Issue #1-Chapter 1: Worst Life in the New World I

I stood up from the ground and I felt something hard as stone below me.

Huh? What the-?

I looked down below and saw myself not only barefooted but also wearing some torn up brown clothes. Yet for some reason, my feet weren't dirty-they were sparkling clean.

I widened my eyes out of shock. I breathed hard as my heart began to pound hard on my chest. I combed my hair back a couple times at first, rocking my head back and forth.

No, freakin' way! Why the hell am I dressed like a poor person?! I'm pretty sure I was born n' raised middle class n' Texas!

But now I'm dressed up like a poor person?! This can't be happenin', can it?! Is this my punishment from God for failin' to believe n' His existence before I died from this weird ass disease n' the hospital?!

Realizing I needed to cool down, I closed my eyes and took a couple deep breaths. I returned my attention to the street with a serious look on my face.

Alright, Mike. Time to get goin'. We jus' need to find out what this place is, n' figure out how to get out of this mess.

Swallowing my spit, I then walked towards the end of the street, looking both ways. I saw more vendors and people going on about their business while children played with one another. Most of the buildings in this street were small to medium sized with some dark colors on the rooftops. People continued to chat with one another, vibrating the entire street.

When I took a look around though, all I saw were the picture signs above the stores and street vendors. There was no language written on them at all.

When looking at those signs, I wondered why they were pictures with no written words on them. Could it be that the people of this new world were illiterate? If they were, what language did they speak here? All these questions were formed inside my mind.

Let's go ask some questions.

I turned to the woman wearing a green dress and headed towards her. "Um, excuse me. Can you-"

The moment the woman saw me and looked down at my outfit, she expressed her disgusted face, closed her eyes and turned her head around away from me. "Hmph!"

She just walked past me and didn't even bother answering my question. I glared at her with my eyes narrowed.

What a rude bitch! Why the hell did she look at me like that?!

Then I turned to the man wearing his light brown clothes, repeating the same statement. Yet the man looked at my face and outfit out of disgust, shoving me out of the way. "Get lost, would ya?!"

I sucked my teeth at him and gritted them when I glared at him.

This bastard, too?! Ugh, screw him! I'll ask another one, but hopefully someone's nice enough to answer my question this time.

When I turned to the shop vendor selling some apples, a couple people were buying some apples from him and they said and waved their good-byes to him. After the shop vendor did the same to his customers however, he studied my face and clothing and glared at me, seeing stood there near his shop. "You! Get away from my shop!"

"But wait"-I put my hand out forward-"I jus' wanna ask a question, that's all!"

"I said, 'Get away from my shop,' before I report your ass to the guards!"

I pushed the air forward a couple times. "Okay, okay, okay! I'll get goin'!" Then I turned around and moved my head left with an angry face. "Gheesh!"

Once the shop vendor returned to taking the customers' orders, I walked forward with a frown on my face. Oh, man…why the hell are people so rude to me jus' because I'm poor?

"Excuse me, young man," the old man's voice echoed behind me.

I turned around and saw an old, bald man who was skinny-in fact, too skinny-wearing the same kind of clothes as me and was also barefooted; his feet were more bruised. He was dark skinned, probably from being outside all day, and his beard was as white as snow. He had a giant wart on his cheek, wrinkles under his eyes and on his forehead, and his brown eyes darted at me.

"Yes?" I asked.

"You're not from around here, are you?" The old man questioned back.

"Oh, no. Of course, not. And you?"

"I moved here, in the kingdom of Basilia, two days ago."

"Oh, I see…" I examined my surroundings for a moment there.

So this place is called Basilia, huh? I've never heard of or been to this place before in my life.

"I jus' came here from Ashville, Texas."

The old man looked puzzled. "Ashville, Texas? Where's that? I've never heard of such a place."

"It's in another place where I grew up with…in another world."

"Ah, I see…"

"Where are you from?"

"I come from the Kingdom of Campestria."

"Campestria, huh? Never heard of it. Anyway, can you tell me why the people here are so rude to me?"

"People here look down on the poor and homeless. Street vendors dislike poor and homeless people just standing near them without an interest of purchasing their products for they steal from them."

"In this kingdom?"

"Yes."

"Ah, I see…"

Well, that explains it. It jus' sucks that people treat you like crap because of your physical appearance. And…I've never been homeless n' my entire life until now. That's jus' great!

