Colt sat behind the large, bulky man on the horse as it trotted down the road. He had been sitting on the horse for nearly a couple hours now, and his ass was already sore from all the bumping around.
Behind him were two other horses with the younger, armoured knights keeping pace. As the horses exited the forest, he spied a rough collection of houses in the distance. Wait... was that the town that the big man talked about? Was it named Cassidy?
It certainly didn't seem like one by his standards, as the town had nothing but a patchwork of crude straw houses with chimneys, and a large building made of high-quality and sturdy wood which Colt guessed was its administrative centre.
Colt knit his brows. Each house looked rather old and worn-down, but they were, incredibly, still holding up. They looked rather large, with each being able to accommodate roughly five people.
Doing the math, he realised that the town would, at most, be able to accommodate around 3,000 people, which was barely enough to qualify as a town.
Sighing, he looked up at the blue sky dotted with clouds. Every so often, a large bird with a huge beak and scales would fly by. They looked like the dragons from fairy tales, but definitely couldn't breathe fire, so he dismissed it as just another quirk of this world.
Yes, Colt was now sure that he wasn't on Earth any longer. After all, the knight squad leader had used an unknown method to blot out his senses and had an incredibly high agility, not even counting the telepathic communication he used to communicate with Colt!
Speaking of which, he was incredibly curious as to what it was that allowed this seemingly ordinary man riding a horse to communicate telepathically. It was a one-way connection, only letting the man transmit his thoughts without any care for language and not to receive any from Colt, but it was still mind-blowing for him!
Understandably, he was still in a daze. Just a few hours ago, he had been kidnapped and taken to an isolated alley, awaiting his death without any dignity. ' General Colt Addams, age 43. Died 14 July 2030 in a natural forest fire. His body was never recovered.'
Colt could almost imagine what his gravestone would say, complete with some bullshit cover story concocted by the higher-ups of the military. In reality, Colt had died due to a definitely not natural case of bullet-in-the-back.
Well, his death could be natural from a certain point of view. After all, it was perfectly natural to die of being shot.
*Crack!* Colt was snapped out of his reverie by the sound of a stick breaking underneath the hooves of the horse. That's right. He was here now, in a completely different world.
Unless- Biting on his lips again, Colt closed his eyes and wished to whatever was out there that this was just an extremely immersive dream. He opened his eyes. In front of him was the figure of the heavyset man who rescued him, humming a strange tune.
'Enough useless talk. I definitely did die.' He shivered at the memory of the sensation at the moment the bullet entered his back. 'And I'm definitely here. Maybe my consciousness was transferred over, and maybe this is just what happens after people die?'
He thought of the Buddhists back on Earth who believed in reincarnation. Perhaps those guys had a point? He put that thought at the back of his mind, not wanting to open up that can of worms.
'It doesn't matter. I am here now, and I need to think towards the future if I want to survive. I currently have nothing except my memories of my experiences on Earth, and I need to find out where I am and where I'm headed.'
But first, he started combing through his memories, looking for anything that might be of use. As a former army general at the time of his forced discharge and subsequent assassination, Colt had quite a range of basic knowledge to pick from.
Although it looked like there was a lot, in reality, basic knowledge was all he had. Other than an advanced understanding of modern and ancient military strategy and tactics that he had studied back in officer school, there was not much of use to him right now.
From what he could gather, he was now in a world with a technological standard similar, if not even slightly inferior to the middle ages on Earth, owing to the low population density of the town he had just seen, as well as the overall quality of the houses in it, and the armaments of the knights.
"Boy! Ya there?" Colt was startled, nearly falling off the horse in shock, to the amusement of the two knights behind him. Too loud!
'Although this telepathy thing is pretty cool, allowing one to transmit his intent and bypassing the language barrier, I can't believe whoever came up with this didn't add an option to adjust the volume!' Colt thought, taking comfort in the link being one-way.
If it wasn't, who knows how long the man may have just listened by the side as he gave up all his darkest secrets!
Looking around, he realized that the horse had already entered the outskirts of the town, with several young women seated on the steps of the crudely-made straw houses looking at him in curiosity.
They had dirt all over their faces and hands, with their palms being covered in callouses, which Colt could spot clear as daylight. Over two decades in the military was bound to teach one a thing or two.
The women seemed worn-out and tired, but that didn't stop them from chatting around with their friends, creating a lively scene.
Snapping his mind back, he hurriedly nodded to the large man, who chuckled. Pointing to the wooden castle that Colt had noticed before and which was getting closer by the second, he continued.
"That there is the lord's castle- it's a small one, ay, but it gets the job done. We're going to see him, so be sure to keep quiet when we enter, alright?"
'Yes! Getting to see the lord on the first day, isn't that too lucky? Having early contact with people in positions of power will help me greatly!'
However, not letting his excitement show, he tilted to his head to the side, acting like he didn't understand in order to get the gruff but gentle man to elaborate, taking advantage of the one-way mental communication.
'I should take every chance I can to learn about this world. One advantage I have as a child is that I'm expected to be dumb and curious- and I'm gonna have to press that advantage as best I can to get an early lead in this life.'
