Time passed a little again, and I reached the age of one.
My first birthday in this world.
I never thought that the day would come when I would look forward to the birthday that I had hoped would arrive no more after I turned 30.
"Mamma, rice."
"Yes, dear. Please wait a little, Saint. I'm making a special meal for you."
Mother responds to me with a soft smile.
As my first birthday approached, I unleashed my vocabulary.
Of course, the first word was "manma," which I uttered with the intention of saying "as it is."
I said it in front of my shitty father.
Then, little by little, I increased the number of words I learned while pretending to imitate my mother.I did "Pa......paiya" very well. I still remember the birth of the baby.
I said "Pa-pa-pa," which Mother had been pushing for as hard as she could, a month later, because I had no choice.
I also owe her an ovum.
After two months of growth, I can now walk on two legs with dignity.
I can speak at least three words as a matter of course, and I feel like I'm finally free of my restrictions.
I'm just a little disappointed that I can no longer use my mother's breast milk enhancement because I've been completely weaned.
And the most important thing is spiritual power.
Since then, the amount of spiritual power has been steadily increasing day by day, and now the total production is so high that even if I refined it all day long, I would not be able to keep up with it.
I am looking forward to my 11th birthday.
As for refining, I've finally just found a method for land-based refining. I think this is probably the right way.
It is a very time-consuming process, so it will take years to mass produce it.
All of this is going well.
It has been going so well that it scares me after my reincarnation.
Except for the fact that I have almost died a few times, I am living a very peaceful life.
......If you almost die, isn't that bad?
"Here you go, dear. Your evening meal is ready."
"Yummy!"
"Mm, looks delicious."
The day I was born, my shitty dad was in the middle of an important mission and couldn't come back, but this year he made it back.
Or rather, he had taken a paid holiday since last year.
I wonder if there is such a thing as a paid holiday in the Onmyoji world.
It's my birthday, so today's table is a feast.
Roast beef, salads, potatoes, and other dazzling delicacies.
I can't eat them, though.
I've only recently made the full transition to baby food, and I'm still only eating soft and lightly flavored foods.
I think that if we strengthen our bodies, we can also strengthen our internal organs. The baby food that mother makes is delicious, so I'm not that dissatisfied with the current situation.
However, when I look at today's delicious-looking dishes, I regret that I am too young.
"Mm, delicious."
"Really? I'm glad to hear that. I put a lot of effort into it. Yes, Saint, perhaps you'd like to try a little bit."
"Tabeyu"
Oh!
The first solid food I've had in a long time.
Mother unwraps the chicken meat. My mouth is full of saliva as I watch the juices ooze out of the tight white meat.
I grab a fork and bring the meat to my palate on a kid's plate.
"Yummy!"
"I hope you will eat plenty of it."
Mother smiles as she watches me eat.
My father also glances at me.
I wonder if children are that cute. If so, I should have had a child in a previous life. I never had a girlfriend, let alone a wife, before that, so it's just a dream of mine.
When our bellies were full, the plates on the table were cleared.
Then the lights in the dining room were turned off and a single candle light approached from the kitchen.
"Happy Birthday to you♪"
"Happy Birthday to You."
"Happy Birthday, Dear Saint~♪"
"Happy Birthday to You."
"Saint, blow out the candles. Woof."
A single candle on a one-hole cake flickered.
Blessed by their song, I blow out the candle.
With the only source of light gone, the dining room goes dark.
When the mother turned on the light, I could see a small cake with plenty of strawberries on it.
It looks so delicious.
"Is it safe to let Saint eat cake?"
"Yes, I used bread instead of sponge, and the cream was made with half yogurt, and I kept the sweetness low so it wouldn't be too much for the baby's body."
What, it looks like a standard cake, but they devised a lot of things to make it look like a normal cake.
My mom made a baby cake while researching the recipe so that I could eat it.
That alone makes this cake worth a fortune.
"Come on, Saint this is your first time eating cake. I bet it' tastes good."
"Here you go."
Looking at the cross section of the cake she cut for me, I saw that it was indeed made of bread.
I could feel the mother's love put into the cake, and I felt it was a shame to eat it.
Still, I took a bite.
Yes, it was sufficiently sweet for a child's palate.
"Yee-hee."
"Yes, thank goodness."
I expressed my impressions while stuffing my mouth full of yogurt cream.
I wonder if I was able to convey my excitement. I wonder if I was able to convey my emotions of joy that even brought tears to my eyes.
When was the last time someone celebrated my birthday so enthusiastically?
Since I started living alone, I have done nothing special other than eating out.
Without a companion, I was always alone, whether it was my birthday or not. I enjoyed my free and easy life, but I seem to have forgotten how much I missed it.
---Having a family is such a blessing.
"You have cream on your cheeks. Mmm-hmm."
"Saint is now one year old. It's time to start educating him as an Onmyoji."
He said what...?
I'm pretty sure that these words uttered by my asshole of a father were the best birthday present I could have ever gotten.