I bolted forward and knocked into him, just hard enough that he stumbled. I gripped onto his cloak, and he shouted out in surprise. Wrapping my hands around his waist in the confusion, I felt around for- there it was. He was carrying around a coin purse. Despite my happiness, my eyes watered from the stench of sweat and spilled beer. This rain pour might have been the only shower he'd had in a while.

"Sir?" I cooed, gazing up at him. I pretended as though I was hugging him. His eyes finally found mine, dazed and drunk. As I gripped the purse, I realized it was held on by a poorly tied knot. "Might I have some food, sir?"

"Food? What-" He spat, trying to hold down the contents of his stomach, "Get off me you filthy urchin!" As he pushed me away, I placed my foot behind the back of his heel and at the same time positioned my fingers into the crook of the knot. The force and collision caused him to trip. With another confused shout, he fell backward. As he did, the knot came undone, and the purse slipped into my hands. I took off, leaping over a pile of stacked crates before curling into the crook of a doorframe near the bars back. I quieted my breath to listen. Angry mumbles followed casual, stumbling steps as he stood and walked away. He hadn't noticed I'd robbed him blind. That made my job easier. I stared down at the pathetic bag of coins.

There was a lesson I had learned all my years thieving and lying to survive.

If you want something once, steal it. If you want it again, become its owner.

It was a reminder that you could only get away with committing the same crime so many times. Eventually, people would start to recognize you or be on the lookout for you. The reason Lucas and I had moved into mind games, bribery, and shady politics is that it wasn't 'stealing'. If people handed it over to you, if they gave you the estate in your name, then it was yours. You could do whatever you wanted with it. That wasn't stealing. It was just...clever coercion.

It was important to recall that lesson now because I couldn't live off pickpocketing for however long I was here. It was no way to live surviving off the meager earnings of drunk men. Every time you stole the chances went up that one of them would notice.

I clenched my fist around the bag.

'Besides, it's humiliating.'

I was no sweet talker anyway. If I got caught, I'd be in hot water. Talking and looking pretty were always Lucas's job.

"Lucas..." I mumbled aloud.

I pushed the thought from my mind. I needed to stay focused.

My stomach growled, reminding me of my growing hunger. The cold wasn't letting up either; I had to find food, a clean pair of clothes, and ideally shelter.

Fast.

***

There were a few things I now knew to be true.

Firstly, the inhabitants of this place spoke the same language I did. I'd confirmed this after speaking with the drunk fool earlier.

Secondly, this place worked on a monetary system. I'd confirmed this after rummaging through the man's coin purse, and inspecting what seemed to be copper and silver pieces. This was a common fantasy trope. The copper was likely worth less than silver, and gold was probably next.

Third, I was a dirty street urchin. I could have told you that, but getting it yelled at my face was a hell of a way to confirm it. Moving around would prove difficult. If that guy's reaction is accurate, most people wouldn't want me anywhere near them or their businesses.

'Seems that is one similarity between this place and my world. People still think you can catch being poor.'

What I needed to do now was get cleaned up, and find some fresh clothing. If buying it was too suspicious, I would save people the trouble of getting me arrested for being poor and just take it from them in the dead of night.

My fingers twitched with anticipation. It had been a while since I'd been in the field like this. Nowadays I often left this sort of leg work to subordinates. I started stealing because I had to, but I continued doing it long after because I enjoyed the thrill and challenge. Of course, I remained cautious. Just because everything here appeared like a town from hundreds of years ago in 'The Duke Loves Me?' romance novel didn't mean that was the case. I had to keep an eye out for cameras, guards, traps, or anything else that would screw me over. It was even more dangerous since I could run into things I didn't recognize.

Shortly after I 'found' some cash, the rain stopped. I waited out the rest of the day until night fell by scouting around the area and drying myself in the sun. After standing on several rooftops and getting a good look at the layout, I realized I was near the very edge of a large city. Some sort of kingdom capital given the huge castle at the center. It stretched for miles, which was terrible for finding your way around in but great for hiding. All my years of practice made it an easy task to memorize the streets and buildings of the area I was in. I categorized the few blocks around me as location zero in my head, and then picked my target; a small general store only three streets down from where I woke up. I came across it while snatching a few loaves of bread from a baker at his stall. He'd been distracted while chatting with a cute errand girl. Through fistfuls of bread into my mouth, I saw through the windows of a nearby shop. It was full of people searching through bags, kitchenware, and simple clothing to purchase. Perfect.

Stolen novel; please report.

As the sun finally sunk past the horizon, the gold light cast over the city faded to a comfortable dark. I finished the last of my bread, which I saved for this moment. It would be a reputation stain if I got caught due to the rumbling of my stomach. Since people had mostly gone home and it was becoming difficult to see appearances, I took the wrap around my head off so my strange, red eye could be free.

