Thankfully that night one of the farmers, a man with black short hair and an easy smile, saw me trying to sleep on a patch of grass, looking miserable, and offered me his barn to sleep in. All according to plan. I thanked the man, who nodded and left.

Okay, I don't usually feel much of anything, but I have to admit I was grateful. I'll have to pay back the favor.

The next day I offered to help with the farming, all the while trying to learn the language.

I gotta say, stabbing the earth is definitely more satisfying than being a software developer and having to deal with management and customers. Almost makes me feel alive again, almost. Tiring work for my weak wage-slave muscles, though.

Yeah, I really felt alive the next day… when all my muscles were aching like crazy. Maybe I should have hit the gym beside watching tv series, playing games and reading novels. Too late now. The suffering had begun.

Anyway, Erne, the farmer who is letting me sleep in his barn, has two kids and a chestnut haired daughter. The eldest son is the only old enough to help with the farm, the other two are still children playing around, making noises. The usual child things. I have yet to meet the wife, assuming she’s alive, I don’t even know how to ask about it and it’s best not to touch touchy topics, just in case.

I tried talking to the Creator, but if he heard me he didn’t give any reply so far. I bet he’s enjoying having me squirm around clueless. Yeah, that sounds about right.

I’m still wondering if I died while sleeping, or maybe I entered a coma and am slowly dying. Welp, too bad I guess, I won’t have to attend SCRUM meetings anytime soon.

Since nobody understands my language here, while working the fields, I started humming the catchy tunes from my world but replacing the actual words with swear words. You see swearing is part of the work process for us developers, I can’t talk about others, but I wouldn’t have been able to do my job without muttering a continuous stream of profanities. It’s like a mantra for me. Unfortunately, the kids had sharp ears and soon started imitating my blasphemous tunes. When I heard them, my heart skpped a beat.

Boy, I really hope no one here ever learns the actual meaning of those words, especially their father.

I also attempted to communicate with the neighbors, but for the most part, they try to avoid me, which is pretty much expected, I too would be wary of strangers that don’t speak my language. I guess Erne is just a better person than me.

I wonder if there are elves and monsters and magic. So far this world has been quite mundane and low-tech. I miss the internet, the shitposting forums and the other… more questionable things.

This place seems pretty boring, I should find myself a job and start making money. I’ll have to ask Erne if there are bigger settlements around, with markets, jobs and whatever. Now, how should I pantomime that? I’ll think about it tomorrow.

The next day I awoke to the kids’ screeches of joy, I walked toward the ruckus and I met a chestnut-haired woman with a ponytail. The farmer’s wife, Berel. She was unloading goods from a caravan and was hugging her kids. When she saw me coming out the barn she glanced at me with a look of inquiry, she asked me something but I understood nothing of it. Thankfully her husband intervened and filled her in on my situation.

I helped her unload the goods. I think I’ll ask her to join the caravan next time, I’m starting to get antsy here. I’m in another world, I want to do interesting stuff damn it!

I had to endure a whole week before my chance came. I helped load the goods onto the caravan and saluted Erne and the kids. According to what I understood we’re headed to a big city to trade their goods, there should be plenty of stuff to do and see. I’m hyped.

The hype started fading as soon as I experienced the reality of driving a caravan, the bumpy road and the hard wooden seats made my ass ache. But I endured it, like a man. We stopped in another village to sleep and resumed our journey in the morning after breakfast.

Obviously, I wasn’t able to get any meaningful conversation going since I’m still language impaired. So to kill the time I picked back up meditation from my long list of abandoned skills. At least it helped shift the focus away from my aching bottom.

That night we stopped in a clearing and set camp with the caravans. Some villagers went into the forest to hunt game and came back with rabbits, or at least they looked like rabbits, their ears had somewhat a spiral twirl to them. They tasted alright, it’s not like I can complain.

The voyage took four days total, an excruciating wait for a modern man to wait. In the meanwhile, Berel gave me language lessons and taught me new words.

Before long the big city, which is called Valarest, appeared on the horizon. It was surrounded by tall stone walls and I could see a castle further into the city. This looks promising, I feel the hype coming back.

We reached a giant plaza and started setting up the stands. Once done Berel caught my attention and gave me a pouch with some copper coins. Oh boy, my first payment! I think she thanked me for all the work done so far. I thanked her and decided to have a look around the city.

Where are the fucking wizards? I muttered to myself while walking aimlessly. I wisely avoided the shady alleyways, because gee I wonder what would happen if walked in there. I read a lot of stories, I know better.

I liked how this part of the city has main roads going straight toward the market plaza, so getting lost is not going to be a problem. I turned into another road and saw a group of kids walking out of a place, they were all dressed like adventurers. Are they serious?

Are people in this city actually letting pubescent brats go around causing a ruckus, what the fuck are their parents thinking? I sure hope they’re cosplaying or something, but those armors and weapons look awfully legit. I decided to take a look at the place they just got out.

Billboards full of unreadable postings and weaponized brats everywhere. Well, there were also few adults thrown in the mix. Yep, they’re serious, this looks just like an adventurer’s guild or similar. But, who knows, maybe they give kids only joke assignments and errands. It’s too soon to sweat about the moral implications of child labor.

Someone with intricate braided hair walked past me, I glanced at him. Wait, is that an elf? The elf with leather armor walked outside from where I had just entered. Woah. I saw an elf. I turned back to the crowd. I wonder if there are other people from my world.

「Allen: Hello, does anyone here speak my language?」

Everyone just gave me an uncaring glance and looked away.

I guess not but it never hurts to try. I sighed, defeated. It feels a little lonely without people I can actually talk with.

Curse you Creator! You could’ve at least taught me the local language!

I saw a man that looked like a wizard sitting alone in a corner, I tried to strike a conversation but the only words I could grasp were “Go away” and probably some swearing. I slumped my shoulders and turned away.

Ok, I’ll give up for now. I walked outside.