Surviving in a world where everyone wants to kill you is a concept I often found interesting in books or movies but living it was not a pleasant feeling. It was as if even looking into someone's eyes was a crime punishable by an instant execution. If they were to find out who I am, these guys would kill me without blinking. I was carrying a massive reward on my head.

The black market was daily visited by all kinds of people. Well, actually, I could split them into two general groups. There were those who were there to steal something or to beg, and then there were those for whom money meant more than life. Business was the religion of this place, and gold flew through these streets like water in a river.

I soon realized that I have to be attracting much more attention than I wanted to. Almost everyone was using baggy clothing, cloaks, and hoods to hide as much of their identity as possible, but I was the only person there wearing a hoodie that was not only from a different world but also stylistically from a different century. Fortunately, this was my city, and I knew every single corner of it. Well... almost. I rarely went out of the way to describe the environment outside of the areas where the major plot was taking place, but designing cities and cultures was always my favorite part of worldbuilding. Because of that, I remember almost everything about the towns I created. Nordan was no exception. I knew that beggars were greatly disliked here and had a hard time surviving, but there was one person that never turned down a beggar's plea. As long as a certain condition was met, that is.

The person was called "Old man Sully." His real name was never mentioned in the books and very few actually knew it, so they chose to call him Sully as a nice-sounding alternative, and because there were more people with the same name in the city, the locals decided to add "Old man" to his name. And so he became the "Old man Sully". His heart was always in the right place, but only for those who weren't afraid to try to claw out of poverty on their own. Every time a beggar knocked on his door, he checked their hands first. If they were dirty or had signs of hard work on them, he decided that the person is worthy of some generous gift. He was a very rich man, so giving out a few coins wasn't a problem for him. I was in perfect condition to go and see him. My clothes were full of holes and partly stained with blood, drawn by Vincent's thorny plant magic and the time when I went to rescue his life. All I had to do was dirty my hands a little, which was no problem since the entire area of the black market wasn't really following the hygienic protocols of the main streets.

Once I made sure my palms were covered in dust and mud, and also some unintentionally obtained scratches, I headed for the Old man's mansion. It wasn't far from the black market if one knew the shortcuts. And who better to know the way, than the person who created them. But back then, I just thought I was lucky. Those shortcuts were there, I knew it, but I never specified where they were exactly. All I knew was the general direction. In the end, I was lucky to find the right way and the right shortcuts. Overall, it seemed like I had lady luck on my side since I came here. So far, good fortune and coincidences were all coming my way.

Once I was at the Old man Sully's door, I knocked on them with a certain weakness. Originally, I planned to just pretend that I'm weak and barely still standing, in order to make him feel bad for me, but when I had trouble catching my breath just by walking up the few stairs leading to his door and felt as if my legs were on fire, I realized that I don't have to fake anything. I was an absolute mess. It was perhaps a day since I arrived in this world, and during those 24 hours, I ate only some seared fruit, drank nothing, slept only for a few hours, got attacked by a wizard, tamed the beasts of Darkness, saved the life of the man that tried to kill me, and then walked on foot all the way to Nordan. I felt like I had all the rights to receive something from Sully. Even if it was just one gold, I knew a casino where I could turn it into more. People there cheat a lot, in order to prevent their visitors from winning, but I knew all their tricks. After all, they came from my head.

The door opened without letting out a single sound.

"Oh, dear god, you look... awful. What happened to you?" Just as I expected, Old man Sully was a very nice person. I just made sure to hide my face in case he would succumb to a homicidal rage upon the sight of me. One could never be too careful.

"I was attacked and robbed of all money, do you think you could spare a coin? At least for some simple meal in the tavern?" I didn't want to ask for much. After all, the only thing I needed was something to pay the bartender at the Inn for information. I had to know whether the hero I was looking for still lived in the city, otherwise, my whole plan would be ruined.

"Oh, of course." Old man Sully went into his house and didn't come back for quite a while. I was starting to feel a bit worried that he might've gotten into some trouble, but a certain aspect of fear was preventing me from entering his house. After about ten minutes, he finally came back.

"Here, take this. They are much better than whatever you are wearing." To my surprise, he handed me a nicely folded set of clothes. There was a dark green tunic, a gray cloak with a hood, some brown pants, and a scarf.

"Thank you. I will remember your kindness, sir." Truth to be told, I was very glad for the warm clothing, but money would've been way better at that point. I took the clothes, bowed a little, and turned around when he suddenly stopped me.

