NPC - 1

Episode 1

【I've Been Reborn】

Ain stood before the final boss, sword in hand.

His weapon was a rare item that most players highly rated, and after countless trials, he'd maxed out its enhancement for bonus damage. He had full recovery potions for every status ailment too.

"I'm all set."

"Ain! You can do this!"

"This is the final battle."

Behind him, his companion NPCs stood in a row, delivering their scripted lines of support.

Ain took a step forward. Towering before him was a monster the size of a house. Its body was covered in steel-like scales, and its vertically slit reptilian pupils gleamed golden. The horns protruding from its face looked sharp enough to pierce his armor with ease.

"Alright, here I go!"

As he charged forward, a long health bar appeared at the top of the screen. The layered colors gradually shifted to lighter hues, eventually blazing with a brilliant, pure white light.

Ain swallowed hard. This was near-infinite HP, unlike anything he'd faced before.

Thud!

—Kraaah!

The monster landed and roared.

He didn't waste the moment, sprinting right up to it and swinging his sword. The blade struck true, and he saw the health bar move, just a fraction.

This was nowhere near enough. As Ain raised his sword again to gather his strength, 

—Kraaaaah!

"Ugh!"

The monster roared once more. Its breath came like a storm, crashing over him.

"Not yet, not yet...!"

His own health bar at the bottom began plummeting at a terrifying rate. He fumbled at his waist. He had potions prepared for exactly this situation. And just as he was about to drink one, 

"...Huh?"

A cold drop of water suddenly splashed against his cheek.

"No, this can't be.."

He looked up, face draining of color. The monster's violent breath. And the droplets falling through it. There was only one thing it could be.

"No way!"

Sploosh—!

In that instant, it wasn't just a few drops, a torrent of water crashed over his face like a waterfall.

"Gaaah!! Why are you spitting on me!!"

As he thrashed about, eyes wide open, he saw people looking down at him with strange expressions.

"..."

"..."

Silence followed.

He wiped the water trickling down from his head with his sleeve and looked around. He'd definitely been watching that human fight the ferocious monster from behind.

And the moment the monster's spit fell on that human's face, suddenly that had become his reality.

But this situation...

"No one spit on you."

"Cecil, are you alright?"

A woman with curly brown hair looked down at him with worried eyes. Beside him, a man who'd been wiping sweat from his forehead reached out to smooth his wet hair.

"Go rest in your room."

"...Ugh, my head."

Only now did his head start throbbing. It felt like someone had smashed the back of his skull with a rock.

As he stared blankly into space, still unable to grasp the situation, someone spoke while stifling a laugh.

"Of course it hurts after hitting the floor that hard. Who spilled oil on the ground?"

"Oil..."

He blinked. Even that small movement made his head pound. Then he slowly looked around.

The creaking wooden floorboards with every step, the sturdy but somehow worn-looking counter, the round wooden tables and matching wooden chairs. Of the people sitting there, some looked concerned, while others watched him as if he were some amusing spectacle.

"..."

"Cecil, drink this."

He gulped down the contents of the cup the brown-haired woman offered without a second thought.

"Cough...!"

It was awful. What he'd assumed was plain water spread a bitter taste through every corner of his mouth before barely sliding down his throat.

Shimmer—

"...!"

Then, green light slowly flowed from the top of his head downward. The pain gradually eased, and his chaotic thoughts began to clear.

'...Was this inside the game?'

That was his first thought.

The scene he'd just witnessed was a fragment of his past life that had surfaced when he hit his head on the floor. He wasn't the protagonist of that game. he was the person who'd watched and guided him from behind. In other words, the player.

And the game's name was "Dragon Slayer."

The name was childish, but it was renowned as a masterpiece among open-world games. Even the side quests were meticulously crafted, with worthwhile hidden items scattered everywhere. And the joy of hunting various boss monsters was unmatched.

This game had one problem, though.

'The story... isn't very interesting?'

The main story was as orthodox as fantasy gets, worthy of being called the royal road. It wasn't that the content was bad, just predictable.

From the very beginning, they piled misfortune upon the protagonist, made him struggle everywhere, then had him save the world.

