Transcendence?

***Norfolk, Sarn-Valley***

I open my eyes as I regain my consciousness. The world is … upside down? How strange? Didn't I lie down on the ground in my lab when I left my body behind to save Sera?

Someone is carrying me through the snow? I see houses to my left. “What's going on?”

“Good. You are back.” Den puts me down and I realize that Celestial is beside us with Sera in her hands.

“I ordered him to carry you to our Gate.” Celestial smiles at me while hugging Sera, who is wrapped in a blanket. “After you told me your plan, I thought it best to take your body with us. Just in case. We are on our way back to the mansion.”

I nod. “I see. Well, I can use the time to inform you of my chat with the Immortal Empress.”

“Chat?” Celestial squints her eyes. What the hell is she thinking now? I quickly evaluate what I said, but I find no flaw in my statement.

“~Daddy has eyes for the beautiful white lady.~” Sera's squeaky voice erupts from the blanket and my jaw drops. How? No! Forget that!

“What the hell!? I was in the body of a woman at that time! I couldn't have gotten it up, even if I wanted to!” This accusation is ridiculous.

“That's exactly the point! Your new spell is perverted, dangerous and immoral! You are forbidden to use it from now on! You are only allowed to use it in emergency situations.” Celestial starts to walk faster.

“Haah … can I explain now? The issue is this …” And so I start to describe my discussion with the Immortal Empress.

***

Later in the evening I am sitting in our living room and reading a book. I am in a big and comfortable chair, while Celestial is on the couch with Sera on her lap. She is teaching her daughter chemistry and medicine at the master level.

We had a long discussion about the Empress's reasons for telling me a story like this. But without exact information it was impossible to verify the truthfulness of her words. So the decision on how to act was postponed until we had time to investigate the matter.

Fortunately Celestial volunteered to have a closer look at the facts. I would have gone insane if I had to search through stacks of historical records. The great me isn't a fan of brooding over past events.

We also had a lengthy discussion with Sera. Originally we didn't plan on revealing ourselves to her. It was fine as long as she kept playing the baby. We intended to watch her closely to get an idea of her personality.

I found out about Sera's odd behaviour, when I observed her through my spying globe. By then I was really surprised when she suddenly floated down from her bed, crawled to the bookshelf and started reading. Her complete undoing were the books, which were on too high positions for her to reach. They floated down from the shelves and placed themselves neatly in front of her.

Of course our course of action was influenced by the other residents of my mansion. We had hoped that Sera would become a little older before we had to explain that she wasn't a normal baby.

However, now that she found out about us, she is prattling like a parrot. She probably won't hold back in revealing herself to everyone else too. It's a simple consideration. She has us, so she won't get shunned or thrown out of the house because she is seen as a freak.

Ergo, no reason to hold back. I can't blame her. Playing an idiot is something I fail in almost all of my restarts. And it's annoying like hell.

Liandra and Violetta enter the room and run up to Celestial and Sera. Their tutor Stefan is teaching them until five in the evening. According to him, the two of them have much potential.

“You saved her!” Violetta hugs Sera while smiling. Liandra is patting Sera's head. There was a big uproar in the family, when Tori vanished with the baby. Celestial was nagging me to get her back asap, instead of waiting to see where she was taken to.

Celestial's parents were also furious. I guess they will be relieved when they come back. Unfortunately their presence is absolutely necessary to supervise the implementation of the new greenhouses.

While they may not fully understand the principles behind my projects, they are great at organizational tasks. So be it in supervising new undertakings like sawmills, smitheries or greenhouses, both of them became indispensable.

“I don't understand a single word of that stuff. Why are you explaining something complicated like that to the baby?” Liandra has a confused expression on her face while Violetta looks at Celestial's cryptic notes with dismay.

“~It's actually not that hard Liandra. These are instructions on how to create an antibiotic solution. That's a medicine which works against most illnesses and it can be extracted from mould.~”

Liandra's and Violetta's jaws drop. Violetta is the first who recovers. She tugs at Liandra's sleeve. “Little sister can already talk and knows so much. We'll fall behind at this rate! Let's go and wake up Stefan to teach us more!”

“Hn.” Liandra stands up with a gloomy expression and leaves the room, followed by Violetta.

Liandra and Violetta had a sheltered upbringing. They probably have no idea what a one year old should be able to do. “Shouldn't you have properly explained the situation?” I gaze at both of them who are still sitting on their couch, relatively unconcerned.

“They got a little lazy recently. I think it's good if they come to the wrong conclusion. Working harder won't be bad for them.” Celestial shrugs her shoulders.

“~I will crush their pride someday, if I want it or not. So it's better to do it now, while they can still adjust.~” Sera's tone is way too happy. She seems to like teasing her elders.

I sigh and continue reading my book.

Half an hour later my parents in law finally burst into the room and hug the abducted child and Celestial from both sides.

“I am so glad that your baby is back my dear! I was worried so much while imagining all the horrible things that could've been done to her!” Idala has tears of joy in her eyes.

Sera looks up from Celestial's notebook and causes a shock to her grandparents. “~It wasn't so bad grandmother. The Immortal Empress is actually quite civilised.~”

“Did … Did she just talk? A complete sentence?” Arduin's left eyebrow starts to twitch and his expression is frozen.

“I am a reincarnated person like mom and dad. But you don't have to worry about it. According to them I am quite young. Seems like a thousand lived lives doesn't count for much under immortals. Please keep calling me Sera grandmother. And I can finally thank you for suggesting a good name. Dad's proposal was really horrible.” Sera finally stops her speech and smiles innocently.

“Aaah …” Idala simply falls backwards while becoming a little pale.

“Mom!” Celestial catches her mother in the last second before she fell from the couch.

“Is it the heritage? Two reincarnated people will bear another reincarnated one? But they said that reincarnated persons are really rare …” Arduin starts to mumble to himself.

“I guess we simply won the lottery four times in a row.” I smile and try to change the topic. There is no need to worry them with my failed experiment, which was probably at fault for the current situation.

“Four?” Idala looks at the ceiling with a dead expression. Celestial had her lie down on the couch while Sera was patting her grandmother's head and cooling her with a light breeze, which she summoned with magic.

“The baby is using magic …” Arduin's expression says that he has given up on any sanity in this mansion.

“The Immortal Empress is an immortal too, at least that's what she calls reincarnated people.” Sera shares her information with Idala and Arduin.

Celestial follows with a very long explanation on the facts as we know them. It takes her an hour until all of her parent's questions are answered.

***

“So that's the reason why nobody could oppose her. These are really bad news for the rest of the world.” Arduin shakes his head.

“At least it doesn't look like she will be able to attack Norfolk any time soon.” Idala has Sera on her lap and hugs her while thinking.

I shrug my shoulders and smile. “We'll simply deal with one thing at a time. First are Kane's merchant ships and our goods to change the world. All we have to do is to keep an eye on everything and advance cautiously.”

.