Kent sat on the ground, staring in disbelief as the creature named Sisi happily smeared its saliva across Kent's darkened face. It wasn't that Kent's skin was naturally dark; rather, it was the result of years of neglect and lack of bathing, let alone brushing his teeth. Not far away, the two servants watched the scene with a shake of their heads, slowly resuming their work. One of them muttered under his breath, "Sigh, Ryan is so obedient. If Holman's nephew were here, we'd have our hands full."
"Forget it. As long as we don't have to go to the back mountain, working hard here is nothing. The back mountain not only has wild beasts, but the living conditions are bad, and we only get bread delivered once a month. If it snows heavily, we won't get food for months. The worst part is that it's deserted. I heard the previous guys went mad," the other servant responded, casting a glance at Kent still sitting in the dirt. "Anyway, let's not talk about it. Once we get paid tomorrow, we can head to the tavern and have a proper drink. My greatest wish is to have a cup of wine every day."
"Get back to work. I can tell you're thinking about that flirtatious tavern owner," his companion teased.
Kent's mind was a jumbled mess. Although he, Kent, had long realized he had somehow ended up in a different world, he still had no idea why or where. If this was some medieval European place, Kent would have leapt for joy, for he had a clear understanding of Europe's grand trends. At worst, he could latch onto a powerful figure, maybe even find a way back to ancient China, or at the very least, create something like a glass mirror or cement—just enough to be his "cheat" to survive. However, now occupying Ryan's body, Kent understood clearly that this was not Earth, but an entirely new and unknown world. He felt lost, overwhelmed by the fear of the future.
From the remnants of Ryan's memories, Kent knew this was a world without human rights. Although human rights had never truly existed in Kent's original world, at least there it served as a moral shield. Here, however, there was none. A slave like Ryan could be killed at any time, and the master would face no consequences. Slaves were treated like the pigs people raised on Earth, while servants were just above them in status. Then came the common folk, and at the top were the nobles. As for the nobles, Ryan only knew that his knightly lord was the ruler of this land, but beyond that, he had no further knowledge.
"Damn it! I was just playing a new game! I refuse to believe that the essence of several thousand years of civilization offers no lessons. I'm a slave now, but I don't believe I'll be one forever. Every extra day I live is a victory. I refuse to believe that with my intelligence, I can't outsmart these half-naked, blond savages. ...Ugh!" Kent groaned as he slowly came to his senses, pushed Sisi, who was still trying to lick his face, away, and stood up, roaring in frustration. But before he could finish his sentence, Sisi knocked into his sore backside. Well, there was no choice but to live on. Kent had no courage to end his own life, so he would have to survive. People often saw things more clearly when they hit rock bottom; it was like the saying, "Where there's a will, there's a way."
"Alright! I am Ryan. I'm about 1.6 meters tall, maybe a solid 80 points. My hair is golden, which is a rare breed, extinct on Earth—100 points! My build is like a string bean, maybe 40 points. I'm 13 years old. Hmm... I'm somewhat handsome, about 70 points. Overall, passing. Yeah, not bad, only 13 and already this big. Pretty impressive, 100 points," Ryan thought as he scrubbed himself thoroughly in a large wooden tub, occasionally glancing at his reflection in a nearby wooden basin. Of course, given his limited ability to differentiate looks, to him, all Europeans looked the same, and so did Africans—both had white skin and blue eyes, while Africans were all black, except for their big white teeth. So, when he looked at himself in the water, all he saw was a vague image.
After bathing, Ryan felt refreshed. The only downside was that his clothes were still dirty. Without much of a choice, he wrapped a cleaner piece of cloth around his waist and left the rest to air dry, as his clothes were still wet.
"Sigh, if I'm going to survive in this world, I need knowledge. But Ryan can't read a single word, so there's only one place to go." Ryan glanced over at the large two-story wooden house because he remembered that there was a big study inside. What exactly was in there, though, he didn't know.
"Going to the back mountain isn't without its perks. If I start acting differently, speaking differently, I'll attract attention. Going there might give me some time to adjust. I'll need to do something while I'm there anyway—can't just be tending to horses. Maybe I'll check out the study." Ryan decided. He made his way to the so-called castle but couldn't help sneering inwardly. "This is called a castle? What would the European castles back on Earth be then?"
"Anthony, Harry, are you in?" Ryan called loudly from the entrance. Anthony and Harry were the two servants responsible for the daily upkeep of the castle.
