—Cough, Cough!
‘I never thought it would end like this…’
A battered young man who looked to be in his late teens thought to himself, blood oozing out from his nostrils and from the corner of his lips.
On a closer look, one could see how frail and thin the blonde hair youth was. Surprisingly, he was wearing a priest's outfit, which was now dirtied by blood and dirt.
The outfit had a carp-like symbol, something that depicted the honorable Aquas Dukedom.
If it were revealed to the people that a priest of the Aquas Dukedom was in this bloodied and battered condition, it would be considered a significant crime and might demand an immediate execution.
But as it is said, a person's worth depends on their capabilities. And the dying priest, Aster Von Aquas, was barely worth anything.
Even though he had a noble surname attached to his name, and none other than the surname of Duke Aquas, he was but a child of a servant of the Duke.
—Ack!
Aster clenched his teeth and grabbed his chest, which was burning with pain, making him feel like his heart was about to burst.
‘What did I ever do wrong? Just why must I suffer this endless torture?’
Feelings of indignation and remorse took over him as his eyes slowly started getting blurry, catching one last glimpse of the people responsible for his miserable condition, still snickering as if they had just gotten rid of a bug.
‘O’ the almighty Hourah! Is this how you treat your loyal followers? I demand… retribution to the people who …. Have wronged m—’
Before he could finish his thoughts, he succumbed to his mortal wounds.
________________________________________
Later that night, in the drainage channels of the Aquas Dukedom.
—Tap Tap!
The sound of droplets of water hitting the wet ground resounded in the cold and vacant sewers.
A few rats could be seen sniffing around at something which looked like a dead body.
The body of Aster Von Aquas, a son of the duke and a priest of the Aquas dukedom, lay lifelessly on the ground, covered in all sorts of waste dumped into the sewers.
It had been two days since his body was thrown into these sewers, and as regretful as it sounds, no one was looking for either him or his dead body.
A few more days and his body would start rotting; such was the fate of a person who died without even getting a proper burial.
The rats, who had been sniffing around him for food, started running away from the body frantically.
—Move!
The lifeless body, which had turned pale from blood drying, started to brighten again as if life was gushing forth in the pale corpse, a slight tinge of red passing through his cheeks and collarbone.
Aster’s finger started to twitch, and as if to showcase the rebirth of the fallen, his whole body shone with a golden aura, almost feeling like something out of divine folklore.
—Hah!
The corpse took a deep breath and choked on that breath.
—Cough! Cough!
And with one fell swoop, Aster’s body sat up.
Taking a few deep breaths, Aster started examining his body.
“Fuck, it stinks.”
The overwhelming stink of the sewers, which had attached itself to his body in the past two days, was enough to cause severe headaches to anyone with a sensitive nose.
After a few minutes to adjust to his own body, Aster muttered to himself.
“Sooooo….. Where the fuck am I?”
_________________________________________
After two hours of continuous walking, Aster finally found a way out of the sewers.
In the past two hours, he had realized the situation he was in, mostly thanks to the memories of the original Aster Von Aquas.
‘The dude was a masochist; why in the world would you take the surname of such a shitty father.’
Even though the situation was very weird, and possessing someone’s body like a ghost was even weirder, it wasn’t something that took him long to accept.
Funnily enough, his previous name was Aster too, and as cool as it may sound, he was named that way because his parents considered him a disaster and not a flower.
‘I’m not meant for familial love in any life, am I?’
Aster’s dad was unknown, and his mom was a junkie; she cared more about her own ‘stock’ than his food, making him self-aware and self-sufficient early in childhood.
Although it was kind of sad, he never overthought it, primarily due to the fact that his mother spent most of her life in rehabilitation instead of with him.
Like any proper kid, he turned to a life of crime and dealing with shady people he probably shouldn’t have. Although he did regret many things in his life, such as not getting a proper education, he had self-studied enough not to be called illiterate anywhere he went.
Ultimately, he died to the bullet of an underworld don just because he was found sleeping with his wife.
‘She was kinda hot.’
‘Definitely not worth my life, though.’
‘Oh well, I get to live again, at least, even if it’s in the body of a person sharing a shittier fate than me.’
Even though Aster’s previous life was…. Eventful. He ended up dying young, at the age of 26.
‘This guy is already 21.’
‘Let’s try to safely get past 26 this time around.’
“So, where am I supposed to go from here?’
Even though Aster was out of the sewers, he seemed to be on the outskirts of a forest.
Trying to look through his memories for a way back to the dukedom, he found out something interesting.
“THIS MOTHERFUCKER HAS NEVER GONE OUT OF HIS CITY!”
'Just what kind of hermit lifestyle was he living?'
Even though Aster was annoyed, he didn’t lose hope as he started fiercely running in the opposite direction of the forest.
Fifteen minutes later
—Haaagh!
—Haaaah!
Aster was huffing and breathing like an overworked donkey.
‘I am hungry.’
‘I am thirsty.’
‘I am tired.’
‘Should I just die again?’
—Ting!
“What?”
[Welcome, believer, I am a system designed by the almighty God Hourah to help you in your journey!]
A translucent purple-colored screen popped up in front of Aster, who was huffing like a dog.
“Give me water then.”
[....I can’t do that. Don’t you have anything to ask about me or the almighty Hourah who blessed you with an opportunity for rebirth?]
“If you’re oh so mighty, gimme some food at least.”
[....I can’t do that either. But—]
“You’re useless, aren’t you?”
[WHA—]
“Tsk, I knew all those system stories were exaggerated.”
After that, no matter what messages appeared on the translucent screen, Aster just walked while ignoring it all.
[Wait, wait. I can at least tell you the way back to the dukedom!]
Aster stopped in his tracks and raised an eyebrow.
“Are you sure? I am highly doubtful of your capabilities as a malnourished man rejected for food and water.”
As if to appease the doubtful Aster, the system immediately replied.
[Please just say map and check for yourself.]
Still acting a bit on guard, Aster complied.
“Map.”
A bigger translucent blue-colored screen popped up in front of him, showing what seemed like a zoomed part of a map.
He could see where he was on the map and the nearby locations marked with their name, including the Aquas Capital.
“Is the world just this small, or am I just seeing a part of the map?”
[You need to explore parts of the world before the map for that part becomes available for you.]
“Tsk, you are indeed useless.”
[.....]
The system remained silent for the whole duration of Aster’s trip back to Aquas Capital. He could see the large walls of the city even from a few miles away.
‘I truly have come to a different world, huh?’
Although he was playing it cool to keep his own heart from thinking useless stuff, it still hit him differently when he saw huge walls surrounding a city. So far, he had only seen forest or Barren land, both of which he had already seen in his previous life.
After a while, he reached the city gates, which were fairly crowded by both citizens and guards alike.
As soon as he entered the crowd, people started frowning and covering their noses, their faces twisting in disgust from the unbearable smell coming from Aster’s body.
‘I totally forgot about the stink.’
The guards who saw him didn’t bother to stop or identify him. Aster was the infamous trash, the only sin of Duke Aquas. Although most people despised him, a lot of them would rather not bother with him than have anything to do with him.
Aster was surprised at how easily he got through the city towards the duke’s manor.
It wasn’t like he didn’t get unpleasant looks and such from the people. He was just surprised about the fact that none of the guards tried to pick a fight with him.
‘Those web novels have ruined my sanity.’
Half an hour later,
Aster looked at the building with two cone tops in front of him, with a logo of a snake coiling around a sword.
Aquas’ Church of Hourah.
The church Aster was a part of and the only place he could call his home, even if only in name.
First