It was not easy to accept the fact that you were reincarnated as it is, but given the situation, Cohen was left with no other choice.
*Growl*
It was his stomach. 'Now that I think about it, I did feel really weak, ignoring the fact that I had the body of a child right now.' Well, yes, it was actually quite normal for someone living the slums to be unable to afford any food; makes sense why Cohen was in the state he was right now.
Slowly standing up from the ground, Cohen twisted his soiled shirt to get rid of the water. After that, he started walking around the slum to get a better understanding of the environment he was in. On his way, he passed many people who looked similar—if not, in a worse situation than him. He noticed a few things, one was that the place around the slum was not like that of his own, so reached one conclusion: this was not his country. Second, the people spoke in a language which, for some reason, sounded natural, yet very unnatural to him.
'Alright, this language isn't something I ever knew about, and it's not a tribal language, either, since the people who are speaking it, look like English people, but no people of England talk like this. How do I know? Well, I've been sent to many regions, even regions that are mostly slums, yet I never came to know about anything like this. So...while, it is a bit of a stretch, I'll, for now go with the explanation that I, somehow, got transmigrated to another world.'
It was hard to accept, but what could he do? He as he was roaming around the alleys of the slum until he found a group of young boys, around 13-14 years in age, chatting. 'Huh? they seem healthier than most people I saw.' The boys did looked well-fed for some reason. 'Maybe if I ask them, I could get some food, too. I am starving.'
As Cohen was approaching the group, one of the members noticed him, and exclaimed with a large grin on his face, "Hey look! The pipsqueak is back!" 'Pipsqueak?' Cohen tilted his head slightly, as a metaphorical question mark appeared on top of his left temple.
"What, ya here to get revenge for what we did?" Another guy spoke up, as he made his way towards Cohen. He looked a bit older than the other boys, probably around 15.
'What revenge? These little shits did something to this boy before I took control of his body? Well, no shit, what am I even thinking, of course they did.' Cohen became a bit wary, and glared at the boy in front of him.
"Oy, Oy, would ya look at that, everyone? This brat has grown enough balls to look at me like that now!" A nasty grin made its way across the face of the boy. The others joined in, "Oy, Der, how about ya knock some sense into him?"
"Oh, I'd do that, alright?" said Der, as he clenched his fists and slowly pulled it backwards and went for a jab....but, Cohen swiftly dodged it. "What the—?" Der was a bit surprised at the reaction speed of the small boy in front of him.
'What should I do? Should I take this guy head on? Despite being younger, and malnourished, I am confident that I could take on a guy with no combat experience head-on without any problem. His stance is shit, he is full of openings. Sure, my punches won't really deal any damage, as he is stronger than me, and also older, but I could easily go around his back, and choke him. It's really difficult to get out of a chokehold. No, I shouldn't, even if I were to choke him, and take him as a hostage, and let's say that the gang does somehow let me go, I'd only make myself a target for the future. One thing I learned from going to the outskirts is that the people there are like crows. They hold grudges, and never it go. I'd really be going through hell if I get their attention. Being beaten up right now is better than dying later.' Cohen thought all of this within a second, and came to a decision that he wouldn't dodge the next attack.
"Tch. Then how about this?!" Der shot a sharp kick towards Cohen's abdomen. Immediately, Cohen hardened his abs, inorder to receive the minimum damage from the kick.
"Gah!" Cohen let out a cry, as he fell on his back a few feet away. Despite hardening his abs, the kick still hurt a lot. Clenching his teeth, Cohen looked at Der, who was making his way towards him.
"Not glaring anymore, are ya? Seems the first time ya dodged was just a fluke, eh? This should teach ya not to ever look me like that, got it?" Der said, as he rubbed the sole of his shoes on Cohen's face. It was painful, but Cohen had to bear with it. After Der took his sweet time, playing with Cohen, he looked at his gang, slid his hands inside the pockets of his pants, and said, "Let's go back, boys, this pipsqueak ain't worth our time." The group went away, leaving Cohen alone.
He slowly got up, and saw the group leave. Just then, he heard someone's voice. "Kile?" He looked towards the source of the voice and saw a girl, who should be around 15 years old standing a few feet away from him.
"Kile! What happened to you?! Did you get into a fight with Der and his underlings?!" said the girl. 'So this boy's name's Kile, huh?'
Cohen softly replied, "Well, uh, yeah... I guess? It was more of a beat down, though."
"I told you to not do that! I know that they took away the bread from that you received from the gentleman, but you still shouldn't have provoked them!" cried she.
"Gentleman?"
"Yes, I kind mister, who always comes by at night, and distributes food to the children around here."
"Where can I find the mister again?"
"What, did you get beaten up so badly that you lost your memories?"
"Nothing like that, it's just that the day before yesterday, I couldn't find him at the usual place."
"But you came back with a piece of bread with you."
"Well, I just found it laying on the ground, all dirtied, and no one seemed to pay attention to it, now that they had fresh bread, so I picked it up, and cleaned it a bit." All of this was bullshit Cohen making up on the spot. Of course, if there was a chance that the girl saw Cohen near the man the day before yesterday, Cohen would really have to blame the beating he recieved for his losing his memory. No way would this girl inspect him that thoroughly, right?
*Sigh* Thankfully, the girl didn't inquire any further, and left the matter as it is. Now, she once again looked at Cohen—no, Kile, and said:
"Anyhow, follow me to my tent, I'll go get you some food."
"Ah, thank you." Cohen replied politely, as he started following the girl to her tent.