[Your have chosen the path of an assassin]
"Wait! No! I didn't even—"
The screen vanished, replaced by a new message:
[Your trial starts now!]
"Trial?" Panic flared in his chest. What kind of trial? Where was he supposed to go? What was he supposed to do?
He scrambled to his feet, his gaze darting around the forest, searching for any sign of what was to come. "God of Death?" he called out, his voice trembling. "What's going on? Where am I?"
Silence answered him, broken only by the rustling of leaves and the distant calls of birds. The normalcy of the forest seemed to mock his fear.
He looked down at his body. He was younger, smaller than he remembered. The clothes he wore were torn and stained with blood, the fabric clinging to his skin. A cold dread settled in his stomach. Was it his blood?
His fingers traced the jagged scar that bisected his neck. He remembered the pain, the terror, the desperate struggle for breath as his lifeblood gurgled from the wound. Someone had murdered him.
He staggered back, his breath hitching in his throat. He had to get out of here.
Ignoring the throbbing in his head and the tremor in his limbs, he stumbled forward, pushing through the undergrowth, desperate to escape the suffocating stillness of the forest. He didn't know where he was going, but any direction was better than this.
He pushed his way through a thicket of thorny bushes, ignoring the stinging scratches on his arms and face. He walked blindly.
But something made him stop.
THUD!!!!
He paused, then, slowly approached while covering his presents in a nearby bush.
THUD!!, THUD!!!
He heard the loud thud again, even louder. He braced himself for the worst scenario, maybe the person who killed him was still there.
Using the bushes for cover, he cautiously approached the direction he heard the sound.
Finally, he got close enough to see what it was. It was an old man trying to cut down an giant oak tree, with each swing of his axe, his body weakly followed the rhythm, sweats dripped down his face as he struggles to pull the axe out of the tree.
He pulled the axe out and kept it leaned against the tree then grabbed a wooden container, drank from its contents and went back to work.
Staring at the old man made the reincarnated soul feel like he had seen him before, he wasn't sure but he felt certain that he knew him.
He decided to approach the man, he carefully came out from his hiding place then cautiously walked to the man till he was close enough and called out to him.
"E-Excuse me, sir!"
The man stopped almost immediately and turned around, wielding his axe like a sword that was ready to cut through anything. As soon as he saw the seventeen years old teenager, he paused before yelling
"Where have you been, boy? You almost gave me a heartattack!" The old man shouted before dropping his axe on the ground. "You know I'm supposed to take this woods to the next town by tomorrow, so you better get to work if you want to receive any payment!"
_Work?, What is he talking about?_
He thought for a while, unable to grasp what was going on he simply answered
"Y-Yessir!"
"What in the name of the goddess happened to you!?, Why are you covered in blood?" The old man eyes widened as he took a closer look at his clothes.
A glimpse of the memory of the previous owner of the body was revealed to the teenager. Apparently, the elderly man was a lumberer who cuts woods from the forest and takes it to town, the previous owner had pleaded with the man to be his apprentice as a way to raise money for his family.
"It ummm..." He tried to think of something to say but couldn't come up with a believable lie. "It's a deer, I came across a deer and tried to catch it"
He finally said. If he remembers clearly, his family was poor so trying to find something for dinner should sound true, but the old man didn't look like he believes it. But he couldn't say anything else.
"Sometimes, I just don't get you" The old man shook his head before picking up his axe. "Why don't you help me with this one, Bell? Let's get out of her before it gets dark"
_Has my name always been Bell_ Bell thought to himself as he tried to remember the name he had in his past life but couldn't. He couldn't remember much.
"Are you just going to stand there and watch me work?!" The old man voice pulled him back to reality, or in this case, back to him dream. He couldn't even tell which is real.
Bell was now sure that he had been transmigrated into another world, but stuff like that only happens in anime and manga, it was completely impossible!. But the fact that it happened to him made him thought otherwise, he was given a second chance because of how his last life sucked, and he was going to use it to the fullest.
Then the thought of waking up in the body of a boy that was recently murdered gave him chills.
"Are you sure you're okay, boy?" The old man asked as he noticed Bell's shivering while lost in his thoughts.
"Huh?" Bell mumbled, this is the second time the old man had pulled him back to reality.
"It's getting late, let's go back home"
"S-Sure" Bell replied.
He helped the old man to carry the logs that were arranged on the ground to the carriage and tied them firmly together.
"That one with be the last tree I'll need before delivering them" The man said, referring to the giant tree he was trying to cut down.
Since Bell didn't know what to say, he just nodded affirmatively.
After tying the logs on the carriage, he sat on top of it while the elderly man rode in front of the carriage that was being pulled by two black horses.