Chương 31: Baby Got Moves!

Walking became part of Ren's regular training. He crossed the bedroom again and again, each attempt carrying him a little farther before his balance or stamina forced him down. One morning, he completed the route without touching the wall. [Skill Level Increased: Athletics Lv. 13 -> Lv. 14] The repeated work also stopped leaving his legs useless after every session. [Skill Level Increased: Body Conditioning Lv. 6 -> Lv. 7] [Skill Level Increased: Resting Lv. 8 -> Lv. 9] With his movement improving, Ren began testing Stealth beyond the games he played with Tessa. It was time to bother the adults! Elna separated dry leaves from their stems and dropped them into a clay bowl, each brittle handful landing with the same quiet rustle. Ren waited until she bent toward the basket beside her chair, then moved. The chair concealed his first steps as he crossed toward the folded cloth, keeping enough distance from the woven side to avoid scraping it.

Dried stems covered part of the floor beneath the table, so Ren lowered himself and placed each hand carefully between them. His right knee found bare wood. Outside, a chicken struck the fence and complained loudly. Elna turned toward the window. Ren used the distraction to cross beneath the table and reach the bench without crushing the stems. He closed one hand around the wooden horse. The toy scraped against the floor. Elna looked down.

Ren remained beneath the bench with the horse clutched against his chest while her gaze moved from the chair where she had last seen him to his new hiding place.

"Huh. How did you get here?" Ren raised the horse. Elna looked from him to the chair where she had last seen him.

"How did you get all the way over here?" She lifted him from beneath the bench and settled him against her hip. Ren rested one hand against her shoulder while looking back at the horse. The approach had worked. Pulling the toy across the floor had not. … The next attempt needed a better ending. Ren spent the rest of the afternoon watching for the moments when attention shifted elsewhere.

Elna reacted first to sounds suggesting danger or broken objects, while Bren noticed unusual silence whenever Tessa occupied the same room as Ren. Tessa noticed nearly everything because solving him had become one of her favorite games. Stealth gave Ren more control over where and when he moved, but movement alone would not let him affect anything beyond his reach. His previous life supplied the obvious progression. With Stealth already available, destiny clearly intended him to become a Stealth Archer!

A Stealth Archer Baby, now that was an idea! The title even sounded respectable up until he considered the practical details. A bow sized for an infant probably did not exist. Even if a craftsman built one, anything small enough for Ren to use would have such a short draw that its arrows would barely travel far enough to matter. A weapon like that would threaten vegetables more effectively than it would goblins. Ren abandoned the idea with appropriate regret. On the other hand…

Throwing offered a more practical option. Small stones, toys, wooden pieces, and ordinary household objects could create noise or redirect attention without forcing him to cross every dangerous space himself. And who knew what other options the world had yet to offer to make stones thrown by a baby deadly? But for now… That possibility could wait until he understood Stealth better.

The following morning, Tessa left the bedroom to help Elna downstairs. Ren waited beside the crib until their voices settled below him, then crossed toward the chest near the wall. He placed each foot carefully before shifting his weight. Near the chest, one heel touched a loose board, and the wood answered with a soft creak. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Ren stopped long enough to listen.

When nobody called upstairs, he continued toward the narrow gap beside the wall, lowered himself, and moved through it with dust collecting beneath one palm while his knee brushed the wood. Then Tessa appeared in the doorway.

"Why are you hiding there?" Ren looked up. She had returned quietly enough to surprise him. She noticed his surprise and grinned happily.

"Hehe! I have gotten Stealth too!" Just when had she–?! …What a capable girl. He really had a great sister! Tessa hurried over and crouched beside the chest. Ren pointed toward the doorway.

"You wanted to go out?" He slapped once. Her eyes brightened.

"I want to come." Ren pointed toward the bed.

"You want me to stay?" Another slap confirmed it. Tessa frowned.

"That is not fair. You only want me gone because I keep finding you!" Ren nodded.

"Rude!" It was also accurate. After several seconds, she sat on the bed.

"Fine. I will stay here." Ren watched long enough to make sure she remained seated, then moved toward the doorway. Tessa followed before he reached it. Ren stopped and pointed back toward the bed.

