Isekai'd [Part 1]

It only took a moment, but my life ended. There was a kid chasing a ball, and when a truck came barrelling down the road, I had to push him out of the way...

My life ended for me at the moment. That was the first time I died.

Next thing I knew I was feeling kind of foggy and staring at this old guy, star-covered robes, and something that smelled really horrible was in the air.

"The memories of your past life should be returning to you now, young Prince. However, memories of your current life will be pushed aside for now; but most will return in time."

I had no clue what he was talking about.

"What do you mean memories of my past life? Is the kid okay? Did the truck kill him or did I manage to save him? And why in the world is a paramedic wearing robes? Don't tell me I died and you recessitated me and you're some priest trying to give me last rights or something..."

There was a collective gasp from behind me. I turned around, and there were a thousand people dressed for a rene faire there, complete with a really fat king on a throne and a very snotty looking queen and stuck-up looking three kids, all just a couple steps up from where I was standing, I could probably touch them if I tried...

"What the f@#%"....

"He speaks like a commoner!" yelled someone in the crowd.

The guy in robes grabbed my chin and spun me around to look at him, "Whatever your last life was, you died. You were reincarnated, born as the youngest prince of the King."

I blinked, "I'm a prince?"

The old man nodded, "Yes. As per ancient tradition, the first prince inherits the throne, the second becomes a priest, the third a general, and the fourth is used for this difficult and expensive ritual. Our last two only came from small villages of mud huts. You ARE a prince, but you don't remember it. Your entire life as you now remember in this moment is your last life. This ritual imprinted on your soul the ability to remember your past lives."

"Why..do you do this?"

"This ritual is the reason our land has been able to prosper while the others floundered. Occasionally our land leaps forward as a result of knowledge from other worlds. Three generations ago, one fourth prince brought us knowledge of steel. So speak, tell us about your past life. Did you live in mud huts or did you live in some place beyond?"

I looked around, at the stone walls covered in char from torches, the horrible smell of the people around me, and the obvious plethora of health problems in every person my eyes could meet, "I don't you have the right to be complaining about mud huts when you live in such squalor..."

The man in robes was taken aback, "This... THIS, the kings castle, is squalor?"

I nodded, "Yea, although smaller rooms, where I'm from, the poor live better than this."

There was a collective murmuring from among the crowd. Despite the fact I was insulting their lifestyle, they seemed genuinely thrilled.

"And tell me, prince, what was your occupation in your past world?"

I looked at him, "Well, I was an engineer."

"What's an engineer?"

"Well, I guess they're people who learn technical stuff from scientists and figure out how to apply it to the world to make it better."

"So... you have knowledge of how to build from a world where our grand castle here is but a peasant's footnote?"

I nodded, "I guess so."

"So, what would you say is greatest achievement of your previous people?"

"Greatest? Hm... I'd have to say the moon landing."

"The moon... landing?"

Started to hit stride, I began to explain, "Yea. When I died, for over a hundred years, humanity had been travelling in the sky in various ways. The biggest mile stone was when the first person walked on our moon. Since then, we've been starting to explore the stars. In fact, just before I died, they were planning the first colony on Mars..."

The shock from the crowd was obvious, "They tred among the gods themselves...", "They reached the unreachable!", "... I've never even dreamed..."

At this point, the king was leaning forward, almost salivating, everyone was hanging on the edge of their seats.

"And what do you think was the greatest thing that lead to this great world?" The man in blue stars asked.

"Well, if I had to say, it was probably democracy."

"Whats... democracy?"

"Well, it's when even the poorest of the poor are given the education of scholars, and then the actions of a country are decided by a vote of everyone, many educated people can make better decisions than just one or t...."

I couldn't finish my sentence, the breath for my air didn't come. The world around me was shooting up, and then I saw... a body... not my body since I didn't recognize it, wearing medieval clothes, and headless, dripping with blood. It toppled to the side and fell with me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the king wiping off a sword covered with blood, he was pale, "... walking on the moon. Intelligent peasants. Obviously he was no wise man, but one wrong in the head." As my vision faded, I heard him continue, "... obviously too dangerous to let live... we would have been lucky to have mud huts."

And then, all was dark.