Chapter 2: The Price of a Four-Leaf Clover

"I can't believe it... You are also a Totalizer."

Gustavo whispered that unknown word in my ear.

I was right in front of him, drifting through the air like a soap bubble. Maybe drifting wasn't quite right either—floating, maybe. I had practically no control over my body. At most, I could wave my hands.

Floating means being carried by the wind.

A strong gust took me far away. My body spun several times in the process.

"Whoa."

With one quick motion, Gustavo caught me.

Up close, his face was hard to read. He wasn't smiling, wasn't frowning—mouth slightly open, just staring at me. Trying to process what had just happened, probably.

"At six months... It took me more than seven years." A proud smile broke across his face. "How cool! My brother is amazing!"

I had braced for jealousy. But that's just not who he is.

I have powers, right? That's so cool. So I assume in this world there's magic, mana, mages, elves, demi-humans— Ugh, I'm getting way too far ahead of myself. Better take it one step at a time. But it's impossible not to be excited.

Although, come to think of it, I'm going to have to wait a long time until I finally turn one year old. If I'm not mistaken, that's when babies start to speak—then I'll be able to ask Gustavo to explain everything about this world.

But there's still a long way to go. I'll have to hold all my excitement inside that crib. Damn it...

"Here."

Gustavo reached out and grabbed the white cloth that had covered me earlier.

Yes, please put that back on me. I'm freezing out here.

Right after dressing me, Gustavo spotted the worst thing he could have possibly seen: my mother at the front door.

He nearly dropped me again. His teeth started chattering. Down below, Eduarda's eyes locked onto him with murderous intent.

"Gustavo, what is going on!?"

Unable to get a word out, Gustavo floated down to the front door—though he kept a careful few steps between them.

"You took your brother to the roof of the house? What were you thinking?!" And then she rattled off three hundred arguments. A classic.

Gustavo took it all quietly, head down. Eduarda had surely warned him plenty of times to be careful with me.

But after the speech ran its course, he tried to defend himself.

"Today is his six-month birthday... I-I just wanted to give him a present!"

Pure intentions. Deeply flawed execution. And obviously he was never going to mention dropping me. Children are smart—

"I... I am sorry. I dropped him once, but everything is fine! And he liked it, I know it!"

...Is this child real?! He actually admitted it!?

I have never met anyone so honest. Maybe even too honest.

"You dropped Nicolau?" My mother's voice went completely flat. Not a trace of her usual calm.

"B-But everything is fine! I managed to save him— I mean, he saved himself! Nico is like me and dad; he's a Totalizer! An even bigger prodigy. Besides, he also said his first words! He thanked me—"

Eduarda lifted me from his arms.

"Where is your head at? Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?!"

It is an interesting angle, watching an argument from the perspective of a conscious baby. For the record: what Gustavo did was wrong. Objectively. If a grown man did something like that with a six-month-old, it would be madness. Let alone a 10-year-old boy.

But I am very grateful to him. Hehe.

My mother continued, now with me against her chest. "What if something had gone wrong?! He isn't even a year old! How can you be so careless—"

In a flash of indignation, Gustavo said the words he would forever regret.

"Careless? You're out of the house all the time without looking after him! I'm the one who always has to watch him. Not you! Maybe that's why dad left you!"

Even the birds went quiet.

You could tell he'd been holding that in for a while. It probably would've been better to keep it there.

Come to think of it, he wasn't wrong. Eduarda spends a lot of time out visiting neighbors—not working, since the village pools money together to support us. Apparently, "Fecho has a moral debt to the Brittons." I have no idea why.
Every Sunday, without exception, Eduarda spends 2 hours at church mass.
I had never stopped to think about it: someone needs to watch a baby almost constantly. Newborns are fragile. That's just common sense.

A mother shouldn't leave one alone.

And Gustavo is still a small child. He shouldn't have to carry the responsibility of watching me while she's away—let alone so often. But I had never noticed that when he seemed to disappear, he was always just outside, keeping an eye on me. Even during his own training, he always checked in.

Eduarda may not be as perfect as she seemed. But nobody's perfect, right?... right?

I don't know what to think.

Eduarda did, though. Her immediate response was to slap Gustavo across the face.

"Don't make up lies to get out of trouble!"

