Once again, Sam was lost. He still had no idea what he was going to do with the rest of his life, and it didn't seem like he would even finish his degree. After he met Perrin, he hadn't had a chance to think about his future, as he was still in shock just from the instant change of scenery. Now, he had some time to himself, and he realized how utterly fucked he was.

  Step one: make a plan. That was easy enough. He assumed it was easy, considering almost every one of his peers had a vague idea of what came next, and Sam had never spent time seriously considering the next steps.

  Manual labor was never in my skill set, so I should probably figure out if there is a school anywhere. Perrin is surprisingly fluent and he uses “you” instead of “thou”. Maybe he would know? Sam opened his bag and took out his pencil and notebook. At least I still have some of my things, since I was too lazy to take anything out before I walked over to the physics department. Sam wrote ‘Find education’ but quickly erased it. I guess I should get the basics out of the way first. I need money. It's pretty obvious that money is going to be necessary to get anywhere and do anything. And at some point, I need to learn to read. I did luck out that everyone seems to speak English, but if that sign isn't just a leftover from some age long past, reading will be very important. I doubt I can pass as intelligent if I can't even write my own name. And finally, I need to get to the nearest city. I think Perrin said it was called Stark. Only then am I likely to find some information on... whatever situation I ended up in. Sam, satisfied with his short term list, wrote it down in his notebook.

  Standing up, he opened his bag again, and sighed. I guess this is probably deadweight now, he thought, staring at the spine of the three-ring binder holding his thesis. This took almost a year to write, after almost four years of school, and I trip once and lose everything. How much luckier can I get? Am I going to wake up from this and find out I missed the due date by one day?

  Why couldn’t I have ended up here with a practical education? Why did I have to pick a useless major?

  What did I do to deserve this?

  Sam felt his frustration fade to emptiness. If this whole experience was as real as he believed, there was no reason to regret his life at home. He had some knowledge of basic technology, so even if he wasn’t happy right now, he might be able to live until he was.

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  Realizing he’s been in his head for too long, he quickly put his notebook and pencil back in his bag and headed downstairs.

  He could hear Perrin and his mother were talking in the kitchen, and he caught his name a few times. Not willing to lose his sleeping arrangements, he knocked on the wall before entering.

  Perrin was startled, but quickly said, “Oh, Sam! Lucky for you, we're going to the market. My ma wants us to buy some food for supper.”

  Karris held her breath for a second when Sam entered the room, but when he didn't say anything, she gave no other reaction. Well, that's not a good sign, if their conversation was something they didn't want me to know about.

  “I don't really have guests, and it's rare for Perrin to bring one, so we'll be having shepherd's pie today,” said Karris, now looking at me. Is that a sneer? “You're welcome to find your own food if you can't eat ours.”

  Is that what it was about? “Shepherd's pie is actually one of my favorites,” Sam said.

  “Really? What noble House even serves mutton? Surely they can afford something better than that,” she scoffed.

  “I assure you, ma'am, I'm not a noble. And, speaking of which, could I borrow some of Perrins’ clothes? I'm getting tired from all the looks people are giving me.”

  Both Karris and Perrin were surprised by Sam's request. “You want to wear Perrin's clothes?”

  “If it’s not too much to ask. I don’t exactly have anything I can give you, but I don't feel comfortable wearing these.”

  “All-all right, then. I guess my clothes should fit you well enough. Although, they might not be as comfortable...” conceded Perrin.

  “The sooner I start wearing them, the sooner I’ll get used to them,” said Sam. But Perrin hadn’t moved from his mother’s side.

  “Please?” He was starting to get a little annoyed at this point. Why are they trying to convince me I’m making a bad decision? Sam sighed. “Perrin?”

  Perrin jumped at his name. “Y-yes, m’—” He closed his mouth.

  Why does everyone have an inferiority complex here? Do the ‘nobles’ really require this much... subservience? “Would you lead the way? I don’t want to go into your room without your permission.” I also have no idea what I’m supposed to wear, but I don’t want to seem so clueless as to be taken advantage of.

  “Of course!” Perrin looked to his mother, but quickly ran out of the room.

  As Sam followed Perrin out of the kitchen, he turned and gave a nod to Karris.

  “Good day, ma’am. And please, stop thinking of me as rich. I am in a lot of debt, after all.”

  auf Weidersehen!

  literally nothing has happened yet because I really like character development for some reason and also it's not even noon in the story but I've written like 3000 words aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

  becomes OP through random chance