Because the ancient language, I began to tell Lina about my past life.
"This is the story of a boy living on Earth. One day, after finishing school, he was heading home when an accident happened. He suffered a severe head injury and died instantly. But he didn't realize he was dead—he could still move. When he opened his eyes, he saw a weak-looking woman in front of him. He tried to speak to her, but no words came out—he could only cry out. And he couldn't understand what she was saying. He thought it must be a dream, and that he was still alive.
The next day, he woke up in a baby crib and realized his body had changed. He saw the same woman from his dream again. That's when he understood: he had died and been reborn as a baby. His memories from his previous life hadn't disappeared—they came with him into this new life. But he chose not to tell anyone, because he would be seen as strange.
Later, he discovered that magic existed in this world. He was thrilled. For someone with memories from his previous life, this wasn't common knowledge—it was something completely new. Day by day, he got used to the norms of this world.
A few months later, a baby girl was born in the neighboring house. The boy went there with his parents to congratulate them. As a baby, all he did was sleep, so he only caught a glimpse of the baby girl before dozing off. But even from that brief look, he knew she was very cute.
By the time he was two, he had grown into a little boy, and the baby girl had grown into a little girl. They became friends and often played together. When they were six, demons attacked their village, killing everyone. The two children survived because they were away from the village at that time. Though they were heartbroken, they decided to keep living.
Later, they found some books in the village leader's house. The boy couldn't understand the text, but the girl could. So he learned from her, using the language from his previous life to study the new world's writing.
One day, the boy found a few magic books. When he opened them, he noticed something strange—the magic names weren't written in this world's language, but in the universal language of his previous life: English. I finished the story."
Lina finished listening and pressed a hand against her forehead. Was it really that hard to believe? After a moment, she lowered her hand and spoke to me.
"So… Karen, you're saying you have memories of a past life?"
"That's right."
"The ancient magic is written in English?"
"Yes."
As expected of Lina—she understood everything incredibly fast.
"And… I'm very cute?"
"You're right."
"!?"
Lina's face instantly flushed red. Only then did I realize I had agreed to something outrageous. It slipped out so naturally that I didn't even think before speaking. Right—time to change the subject, now.
"A-Anyway! What I'm trying to say is that I know how to pronounce the ancient language!"
Because I changed topics too abruptly, my voice ended up louder than I intended. I hoped I didn't scare Lina.
"I—I got it!" she replied just as loudly, clearly flustered. After a moment she added, softer but sincere:
"I believe you, Karen."
Did she mean she believed everything I said? Lina's expression held not even a trace of doubt. Then I should believe that she truly believes me. I smiled at her.
"Lina, I believe you too."
After that, I began reading Ancient Earth Magic. Every magic names already had translations, and the explanations were written in Melbusoda.
The first magic in the book was "Dummy". As the name suggested, it created a puppet to assist with tasks. Its size could be changed freely, and it would obey any command issued silently in one's mind.
I was still shocked. Why was English considered an ancient language? Had the Goddess deceived Henry(Allen)? Or had Henry(Allen) simply assumed it was an ancient tongue on his own? And could a god even travel to other worlds?
I walked outside and decided to try "Dummy" for the first time.
Let's start by creating one—about my size.
"Dummy"
The moment I spoke the word, something began to form out of thin air. A stone golem, the same height as me, completed itself.
My testing began.
(Raise the right hand.)
The stone golem raised its right hand. I followed up with two more commands.
(Raise the left hand, then lower both hands.)
It lifted its left hand, then lowered both arms just like I ordered.
Good. Now for a practical test. Let's have fish for dinner.
(Bring back two fish.)
The stone golem waded into the channel to catch fish.
But stone golem was the same size as me and made of stone, so of course it sank straight to the bottom.
The sight was genuinely tragic.
I canceled this stone golem and created a new stone golem, this time adult-sized.
I also understood a dummy needed very complete, specific commands.
(Use a bucket to scoop up two fish.)
The new stone figure grabbed a bucket, knelt beside the channel, and cleanly scooped up exactly two fish.
I was getting the hang of this. With this, I could restart the palm-oil production that had been halted for so long.
Honestly, our cooking oil at home was running out. I'd even raided the other houses for whatever oil they had left, but it wouldn't last much longer.
So discovering this magic was a blessing—it saved me a huge headache.
I brought the stone golem with me to the oil-pressing shed and gave it a complete sequence of commands describing every step of producing cooking oil. The stone golem immediately began working.
Unlike humans, dummy didn't tire. It was like a machine—no need for rest, no overheating, just endless labor.
We could finally produce cooking oil continuously again.
After that, I was successful in creating a second stone golem.
I glanced at Stone Golem No. 1 in the shed, dutifully processing materials.
I gave Stone Golem No. 2 the full set of production commands as well.
With the two working together, efficiency went up immediately.
Afterward, I returned home and excitedly told Lina everything. She was just as happy as I was, and that night we had pan-fried fish for dinner.
When it was time to sleep, I followed our agreed-upon routine and held Lina in my arms.
She seemed very comfortable and kept rubbing her cheek against my chest.
"Lina, good night."
"Good night, Karen."
Today, I had discovered so many new things that sleep wouldn't come easily. The stone golems were incredibly useful for just the two of us kids—they could handle heavy labor, which freed me up to study magic and even practice sword techniques with a wooden stick.
"Karen, what are you thinking about?"
Lina's voice broke the quiet. She wasn't asleep yet either? But how did she know I was lost in thought?
"I'm thinking about the rice fields—they're almost ready for harvest. The stone golem can help us speed up the work and water the crops. Later, I'll probably shrink the planting area. It's just the two of us, and planting too much would be wasted anyway."
"Mm… if we can't finish it, it'll spoil…"
After murmuring that, Lina drifted off to sleep. I almost wondered if she had been speaking in her dreams. Well, I guess it's time for me to sleep too.