Chapter 2: For the time being, I decided to run away
Although it was nice to be out of the carriage I had no plans regarding the future course of action, so I decided to reconfirm my current situation.
I had plunged completely down a cliff. I couldn’t remain here. But even if I moved away from here, the problem of where to go remains.contemporary romance
I looked up the cliff. Climbing up the cliff was impossible.
I looked to the left of the cliff towards the south. If I were to head in this direction I would arrive in the town where the merchant is. So the original destination. Of course, I would be instantly captured if I went there.
To the right would be northwards. If I head there I would return back to the town with the orphanage. I would be sent out again if I were to go back.
But if I remained here the bandits might come. Furthermore, I didn’t know which direction they would come from, it’s possible they might even try scaling down the cliff.
…..What to do? I don’t want to be captured. I’ve seen the merchant several times before in the past. He was a fat, middle-aged man with a toad-like appearance.
Was he planning to do that with me? Now that I remembered the memories of my previous life when I was a man, it would seem my thoughts are closer to that of a male. As such, I felt absolutely disgusted at the idea of him doing that to me.
No way. Absolutely, never, ever! I will not do that!
The past me was the typical male.
Sometimes I would browse such stuff on the net, or read about it in books, but if I actually had to have something like that done to me then I would rather die! But still I would prefer it if I didn’t die. I still want to live.
In that case, I had to escape and get away from here…..so I looked behind me. To the east, a forest.
The forest was quite large and dense and was said to house various monsters. Naturally, that meant there were also numerous dangerous monsters inside the forest.
And the area I was in was located towards the center. It wasn’t somewhere an injured, ten-year old girl should go.
……Nevertheless, if I didn’t want to be captured I would have to move. And if I managed to successfully escape, I would be free. Then I could live however I liked.
But…there wasn’t much time left. The bandits might come down soon, or a monster might even come after smelling the scent of blood from the dead bodies. I had to make a decision now.
However, even in my previous life when I was working as a researcher; fieldwork wasn’t really my strong point. I had to take a lot of breaks since I wasn’t particularly athletic.
Anyways, first I needed to salvage any usable tools. I glanced over at the overturned carriage and the luggage strewn everywhere. There were also torn pieces of rope scattered about, I would have to gather what I could from here.
I went towards one of the scattered luggage, but I stopped upon noticing the blood on it.
I glanced towards the side and a body was next to it. It was most likely someone who had fallen out of the carriage when it went over the cliff.
The neck was twisted in an abnormal direction and there was an expression of immense pain on the face. The corpse was a familiar sight.
At the orphanage, during the winters many of the younger children would die. It wasn’t anything to be sad about, they were just unlucky. In this world that’s just how death is.
I brushed aside the ethics and morals of my previous life. I shouldn’t worry about it. I couldn’t stop here. I had to survive.
Death was a common occurrence in this world. While traveling, there was the possibility of being attacked by bandits or criminals. You had to defend your own life with your own power. And eventually you might have to kill someone. You had to be prepared.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then reopened them and looked towards the body.
…..I felt calmer this time around.
For now, I decided to just gather all the things that I could use. Cloth, knives, rations, water canteens, some coins, and etc.
Would this be enough for the time being? Maybe I should look around a bit more……but there wasn’t much time left. It was unfortunate but I had to leave before the sun completely sets. It was time to depart.
“It hurts…..”
I forgot. Right, my body was covered in injuries. Regardless, I still had to move. It was painful….but I slowly pushed on ahead.
After a while, I stopped and leaned on the base of a tree.
My consciousness was beginning to fade.
My body screamed in pain. The sudden emergence of my previous life’s memories clashed and muddled together with my current life’s memories.
Who am I now? Who was I before?
I was entrenched in these sort of thoughts.
But in the end, all I could come up with was that I was myself. Even so, I still wondered; what kind of person was I before? What was I called before? What was I like?
I didn’t know.
Absolutely nothing, nothing came to mind, I couldn’t remember at all…
In the end, I decided to just focus on walking and not think about it.
…..After walking for about two hours or so, the sun had set.
And it became difficult to proceed any further. I gave a deep sigh and sat down.
Should I stop for today? Or should I try continuing on a bit more? ……No, this was my limit. I could feel the excruciating pain spread throughout my body. If I didn’t treat the wounds soon it would be dangerous.
“……Wait a minute, I can use [First Aid]…..right?”
Due to the sudden emergence of my previous life’s memories I had forgotten, but Ren could use a bit of magic.
One of them was life magic. Life magic was an attribute-less magic geared towards everyday usage, and could be learned even if a person’s aptitude for magic was low.
For example, it could be used to produce a small amount of water, start a fire, light the way, etc. Although the same results could be achieved with tools, it was a simple, yet convenient branch of magic that made daily life easier.
Among the various usages, [First Aid] is a recovery-type magic that could be used to stop light bleeding and alleviate some pain. It’s also said that one of the most difficult spells in life magic is [Clean], which removes dirt from the body and clothing. Naturally, I couldn’t use it. I could only use the spells [First Aid] and [Light].
……But why did I suddenly remember these things?
No, never mind. These are my memories, there’s nothing wrong with that. I quickly shook my head to clear my thoughts.
“First Aid.”
…..Ah, the pain had become somewhat more bearable. I felt like the spell was more effective than how I remembered.
With this, the pain had lessened to the point where I would be able to sleep. But if a monster comes along while I am sleeping, I would likely die.
Perhaps, it would be better to sleep on one of trees? But, well, due to the injuries on my body that would probably be impossible.
For today, I decided to make camp at the trunk of an enormous tree. It was good that I salvaged some cloth. But if a monster were to appear at this time…
In the end, I didn’t sleep very well due to my anxiety and lingering pain.
done.co