As dusk approached, the young monk, having offered his blessing to the middle-aged man and woman at the door, turned and left.
"God will bless the faithful!" the middle-aged couple quickly echoed, watching the monk depart. Only then did they close the door, handing the holy bread to their nephew, Adam, and daughter, Lina. "I'll go prepare dinner; we have pickled meat today."
"That sounds wonderful, Aunt Maggie," Adam said, smiling widely. His joy was infectious, lifting the spirits of those around him.
As he watched his uncle and aunt bustling about, Adam continued to chew the holy bread in his hand, enduring the searing pain as it burned like fire.
"I must find a way to leave the Kingdom of Saint Heavenly Sound," Adam thought, swallowing the last of the holy bread and pondering his next move.
The holy bread, baked with holy water and wheat flour by the monks of the Holy Sound Church, was unremarkable in itself. It was merely white bread infused with a faint divine power, thanks to the blessings of the monks. This divine essence, capable of repelling evil, was what made it significant.
Yet, Adam himself was a part of the very 'evil' that the bread was meant to cleanse.
Adam's original name was neither Adam Boku nor his former name, Naser Riggs, but something utterly out of place in this world.
"Has it really been thirteen years since I arrived in this world?" Adam thought, his mind briefly wandering.
He had been an ordinary person in another world, until a car accident had sent him crashing into a mysterious black hole. He had been reincarnated into a world filled with divine magic, sorcery, and strange creatures.
Unfortunately, he had been reborn as a creature despised by most human factions—a werewolf.
In truth, these so-called "otherworldly creatures" were not much different from humans, except for a few peculiar traits that set them apart. Werewolves were one such breed.
The greatest difference between werewolves and humans was that most werewolves would lose control on a full moon, growing sharp fangs and transforming into towering, wolf-like beasts. In this state, they often lost their sanity, becoming bloodthirsty, indiscriminately hunting the creatures around them.
Luckily for Adam, he was one of the few who could control his transformations, restraining his murderous instincts and maintaining his rationality even in his wolf form.
This control was due to both inherent and acquired differences in werewolves.
A "pureblood" werewolf was born from two werewolf parents, while "transformed" werewolves were changed through infection, curses, or magic.
Adam was a half-pure werewolf. His biological father was a werewolf, and it was this heritage that allowed him to hide within the border city of Roya, as long as he did not transform—when he was human, he appeared no different from the others.
The Kingdom of Saint Heavenly Sound was a theocratic state, dominated by the Church. Its armies of priests had made it their mission to hunt down and destroy any and all "otherworldly creatures." Any creature caught by the Church would either be burned alive, hanged, or imprisoned to die.
In other words, the outcome was always the same—death.
Thus, Adam's goal was to cross the walls of Roya City and reach the Kingdom of Loken, where, according to rumors, life was somewhat more hospitable for otherworldly beings.
However, Adam had learned that the wilderness between the two nations was rife with monsters. The path beyond Roya's walls was far more dangerous than crossing the border itself.
Currently, he resided with the Boku family. On paper, he was the nephew of the male head of the household, Alis Boku, though there was no blood relation between them.
The real Adam had died at the hands of bandits—a naive young man who had come to Roya seeking refuge after his parents passed away. When Adam had first met the real Adam, he had learned most of the boy's details without even needing to ask. But by their second encounter, the once trusting youth had already become a lifeless corpse in the hands of the bandits.
Having witnessed this, Adam understood the necessity of assuming an identity. He helped avenge the true Adam, disposing of the corpse, and took on his identity to integrate into Roya.
"Big Brother Adam," a voice called, pulling Adam from his thoughts. A seven- or eight-year-old girl came running toward him, throwing her arms around his legs, her face turned upwards with sparkling eyes. "Have you finished your holy bread?"
Lina Boku, Alis's daughter and Adam's nominal sister, had come to trust him immensely over the past half month.
"I've finished it. But next time, I'll save some for you, alright?" Adam smiled, ruffling her hair, causing it to become a mess before tying it back into braids once more.
He didn't enjoy the tasteless bread, which even caused him pain, but he knew it was necessary to maintain the illusion of normalcy to avoid revealing his true nature.
As he watched Lina eagerly run into her mother's arms, asking if her braids looked nice, Adam turned away and ascended to the second floor. He gazed out the window, taking in the dusky view of the border city.
"I must leave soon…" he muttered to himself.
The next morning, Adam went out to sell the homemade pickled pastries of the Boku family, greeting the neighbors as he did.
Over time, the neighbors had come to recognize Adam. They knew he was the nephew of Alis Boku, who had come to seek refuge after his parents' death, with his face swollen from a bee sting on the way here. After his swelling had gone down, he turned out to be quite a handsome young man.
As Adam peddled his pastries, he gathered information, satisfied that his disguise was working. He resembled the true Adam only faintly, and though Alis had not seen his nephew in years, he still had a few memories of him. The gradual thinning of Adam's face over the past half month had been enough to dispel any suspicions Alis might have had.
While hawking his goods, Adam's eyes shifted toward a distant mansion—his target.
The Kingdom of Saint Heavenly Sound and the Kingdom of Loken were currently at odds and did not allow free movement across the border. For a commoner to cross from one kingdom to the other, they would need the help of a noble, and most nobles in the border city were involved in smuggling operations.
Normally, it would take years—perhaps even decades—for a commoner to get involved in such affairs, as the servants of the nobles were often born into service, and trust had to be earned over generations.
But now, an opportunity had presented itself.
"The bandits were working for Baron Mansra," Adam recalled the information he had gleaned from the bandits, mentally noting the layout of the area before leaving the street to make further preparations.
When he returned to the Boku household, Alis and Maggie had not yet returned.
The Boku family was not wealthy, but they managed to get by, especially since Adam had arrived.
"It's time," Adam murmured, as Lina ran up to him, her head full of excitement. He rubbed her head gently, his mind calculating. Until now, he had kept a low profile to avoid suspicion. But now, after growing closer to the family, Adam felt ready to act. He would help the Boku family improve their fortunes without revealing his true identity, ensuring they would not become a burden to him.
"Bringing knowledge from another world into this one would be too conspicuous," Adam thought. "And this world is so different. Some things might not even work here."
"Even if they do, if they're too far ahead of this era, I could be branded as possessed by a demon and end up on the execution pyre. Or worse, accused of being a petty thief who stole noble secrets?" Adam knew all too well the nature of the Church and the common folk in this world.
His gaze swept over the modest home, settling on a book with an illustration on its cover.
"Perhaps I could try becoming a painter," he mused.
In this world, becoming an artist, particularly one who painted religious scenes, was a respectable path. Fortunately, Adam was quite familiar with this craft.