"Wait! You can't leave yet. Here, this is for treatment at the clinic. Those wounds are not deep, but they can get infected, which could cause you trouble. And this is for the inn. Don't spend it all in one night." The Old man handed me two leather pouches, I pulled the little string at the top, which was holding it closed, and peeked inside. What I saw almost made me take a step back and fall down the stairs in front of the house. There were at least forty gold coins in there. I could live for two weeks on this, and he gave it to me just like that.

"I... um... thank you. Thank you so much. I-I don't know how to repay you." The fact that words usually had trouble leaving my mouth and sounded way better in my head was known to me for a long time, but this made my speaking abilities even worse.

"Do you want to repay me? Then make sure you fix this world." With that, he closed the door. I was unable to move for a solid minute. Those last words he said to me just refused to leave my head, filling it with all kinds of thoughts.

"Why did he say that? Did he know who I am? Why didn't he try to kill me?" The thing that finally made me get going again was a sharp sting of cold wind. It started to snow. I quickly ran back into one of the little alleys I used as a shortcut, made sure that nobody was there to see or interrupt me, and changed into the new clothes. Seeing all the little wounds on my body and the dried streams of blood made me feel quite sick, but there was nothing I could do about it right now. Going to the clinic would be a huge risk. Who knows who could recognize me.

With my new clothes on, I headed towards the inn. It was a stereotypical fantasy pub. You could go and sleep there for a few nights, buy some food or drinks, or perhaps give the innkeeper a generous donation of a few golds and ask him a question. It was a great source of information. The rather heavy snowing, which was typical for the region, made most of the people head into their homes and clear the streets. That meant a much safer path for me. My destination was near the very center of the city. Under normal circumstances, it would be quite difficult not to get into any trouble, so I was very grateful to have the weather on my side. But for some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. As if everything was going far too well. I reached Nordan with no trouble, got through the shady black market unnoticed, made Old man Sully give me new clothes AND money, and got to the inn safe and sound. If this was a book, now would be the perfect moment for a plot twist.

I entered the inn and shook the snow off my shoulders. Some people glanced over me, before returning to their business. A bard was playing a song, catching everyone's attention, which meant that a rather suspicious person in a gray cloak was able to slip through the crowd and head straight to the innkeeper.

Just as the rogues and assassins in my books often did, I too threw five gold coins onto the counter, hoping to create an intimidating effect. Unfortunately, I forgot just how clumsy I am, so I threw the coins way too far onto the floor behind the counter. The innkeeper looked at the gold and then back at me. Judging by his look, I could say that he was wondering whether I was serious or simply joking.

"I need information." I made my voice as deep as I could and pulled the hood further into my face.

"Who's askin'?" The bartender didn't need to fake a tough voice and a scary aura. For him, it was natural.

"Have you seen Marley? Does he still live in this town? Is he here, right now?" I skipped right to things I wanted to know.

"I said, who's askin'? And that'll be five golds per question." Although I was hoping to get the information much cheaper, I accepted the innkeeper's offer. After all, I didn't need money where I was going.

"Here. Five per question and five extra coins, so the one asking is just a nobody. Now, answers." He counted the gold I put on the counter.

"Three questions means fifteen coins. And five more for being a nobody. You're missing another five."

"I already gave you the five. They are behind the counter."

"Yeah pal, that's your problem. I ain't pickin' em up. Want answers? Twenty gold." I had enough coins, so the problem wasn't there, but the way he acted was making me very angry. I put the last five on the table, hoping to just get what I want and quickly leave.

"I have seen him. He still lives here. He's home right now." The innkeeper answered as simply as he could and swept the coins off the counter and into a little pouch. I wished him a farewell and headed towards the entrance, but unfortunately, I wasn't looking under my own feet.

"Ow!" That meant a problem. I just stepped on somebody's leg and people who go into the inn usually don't take this kind of trouble in a positive way.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me!" The person immediately grabbed me by the cloak and picked me up. It was a massive man, over two meters tall. I knew who it was. Even his story was something I kept inside my head. "Oh pal, I'm gonna give that face of yours a whole new look." He was known for being rather violent, so I knew that I can't pull my punches. I leaned closer to him and whispered a blade right into his heart.

"Would your son be happy if he saw you now?" He immediately dropped me back onto the ground.

"Rudy... I... I miss him so much!" He was tough, but the reason why he was drinking in the inn every evening was to forget about the death of his only son. He never truly got over it, and even after many years, just mentioning his name in relation to the father's violence problem would bring tears into his eyes.

As I was leaving the inn, everyone was looking at me, their eyes burning with respect and fear. Someone who could bring a man to tears just by whispering? They admired me at that moment just as much as they feated me. I wasn't happy to pull such a psychological trick, but as long as it worked, I had to keep going without looking back. Knowledge was my only power.