Then, quiet and sharp: "Go to your room. Now."

Gustavo didn't argue. He said, "Yes, ma'am," turned around, and walked away with his head down.

I hope he's okay. And I'm starting to doubt that calmness I thought I saw in Eduarda.

One thing I can't doubt, though: she loves me. Right then she was rubbing her cheek against mine, smiling softly.

"Your first words will be mommy."

I have some news for you.

I will never tell her that I already said it.

More time passed. I was already a little over one year and ten months old.

I had finally unlocked walking and talking—the two skills I needed most. Speech came fast. The moment my vocal cords were up to it, I just started talking like a normal person. I probably should have played it slower, pretended to develop gradually. But I was too impatient. I wanted to ask questions. Of course, it became the talk of the village for a long time.
So much so that once the village priest came to my house because my mother suspected something strange was going on with me. Luckily, I managed to fool him quite well.

My first instinct was to pester Gustavo into teaching me about powers and this so-called Totalizer—something he always refused because "I wasn't ready."

Gustavo, now 12, had kept growing; he even had the start of a mustache. In this world, adulthood is at 14. He was getting close.

I think his "ready" just meant I needed to learn to walk first. For now, I moved in a clumsy stumble, catching my feet on almost every step. Walking, apparently, develops later than talking.

My mother had changed less. Adults change less than children in the space of a year.

But one thing had shifted completely: her relationship with Gustavo. They were still mother and son—they took care of each other, loved each other—but something was off. Dry answers. Long silences. Nothing dramatic, and it had been slowly improving, but it was noticeable.

The incident on my six-month birthday had left a mark. I feel a little guilty about that.

I think about that day all the time, but usually about one specific thing: I flew. And the Totalizer thing.

I couldn't stop theorizing, imagining what the world looked like beyond this small village. The obsession got bad enough that one day I climbed the stepladder at home and jumped off. I figured maybe my power would only surface in another dangerous situation. It didn't. I hit my head on the floor and got rushed to the medical clinic in Fecho.

But that was exactly what I wanted.

In fact, that happened today.

Sitting beside me, my mother held my hand tightly, her other hand pressed to her chest.

"Forgive me, doctor... When I noticed, he was already like this."

A partial lie. I was home alone with Gustavo. He heard the crash, flew to my rescue, and rushed me to her. But whatever.

"Don't worry, it was nothing serious. A little healing magic was enough," the same doctor who delivered me said.

When I'd arrived, all he did was place his hand on my forehead. A green light pulsed—three minutes later, I was healed.

More importantly: this clinic was built shortly after I was born. Which means one man, Dr. Flamber, handles everything medical here. Literally everything. He did literally everything, from healing scraped knees to delivering babies.

Deliveries. That's the real reason I came.

There's someone I want to visit.

While my mother and the doctor chatted, I slipped silently off my chair and snuck toward the door to the adjacent room. I opened it carefully, easing the latch so it wouldn't make a sound.

Success.

Inside, an older woman in her fifties was sleeping soundly in a hospital bed.

And standing at the foot of it, arms crossed, was a four-year-old girl named Eva.

Yes, her—the very same one who used to bite me.

Short blonde hair. Red eyes that gave away very little. A posture trying very hard to look like a dictator.

This had been my plan from the start. To be honest, I'd had two contingencies:

Meeting her was my backup plan. If jumping off the ladder didn't awaken my powers, it would at least get me to the clinic. Eva's mother, Mrs. Bela, had just given birth to a new baby. Due to her age, Dr. Flamber had suggested she rest here for a few weeks.

We had a deal to settle.

"So. Do you have it?" she asked, not quite meeting my eyes.

"Yes. I brought it in my pocket."

I pulled out a small plant. Not just any plant. A four-leaf clover.

"Ahhhhhh!!!!!" The scream nearly took my ears with it.

"I-Incredible! They actually do exist after all!!"

"Here." I held it out. "It's all yours."

"T-Thank you so much!"

She took it like it was sacred.

I gave her a moment. I'd spent countless hours searching for that thing. She'd better appreciate it.

...Five minutes staring at a clover is already too much.

"Excuse me—could you give me my part?"

"O-Oh, yes. Here."

She handed me an inkell, a goose quill and a piece of paper.

But more importantly, a book.

