The dagger fell to the ground.
He quickly redressed the wound by using a torn piece of his clothing. He had no alcohol to clean the wound, though. So there was a high chance of infection. All the blood dried, and surprisingly, even after he took out the knife, blood didn't come gushing out. But still...
"Ah, man this is the worst start one could get." Judas groaned.
This would be the natural reaction of anyone who were given another chance in life , but they had been given the worst deck of cards to play with.
He surveyed his immediate surroundings to check if there was anything there. Up until now he had been too focused on removing the dagger that other than surveying the general atmosphere to gauge where he was , he really didn't look for anything in particular.
He had a sword on his person, a necklace of considerable value , probably made up of gold and the classic gold coins one would find in a leather pouch in games.
He thought that this person was not killed due to robbery but for some other motive as the valuables were still there.
He took the sword and held it in front of him. He felt the material of the hilt. It was very hard and durable. This person, whose body he was inhabiting, was probably well off. He unsheathed the sword, and to describe it in a word, he would use "magnificent.".
It looked like a sword used by the upper-class people in medieval dramas. It gleamed in the little light that was entering the forest, and it was very sharp.
At the end of the blade just above the hilt a dragon , like those in the Chinese paintings was engraved. It blended nicely with the steel but invoked a feel of terror probably the feeling the makers of the sword wanted others to feel when seeing it.
But what was really this dragon symbol? was it the logo of the company that produced these swords?
First of all why was he carrying a sword? In the age of guns , swords were meaningless and useless. They were only used as recreational sports.
Was he really reincarnated into a medieval isekai? Like all those protagonists in web novels , light novels and so on?
Well nevertheless it wasn't the top most priority. The first priority was to get the hell out of this place. This forest gave him the creeps.
And off he went to the unknown without knowing actually where to. He was abandoned...no technically 'he' was murdered in the middle of the forest. He had to reach a nearby town or even a settlement where he could see people. As long as he could come in contact with people he would then figure his next move from there.
But of course if his killers knew he was alive or nearby , he could get into serious trouble. Man who was he kidding , even the nearby town could be a cannibalistic town for all he could think of.
But he couldn't stay in the forest as well. There was the threat of animals. In case of isekai , wild beasts who were probably 9 feet tall , their teeth the size of him ready to devour him anytime they want to.
Just thinking along those lines made his body to shiver.
He couldn't possibly hide from them. Even if he did what about food , water?
He couldn't search for them atleast with this body.
After 30 minutes of aimlessly walking, he sat under a tree to get some rest. Even though no blood came out of his abdomen region, it didn't need to be said that he felt no pain. But by now, the pain had more or less subsidised, and it wasn't a major concern for now.
He also observed that the time was around 11 a.m. or 12 a.m., considering the heat and temperature were quite high. He doubted if he was in a tropical region.
But as he was inside the forest , the heat didn't get to him.
While resting , Judas took out the gold pouch and counted the coins. There were 30 of them.
Would this be enough for him to survive once he got out of this place? He really hoped so.
But what about the language and culture? What if he did something weird that would be completely normal back on Earth without him even knowing? Would he be put on trial? Well, this was the last thing he wanted to happen.
After 5 minutes , he again took off and finally due to God's grace came across a poster affixed to a tree. He couldn't really read it. This kind of annoyed him but still he tried to concentrate and tried to figure out its meaning.
There was something written in strange words under a picture of what seemed like a cedar tree. In fact , this forest was filled with cedar trees.
Under the wordings he saw an arrow pointing in the direction from where he came from.
Now he knew what it was. Maybe this post indicated the start of the forest. He was glad that he was headed into the right place. But he didnt know the origin of this place. The sign for all it mattered could mean some danger signs or even a landmark of some sorts.
Nevertheless Judas decided to follow it. He attributed to his courage to the quote " No great things could be done without courage". But what he was about to do may well be foolishness.
After walking for like another 30 minutes , he finally started to see some light peeping through a gap in trees. He started to get some hope.
All this time he was walking he didn't encounter a single animal. He heard no sounds of water and the forest was relatively peaceful. Animals usually lived in the deep though. So he guessed that he was probably near the start of the forest which he attributed to some luck.
Joyed , he started moving forward but just ad he was walking , shadows started to creep along the edges of the tress in front of him. As the trees were blocking his vision , he couldn't exactly discern what it was or who it was.
A disturbing thought crossed his mind, "What if they were the ones who killed him?"
