The cold night wind breezing through the open window touching my skin, the noise of the city bustling in the background, and the faint light of the moon shining into my apartment should have created a calming atmosphere. And yet there I was, laying on my futon, feeling empty.

I still had made no progress since graduating. First, I wanted to study but didn’t find an appealing subject. After that, I started looking into jobs with short work hours and good pay. Unfortunately, such jobs obviously were scarce and highly sought after.

The cute high-pitched voice of a girl could be heard coming from the right: "okinasai, okinasai, o…, okinainara, ki… kisu wa yo, okinasai, okinasai,…" as I reached my hand to my right, the only thing I felt was, unfortunately, the cold glass of my phone. After turning my alarm off, I got up and looked in the fridge. Regrettably, all I saw was myself. I sighed, rummaged through my pockets, and unlocked the door.

Outside, it was a cold winter night. Snow was slowly falling, crunching under my every step. Many would fantasize about such weather and call it romantic. For me, however, it was just a nuisance. Tomorrow was Christmas, and just like last time, I would sit alone in my room while others celebrated. I let out another sigh. The night was pitch-black, with no moon or stars to be seen anywhere.

The LEDs of the convenience store shone bright, charming, and pulled me in like a fly. As I went closer, the automatic doors opened, quickly granting me access. The store was empty, with just a cashier lazily looking at me. After buying some of my favorite cup noodles and a few beer cans, I was once more standing in the cold.

I was about to go home, but something stopped me from doing so. Instead, my destination was the nearby park. After reaching a bank, I brushed the snow off it and sat down. I just had emptied my second beer when a scream echoed through the park.

Instantly I got up, struggling to keep a steady posture. It seemed I couldn’t even hold my liquor. Regardless, I kept running while trying to keep my balance. The location of the scream was just steps away. And there they stood, a couple having a fight.

The man holding an empty bottle of vodka was raising his fist, about to hit the girl I presumed to be his girlfriend. Just as he was about to hit the defenseless girl, I started running between them, trying to stop him, but got hit instead and fell to the ground.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked faintly. To my dismay, the man didn’t stop for long. Not wanting to give him another chance to attack, I pushed myself with all my strength up and hit his chin.

Startled, he staggered a few steps backward before falling down and shattering the bottle he still held in his right in half. Swiftly I turned around, yelling at the girl to leave quickly and call the police. Just as instructed, she took out her phone and ran, hopefully alerting the police.

Maybe because I was careless or because the intoxication was too strong. Regardless I missed the moment the fellow who was the reason for this mess got up. He started screaming, "Aaaaaargh!"

Quickly, I turned around and saw him frantically charge at me and tried to dodge. "Thump." It sounded damp and time seemed to slow down. As I looked down, blood started streaming out of my chest where the bottle had pierced me. Coughing up blood, my body fell forward into the cold snow. I could hear sirens in the background, and then the world around me got dark.

Pain struck my back. Immediately my eyes snapped open, seeing a blue sky. Before I could finish gathering my thoughts, I felt a sharp pain in my right and then got flung over to the left. "Get lost, you dirty rat. If we see you around here one more time, you’re dead!" Two men were glaring at me. Immediately I got up and ran without a destination.

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Out of breath, I found myself in a quiet-looking alleyway and leaned against a building. Finally, I calmed down a bit and started thinking about what was going on. I felt small, so I was likely a homeless kid.

After looking around a bit, a muddy puddle revealed itself. Although the reflection wasn’t clear, I could see that my body was indeed that of a young boy, but my hair was black and my eyes red, so this body was not my younger self. I sat back down.

After pondering about this entire situation, I concluded that this wasn’t a dream, simulation, or something of that sort. Considering my surroundings, I landed in the middle ages through either time travel or a classic isekai scenario, just with no overpowered abilities to start off. At least none I was aware of.

For now, the priority was getting food, water, and shelter, with the former two being the more complicated thing to achieve. The solution to most problems in life was money, but how could I make money?

I obviously had outstanding education if the standards in this world were similar or the same compared to the medieval times I knew from history class.

But how could I make use of it? Making money on my own seemed rather tricky, and trying to convince someone that I had such knowledge was near impossible in these shabby, torn clothes.

Would stealing be a good option? No, I didn’t know my way around this unknown land, and even if I did, there was still a high risk involved. From the way the men talked to me, I was already known as a nuisance around here, and there was no telling what would happen if I got caught.

Begging was another option that seemed like a way to keep me from starving, but this was a medieval city. From what I knew, beggars weren’t rare in this era, and it was likely that I wouldn’t get enough to survive, or maybe even nothing at all.

My thoughts were interrupted when I saw a boy and a girl running away, holding some bread while being chased by a thug-like-looking man. They most likely had stolen it from him, and now we’re trying to get away.

The kids were about to pass the alley I was in, with the man being right on their tail. He was screaming furiously, "Get back here, you little shits. I’ll kill ya!" A strange feeling of sympathy rose inside me, but I had to act fast if I wanted to help them. Quickly scanning my surroundings, I discovered an empty barrel, immediately flipped it over and started rolling it out the alleyway towards the main street.

Just as the kids passed me, I gave it a last push with all my strength and started running back down the street I came from. I could hear the satisfying sound of the collision and knew that I had hit my target.

Feeling refreshed, my legs didn’t stop until I was sure the man wouldn’t be able to find me, even if he looked for the one who pushed the barrel onto the street. After recovering my energy, I decided begging was the best shot I had at getting food with the least risk involved. I got up and started looking for a way out of the slums into a wealthier area.

"Meow." My eyes shot open. I saw a black cat with disheveled fur being shined upon by the moon, looking like a typical stray. "Are you all alone too?" Without answering my question, the cat got scared and ran away.

My begging attempt failed. I had found my way out of the slums into an area filled with people either buying or selling all kinds of goods at different stalls. Unfortunately, beggars weren’t tolerated, and I had to run when guards showed up. After successfully escaping, I had collapsed here and just now woken up. It was already late, so I started looking for a place to spend the night.

As I was walking around, I reached a more open area. Suddenly, I could hear steps behind me and instantly turned around. I saw a person in black clothes wearing something resembling a pest mask.

Freaked out, I started running and turned into the first alley, trying to shake off whatever was chasing me. I couldn’t hear the steps anymore, so I stopped and listened. Everything was quiet. A sense of relief kicked in, but I still kept walking.

Then steps behind me faster and faster, closing in, slowly creeping up on me. Before having a chance to react, I felt a sharp pain and fell to the ground. "Father Crow will be pleased. I didn’t think there was anyone suitable left around here." Was the last thing I heard before everything turned dark.