Chapter 0: "Introduction"

Chapter 0: "Introduction"

--Garbage worm.

A guy in my class told me that when I was in elementary school. I don't know what he didn't like about me, but he bullied me for three years until we were separated.

--You're disgusting.

A guy in the same class told me this in junior high school. Apparently, he didn't like me because I was reluctant to participate in class activities.

He was the center of the class, so the whole class treated me coldly.

--Shock on the cheek.

When I was in high school, I was hit by a guy in the same class. He was a tough guy who was good on the outside, but had a hard-on for anyone who looked weaker than he was.

He beat me up and took my money until I graduated.

--You really can't help yourself, can you?

After graduating from high school, my own father told me. My grades were poor in elementary, junior high, and high school, and my attitude went downhill from there, as I was only accepted to a private high school.

I had a younger brother who was good to the point with good grades, so the difference in attitude became more pronounced.

--You're useless. You're screwed up at work.

At my first job after graduating from a vocational school, I was told by my coworkers.

I was unable to join the group because of my passive personality, and I was having a hard time learning the job, so when I was frustrated, they said that to me and hit me.

The other guys kept saying to me, "Why don't you quit already?"

--What a pity.

After a few years of this, I couldn't take it anymore, so I quit my job and went home to rot, and that's when my brother told me.

He had already graduated from a good university and got a job offer from a big company.

I was miserable.

And now.

I'm standing in front of a tree in my parents' yard.

I'm on a chair and have a rope around my neck that's hooked to a branch.

All I have to do is kick the chair over.

I close my eyes and think about my life so far.

Yeah, it's been a shitty life.

There's so little to see, it makes me cry.

I breathe in. Breathe out.

Breathe in.

It wouldn't hurt to at least give myself a break.

Kick the chair over.

Impact on the neck. I can't breathe. It's painful. Won't I die instantly? Oh, I had to jump with momentum and damage my cervical vertebrae, didn't I? I'm in pain. I'm in pain.

Hurry up and die. Hurry up and finish. Hurry up and die. Death, death, death.

There was a light sound of something snapping in the back of my head.

I feel something leave inside me.

Ah, I died.

I was a little relieved by that fact.

When I woke up, I was on the ground.

Well...why did I sleep on the ground...?

I remember my last moment.

I remember that I hanged myself in the garden... I wonder if I'm still alive... I wonder if I even failed to kill myself... I'm finished, aren't I?

As I try to sit up, I suddenly realized. There is something wrong with my body. I move my head and look at my body.

First, it was black. Then, it was long and thin.

An earthworm...?

The body was a black worm-like creature.

Oh, the next one was an earthworm...I really was a garbage bug bastard, wasn't I? Oh, I thought worms weren't insects? Well, okay.

I mock myself. I look around, and I see that the grass and everything is just huge.

The next thing I felt was doubt. Why do I have memories?

I knew that I must have been reincarnated as an earthworm.

Huh... I guess I'll have to do it again.

I was thinking about how I would kill myself next. I'm not going to live as an earthworm.

By this time, he had lost the support of his subjects and showed no emotion other than dissatisfaction with his ability as a lord.

Furthermore, for some reason, his financial situation had turned out to be a result of his spending, which added to the dissatisfaction.

To dispel his dissatisfaction, he appealed to the citizens that the rumors were a misunderstanding, but they threw stones at him.

The situation was deteriorating at a tremendous pace, and he was getting very close to the bottom of it.

One day, while he was pondering in his study for a way out of the situation, the butler appeared and made him a cup of tea with an apologetic look on his face.

Although the situation ended up like this, he was also acting out of consideration for the territory and the house. It is wrong to blame him.

He sipped the tea, telling him not to worry about it....

The memory has since ceased.

...... What a...what a thing. It's like a match-pumping scheme. I'm sure the butler and his fiance set him up, no matter how you look at it. And it's been about 2 years. That's too fast...

The butler is completely guilty, but the fiance's acceptance of the situation is also too fast.

I can't help but think that they were anticipating this.

I couldn't help but feel sympathy for his downfall.

He has been completely deceived so far. The deceiver must be feeling very good about it.

Of course it is the deceiver who is at fault, but this is an example of the problem of the deceiver as well.

And the fact that this Mr. Rothfeldt doesn't suspect the butler or his fiance at all is nothing short of pathetic.

He's probably not that smart....

At this rate, the territory will be gone and it will be under another name. Specifically, of the fiance or something.

The time between the talk of the people leaving the territory and the acceptance is too short...I swear, they must have been preparing for this.

He's an idiot, if he'd been a little more suspicious of people, this wouldn't have happened....

But I've seen the memories, and I know.

He was a good guy.

At least he was good to his people.

He wants to improve his territory. He wants to protect it. He wanted to make everyone happy.

That was all he thought about and worked hard for.

I couldn't quite understand why he grew up to be such a good-natured person, even though I looked into his memory.

I don't understand it, but this guy must not have done anything to deserve this kind of death after what he went through.

That much I do know.

Is it being pulled by memory? For some reason...the people in the fief who turned their backs on him, even though he was a complete stranger, and the butler who turned their long relationships upside down and betrayed him so easily....

I felt a desire to kill.

Open the eyes. I stand up.

I examine my...well, it's a misnomer to say it, my body.

I conclude that I am not a worm, but a parasite of some kind.

I am a creature that can attach itself to a corpse and manipulate it. I'm a creature that can do that.

I check the condition of Rothfeldt's body, which I have taken over.

I try to do some light stretching. I cross my arms and stretch. I bend down and stretch my legs.

It works fine. But the sensation is a little dull.

Tried to pick up a fallen stone, but it felt like I was touching it through a glove.

Sight and hearing are both fine. I can see and hear better than my original body.

"Uh-oh."

I can talk without any problem. Language is also fine, if I refer to the memories.

And I can feel the sensation of my body.

It's camped out in my head, in the top of my brain. It can move if I'm conscious of it.

Next, check the clothes and belongings. Cloth clothes and pants. No other belongings.

Sad initial equipment.

When I looked into my memory, I had overlooked it, but it seems that magic exists in this world.

Ah, this is the recently popular "otherworldly reincarnation," and when I actually experience it... well, it's hard to comment on it.

Originally, I hung myself with the intention of sleeping forever, but when I opened my eyes, for some unknown reason, I was reincarnated as an insect....

In a sense, I failed to kill myself if only by looking at the result....

What should I do now?

For now....

"I'm hungry."