Chapter 7: My first…

A baby’s hearing is much sharper than what an adult would ever expect. After hearing footsteps walking down the hallway, I immediately rolled down on the bed pretending to sleep.

After a while, the door of the room opens up and the elf girl peeks inside. She probably finished doing laundry and came to check on me. Although I’m grateful that she’s doing her best to be a good babysitter, I wanted her to leave me on my own for a longer time.

But well, her timing might have been good. It was about 30 minutes of walking, but my feet were now trembling in pain.

「Fufu. You sure are sleeping well, Nicole-sama」

The elf girl walked up to me, and looks at my face to check if I was sleeping properly. Of course, I was pretending to sleep, and there’s no way of knowing that.

Thinking about it, what was her name? Although Maria hired her to look after me, the elf girl didn’t introduce herself to me. No, it would be funny to introduce yourself to a baby who does not even understand language…… but isn’t that what they’re supposed to do? Knowing Maria, I know that she would be clumsy enough to leave such details, so it couldn’t be helped.

The elf girl gently pecked my cheeks and seems to be having fun poking it. Although they were a bit small, my cheeks give off a heavenly feel when touching. Lyell was the most captivated by that sensation out of everyone in this household.

As I continued pretending to be asleep, the elf girl looked around her surroundings and confirmed that no one was there. There was no one in this mansion now. Even though she knew that, she repeated the same behavior humorously. And after she was convinced that nobody was there, she gently kissed my cheeks and stepped out of the room with clattering steps.

I wondered why she ran away… Thinking about it, kissing your employees’ daughter would have been a disqualification as an employee.

I’m a man… mentally a man, so I was actually really happy receiving the love of an elf girl.

From that day on, I kept training until I could manage to walk on my own. And there was one more thing you had to do if you were a baby at this time. I decided to do just that today in front of my parents.

「Maria, I have returned」

Lyell said in a slightly sluggish voice, when he came back to the mansion. Lyell was hired as a knight by the lord who governs this district.

This district was particularly terribly devastated by the evil dragon, and because of that monsters have been breeding a lot in the surroundings which required his assistance. In exchange for his service, he got a mansion and a good salary that he was using to raise me.

Maria stopped her meal preparations in the kitchen and came to greet him. I was watching this happen from the living room. Right then the elf girl picked me up and also headed for the entrance. It seems like she’s assisting Maria with her cooking.

「Dao~?」 「Let’s also join greeting Lyell-sama, Nicole-sama.」

The girl’s smile looked like a flower in full bloom. I was completely dumbstruck by that smile. Well, it’s not like I could talk.

「Oh, Nicole came out to greet me, Finia too?」 「That’s not it! I’m still no good at work! That’s why I’m just bothering Maria-sama」 「That’s not the case, you know. She’s actually a big help.」

I see, so this girl was named Finia. The heartwarming atmosphere felt it wouldn’t go, however, if this goes on, my time to shine would not come. There is only one way to diffuse this atmosphere. Making a firm decision, I put more effort into what I’m about to do.

「Ma… ma?」 「Eh!?」

At that moment, I squeezed my voice out and called Maria ‘Mama’. Maria was so surprised by hearing my voice. It was really quite unusual for her to show such a surprised expression.

「Nicole … just now … did you call me Mama?」 「Maaama」 「Aaah, Lyell! This child, Nicole, she called me! 」 「Nicole, what about me? I’m Papa? Call me Papa? 」 「Hey Lyell, close, too close!」

Lyell approached the chest of Finia where I was held and was forcing me to also call out to him. This ******* was already over thirty. He’s a sweltering old geezer. There’s also one thing that he forgot. It was that I hated him. That’s why–

「Fii…nia?」 「Ah, you heard it from Maria-sama just now! Is that right Nicole-sama, about my name!?」 「Eh, she only heard it just now! That’s right, this child is called Finia」

Now that I think about it, I have also heard Maria’s name, right? This surely is a failure. However, I will recover from this mistake immediately.

「Mari…a…mama?」 「Oooh! Nicole also remembered my name. What a smart child! 」

Maria was really delighted. To be honest, she was always smiling but it was rare for her to express her emotions this way before. It was probably because she was witnessing the growth of her child, that is to say, me.

「Over here, Nicole. What about papa’s name? 」 「Dau!」

I slammed my small maple-like hand on Lyell’s face who was noisily forcing me to call his name. Well, although it’s a direct hit, it’s not something that you could really call an attack.

「Uu, Maria… Nicole isn’t saying my name.」 「That’s because your name is hard to pronounce, she won’t be able to suddenly say it.」

It was very unusual for Maria to say something like this, but she’s probably experiencing a feeling of superiority right now. In response to what Maria said, Lyell falls down on his knees (orz).

「Ah, um, well, maybe she will be able to call Lyell-sama’s name soon! Surely, that surely will happen! 」 「Uuh, are you trying to comfort me? Finia is a really good girl.」 「Oh my, are you perhaps trying to have an affair right in front of me? 」 「Stop it with the joke! Finia may be a good kid, but I just can’t see her that way」 「Fufu, of course I know that」

Maria encourages Lyell while rubbing his back. We then went to the dining hall as dinner was prepared. By the way, our meal that evening was a bit… no, let’s just say that it was pretty amazing.