LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 1
Possession, Reincarnation, Trip
The commonality among these three words is that they all grant a second life, a new opportunity, regardless of the method or cause.
However, Garam never desired any of these things even once.
There was no particular reason. It simply displeased him that some supernatural entity meddled here and there in his life.
If there was one thing he might want, it would be to try using magic or some kind of supernatural power at best.
Yet even that, if it were influenced by the aforementioned supernatural something, he wouldn’t want it.
As mentioned, the very fact that something was trying to meddle in his life, whether he wanted it or not, was something he found quite displeasing.
But alas, who could have predicted that while planning a trip to a neighboring country after the pandemic restrictions eased, his plane would crash? And that Garam would be on that very plane.
He lost consciousness and then, out of nowhere, found himself reincarnated. Who could have known that he was reborn into a fantasy world resembling the medieval era?
Moreover, Garam, now Karem, couldn’t even bear the golden spoon that typically came with the reincarnation process.
He was born a shit spoon, a serf in the backwater of Moston Village in the Kingdom of Seophone.
And Karem, in a string of misfortunes, had no magic, aura, or even a status window.
Karem wasn’t particularly disappointed.
The lack of the latter was understandable because the former usually required a master unless you were an exceptional genius. So there was still a chance later on.
However, there was something far more serious.
Well, he could reluctantly concede to being born a serf. But to compare his parents—no, his “progenitors”—to his previous ones was a guilt-fueled exercise of imagination.
In Karem’s opinion, his new parents were utterly unfit for the title of humans.
His father was a trifecta of disaster: a drug addict, a gambling addict, and a domestic abuser.
His mother was the village’s number one succubus and thief, flirting with every man in town regardless of their age.
If there was any solace in the fact that they didn’t drink, it was a small comfort amid the insane combination of madness that Karem found himself in.
Not to mention, they didn’t even bother naming their child!
Karem was a name he had self-styled from his past name, Garam.
Above all, even if he could dismiss the miserable fate of being a serf, there was one thing he absolutely could not forgive.
“How the hell am I supposed to survive eating this?”
Working over twelve hours a day, and they tossed him a bowl of grain porridge mixed with vegetables as his meal—that was crossing the line!
So Karem resolved to prepare thoroughly during his body-rolling days and looked for an opportunity to escape as a swarm of monsters attacked the village, allowing him to flee Moston Village, which he called home.
And whether it was luck or misfortune, three days later, he found himself facing some mercenaries.
Or rather, they were mercenaries “once upon a time.”
Hiding in the bushes at the edge of the forest, Karem secretly observed two figures, the only survivors, busily moving among the remains of corpses and broken carts.
“Damn it! What kind of luck is this, coming back from a scouting mission to find this kind of mess?”
“Let’s check for survivors; who knows?”
“Uh, Sir/Madam Mage? Survivors, you say? After seeing this mess?”
The grumbling old man was clad in expensive brigandine armor, reinforced with metal plates, and carried some daggers and a longsword at his waist.
To anyone’s eyes, he looked like a mercenary worth a fortune.
On the other hand, there was the cloaked figure with a delicate voice. The cloak obscured any clear view of her features.
However, the luxurious leather pants peeking from under the shabby cloak and the vest that looked like silk, complemented by long blonde hair, made her seem like a noble or someone of equal standing.
For a moment, Karem thought their eyes met, but it seemed to be his misunderstanding, as the girl was poking the bodies on the ground with a stick.
Honestly, Karem had no particular plan or thoughts.
The food he had prepared back home was nearly gone, and until now, he miraculously managed to move around unscathed. But the world was hardly safe enough for a ten-year-old runaway serf.
Kill me one way or another, it’s all a gamble.
Karem raised both hands to the sky and got up to approach the two figures inspecting the attack site.
And naturally, the moment Karem stood up from the bushes, the old mercenary drew his sword, but the girl reached out to stop him.
“Good grief, I thought I was gonna drop dead.”
