Chapter 2

The Rasae Empire was a meritocracy. If one wanted to get a government post, no matter how insignificant, they had to be qualified.

Whether one was from a noble house or the most pitiful orphan on the streets, they still had to go through the same gate.

Remy Riverson was part of the latter category, with no parents or relatives to speak off. He lived in a desolated orphanage with only his ambition to carry him through the lonely and cold nights.

Remy was a curious child, a smart one too. At the tender age of 6, he already knew how to read and he used this to his full advantage.

At the age of 14 he had already read all the books in the public library and any other that crossed his hands. The boy knew that he had no chance in the army with his scrawny physique. His only hope for a better life was to use his scholarly aptitude and get a small government post.

A noble would scoff at such a puny ambition, but to Remy, who never had anything, this was already a huge ordeal.

On the day of his 15th birthday he took the imperial examination and passed with flying colors. With that he would be boarded into a school and then assigned to a post. His future was assured!

Or so he had thought. After finding out the results he was extremely happy and decided to celebrate with some of the few friends he had. He was not much of a drinker, but that day would be an exception. He had to celebrate the turning point in his life after all.

The bar they chose was a high class one. Remy didn't have much money, but he decided to splurge just this once.

The first bottle of wine was worth more than he made in one month of doing odd jobs. It was the best thing he had ever drunk.

But, as expected, his body was not accustomed to drinking having lived the way he did before now. Half a bottle down and he was already drunk out of his mind.

He was scholar, but even scholars did stupid things when inebriated. Punching a noble in the throat and almost collapsing his windpipe was apparently one of them. The guards wasted no time in beating Remy to a bloody pulp.

He was just barely treated with some half dried herbs before he was shoved into a prisoner ship heading for the island of Kass.

Unfortunately for Remy his hard work went down the drain and his hopes for the future were shattered in a single moment. A bottle of wine, one not even entirely drunk, severed his destiny.

Remy was out cold the entire trip across the ocean. After arriving at the island, the guards spared no pity and picked him up like a sack of potatoes, throwing him in the wagon heading for the Nest.

The boy was already on the edge between life and death, so when the careless guard smacked his head on the door frame his soul couldn't hold on anymore.

Remy Riverson passed away after three days of agony and regret. The guards didn't even know they were chaining up a corpse and left to bring in the other criminals.

As more and more people were brought in and subsequently bound, something impossible happened. It was not noticeable because of the lack of light inside and the fact that the people present were too depressed to look anywhere but down.

Breath once again graced Remy's nostrils and his chest expanded violently. The wounds, most of them hidden under dried blood and dirty clothes, began to heal at an almost impossible rate.

The wagon was already halfway towards the Nest when Remy's eyes snapped open. His eyes no longer shined with the cheeky curiosity he was known for, but with unwillingness and anger!

The last thing the new soul that now inhabited Remy's body remembered was leaving work and going out to drink with a couple of colleagues. It was football night and people got a bit too heated. Alcohol was thrown into the mix and a bar fight erupted.

He gave as good as he got until someone smashed a bottle on his head and he got dog piled. Then everything went dark.

The next thing he knew were more than ten years of memories being violently shoved into his brain. The new soul understandably panicked, but he became even more so when he realized he couldn't remember his own name or defining things from his life. His friends and family were a blur. He remembered having them, but that was all.

The new memories formed a steady steam as they embedded themselves into his consciousness. Once the process was over, he spent a good amount of time thinking about and coming to terms with what was happening.

He had finally realized that he was isekai'd. The termed referred to a genre of light novels, manga, anime and video games that revolve around a normal person from Earth being displaced, transported to, reborn or otherwise trapped in a parallel universe, fantasy world, or virtual world.

It was the dream of many unhappy individuals and even he fantasized about it when the office hours got especially long. Still, he never expected it to happen.

He wanted to get mad at being killed, but he was also placing some of the blame on himself. He could have walked out of that place after the first punch was thrown, but instead decided to join in on the "harmless fun".

In any case, he decided to go through the memories he had received first from the previous owner of this body.

He began with the earliest one and went from there. Along the way he actually felt some admiration to the now deceased youth for his strong work ethic and determination to make something more of himself.

When he finally reached the end he did a mental scoff at how similar their ends were. Both of them went down in a bar through violence. He would have laughed if he had suddenly not realized something very important using his new memories.

"I'm going to jail..." he disbelievingly whispered.

He looked around and saw the other convicts in the same chains as him. "No, no this can't be happening." he denied.

He stood still for a few moments expecting something to happen that would prove the reality he was witnessing wrong. When nothing happened he started to get angry.

"Motherfu*ker! Where's my otherworldly adventure!? Where's my magic sword and busty cat girls!? He cursed with all the venom he could muster in his now wretched heart.

The other prisoners glanced at him, but seeing his age and the state he was in they collectively decided that he snapped from the situation. It was something hardened criminals like them had already seen before.

"If any god is listening, I swear I won't drink another drop of liquor in my entire life as long as I get out of here!" He tried to bargain, but he had nothing to offer and nobody to offer it to.

"This daddy is too handsome to go to prison! What if I drop the soap!?" He was depressed, this was not how this was supposed to go…

And finally, after a few more minutes of inner struggle, he accepted his situation.

"I'm going to be cracked open like a watermelon…"

A whispered "what the fu*k?" left the mouth of a nearby convict. He was understandably not well informed regarding the five stages of grief. Also understandably, he was not feeling entirely comfortable sitting next to someone speaking such things.

Remy- he might as well use this name now-, used his new memories to understand as much as possible about the place he was going.

The Nest was quite a well known place in the Empire and he had read many books regarding it. What stood out the most to him right now was the fact that the barrier was absolute. Anyone could enter, but none my leave, ever.

As if that was not bad enough, the entire population were criminals. Even more, the mountain range still kept a wild aspect to it with many species of monsters indigenous to the region running around it.

Remy was a normal guy in his previous life. Thirty years old with a boring nine to five job. Played video games in his free time and read light novels. He knew he was not the kind of guy who could take the environment of the Nest in stride.

Hell, he wasn't even from this world. Thankfully, the old Remy's memories helped him out a lot, especially since he was a scholar and had read much.

The fact that he had a young body could prove either a detriment or a curse in this situation. He could push more effort on it and it was certainly in better shape than his previous one. It could also mean that others may not take him seriously or as an easy target.

Remy's musings were interrupted as the wagon stopped. He could hear the sound of activity outside and saw the other prisoners tense up even more.

It seems he had arrived at the Nest.