Translator: Silver

「Chapter One」

Author’s Note: Main story starts now.

Cold.

I felt sick as my consciousness resurfaced.

Though it was bothersome to do so, I opened my eyes and looked around.

My keyboard should’ve been right in front of me……

“Huh?”

For some reason, I was looking at dead leaves, and the scent of fresh dirt tickled my nose…… mulch, perhaps?

I leaped to my feet and looked around.

The dim landscape was reminiscent of the mountains.

The scent tickling my nose carried the faint fragrance of mountain soil.

The chill caused me to hug myself, which made me noticed a more significant change.

I was wearing a dress coat.

It was already summer, and I should have been wearing s.h.i.+rts and shorts.

Yet, there was a chill in the air despite it being summer.

What was I wearing……?

“This coat, its…… Kaivon’s.”

I timidly reached for my head.

My fingers brushed through smooth and soft hair.

The hair was silver.

My vision was strangely narrow.

When I touched my face, I realized it was because of the mask I was wearing.

“Kaivon’s mask……”

Even the horns were present.

Touching my face revealed that it didn’t belong to me.

This meant――

“How strong were my regrets? To even dream about the game.”

I began walking it the dream forest.

But, gradually I began to question if this really was a dream.

In the first place, a zone like this didn’t exist in the game.

I do remember coming across such scenery recently.

This couldn’t have been a dream.

In the end, it was one of those situations.

“Usually, I should have run into a goblin or some other mob by now.”

However, I didn’t know what normal was anymore. This was the first time I’ve ever dealt with something like this――

“Snakes shouldn’t be active in the cold!”

I’d run into an enormous eight-meter long snake.

It’s tail stroke at tremendous speed.

I floated for a moment before cras.h.i.+ng to the ground.

Strangely, it didn’t hurt that much.

But, the snake suddenly bared its fangs――

“Roll away!”

“!?”

I instinctively reacted to the cry and rolled away.

The next moment, an icicle exploded from the ground, entered the snake’s mouth, and exiting out the back of its head.

A voice called out to me while I looked at the horror scene in stunned amazement.

“Yo-You’re a demon? And a high ranking one at that.”

“N-No, I’m not.”

“…… to an enemy of this level. Who are you?”

“No, I’m human.”

“I won’t be deceived. Just look at yourself.”

Everything became clear I saw my reflection in the b.l.o.o.d.y icicle.

No, I realized it a while ago, but now I was forced to see it……

No matter how you sliced it, I looked like a demon king.

“I’m a human, honestly. There’s a reason for my current appearance.”

“…… The magic aura is different…… but a human?”

“Th-That’s right.”

“But why do you have so much power……”

“Power, me?”

I calm downed and finally saw who I was speaking with.

Despite the figure-obscuring brown cloak, I could they were female.

It was unquestionable given their thinness.

She held a wizard-like staff.

Perhaps she was wary of me because of my appearance……

If I could access the menu screen I could…… do something.

Maybe this situation wasn’t a dream after all.

Ugh, what should I do now?

“…… In any case, follow me.”  Don’t do anything funny.”

“I-I understand, I won’t do anything suppose.”

After pointing her staff at me for a bit, she turned on her heels and walked off.

I had no choice but to follow her.

I prayed for the menu to appear as I typed away at a nonexistent keyboard, but it was to no avail.

Doesn’t a window pop up in most stories by now?

Still, I didn’t give up and quietly muttered something.

“Menu…… please……”

That must have been the one.

It finally appeared.

The familiar menu screen opened up like a head-mounted display.

The shock caused me to shout unintentionally.

“What! You’re up to something aren’t you?!”

“Oh, wait! This should work now.”

She stopped walking and looked back at me.

She was more surprised than angry at what she saw.’

I opened up the equipment tab and removed everything.

『Elder Wings』, 『El Capricorn』, 『Pains Persona』,  『Crimson Demonic Eyes』were all gone.

