After the sage's experiment backfired on him, I looted any money I could find from his home and fled that night. The authorities put all information they could find about me from the townsfolk on a wanted poster a few days later, but of course I could never be found since I essentially became a new person, after all. Since the sage didn't have any descendants, ownership of his home and belongings transferred to the members of his extended family.

Anyways, back to what happened that night: I realized after running away for a while that I couldn't really go far. A small child traveling alone at night with a large amount of money on him would definitely catch the attention of the town's patrol guards, and since nobody in this town knew who I was, it would make matters become even more complicated.

Consequently, I buried the money I looted, just in case I would ever need it in the future, then ran towards the town's orphanage. I then climbed up a tree and threw myself off of it. One of the orphanage parents found me lying on the ground later that night and brought me inside. I was supposedly injured enough that the orphanage staff all believed my bogus claim of being beaten up by unknown assailants and suffering from amnesia as a result, and I was allowed to reside in that orphanage since then. Oddly enough, nobody seemed to mind the fact I had the same name as the missing person on that wanted poster in town.

Thus, one year passed by without incident.

* * * * *

I became quickly convinced that the people in this world have a completely different mindset. Even with a rejuvenated mind, I still couldn't master the writing system here. Because of that, I was regarded as a dunce, and nobody wanted to adopt me from the orphanage out of fear that I would tarnish their household's reputation.

I wanted to show the adults that I was a genius at mathematics and science, but I couldn't write anything down, and their negative view towards me made them unwilling to listen to a lecture. It was also because of the bad impression people had about me that made me unable to find a mage willing to teach me magic, since they figured a "dunce" like me probably just wanted to learn magic in order to get revenge on those who trash talked me.

My life sucks.

* * * * *

One day, the orphanage parents took us to the city's west gate, where the defense corps' barracks was located, for a field trip.

"Today, you'll get to meet the people who rigorously train themselves daily in order to keep our city safe. I hope this will inspire some of you to join the Defense Corps when you grow up."

For orphans that were great fighters but couldn't make ends meet in adventurer parties, joining the army or urban Defense Corps was the next best option. Just like other adventurers, their job was to prevent monster invasions and maintain peace and order where they were stationed, but instead of bounties for completing quests, they would receive a fixed monthly salary instead.

In any case, the Corps superintendent showed us the facilities at the barracks and invited us to watch the troops' training and sparring sessions. This wasn't the kind of lifestyle I was looking forward to having so I simply feigned interest, but the other children in the orphanage excitedly watched.

"Excuse me, sir superintendent. May I go to the bathroom?"

"Hm? Sure. It's down the hall, fifth door to the left."

Bored of watching soldiers beating each other with wooden weapons, I asked for permission to walk outside of the training hall. I'll just take as much time as possible before coming back. If anyone were to inquire later, I'd probably get away with saying I was constipated.

"No, we can't switch to using ballistas…"

"But the catapults are too inaccurate, they can't hit the same spot twice."

"Ballistas aren't good at destroying walls, though!"

"We'll just have to make an even bigger one, then!"

One of the rooms I passed through appeared to be a weapons research hall, and two officers were arguing inside. The two briefly stopped after noticing me looking at them from the door.

"Go back to the training hall, kid."

"Wait, let's get someone neutral to decide for us. Hey kid, which do you prefer: catapults or ballistas?"

"Why the hell are you asking him? He's too young, he probably doesn't know what those things are."

"I do know. Um… Could I first ask why you're asking for my preference?"

"The Earl wants us to develop a better siege weapon, one that's both powerful and accurate. We're trying to pick whether we want to start with a catapult or a ballista as a base for improvement."

Well that question is too easy to answer. I had ample knowledge about Mechanics, after all.

"If that's the case… May I give a suggestion?"

"Eh, might as well. It's not like our research is making any progress."

For the next 15 minutes, I carefully drew a trebuchet on paper and explained how it operated. I'm not exactly sure whether this had already been invented in this world yet, but the two military researchers' attentiveness suggested that this was something completely new to them.

"[...] and because the same counter-weight is used with each launch, you can ensure that the power output is more or less the same every time, so the projectile will always hit roughly the same area. This weapon has both the power of a catapult and the accuracy of a ballista."

"Kid, I have no idea what the hell you wrote down, but your explanation and this weapon's sketch is brilliant! I'm going to write down what we understood from it and submit it to the Earl!"

Later that day, I was no longer considered a dunce. Instead, people finally began to accept the fact that I had deep knowledge of math and science, and my illiteracy was probably just because of dyslexia.

Soon, a wealthy minor noble family adopted me, and the Earl arranged for me to receive mentoring from the Luto family, which was well known for producing great mages, several of whom served in the royal court as part of the emperor's elite army.

Years later, I would be married into the Luto family after racking up several achievements, but that's a story I'll tell later on.

Looks like I'll finally have a bright future ahead, now!