Am I dead?
Is this heaven?
Yaro opened his eyes and was overwhelmed by the sudden brightness. After being submerged in darkness for what felt like an eternity, every sensation was unique and strange.
What is going on?
Yaro blinked a few times, before gaining his bearings. He was standing in a small, empty room. Well, empty except for one other person.
There was an ostentatiously dressed youth staring at him. His features were hawkish and striking, and there was a thick book open in his hands.
From a glance, Yaro instinctively disliked the youth.
Is there a need to wear such bright red clothing? Are you worried no one will notice you?
Yaro’s mind was in chaos. He was a painter who should have been famous, but was forced to languish in obscurity and self-medicate with illegal drugs. How did he end up in this room?
What was that darkness from before?
Why was he being stared at?
Yaro added another reason to why he did not like the youth. Mind your own damn business! Do I look like a circus sideshow to you?
Yaro tried to piece together the chronology of events. What did he last remember?
All he knew was that a moment ago…or was it a long time ago? What had happened to him?
His memories were distorted. There was something he was missing…
In any case, what he remembered was that he had been driving home to his bachelor’s pad after a night of drinking alone…then the last thing he saw was a bright light and loud sound…he had been taking a left turn on a green light, and now?
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I really have died! Damn it!
And the gap in between? Something occurred after being hit by the car, but what was it? The reincarnation process?
Am I in a new world, or is this my old familiar blue planet?
Wait…is this a hoe in my hand? Am I a farmer?
“You are Number 5, a lawslave of this Lord Kilsov,” the youth proclaimed in a loud voice. The words were not in Yaro’s language, but he somehow understood them.
I am a lawslave?
Yaro was confused but he did not speak.
Wasn’t slavery already abolished? The sensibilities of this youth were really…medieval! And why was he addressing himself in the third person?
Ah, was it a different world after all?
Or a different time? The past? The future?
Lord Kilsov frowned. “Bad physique, the soul of a mortal? What a horrible summoning,” he muttered to himself. Shaking his head, he addressed Yaro again.
“The rules are as follows:
“Rule One: You must follow the command of every lawslave ranked higher than you.
“Rule Two: You must forage or feed the Devil Flower every day. When you forage, you must bring me the results. You will earn your meal from the worth of your forage or the improvement of the Devil Flower.
“Rule Three: You may not harm myself, nor any of the other lawslaves.
That is all.”
As the youth finished talking, Yaro felt an odd feeling, as though he had been bound to follow the three ground rules. They were now as immutable as gravity and the other natural laws.
New world! New world! New world!
There was no chance that such magic existed on the blue planet!
A moment later, Yaro felt indignant. Wait! You aren’t going to say any more? I was just dragged here from a completely different world, and you are going to leave me in the dark?
What is a lawslave? What is foraging? A Devil Flower? What is the name of this world? Summoning? What is summoning?
Can I summon something?
Yaro was left with many questions to add on to the basic ones he had, like where he was and how he had gotten there.
Should I ask this Lord Kilsov any of these questions? Or will that put me in danger?
If he is the ‘Lord’ and I am his ‘lawslave’ then isn’t there a bit of a power imbalance?
I could be whipped for speaking out of turn! Or worse…
What sort of reincarnation is this?
Yaro had come to grips with the fact that he had died. He also understood that he was in a new body and on a new planet, but he was still struggling with the rest of the details.
Before he could finish digesting all of the new information, Lord Kilsov spoke again.
“Come with me.”