“Hold on! Just look at this kid; he’s clearly just a child.”
“Sir/Madam Mage, do you know that the most dangerous ones are women and children? You should be extra careful.”
“I know, I know very well. But no matter how I look, he seems just like a kid.”
“Hey! If you’re not gonna kill me right away, can we at least have a conversation first?”
Karem shouted while maintaining a safe distance, causing the two would-be talkers to turn their gaze toward him.
The mercenary, unable to withstand the girl’s stare, sheathed his sword, yet still looked wary of him, gripping the hilt.
“Alright, brat. Let’s hear what you have to say. First, what’s your name and age?”
“Okay, I totally get that feeling.”
“Excuse me?”
“Growing up in a village ruled by a greedy chief, with parents worse than goblins. Even at your young age, you seem to think about the future. Quite impressive, almost like I’m looking at my past self.”
“Hey! What happened to all that caution just now?”
The girl kicked Gordon in the shins in exasperation.
Where did that wariness go, just moments ago! Surely, a girl’s heart doesn’t change that quickly, right?
Although it was her strength, the mercenary wearing brigandine armor just chuckled and completely relaxed his guard, now looking at Karem with a hint of friendliness in his eyes.
“However, Sir/Madam Mage.”
“What? Got a rebuttal?”
“Didn’t you notice that what he said is true already?”
Of course, the girl knew that Karem’s words rang true. And both she and the mercenary understood that fact. They could have represented it differently, and, indeed, they had been cautious about the boy.
Nonetheless, the little spat with the shin-kick seemed to patch things up. The girl cleared her voice.
“Hm, so you want to help out?”
“Yeah, it looks like my ten-year-old pebble hands might be needed around here.”
Karem glanced around, implying, “You surely need my help,” and both the mercenary and the girl nodded.
That was, after all, a blatant truth.
At that moment, to Karem’s eyes, the area surrounding the mercenary and the girl was littered with at least dozens of corpses, and four carts lay in ruins, as the horses that used to pull them vanished, leaving only pools of blood and innards behind.
Anyone seeing this for the first time would surely have run away, gagging even before coming closer.
“Hm, alright then, kiddo. You said your name was Karem?”
“Yeah. Shall we start by moving the bodies?”
“No, that’ll be done by this old man here.”
“No, Sir/Madam Mage, calling you old? What do you take my youthful Gordon as? The real old man is…”
Old man? Could that imposing boy be older than this aged fellow Gordon?
And then Karem’s suspicion turned into certainty with the next reaction.
“Shut it!”
BAM! The girl kicked Gordon’s shins again.
“You’re taking what’s left of the cart and gathering it in one spot. Fortunately, the attackers pretty much destroyed everything, so it should be easy.”
“Oh, speaking of which, what in the world attacked?”
“Griffin.”
“What?”
The answer came from another side. Gordon sighed, looking as though he had faced the hardships of life head-on, his face showing signs of fatigue.
“The Griffin family was the main culprit of the attack.”
“Stop! First, we need to deal with these bodies before they turn undead.”
“Well, we’ll let you know the details later. Dozens of corpses, huh. Huh.”
It was no surprise that Gordon sighed.
Transporting ordinary goods, even if heavy, was simpler and neater than dealing with human corpses—even if they’re stiff from death.
Let alone a dozen of corpses, smeared with blood, flesh, and entrails, it was natural for him to let out a sigh.
“Ugh, first, let’s remove the bodies over there.”
“Understood, Sir/Madam Mage. But do you have any magic that might be useful in this situation?”
In response to Gordon’s grumbling, Karem paused from picking up fragments of the cart and looked up.
To be frank, it would be a lie to say he wasn’t a little excited. He knew of the fantasy world but had never seen magic firsthand—was he finally going to get to witness some?
“Of course, there are such spells. Telekinesis, or Puppetry, for instance.”
“Oh, then what are you waiting for? Use it already!”
SNAP!
Without even a hint of hesitation, the girl effortlessly snapped her fingers.