MLI Ch 0. Just Another Day Going To The Office

A/N: Hey everyone. The day is finally here! Here is the first chapter of Manor Lord Isekai, or rather, the zeroth chapter, which serves as the prologue of the story. The next chapter will be up in a few minutes. As I had told yesterday, this is a very short chapter, but the next one is of double length.

Enjoy!

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William had barely crossed the street, when the traffic light turned green again. He gave a quick glance at his smartwatch—just before 6 AM—and exhaled with relief. At least he wouldn't get another lecture from his boss for being late. Not today anyway. 

He turned left to walk towards his office in eastern London when he noticed a girl—barely 4 years old—still crossing the street merrily with an ice cream in her hands. Why was she out alone this early in the morning? Where the heck were her parents?

He looked around, hoping to see them nearby but the pavement was deserted. That's when he saw something large approaching from the corner of his eyes. It barely took a moment for him to realize that the girl was right in the path of a speeding lorry moving on the same lane. 

"Hey, get away from the road!" he shouted loudly, hoping to gain her attention.

The girl glanced at him, looking lost, when he heard a loud horn being blown by the lorry.

"Hey! Move!!!" William called out to her again, yelling at the top of his voice. But the girl was frozen on the spot while gazing at the approaching lorry in confusion, which was only a few seconds away. He heard the screech of emergency brakes being applied, but his mind knew it wouldn't be enough.

He couldn't just leave her to die, her missing parents be damned!

"Fuck it!" 

Barely taking a moment to make the decision, he sprinted faster than he had ever thought possible, and dived towards the girl, pushing her away from the path of the speeding lorry. 

Time seemed to have slowed down as he saw everything happening in slow motion from that moment onwards. The girl yelped in surprise as he pushed her, but at least she went out of harm's way—although she would get a few scratches from the asphalt and would have to buy a new ice cream again, with her previous one already splattered on the street. 

As gravity pulled his body to the ground, he turned his head to the left and noticed the lorry was just a few meters away from him. He even caught the sight of the panicked face of the driver as the lorry blew its horn again, nearly deafening him this time, coupled with the ear-splitting screech of the brakes, but it was far too little, far too late.

"Well, shit..."

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>> MLI Ch 1. A New Beginning