I lay down on the floor, legs in the air, and started writing out the alphabet to check if I still remembered it after nearly two years without practice.

Of course I did.

I've never really written anything in this world's language, even though I'm able to. So I prefer to write things down in good old English. Plus, it will work as a cipher, since no one in this world should be able to understand. Even if I have to translate the words.

"I can't believe you know how to write. I don't think anyone in the village does."

Medieval illiteracy. Right.

"Gustavo attended catechism classes, where they teach you to read and write. So he taught me too."

"Oh, my daddy did it too when he was a kid!"

"Cool... anyway, Watch the door."

"Sure."

She moved behind me, opened the door slowly and remained extremely attentive to any movement.

How cute.

Eva's father was the calm type—apparently he still reads bed time stories to her, something she loves. She was searching for more of these books in her father's drawers. Since her only focus was on the illustrations, she ended up seeing images of flags and monarchs. No four-year-old actually cares about that, obviously. So I had to ask her to steal one. She refused, naturally. Without a choice, I offered a trade: anything she wanted, in exchange for one of the "political books." The one with most flags.
And she chose... a four-leaf clover.

Children are simple creatures.

I had tried the books at home first, but they were mostly religious texts—the same kind that exist on Earth.

Reading it, truly seems exactly what I wanted.

"Be careful!" She shouted. "Daddy will be very angry if he finds out."

"Don't worry."

Anyway. I finally had what I'd been waiting for. I translated it all down:

The world is divided into 5 Kingdoms: Lusitania (where I live,) governed by a Rei. Teutonia, governed by a Kaiser. Britannia, governed by a King. Etruria, governed by a Re. Velmara, governed by a Regent.

A long time ago, one man alone unified all 5 kingdoms. He was given the title of God. He left no descendants. After his death, the world split back into five.

(I finally understood what Gustavo meant. Two years of anxiety, gone.)

Powers: Two categories.
Magic. Mana-based, nearly unlimited incantations, growing every day. Anyone can learn it.

Totalizer. Ultra-rare. Born with flight, super speed, endurance, and strength. Seems to run in bloodlines.

I am so happy. I finally got what I needed.

"I'm sorry, Nico. I think it's kind of unfair, I should have stolen a few more books from Daddy." She said quietly.

"No, that's fine. It's more than enough."

I folded the paper and slipped it into my pocket. Two years of questions, answered just like that.

"Hey, Nico... C-Can I frame this on the wall?! It's the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life!"

"Yes, yes. It's yours. Take the book back home too."

I don't want anyone to find out about this. I don't want another priest in my house.

I'm a Totalizer. One of the few in this world. Flying everywhere, doing whatever I want—I bet I could even reach the moon. Super endurance, right?

Damn it, I want to have my powers now!

I should probably be showing signs by now. Lifting something impossibly heavy, something. But nothing. That bothers me. Gustavo said he awakened at 8; I'm not even 2 yet. Still, I want it now. I already did it once, a year ago—unconsciously, self-defense, barely counts. But it happened. That has to mean something.

There's only one person left who can answer everything.

And he was right behind me.

"What are you doing here?!" A hushed voice at my back. A very familiar one.

I froze. The woman in the bed snored louder.

"What are you two doing in there?! You're making noise—let the lady sleep."

Fair point.

I said goodbye to Eva, who wanted to stay and wait for her father. Then I walked out with Gustavo.

In the hallway between the room and our mother, I stopped.

"Gustavo... I have something to ask you." I kept my eyes down.

"Huh? What is it, Nico?"

I took a breath.

"Tell me about what a Totalizer is."

He sighed. "Ah, again... I already said no. Give up."

I get it. He learned his lesson and takes every precaution with me now. It's probably a kind of trauma—even thinking about what could have happened must bother him.

But I wasn't leaving empty-handed today.

"I already know. Eva told me."

"W-What!?"

"Calm down. Her father told her, she told me. Gossip."

"Damn it..." He pressed a hand to his face. "Let me guess—you want to know how to awaken it? I'll save you the trouble: I don't know. It just happens. Maybe do some push-ups, get your body ready. You floated once out of instinct, but you need to truly awake and control it."

"That's not it. This is something I've been curious about for a long time."

He tilted his head, confused."What would that be, Nico?"

"Please—tell me about our father!"