"And is that how people treat the poor where you come from?"

"Nope, not that I know of."

"Ah, okay. Cool."

Great…I wish I'm reincarnated there instead of this piece of shit kingdom.

"And do you know how I get out of poverty exactly?"

"I think so," the old man answered as he turned around and moved his head right. "Follow me."

I did as soon as the old man led the way. "There's only two," he continued, "First, you could either join the local Adventurer's Guild, or…"

A Local Adventurer's guild?! After bein' reincarnated as a poor, homeless man?! Not a chance! I'll be reincarnated worse than my current position if I die there. I wouldn't blame this guy for not workin' there to die either. Simply no way! Luckily there's a second option. I wonder what that is. I hope it's better than an Adventurer's Guild.

"You can go find employment here," the old man continued.

Finding employment, huh? Not a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all.

"Alright, well, finding a job here it is," I decided when facing the old man. "And what street am I on? I have no idea where I'm at."

"Oh, why this here is Agoma Street," the old man answered. "If you want, I'll take you on a tour of this kingdom and help you find a job to work alongside me here."

I grinned at him. "Yea, that'll definitely be awesome. Thank you, uh..."

"Gideon," the old man answered. "Call me Gideon. And you're welcome." Gideon closed his eyes with a grin, before turning back to his destination. "And you are?"

"Mike's the name," I replied.

"Mike…nice to meet you, Mike."

"Well, it's a pleasure meetin' ya too, Gideon." I smiled when Gideon gave me a tour around the kingdom of Basilia, hoping I would get hired and get the hell out of poverty.

With evening almost hitting twilight, I frowned and sat on the ground after searching for a job. I stared at a couple wooden bowls in front of me while people just walked past me.

I watched Gideon's bowl while he went searching for the new candle, since his candle was beginning to go out soon. So far I only received no coins. That's right, zero! When I looked inside Gideon's bowl though, I saw that he only had a few coins in there. I couldn't believe it in my own eyes.

Even though I enjoyed Gideon's tour, I failed to get a job in this new world, even with his help. Gideon didn't know nor expected that employers in this shitty kingdom only judged a person's physical appearance just to get a job interview.

Now I understood why Gideon remained unemployed and homeless. Gideon and I were desperate to get out of poverty and couldn't live in there forever.

I widened my eyes, combed my hair numerous times and rocked my head back and forth, breathing hard out of panic.

Oh, great…my job hunting has been a complete disaster! No one hired my ass due to my physical appearance! Now even begging for coins sucks, because no one wants to give me any money.

I looked up at the sky and was still frowning, pretending to cry.

Why do I have to be reincarnated as a poor, homeless man?! Why can't I jus' be reincarnated as middle class at least, like I was back in my old world?!

I returned my attention to the bowl and people still just walked past me; my bowl was still empty. I reperformed my same behavior as before.

Oh, I wish I hadn't died from that weird disease in my old world. I miss my good old middle class life. Of course, my parents were control freaks, but at least I didn't struggle to survive as compared to now. I'm guessing I really am in Hell after all.

Then I stopped rocking my head and took a couple of deep breaths in order to calm myself down.

"Um, are you alright, Mike?" A familiar old voice said near me.

I immediately looked up and saw Gideon walking towards me.

I sighed when looking down, frowning. "No…"

Gideon was going to ask me a question until he saw my empty bowl. "Aaah…I see…" He turned his head back to me and sat beside me.

I watched him sit near me and placed his bowl right in front of him. "Here ya go."

Gideon turned back to me and grinned. "Why thank you, Mike."

"No problem. So how's your search for the new candle?"

Gideon nodded. "No good, no good. I searched everywhere here and they were either sold out or nowhere to be found."

"I see…" I turned to my bowl and frowned, sighing. "I still can't believe we wouldn't get hired because of our physical appearances and people still wouldn't give me money. "

The old man frowned at me, patting my back, rubbing it. "Oh, don't beat yourself too hard, my friend. It takes time and patience for people to give you money. You'll receive luck. I can guarantee you that."

Highly doubt that…

Then he returned his attention to the crowd walking past me and him, continuing, "Maybe we'll get hired if we can find some decent clothes."

"And how am I supposed to do that then? I can't afford that shit right now," I skeptically said when I looked at him.

"Maybe you can get some clothes from the bath houses. I'm sure you'll be able to find a job then."

