Epilogue — The Royal Birth

Time passed. The gloomy yet relatively cool rainy season ended, and the western regions of the Southern Continent entered the harshest period of the year. If one tried to force a comparison to the Japanese seasons, it would be considered the three months of “summer.” The last of these months had temperatures that commonly rose over forty degrees in the daytime and wouldn’t drop below thirty-five even at night.

It was the second time that Zenjirou was experiencing the rigors of the climate. It meant that it had been one whole year since he had first arrived, but he couldn’t spare a thought to appreciate that fact just yet.

At the moment, the shutters were firmly closed to block out as much of the cruel sunlight and oppressive heat as possible. Zenjirou had been sweating and roving around in his loungewear like a bear about to hibernate.

“Sir Zenjirou, for your sweat...” A black-haired maid proffered a cool towel that she had taken from the fridge.

“Ah... right, yeah,” he answered, only just noticing the state he was in once it was pointed out to him. He took the towel and vigorously wiped off his face and neck.

The lack of thanks offered was unusual for him, but the maid knew the reason for it, and her look was sympathetic, if anything.

“Sir, perhaps you should sit for a while.” Despite the suggestion being beyond her standing, the young maid still offered it freely.

“Right,” he agreed.

Just then, a loud “Guhh!” came from his wife in the next room. Zenjirou shuddered and his breath caught in his throat, then he shook his sweaty face and refused the maid’s advice.

“Nah, I should stay on my feet. I don’t think I could just sit around.”

Today was the day of their child’s birth. Like most fathers, Zenjirou could do nothing but worry, and he didn’t have the spare attention to notice even the extreme heat as he paced the room.

“Excuse me, I’ve brought the water!”

“I have the extra cloths!”

Maids carrying a steaming tub of water and clean cloths rushed past and vanished into the bedroom. Zenjirou could do little but silently watch the rush.

A cool breeze drifted in through the door between the rooms. It came from the fan, which was running at full power over a block of ice. They couldn’t point it directly at Aura while she was giving birth, but they placed it in the closed room along with the ice to lower the overall temperature as much as possible. It was a common belief that you shouldn’t allow a pregnant woman to become chilled, but it must have been far better for her than a room of over forty degrees. Regardless of the impressive stamina the queen possessed, the effort of birth for several hours in the heat would doubtlessly exhaust her.

Besides, even at full blast, the fan didn’t cool the room all that much, only dropping the temperature to around thirty at best. It indicated just how hot the living room was for such a temperature to feel cool in comparison.

“Damn, I really screwed up. I need to figure out how to get the air conditioner set up before next time somehow,” Zenjirou muttered to himself quietly enough that no one else could hear him as he wandered around.

The room was nearly sixty square meters and the windows were far less airtight than a modern building, so the hefty machine might not cool the area as much as he liked, but it would still probably make a significant difference.

“Actually, it’d probably be better to learn teleportation magic first, then I could bring a member of the Gilbelle family here.”

His daily practice meant that he had finally succeeded with several simple spells, but it would be quite some time before he could freely use teleportation magic like Aura could. Either way, the air conditioner and the need to learn teleportation magic were matters for the future. There was nothing he could do now.

Aura had told him to use a healing jewel if she or the baby’s lives were in danger, but the one duty he’d been given was one he never wanted to have to carry out.

He heaved another breath, having lost track of how many times he had sighed that day.

“Sir, have some water,” a maid suggested, worried about how much he’d been sweating. She took some water from the fridge and poured it into a cup.

“Thanks,” he replied, quaffing the drink and feeling the sweat start to roll down his body again.

He used the towel he’d been given earlier to wipe his face and neck. He had calmed down slightly now and suddenly seemed to remember his manners as he finally spoke directly to the maids.

“All of you should take care too. I don’t mind if you use the towels and water from the fridge.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“We appreciate your concern.”

It was the first time he had shown them consideration that day, and the maids smiled widely at it, but Zenjirou was too anxious enough to notice.

He resumed his nervous walk around the room.

He stopped, looking at the door to the bedroom.

He scratched his head unconsciously.

He sighed.

Then he started walking again. The calm the drink had brought him had vanished almost at once.

“Argh, damn. How long, how much longer...”

In the end, his mood swings would last until the loud “first cry” came from the other room.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Queen Aura had safely given birth to her first child.

