There was an accident in the tunnel, and all I had left were fragments of memories of being wrapped in warm light. Then, some time later, I opened my eyes and woke up in a completely unfamiliar place. Where am I? It was a room with plaster walls, wooden pillars supporting the ceiling, and a few pieces of furniture.
At that moment, I felt a sense of dissonance and déjà vu.
I wasn't sure what this strange feeling was.
Then I felt a sudden dizziness. It felt like countless pieces of information were being forcibly uploaded into my head. After suffering from the dizziness for a while, when it finally settled down a bit, I casually looked at a small mirror hanging on the wall.
Blond hair, blue eyes, the face of a typical pretty boy.
...This isn't my face, is it? Is this me?
I touched my face, made various movements, and tried different expressions. The face reflected in the mirror was definitely my face now. I'd jokingly complained about wanting to live as a handsome guy, but I never thought it would actually happen.
Even my appearance was fundamentally different.
I had no idea when I had become a white pretty boy.
What was certain was that even if this was a dream, it felt good.
"I feel like I've seen this somewhere before."
But the layout of the room seemed familiar somehow. I didn't think I'd seen it in a movie, and I didn't know the details this precisely, so why did I feel this déjà vu? Then something flashed through my mind: it was similar to the opening scene of Medieval Knight.
No way.
Waking up in a game world after thinking I was dead?
That seemed like far too ridiculous an idea.
Was this a dream or reality? Honestly, I couldn't tell. I was certain I'd died, but I had no idea why I had woken up in a place like this. The vivid sensations and the feeling of being alive were definitely not those of a dead person.
All kinds of speculations and imaginings churned through my mind.
But no matter how intensely I debated internally, reality didn't change.
I examined my face again. And after a long while, I became certain.
The face of a typical white pretty boy with blond hair and blue eyes was the standard default appearance that showed up when you started customization. But why specifically the default appearance? When I created my character in the game, I just used the default because helmets covered the face anyway, so you couldn't see it well.
Was that the reason? Because customization was a hassle?
I had also given myself the cool German name Wolfgang.
The name literally means "Path of the Wolf," but since the game was set in one of the Holy Roman Empire's principalities, it was the name I liked best out of all the ones I'd considered. In German regions, wolves were considered sacred animals that foretold victory in battle, and that was the story behind my name.
The world of Medieval Knight, me as a modern person, and another me.
The backstory forcibly imprinted in my head was very annoying. I was Wolfgang von Streit, the last heir of a family that had not received hereditary knighthood. My father had died in a war with France five years ago, and I'd been living in hardship until I had just come of age at fifteen.
This was the starting setup you first encountered when beginning Medieval Knight.
The Duchy of Beren, one of the principalities of the Holy Roman Empire, was the country I belonged to, and I lived in the capital, Breisburg. When you first started Medieval Knight, you could choose from five principalities of the Holy Roman Empire, and I chose the Duchy of Beren because it was said to be fun to play.
I recalled Medieval Knight's prologue: the last head of the Streit family, a duchy knight who had just come of age, venturing into the world driven by ambition and the desire to restore his family's prosperity.
Even if I wanted to deny it, the reality was undeniable.
I had to accept that the current situation was this absurd reality.
In the game, my goal was to earn a cool epithet as a knight, win a beautiful wife, and acquire territory. But what was I supposed to do if this became reality? Could a modern person even properly adapt to medieval times? To these plaster walls and this faintly drifting stench?
[Medieval Knight System is being applied]
"...What the hell is this now?"
[Hello, Wolfgang. Welcome to the world of Medieval Knight]
[To assist with the best gameplay, the Medieval Knight System provides the best service to help Wolfgang adapt to this bewildering reality. Wolfgang can use the shop and acquire various points and money through quests. However, selling items purchased from the shop is prohibited, so please take note of this]
So this is what it felt like to see text floating before my eyes. Surprisingly, it didn't block my vision that much. The reason I could maintain this composure was that it was all too absurd and ridiculous. They say when people face situations beyond their expectations, they actually become calmer. That was me right now.
"A system to help me adapt? Then let me ask one thing. Why am I here?"
[Because the operator of the Medieval Knight System granted Wolfgang's last wish]
"...I made a last wish? I don't remember that at all."
No matter how much I liked games, who in their right mind would wish to live in a game world while they were dying? I didn't remember making any wish at the moment of my death. The fact that I had died was bewildering enough. There was no way I had the presence of mind to make a wish in such a desperate situation.
[The operator simply granted Wolfgang's wish]
"Who the hell is the operator?"
[An existence beyond all realms Wolfgang can comprehend]
It was too abstract an expression to grasp, but since this was the being who created the world, it was certainly beyond what I could comprehend. I didn't know what wish I had made, but the result was that a world had been created based on a game: a world brought into existence by my wish. Ha ha ha.
It was so absurd I could only laugh dryly.
Could it be that this being called the operator thought of me as nothing more than an ant?
[The world of Medieval Knight is a living world where each person's birth, each person's life, and each person's death are organically connected. Please respect their lives. Create a story of a great hero to be remembered in their lives. That is the ending condition]
Great Hero was one of Medieval Knight's signature endings, and they had set that as my ending condition. I hadn't even reached an ending. I'd only played for thirty hours. I'd just started getting into it when I died, so I must have had regrets. That's why I was here now.
Medieval Knight was fundamentally a game with very high freedom, so you could choose from various paths. You could be a tournament knight fighting for a lady you admired, a free knight wandering and enjoying adventures, a robber knight attacking and plundering others, or a mercenary knight moving from battlefield to battlefield.
My goal had been to become a lord.
Because the life of a lord ruling and governing a village seemed fun. Unfortunately, I didn't become a lord before dying. As an office worker for whom overtime was routine, I didn't have much time to play games. On top of that, I didn't like playing while following guides.
So I couldn't even compare to the wealth of knowledge held by veterans who had dived deep into this game, and knowing only what I knew, I lacked information about the overall game flow and main quests. If I'd known this would happen, I should have watched all those strategy videos on YouTube.
But the system said this was a living world and to respect its inhabitants' lives. Could a world programmed to develop events differently according to various conditions unfold the same way as a truly living world? While strategy information would certainly be helpful, it wouldn't be gospel.
[Repetitive Quest: Training]
[Run for 30 minutes]
[Clear your mind through training]
[Reward — 50 points, 50 copper coins]
So I should stop overthinking and just run?
Yeah, that's right. Worrying won't change this situation.
Maybe if I got some fresh air, my mind would calm down a bit.