'Th-thank goodness I'm not the protagonist...'

If he'd been reborn as the protagonist, his mental state would have already shattered into dust.

The reason he thought this was reincarnation rather than possession was simple. His childhood memories remained intact in his mind. Not just memories, but the emotions too. Of course, he couldn't remember being a fetus or right after birth, or his early childhood.

"...But did they beat the boss monster before dying?"

What was vague was his past life memory. So had he seen the ending?

"Cecil?"

"Ah~! Yeah. I'm fine. This is nothing, really."

And he remembered that the two people looking down at him were his parents.

To show he was completely unbothered, he sprang up from his seat and whipped his head around. Thanks to the recovery potion, only slight pain remained in his head, but turning it so fast nearly made him dizzy.

"Oh! Then can you grill some sausages?"

"We couldn't take orders because you fainted~"

"Hahaha! Liar! You probably ordered even when Cecil collapsed?"

"Sausages? Those will be ready in no time~"

Now that the customers were joking around with bright faces, he passed through them and headed straight for the kitchen.

This was an inn in a rather small village, offering simple meals. His family ran it.

'Haha. A building owner, something I never achieved in my past life?!'

...he thought jokingly as he took out thick sausages, scored them with a knife, and sprinkled salt and pepper. Then he rolled them around in a moderately heated frying pan until cooked. The scored gaps opened up, the exterior charred slightly, and the glistening grilled sausages were soon complete. He plated the well-cooked sausages, topped them with his family's special sauce, and that was it.

"Hmm-hmm, my skills are improving?"

The beautifully colored sausages looked as good as anything from a five-star hotel.

"...Still, I'd like to see the protagonist and heroine at least once."

This game's protagonist and supporting cast were famous for their good looks. Especially when the heroine stood beside him, they looked like a painting come to life.

But despite the game's high degree of freedom, there was no romance at all. Not a single event with a sweet atmosphere occurred.

'Well, considering the protagonist's situation... it's not hard to understand.'

Someone wandering through despair wouldn't have time for romance. He shook off the thought lightly and grabbed a fork and knife with the plate.

"Well, I'll see them at least once anyway."

After all, he'd have the chance to see them standing side by side with his own two eyes. This was a village the protagonist had to visit according to the story, and it had the inn with the best recovery around!

There was no reason not to come. And there was one more important fact.

'I have a side quest to give~'

He was the one who gave the protagonist a side quest. An extra, but not without a role. And not an ordinary one either. he gave an extremely helpful item as a reward. This further increased the probability of their meeting.

'...Well, that's only if the protagonist knows that fact, though.'

That was a story for another time. For now, what he needed to do was get these perfectly cooked sausages to the customer before they got cold.

...

Nothing particularly changed just because his past life memories had surfaced. He remained busy with inn work, and the world was still peaceful. The only slight change was that his game senses occasionally resurfaced.

For example, if he died, he felt like he'd see this message:

[Would you like to restart from the last save point?

Y / N]

'I have absolutely no intention of testing that.'

He didn't want to risk his life out of mere curiosity. With that conclusion, he prepped the meat for tomorrow.

"C-Cecil! Cecil!"

"Hmm?"

"Hurry, come out. A customer has arrived!"

He'd barely processed half the large chunk of meat when his father poked his head into the kitchen in a fluster. And he added with goldfish-like opening and closing of his mouth:

'A distinguished guest.'

“…A distinguished guest?”

He roughly put the meat he'd been cutting into a bowl, washed his hands, and left the kitchen.

"Guest?"

A man stood before the counter, wrapped in a dark cloak with his hood pulled down low.

"Oh! Cecil, please show the guest to his room."

His voice had no rhythm to it, like a machine speaking. And his head moved with awkward, creaking motions.

'...What's going on?'

The atmosphere was heavy, but it didn't feel threatening. He approached the counter and faced the customer.

"This way, please."

And the moment he turned around, he saw gold coins flashing in his father's hand.

'Ah~ so that's why he's a distinguished guest?'

There shouldn’t have been a tipping function in the game. But of course, reality was different.