The man chuckled once again, his shoulders rising up and down in amusement. He almost looked comical, with a jovial expression on his face amidst his thickly-set body with bulging muscles and his sharp facial features.
"Kiddo, the lord of the land is just that- a lord appointed by the Baron of Littlesberg. Caymen is his name. He's already in his forties this year, but he's an interesting old man, I'll tell you that. One time when the Count himself came down to inspect the town, he- Hey! Keep order, you mindless fools!"
Just as he was about to get to the good part, the man interrupted himself angrily. Colt winced due to the sudden shout, and looked up at the man, who was glaring with eyes filled with fury at the two knights that were supposed to be following him.
Apparently, as they chatted away, they had accidentally taken the wrong path, and were drifting further and further away from their leader. 'Shit!' Colt screamed internally in frustration. 'Listening to the guy talk was really fun- uh, it helped me learn more about this new world, and you scatterbrained idiots had to ruin it!'
He watched as the two men sheepishly fall back into a single file like before, bringing up memories of getting reamed by his own officer back in the military, back when everything was so simple. His heart softened towards them.
'Ah... boys will be boys.' He thought, forgetting about his own body's age. 'To them, this elder knight must be like a demon from hell, like an NCO is to a cadet.'
They continued their journey without incident, and the horses finally reached the wooden castle, which Colt had to admit was bigger than he first thought. The men dismounted fluidly and Colt was lifted off the horse.
While the two younger knights walked off into the distance, the elder knight took Colt's hand in his, and created another mind link.
"Boy, we are going to enter the castle soon. You must remember to remain quiet and stick close to me- the lord is a busy man. He may be kind, but you don't want to see him when his work gets interrupted! I'll be leaving the mind link open, so you can hear whatever I hear and say, and you won't get frightened."
Colt lifted an eyebrow. Did this guy have a soft spot for children, or did he just like him? Maybe he looked like the guy's long lost grandson? He wondered about the kindness that the man showed him, but dismissed it as he had no way to find out about it for now.
The man walked up to the Castle doors, where he spied a guard collapsed on the floor, hugging his spear to his chest like a long-lost lover. He looked like a lifeless corpse at first glance, but upon closer inspection, was actually snoozing away.
The elder knight frowned and walked over. As he paced over to the unlucky man, a group of soldiers with spears walked around the corner of the castle. Noticing the elder knight about to go off on one of their comrades, they quickly turned tail and scurried away, not daring to even look back.
Seeing this, a wry smile formed on Colt's face. At least one thing was the same as back home.
...
After a short disturbance, the castle grounds returned to their previous quiet and peacefulness.
The inside of the castle, however, was not peaceful in the slightest. Hurried shouts echoed here and there, with men dressed simply and efficiently occasionally running hither and tither, carrying large stacks of paper.
If it weren't for the guards dressed in plate armour and the draughty interior of the castle, Colt would've thought that he had just awoken inside a busy corporate workplace.
Not daring to stray too far, he struggled to keep close to the burly, muscular man who held his head high and walked with large strides.
Soon, they reached a normal looking door on the third floor, which seemed innocuous if not for a stout-looking guard wearing the standard armour of the castle guards and holding a spear standing next to it.
When the guard saw Colt and the elder knight, he held his hand to his chest, throwing out a salute. "Greetings, captain Rowan!"
Colt's eyebrow rose. 'Captain? Although it doesn't sound like much to a modern man like me, this Rowan guy seems to be someone with standing! Does this mean I caught a big fish without having to even work for it?'
His lips curled up at that thought. Just as the large man named Rowan reached for the door handle, however, the guard's eye fell on Colt. "Slow down. What about him?" Stopping Rowan, he questioned.
Colt frowned. He really wanted to meet the lord and gain as much information he could from him. People gave away more than they believed during normal, everyday conversations, so he lowered his head to appear as harmless and submissive as possible.
"Oh, him? He's a child I brought back from the West Woods, where we detected the magic fluctuation this morning. His parents were brutally murdered. Chopped up and all."
The guard gave a cold snort. "The work of the Death's Band again, huh? Well, sir, please go on in. Wouldn't want to keep the lord waiting, would we?" Colt wanted to laugh.
So much information, from a simple 5-second conversation! Perhaps Rowan left the mind link open on a whim, but it served as an extremely useful opportunity to be privy to the private conversations that determined the fate of 3,000 people.
Not that the elder knight knew, anyway, because who would guess that a five-year-old would be able to comprehend and understand the importance of his decision? Then, his mind turned grim.
'The Death's Band... they seem like an vicious bunch, to be running around killing people like this. From what I can tell, they seem to be a thorn in the lord's side. I'll have to keep them in mind.'
Noticing that Rowan had already entered the lord's office, he snapped himself out of his thoughts, scurrying after the knight captain. A bead of sweat trickled down Colt's spine. He had had barely enough time to process it all- from his death to waking up in an unfamiliar world with an unfamiliar body.
It all seemed like a blur, not quite real, but he steadied himself and pulled his mind together. 'I've caught a big fish, now can I catch a whale?'