Chapter 7- I hope I’m the protagonist…
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(Ryu’s POV)

‘please don’t fight!’

‘He should just die….’

‘Nooooo….’

I wake up screaming, as the last thing I remember is the dream I just had, A weird monster ate me in another world. I open my eyes and look around, I seem to be in some sort of inn, there’s a musty smell of unwashed socks in the room, and it’s very dimly lit. I guess not all that I remember was a dream.

I look around, and in this small room, there’s not much, just two beds, a dressing table, two lamps, a window, a table with a couple of chairs, a big lump of something covered with a cloth…. Wait for a second…. Lamps? Shouldn’t it be candles seeing as the setting seems to be medieval?

I observe the lamps and find that it is actually like a modern lamp, but instead of an electric bulb, there’s a luminescent crystal stone. I pick it up and am inspecting it carefully, completely fascinated. I don’t hear footsteps approaching and am frightened by the sound of the door opening.

“Ahhh!!” I shout and drop the crystal. But immediately a hand is placed firmly on my mouth, and my voice muffled; it was Bruno.

“Shhh…” he says. “please calm down its still only around 4 in the morning.”

I calm down a little, and then memories start to flood back in, how I was embarrassingly carried over by him, how I suffered enormous pain, how I used magic!!!

I barely control myself from shouting, ‘I can fucking do magic!!’. Instead, I focus on inspecting Bruno, He was wearing a kind of loose blue nightshirt with only a couple top buttons that too unbuttoned, and a pair of cream white pants. I got a little suspicious…

“Where were you at this time of night then? And how long was I even asleep for?”

“…….You slept for two whole days.”

“and what about you where were you just now coming from?”

“I went to pee dammit! Just go back to sleep.”

“oh no no no no nooo! I’ve slept enough, I’ve run enough, and frankly, I’ve even used some magic, now I just want some damn answers!!”

Bruno sighs, “ha… fine, it's close to morning anyway, ask, and I’ll answer as much as I know.”

I asked various things, starting with, why was I here? He told me about the prophecy and how god is supposed to have created a person who would be the one to repel the invading forces.

“can I go back then?”

“back where? Weren’t you created just for this one purpose?”

It shocked me to my core, does he think I’m some lifeless doll? Dammit, of course, I wasn’t just created.

“No no, wasn’t there a magic circle of some sort to summon me?”

“you seem to have memories prior to your creation…interesting….. I don’t have any idea how or why thou. The magic circle itself wasn’t a summoning spell, which is in itself complicated magic to perform and only a tiny group of mages have been able to do so by themselves while others use an artifact or something and as to what is summoned It can ---”

“umm… excuse me, mister Bruno, but you’re getting distracted.”

“oh! My apologies, anyway, that circle was an ancient spell left in the royal family and is more like a strong prayer left specifically to call upon the god to deliver the chosen one. The royal family has tried it before 2 times in recorded history during times of extreme distress, but it never worked, now we know that it wasn’t for human threats but something greater, That’s why you are here…. Let me get some hot water and we can have tea while we talk.”

 Bruno got up and left to get some water, leaving me to contemplate the meaning of it all. I thought about it some more but decide to accept it, for now, if God really sent me, then I should be able to do the things I’m supposed to do. Yet somehow, I still felt disconnected, like I’m playing a very realistic game and just following the storyline. If it’s as he says a real god does exist in this world and if they didn’t even know I was summoned, then the people also probably don’t have a way to return me.

My only choice is to follow God’s plan and stop the invasion, and then I’ll probably be sent home…..home huh….. do I even want to return…?

Bruno returned as I was thinking and prepared some black lemon tea for me. For a guy this big, he sure knows how to make tea cause it was delicious, probably the best tea I’d had ever, it had a fresh lemon tinge and a basil flavor, the way it went right down the throat soothed me from my ponderings. I calmed down and asked more questions.

About magic, about this place, about the demons…Ahem…Erlik invasion. And he answered to the best of his capabilities.

The Erlik seem to be from east somewhere undiscovered right now, we are still unaware of their real reason, but they seem to want to conquer the humans. They have powerful people in their army, and they move with excellent planning and silence, so much so that that kingdom east of Manschrod, called ashhaven was taken over yet there were no reports of anything, instead, it became a black territory for some time, nothing went out of it, and just as people of this kingdom were getting suspicious about it all, they were attacked.

We only escaped because of the secret tunnel, and even then, we had to defeat that scout Erlik, who btw is that lump mentioned above covered in cloth. It’s still unconscious right now but could have vital info on the Erlik forces, so Bruno hasn’t killed him yet.

