When he first awoke in his current body, he thought he was a tramp. After all, he was sleeping in the open, leaning against a wall wearing a dirty brown robe with no blanket or anything to cover him. Thankfully, it was summer, so he didn"t freeze to death. Still, the experience was pretty… strange… Negative thoughts could not help but sprout.Yet when he learned the truth, that he was not at least a beggar, he didn"t feel comforted at all.
What was a wandering philosopher? How do people like them make a living?
Do they simply talk nonsense to common people then pray inwardly that these people would be fooled into giving them accommodation and food?
Life was hard and the majority of the population could barely feed themselves after working from dawn to dusk so the notion sounded like something from a stupid daydream.
Also, if being philosopher meant imparting various philosophical knowledge and inspiring people through moral stories, then given his age, would there be people believing him? Again, doubtful.
This was why he felt like his Original simply didn"t want to accept that he had become a homeless person after failing to become a troubadour. So he always told everyone he came across this weird occupation.
Well, people were like that. When they reached rock bottom or got hit by failure, they clung to something for hope or refused reality. There were also many who looked for somebody doing worse than them. In this way, they could convince themselves that they were at least not the most miserable in the world. These could be said common defense mechanisms by humans to not end up feeling so depressed… and think of ending their lives.
The name of the original owner was James. With no surname, since he was a peasant born to farmer parents. When no n.o.ble or rich landowner wanted to employ his service as a troubadour, he refused to be a farmer and fas.h.i.+oned himself into what he was upon Jiang Li"s takeover.
Anyway, after receiving the memory, Jiang Li left the village and went to the center of the Osbon territory. There he received words of the Church of Wisdom looking for a man who claimed to be Penemue"s messenger.
Jiang Li was warned by the system not to mess with G.o.ds again, but he didn"t listen since he knew those ascended angels were actually asleep and wouldn"t wake up for at least a hundred years. He braved claiming as the man they were searching for. They had no idea what the so-called messenger looked like. So he only needed to spout some historical nonsense to get noticed.
Well, he did this to get himself some comfortable clothing and food as he had yet to regain enough power to do some real magic tricks.
Sadly, all good things had to come to an end. His prophecies were random tidbits picked up from his limited knowledge of Selena Tang"s world"s history. Coincidentally, these facts coincided with some key points in Mu Continent"s history.
Since the priests of the Church of Wisdom were not naïve and were recovering from psychological cues he planted in their minds, he knew he must leave before they started ordering their holy knights to throw him into a dungeon.
He might as well take the hypnosis that started to wear off as a sign to embark on a real journey.
So now, the question is, how to leave?
The sumptuous meal consisted mainly of vegetarian dishes went on. The clergymen were too serious while the two ladies were too observant of manners. It was quiet and stressful because there was n.o.body talking and the dark room was barely lit up by candles and some rays from the outside. n.o.body also seemed to mind that the candleflame on the elaborate copper stand was making the scene eerie.
It was amidst such a situation that Jiang Li"s gaze went to the two Osbon ladies. His eyes then lit up. Yet it was so brief that it was as if it was also a mere illusion... When he lowered his head again the unnatural glint quickly vanished.
…
Troubles always knock when least expected or wanted…
Aliyah hated that she had to learn the essence of this saying by experience.
The next events that happened were so confusing. A couple of minutes ago, they were dining with the clergymen of their church. Then after the meal, the priest and the bishop accompanied them to the entrance to send them off.
But all of a sudden, while the mother and daughter pair were curtsying one last time towards the priests, the young man pretending to be a messenger took that chance to escape! Everyone was caught off-guard when he suddenly ran outside and knocked a fat driver off a horse-drawn carriage.
"Out of my way!" A fierce boyish voice rang.
On her right side, because the fatty had fallen off without warning, Aliyah who was nearby was so surprised that she screamed and jumped to her feet. And that was a stupid but unavoidable reaction. Because at that time, she was standing at the last step of the low staircase connecting the entrance of the church to the street. She and her mother were facing the direction of the church when the incident happened and not completely done with the curtsy.
The priests previously waving a hand at her and her mother involuntarily widened their eyes.
"Goodness! Knights! What are you doing!? Help the lady!" In a panic, the priest shouted.
The bishop also yelled at the top of his lungs, waving one of his hands in a fierce manner. "Stop him! He"s a fake messenger! Don"t let the fake messenger escape!" Seeing the youth"s action, he momentarily forgot to watch his words and maintain a dignified appearance.
At the same time, the Viscountess also started screaming at the top of her lungs, nearly drowning the noises of the busy streets.
When Aliyah jumped slightly to the left to evade the falling driver, her side body collided with her mom.
"Oh no!"
After a few seconds of struggling to regain her balance by flailing her arms in the air, her face paled as fear consumed her. Her hands missed grabbing the Viscountess" dress.
Her misfortune did not end there. At the same time that the driver got thrown off, the young man bent on escaping from the church started driving the carriage. He apparently did not care about the ones in the surrounding!
Jiang Li simply acted on the urgency to leave that he was feeling because the bishop just acknowledged that he was a fake that should be captured and tortured.
His body was still weak since he had only been here for a week. He had not enough time to train and his ability to hypnotize was limited as it had to be in a situation where he could stare into the target"s eyes for at least five seconds.
Even though the condition was fulfilled days ago, the guards he managed to hypnotize were quite the weaklings. It would be already lucky if they would be able to block the knights for a minute.
But he had to escape! That was what his mind kept saying.
So since the chance was here, after shouting, the young man didn"t hesitate to order the guards to do their best to stop the pursuers. Following that, he drove the carriage into the crowd!
The youth"s focus was all on fleeing that he subconsciously did not pay any heed to the person who tumbled and fell into the vehicle...