Morning.
Kenji’s second day as a legally-questionable existence.
The sun rose over the Kingdom of Alderin.
Birds chirped.
Merchants shouted.
Villagers walked through the gates.
And Kenji stood there.
Frozen.
“Welcome to the Kingdom.”
Pause.
“…Please avoid sudden death within city limits.”
A merchant blinked.
“…What?”
Kenji internally sighed.
Authority Rank: 1
Authority Progress: 12%
He was leveling.
Slowly.
By being mildly unsettling.
The Stick Incident Fallout
Kaito’s group returned.
The legendary stick? Gone.
Broken.
Reduced to splinters.
Kaito looked devastated.
“It was glowing yesterday!”
Mira adjusted her silver hair, eyes narrowing at Kenji.
“It did 9,999 damage.”
Kenji internally winced.
He checked logs.
Copy code
Item Stability: 0%
Admin Item degraded outside system authority.
So
It wasn’t a miracle weapon.
It was a system tantrum.
Kenji resisted the urge to mentally flip a table.
Great. So I can accidentally break balance, but not keep it broken. That’s fair. Totally fair. Love that for me.
Kaito stared at the splinters in his hand like a knight who had just watched Excalibur turn into IKEA leftovers.
“It one-shot a demon,” he said. “A demon.”
Taro crossed his massive arms. “It also smacked you in the face before that.”
“That was dramatic setup!”
Mira ignored them both.
Her sharp silver eyes stayed locked on Kenji.
“Gatekeeper Roland,” she said carefully.
Kenji’s body straightened automatically.
“Welcome to the Kingdom.”
No. Not now. Stop. That’s not the line.
He burned his one optional sentence for the interaction.
“…Weapons granted by fate often fade once their purpose is fulfilled.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Silence.
The wind shifted.
Authority Progress: 13%
Kaito’s eyes widened.
“So it was fate?! I knew it!”
Mira did not look convinced.
Lila, who had been quiet until now, crouched and examined one of the splinters.
“No mana residue,” she murmured. “It’s just wood.”
Taro blinked. “It was always wood.”
Mira’s gaze sharpened further.
“You gave us that hint about the northern well.”
Kenji internally froze.
Careful.
“Check the northern well at midnight,” Kaito quoted dramatically.
“That demon wasn’t random,” Mira continued. “It was tied to something.”
Kenji checked his Authority meter.
14%.
Very slow.
Very fragile.
He only had one sentence left before the system flagged him for deviation again.
He used it carefully.
“Not all wells hold water.”
That was it.
No more dialogue freedom.
System warning flickered faintly at the edge of his vision.
Copy code
NPC deviation threshold nearing limit.
Maintain baseline script integrity.
Kaito grinned like he’d just been handed a treasure map.
“See? He’s guiding us.”
Mira muttered, “Or we’re projecting.”
Lila stood up.
“There was a symbol in the well,” she said. “Under the demon.”
That made Kenji’s internal organs do a metaphorical backflip.
A symbol? I didn’t script that.
He opened his Admin Panel.
It hovered faintly, invisible to the others.
Admin Panel (Restricted)
– Modify NPC Behavior (Cooldown: 00:13:21)
– View Player Stats
– Spawn Minor Item (Cooldown: 23:11:09)
– Narrative Influence (Locked)
He selected View Player Stats.
Kaito_Protagonist
Level: 2
Luck: 92
Title: Chosen by the Gate
Mira_Stormthread
Level: 2
Intelligence: High
Suspicion: Rising
Taro_Ironwall
Level: 2
HP: Excessive
Appetite: Also excessive
Lila_Shadeleaf
Level: 2
Perception: Abnormally High
Kenji’s focus snapped back.
“Describe the symbol,” Mira demanded.
Kaito scratched his head. “It was like… a circle. With lines. And broken edges.”
Lila nodded. “Not a demon mark. Something else.”
Authority Progress: 16%
Kenji blinked internally.
He hadn’t done anything.
Unless…
The well event had branched further than expected.
