Thud
It seems I’ve been out cold for quite a while!
Blink blink
When I opened my eyes, there was a ceiling I had never seen before right in front of me!
Old wood creak
It was an old wooden ceiling, with little holes scattered here and there, and spider webs thick in the corners.
This doesn’t look like a hospital…
If I really collapsed from a stroke, it must be a very serious situation, and I should have been taken to a hospital with proper facilities by ambulance.
And if it’s that well-equipped, it wouldn’t be in such disrepair!
No, more than that, finding this kind of wooden house in the heart of Seoul would be even harder.
After a moment of staring blankly, I finally sat up.
Eek!
I heard a chilling creak from the bed I was lying on.
My body felt light.
I mean… too light!
I felt like there was no neck disc from staring down at a cheap, blue monitor that didn’t even adjust its height! And my chronic back pain from slouching seemed to have vanished.
Stretching both arms upwards, my shoulders didn’t feel stiff at all, and my vision was clear even without my glasses!
…Yeah, I feel light. Like I’ve become 25 years younger.
The problem is, if I’m 25 years younger, that means I’m five years old!
My field of vision was extremely low. My body was skinny, and my limbs were inexplicably short for an adult.
My hair cascaded down to my butt. When I grabbed it with my hand, I felt silky black hair that didn’t quite fit this place.
The visible hands were not the hands of a man who had just entered his thirties but were instead very small, delicate, and pale—like a little girl’s hands.
“Ah, ah.”
I spoke out of the blue.
I couldn’t be sure if it was a girl’s or a boy’s voice because I was way too young, but at least it wasn’t a voice soaked in alcohol and cigarettes.
Turning my gaze, I found a bunch of children gathered around my bed.
Their faces were filthy, and they looked incredibly skinny, as if they hadn’t eaten properly. Wearing oversized and worn-out shirts, they stared at me, mouths agape.
“….”
“….”
We stared at each other blankly for a while, unsure of what to say.
“Who are you?”
At last, the tallest boy among the children, looking like a leader, spoke up.
The language that came out of his mouth sounded like English.
It was simple enough for me to understand… but for some reason, it felt different from the English I was used to.
No, more importantly, was it even English?
It did sound somewhat different.
“…”
Well, whether I understood him or not, we were in the same boat—I had no idea how to respond.
*
At first, I thought I had time-traveled to Britain during the Industrial Revolution.
You know the trope—someone suddenly collapses and wakes up in the body of someone from a different era… those alternate history stories. I’m not exactly a history buff, but I’ve read my fair share of alternate history novels. After all, reading web novels was the best way to kill time during my daily commute!
I didn’t discriminate among genres and hopped around various sites, reading whatever struck my fancy, so while I can’t claim to have solid historical knowledge, I kind of had a feel for the era.
Looking at people’s outfits and the gloomy alleyways, I thought I was in the Victorian era when Jack the Ripper was roaming about!
But that notion shattered completely two days later when I saw an airship gliding through the alley!
It looked like a ship floating above the sea, bizarrely suspended upside down in the air.
The ship, propelled by a steam engine and leaving a trail of black smoke like a comet, was flying beneath a gargantuan airship, making it appear as though it was hanging upside down with its deck and cannons visible below. It even had a wooden deck, giving me the sensation of looking down at a ship afloat on the sea.
In reality, the ship was looking down at us!
In any realistic scenario, that would be impossible. No matter how full the airship was with hydrogen or helium, it couldn’t carry such heavy weight through the air. Even if it barely managed to lift off, there’d be no way to actually use its cannons; the recoil would throw off its balance the moment it fired!
But that ship was soaring through the sky with a formation of biplanes escorting it—should I call it a fleet or a squadron? It was large and had a majestic presence.
After watching that ship sail through the sky, I realized exactly what kind of world I had stepped into.
I hadn’t entered the web novel I had been reading. Well, given that I’d never even commented, it’s not like they’d be hunting me down anyway.
This world was more like the one from a game.
A JRPG series I had been playing non-stop for the last seven years.
It was a game that took inspiration from Britain’s Industrial Revolution and layered on some steampunk with the unique flair of Japanese subculture, boasting a fervent fanbase among certain otaku circles.
It was definitely one of the games from the Millennium company’s Chronicles of Aetherna series.
*
Millennium is a small company based in Osaka, Japan. With only around 40 employees, their graphics and optimization capabilities are rather lacking, which has led to users describing their newer releases as ‘looking like last-gen console graphics.’
That’s not to say they haven’t made any progress, but it’s slow. In fact, looking at the graphics from other Japanese game companies that have been around for a similar amount of time, Millennium’s technological prowess falls objectively below average.
