Chapter 3: Progress Halted and Lessons on Family

  I spent another year and half without any real experience gains to speak of. I tried everything from working on my balance, to speaking in short complete sentences, but nothing worked. Eventually I gave up trying to get another pseudo skill, in hopes that it’d happen naturally.

  Despite not earning any experience in that year, the time wasn't entirely wasted. I was able to learn more about my family, which I considered a decent consolation prize.

  My family was apparently a part of a noble house called House Blackwood. I had figured out the family name, given my last name, but it was good to know I was a part of the nobility of wherever I lived. After that, I learned that House Blackwood is a smaller noble house existing in a rather large Empire. It seems we are one of many houses that are located within the newly expanded region dubbed ‘The Westwood Provinces’.

  In spite of being a relatively lesser house, we have a number of retainers and servants, all who occupy the lower level of our home most days.

  As I continued to grow I started seeing the servants less and less often. My mother has taken over the duty of watching me almost entirely now, but the servants, like the nanny Granny Olbeck still had their presence, the granny changing me as needed, and others bringing food to me and my mother at least twice a day.

  When I did see the servants, I made sure to pay close attention to what they were saying. Doing this, I learned unlike I had initially believed, I was not an only child.

  I had two older siblings; an older sister named Mary, and an older brother named Reon. The servants would often give updates to my mother about my two siblings when they delivered food, or otherwise stopped in to take some of the papers my mother had finished working on.

  One day, my father had finally brought both of my siblings to meet me. Despite being the children of nobles, they looked like ordinary children to my eyes. I don’t know what I was expecting but they just seemed like normal kids.

  Mary had wavy auburn hair that was much like mom's, and similar sapphire blue eyes. She was somewhere around 5 years old if I had to guess, and wore a simple light blue dress.

  Reon was a bit taller, with short straight black hair parted in the middle, and silver eyes. He was probably closer to 7 or 8 years old, and wore a simple tunic, and black pants with patches on the knees.

  Given my parent’s status and apparent wealth, I assumed the patches on Reon’s pants were more for practical reasons rather than from the lack of a tailor capable of making proper repairs.

  Meeting my siblings excited me at first, but it quickly became a difficult time for me. While Reon was kind, if a bit disinterested, Mary was all too happy to volunteer to spend time with me. It started small, like her playing with my toys with me. Then, when she learned I didn’t make a fuss often, things quickly escalated. Before I knew it, she was treating me like one of her dolls as she served pretend food and drinks.

  I spent every day for a week after that attending ‘tea parties’ in the corner of my mother's office. It'd be one thing if I were to actually get to experience some of this world’s tea, but as it stood, air was the only thing I would be getting to taste.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  After about a month of Mary coming to visit, I swore I'd have nightmares about tea parties for years to come.

  Thankfully, my father eventually came to the rescue. He entered the office on a day approaching my third birthday, to find Mary and I in our corner sipping pretend tea. When I saw him, I swear he flashed a knowing smile at me when he saw my disgruntled face.

  He then loudly proclaimed he would be taking Reon and I fishing with him tomorrow. His reasoning was that, since I was almost 3 years old, it was time I saw the outside world. This took me aback for a second, given the lack of apparent care for my first and second birthdays.

  Another reason I was surprised by my dad’s proclamation, was that this would be the first time I saw the man without him rushing off to ‘handle other business’. That being said, I wasn't about to miss this opportunity, so I pushed my thoughts to the side for now, as I energetically agreed.

  My mother wasn’t very happy with the idea, but she couldn’t say no when she saw my pouting face. So, despite my mother and Mary's protests, the plan was made. Today, I still had to finish a tea party, but tomorrow I will see the world outside for the first time.

  Mary didn’t let the issue drop as easily as mom did, nor as easily as I had hoped she would. She spent the next 3 hours going from subtle hints about fishing being dumb, to outright begging me to not miss the tea party we were supposed to have with Mrs. Pom tomorrow. A tea party that had never been mentioned before this moment.

  After careful prodding, I learned that Mrs. Pom was apparently the name of a stuffed animal or ‘Very Important Person’. One that Mary cared a great deal about. According to her, Mrs. Pom would be heartbroken if I missed the party. I shuddered hearing that.

  Thinking about the lack of a party for my last two birthdays, I refused her pleas as I recalled a song from my past life. ‘It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to’ played in my head as Mary was shuffled out of the room for making too much noise for our mother to work. I felt a little bad at her teary expression, but I wouldn’t be dissuaded from seeing outside.

  ***

  That night I laid awake in my crib, awaiting the coming change of pace. I spent hours daydreaming about catching a fish and reaching the experience cap, learning just what it meant. I thought about leveling up, and transforming into a toddler instantly, or becoming some kind of buff super baby. I swear those thoughts lasted only a second.

  Coming back to reality and more rational thoughts, it settled on me that I’ll likely finally be hitting the experience cap. After almost 3 years, it’d finally help provide me with some answers, and hopefully give me some much needed clarity about the way things worked in this world.

  The way skill slots work was still at the top of my list of things to figure out, but I just didn’t see a way I’d get answers about them, even if I ‘level up’ or whatever happens when I reach the experience cap. I'm just lacking too much information about them.

  “Maybe I’ll ask dad…” I said with a sigh.

  I had taken to speaking simply but full sentences when I was by myself, but I overheard some of the maids chatting recently about how quiet of a 2 year old I was, and that I should be speaking more ‘when the system kicks in’ whatever that means. I would need to start talking more around other people, though maybe not in complete sentences to start. Unfortunately, the habit of speaking to one’s self died hard, so I’d need to make sure to reign that in the more I talk in front of others.

  As for learning about the system and how it interacts with this world, I'm choosing to keep an open mind. I could always start asking questions about it once I’m a little older, but I’d rather learn about it organically. So far, my mother and the servants have dropped vague references of the system's existence, so I'm not worried that it's something I need to hide at the very least. That being said, while it’s not a secret, it does seem to be a sensitive subject given how little it’s been talked about in the last almost three years. That, or maybe I was simply too young to understand it when it was talked about before.

  After about an hour more of contemplation, I finally dozed off to sleep.