Chapter 2: 2

Chapter 2: [STAGE 0] Commencing the Tutorial

Boom!

As soon as I opened my eyes, a pile of bricks fell in front of me with an explosion.

“Huh?”

Letting out a stupid sound, I felt someone push down on my shoulder.

I couldn’t even think of letting out a groan and had to lie flat on the ground.

“What was that, all of a sudden…?!”

I tried to look back to see who it was, but—

Kaboom!

Before I could do that, a huge explosion erupted and caused an incredible vibration. It felt as if a bomb had exploded right in front of my face. I was terrified, so I leaned closer to the floor.

Soon, the vibrations settled down, and my numbed ears became more stable. I looked up and scanned my surroundings to see what was happening. Seriously, what was that?

I was on top of a fortress wall made of large bricks. Smoke was rising from all the fire, and shouts and screams were resounding.

The wall beside me was molten red, it was streaming down like water because it melted from the heat. It seemed as if something like a bomb had actually exploded around here.

“What the hell…?”

I murmured as I trembled and continued looking around to see more of what was going on.

Armored men, covered in soot and blood, were hurriedly moving around.

The cannons above the castle walls spewed fire, and the people were screaming blue murders as they swung their swords and shot arrows over the castle walls.

I slowly turned my head to see over the wall, wondering what could possibly be behind.

And there were…

“……!”

Monsters.

Kyeeegh-!

Monsters that resembled spiders—but much larger than humans—were roaring ferociously toward the wall.

There seemed to be hundreds, no, thousands of them.

My body stiffened at the ridiculousness this scene had presented to me.

What the hell is this?

“Is this a dream? Or am I hallucinating ‘cause I ate something bad…?”

“It’s okay to be coping, but that reaction’s a little too cheesy, don’t you think? Your Imperial Highness.”

A complaint could be heard from the back. It seemed to be from the person who pushed me down to the ground. I looked back, stunned by the situation.

A man that seemed very familiar stood there.

“…Hm?”

It was even more stunning that a handsome man pushed his face closer to mine.

“You’re a little too close, could you please back away a little?”

His bright cerulean eyes flashed under his shiny blond hair. His handsome muscular body was clearly visible even over his leather armor.

It was as if his entire existence was loudly claiming to be the main character. Yeah, I mean… he does have everything a main character needs…

Huh?

“…Lucas?”

I pointed my finger at him without realizing it.

Because he looked so similar to the main character of the game that I was just playing, <Empire Defense>.

The blond young man seemed irritated at this.

“You finally called my name. You never remembered my name despite the fact that I’ve been serving as your personal bodyguard your whole life.”

“Huh…?”

You really are Lucas?

‘Wait, that means… Don’t tell me, this is…’

Ba-Bam!

Something flew in again and a part of the wall collapsed. I screamed and rolled on the floor. ‘Please, don’t kill me!’

Lucas ran toward me with his teeth clenched and forcefully brought me up.

“Allow me to remind you since you probably forgot! Our enemy is the ‘Black Spider army’! There are two hundred heavy-armored siege units and nine hundred short-range assault units! This outpost is on the verge of collapse!”

“Uh, Uhhhhh.”

I couldn’t even talk because I was so confused.

The Black Spider army was a monster species that harassed the hell out of the player starting from midway through the storyline in <Empire Defense>.

Lucas growled as he looked over the wall.

“However, They are not active after sundown! And the sun will set in 30 minutes! That’s why I told you multiple times to just quietly stay in the base…!”

It seemed as if this pouring bombardment was an attack from the Black Spider Army.

Boom! Kaboom! Sparks flew out from all sides and the walls melted. The soldiers who were fighting on the fortress wall fell down, dripping blood over and over.

“Damn it, this way!”

Lucas almost lifted me up and dragged me into the base.

The buildings inside the base were all burned down and collapsed, broken and damaged everywhere, but the situation was better than the hell outside.

Lucas gently laid me down inside the building and shouted—

“Please, stay here until the sun sets! Don’t come out, ever! Do you get that?”

“Huh, yeah…”

“Thanks, Lucas.”