The thoughts got more disturbing as the shadows slowly began to take the shape of humans. As it was afternoon, the shadows were pronounced, and there was no way to mistake it for anything else.
Just as he was about to hide , a figure appeared.
He was an old man with a hunched back. It looked like he was in his 60s. On his right, he had a donkey that was laden with goods, which he held with a rein by the head. It was filled to the brim, and it looked like it carried a lot of weight. The old man was talking, supposedly to someone behind him, smiling.
Just as it was happening , by his side a man wearing a full armour made of metal standing very tall with no helmet came and stood. He looked like a knight
Who were these duos? Just as Judas was thinking, the man in armor spotted him. There was silence for a good 10 seconds. Sweat was accumulated on Judas's body.
Just how people killed others without a care in Isekai shows fueled his fear even more. He was definitely sure this was an Isekai as soon as he saw the knight. Up to this point, he had some slight hope that he had just been reborn in some other part of the world. But now it was completely gone. The modern era didn't have a knight.
The knight at first didn't know what to do but was on full alert as soon as he saw the sword by the side of Judas.
The knight in shining armour squinted his eyes and while pointing his sword ahead he questioned the man in question.
"Who art thou?" in a threatening voice.
He today along with his mercenary friends , totalling to 3 members were escorting an old trader to the other side of the forest and to a hamlet near the town.
While the forest was relatively safe and unremarkable , the same couldn't be said for the rest of the journey. There were no roads and security near the small hamlets that surrounded the town as they were quite insignificant and not a lot happened in those parts.
He and his friends had to take this odd job as mercenary jobs were not in demand right now due to the kingdom recruiting mercenaries for its war efforts. The kingdom was quite poor, so all the money was put into the war efforts. There was no money to pay for them to hunt monsters and clean dungeons.
They could have joined the war, but the rewards for the efforts they put in wouldn't really match up. The kingdom's pay was not good enough, and it was doomed from the start anyway. They couldn't care less.
Well, coming to the man in front of him, it was a headache. He had to confirm his identity and needed to check if he was a burglar or not. Burglars were not that common in the forests, but more so beyond the forest on the way to the hamlet villages. But still, there was no guarantee that there would be no burglars in the forest. Usually, common people wouldn't go alone in the forests, as there were still high chances of beasts occurring.
As the knight questioned , the old man was startled. He tried to match the knight's point of vision and see what happened. He then soon saw a man standing in front slightly crouching by the trees.
He was about 5 feet 5 inches tall or 165 cms. He was fat ,unpleasantly fat. He had a double chin , an asymmetric nose, bug eyes , crazy eyebags, rounded jaw , and an overall ugly face. He also had black hair dark brown or black eye colour which greatly surprised him. His skin was very pale and lustrous and looked unhealthy even.
This man in front of him had to be the most ugliest man he had ever seen in his long life.
Judas was still standing there , half crouched.
The knight probably asked him a question based on his tone. But all he heard was a man speaking in a strange language! How was he supposed to answer that?
The knight once again asked the same question. Hearing no answer , he went to take a step so he could teach the man a lesson. Even though the man in front of him looked really weak he had no time to play games with this man.
Just as he was about to take a step forward, the old man by his side refrained him and told him to calm down.
The man in front of them was wearing a necklace which was expensive. For being a trader all his life , he was able to in blink of an eye determine the status of a man wearing such necklace. But even then it could mean he was a burglar , even his clothes were torn. Men of high status didn't really go alone and most importantly weren't weak. In all possibilities though they weren't afraid of him.
"Good sir , are you mayhap a big man?"
Again silence.
Seeing to that this conversation was leading nowhere , the old man came to a conclusion that this man didn't know the language somehow.
Well it was to consider , as their kingdom was as well as their culture nothing but a pebble in the big ocean and that too an insignificant one. The world was massive.
The old man decided to speak in the languages he knew , but still there was silence.
As time was running out, the old man assembled all his mercenaries, said his byes to his family, and was on his way, passing through Judas.
The knight still had his eyes on Judas; unless he tried anything funny, he would behead him on the spot. He didn't care if he was a burglar or a noble; a weak man didn't deserve to live.
Soon after 2 minutes, Judas saw the disappearing silhouettes of the three men and a lady in the forests. He let out a deep sigh.
It was a scary experience, and his back was drenched and soaked with sweat, and he had to admit one thing: the people he saw moved fast. They were walking, yes, but it seemed like they walked faster than humans back on Earth. Man, even the donkey that was loaded with tons of weight was moving very fast. Donkeys weren't supposed to move fast.
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