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Chapter One: A Life Rewritten
The night had silently withdrawn, leaving behind a gray glimmer seeping through a cracked window in a dilapidated apartment that reeked of mold and loneliness. Beneath the crumbling walls and a ceiling barely holding itself together, lay a miserable young man named Lloyd, trying to steal a moment of sleep before returning to the endless grind of his meaningless job.
A weary, disgruntled voice echoed in his head:
"What's this light? Did that damned curtain fall again? I swear I fixed it last week... damn this rotten apartment."
The light pierced mercilessly through his closed eyelids, and he felt only a heavy weight settle over his body. He muttered, resisting the urge to fall back into the void of sleep:
"I need rest... I have to start saving. Cut down on meat, save every coin just to get out of this filthy place."
But rest was a postponed dream. A sharp headache crept into his skull like a creeping poison. He tried opening his eyes, only to be met with a blinding light, harsher than before—like a beam from another world. Everything around him began to shift, from a strange light to a flicker, from a flicker to a shape, and from a shape to a clear image.
He wasn't in his apartment anymore... not even in the world he knew.
The bed beneath him was soft and luxurious, the covers warm and perfumed with flowers he couldn't name. The room surrounding him was lavish, decorated with golden furniture and aristocratic touches that didn't belong to his reality. There was a window to his left, and through it he caught a glimpse of a sprawling garden, its flowers pulsating with color and its trees whispering to the wind.
"Impossible... was I kidnapped? But why? I'm just a poor guy... I have nothing! No money, no property. This has to be a dream... but it feels real. Painfully real."
Sweat trickled down his forehead as his eyes darted around the room in panic. He couldn't move—as if his body still refused to believe. Then he heard a soft, nervous voice murmur:
"Impossible..."
He turned slowly to see a girl standing near the door. A maid—young and beautiful—with long black hair cascading over her shoulders, and bright black eyes brimming with shock and fear. She wore a classic black-and-white maid's outfit, with a small cap atop her head. In her hands was a wooden tray holding a water bowl and a cloth.
The moment her eyes met his, she dropped the tray with a crash and bolted from the room without saying a word.
Lloyd muttered in confusion: "What's wrong with that crazy girl?"
He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "Just... calm down."
He began to move his fingers slowly, then pushed himself up to sit on the bed. His body felt strange—light, unfamiliar. He crawled to the edge of the bed and looked at the spilled water on the floor. What he saw there froze his breath.
In the reflection of the water's surface, he didn't see his usual face.
He saw someone else.
A young man with brown hair and lifeless green eyes. A pale face marked by heavy dark circles—as if life had drained from the body. He stumbled backward, terrified, a scream echoing inside his skull like a ricochet.
Then... the memories returned. Like knives. Like thunderclaps.
The last thing he remembered was being asleep, and the ceiling of his decaying apartment collapsing on top of him. He heard the rescuers pulling debris off his body. He heard a neighbor telling a police officer:
"The victim? Don't bother. Just some nobody. A filthy otaku. Not worth your concern, officer."
The officer replied coldly: "What's his name?"
The landlord answered: "Lloyd Vons. A 25-year-old country boy."
He remembered saying to himself, in his final moments: "He's right. I'm just a burden... useless. I'm not losing much... just myself."
And then he died.
But now... he was alive. Somehow.
Tears began to stream down his cheeks, hot and uncontrollable, as he whispered:
"I really am... just a filthy otaku..."
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In another wing of the mansion, the maid had reached a grand hall, where a handsome man with brown hair and dark eyes sipped his coffee. Beside him sat a woman with golden hair and green eyes, the epitome of elegance.
The maid, breathless, stammered: "Lord Alex, Lady Sophia... the young master has awakened."
Alex responded coolly: "He's late. It's already ten. Prepare his breakfast."
The maid trembled: "I don't mean young William... I mean Lord Alphonse."
Alex dropped his coffee cup, the dark liquid splashing across the floor like suddenly spilled blood.
"Impossible... the Eternal Slumber Curse... how could he wake up?!"
He sprinted to his eldest son's wing and burst through the door.
There he was, sitting and crying.
Alex froze in place. His lips trembled. Tears welled up and spilled over as he whispered in anguish and longing:
"Welcome back... my son."
Sophia entered behind him. She collapsed to the floor in tears, whispering her son's name over and over.
But Lloyd—or who was now known as Alphonse—was screaming, shaking, clutching at a mind unraveling inside him.
"Why me? Why am I dead? I don't want to die! Bring me back! Help!"
And then, he fainted.
---
...In the shadows of unconsciousness, memories began to creep into his mind. Memories that were not his own, but now lived in his head.
Memories of Alphonse, the firstborn son of the Duke of Magic City—a city known as the Capital of Sorcery, nestled at the heart of the Jas Empire on the Eastern Continent. He saw his younger brother William, who had been seven when the Slumber fell. His older sister Maria, then seventeen. And his infant sister, barely walking.
The memories poured in like ink into a glass of water.
Alphonse had been the heir to House Gold, a lineage that controlled the gold trade and was known as the "Princes of Gold." He was twelve years old when he fell into a coma no mage or healer could cure. They said his body couldn't handle the massive mana he was born with—that he was cursed. And so he slept for four years.
And now... he had returned.
But he was not Alphonse.
He was Lloyd, a broken soul in a body that wasn't his.
---
Days passed, and the body fully awakened. He began to move again, slowly regaining strength, and began to learn.
On the morning of the first week, he thought: "It's been a week since I woke up. My body is moving again, but it's still frail. I need to learn about this world."
He left his room with his personal maid, Lisa—a smart, devoted young woman with brown hair and soft eyes. She had remained loyal to him despite his strange behavior.
On the way to the library, he said in a low voice: "I need to go to the bathroom."
She nodded and pointed: "Through that door, my lord."
He asked: "Could you close the door from outside, please?"
She replied firmly: "No. I need to ensure your safety."
His face turned red as he forced a smile: "I'm fine... really."
She laughed and said: "No need to be shy. I've already seen everything. I used to care for you during your Slumber. In fact, the day you woke up, I was about to wash your body with a towel and a water bowl."
He thought to himself: (Ah... this isn't my body!) Then answered himself: (But it is my body now!)
He left the bathroom, a mix of shame and discomfort clouding his mind, and made his way to the library. There, he began browsing through books—but the language was foreign.
He asked: "Are there beginner books?"
She brought him three: one about world history, another on geography and terrain, and a third on combat and magic.
He started with the geography book. After hours of reading and repetition, the symbols began to look familiar—then understandable.
After six hours of intense reading, he learned that the world was made of five continents: the lush Eastern Continent, the icy Southern Continent, the twin Northern Continents of Arsa and Vyuber, and the Western Continent—his current home.
In this continent, two major regions existed: a lawless zone, and an empire called Ezek, which split into six kingdoms. The most notable of them were:
The Kingdom of Magic, his current home.
The Kingdom of Flower, the capital of beauty.
The Kingdom of Seir, the center of trade.
He sighed and said: "What a complicated world... I have to relearn everything. But maybe... just maybe this is my chance to start over, without being a filthy otaku again..."
And for the first time, he smiled.
... (To be continued in the next chapter)