I said without realizing.

“……?”

Lucas glanced at me, puzzled, then ran out again.

What? I just wanted to say thanks, but he didn’t like that? Just what kind of person does he think I am?

“Hm.”

I stretched my back, which felt heavy from rolling here and there, and looked around. 

I needed to evaluate the current situation.

“Ugh…”

“It hurts, it hurts so much…”

The inside of the base building was full of wounded soldiers.

The soldiers moaned as they wrapped themselves in bandages soaked in blood. And they writhed in fear every time they heard the cries of the monsters outside.

However, there was something they feared even more than the monsters.

“Eek?!”

“Y-Your Imperial Highness?!”

…It was me.

As I approached the wounded soldiers, they instantly fell down on the floor in unison.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I have no excuses whatsoever!”

“My deepest apologies for resting because of such trifling injuries, Your Highness! I’ll go out to fight again, so please don’t execute me!”

Pardon?

Execution?

What kind of terrifying word is that? I hurriedly waved my hands in denial.

“No, I just wanted to help you a little since you seemed to be in so much pain…”

“Are you saying that you’ll kill me to bestow eternal rest?!”

“These injuries are nothing! We’ll return to the frontline right now! Aaah!”

Before I could say anything, the soldiers dragged their wounded bodies and ran toward the castle wall.

“……”

I stared blankly as the building became empty in an instant.

“Wha…what was that?”

‘Alright, let’s calm down first. I’m still not sure if this is real or not, but let me get myself together for now.’

There was a chair inside this empty room. I sat down on it and wiped my forehead with my hand as I was starting to get a headache. I needed to sort this situation out first.

‘This sounds so ridiculous, but…’

This is inside the world of <Empire Defense>.

That’s right, the game I had just cleared with the highest difficulty possible.

There was the main character, Lucas, and a representative monster species, the Black Spider Army, so it had to be.

I don’t know how or why I came here, but this is just how it is.

“Then who am I right now?”

I can’t be the ‘Classic Nerd’ that made a living off streaming games. That’s because…

“Are you feeling better, Your Imperial Highness?”

Every human I have encountered so far called me that.

Lucas poked his head through the door and asked me. I nodded without energy.

“Uh, yeah. I think I’m fine.”

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“The sunset has begun. The Black Spider Army also started to retreat. It looks like they’ll form a siege somewhere in the vicinity.”

He said with a sigh as he wiped the blood off his cheek.

“Looks like we’ve survived another day. Though, I’m not sure what’s going to happen tomorrow…”

I glanced a little at Lucas’s face.

It felt strange and unfamiliar. The guy who was inside my monitor just a while ago was now standing in front of me.

However, there was something more important than just taking a look at his face. I slowly stood up from the chair.

“Lucas, what about the injured soldiers?”

“Pardon?”

“The wounded soldiers inside this room. They ran away as soon as I came inside the building. Where are they right now?”

“I was wondering what happened since the wounded soldiers came out in a group… They’re all currently at the castle wall.”

Lucas’s face got pale right after.

“Your Highness, did the soldiers do something to irritate you?”

“Hm? No, that’s not it.”

“Please, have mercy on them. Every single soldier who can hold a weapon is desperate right now. There is a limit to keeping up the morale by publicly executing…”

“No, I’m not executing anyone, alright?! What is wrong with everyone?! What am I, some kind of an insane scumbag murderer who kills people as if they were insects?”

Lucas’s eyes widened after hearing what I said. It was as if he was saying ‘Now you realize?’ with his facial expression.

I started to shed cold sweat. Really? For real? I’m that kind of person? Like, I just decapitate innocent subordinates?”

“Uhm, what was I gonna say… right, I really mean it, when I say I’m not executing anyone… So tell everyone to come back here so they can take some rest.”

Lucas asked as if he didn’t understand what I said.

“Pardon?”

“You said that the sun’s starting to set. It’s going to get cold soon. Here’s the stove, light it up so they can get some rest. They need to heal up for tomorrow, y’know?”

“Uh… Yes…”

“And I need to have a little talk with you.”

