Where the hell..?

Before my eyes a very odd place revealed itself.

Right in front of me was a dirty and smelly river that quietly flowed under a small bridge. Around it I could see a few shabby looking huts with some people performing daily chores.

They didn't have the same, but certainly similar themed clothing like the guy from my dream. Instead of robes however, they were mostly wearing sturdy looking linen cloth. Not quite as sturdy as nano-fiber but good enough I suppose.

While observing is suddenly realised the absurdidty of the whole situation. It didn't make sense at all! I didn't reconize my surroundings at all. In fact there were almost no similarities to any place i'd ever been before.

First of all it was obviously not the room where I went to sleep last night. A possible if weak explaination would be that someone kidnapped me for unknown reasons. Clearly this theory had a lot of flaws. Why would someone bring break in my apartment just to kidnap me and bring me here? Without anyone staying back, questioning or even just talking to me? Highly unlikely.

The second and even more disturbing thing was that I had absolutely no idea where I was. The surrounding area didn't even vaguely resemble my old city. It looked more like a weird middle age town.

While I was lost in thought my sight fell on the river, and for the first time I took in my reflection. It was the reflection of girl! A pretty young girl at that, about 16 probably. The new me had matted black hair and piercing golden eyes. It also had a very scrawny and thin build. If not for the muddy feminine face I would probably not even be able to guess my gender. At least not that quick. Disturbed I closed my eyes.

No matter how crazy I was I had always been a guy! Still, despite the strangeness of the situation I knew I couldn't let myselft go. Right now was not the time for my troubled feelings. With that in mind I descisively pushed all of it in the back of head and started to look at the incident from a whole new perspective.

I'm in a completely foreign environment. I'm in a body that I have never seen before. A female body at that! Back home I had occasionally read a few novels with a similar plot. Could it be that transmigration is real? Could that have happened to me? Or something even stranger? That guy I killed. Jackson Noel. Could he have something to do with it? Once again I cursed my rash actions and the inabilty to interrogate him.

However with my current information I decided that right now there was a far more pressing issue. I was monstrously hungry. Not the "I'm going to starve" kind of hunger but far closer than I would like.

However there was a problem. How was I going to get food? I had already checked my few belongings for money but came up with nothing. Not a big surprise judging by my looks. I also noticed how terrible my handling of this new body really was. I didn't know if it was because I was too weak, or if I had to adjust to the new body, but either way I did absolutely not have the dexterity for a proper robbery.

So I had to get creative. Sigh.

Fortunately I wasn't far from a marketplace. The place was relatively small and judging by the sheer size of the rest of the city, it was very likely not the main market. However that was fine with me. In my eyes they were all just potential witnesses.

With a slight smile I aimlessly walked around the place in search of a fitting target. The people near me all had look of utter distrust in their eyes when I walked past them. I instantly knew that it would be foolish to believe that they would help a streetgirl like me. Just as expected.

In a leisurely pace I continued my search. At the edge of the market I almost stumbled over a fist sized stone obstructing my way. I silently cursed, but it also gave me an interesting idea. After checking if anyone was paying attention to me, I quickly picked up the stone and let it vanish into my pocket.

Not long after, a slight rain obstructed my vision and quickly I decided to take my chances at the local church. As the churchtower was the most prominent feature of the entire region, I had quickly spotted it even when I still was a few streets away. It also was one of the best kept building I had seen thus far. At least compared to the shacks from before. The main building was completely made out of rough stonebricks and on top sat a small bronze bell.

The door was wide open as if the priest was inviting me personally to come and listen to his preachings. A slight smile creeped on my face at that thought. I had never been religious, but even I was forced to admit that the church had quite an alluring charm to it. Besides, it was cold enough already, I really didn't want to be wet as well.

The inside wasn't inferior to the promising outside. Even though there were no gold ornaments or pompous figures like the churches from my previous life, it was still a sight to behold. There were benches made from the same dark type of wood as door and in combination with little golden elements here and there, it gave away a dignified and serene feeling. Quite impressive for such a small church. Sitting on the benches were a few people who were silently praying to whatever deity they believed in.

I quietly sat down among them and pretended to pray piously as well. In actuality I peeked out of my half-closed eyes and carefully observed them.

There were mainly families out for the morning prayer. Two rows left from me was a little girl arrogantly pointing her finger at me. Although she didn't say anything I could almost hear her thoughts. Probably something along the lines of 'What is this nasty looking girl doing here? Someone get the trash out!'.

A few rows before me was a older man sitting alone with closed eyes and piously praying. His greasy long hair fell down on his muscular shoulders. Most likely and ex worker. I mentally took note of him as a potential target.

Suddenly my observations were interrupted by a loud and charismatic voice that could easily be heard even by the people sitting away the furthest.

"Welcome believer! I'm delighted to see how many of you have made it despite the hard times we all are facing lately." The voice came from a middle aged man in priest robes. He had a doublechin and a warm smile on his face.

He looked like a kind oncle who would give you sweets and then tell you exciting bedtime stories. The crowd evidently thought so as well as everyone respectfully stood up and gave a slight bow in the priest's direction. Naturally I copied them.

"Oh and an especially warm welcome to everyone who's here for their first time", he continued. His eyes lingered in my direction.

Huh. Quite an observant guy, it seems.

I had no problem with that. In fact he looked like the perfect target for me so it was very good for me to have already been noticed. While he still looked at me I gave my best impression of an faithful believer.

Fortunately he didn't watch me for long. "God has gathered all of you today to celebrate the victory over the babaric ellorran tribes. Just before our gathering I received a message from our dignified bishop. He wishes us to rejoice and celebrate this important success for our religion and the lord of ashes himself!"

The priest took in a deep breath and a meaningful pause arose. The crowd however, wasn't rejoicing very much. A few looked relieved but most of them didn't react at all. Clearly they had their own problems.

Hurriedly the priest continued, "Of course the bishop also knows of your hardships and has assured, that now that we are in control of the vast southern resources, there will be a unprecedented rise in all of our living standards!"

Another deep breath to calm his nerves, "And in honor to this great achievement of our country we will be handing out a small taste of our future success. Today no one in this church will have to go home hungry, no today every single one of you will receive a full meal to help you in these times of great struggle!"

This statement immediately caused a slight commodation. Looks like I had been right and food handouts really were something special. Quite lucky for me as well. Hot food and possibly vital information all in one go! The war, he was talking about for example. If I was careful there might even be a way for me to profit of the peoples unrest!

For the rest of the preaching I was a lot more laid back and carefully listened to every bit of information he dropped. Naturally I had to filter the useful information from the religious beliefs, but I still found out about a lot more about my whereabouts and some common knowledge.

Apparently this country was called Lesotho empire and mainly ruled by an influential royal family. However someone also talked about a baron and the citylord, so it was save to assume that there was some sort of aristocracy as well.

Due to the war with the ellorran tribes and some other external factors the empire was going through a crisis of a magnitude that the region hadn't seen for centuries. It also didn't help that the old king died a mysterious death not too long ago, and without a clear successor the struggle for power was still ongoing.

Quite a fascinating dynamic all things considered.