Holding a bloodied dagger in his right arm, Anno walked along the street of the small village. He could see a pair of armed men who belonged to his house set fire to one of the peasant's houses. This week was sunny and warm, thus the thatched roof caught fire instantly.

Men are dissatisfied. Anno thought.

He knew the reason for their dissatisfaction. This settlement was empty. Why? Because peasants weren't idiots. They knew that the army of invaders encamped nearby. It was obvious that the armed men would visit them. The locals simply grabbed their belongings, food and left the village with their livestock. As a result, there was almost nothing to loot in the empty village.

Walking, Anno glanced at an old man. He sat on the rock that stood in front of his tiny house whose walls were made of earth. It was a very cheap dwelling. Peasants could rebuild such houses quite quickly.

The front door was open. The old man observed what was happening around him without saying anything.

Not everyone was strong enough to run away or cared to do that, though no one was going to hurt this man. It was just pointless.

Anno reached the center of the settlement and saw his father - lord Elian. He, sitting on his large battle horse, observed as his men tried to find something valuable in the empty village.

Lord Elian was a tall, strong-looking man. Father was armed with a spear. A shield with a family crest - a green wild boar on the white field – and a one-handed battle axe were attached to the saddle. He wore armor (a helmet, a chain mail and mail leggings).

Anno's real name was Maximilian Fink (family and friends called him simply “Max”) and he was born in another world, called “Earth”, in which the time of cold weapons was gone centuries ago.

Max “woke up” in the body of Anno Brightbrave (who had fallen from a horse and likely died lying unconscious in the bed) fifteen days ago.

At the beginning it wasn't easy to believe in the fact that he had transmigrated, as well as accept his new identity. But did Max have a choice? He didn't. The local society was like the medieval society on Earth. It was absolutely hierarchical. The social status of parents determines the entire life of their children. There was simply no place for Max beyond his current social class.

He was forced to accept the new identity. Fortunately, Max got not only Anno's body but also his knowledge, memory and skills. It helped a lot to adapt to the new world and behave exactly like the previous owner of the body.

The Brightbrave house was a noble family which owned a fief. It consisted of a walled town, named “Woodwall”, and some other settlements on their territory.

Anno Brightbrave was eighteen years old. He had a brother and two sisters.

Previous Anno could barely read and write. But it was more than enough to be considered as an educated person. The young man liked weapons, horses and women. Many said that he was growing into a fine knight.

Max didn't want to follow this path. Therefore, he began to change his behavior but did it gradually. No rush changes – otherwise people around him (servants first) would notice them and could begin talking, giving birth to different (but unlikely good) rumors.

Charlotte Brightbrave was the eldest among children. Three years ago she became a wife of a knight. Frankly, not a prestigious marriage to the Brightbrave house but Charlotte didn't have a lot of marriage proposals. Besides, as Anno knew, the knight was wealthy and requested a small dowry. Perhaps he truly loved her?

Fabian Brightbrave was an elder brother. A few months ago he went hunting, got injured and died. Hunting was an important activity for a nobleman but it had never been a safe one. This is how Anno became an heir of the Brightbrave house and inherited Fabian's marriage contract with lady Alinta Leitner. Her family was okay with a new groom.

Anno's and Alinta's marriage was postponed due to mourning at first - then due to the war.

Emilia Brightbrave was the youngest. She was a tender flower of ten years old. People said that she was growing up as a proper lady.

Two mounted knights and a small group of armed servants accompanied lord Elian. Both knights wore armor - no worse than their liege. They were vassals of the Brightbrave house.

Sir Jesper Honeywood was an excellent bowman of twenty two years old. He owned “Peacegrove”, the small village that was located deep in the forest. Its dwellers were beekeepers mostly. He was married and had two sons who were left home due to their young age.

Honey was sir Jesper's main source of income. His nickname was “honey knight” due to the surname and the fact that the knight often smelled of forest and honey. His family crest was a golden bee.

Sir Helmut Axeholder was a middle-aged man. He had three sons who all died in battles, only a daughter was left whom he sought a good spouse. His wife died many years ago.

Sir Helmut owned “Ironground”, the village that was situated next to a marsh where the locals gathered and sold bog iron, turf and medical herbs.

The old knight hated mosquitoes, because he believed that they were a true scourge of humanity. His nickname was “swamp master” due to the location where he lived. His family crest was a wild rosemary plant.

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Anno approached his father who questioned him. “Why are you holding a bloodied dagger, Anno? What happened?”

At that moment Anno realized that he continued to clench the dagger after... His first murder.

The blood belonged to the old madwoman. She, holding a mummified head of a dog in her right arm, came out of nowhere and started to curse Anno and his servant when they wandered around the settlement. The woman wore rags and several amulets made of hay, bones and herbs.

Hans, Anno's personal servant, got scared! But not because he was a coward. Hans, like everyone in this world, believed in magic – even if it was just a superstition. Magic was real for him. He thought that a curse had real power, especially said by a witch or sorceress (and the old woman looked like one!). It was a dangerous threat in his eyes. Previous Anno believed in magic as well.