Once Doctor Michel gave his permission, Zenjirou entered the bedroom to find his beloved wife lying down with a smile on her haggard face. She wasn’t on the large bed that had originally been in their room, but rather the separate, smaller bed that Zenjirou had arranged for himself after her pregnancy. The bigger bed would have been too bulky for the doctor and maids to work around, so they had chosen this one for the birth.

“Aura!” he called, rushing to her side.

“Oh, Zenjirou?” she murmured, lifting her head slightly and smiling at him. Her tanned skin and red hair were drenched with sweat, completely at odds with her usual lively appearance.

“You don’t need to get up for me,” he insisted from his place by her pillow, noting how tired she looked. Regardless, there was satisfaction on her face.

“I know. It is fine, though. Look, the child and I are safe.”

He followed Aura’s gaze to where a maid was standing on the other side of the bed. The stocky middle-aged woman was holding a baby swaddled in a fine red cloth to her chest.

“That’s...”

“Yes. My... our child.”

“Our child...”

Zenjirou cautiously studied the baby’s features. An affable smile was on the familiar rounded face of the woman holding him as she turned the baby slightly to give the new father a better view.

“Take a look, Sir Zenjirou. You have a healthy baby boy.”

“A boy, huh?”

He walked around the bed and approached the maid and child, once more looking at the infant in her arms.

“I think he may have my eyes,” Aura commented.

“Indeed, but his mouth is most certainly Sir Zenjirou’s,” the maid answered.

“His skin tone looks to be between the two of ours. He is a little pale for a Capuan child.”

Aura and the maid were enthusiastically discussing the boy’s features, but Zenjirou couldn’t honestly agree. Could this ape-like creature, hairless and with his eyes closed, really be said to look like anyone? His skin color was the usual bright red of a newborn and didn’t currently seem to share either parent’s coloring.

Beyond all of that, Zenjirou’s eyes weren’t focused on the baby’s features, but on something else entirely.

Whoa, he’s got even more mana than Aura. Maybe even twice what I have?

His time studying with Octavia meant that he could judge the amount of mana someone had by sight. It was one of the most fundamental skills in this world, but he had learned enough to see that his son had an overwhelming amount of mana.

The mana that a person possessed was determined at birth, so it wasn’t strange for a newborn to have more than a royal. However, seeing this limp figure that could be a monkey as easily as a human glowing with so much magical power was certainly disconcerting.

Carefully, Zenjirou reached a hand out to the baby in the maid’s arms. When his index finger touched the soft, flushed skin, the child tightly gripped his finger.

“Wah?! He grabbed me!”

Was he feeling so emotional over the sensation of a small hand grabbing him because its owner was his own flesh and blood?

“Wow, he’s so small but he still has five fingers...”

“A good thing too. People don’t grow more fingers as they age, after all,” the maid answered with a laugh, making sure to support the baby’s neck.

Aura smiled from her place of repose in response to her husband’s almost childlike reaction to the first sight of his child.

“Cute, is he not?” she chuckled.

“Yeah, he is... the cutest,” he nodded repeatedly, completely forgetting his rude descriptions of “monkey-like” from a moment before as his tiny son held his finger.

“Ahhh, dahhh, ahhh!”

“Oh, my... there, there,” the maid said soothingly, immediately rocking the baby.

Now that Zenjirou had regained possession of his finger, Doctor Michel took the opportunity to address him.

“Sir Zenjirou, first allow me to offer my congratulations. As you can see, both Her Majesty and the prince are hale and hearty.”

The words reminded Zenjirou that he had yet to thank the doctor for protecting his precious wife and son. He hurriedly swung around to face him.

“Right, thank you, Doctor Michel. It is entirely thanks to you that that’s the case. I cannot thank you enough!”

Zenjirou completely forgot his station and practically groveled. The doctor’s eyes widened in surprise, but he seemed to decide against questioning it.

“Not at all. I am unworthy of such praise,” he answered with his usual calm smile, turning back to the queen. “Regardless, Your Majesty, you are exhausted from the birth and I cannot condone you leaving your bed today. Should you need to relieve yourself, make sure that at least two maids are here to aid you.”

“Very well,” she replied.

While the queen and the doctor discussed her condition further, Zenjirou timidly turned to the maid. “Uh-Uhmm, I’d like to hold him too... can I?”

Her eyes widened in surprise at the newly-minted father’s words before a grin made its way onto her face, and she nodded deeply. “Of course. Please be careful, though. He can’t support his own neck yet, so make sure that you do so for him.”

