Arcadia’s Labyrinth Prologue

Prologue

Have you ever imagined your own death?

Perhaps it's not something most people would ever do.

Even if you did, it would be something like imagining yourself on bed as your family takes care of you.

Even I imagined myself becoming old and dying while my family looks down at me lying down on my bed.

I guess that is what most people imagine their deaths will be like.

And I would be no exception to that.

However, I'm dying on a cold stone floor right now.

"Uuh……… Aah……"

I heard a hoa.r.s.e voice that I couldn't believe as mine.

My sight is covered entirely in my tears, and in front of me there are countless dog-like creatures with monkey's heads.

They toy with my body that stopped resisting.

I can't feel my body at this point, the only thing I can feel right now is the discomfort from my body's missing flesh.

Why is such a thing…

I ask myself in my mind.

I left my hometown to become a famous adventurer and came to this labyrinth city together with my uncle's sword, who was an adventurer long ago.

However, no one wanted to form a party with a rookie like me, so I filled myself with confidence and challenged the labyrinth on my own, and the result is this.

I moved my sight downwards.

There is the tragic sight of my clothes torn apart.

Even though it was of reasonable value, after all it's just clothing. It's not tanned leather, much less chained clothing. It's just clothes without any defense value.

Now, I can remember the face of the adventurers looking at me with a face of ridicule as I entered the labyrinth.

I who wandered the labyrinth aimlessly with a one-handed sword and ordinary clothes must have looked like a suicide volunteer.

It's just natural that I die.

I underestimated the labyrinth too much. I underestimated the monsters too much. And I underestimated my own life.

This is exactly a suitable end for a fool like me. To be eaten while I'm still alive.

Oh, but even so.

If only I had another chance.

At that time I would—– ……….

And I died.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ……………………………………………………………………….

"………. !!!?"

I sprang up to my own feet.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha"

My heart is beating wildly. My breath is too coa.r.s.e. It's like I just ran an entire km.

It was the worst dream. I died; it's a dream of me dying while being eaten alive by monsters. Pain, fear, despair, everything felt so real.

However, it was a dream.

It was a dream, I'm glad…

"Eh……?"

Then I notice.

"Here… Where is this?"

I'm in a narrow room.

It's somewhat similar to the size of that room in the inn that I usually stay in.

However, the interior is too different. On the vicinity the walls are entirely stained in white, while the ground is made of s.h.i.+ny wood.

On one side right next to a wall there is a first-cla.s.s but simple bed, and a bookshelf packed tightly, but luxury and narrowness of this room are just wrong.

And above all that.

There is a rectangular and luminescent plate. What on earth is this?

There are countless strings extending from the plate on top of a wooden desk, and it goes to the bottom, where there is a black box that emits a slight noise, when I look closely, the strings seem to be connected.

On the desk there is a piece of a board with countless b.u.t.tons, and besides that there is a mysterious object that fits in my palm. It doesn't look at all like a desk, as there is no quill and ink, nor is there any parchment paper.

I wonder what this plate that emits light is.

Various pictures are shown on the luminescent board; apparently it seems that part of the labyrinth is shown there.

A b.l.o.o.d.y person is collapsed in a dim and small room. That person has the same silver hair and blue eyes as mine, even his clothes are similar to mine…………

"……Eh?"

*Dokun* My heart jumped.

It is me who is shown there.

It's drawn small and deformed, its normal height and build, long silver hair, and blue eyes howllow, the face that looks like a woman's, everything is just like me.

"What is… this"

I felt my throat go dry rapidly. And sweat covers my back as if all my moisture went there.

When I drink my saliva and look at the picture more closely, there are letters written in an idiom I have not seem that says [Do you want to play again? Y/N]

"No, wait…"

It's strange. Strange, strange, too strange.

How come I can read this idiom?

I look at the characters again. It's still an unknown idiom but I can understand what it says.

In addition, the t.i.ttle of this— Manga which is on the bookshelf which I couldn't read until a moment ago.

"Hii…!!"

Fear overcomes me.

I'm understanding this world rapidly now.

The things that I didn't understand, I start to understand now as if I knew about it from the start.

This luminescent board is a personal computer. To be precise, the personal computer is the box under the desk, this board just displays it. The board with countless b.u.t.tons is the keyboard, then there is the mouse.

And then.

And. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and.

The picture that is shown on the monitor is [Arcadia's Labyrinth] - An eroge.

The man fallen on the floor is - This game's protagonist.

—— I was the protagonist of this eroge.

It seems that I was stunned for quite a long time.

When I got up, it was bright, about noon, but now, it's dark and only the monitor illuminates the room.

However, now I have calmed down.

I take a deep breath and organize the information in my head.

My name is Alkane, alias kane. A country b.u.mpkin from a remote village of the Markt Kingdom, the village Sehar. The character is a boy who came to the labyrinth city to rise as an adventurer.

And the owner of this body, Moriya Kei. Is a weak boy who withdrew from school due to bullying. He has a high interest in the otaku culture, including eroges.

Naturally he is a loser of age= years without a girlfriend. He just finished middle school and didn't continue further studies, though that is a time of trauma for him. So he is a boy who withdrew from school,—- And my player.

This is a game that was released about two weeks ago, a masterpiece that is over 80 points in an evaluation of eroges, a website made by Moriya Kei.

It has gained popularity due to the random dungeons and custom heroines.

Random dungeon is a system where random dungeons are generated over time. And by clearing those dungeons you can get various equipment and skills. There are 100 fixed dungeons in the center of the city, which is the main part of the story, and if you clear those, it's a game clear with a happy end.

Custom heroines is a system where custom NPCs can be made by buying slaves from slavers. You can set the appearance, initial status, etc, and if you feel like it you can even make characters stronger than the hero himself. In adittion, this slave heroine can develop various s.e.xual traits and develop her erogenous zones by training, and can even be then sold to earn money after trained.

Incidentally, there are fixed heroines too, and they have heroine specific skills.

Well, it's a work that combines mysterious dungeons and eroges together.

Although it's nothing new, it's highly valued due to its game balance, and other factors, and Moriya Kei who knew of this also purchased the game.

Whether I had gone mad or something, it became a game over too fast because of not buying equipment and going into the labyrinth hastily.

And it reached this point.

Well, this isn't important anymore.

I glance at the previously protagonist that got game over.

Though it's only my intuition, but, if I choose Y, I think that something will happen.

And that is probably that I will return to my world.

But, before that. There is something that I want to do.

I press the ESC key on the keyboard and switch from fullscreen to window. After that, I minimize Arcadia's Labyrinth and open the internet browser.

Then the search engine set up as homepage comes out, and I instantly type in "Arcadia's Labyrinth Walkthrough".

While searching for a site that seems to contain more information, I think.

I don't know if I'm really that human called Alkain. Perhaps I'm Moriya Kei and got myself into the protagonist's life. Or perhaps all of what happened is just a dream caused by watching the protagonist's death.

Nevertheless, if I'm truly that man called Alkain, and the current situation isn't a dream.

This walkthrough will dramatically change my life. I have such a feeling.

……. After several hours.

Even I am stunned by all the information that I managed to memorize and my high concentration, then I return Arcadia's Labyrinth to full screen.

———- I will continue my life now.