In a small wooden room, Ren stood behind the door leading to the exit. He allowed himself to rest on it while talking to himself and Ken.
"Dammit, I know I said that I'll wait for my family, but judging from the poverty of this village I doubt they'll think I'm here, even if they receive notice. After all, apparently I'm a noble."
Ken snickered on the small bed.
"It's better than freezing to death. I would know."
He had many problems and questions, but many couldn't be solved in a short amount of time. He had two main goals: get money and get stronger.
The first one could be solved by getting a job in the village. The other could be semi-solved by doing simple exercises. He had plenty of time, as there was nothing rushing him to complete his goals.
'Now, how the hell do I get a job?'
Ren was dumbfounded by the simple question.
"Just go around asking. It isn't that hard, you idiot. Especially in a village like this one. Just don't ask for something that requires experience."
He could maybe ask Daniel for a job. He was the one who told him to come to him with any problems.
Ren began his walk to the village square. Previously, he had tried to use any of his abilities, or at least see if he had any, after making it to his room. But all attempts ended in failure. He didn't know where to start or what to even look for.
He had tried concentrating hard, punching, dancing, doing weird motions. Ken was having the time of his life watching as Ren made a fool of himself. Ren had checked to see if anyone was watching, too embarrassed with himself to let anyone see his actions.
"Stop dazing off. We are here already. And that's what you decided to think about?"
He entered the village hall. The same receptionist that he had seen on his first visit greeted him.
"Oh, if it isn't Rose's boyfriend."
"Finally, someone with a sense of good humor."
Ren was already starting to regret his choices. He already had the annoying Ken; the last thing he wanted was another person making fun of him.
"I want to talk to Daniel about getting a job."
He got straight to the point, not wanting this interaction to last any longer than it needed to.
"A job? Aren't you some noble rich boy? Why do you even need a job?"
"I lost my money…"
The receptionist held in her laugh, trying to make it go unnoticed. Ren had easily seen through it but pretended to pay no mind.
"Okay, do you have any notable skills?"
"No…"
"Nothing? Like absolutely nothing?"
"You have one skill, looking like a complete idiot." Ren ignored Ken but seemed hesitant to answer the question.
"I have zero skills."
The receptionist burst into laughter before coughing to answer Ren.
"Are you sure that your family didn't just abandon you here?"
"Can I get a job or not?"
"Yeah, I think I have a job that you can handle. All you have to do is carry wood to a woodshed. If you fail at that, then you're truly hopeless."
"When do I start?"
"You could start today if you wanted to. We are always in need of more hands anyway."
"Okay sure, so where do I go?"
Ren got all the details he needed. He needed to walk to a person named Richie. He was one of the lumberers.
Ren made his way there.
Ren arrived at the place where the receptionist told him to go.
At the location stood an open wooden structure with two men. That was when one of the men noticed Ren staring.
"Hello, you're a new face. How can I help you?"
"I was told that I could get a job or help, and to talk to a guy named Richie."
"That would be me. You can help by carrying planks and storing them into that building over there." Richie pointed toward a large shed where wooden planks could be seen organized into stacks.
That was how Ren began his day. The work was tiring for him. It wasn't too difficult when it began, but the repetition quickly wore him down.
'Damn, I knew I was weak, but this weak?'
Over and over, he carried the planks that Richie and the other man sawed and placed them into the organized stacks in the shed.
His physical state was so bad that he wondered what he was doing as a noble. His body was below average, nowhere close to being fat but not exactly one to be called slim. Had he been doing no training? No, that couldn't be right. He had a technique—that was how he had supposedly survived the dangerous Artis forest.
Come to think of it, how exactly did he lose his memories? He couldn't have hit his head and lost his memories, as there was no bruising or pain to suggest as such.
Could it be that he lost his memories due to his technique? It was the most sensible option. Perhaps he had been fighting the bear when he used his technique, which came at the cost of his memories. But this technique couldn't do much physically and only gave himself a chance to escape… or was there more? Were there more bears, and he fought off an entire horde, causing him to only have a remnant of himself?
He could try to come up with as many theories as he wanted, but none of them were concrete enough to say for sure.
Soon the sun began to set beyond the horizon. He was so sore that his arms felt like they were coming off. Even the bear hadn't made him this tired.
"Here, four silver."
Ren looked down at the coins. He didn't know how much these were actually worth, but he doubted it was much.
"Thank you."
Ren grabbed the coins and placed them into his coat pocket. It was his first time using them since there was nothing in them to begin with. Suddenly he realized something off about his coat—the pockets were actually bigger than what they appeared to be on the outside.
The pockets weren't that much bigger on the inside, but one could tell by placing their hand inside.
'Neat!'
His coat had some mystical abilities of its own, but that was all he seemed to find about it. He could experiment later, but right now he was starving.
He was lucky that Daniel gave him some food that could last him a few days.
'Hey Ken, do you know of any good food on the menu?'
Ren was excited to try some of the food in one of the small restaurants. He thought he at least deserved some kind of treat after his hard work for today.
"I don't know much about the food in rural villages, and I know even less about the culture and customs in Nystoru."