A foul smell, cold air, pain spreading throughout my body. When I opened my eyes, the shocking sight made me immediately realize that I was in an unfamiliar place.
A dirty alley, green moss clinging to the walls, and an unpleasant smell everywhere.
The architecture here looked like ancient European buildings in anime, with stone walls, wooden doors, and circular iron handles.
Where was this place?
Confused, I tried to stand up, but sudden pain in my wrist made me fall back to the ground.
"Argh..."
"What happened to me...? Was I beaten up by thugs last night?"
While lying down waiting for the pain to subside, I tried to remember what happened the night before. From what I recall, I was at my friend's house playing games until midnight, then we got into a fight because we kept losing in the game, causing our ranks to drop drastically. Feeling increasingly uncomfortable, I decided to go back home and play games again, hoping to regain my lost rank.
"I guess, as usual, I fell asleep while playing games."
I tried to stand up again, but now I was more careful so as not to hurt myself even more. When I was standing, I realized that this perspective was too strange. More precisely, everything around me looked too high to reach. I turned my head to the side and found that my gaze was level with a doorknob, which meant I had become shorter.
I immediately checked my body and found that it was covered in purple bruises and I was wearing shabby clothes with a design I had never seen before. More precisely, I had never worn clothes like this before.
From my perspective, everything looked normal except that everything seemed bigger.
Ignoring why I had so many wounds and was wearing unfamiliar clothes, I walked slowly toward the light to get out of this filthy alley.
The sounds of a crowd begin to reach my ears as I get closer. When I arrive, I see people passing by. There is a man wearing a robe and somewhat rustic clothing, then there are people carrying swords and wearing iron armor on their chests. There is also a horse pulling a kind of cart behind it.
My heart raced at the shocking sight before me. It felt so absurd, from waking up in an unfamiliar place to seeing people dressed in Victorian-era clothing in front of me.
I tried to think rationally even though all of this was too ridiculous to understand, but I also realized that the people here were taller than me, which led me to a conclusion. I had transmigrated to another world.
With this realization, I walked slowly to observe my surroundings. As I walked, I also looked for a mirror or window to see my reflection, and as I had guessed, I was in the body of a small child. Luckily, I was in the body of a boy, otherwise I might have decided to quit the game immediately.
I was also grateful that even though this world looked like the Victorian era, it seemed more modern, like in anime/manhwa, unlike the Victorian era I imagined on Earth. Honestly, based on what I've learned, I think European civilization back then was the worst. For example, people in those days didn't like to bathe, and they didn't drink water but drank beer all the time, which was too extreme for me, and the worst part was that they threw their waste on the streets.
As a modern human being, hygiene and quality of life are of course the most important things, and I also have high standards for that.
After walking quite a distance, I saw a fountain. I decided to approach it while looking around to see if there were any guards. I also analyzed the reactions of the people around me since I had been walking around earlier. Most of them just glanced over briefly, some seemed a little empathetic, but still no one helped or spoke to me. Even now, everyone seemed indifferent to what I was doing, as if it were a normal thing.
Regardless, I had reached the fountain. I began to take off my clothes and take water to clean my dirty body. Maybe if I took off my pants and started showering here, people would start paying attention to me, or would they still not care? But of course, I was sensible enough not to do that, so I just cleaned myself (the upper part, of course), then I looked at my reflection on the surface of the water.
Maybe this is why some people seemed a little empathetic towards me. More precisely, my appearance now was quite handsome and adorable. They probably saw me as a pitiful kitten. Even though I was adorable, no one wanted to adopt me. Maybe some people would throw me food out of pity.
"Hello, are you feeling better?"
"Huh? Oh, yes, I feel better now." I was a little surprised that someone suddenly spoke to me.
In front of me stood a young girl who was a little taller than me. Her appearance was ordinary and nothing special, but for some reason she looked a little angry. Did I do something wrong?
"Where have you been today? Didn't I tell you to wait there so I wouldn't have trouble finding you?"
Her gaze swept over me, her tone softening as she showed concern. "Did you get beaten up again?"