A new system line appeared.
Copy code
Unscheduled Sub-Event Generated.
Origin: Narrative Instability.
“Oh no,” Kenji thought.
He may have accidentally poked something much older than a random field boss.
The Whisper Test
He had fifteen seconds of movement at midnight.
But he also had something new.
Unlocked during the night.
He hadn’t tested it yet.
Whisper to One Player (1/day)
Range: 10 meters.
Risk: Moderate.
He looked at Mira.
No.
Too suspicious.
Lila?
Too perceptive.
Taro?
He might shout it out loud.
That left—
Kaito.
Of course.
He activated it.
The world didn’t change.
But a private channel opened.
Kenji focused.
“Check beneath the well stones.”
Kaito flinched.
“What?”
Mira frowned. “What what?”
Kaito blinked. “Did… did someone just say something?”
Lila’s eyes darted to Kenji.
Kenji’s body remained frozen.
Perfect NPC posture.
“Welcome to the Kingdom.”
Authority Progress: 19%
Kaito looked at the well’s direction.
“We need to go back.”
Mira crossed her arms. “Why?”
“I just—” he hesitated. “Call it intuition.”
Lila’s gaze lingered on Kenji a second longer.
Then she nodded once.
“We should verify.”
Taro grinned. “Adventure before breakfast. I approve.”
They ran.
Kenji watched them disappear down the road.
And for the first time since arriving in this world…
He felt something like anticipation.
Cut to: The Well
The stones around the northern well were cracked from the demon’s emergence.
Ash still lingered in the air.
Kaito knelt.
“Beneath the stones, huh…”
Mira raised an eyebrow. “You don’t even know why we’re here.”
“I just have a feeling.”
“Your feelings get us stabbed.”
“They also got us loot.”
Lila slipped her dagger into a crack between stones.
“Help me lift this.”
Taro assisted.
With a heavy grind of stone on stone—
The top slab shifted.
Underneath.
Not dirt.
Not water.
A carved surface.
Ancient.
Circular.
With broken lines radiating outward.
Mira inhaled sharply.
“This isn’t demon script.”
Kaito leaned closer.
A pulse.
Faint blue light flickered beneath the carving.
Back at the gate—
Kenji’s Admin Panel flashed violently.
Copy code
Hidden Structure Detected.
System Conflict: High.
Authority Progress jumped.
19% → 27%
He didn’t even do anything.
He just pointed.
The world responded.
That was new.
Very new.
The Awakening
At the well, the carving cracked.
A thin seam opened.
Blue light spilled upward like smoke made of lightning.
Lila jumped back.
Taro raised his shield.
Kaito grinned like an idiot.
“Secret dungeon?”
Mira’s voice was tight.
“No. This is older.”
The ground trembled.
The seam widened.
A stone platform slowly rose from beneath the well.
On it—
A broken pedestal.
Empty.
But inscribed with words.
Kaito squinted.
“Hero Invocation — Failed.”
Silence.
Back at the gate—
Kenji felt something cold crawl down his spine.
His vision filled with red system text.
Copy code
Origin Displacement Confirmed.
Summoning Target: Mismatch.
Correction Protocol: Pending.
He stopped thinking for a second.
Summoning.
Mismatch.
Correction.
That ritual.
That was supposed to bring someone here.
Not him.
Authority Progress: 31%
He swallowed internally.
I wasn’t meant to be here.
At the well—
The pedestal cracked further.
And something beneath it stirred.
Not a demon.
Not a boss.
Something smaller.
But heavier.
A shape made of blue fractured light.
It opened one eye.
Not glowing red.
Not monstrous.
Just watching.
Back at the gate—
Kenji’s movement timer unlocked.
Three seconds.
Midday.
Not midnight.
He moved.
Just barely.
His hand twitched.
His head tilted.
And for the first time in daylight—
He whispered to himself.
“Oh no.”
Movement ended.
Frozen again.
At the well—
The blue entity looked up.
And smiled.
End of Chapter 1
