In a large auditorium, people from different countries, with substantial amounts of money in their accounts, were awaiting Sihad Vasconcelus' grand lecture. In this lecture, everyone wanted to know how a 25-year-old had managed, in 7 years, to transform a mere technology startup into the world's most valuable company.
Sihad was very confident, a leader who knew how to manage people and extract the most from their potential. He was preparing for his first speech in his entire life, ever since he founded his company. He sighed deeply and rubbed his cold hands in profound nervousness, yet with great confidence.
With euphoric applause, Sihad ascended the stage and approached the microphone. After speaking for 20 minutes about his journey up to that point, questions were opened to the viewers of the lecture. Many people had paid a significant amount of money to be in that auditorium, and asking a question to the great entrepreneur of the moment cost three times the price of admission.
- Mr. Sihad, if you were to start from scratch and become an entrepreneur, where would you invest?
The answer to that question had never crossed Sihad's mind, but he found it intriguing. What could shock everyone in that auditorium was that this would be the last question of his life, and Sihad would not have the opportunity to answer it.
Sihad suffers a heart attack and dies.
...
- Come on, Raphaello gets up quickly, a bag of grain isn't enough to knock him out.
Raphaello removed the bag of grain from himself with his memories in disarray; his recollections collapsed. Sihad was apparently in another place, carrying grains of sand, but now as Raphaello, in a different body and another world.
- What's happening, what's this headache? What am I doing here? What are these memories?
Raphaello took the bag of grain off himself, and his memories became muddled; his thoughts spiraled. Sihad was seemingly in another place, carrying sacks of grain, but now as Raphaello, in a different body and another world.
- Raphaello!! Are you well? If you take so long to get up, we'll never finish carrying Mr. Cornelios' bags of grain.
Raphaello, still bewildered, looked at the boy next to him, who was carrying a bag of grain, giving him a scolding, and processed all the memories about him.
Lancer, the name of the boy who lectured him, was of average height, 15 years old, but very slight, with brown hair and white skin punished by the sun.
- My hands, my body.
Raphaello realized he was in a different body, just like Lancer: of medium height, 15 years old, slight, and with blond hair. He got up and took that bag of grain with great difficulty and carried it to the warehouse where they were being stored. He continued to carry it, trying to comprehend what was happening.
"But what place is this? No matter how hard I try to remember, with these memories in my head, I can't find anything to help me understand what place this is and why I was carrying grain.."
His only memories were frustrating. Raphaello was a former slave who had escaped from his master along with Lancer. They had sought refuge in this village, which was a subsidiary of Baron Jericho.
- Finally finished. Working 14 hours a day to earn 30 copper coins, that is certainly slave labor.
-Raphaello, we finally found a job. As challenging as it may be, at least we're not whipped as we were before.
Lancer imagined what their lives would be like from then on. He had a dream of becoming a great wizard, but he didn't have the minimum amount of money to buy scrolls or books to learn magic.
-Now that we're working, what's the plan, Raphaello? Are you giving up on your dream of becoming the greatest swordsman in the world?
Raphaello was lost in thought as they walked to the shipyard where they slept. Raphaello didn't say anything. He was still understanding where he was, and all of that was practically something he had constantly thought about in his previous life: what it would be like to start anew.
- You look very strange today. You haven't said anything since the bag fell on you.
After a long reflection, Raphaello looked at Lancer with a radiant smile and said:
- I will be the most powerful man in this world.
He was convinced of his decision. Raphaello quickly realized that he was in a medieval fantasy world, and for a long moment, he began to laugh sarcastically, a long laugh that scared Lancer. It looked like he was going crazy.
- You will be my right arm, we will dominate the world, we will put an end to slavery and overthrow all dynasties.
- This is the Raphaello I know, for a moment I thought he had gone silent, darara.
"Although I have little information about this world, I believe that the technology around here must be precarious. If I develop some gadgets, maybe I can make good money."
Lancer, how do I get a magic or swordsmanship teacher?
Lancer, throws straw at Raphaello, laughing sarcastically, Raphaello scratched his head without understanding why he was laughing.
- Teacher is a matter for nobles. We mere servants should be content with commoner frontline battle swordsmanship or utility magic learned from scrolls. teachers are for nobles or those who have a lot of money.
"As I thought from the memories I have, it's not normal to find someone using attack or defense magic, but there are a lot of people using common magic."
Although Lancer despised utility spells Raphaello saw great business in utility spells learned from scrolls. There were magics that if he did something together he could develop something to make money from it.
However, there was something that bothered him: the lack of knowledge of the financial system in this world and, with this job of carrying grains all day, this meant he didn't have time to investigate. This could leave him at a crossroads as it was his first day working carrying sacks of grain and he might not have another opportunity to earn money.
- Lancer, what can you do with 30 copper coins?
- I don't know, maybe I can buy a whole loaf of bread.
Raphaello rested his chin on his fingers planning his movements to do everything in such a short time.
- Alright Lancer, let's sleep for today, tomorrow I need to check some things.
Raphaello lies on the straw, planning his every step, from learning swordsmanship to utility magic. Sihad was a big fan of swordsman stories. And so, he slept excitedly, eager for what was to come.