"But what about the churches here? Don't they also provide the poor necessities?"

"They do, but they're very slow due to lack of staff there to pull it off. Plus, it takes longer for the clothes to be completely made and cleaned."

I frowned as if I was completely out of hope. Oh, you gotta be kiddin'...

"Alright, clothes from the bath houses it is then," I said as I was about to stand up from the ground.

"Wait, I would recommend you do it tomorrow morning though," the old man suggested. "It's getting dark, people are heading home for bed and the guards will be out patrolling the night; no one's allowed to leave unless it's an emergency. And besides, there would be no clothes in the backyard of the bathhouses and the bathhouses would be closed anyway."

"You can't be serious…"

"There's no joke about that unfortunately."

I frowned even more. "Great…" Then I got rid of my frown. "So Gideon."

"Hmm?"

"You said you've been here for a couple days, yeah?"

"Yes, that's right. And?"

"How come you aren't wearing any decent clothes and finding a job there? Why didn't you take me to the bathhouse and we steal from there together today? Did you have a difficult time stealing clothes from the bath houses or something?"

"Oh, that? Well, the one I found earlier was way too busy, which means too many people for me to steal. I tried searching for others and found none so far. So I'll wait for the right time, and I didn't take you to there today as I was giving you the tour of the place."

I grinned at Gideon. "I see."

"We should go there tomorrow, hopefully with less people there this time."

"Yeah, me too."

As soon as my stomach grumbled, I looked down at it and placed my hands on it, rubbing it. Oh, great. Now my stomach's growlin'. I stood up from the ground and scanned my surroundings, seeing no food around. Better go elsewhere n' get something to eat, I guess.

I looked down at the old man. "I'm goin' to go find somethin' to eat." I looked down at Gideon's bowl. "Is that enough money to get somethin' to eat?"

Gideon looked down at his bowl. "Oh, no. This wouldn't do, not even for a loave of bread."

I frowned at Gideon for a moment there.

Looks like I gotta steal some food, do I?

"You've got to be kiddin' me. Well, can you keep an eye on my bowl then?"

"Uh, Mike, I-" the old man said, placing my still empty bowl under his. "Perhaps you could have me as your assistance." He stood up from the ground and picked up the bowls from the ground. "Let me go with you."

"No thanks, I'm fine," I said, waving at the old man. "I think I know where to go though now."

Yea, I'm not gonna have this old man slow me down. Not happenin' in a lifetime, bro.

"But-"

"I said I know where I'm goin'. I would be fine, Gideon. I'm sure of it."

"Are you sure? I mean, you've only been here for a day."

"Yea, I'm positive."

"Oh, alright then. I'll see you when you return." The old man sighed and watched me walk away from him, sitting back down and placing the bowls back on the ground.

"You too."

While I walked forward past people near me, I moved my eyes sideways and heard people continuing to echo their chit chats. Alright, food, here I come.

I looked everywhere for food and couldn't find it, until I spotted a vendor cooking and selling kebabs towards a couple of her customers. My stomach growled at me without patience. I relooked down at it, touching and rubbing it. "Alright, alright, alright. I'll go get some food, so be patient, will ya?!"

Closing my eyes, I sighed and took a deep breath. Once I reopened them, I gave that store a serious look on my face. Time to go get some food, dammit. If beggin' doesn't work, stealin's my only viable option. There's no other way out of this.

I waited for and saw two women arrive at that vendor's shop-a perfect opportunity for me to steal some kebabs. I smirked at first. Perfect! Let's go!

I quickly walked towards the shop and investigated each kebab without anyone noticing me, hearing the customer's chatting with the vendor. I was about to grab a couple of kebabs, till the vendor saw and turned her head towards me, glaring at me.

The vendor quickly grabbed my arm. "Hey! Where the hell do you think you're doing?!"

People around me looked at the vendor and me, curious of what was going on. I widened my twitchy eyes and my heart pounded harder than ever before.

The vendor studied her surroundings and saw a couple knights standing in the middle of the path, calling the guards to come over towards me. I quickly widened my eyes and turned to the guards.

The guards heard the vendor's cry and glared at me, getting ready to walk towards me. I turned to the kebabs and the guards coming towards me back and forth.

Oh, man! This is bad! This is really, really bad! I better think of gettin' the hell out of here before the guards catch me. But how would I do that? How?