"You noticed me," she said. He kept pointing until she sighed and returned to the mattress. This time, Ren waited while Tessa watched him openly. Neither moved until she finally became bored enough to reach for the wooden horse. Ren crossed the doorway while Tessa's attention remained elsewhere. He didn't want to be mean to his sister. But it was still good training! The upper hall offered fewer places to disappear.

A laundry basket rested near Elna's room, a folded blanket covered one side of a bench, and sunlight reached the floor through the narrow window. Ren kept close to the wall while cloth snapped inside the next room whenever Elna folded another shirt. After listening through two repetitions, he used the third to cover his steps across the doorway. Instead of stopping at the nearest cover, Ren continued along the wall while his mother's attention remained inside the room.

He timed each movement around the snap of another folded shirt and reached the far side of the hall without drawing her gaze. The next attempts became easier to judge. Ren recognized openings sooner, moved before they closed, and chose routes that carried him forward instead of leaving him trapped. [Skill Level Increased: Stealth Lv. 1 -> Lv. 2] The message appeared while Ren waited behind the kitchen bench. Elna crossed the room carrying folded cloth, and Ren watched where her attention moved.

Before she reached the table, he recognized that she would turn toward the shelf. When she did, Ren crossed behind her. He had found the opening before it fully appeared. The improvement brought Ren back to the throwing idea. A stone or wooden piece landing behind a goblin could pull its attention the wrong way. Another could strike a doorway or warn someone beyond Ren's reach. It would let him affect danger without crossing the space himself. The idea suited a baby far better than an imaginary bow.

But for the time being… Ren kept using Stealth whenever the house gave him an opening. And while he improved, his sister did too. Tessa became harder to avoid! When Ren disappeared behind furniture, she checked the nearest hiding places. When the room grew quiet, her eyes went to the doorway before returning to whatever occupied her. It was slightly annoying at first, but also just… good training. Ren was simply happy she found it fun!

Meeting the kids introduced another challenge. Tessa remained interested because figuring Ren out had become one of her favorite games. But he only knew the other children had followed fear. In the previous loop, Tessa had brought Corin, Lysa, Pella, and Davi into the house. Once they understood that Ren's warning involved goblins, they carried it beyond the room, adding rumors, arguments, and frightened details until the warning spread farther than Ren could have managed alone. And it worked wonders!

Or would have, if not for the strength of the goblin hoard. … Ren did not want to frighten them into doing it again. The problem arrived the following afternoon when Tessa entered the bedroom with Corin, Lysa, Pella, and Davi crowded behind her.

"You said this was important," Corin said.

"It is!" Tessa answered. Pella looked toward Ren.

"Is it scary?"

"Nope!" Tessa said quickly. Davi leaned around her.

"Then what is it?" Tessa looked at Ren. Ren opened his mouth, but Corin noticed the wooden horse beside him. He picked up the toy.

"Your horse needs armor."

"Wooden horses do not need protection," Lysa replied.

"You cannot know every future horse problem," Corin contended. Tessa tried bringing them back to the reason they had come upstairs, but Corin wanted armor made from bark, Lysa immediately began explaining why bark would fail, and Pella argued that cloth would be softer. Davi wanted the horse to have a shield. Within minutes, the entire group had forgotten why Tessa had brought them upstairs. Ren watched their attention scatter.

Fear had kept them focused during the previous loop, but he refused to frighten them into spreading another warning before he was ready. Then Niko appeared in the doorway.

"Hey! You started without me!" Tessa turned.

"You were not invited!"

"But I heard everyone coming here!"

"Not the same thing!" Niko entered anyway and reached into one pocket. Several crumbs scattered across the floor. Tessa noticed immediately.

"You brought biscuits!"

"And you didn't share?" Pella demanded. Every head turned toward Niko. He clutched the biscuits against his chest.

"They are mine!"

"That is too many for one person," Corin said. Davi was already edging closer. The argument changed direction at once. Ren remembered the emergency basket from the previous loop and the sweets Tessa had hidden among the supplies. Even with danger approaching, she had remembered snacks. Ren looked from Niko's guarded biscuits to the children gathered around him. Food had captured their attention immediately. A plan began forming.