Chapter 0: Prologue

Prologue

The man grasped the sword with both hands, raising the blade vertically to reflect the sunlight.

[Baldur, grant me strength.]

As if responding to his murmur, the blade emitted light.

Exhaling deeply, the man kicked off the ground and leaped forward. The spot he left was deeply indented, and the air momentarily quivered, rushing towards him.

A horde of monsters filled his view.

Among them, a cow standing on two legs with two horns extended its head toward the blade.

[Urgh...!]

With a swish, the blade, aimed at the cow's temple, slightly cut through its hide then stopped.

His all-out attack ended there.

The cow extended its arm, grabbing the man's leg. In mid-air, the man was helplessly caught.

Whoosh, the sound of the wind disoriented him, and

[──!]

With a thud, the cow flung him against a nearby tree like a wet towel.

Whether it was his back or his side, the man hit something, something broke, and blood gushed from somewhere.

Drip, his body momentarily stuck to the tree before sliding down.

The leg that was caught broke. No, it was more accurate to say it was shattered.

Lying face down, he lifted his head to look up.

Sunlight shone through. The same light that had made his sword shine just moments ago. The sunlight fragmented through the greenery of the trees.

And the cow.

The cow, the cow looked at him with its eyes.

[Baldur, guardian of justice and light, please...]

A cracking sound was heard.

* * *

I glanced at the monitor for a moment.

'GAME OVER' was displayed in the center of the screen, stark and blunt.

Hmm, I exhaled through my nose and took a breath.

"Trash game!"

I was about to slam the shotgun but remembered the cost of the keyboard, and was about to throw the mouse but then remembered its price as well.

My hand hovered in the air for a moment before I crossed my arms.

"I've tried everything I could think of."

Swords and magic, gods and demons exist in the game 'Etius'.

I dare say no one has been as deeply immersed in this game as I have.

Everyone else declared it a trash game and escaped before me.

And now that I've finally declared it a trash game, I'm the dumbest and the biggest victim among gamers.

"I thought it was a god-tier game."

Lifelike AI, vast open world, charming characters, endless content.

At launch, it was described as incorporating a fantasy world from another dimension into the game.

But in fact, it was a balance disaster.

No one has seen the ending of this game except for the protagonist's death.

There's a boundary in the vast open world that cannot be crossed because of the demons, and beyond that boundary, even ordinary mobs cannot be easily killed.

It doesn't seem like a game made to be cleared. The company has no intention of fixing it.

But that's what stimulated my desire to challenge.

'The lack of intention to fix it means there must be a way to strategize somewhere.'

That's what I believed.

Why did I do that?

"I'm tired."

I laid my arms on the desk and buried my face.

I realized it was time to say goodbye to this game.

The recent game over was the last strategy I had thought of to conquer this game.

And since that failed, there were no other options.

"Student Frondier."

Ultimately, Etius became the first game I couldn't conquer.

Since no one else could conquer it either, maybe it's an exception.

"Frondier De Roach."

...But what's this noise?

I heard a strange sound in my room, where I was alone.

When I raised my head,

"...?"

I saw something like a chalkboard.

In front of it, a woman who looked like a teacher was holding a textbook-like book and seemed to be giving a lecture.

And now, that teacher was looking at me.

"Ah, me?"

I responded without realizing it.

Frondier? I've never heard such a name before.

"Who else would it be but you?"

The teacher said it as if it was obvious. As if it was obvious that I was 'Frondier' or whatever.

I looked around. I could see the faces of students wearing school uniforms.

Some of them were snickering at me.

'This isn't my room.'

This is a classroom. My room has turned into a classroom. I had just lifted my face from the desk.

'...Ah.'

Is this a dream?

I've been so obsessed with the game Etius that I'm having such a vivid dream.

"Frondier, do you know the name of this weapon?"

The teacher displayed something on the right side.

It was a magical device, 'Wizard View', that projects images into the air.

Seeing magic technology that I'd only seen in games right before my eyes felt extraordinary.

'That's.'

I saw what the teacher had displayed with the Wizard View as a weapon.

It was a branch. It didn't look like a weapon at all.

'...Aha.'

I roughly understood what answer the teacher wanted.

But since it's a dream.

Maybe I'll act a bit more clueless.

"That's a branch. It doesn't look like a weapon."

The laughter of the students grew louder at my words. The teacher sighed.

"As expected, you haven't paid attention to the class today either."

I hadn't paid attention. I would have had to be able to.

"...Teacher, was today's lesson about 'Baldur'?"

Baldur, the Norse god of light, son of Odin.