All of them had been fas.h.i.+on items that only affected my appearance.

Many items like that had been put into the game, but the difficulty in obtaining them meant that only a few people actually used them.

I mean, it was impossible for someone to change their appearance otherwise freely.

Oh, I often saw people suffering from a particular disease only obtaining the wings.

Well, I couldn’t verify it for myself, but that was probably――

“Huh!? You turned yourself into a person!”

“N-No! Those were accessories! This is my true form.”

“…… Is that so? Prove it.”

“Okay, I’ll show you some other accessories.”

I equipped a pair of 『Groucho Marx Gla.s.ses』, an『Afro』, and 『Cat backpack』.

I felt the pressure of opaque gla.s.ses on my face and a sudden weight on my back.

“W-Well.”

“……Hmm, what’s this? Are you some buffoon?”

“No, why would I be here?”

“You’re still strange, but you don’t seem to be a demon.”

With that misunderstanding solved, I removed the gag equipment and followed after her.

In any case, I was a real ikemen now.

The rustling of the leaves, the chill in the wind, and the sound of the forest animals, I doubted that I could create all of this within a dream.

However, a sense of incongruity rose up regarding the woman I was following.

Despite walking in an unknown mountainous forest for dozens of minutes, I didn’t feel the slightest bit of fatigue when we arrived at our destination.

“This is my home. However, I can’t believe you’re just some random human.”

“I remember being human for my entire life……”

I didn’t get the response I expected when I told her about the menu screen and not being in my original body.

She was able to view her own status screen.

Some people could do that and people who couldn’t in this place.

What was the deciding factor? While the fact that she and I shared a few abilities, I didn’t get the feeling that she was another player as I spoke to her.

Should I give priority to my own needs for the time being?

“Well, could you tell me your name? Then tell me everything about yourself.”

Her house looked like ski resort lodge, and it had the interior to match.

She prompted me to sit in a high-quality wooden chair.

“Well, at this point, I believe that I came from a different place, a human from a different world.”

I spoke honestly without making up a story, like having amnesia, for myself.

The world I came from had no such thing as status screens or monsters.

I explain that my current body wasn’t my own and was something I indirectly help create.

“If I’m understanding this…… you’re from a higher plan, and crafted a body to interact with this lower world……”

“Well, your not wrong, I suppose.”

It was a bit exaggerated, but it was mostly correct.

She framed it as if I were one of the G.o.ds.

She even stopped addressing me as “you (君)” and instead used “you (貴方)”.

“Ah, but a G.o.d isn’t something like that is it? I wouldn’t mind it if I could exploring this world. I don’t consider this to be a lower world either.”

“I-Is that so? Since he’s not a G.o.d, treating him normally should be fine…… right?”

I don’t mind being treated normal and would like to learn more about this world if possible.

If anything, I should be the one humbling asking about the unknown.

And――

“Um, are you gonna remove your hood anytime soon?

“Ah, that’s right. I completely forgot about it because it’s so cold.”

Her hood s.h.i.+fted from side to side when she said that.

The shaking allowed me to catch a glimpse of an elven ear. A horizontal elven ear?

I watch in antic.i.p.ation as she placed her hands on her hood.

“I’m rather sensitive to the cold… huh.”

“Ooh……”

It was a level of beauty that no words could describe.

If you came across a beautiful elven woman, like something out of a game, it would be difficult to comment on her beauty immediately.

She had long white hair and pale blue eyes.

When you mentioned elves, blonde hair and strong European feature was the first thing that came to mind…

“What. is my hair that unusual?”

“No, that’s not the reason.”

In fact, she was immediately recognizable.

Unlike with Kaivon, I only implemented characteristic I found the most appalling when I created itー

She was my secondary character――

“It’s a little late for introductions, but my name is Rue Semiere. Can you tell me your name?”

This person was Rue.

If you want a clean image of our protagonist Here you go