But that’s something only non-gamers would say.
The devoted fans of the series are simply grateful for each new installment that comes out every year. The sales haven’t been that spectacular, and just five years ago, the game didn’t even have a Korean version available.
The series has a history of about 20 years. Initially released for PC, the game faced huge losses due to piracy and moved to portable consoles. Eventually, it returned to home consoles and now is back on PC as well.
They continually attract new users by re-releasing past works on the current-gen consoles or as PC ports, and though the technology may have lagged, newcomers still flock in due to its unique atmosphere.
I had been bombarded by sales pitches from friends and consistently bought each new series since about seven years ago.
Following the rule that those who start later tend to get deeper into the game, my friend would go out of his way to purchase strategy guides from online shops in Japan, play the Japanese versions before the Korean release, and even serialize his guides on a blog! By the time I realized it, I had been thoroughly sucked into the game.
While the series has lasted over 20 years, the worlds within the series are diverse. Each game, from the first through the fifth, sixth through eighth, ninth through thirteenth, and now the fourteenth, represent completely different settings. It’s easier to think of it as a series that reboots periodically while maintaining a basic system. As a result, even after 20 years, getting into the series isn’t overly complicated.
Moreover, the emotional experience during the conclusion of each setting, following the story in real-time, is incredibly profound.
It’s probably one of the reasons why I could get hooked on the game seven years ago.
“…”
Well, that’s one way to look at it.
The real question is, how did a non-Japanese person end up in a Japanese game?
While blogging and critiquing the scant cutscenes, I’ve had my moments of scathing remarks about repetitive event scenes and dialogue. I even mocked some plot inconsistencies only to later learn they were merely red herrings and had to delete those posts. There were even times when I flipped out on forums over a character I didn’t like.
…
Well, I wouldn’t say I’m completely guilt-free, but surely a Japanese game company wouldn’t have been watching my every move! Especially since the game’s being sold through a distributor, not released directly!
…
Honestly, thinking about it now, it probably doesn’t hold much significance.
The crucial thing is what role I’ve reincarnated into this world. To top it off, as a girl, no less!
Given the characteristics of this world, orphanages aren’t exactly desirable places, but if I’m not stuck in the same place as the main heroine, it might be just tolerable. If I’m lucky, I might get adopted by a bourgeois family without children.
“Sylvia!”
While I was gazing up at the now-apon the ship, an irate voice called out to me.
An emaciated old woman was approaching me, wielding a staff crudely carved from wood. Her back was hunched, but the sinister look on her face made her seem surprisingly sprightly.
Just so you know, Sylvia is the name I’ve acquired since coming into this world. My last name is Black.
I wasn’t originally one of the children in this orphanage, but apparently, I suddenly popped into existence two days ago, and my name has now been added to the list.
I wanted to ask the orphanage owner if she even knew how to check the list properly as she expressed her annoyance about my sudden appearance, but I held back because I had just seen her hit a child with her staff right before.
If I had the strength of an adult in my thirties, I could have easily knocked her down, but at this moment, I was merely a five-year-old child.
“Yes.”
I answered as quietly as I could and turned my body towards the old woman.
“A new child has arrived. You take care of her.”
Huh? Me?
I barely managed to suppress that response.
Given my nature of not particularly liking children, I figured that would hold absolutely no value here. After all, I was a child myself!
In the normal course of things, the head of the orphanage would have taken on that responsibility, but lo and behold, the very day before, a couple who appeared to have committed suicide adopted that child.
“Look, I’m different from you filthy brats!”
The child who left us laughed as they departed, and into their place, here I was.
“Now you’re the oldest one here, right? And since you’ve been hiding for so long, you should be able to manage whatever comes your way.”
That was the reason.
I simply nodded as I didn’t want to experience the wrath of the smell of alcohol wafting off the old woman.
Following her, I made my way to the reception room on the first floor, where there was a single child amid the filthy environment, looking equally scruffy.
But even in such a dirty state, her fair skin and thick, dark blue hair reminiscent of the sea made it clear who she was.
“From today, this is Claire. You’ll be living here together, so get along!”
Unless you want to get hit, that is.
There seemed to be an unspoken threat behind those words.
The child who looked at me with shy, upturned eyes awkwardly smiled when our eyes met.
…At that moment, I was completely stunned.
Claire Fanggriffon.
Her looks and name matched exactly with the Claire Fanggriffon that was in my head.
Of course, she probably didn’t have the last name Fanggriffon right now.
…And, well, she was a character I absolutely did NOT want to meet in the ‘orphanage.’
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