Right this place is still in the nation, or I guess kingdom, I’m not quite sure which it is, anyway, this kingdom is called the holy Manschrod kingdom, I guess kingdom it is. The Erlik are invading, and it seems like they Aim to take over all of the human worlds, that is, the whole continent known as ‘Gaia.’ We are currently in a medium-sized village/town called ‘Anfaang,’ in the northwestern part of Manschrod.

Now the most important part about this world “souls,” yes, the people here wholly believe in the concept of a soul. Basically, souls are what give life to the collection of non-living particles, the most prevalent theory here is that souls are an accumulation of pure energy, called “soul essence” or mana by the Erlik, in an ethereal plane of existence which is tied to our physical bodies with the “Sentience.”

So there are 3 parts of any self-aware being in this world, physical body or “Leib,” “soul,” and “Sentience,” among these “sentience” is still not adequately understood, even among the scholars it’s usually left out of discussions as a collection of strings that ties the soul to Leib.

Now, this is just my conjecture, but since the soul is a real part of people here since the beginning, the way they evolved is entirely different. They can sense all the different kinds of energies in the world with their souls. Different people have different affinities for the kinds of energies they can sense better or manipulate better, but knowledge also is critical.

The more you understand how the world works, the more you’ll be able to control it. But it’s a slow process, and knowledge guides your soul to develop and sense the energies in the world better. The better you sense and feel them, the more easily you can manipulate them.

There are various other things in this regard other than just affinities, like the amount of soul essence your magic core can store, how many cores can you form, how conductive is the mix of all three parts of you meaning how compatible the parts are with each other. Higher conductivity means being able to use soul essence much more efficiently, and it can be trained as well.

The more you channel and use your mana, the more it affects your Leib and makes it more suitable to use. And the most essential thing, control, which is a broad term but essentially means how well you can manipulate the soul essence inside you as well as in the surroundings.

It was honestly very overwhelming, so I decided to just lay in the bed for a little more time.

“Hey Ryu? I know it's still only 6 AM, but I think I’ll freshen up and head out. We need to move today, there’s been no news of the capital, but it’s clear that it was taken over. They appear not to be moving right now, probably resting and preparing for the next attack.”

“…..” I didn’t even feel like speaking anymore and just made a noise through the pillow I buried my head in.

Bruno came up to me and lifted me with one hand forcefully.

“Are you even listening?!? Do you think this is a joke?”

I didn’t want to admit I was scared and overwhelmed so I did what I could, I lashed out…

“Fuck you!! Who decided for me to have this responsibility? I never asked for this! How can I possibly fight a whole army? You yourself ran, didn’t you? why should I trust what you say.”

 I thought Bruno would be angry and scold me, but instead, he smiled…

“It’s alright…. I know you aren’t a born warrior from the way you act. But you need to know something, his majesty Arthur Winley sacrificed himself and this entire country for you to run away. My wife sacrificed her very life to do the ritual to summon you. I witnessed you do the impossible 2 days ago, and now I believe in you. you may not be strong right now, But you have the potential to become the strongest.”

I just looked at him with tears almost filling my eyes, and he just continued…

“Without you, humans are doomed anyway. Even if you fail, you can’t make the situation worse, so don’t give up before you start. I will start teaching you myself starting evening, take your time and collect your thoughts till then, and I’ll prepare for our journey.”

He said that and wore a vest kind of cloth and headed out.

I try to sleep again, but I can’t stop thinking about the things Bruno said, then I remember the unconscious Erlik under the cloth, and I start feeling uncomfortable.

‘I need some fresh air. I’m already here anyway, lets go for a walk.’

I get up and reach for the door, and then it struck me! I was still in shorts and a shirt. I look around and see a pair of clothes put on a chair. A simple khaki-colored shirt and some black pants, I put them on and look for somewhere to freshen up. I’d instead not think about the washrooms here, so let’s skip that.

I start walking around, thinking about my situation. It seems the inn is a bit on the outskirts of the town, so I just walk down the unpaved path surrounded by trees and a beautiful sunrise in the background.

As amazing as the scenery is, I barely register it and get lost in my own thoughts. ‘ Damn! I’ve gone and done it now, and This is definitely a standard “transported to another world” or “isekai” setting. But how is this even possible?’

I keep thinking and come to a realization ‘wait wait me thinking about being in an isekai story is also a very normal part of isekai stories, isn’t it? So that would mean there’s a really high probability that this is also an isekai novel or comic.’

‘Hahaha!! Of course!! This makes total sense! If this was an isekai novel that would explain how anything like this is possible. But if that’s really true, am I the protagonist or the side character who dies for character development of the protagonist?’

This thought terrified me, and honestly, if I am not the protagonist then forget pain and suffering, I can straight up die a stupid untimely death.

‘Oh, god! No wait…. Oh, writer, if this is a novel, I beg you not to kill me!’

‘I hope I’m the protagonist…. Or at least the non-dying side character.’

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