into a sack of potatoes of <Mana> by the end. Mentally exhausted, I fell back asleep.