"Ah, Ryan, what's up? Harry had some business and went back early today," Anthony appeared, puffing out his chest at the sight of Ryan. When he noticed Ryan's strange appearance, a slight sneer formed on his face. "What's with the outfit, Ryan?"
"Anthony, do you have any old clothes? My clothes are torn. Could you spare me some? I'd be happy to do some work for you in return," Ryan said, trying to hide his irritation at Anthony's haughty demeanor, but, unfortunately, he had no choice. Anthony's status was higher.
When Anthony first heard that Ryan was asking for clothes, his face darkened, and he was about to snap at him. But then Ryan added that he would do some work in exchange, and seeing that the day was still young, he quickly thought of the low basement storage room. With a fake smile, Anthony replied, "Poor Ryan! I have two sets of clothes here, but you'll need to clean up the storage room. What do you think?"
"Great, thanks, Anthony!" Ryan smiled broadly, but inwardly, he groaned. He had hoped to help Anthony with something easier, but instead, he was stuck with cleaning the storage room. However, Ryan knew that people here were blunt, just like Europeans. If you needed something, you just asked.
"Ugh! What an asshole!" Ryan cursed under his breath as he followed Anthony into the so-called storage room. He was shocked by what he saw. The storage room was actually the castle's basement and warehouse, filled with bags of grain and large wooden barrels—probably for wine or something similar. When Anthony walked away, Ryan couldn't hold back his frustration.
Cleaning the storage room sounded easy enough—just check each bag of grain to see if it had spoiled and toss out the bad ones. The wooden barrels didn't need to be moved, as they were bigger than the tub Ryan had used to bathe. But Ryan was relieved to see that the grain bags were about 50 kg each, not the massive 200 kg burlap sacks that were common on Earth. And, as an added bonus, Anthony had left a black loaf of bread for Ryan. Though it didn't taste good, it was better than the horrible mush Ryan had been eating before.
"Digging a hole and stockpiling grain. Looks like in this society, food is the real currency. There's no way they'd store so much if it wasn't." Ryan thought. He quickly realized that it would take him at least half a month to check every bag of grain, so he only bothered with the ones on the surface. As for the rest, well, they could stay as they were. It wasn't that Ryan was lazy—it was just that tomorrow was the day for resupplying the back mountain, and he would need to switch tasks.
"Just a little more work, and then tonight, I'll sneak into the study. I need to find some books, preferably ones with pictures!" Over the past few days, Ryan had gotten familiar with the area. The two servants would head back to their home outside the castle in the evening, and two guards would patrol the area. As a slave, Ryan had no right to leave, and he had never seen the steward Holman or the captain of the guards, Tory. Under normal circumstances, Ryan would never have dared to think of such a thing, but now, Ryan was no longer the same.
"Huh, what's this?" When Ryan moved the last bag of grain, he accidentally discovered a small, damaged chest in the corner. The chest wasn't big, and if it hadn't been for the rearrangement of the grain, it would have remained hidden. It had been tucked between the grain bags and a large barrel, out of sight.
Curious, Ryan carefully inspected the chest in the dim candlelight, realizing that it was made from leather. He cautiously reached for it with a stick, prying open the lid.
"Ah! Gold coins!" Ryan exclaimed as he saw the gleam of yellow light coming from inside the chest. Upon closer inspection, he found several gold coins and a book. There was nothing else inside.
Ryan eagerly grabbed the gold coins, his face lighting up with excitement. But then, he realized he had nowhere to put them—his clothes were just a cloth, with no pockets. So, reluctantly, he set the coins aside and turned his attention to the book.
The book was made from animal hide, with a jet-black cover. Ryan carefully felt it, but with his limited knowledge, he couldn't tell what material it was. It was thick—about 5 cm—though not large in width, more like a cheap calendar from Earth. The cover had a design that seemed to shift between a hammer and a flask, giving off a vague, abstract feel.
"Oh no! I can't read this!" Ryan exclaimed when he flipped open the book and saw the strange, squiggly characters. He didn't recognize a single one. Having been a slave before, Ryan couldn't read at all, and so he reluctantly tossed the book aside.
Ryan then rummaged through the chest again but found nothing else but some tattered clothing. Staring at the seven gold coins and the unreadable book, he couldn't help but feel conflicted. He couldn't carry all these things on him, and based on what he overheard from Anthony, he knew the value of the gold coins. One gold coin was worth 100 silver coins, and one silver coin was worth 100 copper coins. If he revealed these gold coins, he would surely vanish without a trace.
Looking around at the surrounding grain and barrels, an audacious plan began to form in Ryan's mind.