Chapter 1: Kidnapped
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1: Kidnapped
Get involved in something beyond your station, and misfortune will surely find you.
Though a petty, unremarkable thief from the back alleys, Aiden’s father had always been sharp and shrewd. This was the one piece of advice he had relentlessly drilled into his son.
“You’re not built for greatness, son.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because you’re only good at using cheap tricks for modest scams.”
“That’s a harsh thing to say to your own flesh and blood.”
“Live within your means. Don’t go making trouble by playing in the big leagues. Petty back-alley crooks—that’s the right level for people like us.”
“Come on, can’t you give your son a single word of encouragement?”
“I’m giving it to you right now.”
“…That’s supposed to be encouragement?”
At some point, Aiden himself came to agree. He really was a man who excelled at nothing in particular.
Average. A perfect zero.
He was an utterly forgettable man whose only notable trait was pulling minor, annoying scams just to get by. Never grand scams, of course. Only the petty, mildly infuriating kind.
Even criminals had lines they shouldn’t cross.
This mindset was perfectly captured in a conversation he once had with his younger sister.
“You’re still a criminal. Why act like you have standards?”
“Commit big crimes, and you draw big attention—which gets you hit big. You should only fleece your victims enough that the worst you’ll get is a beating if you run into them later.”
“…”
“Feed the family, pull my weight, and never do anything that brews deep resentment. That’s how you live a long life.”
Aiden Kellermain’s life was precisely that: a mundane, trivial scammer.
Even after the bizarre event of awakening memories from a past life—a life spent in a place called ‘Earth,’ courtesy of hitting his head a little too hard on the floor—that fundamental reality hadn’t changed.
— Status Info
<Aiden Kellermain>
▶ System access authority not met; status cannot be viewed!
▶ Influence on the main story is extremely low!
▶ Contact key figures to unlock special abilities!
Even after this white, rectangular box floated before his eyes and he realized he was a character inside a game world…
The conclusion he reached after days of deep deliberation was simple:
“Do I really need to do great things with my life?”
Main story, special abilities… phrases that would make anyone hungry for the spotlight drool.
However…
Doing great things meant exposing yourself to great dangers. If you lived safely, nothing grand would ever happen, but you’d also stay out of harm’s way.
So Aiden decided to stay right where he was.
He would be a petty crook among petty crooks, so small-time that law enforcement wouldn’t bother lifting a finger. A low-rate scammer whose crimes provoked pity and pathetic laughter rather than deep-seated hatred.
And living such a life meant there were certain people he was absolutely sure he would never cross paths with.
[“—Dame Noel is now entering through the Triumphal Arch!”]
[“Citizens of the Empire, please give her a thunderous welcome!”]
Take the woman currently on the old TV he was watching, for instance.
“Good grief.”
He let out a sigh. The sight of her riding a white horse through the Triumphal Arch warranted such a reaction, even through a grainy screen.
Obsidian-black hair that seemed to absorb the light, porcelain skin offering a stark contrast, and brilliant red eyes that shimmered so brightly it was no exaggeration to call them dazzling. Some even revered her as the manifestation of Carva, the Empire’s patron deity and Goddess of Strife.
She wasn’t merely beautiful; she possessed an overwhelming aura.
…Calling her the Goddess of Strife fits pretty well, doesn’t it?
Noel Astria Seimurs.
The greatest warrior in the history of the Empire.
The four lion-head medals pinned to her chest were more than enough proof. The Lionhearted Medal was the highest honor awarded by the Imperial Military. To have received four meant she was a human-shaped monster, capable of turning the tide of an entire war by herself.
She was the pinnacle of the superhuman ‘Knights’—beings who could shatter boulders with their fists, fly through the sky, and breach a fortress single-handedly. A once-in-a-millennium talent who had broken every record in the Imperial Military.
She was simply built different.
Someone a commoner like Aiden would be lucky to exchange a single word with in his entire lifetime.
And Aiden, specifically, could add one more footnote to that description.
So that’s a main character.
That woman was one of the key figures in this fantasy game world he now inhabited. One of those destined to overcome hardship and, alongside the game’s ‘Protagonist,’ lead a continent facing an unprecedented crisis toward salvation.
Among them, Noel had a particularly distinct plotline.
[“—Rumors say high society is abuzz with talk of Dame Noel’s marriage—”]
[“—The list of potential suitors alone is said to be staggering—”]
Right. Marriage.
One of the most crucial turning points determining Noel’s fate and the central axis of the main scenario.
[“Well, whoever she marries, may the blessings of the Pantheon shine upon Dame Noel’s future!”]
Aiden chuckled at the commentator.
I don’t think her future is going to be quite so blessed.
From what he knew of the game, Dame Noel’s life would become severely tangled the moment she married. That was also when the main story would plunge into chaos. At this point, Noel herself probably wanted nothing to do with any of those suitors. In fact, wasn’t her current lore that she would do anything to avoid marriage?
And, frankly… none of that mattered to Aiden.
The marriage prospects of people he would never meet were just idle gossip. Whether they saved the world or got married, that was the business of the ‘Main Characters,’ not his.
Yeah, he had definitely thought that.
Until a few days ago.
“Are you awake?”
“…?”
Right now.
“Ah, you’ve awakened.”
Dame Noel was speaking to him, a subtle smile on her face, which was just inches from his.
So close they could count the blemishes on each other’s skin.
“…??”
Aiden blinked blankly and looked around. It was an unfamiliar place. He certainly had no memory of falling asleep tied to a chair in a dark basement.
While he was still blinking stupidly, she continued, clipping together a rustling stack of documents. He caught a glimpse of the Imperial Military watermark stamped on papers that contained his personal details and a complete list of his ‘clients.’
A clear sign that his identity had been thoroughly stripped bare.
“Aiden Kellermain. I hear you are a veteran fraudster. A pleasure to meet you.”
“…Dame Noel?”
“Yes. I am Noel Astria Seimurs. I came to see you because I have a specific job I’d like to commission.”
Her emotionless voice fell upon him while he was still trying to get his bearings.
Why her? Why him? What on earth was her goal?
Before he could even finish forming the questions, his mouth reflexively mumbled an answer—an occupational hazard, the ingrained habit of reacting to the other party’s words.
“…A commission?”
“Yes. Being a fraudster means deceiving people for a living, does it not? You are a skilled scammer. And I need to deceive someone.”
I’m not so sure my skills are worthy of being called ‘skilled,’ Aiden thought.
“Beating around the bush isn’t my style, so I’ll get straight to the point.”
Dame Noel paused briefly.
“Let’s get married.”
Out of nowhere—
“Would you pretend to be my husband for just one year?”
“…”
“I’d like you to deceive the entire Empire.”
—she dropped a verbal bomb.
It came with a horrifying aftermath.
— System Message
▶ Contact made with ‘Lionheart’, Noel Astria Seimurs.
▶ Crucial story target. The fate of the world will be determined by your influence on this target!
▶ Your influence on the main story increases.
▶ New special ability unlocked!
▶ New event unlocked in the main story!
Get involved in something beyond your station, and misfortune will surely find you.
That was the phrase Aiden’s father always chanted like a mantra.
— System Message
▶ Skill ‘Weaver of Fate’ unlocked.
▶ You can copy 1 skill from target ‘Noel Astria Seimurs’.
▶ Interact with key figures in the main story to unlock additional abilities!
And right now, he was standing on the brink of an upheaval that would shatter the one rule his father had drilled into him his entire life.