Max didn't even realize how he just stepped forward, pulled out his dagger and pierced the old hag's chest a few times. He did it very quickly. Previous Anno, as a future knight, was trained to kill from childhood. He knew how and where to stab.

“I killed... A witch, father.”

He told him what had happened. Lord Elian ordered the body of the vicious woman to burn. Also, Anno was told to visit a priest when they would return to the military camp, because everyone knew that witches were malicious. She could curse her killer.

But there was one thing about which Anno didn't tell anyone. When he killed that mad woman, all of a sudden the young man received a message from the system! It informed Anno that it was damaged, and only the soul of a sentient being that was sacrificed to the system by the host had helped it to repair itself. Then the menu was displayed. It was unusual. There was nothing to level up (no stats like strength, agility or intelligence). The system rewarded with money and offered a possibility to heal yourself and others from diseases and wounds for souls of sentient beings.

“Sentinel beings” meant humans, Anno believed. He doubted that the system meant animals.

Hans brought a horse to his young master. It was as large as lord Elian's.

Anno gave his dagger to his servant who hurried to clean it from blood and return the weapon to its owner.

The young nobleman mounted the horse. He could see that the roofs of more houses began to burn.

Anno, sitting in the saddle, also started to observe how their men were ransacking the village's houses. They were empty, of course, but there was always a chance to find a fowl in the recently empty settlement. Peasants could simply forget an animal or it could get lost on the way and return home. It was an additional meat to a meal. No one would refuse it.

During these fifteen days, Max more or less used to robbery and such scenes like this one. It almost stopped bothering him.

The Brightbrave house was a part of the army (that represented the southern noblemen) of grand lord Alphonse Fuchs which seventeen days ago had invaded the central region of their kingdom and moved towards the capital, meeting almost no resistance on the way.

At the moment the army camped beside Harefield to rest, resupply and repair equipment and carts. The town was situated on the road to the capital and beside the river that was used as a trade route by many merchants. The settlement paid the tribute (in the form of food, wine, money, jewelry, rolls of fabric, metal bricks and wood) to not be attacked and robbed. The southerners - like hungry locusts - began to plunder and forage the surrounding territory. Men needed loot and army food.

All of a sudden sir Jesper exclaimed. “My lord, look at the hill!”

The knight pointed at two horsemen who were galloping towards the village. They were the sentries whom lord Elian had left on the nearest hill to watch the vicinity.

“Blow the horn!” The lord barked an order instantly.

Next second everyone could hear a piercing sound in the village. It was a signal to their men to gather around their liege.

In a while both horsemen stopped their mounts and one of them exclaimed. “Armed men are coming here, m'lord!”

“More than us?”

Their men didn't know how to count. It was the best question to determine the enemy's numbers.

“Aye!”

He said that not confidently. It was good. It could mean that the difference in numbers wasn't big.

“Do they have a banner, Ludwig?” Lord Elian asked the same sentry.

The fief of the Brightbrave family maintained a professional army of twenty men-at-arms. Each one received a salary. Lord Elian also provided his men with the best armors, weapons, mounts, food and wine.

Father valued these men. No wonder he knew their names.

“Aye, they have.”

But Ludwig couldn't describe it. The banner which they carried was wrapped around the pole.

“Do they have armored men?”

It was an important question. An armored man = a professional warrior. A novice should earn money (survive in battles) to buy armor for himself, because no one would give it to an experienced warrior.

“Aye!”

Anno patted the neck of his mount to calm the animal down, because the horses of other riders started to snort nervously.

“Do they have more armored men than we?”

“Nay, we have more.”

It was good. Their own men, the men of their vassals and the men from Woodwall had armors but the cart drivers.

Anno noticed a small group of horsemen who appeared on the hill. The enemy stopped and started to observe the settlement and the armed men within.

Lord Elian commanded to leave the village. The fire was spreading. The houses stood very close to each other.

+++

Somewhere in the Void

The Entity was pleased. “Systems” were his/her idea. Sometimes he/she gave them to mortals around the multiverse. They loved to get stronger and earn rewards. It turned out that no mortal could resist such temptation. He/She knew that very well. The hosts always continued to kill other sentient beings. They served as good gatherers of souls for the Entity.

But the best ones were those who transmigrated or who were transported into another world from Earth. These guys hesitated rarely. As a rule, they began to kill (or “level up” as they called it) gleefully without any encouragement.

Unfortunately, sometimes a system could be damaged due to different reasons and required additional life energy to be activated, like it had happened with the newest host. As expected, a kill helped to fix the problem of that system and it finally activated.

The Entity took from the Void a frightened soul from his/her storage and put it in his/her mouth. Hearing its screams, the Entity began to chew. The soul was tasty.

The Entity was pleased. Soon a new host also would begin to gather souls for him/her.

+++

It turned out that the armed men who were moving towards the village (which Brightbrave house was robbing) were mercenaries who headed to the camp of the southerners. They sought a service. Their leader was a landless knight whose banner carried his servant.

Lord Elian led his men deeper into the central region. Their detachment had over forty men and could protect itself.

During several days they found a tiny village, a few farms and smallholdings with dwellers. After gathering loot and captives, they headed back to the camp.