“Right, got it. Whoa, like this?” he asked, taking his child into his arms with careful movements. “Whoa...”

The small, helpless, and soft sensation in his arms made it seem like a miracle he was unharmed, the vivid feeling of life traveling through his hands.

“Haha, how wonderful, Papa is already holding you,” Aura smiled from the bed as she watched her husband’s clumsy efforts. Her face had been cleaned of sweat as she lifted it and looked to the maids at her side. “I wish to sit up. Assist me.”

“Okay. Ah, Doctor Michel?” the young maid asked, seeking the physician’s permission. The older doctor thought for a moment before nodding.

“Very well; I can permit a short period of sitting up on the bed.”

With permission having been granted, the maids moved to carry out the queen’s order.

“Excuse us, Your Majesty.”

“We will put our hands behind your back; lean on us, please.”

“One moment; I will put a cushion behind you, so lean back on the headboard.”

As the three maids’ skilled movements helped to lift Aura up, another placed a pillow behind her.

“Phew...” she sighed deeply, leaning into the new cushioning after her servants had arranged her almost like a doll. Sweat beaded her face and neck, sliding across her collarbone and down between her breasts.

“Your Majesty, I can wipe off your body.”

“Yes, please do.”

Aura closed her eyes like a cat having its neck stroked and thanked the maids as they wiped her all over with cool towels. Her body was flushed with both the heat of the room and the effort of childbirth, so the cool, wrung towels were probably exceedingly pleasant, Zenjirou thought as he left them to it.

The prince consort, his son still held carefully in his arms as he took great care to avoid the slightest chance of an accident, seated himself in a chair next to the bed.

“It’s over, then,” he said suddenly.

Aura looked at him, now sweat-free, and nodded. “For now, at least.”

The queen, having just given birth, and her husband, still holding the newborn, talked for a time. The doctor and maids, in keeping with the mood, remained silent, almost as if they had planned it, moving quietly off to the walls to avoid getting in the way of the three.

Although she was aware of their consideration, the queen continued to speak, her words only intended for her new family.

“This was originally nothing more than a royal duty, yet seeing my child with my own eyes, holding him with my own hands... all those assumptions crumble away,” she murmured, her eyes fixed on the tiny bundle in her husband’s arms.

Zenjirou too looked down at his child, an irrepressible smile upon his face as he agreed. The queen and her spouse shared the moment, not looking at each other, just at their son.

“He’s real cute.”

“I agree; hopelessly so. I understand why royal children must be raised by a wet nurse and with foster siblings.” If she had to raise him herself, Aura knew that she would spoil him rotten and neglect his royal training.

Zenjirou exchanged a glance with her at the admission and burst into laughter. “Definitely. I couldn’t tell you whether I could give him tough love, that’s for sure.” He had never imagined that he would adore his child so much.

“So, what name will you give him?” Aura asked.

“Huh, you’re not naming him? I don’t know much about this country’s names,” he answered, taken aback by the sudden question.

“I will too, of course, but the custom is that a child whose parents originated from two different countries has names from both. Of course, when considering the inheritance of lineal magic, it is a rarity for a royal to receive two names.”

Zenjirou nodded in understanding. “Right, I get it. I’ll need to think of one, then.”

If he’d known about the custom, he would have downloaded a list of baby names before leaving his old world. He regretted the oversight a bit, but it didn’t matter much. He’d just have to come up with a fitting one himself.

Seeing his enthusiasm, Aura chuckled atop her mountain of pillows. “Ahaha, indeed. We shall both need to rack our brains for good names.”

Perhaps because of the laughter, the end of the sentence was slightly hoarse as her breath came harshly. Hearing it, Zenjirou looked worriedly at his beloved wife.

“Yeah, we will. You should lie back down, though. Doctor Michel said you shouldn’t be too hard on your body just now.”

The doctor nodded from the sidelines at Zenjirou’s words. Their position as servants meant that they couldn’t say anything, but the maids were looking at her with concern as well.

Aura gave a tight smile and a shrug before speaking. “Very well. I understand. Can I remain like this for just a little longer, though? I wish to watch my son for a short while more. So that I may see him in my dreams as well...”

“Jeez... fine, just a little longer,” Zenjirou acquiesced, understanding the feeling more than anyone.

“Indeed, just a while longer,” she said grandly.

The queen, however, could hardly keep such a promise and continued to watch her child and his father from the bed until the doctor firmly intervened on medical grounds.

To be continued in The Ideal Sponger Life 3.