Karl no Tensei: Transmigrated as an Assassin with a Mana Meter Chapter 1: Ch 1: Truck kun is on a Holiday

Are we equal?

And no, I don’t an the similar pair of eyes, ears, a nose, four limbs, a head, you know the basics that a human should basically have.

But then my eyes fell on a blind beggar, tumbling on a road bump.

Ahh I see...even then we aren’t equal.

I felt the bile of bitterness creeping up my throat as I once again looked at the piece of paper clutched in my hand.

The letter of my expulsion.

For unpaid fees. It’s ridiculous, really.

They didn’t even bother hearing out. Just handed the letter with a disgusting look aid at .

The school hours weren’t yet over. But I was out of there.

I felt humiliated when the staff had called out my na...even saying the reason why I was being summoned by the principal.

"Your fees haven’t been paid for the last 8 months, Karl. The principal has called for you."

I couldn’t look at my classmates. But even then, my peripheral vision showed their reactions.

So looked at with visible disgust...why?

So had pitiful looks on their face...God, that enraged . Made want to defy them.

But I can’t. I couldn’t.

What did I even have? What achievent could I even shove right on their faces that would have shown my worth?

Nothing. The worse part, I knew it.

But...but even they didn’t have anything to show. No achievents.

In fact I was even better than them.

Why do I say it so confidently? Nothing much but maybe based on better results and a clarity that only cos with a proper comprehension of sothing.

But as fate would have it...the privileged won. The hard worker lost.

Lost at the age when I should actually be hanging out with my friends, playing gas...and read books. Fantasy, horror, sci-fic, romance(sotis), sigh...how long has it been since I have read any of them?

"Oh right, I don’t have any friends as well. Apparently I am a workalcoholic." I mumbled in dissatisfaction.

People filed in rows around on the pathway, each lost in their own world of work and romance.

"As if I have any other option..." My parents were poor. So was I.

They are such hard-working parents. Father would work multiple shifts at a textile mill. The pay was low and he would often work overti, just to secure a agre few more pennies.

Mother worked as a receptionist at a hotel offering the minimum wage.

Leave taking care of family, those paychecks aren’t even enough to take care of oneself.

When I was quite young, I never understood that we were a struggling family. They didn’t let know.

I guess they just wanted their only child to atleast have a morable childhood before familial duties burden .

Sotis that would make happy. And sotis I would be sad, knowing their childhood was a hell and yet...they made sure mine wasn’t.

They did everything in their willpower to arrange my tuition fees.

I could have gone to the governnt ones...but let’s be honest. They are shit.

In fact there is one of them near my house. Since a decade, I have seen the sa things over there. Students running and bunking classes during the class hours itself.

Gang fights, poor hygiene. Nothing good was there to be found.

A waste of money on useless infrastructure.

A waste of ti on students who never wanted to receive education.

Basically... A waste of space.

But it wasn’t as if nobody has ever co out of there without any achievent. So even have achieved things that money could never do for you.

If only my parents had trusted enough to go there...maybe they would have had less stress today.

’Maybe I should just die...’ A thought entered my mind, unbidden alongwith a torrent of guilt.

I an... wouldn’t their lives be less stressful without my presence?

Without being a burden?

Without being...a leech sucking off their savings?

But then, my feet halted.

Involuntarily, my right palm raised into the air.

*Thwack*

I slapped myself. Right on the cheek.

Few people close to paused in their steps. Others gave a sideglance before picking up their pace.

*Thwack*

Twice. On the other cheek.

This ti, people moved away from as if avoiding a plague.

*Thwack*

Thrice.

A crowd was almost on the verge of forming around .

’Huhh that’s better. Physical pain always increases my clarity to upper levels haha. It’s almost as if it’s a skill.’

My feet carried away from the gawking people.

They probably thought a mad kid.

Let them think. They wouldn’t understand my pain.

Once they might have. Now they are rich.

The best they could do is sympathise and feel nostalgic.

I clutched the letter in my hand, feeling its crumpled form. I can almost imagine the shock my parents would find themselves in if I showed them this letter.

What do I do now? Should I hide it?

But then...I would need to pretend of going for school. Every single day.

Then my thoughts turned to my book. The book I had been working on for the last few months.

I was about to turn 15 the next month. And being inexperienced I could feel my work’s amateurish writing.

Maybe now I can finally focus on it wholeheartedly. I just need to explain my parents.

"Yes, Karl. Be optimistic. It’s not that hard. You can do it. You have to." I reminded myself as I felt my mood sweeten,hope returning in my eyes.

At that mont, the atmosphere around changed. I felt an unsettling enigma crawling deep in , making the hairs on my neck rise.

"Ahhhh!"

A sudden surprised scream ca from behind .

I turned back, half expecting soone’s clumsiness.

Instead I saw sothing that made my blood scream with fear.

A truck was heading straight in my direction. People looked at my direction, aghast.

It’s bulky form shook violently as it blared horns but not stopping.

"Ti to get iseka--" An almost excited voice blasted through the driver’s seat.

But it stopped as I jumped sideways, dodging the truck.

The truck crashed into the rising overhead bridge with a thunderous crash. The tal surface squished as its different parts flew around it.

"What the hell..." My lips mumbled, my thoughts a ss as my legs shook in deep fear.

Suddenly, the bridge overhead rumbled.

I felt a bad premonition. Without thinking anything I ran.

But alas, a fragile and malnourished body like mine wasn’t enough.

I couldn’t run far enough....

The bridge broke down. Many people scread and tried to run, but unfortunately they all got trapped underneath it.

A large boulder shaped debris fell on my back as I felt sothing inside burst.

Hot blood squird out my nostrils, my mouth as I was pinned under it.

I was losing consciousness rapidly. I tried holding onto it with sheer will power ...I can’t die.

’Who shall look after my parents? I need to be alive!’ I tried screaming but the sound never left my lips.

As I died, a sweet voice whispered in my head.

"We aren’t...

We were never ant to be...equal."