'As I thought, being cautious with my current body is the best course of action. If I was not careful enough and used an enchant spell on someone older, I would have lost my consciousness immediately.' Mangrel's careful personality saved him this time around.
Mangrel had chosen the best target he could, even among the limited number of people. The consequences of being impatient would have been disastrous if not.
Seilin led Mangrel to her house, which was not too far. The house had a flimsy wooden frame, it was newly made but appeared quite frail.
"Are your parents at home right now?" Mangrel inquired with a cold voice.
"No, they went to work, only grandfather is at home," Seilin answered as if she didn't notice anything. The enchant spell made her believe that Mangrel was someone very close to her, like a brother.
After contemplating for a second, Mangrel gave out his instructions: "I'm hungry right at the moment, so I need you to bring me some food. Be sure to hide it from your grandfather, I will be waiting here. If you are caught, don't tell anyone about me."
Normally Mangrel would have tried to collect more information, from Seilin. However, the time was limited, the enchant spell would lose its effect soon.
Seilin listened to Mangrel diligently and then nodded her head, but then, anxiety gleamed onto her face.
"Father said that we are low on food, so we will have to eat while saving for next month..." Seilin uttered with worry.
"Don't worry about it, I am here after all." Mangrel patted her small head, with a reassuring expression.
Finding some illusionary support, her worries were blown away, like they never appeared in the first place.
"Okay just wait here, I will be back in an instant!" Seilin hopped towards her house.
As Seilin exited his sight, the smile on Mangrel's face slowly vanished. His action would cause a family to suffer, nevertheless, no empathy rose within him.
'There is a high chance of her bringing me food. Still, the chances could have been increased if there was at least a window in this house...' Mangrel stared at the house before him.
Mangrel did not continue such thoughts anymore, he knew better than anyone that — there were no 'ifs' in life. Life was what it was and reality was what it was, no one could manipulate it to fit their needs.
'hmm?' Mangrel tilted his head, seeing Seilin walking out of the house. She had no food on her, but she did not appear particularly disturbed or sad.
Seilin quickly made her way to the back of the house, bringing two pieces of bread in her small hands.
Reaching before Mangrel, Seilin offered it to him with a proud smile.
"...." Taking the bread silently first, Mangrel asked her a question: "How did you bring the food out?"
As if waiting for him to ask such a question, Seilin responded enthusiastically: "Actually, there is a hole in the corner of the kitchen floor that only I know about, so...!"
Mangrel signaled her to stop by lifting his hand before his chest.
"Okay, go back to play with your friends." Mangrel turned around and left with no hesitation.
Fate was like such, it would play jokes with your life like this. Coincidences were something that could not be predicted easily.
Finding a quiet place nearby, Mangrel began eating the bread, which could only be summed up to a single word — Dry.
Roaming around with the two pieces of bread in hand could gather some bad attention, the place where he was could not be called a safe place. A hungry person would not give a shit about ethics and morality, they might even try to kill in the worst-case scenario.
'Encountering such people is rare, but I can't really take chances in my current situation. There are other dangers excluding those too.' Mangrel munched down on the bread greedily, he had suppressed his hunger, but it was not like it had vanished in thin air.
The two pieces of bread were double the size of Mangrel's palm, they were enough to fill his stomach.
Having eaten his fill, Mangrel felt like he could move around for an extended amount of time.
Swish~
The fresh breeze brushed past Mangrel, causing his clothes to flutter. The amount of vegetation in the area was not low, hence the air was clear and humid. Staying motionless for a second, he got up from the grass. The place he chose to eat the bread was behind one of the houses.
Mangrel didn't misspend his time in the shelter and made his way out of there.
"Let's go and see the plaza narrator this evening too! I am sure he will tell another amazing story like before!"
An excited voice reached Mangrel as he reached the entrance of the shelter, prompting his eyes to squint.
'Narrator? It must be similar to the bard from my past continent.'
Roaming around sector five, Mangrel had vividly noticed the cultural difference in this place.
In the continent where Keivan was born, poeticism was very famous, it was the tradition followed for a long time. Because of that, even he, who was not into such things, became good at creating poems.
However, this continent did not follow such traditions.
'Taking that into account, it's not weird for stories to be told in narrative forms, instead of a poem.' Mangrel was fully ready to accept the changes around him.
Along with that, Mangrel had to change himself too. Following the Proverb, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Holding onto his past behavior would bring him no benefits, thus Mangrel discarded it. He was not someone who could be held back from his past anymore.
It was a simple sacrifice, yet many hesitated or were unable to discard it. Mangrel could not grasp the reason behind it at first, but as time went by, he understood it by experiencing it personally.
....
Not long after Mangrel left the Luoer clan.
Mangrel did not even dare to look back at the past, it was painful and filled with regret. It was like a sword was piercing his heart.
He struggled to disregard the past, however, he realized that he was just being held back by it instead.
It was because Mangrel had moved on, but his mind stagnated in the past. Humans lived all their reminiscing about the past because doing so would let them forget about the hardship, both in the present and future. On the other hand, some people wanted to discard their past, in hope of moving forward.
It was just human nature, discarding the past was never the right answer. Without overcoming it, no one can escape the cage called the past!
Mangrel had thought that he had enough determination to leave behind his past, nevertheless, it proved to be a challenging matter.
'Past is nothing but a bind, chaining down others' progress. If I can't go past such a meager hurdle, how can I ever attain my dream?'
From that moment onwards, Mangrel faced his past, instead of escaping from it.
At every turn of his life, it was Mangrel who decided for himself. So it was natural for him to accept the result, no matter how difficult or regretful it was.
'After all, Life is nothing but a series of extreme choices.'
.....
Mangrel stopped reminiscing, and instead gazed at the present and future, with his never-changing, indifferent eyes.
'A narrator...I will visit the plaza too, I guess.' Mangrel decided before making his way toward the beggar's alleyway.