I looked at the Ramshackle structure small weathered wooden house. Seeing this place a new worry came to my mind, This place looked like a small breeze could send it tumbling down.
I sighed and looked at the house deeply, it wasn't like I had any other place to live. A desperate person can live in any environment, even if his environment is strict much less a torn-down house.
Of course, it was also that Dustin had lived in this place for his life so it was easier for me to get used to it. Speaking of Dustin, my life as Austin was not sunshine either.
I mean rich, poor and medium class all have different struggles in their life, Of course, if I had to choose I would choose to struggle as a rich person.
I took a deep breath and braced myself, the creaking door was pushed open by me. Inside sat an old on a chair, a deep frown was etched on his face.
His gaze had remained fixed on the floor even when I opened the noisy door but a faint twitch of his head indicated he was aware of my presence.
Either he was a hidden expert hiding in this village or perhaps the creaking door and the rickety floorboards announced my presence loud and clear.
His head finally moved up, his gaze was fierce as he glared at me. I tried to meet his gaze but the intensity of his gaze deepened when I did that so I just simply didn't make eye contact with him and observed his figure.
Even though he tried his best to appear intimidated, the man looked more like a beast than a warrior. His body was huge or I might be too small either way he was not someone to be messed up with.
He might be old but the spirit in his eyes clearly showed me he was a beast of his own, it was not surprising as he was the only hunter in the entire village.
One detail defied the old man's bear-like appearance-his head. I was expecting people in this world to have vibrant hair just like fantasy stars but he defied the very laws of the fantasy world.
The colour of his hair was such that I couldn't even begin to describe it, In simple terms, he was bald as much as one could get in life. When he stood under the sun a moon-like circle appeared on his head.
I jugged through my memory and realized I had never seen him with hair.
Forget about describing his hair colour as the universe had taken a vacation on that front or perhaps vibrant hair was reserved for royalties and important people.
For whatever reason, it was a little disappointing. Who am I to judge, though? Proceeding forward...
Maybe my internal monologue went on for a bit too long, perhaps my poker face was not as perfect as I thought and an amused look had appeared on my face. Or maybe, just maybe, the old man could somehow sense I was making fun of his bald head.
Whatever the reason, a flicker of annoyance crawled on his face. He jumped to his feet, his figure towering above me making his shadow fall on me.
He started walking and stopped in front of me, his fiery glare burning on me. I could swear I heard boss music starting but I knew it was my otaku side coming out in this situation.
I averted my gaze and turned my head like an innocent child who doesn't know anything about the world but that didn't work on him as he hit my head with his large hand.
"YOU IDIOT"
He shouted at me with rage while hitting my head, I started holding my head in pain, it wasn't like he hit me with much force but he knew the exact strength to apply between not injuring and punishing me.
I tried to act poor by trying to secrete tears from my tear glands but they were not working even in this body. Should I be surprised that even in this world I hadn't changed?
The old man's fierce gaze changed into concern as he inspected my head for any bump even though he was so careful while hitting me.
"You little rascal"
He said with his voice becoming cold as his gaze now turned chilling cold,
"I've warned you against going into the forest a thousand times! I mean, you just can't help but challenge me?"
I carefully ran through my memories to find out how could he know I had gone there but I couldn't find any answer. So I tried to gasligh-I mean convince him by denying his words.
"But I didn't go there, I know you hate me going there so why would I go in the forest."
He deadpanned looked at me and said"Someone saw you so there is no use lying, if I were you I would start to beg for mercy". As he said this the pitiful expression I made vanished from my face and by accident words slipped out of my mouth.
"Tch"
I covered my mouth as soon I said this, the old man's face was red in fury but he took deep breaths to calm himself down and told me to go to my room and eat the food he had put there.
I quickly ran towards my room and started eating the food. I picked up the mirror lying in the corner of the bed to see my face.
In a nutshell, my appearance can be described as the height of... averageness. Basically, a generic background figure from any anime you could name, with black eyes and short black hair.
I sighed as I did not become handsome even in this life. As I lay on the bed I started to think why did this world me-Dustin always like to go to the forest?
I have all the memories of Dustin but only this part remains blurry, I threw the question of why as what is happening to me can't be explained by logic.