Chapter 4: Finally Entering Town

It's still late at night. I decided to do my plan tonight rather than in the morning. I'm wearing now the clothes of a merchant. I shaved my beard. Cut my hair short but left it messy. I cleaned myself near a river but crawled again in dry dirt. My slave collar that I thought would be easily removed didn't budge one bit. I think only magic can free me of this which is pretty impossible since mages here are held high and even some are of nobility. When they see me with a slave collar they would immediately imprison me. I can't take that chance. I wrapped my neck almost covering every space in it including the slave collar and put some blood onto it to make it look like I was injured and hide this slave collar.

'Keep Calm. You can do this.'

'I'M READY!'

"HELP!!! HELP!!! SOMEBODY HELP!!!" I screamed while running towards the guards guarding the entrance of the town. "HELP ME! "

"STOP!" One of the guard shouted.

"Who are you and what's your business here?!" the other guard said

"My caravan! We were ambushed by wolves! I'm the only one who got away! Quickly, save them! Here! some gold coins! Go and save them! My products are also there!"

The guards looked at each other before taking the pouch filled with coins. They're only a few small coins compared to the money I hid somewhere deep in the forest. They were platinum coins. 1 platinum coin equals 100 gold coins which makes me wonder why a small caravan has someone who owns such riches. The platinum coins I hid was 50 in all which means i currently have 5000 gold coins and still that doesn't include the few platinum coins I hid in my clothes, the pouch of gold coins I openly hang near my waist and the numerous gold and silver coins I left in the caravan. No matter what it's better that I didn't bring them with me and hid them in the forest. I'll just get them back tomorrow. First, I need to get inside this town.

"Its already this deep at night and if what you said is true about how many the wolves were with 3 alphas then everyone probably died. The least we can do is let you enter town and bring you to an inn then we'll join you tomorrow to get your products."

That's right. I exaggerated the numbers of wolves and the number of alphas. I made sure to make them believe there was no chance of survival of other people in the caravan. My escape can be left to good fortune. I can finally enter town but I still need to act like I care about the people that 'needs saving'.

"But those people left! T-they're dead!? Sob sob." Tsk in front of gold coins these guards are willing to accommodate me but not willing to save people.

"I understand now, please guide me to the Inn. I'm. feeling weak and can't hold on to anymore. The pain of leaving the people behind is too painful! sob sob"

After that one of the soldier guided me to the inn and left.

I had trouble remembering my name. I got used to be calling a slave that i forgot my name. What I said was "Emmanuel". That's my name now, my new identity. A merchant who lost his caravan and after regaining his products started to settle in this town and live the rest of his life here. That's my plan. Going back to earth? I don't even hope anymore. What can I do? I'm just a normal person that has been transferred here. At most I can be a merchant and try to love my life as peaceful as ever.

"My name is Emmanuel." I told the innkeeper when she asks.

I gave her a gold coin which is 100 silvers. She was surprised to see a gold coin. She looked at me more respectfully now. I planned to stay here for 10 days. I think that's enough time until I can buy a house and start business. With the money I got, it would be easy to start a business. The problem is maintaining it though. I don't know how to run a business but has some knowledge of it from when I was a slave listening to all the talks of my merchant master. 1 silver per night including meals. So she gave back 90 silvers though it took some time for the innkeeper. She led me to my room, told me the schedule of my meals and went away.

'FINALLY!'

I shouted in my mind. The innkeeper probably is wondering why my neck is like this but the slave collar should never be seen by anyone.

This room has a bath! No warm water but a bath is still a bath. When I was a slave I was only allowed to take a bath once a week. Now I can do it everyday without worrying.

I took my time bathing. Making sure to scrub every dirt, every smelly part of my body. Ah this is wonderful. I thought back to the days I endured my own smell and that made me frown. I forced myself to stop thinking about the past. I need to plan for the future.

After I took a bath I laid down on the bed for the first time. It was very comfortable unlike the wooden bed I had. Sometimes there's no bed to sleep in when I'm traded to some of my poorer master. The floor was my bed. It's nice to sleep in a soft bed. Sigh. *drip* drip*

"What is this? Am I actually crying? it's been a long time. Is this tears of joy? I can't even remember the last time I cried. It's been so long. The hell I was living in was too long and too painful. I'm finally free? ...Not yet. I still need to remove this slave collar ....and soon."

"I can afford to voice my thoughts now. Being a slave means not really allowed to speak or else they would use that against you to abuse you more. It's better to pretend to be an empty husk of a shell that obeys the commands of your master."

"But still I should still be careful about talking about my past. My past, my old world and my old life. ... ... ...

They're all gone now. Starting tomorrow. Let my past self die while I'm sleeping so when I wake up Emmanuel will start his life.