As I walked out of the building first, Lucas asked me with a trembling voice.

“Your Highness, are you…”

“Hm?”

“Are you going to kill me instead of the soldiers?”

“No, I’m not! I’m not killing anybody!”

Seriously, what the hell kind of guy was ‘I’?

* * *

Mid credit:

[Translator: Dawn]

[Proofreader: Alissa]

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* * *

The wind blowing over the wall was cold.

The wind blowing hard on my face was of the winter.

And also of the night. It was obvious that it’d be cold, but there was a different reason.

“……”

I slowly looked around me.

Death.

There was death everywhere. The monsters’ corpses filled the ground beneath the castle wall, and the castle battlement was filled with human corpses.

I could feel the coldness of death. It was colder than that of the winter and colder than that of the night.

“Lucas, when and where am I?”

I managed to ask as I stood at the edge of the castle wall, barely holding myself back from throwing up due to the reeking smell of blood. 

Lucas, standing behind me, seemed a little puzzled after hearing my question, but nevertheless, answered in a clear voice.

“The last day of February of the 649th year on the imperial calendar. This is the forward operating base of ‘Crossroad’, the fortress city.”

“…Then tomorrow will be the first day of March of the 649th year on the imperial calendar.”

“That is correct.”

I clenched my teeth.

March 1st of the 649th year on the imperial calendar. Forward operating base of the frontline against monsters.

It was a very familiar time and place.

Of course, it had to be. Since this is the time and place of the ‘tutorial’ in the game, <Empire Defense>, which I had to play hundreds of times in the last six months.

“I was wondering why this situation seemed so familiar…”

I cleared <Empire Defense> in Hell difficulty with Ironman mode.

Ironman mode forced the player to play through the game with only one save slot.

The game forcibly overwrote the saved file on that one save slot, meaning it was impossible to save and load.

So what happens when the situation in-game becomes so bad that you can’t clear the stage anymore?

Then you’d have to give up on the run and start from the beginning.

The viewers called this action of starting the game all over again, ‘New Earth’, or ‘New Empire’. I recorded exactly how many times I did this.

And I finally managed to clear the game on my ‘742nd Earth’.

Meaning that I had failed 741 times, and played this tutorial level 742 times. Of course, I’d know very well about the tutorial.

‘Tomorrow marks the beginning of the prologue of <Empire Defense>, the tutorial stage.’

The tutorial was simple.

It explained the situation of this world, the manual, the game systems, and…

Everyone except Lucas died.

“……”

Because I had skipped the tutorial a few hundred times, I forgot everything. However, as soon as I started to recall, everything came back to me at once.

And at the same time, I figured out who ‘I’ actually was.

“It’s ‘Ash’.”

“Pardon?”

“My name. It’s Ash. Ash ‘Von Heiter’ Everblack.”

Lucas looked at me as if I said something very obvious, but I was in a serious mood. I clenched my teeth and started to pull my hair.

“Why, just why? Why did I have to be this bastard out of everyone?!”

The Empire’s crazed psycho third prince.

The absolute worst commander who caused the death of many soldiers in the fortress city by forcefully bringing them to the forward operating base.

And the character who met the worst end in the tutorial.

Ash ‘Von Heiter’ Everblack.

A minor role extra character that died as soon as the game began.

‘It’s crazy enough to be dragged into the game’s world, but I had to be this bastard?’

That was the moment I realized my ‘identity’.

Ting!

A familiar cheap sound effect was heard, and a transparent window appeared in front of me.

[STAGE 0]

– Objective: Survive the monsters’ attack.

– Reward: ???

It was a very familiar system window.

That’s right, it’s literally the same as the interface of <Emprie Defense> that I was playing just a while ago.

“……”

Then I finally realized clearly.

That I really did get dragged into this game world,

And that this game was truly a garbage game.

“Uhm, Your Imperial Highness. Are you okay?”

Lucas looked at me anxiously as I stared into the air with empty eyes.

“…Lucas.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”

I turned my head stiffly to Lucas and whispered quietly.

I said with absolute sincerity—with everything—from the bottom of my heart.

“I’m fucked.”

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