I was surprised not because of the change in her attitude from angry to concerned, but because she spoke as if she really recognized the owner of this body.
I raised my voice and replied with a hint of anger, "What do you mean, beaten up again? Why are you talking as if you know me?"
"I don't recognize you? Who do you think has been giving you bread every day for the past three months? Haven't I told you to stop stealing? Haven't you always tried but always failed and ended up getting beaten up? Isn't one loaf of bread enough for you? If that's true, I'm sorry, but we can't give you more. We're also struggling, if you know what I mean." His expression changed drastically, showing a hint of sadness.
"I'm sorry, that's not what I meant."
"Never mind, here, take your bread. I need to get back to help look after the shop." He handed me the still warm bread.
"Wait," I grabbed his hand to stop him from leaving.
"What is it? I've been gone long enough, so I have to go back now."
"Why have you been so kind to me, feeding me for the past three months?" I asked, still holding his hand so he wouldn't leave.
With a hint of annoyance, he replied, "Didn't I already tell you? My mother told me to give you bread."
"And why did your mother tell you to do that?" I asked curiously.
Unlike most transmigration stories I knew, my case was a little different because I didn't inherit the memories of the previous owner of this body, and I thought our relationship was like that of strangers who had only known each other since he gave me bread three months ago, so what was the reason behind all this?
After a moment of silence, she began to tell me the story. "My mother almost died when she gave birth to me. She said that at that time, there was nothing that could save her. Everyone who was helping her with the delivery had given up, and then your mother appeared. My mother said she was saved at a critical moment. That's why when my mother heard about your condition, she told me to give you bread every day."
After hearing her story, I was a little surprised. With the abilities possessed by the mother who owns this body, it shouldn't be difficult to live a decent life, so she shouldn't be living in such misery.
According to her story, I have been living a sad life since three months ago, which means something happened to my parents at that time. Another question is, what happened to my parents? And how long will she continue to feed me?
"Now, can you let go of my hand?"
"Of course, I'm sorry for being rude. I didn't know my mother had such amazing abilities." I smiled a little as I let go of her hand.
"My mother said she is a great healer. Her healing magic can heal knife wounds in an instant."
After that, she stood still and stared at me.
"Is there anything else?" I was a little confused by her ever-changing behavior and asked.
Snapping out of her reverie, she replied, "No, it's just that you're a little different today. Usually, you would eat that bread like a pig without saying a word, but for some reason, your appearance now... hmm, how to explain it, the point is you never used to speak and looked gloomy"
"You know, it's pretty hard for me to suddenly live on the streets. I wish my parents had never left me. If only they were here."
"I know how you feel. I also lost my parents because of the war. Even now, our lives are not much different from yours, except that I have my mother." The girl wiped her teary eyes.
The girl started to turn away, but before leaving, she turned back to me and said, "Also, we've been eating only one piece of bread a day since our father died, so be grateful and stop stealing." After that, she left and disappeared from my sight.
After she left, I started eating the bread in my hand. Even though it tasted bland, maybe because I was hungry, I really enjoyed it.
This time I got some important information. Although unfortunately I was an orphan and forced to sleep on the streets, at least I didn't have to deceive others and pretend to be a good child.
I also learned about my relationship with the girl and a little about my parents. In short, my father died on the battlefield, and my mother may have gone to the battlefield as part of a medical team but was killed by the enemy. I guess they still don't have rules in war.
I thought about telling her or someone else that I had lost my memory in order to dig up information, but I don't think that's a wise choice when I don't know anything about this world yet. Who knows, maybe they treat people with amnesia like they're possessed and burn them alive? Even though, literally, I am possessing this child's body.
it's better to act normal like a kitten that has lost its mother than to admit everything like a nail waiting to be hammered
I started wondering, where are memories stored? In the brain or in the soul? If they're stored in the brain, shouldn't I have the memories of the previous owner of this body instead of my own? That means when my soul entered this body, I should act like him and not myself. But if memories are stored in the soul, doesn't that mean it's impossible to get memories from this body?