Chapter 3 - Head Start (1/2)

Chapter 3: Head Start

ALICE LEYWIN’S POV:

Arthur has to be the most adorable baby, and I’m not saying this as a doting mother.

No.

Him and his scruffy little patch of glowing auburn hair and playful eyes that almost radiate a blue light, while his gaze, at times, seem almost… intelligent.

No no, I told you, I’m not a doting mother. I plan to be a strict and just mother. I can’t rely on my husband to teach little Art any common sense. For G.o.d’s sake, he tried to teach my baby how to fight when he can now barely crawl.

I know this little rascal will turn out just like his father if I leave him be. As soon as he started crawling, I was so proud I was on the verge of shedding tears, but I didn’t know how much of a handful he’d be as soon as he became mobile.

I swear, there’s not a single moment where I can take my eyes off of him before he crawls into the study room. How weird. We made sure to buy him lots of stuffed animals and wooden toys to play with but he always ends up going back to study room. THAT, at least was directly opposite of his father, seeing how Reynolds almost gravitates away from texts longer than the weekly newspaper.

Looking at how excited he gets when we go out to town, I’ve decided to go shopping for food once every other day instead of twice a week.

No no, I told you, I’m not a doting mother. This is for his education of the outside world and for fresh food in the house. Yeah haha…that’s it.

My son seems to be interested in a lot of things. I can’t get enough of his head that seems so disproportional to his little body turning left and right, trying to take in everything around him. He seems particularly intrigued by his father’s practices.

Reynolds was a pretty competent adventurer back in the days. Being a B cla.s.s at the age of 28 is actually pretty fast. Becoming even an E cla.s.s, the lowest rank, required taking a test so we don’t send eager but ignorant adolescents to their deaths. As for the higher ranks, I’ve only seen a couple of A cla.s.s adventurers in my years of working there and I’ve yet to see a S cla.s.s adventurer, a.s.suming that they actually exist.

Working at the Adventurer Guild, or what we just called Guild Hall, back then in Valden, I got to see too many eager teens. I swear, I was surprised they didn’t float off from their ego inflating their heads.

At least they were ambitious.

One time, I was a.s.signed to proctor a basic practical exam where the examinee just had to demonstrate fundamental competency in their mana manipulation, but before even the test began, the kid crashed straight on his back because the sword he was carrying was too heavy for him.

Talking about airheads, Reynolds back then sure came off as one. The moment he saw me in the Guild Hall, his jaw literally dropped and he just stood there until the guy behind him in line elbowed him to hurry up. He wiped his drool and managed to mumble a “… h.. hi… can I trade in th…the stuff for the mission?” I just giggled as he turned beet red from embarra.s.sment.

He managed to gather up the courage to ask me out for dinner and we just hit it off from there. Even now, I can’t help but smile when I see his droopy blue puppy eyes looking at me.

Art somehow wound up with both our redeeming traits, making him that much more adorable. You should see him when I have to change his diapers. I don’t know why, but he starts turning red in his cheeks and he covers his face with his tiny little fingers.

Can babies his age even get embarra.s.sed?