Suddenly, with both eyes open everything looked much clearer, almost as if the sun came back up. Why was it so bright out?

Wait.

I covered up my left, red eye. Darkness. I removed my hand, opening it back up. Bright.

'...No way. How?'

I could see in the dark. More specifically, my creepy red eye seemed blessed with night vision.

A huge grin spread across my face. Was it my birthday? Christmas? I would've killed for a skill like this in my other body. Lucas was going to be so jealous-

My smile fell. The thoughts of home returned. The worries ate at the back of my mind even as I tried to ignore them. Right now I had bigger concerns, but waking up in an entirely different place in a strange, young body was hard to ignore. I thought again about what could've happened to me and came to the same, terrible conclusion.

I had died, and my soul reincarnated.

Something happened that night, during my celebratory victory drink with Lucas. Thinking back on it, I probably drank poison. But how? We were both so careful about everything we consumed. We rarely ate anywhere but at home. Sure, we'd been at a hotel that night, but everything had been carefully checked...by him.

Could it be?

'No.'

I pushed the idea from my mind. After everything we went through together, I felt ashamed for thinking about it. But if Lucas hadn't done it, then was the whole bottle spiked? Did he die too?

Could he be here in this world?

If I wanted answers, survival was priority number one. To heal this broken body and establish my place in this strange world. It probably wouldn't be too hard given how primitive this place looked. Still, that grand ambition started with getting dressed.

***

Reveling in my newfound night vision, I fiddled with the lock to the store using some nails I pried out of an old, rotting board. A disease waiting to happen if I got cut, but I didn't have the time to care. These clothes were no longer damp but still stiff and covered in grime. No progress could be made while wearing them.

The lock to the door twisted with a satisfying kerchunk. I reveled in the sound. Music to my soul.

That took less time than I thought it would. If this is what most of the security was like here, I just found a goldmine. Of course, part of my success came from not feeling around blindly in the dark. I could see where others couldn't.

'Unless night vision is common? Does everyone have it? It seemed tied to my left eye, and I didn't see anyone else with red eyes. All other eye colors were normal. Blue. Green. Gray. Brown. Unless it has nothing to do with eye color...'

I thought back over my experiences that day as I pushed open the door, slipping through the opening. It shut behind me. My senses were all on high alert as I took in my surroundings. First, I listened. Nothing of note. I wasn't being watched either. One of my greatest skills was the ability to tell if someone was looking at me. It even worked for cameras, manned or unmanned. That skill got me through so many high-security facilities, homes, and banks. I used it earlier to snatch bread on a busy street by timing it to the exact moment there were no eyes on me. I had no idea how I did it, and even if I did I would've only taught it to Lucas. We both guessed it was just some form of being hyper-aware.

'Such were the glory days.'

I shook my head, still coming to terms with the fact that I was scavenging for clothes. I liked sneaking around and causing trouble. Still, it was more satisfying to obtain rare jewels or precious intel. This was akin to the feeling of earning a Ph.D. and then going back to grade school; maddening. Depressing, even. There was no glory in being a starving child.

But I didn't have the time to mourn what I had lost.

The floor ached with each step around the store. I sneaked between rows of items and stocked up only on the bare necessities. Hopefully, nothing anyone would look closely enough to miss. I grabbed a pair of tan, cloth pants and a brown tunic, changing in the middle of the store. A shoulder bag proved a useful addition to the collection. It served to stuff rags and money away. Lastly, I picked up a short black cloak and stretchy white cloth I suspected was gauze. They would be for hiding my face and eye respectively. On my way out, I noticed something else. Tight black fabric wrapped into a ball, sitting in a basket by the entrance window. It looked useful for tying hair back, and, if I needed it, for binding my chest. I didn't know how women were treated in this world. If the views were as old-fashioned as the place looked, being a boy could prove advantageous. Not that it would be super useful for binding anyway. I was a washboard. Gone were the D-cups of old.

I picked it up, and tossed it in the air, opening my bag to catch it inside as it fell.

After trying it on, the cloak tied around my neck in a neat bow, and the hood completely shadowed my eyes. The cool night air rushed into the store as I opened the door. One problem with this escapade was no way to lock the door on the way out. I would have to risk my safety by fiddling with the pins again. Just as I knelt, wielding a handful of multiple sizes of nails, I realized the door was...locked. I pushed and pulled. It didn't open. How had that happened? Why wouldn't it have locked when I closed it behind me on the way in?

This would have to be a stroke of luck for now. I crept away from the building and back into the shadow, out of the moonlight. It would be nice to travel by rooftop at some point, but I expended a lot of energy today. My next goal was to head back to that bar and figure out where to stay for the night, how much the coins on me were worth, and get a decent meal.

The bread was nice, but I needed more. If I didn't continue to rest and eat, there was a real threat I could get seriously sick, or succumb to the elements. I wasn't interested in dying.

Not again, that is.