Chapter 6

### After Seven Months

The baby is now over seven months old.

His physical growth is progressing well, and he can now crawl and even stand up by holding onto something.

In terms of hearing, he can now understand words clearly as long as they are not spoken too quickly or are not proper nouns.

He also understands the meaning of what he hears.

The content is mostly consistent.

Regarding speaking, I have imposed a rule on myself not to speak until I turn one, so there has been no change.

Basically, from morning until evening, Nurse Eena is always with me, and from evening until bedtime, either my older brother Theo or my older sister Elly is with me, so there is no chance to practice speaking.

Even at bedtime, there is a bed for Eena next to my baby bed, so I can't practice while sleeping either.

Since I can now crawl, my range of movement has expanded, and the number of dangerous situations has increased, so someone is always with me.

Even before I could crawl, Eena, my brother, sister, or mother was always with me.

Regarding meals, it is the time to transition from breastfeeding to solid foods. I started with thin soups and fruit water, then moved on to mashed soft fruits and other mashed foods.

Recently, I have been eating more solid foods, which are, of course, finely chopped.

After eating solid foods, I still get a little breast milk, so the transition is not complete.

I don't know why the transition to solid foods is not complete.

Perhaps they are trying to get me used to it.

### Magic Training

The magic training menu remains the same as before.

Stretching, thickening, thinning, changing the concentration, and altering the flexibility.

I have significantly increased the number of times I practice the pre-release training, which involves extending magic just before releasing it.

Over the past three months, my physical strength has improved considerably.

Even after doing the pre-release training multiple times, I rarely lose consciousness.

However, if I overdo it, I still lose consciousness.

The pre-release training consumes a lot more energy than other training, making it difficult to gauge.

Even when I am fully conscious and don't feel tired, I can still lose consciousness, so it's hard to tell when I'm at the pre-release stage.

The only way to deal with this is to remember the number of times I've done the training.

After doing a certain amount of pre-release training, I switch to the regular training menu, which helps stabilize my condition.

### Separating Magic

Incidentally, regarding the separation of magic, there has been no progress at all.

The reason I still call it pre-release training is mainly for my mental well-being.

In reality, it's questionable whether it's even pre-release training.

Still, if I don't call it that, I might lose heart.

It has been seven months since I started the release training.

I am aware that my mental state is suffering due to the lack of progress.

However, my desire to recreate that feeling has not changed.

But this is a separate issue, and preventing my mental breakdown is essential, so I named it as such.

I know it's a form of escapism, but I couldn't help it.

Ah... How do you separate magic from your body...?

While I am looking into the distance with such thoughts, Eena is reading a book to me.

The story is a classic tale of a prince rescuing a princess who has been kidnapped, and the current scene is the dialogue before the final battle between the evil dragon and the prince.

The prince says, "Return the princess! If you do, I will spare your life!"

The evil dragon replies, "Do you think that is the princess's true wish! The princess is tired of her life in the castle! Are you going to return her to that prison!"

What is this... The evil dragon sounds almost like a hero...

While it's possible that the evil dragon is lying to confuse the prince, it feels different.

The prince says, "The princess is indispensable to the castle! Even if it is called a prison, I will fulfill my duty until the end!"

Oh... The prince admitted the castle is a prison.

Is this really a book for children?

The evil dragon says, "So you are the same as that despicable king! You will pay for your sins with your life!"

The battle is about to begin, but the despicable king... the castle as a prison... the despicable king...

The prince admitted that the castle is a prison for the princess, so it seems the despicable king is exactly that.

In other words, the evil dragon might have been helping the princess.

What is this? Which side is the righteous one?

"Thus, the prince defeated the evil dragon, rescued the princess, and they lived happily ever after."

What!?! The story suddenly skips to a happy ending!

What was the point of the pre-battle dialogue!?

Eena doesn't seem to have any doubts and is already picking up another book.

Maybe I shouldn't take these children's books too seriously...

Hmm... But I'm not satisfied.

Shouldn't the ending be a bit more thought out?

I'm more interested in the despicable king's internal affairs from the evil dragon's perspective.

I wish it was written more thoroughly...

Skipping... skipping...?

It feels like something is stuck in my throat.

What is this?

When I have such thoughts, the best approach is to break down, analyze, and examine the object of interest.

This is a method of thinking and analysis I developed over 30 years in my previous life.

First, let's break it down.

Skipping, hmm, can't be broken down further?

Then, let's analyze.

Skipping means omitting a part and making it shorter.

In other words, it means omitting something.

Now, let's examine.

Omitting something.

What is being omitted?

Omitting, omitting...

The process for releasing magic is:

1. Extend magic to the very edge of the body.

2. Extend magic outside the body.

3. Separate the magic.

So far, I can do up to step 2.

Step 3 is completely unknown.

If I omit something, would it be step 2?

Can I separate the magic without extending it outside the body?

I remember trying various things to separate the magic after extending it outside the body, but I never tried separating it while it was still inside the body.

A new idea is a good day! I have to try it!

### Separating Magic Inside the Body

First, I will try to separate the magic inside the body.

I failed to separate it outside, but the reaction might be different inside.

I had a preconceived notion that if it didn't work outside, it wouldn't work inside either.

This preconceived notion was a blind spot, yes, yes.

First, I will make a small part very thin... very thin... ho, it's cut!

It's cut...

I can tell it's not connected.

Is it really this easy...?

Anyway, I will try to extend this outside the body.

The control is still working.

I can stretch, thicken, thin, change the concentration, and alter the flexibility.

The control feels almost the same as before separating.

I should be able to extend it outside.

Carefully... carefully... I will move it to the tip of my index finger.

As usual, when it extends slightly outside the tip, I feel a significant decrease in fatigue.

And... I successfully extend the completely separated magic outside the body.

"Ooooooh!"

I couldn't help but exclaim.

Since I usually don't speak at all, I can tell that Eena was startled.

I was being held on Eena's lap while she was reading to me.

"L-Lily, what's wrong? You, who are usually so quiet, making such a sound... Do you like this book so much? 'The Complete Collection of Plant Pots'?"

By the way, Lily is a nickname.

### The Despicable King and the Evil Dragon

The story is marketed for children and is a fairly popular work.

It also contains some philosophical elements, making it a bit popular among adults.

Which side is your justice?

2/12 Minor corrections and revisions

3/9 Periods, spaces at the beginning of sentences, and ellipses corrected

3/10 Prohibited character processing corrected

7/5 Typo corrections

5/3 Typo corrections