Life didn't get easier, even in another world

"Snifffff!"

Standing in front of the half-built structure in the middle of the dry plain, Reyn sniffled and rubbed his eyes with the sleeve of his dirty clothing. "Misterrr..." He wailed with a shaky voice as he stumbled towards the entrance of the underground rooms where the kind red-haired mister who was really pretty but little Reyn still didn't know the name of was walking out from. "...."

"You really, sniff, really left me there!" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑏𝘯𝘰𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"...."

The man was watching the kid with a half-open mouth. The child rambled on without giving him any time to respond, "I said I donno how to, hic, live alone, but you left me thereee I nearly dieddd misterrr they were so, hic, so mean that place was scary mister, hic, they, t-they didn't even, sniff, allow me to sleep on the street saying that, hic, I wasn't one of them, hic, they almost stole my necklace, sniiffffff, misterrrr I almost fainted of hunger, waahhh!"

"...."

Reyn grabbed the man's robe and buried his face in it while still shedding tears. The red-haired man could barely hear his muffled voice, "I was so scared. I was so scared."

"..."

The man looked around once. It was night and everywhere was shrouded in darkness. The area was barely lit by the faint moonlight. Yet this child has walked here all alone without even having a torch or sort. "...Why did you come back here?"

"Then where should I have gone toooo???" The past few days were so tough for him that he didn't want to even think about them. After being left alone, the kid felt extremely dejected. He whole-heartedly believed that the kind red-haired mister who was really pretty but little Reyn still didn't know the name of was the best person in the world. He was so dejected when that man ditched him in the city and left him alone that he even felt hatred towards the man, swearing he'd never ever think about the man with pretty red hair ever again. However, things didn't go as he planned. The people of the first city he visited ignored him most of the time while some of them spared him some food when seeing him in the streets, but the people of this city were different. They were all mean! Not only no one gave him any food, but they didn't even let him sleep on the streets saying that he was making the city unsightly! After about a week, he was so done that he eventually ran away to the only person who had been kind to him besides his family, hoping that the man wouldn't reject him again.

"...How did you find your way here?"

"Mm?" Little Reyn tilted his head. "I came back on the same path that we walked a week ago."

"....You remembered that tangled path after a week?"

"Mmm? Tangled? What does that mean?"

"..."

The red-haired man took a step back and forcefully separated the child from his robe. "How old are you?"

Feeling a little bit light-headed due to hunger, Reyn swayed around a little bit as he answered, "Un... Mummy said I was around 5..."

The red-haired man caught the stumbling child. He had a slight frown on his face. "Aren't you too small to be 5?"

"I donno..." Reyn tilted his head once before looking up at the man. His eyes were still teary and he was pouting visibly. "Misterrr can't you take pity on me again and let me in?"

"....pfffttt!" the red-haired man chuckled before shaking his head with a helpless expression. Before any further questions, he raised the kid to his arms and walked down to the underground residence. A few minutes later, he was given a bowl of hot soup.

"Mister..."

"Yeah?"

Reyn carefully touched the strands of red hair that were cascading down the man's shoulders. "What's your name?"

"Eat your soup."

"...." Reyn lowered his head with a pout and closed his mouth, however, his silence only lasted for a few seconds. "Mister..."

"Yeah?"

"Why is your hair red?"

"...It's been like that since I was born."

"Uh?" The child held a few strands of hair in his palm and played with them. "But how is that possible?"

"How is that your hair light-brown?"

The child tilted his head. He thought about it for a few seconds before giving an answer. "It's been like that since I was born!"

"How is that possible?"

"Because mummy also had light-brown hair, so me and brother also have it!"

The child raised his head and stared at the red-haired man with wide eyes, waiting expectedly for his answer to be approved. "So what makes you think that light brown is possible but red is impossible?"

"Uh..." Reyn tilted his head from side to side. "Then both are possible..."

He closed his mouth for a moment before speaking again. "Then, is it also possible that I stay with you-"

"No."

"Whyy?"

"Why would I take care of a random child I don't even know?"