He was said to have died from a mistletoe branch.

The name of that branch is 'Mistletoe'.

So, I should have answered that the branch was Mistletoe to be correct.

The teacher looked at me as if I were a curious thing.

"...Yes. Student Frondier, if you knew, why."

"Teacher."

I looked at the branch on the Wizard View again.

No doubt. That's just a 'branch'.

"Mistletoe doesn't look like that."

A weapon that would one day be wielded by the protagonist in the world of Etius.

I've seen and handled that weapon countless times.

Differentiating between a 'mistletoe twig' and 'Mistletoe' is not a big deal.

"..."

"..."

The students and teachers looked at me in silence. Their gazes were filled with discomfort, anger, and disgust.

Of course, that would be the case. Everyone truly believed that Mistletoe looked like that at the start of the game.

"..."

Let's see, so.

When will this dream end?

* * *

...And a week passed.

I decided to accept it. This is not a dream. Whether I acknowledge it or not, this place is reality.

Thinking it was a dream, I made a fool of myself with Mistilteinn and only worsened my image.

As I walked through the corridors, I could hear whispers directed at me.

"Isn't that the guy who was spouting nonsense during class?"

......that guy and me, the one in charge of that word.

"Well, I suppose my reputation wasn't that great to begin with."

I am now inside a mansion. The residence where the original owner of this body lived.

As for how I found it, as soon as school was over, there was an assistant waiting to pick me up in front of the main gate.

I rode here in a very luxurious sedan.

......Up until this point, I still had some hope. I had realized that, even if not the protagonist, I was a noble of considerable status.

Moreover, the face reflected in the mirror pleased me quite a bit.

The jet-black hair and eyes had a deep black luster that seemed quite luxurious, and the appearance was equally so.

Before I knew my identity, I was almost fooled by this appearance.

I looked at my wristwatch on my room's desk.

A smartwatch.

It was the only item I brought with me when I came to this world. Maybe it was because I was wearing it on my wrist, but then why did all my clothes change?

That's still something I don't know.

I wondered if this smartwatch would work, but not only did it work.

•Name: Frondier De Roach

•Age: 17

•Affiliation: Second son of the Roach family, first-year student at Constel Academy

•Race: Human

•Divine Power: None

Skills Detailed >

Magic Detailed >

Quests >

It operated in a completely different way.

This was no longer just a watch.

The status screen I was familiar with in Etius was now in my smartwatch.

Seeing this made it real to me. The realization that I had fallen into another world.

For me, a complete outsider in this place, this status was one of the few salvations.

"......Frondier De Roach."

It was an unfamiliar name. It took me a while to remember it.

I played this game very diligently. I tried to find even the hidden elements in every corner. Even for someone like me, it was a character hard to recall.

After finally remembering, a sigh came out first.

──The Human Sloth Frondier.

It's a derogatory nickname likening me to a sloth. It's just a derogatory term without any other meaning.

Not lazy but powerful,

Not indolent but with something hidden,

It's not like that.

Just a lazy and indolent character. Nothing more than that.

"Given this skill composition, I can't say I don't understand why it would make one lazy."

In the world of Etius, what determines strength and weakness, competence and incompetence, is solely skills, magic, and divine power.

Divine power refers to the power bestowed by gods.

In Etius, gods from all sorts of mythologies appear to grant power to humans. However, not many humans receive such power.

Humans who receive divine power are no different than the chosen ones, and indeed, those who possess divine power are all named characters.

On the other hand, skills and magic can be acquired by everyone, but compared to divine power, they are minor. That doesn't mean they are easy to obtain either.

Indeed, a very few manage to forge skills and magic that surpass divine power through arduous effort and talent.

Frondier, however, naturally lacks divine power,

and even magic,

when it comes to skills.

Skill Detail>

[Weaving]

•Rank: Unique

•Description: Stores and duplicates the image of an object. However, it is an illusion. It undergoes the processes of 'Workshop' and 'Duplication'.

- Workshop: Stores the woven object in a virtual space.

- Duplication: Duplicates the object stored in the workshop.

This is what it means.

I picked up a fountain pen on the desk and used 'Weaving' on it.

The image of the fountain pen is stored, and the stored image fills up as if threads are being woven in front of me.

Just like it is being printed by a 3D printer.

Probably, this is why it's called 'Weaving'.

[Viet Trading Company's Deluxe Fountain Pen] (Duplicate)

•Rank: Common

•Description: A weaving product mimicking a fountain pen. It lacks physical substance.

I held the real fountain pen in my left hand, and the duplicated one in my right.

