"Grandpa, how is Big Brother Max now?"
A group of three kids, no older than 12 years old, approached a white-haired old man sitting in a chair on the porch of a dilapidated, wooden house, staring at the sky with a worried look on his face.
Hearing the voice, the old man glanced at the kids. Though he didn't recognise them, they seemed a bit familiar and since they asked for his grandson's wellbeing, he sighed and said, "He is still unconscious and his fever hasn't broken."
Hearing this, one of the kids took out a small pouch from his clothes, placed it on the old man's lap and with a serious look on his little face, he said, "Grandpa, this is some money we put together. Please take it and invite a doctor to treat him."
Before the old man could respond, the kids turned around and ran away.
The old man's murky eyes moistened with unshed tears as he looked at the pouch. Then after a while, he picked it up and opened it.
There were several bronze coins in it, 37 to be exact.
"It's probably all their savings." The old man muttered. While he didn't feel good taking them, he had no choice because this money could probably save his grandson.
Putting the pouch away, he stood up, opened the door and entered the house.
In a corner of the living room, on a bed a young man, no older than twenty, was lying, unconscious.
Beside the bed, a young girl, who wasn't older than the kids old man met outside, was curled up on a wooden chair, asleep.
The unconscious man was his grandson, Max, while the young girl was his granddaughter, Anna.
A few days ago, Max had gone out in the forest for some firewood in the morning. But when he didn't return until the evening, he grew worried and was about to set out to look for him.
However, right then, a neighbor came, carrying an unconscious and completely pale Max on his back.
Because there was no sign of injury or any bite marks on his body, they thought he had fainted due to exhaustion and would wake up on his own. But that night, he started sweating a lot. When they checked him, they found he had a very high fever.
With no money at home to ask a doctor to treat him, they could only try some home remedies and hope he would get better. But even after three days, neither his fever went down nor he woke up.
At times, his breathing became so weak that they thought he was going to pass away. Fortunately, he seemed to have a tough life and managed to hold on until now.
However, if this situation were to persist, the old man knew Max would die. This was why he had tried to ask around for some money but his neighbors were also poor like him and couldn't help him.
He had lost all hope and was just waiting for him to pass away so he could bury him but then those kids came and unexpectedly handed him the money pouch, reigniting his hopes of saving him.
Walking over, he covered Anna so she wouldn't be cold, looked at Max and turned around to walk out of the house, but right then…
"...Grandpa."
He heard Max's feeble voice and froze in his tracks.
His heart beating faster, he slowly turned around, hoping it wasn't his illusion.
However, when he saw Max was indeed awake and was looking at him, a sense of relief washed over him, causing his aged and tension wrecked body to stumble and almost fall down.
"M-Max, how are you feeling, son?" He rushed over to the bedside, checking his temperature by touching his forehead with the back of his hand.
…
Max stared at the worried old man and forced himself to say, "I'm alright, Grandpa. Don't worry. Just let me rest for a day or two and I'll be completely fine."
The old man sighed in relief after checking his temperature because he no longer was burning like before and upon hearing his words, he nodded and gently caressed his head, "Yes, rest well, son. I'll make some nutritious soup to help you recover faster."
"Mm." Max nodded before tilting his head slightly to look at the little girl sleeping. Then, he closed his heavy eyelids and began going through the rest of the memories of original Max.
This was right. He wasn't the Max they knew because their Max had died almost at the same time and he, the Max from Earth, was transmigrated into this world.
How he transmigrated and possessed Max's body, he had no clue. The last thing he remembered was the scene of that robber shooting him. Then, everything went black and before he knew it, he was in this world, seeing the fragmented scenes from Max's memories.
…
A week later…
Max was sitting on the porch, in the old man's chair, watching the white clouds drifting by in the blue sky.
In the two days after he transmigrated, he had finished digesting all the original Max's memories.
During these two days, apart from the time he spoke to the old man to stop him from bringing someone to check up on him, unless it was time to eat or go to the washroom, he acted dead.
After digesting all the memories, he realized he was right to be so cautious.
Why?
Because unlike earth, this world had supernatural elements and things like possession weren't too uncommon. So, if he had begun speaking to them, they would have realized something was wrong with him and would have become suspicious and worried.
From the third day, he began to speak with them occasionally to allay their worries and made sure to act in a similar manner to original Max.
Until now, neither of them have found anything amiss about him, which relieved him.
Now, with Max's complete memories and his recovery from a near death state which would grant him additional leeway in his actions, he no longer needed to worry about exposing himself and hurting their feelings.
After all, after digesting or rather merging with Max's memories, he felt as if he had lived his life and now held the same familiar emotions for them as he had for his family back on earth.
Just as he was thinking all this, a lively voice sounded from behind.
"Big brother, here, I have made the soup for you. Drink it and get healthy soon."
Hearing this voice, a smile unconsciously appeared on his face and he turned his head to look at his little sister walking over with careful steps, holding the bowl of soup in her tiny hands.
"Thank you, An!" Max smiled, took the bowl of soup from her and smelled it.
Then raising his head, he looked at expectant Anna and smiled, "It smells delicious. Let me taste it too."
Anna nodded vigorously and watched with her big eyes as he scooped a spoonful, blew on it to cool it down before drinking.
"Mm! It's really delicious. If I didn't know better, I would have thought Grandpa made it."
"I'm glad you liked it." Anna smiled, pleased. She then talked with him as he drank the soup before taking the empty bowl back into the house.
Watching her leave, Max sighed.
At the age where kids usually played around, enjoying their childhood, she had already matured and was responsible for taking care of all household chores.
'It's alright. I'll make sure she has a good, worry-free life from now on.' Vowing this in his heart, he took a breath, relaxed in the chair and with a thought summoned a light blue screen in front of him.