Once again, the kid clung to the man's robe. "I'll help you! I'll help you in whatever you want! I'll assist you in building this place! Please! Please! I'm scared of the city! Please!"

"...."

The man looked away from the child's pleading eyes. "Eat your soup and go to sleep. I'll take you to another city tomorrow."

"...."

Why couldn't he just live with this person? It was hard for the kid to understand, and to accept the fact that he was going to be abandoned again. He had no place to do and was too weak to survive on his own.

Was he going to die then? In another city? How could he find food? Did he have to beg people to give him something to eat? He tried doing that a bunch of times but he got beaten or thrown away most of the time. No one gave him any job either, telling him he was a useless kid. Was this red-haired kind man also throwing him away because he was nothing but a useless kid?

Having lost his appetite, little Reyn pushed his bowl aside and curled up at the side of the wall, hugging his knees. He struggled a little bit to hold back his tears, which flowed on their own since he was feeling desperate and hopeless and watched the red-haired man pick up his stuff and move to another room to sleep. He also had to sleep but he didn't manage to do so no matter how much he tossed and turned. He kept reminding himself that this night might be the last night he could sleep in a warm and comfortable place so he had to use this opportunity to its fullest, but he just couldn't fall asleep. Tic

Tic

Tic Tic

Tic Tic Tic

"Hmmm?"

In the middle of struggling with his sleep, little Reyn noticed a strange noise coming from the other side of the wall. It sounded like something weakly hitting metal, or something similar to that. The more he listened, the faster the beats became.

'I wonder what's that...'

After listening to it for a while, the kid couldn't help but sit up and peek around. He tried to ignore the voice at first, but it was getting louder and louder, and it was somehow scary. 'Should I find that man?' the kid wondered. 'Will he get mad at me if I wake him up?', he hesitated as he was about to leave the room. He clasped his tiny hands and strolled around in the dark, underground tunnel. 'But what if it's something dangerous... I must at least inform him.' Thinking that he had to prevent anything harmful from happening to the kind red-haired man, the boy quietly walked into the tunnel in search of the room where the man was sleeping in, however, that wasn't an easy task in the darkness. It took him some time to finally find the red-haired man's room, but the room where he was supposed to sleep at was empty. "Uh..."

Did something happen to him? Was there anything dangerous in this place? Did it harm the kind red-haired man? Where was he? Was he fine? Questions after questions formed inside the kid's head, causing anxiety to rise up and his vision to be blurred with tears. What if the kind red-haired man also died like his family? No! Reyn didn't want that!

"M-mister?" he whispered, though there was no answer. Scared, Reyn looked around before hesitantly taking a step toward the end of the tunnel where the noise was coming from. It didn't take long till he reached the end of the dark path. Through a gap in the wall, a faint crimson light mixed with golden and silver color was oozing in. The kid stopped walking and stared at the sight, trembling slightly as he took a tiny step forward. "M-mister?"

There were no answers again. He took another step forward and peeked through the door. On the other side of the door was a small room. At the center of the room was a weird thing. It was big and in a strange shape. It looked to be made out of metal. Papers were scattered all around the room with the strange thing in the middle of it that was giving off light. Small sparks were jumping around it as the thing shone. Bzzzzzz

For a second, the spark-like things grew in size and number, like a tide or wave, and slammed against the walls. The tide died down as fast as it appeared. The little kid that had hidden behind the door peeked inside again. "Mister...?"

At the other side of the room, he could see the kind red-haired man kneeling down beside the strange metallic thing. He looked pale under the light of the metallic thing and Reyn could see blood dripping down his nose. Without thinking, like the child he was, little Reyn ran inside the room. "Mister, are you alright?"

As if just noticing his presence, the red-haired man jolted up and shouted, "Get out of here!"

"Ah?"

"Get out-" Just as the man stood up and raised his hands, and just as small golden sparks formed on his fingertips, an intense light flashed in the kid's eyes, and before he could even understand what was going on, an intense heat, so hot that he'd never sensed it before, and a strong force, one he'd never experienced before, slammed against his body. Without being able to even scream, the child's body was flung back helplessly.