2. Village on the outskirts

He sat down next to a building, in the shade. He had his legs tucked up to him as he tried to avoid attention. After he got shouted at, it caused a lot of commotion and people were looking at him strangely. He couldn't bear those looks so he hid behind this house.

'What did I do to deserve that? I only wanted to know where I was,' he thought and sighed.

His stomach growled. He hadn't eaten ever since he woke up in this strange world. He rubbed his belly in commiseration. He didn't have any money nor did he have a job either. What a cruel fate this was.

He had to find something before he starved. He got up and went to the edge of the house to peek. He peered around and everything was normal as far as he could tell. He went along the street, wishing that nobody was going to yell at him again. He kept his head lowered and tried not to cause any trouble again. It was going well until he bumped into a hooded figure. He stumbled backwards and fell onto his bum. He rubbed his head and looked at the person.

"Sorry about that," the hooded figure spoke first and extended its hand towards him.

It had a female voice and it wore a green cloak over her head so I couldn't see its face. He took the offered hand and got himself up.

"I wasn't looking..." He said quietly and looked away. The hooded figure smiled and shook its head.

"It's fine, I have to go..." It walked away from him in the opposite direction.

'I think that's a girl' he looked back at it but there was no point in staring as it doesn't help his starvation problem.

He tried to find something, anything that could sustain his stomach. Up ahead, there was an entire wagon full of apples. He stood beside it as the people in front were discussing the price of the freshly picked fruit. One of the merchants was putting in the last few baskets into it and walked away from it. He glared at the apples. They looked so good. Nashiro was tempted to snatch one or two of them.

'I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I took one,' he mumbled to himself and reached for one of the baskets. He was just about to grab one when a thought came to his head.

'Am I really this desperate to steal?'

He slowly stepped back from the carriage and at that moment, the merchant showed up.

"Hi there," The merchant waved.

"U-uh hi," Nashiro responded a bit flustered.

"I see you're looking at my apples."

"Y-yeah."

"Do they look delicious? I certainly hope they do."

"I think they do."

"Would you like to try one?" The man reached an apple and gave it to him, "Tell me how they taste."

Nashiro was confused so he stared at the man who gave him a nod to proceed. He brought it close to his mouth and bit it.

The taste of the apple filled his mouth with joy. It was a bit sour but his cheeks went a little red to the pure enjoyment. He swallowed after a few seconds and the merchant, who had his arms crossed, asked:

"Well, how was it?"

"It's amazing!"

"Good, these will surely sell on the towns around the kingdom," he tapped on the basket.

"Hey, Karl! Let's go, we are loaded!" his partner shouted.

"Here!" he threw Nahsiro another one, "Save it as a treat. Thanks, kiddo!"

He sat on the carriage and they moved out.

Nashiro placed the apple in his pocket for later as he saw that it was becoming nighttime.

The evening sun was coming down and the village people were packing up and heading to their homes. The worst part was that there was no place for him. There was no orphanage, inn or any building that presented itself as a candidate that he could stay at. In addition, he wouldn't even have the money to stay at one. He searched for a place he could spend the night at. He spotted a small stable for horses in a yard of a home.

'It's either there or... The street grounds,' he murmured to himself. He tiptoed to the stable and since he couldn't climb into the yard without alerting the owner, he had to go to the back of it. He found a loose board and pulled it just enough for him to pass through.

"Nyaaah!"

The horse next to him was startled by his sudden appearance.

"Shhhh!" he tried to calm it down so the owner wouldn't come and with calm movements of his hands, it eased up and even let him pet it.

"Good girl," he smiled softly and going along its head he noticed a scar on the neck of the animal. It wasn't a natural one either. It seemed to be made by a whip or something similar.

"The owner must be real douchbag if he is hurting you, isn't that right?" he spoke.

The horse breathed steadily and closed his eyes to his soft touches. It wasn't used to this treatment and it was obvious by its behaviour ur when he first came into the stable.

"You don't mind me staying here for the night?"

It shook its head and made a sound in disagreement.

"Thanks..." he went to the haybale which was right next to where the horse was and laid there.

Through the holes in the roof, the moon shined into the place. His first day in this 'new world' didn't go as planned. The fact that he couldn't resemble anything that happened to him before this day was a mystery to him.

Who was he before? Why did he wake up in the middle of nowhere? What were those screens he saw today?...

All these questions were rotating in his head but nothing was answering them. He fell asleep not long after and even though it wasn't as comfy as he would like, it was definitely better than the city streets.

The morning came as quick as the night vanished and he heard footsteps outside that woke him up. He dived into the hay as the owner bashed the door open.

"Time for your daily workout, my precious mule," he announced. He was a rather fat fella. He had a pipe in his mouth and he was dressed fancier than most people in this village could afford. His black moustache showed that he was in his middle years and quite lively for his age.

"You better behave! Otherwise, no treats for you." he laughed.

Hearing that, made Nashiro get angry. He tried to put the saddle on it but it resisted.

"Ap! I told you what would happen if you misbehave. Be a good girl and let me do my job correctly."

The horse settled down to her master as he showed her the whip. While Nashiro waited for the evil owner to leave, some of the hay, being very pointy and soft, it made his nose tingle. He tried to hold in the sneeze that was coming.

"Achoooo!" He let out a muffled sneeze but it still brought attention to the owner who was at the door.

"Huh?!" he turned to the hay.

Nashiro was sweating. He didn't know if he heard him or not so he stayed still. He held his mouth and nose in case he sneezed again. He closed his eyes and hoped he left. But he didn't. He edged closer to it and grabbed the pitchfork off the wall. The way the room went silent was worrying for him. He didn't hear him leave completely and he had nowhere to run.

'Don't find me, don't find me...' he repeated to himself as the owner was ready to jab the pitchfork into the hay.