In a rundown house, located in a desolate poor area of a small local town, a loud voice of a middle aged woman could be heard throughout the entire area.
Ian thought he died, just after transmigrating back into the past, but rather than eternal slumber what greeted him was the scene of a woman scolding a middle aged man and a child, while they were kneeling on the ground with their head hunched down, as if they wouldn't dare to look straight into that woman's eyes.
"We don't know if we could even feed ourselves tomorrow, and you guys dared to bring a stray cat in here, now how exactly are guys planning to feed him ." the woman glared fiercely while looking at the two individual's kneeling in front of her.
The middle aged man immediately shook his head as if he felt he was being wronged "No dear, you know me right, have I ever done anything that could possibly displease you?. It was all this brat's fault." The middle aged man immediately pointed his fingers towards the child who was kneeling right beside him.
"Dad, you you" the child apparently felt lost as his own father threw him right into this fiery pits of hell called 'Mother's Wrath'.
"He would have died If he was left there on his own, Dad you saw it right, how ruthlessly that nobleman's scion threw him throught that tree." the child refuted with all his might.
Listening to his son's rebuttle, the middle aged man gave a slight understanding nod towards his son, but immediately stopped after noticing his wife's fierce gaze on him.
"Hmph, and who would have looked after you if your actions offended that noblemen" the woman scolded her son "you should be thanking the God he didn't notice you, picking that cat or given his temperament he might have slaughtered our entire family out of contempt."
'No I didn't do anything, on the contrary I should be thanking your son for saving my life.' Ian thought as he regained his counciousness just before witnessing this entire scene.'But I do agree with this woman it was indeed a very careless thing to do'.
'So this is the family of the charioteer who was driving that carriage, it seems that child was the one who picked and brought me back here, I'll definitely return this favor somehow' Ian thought inwardly before a frown appeared on his face.
'Right, I almost forgot, I am just an ordinary black cat, forget about returning the favour I am incapable of even defending myself from any incoming danger.' Ian immediately became depressed as those negative thoughts flooded through his mind.
The incident that took place in the forest was still vividly clear inside Ian's head, he remembered how truly helpless he was in this shape and form. he is not even a magical beast, but just an ordinary domesticated animal.
'Just how the hell am I supposed to save my world let alone deal with those three scoundrels in this form.' just as Ian was lost on his own thoughts he felt a pair of eyes were looking right at him.
Ian noticed the woman who was apparently busy scolding her husband and son, glancing towards him before appearing right in front of him.
'Is she going to chase me away from her house' Ian questioned inwardly as he looked quite depressed as if he has completely given up on his fate, with the current state his body is in right now he won't be able survive in the outside world for even a day.
The woman raised her hands towards Ian, he instinctively closed his eyes , as he was still traumatised by the incident that occurred in the forest.
But contrary to Ian's expectations he felt a warm and gentle touch on the top of his head as if someone was petting him on his head.
Ian opened his obsidian black eyes and saw the woman looking at his with extremely gentle and warm expression, completely contrary to the one that he witnessed just a few moments ago.
As she gently started patting Ian's head before lifting and placing him right in her lap. "Although I have to say it is quite cute " the woman said while still gently caressing the cat that was quietly sitting on her lap with an indecnant look on it's face.
"Right, isn't it cute, that's why I let this brat bring it back with him, I knew you'd like it" the middle aged man immediately came forward while making a sheepish smile on his face, as if he completely forgot about how he just sold out his own son just a few moments ago.
The woman completely ignored her husband's murmuring, as all those year being married to him already made her aware of his fickle nature.
She threw a glance towards her son and said "Karn, since you are the one who brought him here you will be the one responsible for him."
"Yes Mother, I will take care of him" Karn replied hurriedly, neither him nor his father dared to argue with his mother in this house, unless they wanna starve and spend the rest of the day outside.
"Come on now, help me in the field since you guys have this much of a free time." the woman ordered her husband and her son.
Both of them followed behind the woman quietly to work on the fields, this family of three, seem to live quite a decadent lifestyle,while barely scaping by to make a living.
Ian decided to sit back for few days, until he is completely healed before deciding his next step of action.
As he coiled around himself like an ordinary cat and went to sleep, but he was still reminiscing that warm hand around his head
'Right these are the kind of people I came to save' those were Ian's last thought's before his cat instincts finally kicked in and he felt drowsy and went straight to sleep.
It's been around three week since Ian came to this house, he was daily fed twice a day once in the morning and once at night, although the quality of the food was quite poor but Ian couldn't really raise his complaints to them, as he noticed, they weren't exactly consuming anything much better than him.
Ian didn't forget to collect as much information as he could from frequent conversations that he could hear.
The name of the young child who rescued him and has been taking care of him for the past few weeks is Karn, his mother's name is Keisha and his father's name is Garud.
with just their names alone Ian could guess, it's some tribal family from the southern part of the Continent.
But the place Ian is in right now was definitely not some tribal area, but some local town run by a noble, Since both of Karn's parent's work as a serfs, while his father frequently takes odd jobs during his free time to make some extra living, since the salary of a serfs is hardly enough to feed one person let alone three.
There is only one place in the entire continent that still continues this barbaric tradition of serf and slavery 'The Crune Empire'.
Even if the tribal people decided to immigrate for work , this is not the kind of place they would choose, so there's only one reason why they are here working as a serf.
This family are actually spoils of war, the Empire received after massacring and pillaging all those local tribes and villages living nearby.
They provide as cheap labourers for the Empire and Noble families, these tribesmen who have nowhere else to go appear to be a convenient tool for those people in upper hierarchy to exploit.
Although Class system is something that exist throughout the entire continent, it isn't this barbaric, Commoners not even being allowed to attend an academy ,unless they take an oath to serve under a certain nobility, and the most absurd one being, a child of a serf is forced to become a serf too, or a child of a slave is also forced to become a slave, as it's passed on from one generations to another as if it's some kind of nobility title creating a never ending vicious cycle.
'Wait Hector Solan is also from the Crune Empire, If I am not wrong he was from a rather high ranking noble family before he became the Emperor' Ian immediately remembered 'Right if I could somehow deal with the Empire isn't it like 'killing three birds from one stone' Ian thought.
First and formost he could completely irradicate this slavery and serf system from his continent, Secondly it would deal a massive blow on Hector Solan and , Third and most important factor, giving this family that saved him, a place that they can call home.
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