My Situation in Another World

I finally figured out what had happened to me.

I really had died, but I had come back to life in another world.

Ah, how incredible. Fate had actually saved this chance for me.

This was a world with jujutsu. My father was Naobito Zenin, heir to the Zenin Clan, one of the Three Great Families of Jujutsu Society. And I, Kamu Zenin, was the result of my newfound father's one-night fling while he was away on a mission.

My mother had died a little while ago. Perhaps my father had discovered what they called "a talent for jujutsu" in me, because he had brought me back to his home.

My father already had a child named Naoya Zenin-the boy who had come to mock me earlier.

On top of that, the Zenin Clan had a rigid hierarchy. Men ranked above women, and jujutsu sorcerers ranked above ordinary people.

Utterly feudal.

Seriously, this place was even more boring than my old world.

Still, it wasn't as though I couldn't put up with it. After living so long in a world governed by materialism, I was genuinely curious: what would my cursed technique be like?

Looking forward to my cursed technique manifesting was probably the only thing that interested me at the moment.

Unfortunately, before my cursed technique appeared, I was sent to the steward in charge of instruction.

The attendant escorting me said that low-ranking female family members like me, who had yet to develop a cursed technique, all had to learn the Zenin Clan's rules from the steward.

Curious, I asked him, "What if I don't?"

He looked terribly impatient, but something seemed to hold him back. He forced himself to restrain it and answered with a frown, "There is no 'what if.'"

He wouldn't say even one word more.

I thought perhaps he was wary of the cursed technique I might still awaken, or of my father, Naobito Zenin. Whatever the reason, it certainly wasn't me.

He wasn't the only one. Plenty of the people I had met over the past few days were the same. Their eyes openly showed their contempt for me, yet they had to hold it in and obey me, however unwillingly.

Suddenly, I felt that the Zenin Clan might be a little interesting after all.

The steward in charge of instruction was a stern-faced old man. He stood in the courtyard watching me, a long, thin whip in his hand.

The instant we met, he lashed me with it.

I fell to the ground.

His strike was heavy, while my body was just as frail as it had been in my previous life. I couldn't withstand a blow like that at all.

It hurt... it hurt so much...

Vivid red spilled from the wound and dripped onto the ground with a steady patter.

It took me a while to realize it was blood.

The pain was terrible.

All I could do was press hard against the wound.

I couldn't see my face, but I must have looked awful.

I was going to kill him.

I was going to kill him I was going to kill him I was going to kill him I was going to kill him I was going to kill him I was going to kill him!

The Zenin Clan really was hopelessly backward, utterly worthless. Some of its people were as disgusting as maggots writhing in filth.

I barely held back my rage as I glared at his revolting face.

Looking at the girl's vicious gaze, the steward actually felt a flicker of fear. He wanted to step back, but steadied himself instead and lashed her again, harder this time, as though that could make him forget what he had just felt.

"You must not look directly at a man of higher standing," he said disapprovingly. "Did one lash not teach you that? Miss Kuang Wu, you really are far too stupid."

My body was still far too frail.

After just two lashes, my vision went black and I lost consciousness completely.

But just before I passed out, I thought I saw my shadow move strangely. I wasn't sure whether my eyes had played tricks on me...