To my eyes, they looked completely identical.

This is Weaving. It duplicates objects into illusions.

Once an object's image is 'Woven', it is stored in the 'Workshop'.

As written above, the workshop is like my own virtual space where I can easily view what's stored.

Like augmented reality, I can see it with my own eyes and display anything, weapons, tools, without restrictions.

Therefore, Weaving is possible anytime, anywhere.

But only for objects I've seen with my own eyes.

Even if I know about a weapon in my mind, it won't be stored in the workshop until I've seen it in reality.

Frondier, before I possessed him, had already used it a few times, so several weapons and items were stored.

...If you just hear about it, it sounds quite plausible.

But since it's all imagination, they're all fake.

Such duplicated fountain pens can't write, let alone pierce a single piece of paper.

Moreover, only I can see them, so others don't even know whether I've woven something or not.

An imagination that can't interfere with reality at all.

...We've decided to call this 'delusion'.

I have no idea what to do with this.

"I've never seen such a skill while playing Etius."

Since I've never seen it, naturally, its rank is Unique.

In Etius, the Unique rank has different features from other ranks.

Ranks range from the lowest 'Common' to the highest 'Divine', but 'Unique' isn't included in this range.

Instead, Unique rank has a different attribute. It's one-of-a-kind.

So, the Unique rank can't be judged as good or bad. No matter how trivial, if it's the only one of its kind, it's given the 'Unique' rank.

...But is there really such a useless Unique skill?

"Slothful Frondier."

This skill seems to prove that derogatory nickname.

From now on, I must live through a game that even the protagonist couldn't conquer, in the body of Frondier.

"It's not just about surviving."

I clicked on the 'Quest' tab on my smartwatch.

Quest >

[Main Quest: Fate Reversal]

•Description: You know the final demise of humanity. Save humanity and change its fate.

This quest had been present ever since I opened my smartwatch for the first time. It must have been there from the moment I was possessed into Frondier.

According to this quest's description, I know the end of this game. No, I should say I know the end that comes when it's not conquered.

The demise of humanity is utterly pitiful.

It's not a downfall caused by a Demon King or an equivalent final boss, a grand conspiracy, or a hidden mastermind, as one might expect in a typical game.

Instead, humanity is simply slaughtered by monsters. The human realms gradually fall to the monsters, and finally, humanity is swept away by the incoming tide of these beasts.

Even the protagonist of this game meets such a hollow end.

And I'm supposed to stop it. Me.

Hahaha.

Knock, knock.

A maid's voice came from the other side of the door.

"Master Frondier? May I enter?"

"Y-yes."

I found myself replying in formal speech without realizing it. Given that Frondier was born into nobility, such a manner of speaking should be unfamiliar to him.

The maid who entered looked at me as if she found me slightly peculiar, though of course, she wouldn't voice such thoughts.

"Master Frondier, you've received a letter."

"A letter? From whom?"

I try to speak in a commanding tone, even if it feels forced. It might be awkward for a while, but I'll get used to it.

"It's from Lord Enfer."

"...My father?"

Enfer, Frondier's father.

I might not be familiar with the character of Frondier, but I know Enfer very well.

Enfer De Roach, the Iron Wall of the North.

A superhuman who has never allowed the invasion of monsters in the 'Yeranhes,' a Frondier domain of the Terst Empire.

The reason I find the character Frondier unfamiliar is because his father, Enfer, and his eldest son, Azier, take up almost all of the significance within the Roach family.

Enfer, as a general, possesses the leadership to command legions, and in terms of personal strength, he rivals the 'Zodiacs' among the top twelve warriors of the continent.

Azier has inherited all of his father's immense talent and is a character from the official stories of Etius, known for growing beyond even that.

Enfer, now my father, has sent me a letter.

I nervously took the letter handed to me by the maid and tore open the seal. The letter contained a succinct message.

[Frondier, your laziness has been sufficient.

Rank within the top 10 in Constel for this academic year.

Fail, and you will be disowned.]

I read through the letter, exhaled through my nose, and then inhaled just as much.

"...Cursed game!"

"What did you say, sir?"

"Nothing at all!"

It seems my life is about to become succinct as well.

Ding, a monotonous notification sound prompted me to check my smartwatch.

[A subquest has been generated]

[Subquest: Father's Order]

•Description: Frondier's laziness over the past has pushed his father Enfer's patience to the limit.

•Objective: Rank within the top 10 at Constel this semester

•Reward: Earn Enfer's recognition.

•Failure: You will be disowned.

I know!