I sat in the grassy front yard of our home and watched Liora and Mira as they stood in front of me. Caelen had decided to take a break from his work tending to his crops and chose to watch as Liora began her first lesson in swordsmanship with Mira. Liora wore an eager look on her face and was holding a wooden sword. Mira matched her daughter, also holding a wooden sword, which she had switched her real one out for.

  “Alright, your first lesson starts now. First we’ll start with the basics of swordsmanship.” Mira spoke. You could feel in the air how serious they were taking the lesson. It wasn't tense though, everyone was still calm, just taking it seriously.

  For a game, they sure are taking this seriously

  First off, I'll go over the power source for all swordsmen. You see, we all use our core, but not in the way that mages like your father use them. I'm sure you've seen your father conjure up water before using mana from his core. Well as a swordsman, you don't use your core for conjurations. Instead, we use it to augment our bodies.

  Are they being serious? Because it sounds like they're being serious

  Cores, conjurations, and augmentation. I didn't exactly understand what they were talking about but it kind of sounded like they were talking about some sort of magic spell or something. There was no way they were actually talking about doing something as fictional as magic. They couldn't be, right? I mean, they were talking about Caelen “conjuring up water” like it was an everyday occurrence, but I had never even seen him do something like that in the three years I had known him. Though admittedly I hadn't really even spent that much time awake or even paying attention in these last three years. I had mostly just been sleeping and zoning out.

  To make sure that they were still playing make-believe or whatever, to humor them a bit, I decided to ask Caelen to “conjure up some water”.

  “Dad,” I asked, looking up at Caelen, who was sitting beside me watching liora and Mira. I didn't like calling the man my father but I couldn't just go around calling him by his first name. No matter what country you were in, even in a third world one, that had to be a bit rude. I honestly didn't care about that though. I didn't care for the man in the slightest but If I called him by his name instead of “dad” that might cause more trouble than it’d be worth.

  Caelen turned his head and looked down at me. “Hm? What's up?”

  “Well, I was just wondering and a bit confused about what Mom just said. Can you show me? Maybe with a demonstration?” I asked.

  You might be wondering why I was speaking to him like an adult when I was supposed to be a child. Well, at first when I learned to talk, I would put on an act and try to sound more innocent and childlike so as not to give away the fact that I was a grown man in a child's body. After a while though, that just became annoying and tedious, so I chose to quit doing that. Sure, it was a bit weird to have a three-year-old walking around speaking in complete and proper sentences, but Caelen and Liora, being the third world idiots they are, just assumed that I was a quick learner and smart for my age. That worked out for me though, as I no longer had to pretend to be a clueless child.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Oh, you want me to do some magic? Well, I guess describing it would be kind of confusing for a kid. Though I’m a little surprised you’re confused, considering how quick of a learner you are,” Caelen laughed to himself.

  Liora must've been listening, because she turned away from her lesson with Mira to look in our direction. “Ha Ha, guess you aren't as smart as you think you are, Reyly.” she mocked

  I furrowed my brows in frustration and anger. I didn't like that they were laughing at me. I mean, Liora was an eight-year-old girl—it was embarrassing. Even my so-called “parents” were basically kids to me compared to my actual age. Being laughed at by people so inferior to me was frustrating.

  Before I could think harder about it and make myself even more upset, Mira swiftly handled Liora by flicking her on the forehead.

  “Ow! Mom, that hurt!” Liora whined, putting her hands up to palm the red mark that was beginning to form on her forehead.

  Caelen burst out laughing even harder, and for some reason—maybe because of the child's body that I was stuck in or something, I decided to be childish and stick out my tongue to mock her.

  “Stop it, you two, before I come over there,” Mira threatened, glaring at Caelen and I

  Her threat made Caelen shut up immediately, though I myself chose not to. In fact, I purposely continued mocking Liora out of spite. What right did Mira have to order me around, and why would I be scared of a little forehead flick anyway? Especially from a woman.

  Caelen looked at me with a warning expression, silently telling me to cut it out, but he said nothing. I ignored his warning and continued, childishly blowing raspberries at Liora as she glared at me, clearly annoyed at being teased by her so-called "younger brother”.

  Then, in an instant, without me even seeing her move, Mira appeared in front of me. Because of my child body, she looked like a giant and radiated an imposing, oppressive presence. She crouched down and glared at me for a moment before flicking me on the forehead.

  The flick stung and knocked me off of my tiny feet. It was probably the worst pain I had felt in both of my lives. Though that wasn't saying much, as I had lived a pretty comfortable life before and rarely felt pain at all, but still, it hurt.

  Spread across the ground, I palmed the spot on my forehead and uncontrollably began sobbing.

  ***

  “Why’d you have to go and piss her off, Reyly?” Caelen says to me with a look of pity in his eyes.

  I sat on the wooden table in the kitchen of the home, still recovering from the forehead flick and trying my best to hold in my tears. I had never been so embarrassed in either of my lives. Not only was I just hit by a woman, but I also cried and pissed my pants in front of everyone. After disciplining me, Mira sent Caelen to take me inside and look after me.

  “Here, let me see,” said Caelen, wanting to see the damage. After a moment of hesitation, I eventually removed my hands from the red mark on my forehead.

  “It's not that bad, just a red mark” he pointed out with slight amusement, seemingly at my reaction.

  I sniffed. “It hurts.”

  “I think you’re being a bit dramatic. Your sister didn’t even cry this much. Though I have been on the receiving end of your mother’s hits, and it isn’t fun. I guess just to be safe, I could…”

  Caelen held an open palm close to my forehead. In an instant, a small orb of water, about the size of the mark on my head, appeared in front of his palm and attached itself to my forehead, covering the mark. I instantly felt a cool, soothing sensation on the spot and it was as if all of the pain had disappeared.

  I sat there shocked. I was unable to even believe what I had just seen. I couldn't process what I had just experienced. I had my suspicions before, with all of the strange things going on since my reincarnation. Mira's training with the sword, the strange clothes we wore, and the serious way that they would talk about magic. I didn't want to believe it, but seeing this right in front of my own eyes, I had no choice.

  I wasn't in some third-world country. I was in another world entirely. A world where magic existed.