"How did they get here? This makes no sense." 

 

Akira's mind went numb as he couldn't make sense of the situation. One moment he was chilling and satisfying his taste buds with the most delicious ramen of this entire world and at the very next moment that same ramen had become bland and tasteless.

 

The presence of the main cast would not have had such an impact on him, but the circumstances were such that it was possible. They shouldn't even be in this city, let alone a few metres away from his current location, according to his knowledge of the game.

 

"Owner, I'm hungry, are you going to give us a table or what?" Drake's loud and arrogant voice rang out from a distance.

 

"Jeez, calm down. I had no idea you were a pig beastkin," Richard said sharply.

 

“Pfft…” Lily couldn't help but chuckle when she heard that. 

 

She wouldn't have dared to do that a few months ago, but living with these people, studying together, going through the hellish training under officer Laura, and having friendly spars with all of them had a profound impact on her personality and her overall life.

 

She had grown as a person and her strength had exploded over these months; at the start of the first year, she was at fifth tier, but her technique and style were not as refined, making her attacks less potent than they actually were.

 

Laura had identified her flaws and devised a detailed training regimen that addressed them while also allowing her to achieve new levels of strength. Laura had also made certain that Drake's inherent skill was used to train and polish Lily's inherent skill of sword saint.

 

“Sorry Drake, I didn't mean to do that.” Lily apologised to him.

 

"Lily, you shouldn't stay with this idiot because you'll end up like him, nothing more than a fool." Drake responded to her.

 

"Well, a fool is still better than a pig, isn't it?" Richard inquired.

 

"Oh, you mean the Duke of Pigstein is worse than a fool?" Drake replied, grinning, knowing Richard would have no response.

 

“What? Stop putting words in my mouth because I never said that." Richard tried to shrug it off as he as a prince could not afford to offend a duke of the other empire.

 

“Haha, who’s the fool now?”

 

“Enough!” Ichi yelled, and they all ducked their heads, knowing better than to get on her bad side after being with her for a few days.

 

"Don't forget why we're here," she said, and they all nodded once more.

 

They had left the origin city the day before after discovering that a third-year student named 'kei' and her two friends had left the academy and travelled to Blossom city. 

 

That wasn't a big deal for them, but when they found out that this student was the princess of the Romanov empire, everything fell into place.

 

Except for Aurora, who already knew the truth, the others were stunned; Drake and Richard couldn't believe such vital information had been withheld from them. They also knew that this was not the time to express their displeasure, and that one of their friends was directly involved. 

 

And, before the Romanov empire cut off all official lines of communication, they announced that anyone attempting to cross into or out of their borders would be shot dead without warning, making the situation look like an alphabet soup.

 

Aurora knew that despite these orders, her elder sister would try anything to cross the border and enter the Romanov empire, which would be bad for her, so the academy's administration decided to send her along with the student council to bring Kiara back to safety. 

 

The academy had also dispatched additional personnel to work in the dark and provide information to the student council.

 

Drake and Richard volunteered to tag along, while Alexandria was forced to accompany them by her aunt in order for her to gain real-world experience. 

 

On the other hand, the Fiora, Von Astrom, and Lionheart empires were already attempting to gather information about what was going on in Romanov's territory.

 

Sitting inside the restaurant, Akira reflected on how far the plot had progressed and how events were occurring ahead of schedule. This entire Kiara arc wasn't supposed to happen until the following month, but it was happening right in front of his eyes.

 

"Okay, so the butterfly effect is happening, but I'm not a part of it, right?"

 

Deep down in his heart, he had doubts about his own statement, but he calmed himself and forgot about it.

 

“Yes there’s nothing, so let’s get out of here and start my work.”

 

RING RING

 

He rang the bell that was placed on his table and one of the waiters came running towards him.

 

“Why’s there so much noise outside?”

 

“Noise? Oh yeah there are some new customers outside that are talking loudly.” The waiter replied politely.

 

‘Sigh’ Akira sighed.

 

“I am sorry about that.” The waiter bowed his head.

 

“It’s okay, some people like to be loud. Can you tell me whether they are seated or not?”

 

“Yes the owner is tending to them personally so you can be rest assured that there won’t be any other disturbances.”

 

“Hmm, please bring me the bill.”

 

After a while, he cleared the bill and quietly left the establishment, making sure to keep his mana flow at a bare minimum so as not to alert the entire group of people who were sitting behind those walls.

 

When he left that place, it was already evening, and the addition of sunset had made the surroundings even darker than before. 

 

Standing on the top of a tower, he could see the entire city being drowned in the rosy hue of twilight, strong black silhouettes rooted to the land in deep slumber and then stretching into mottled metal sky.

 

"This is so beautiful, I couldn't imagine seeing anything like it on Earth. Perhaps my life in this world isn't as bad as I think it is." He thought to himself as his eyes took in the ongoing splendour.

 

Back on Earth, things were pretty 'normal' for him; he was 20 years old, had just graduated from a small university, and was planning on furthering his education. He, like everyone else, would have gotten a job, married, had a few kids, and then died. 

 

He also didn't have any extraordinary talent or flair that would have set him apart from the crowd, nor did he come from a wealthy family; he was just another guy you'd see on the streets and then forget about.

 

"Hahaha, what am I even saying? This is a thousand times better than before, and I'm going to make sure it stays that way."

 

He had parents in this life, which he had always desired, was the only person who knew what would happen in the future, and most importantly, had more than enough opportunities to become one of the strongest and wealthiest people in the world.

 

You couldn't ask for anything better, could you? 

 

"Hmm?" Just as he was about to descend the tower, something strange began to happen over the church he had visited earlier in the day.

 

The three arches that supported the building began to glow in white light, and soon the nearby piers began to emit the same light, which eventually covered the entire upper exoskeleton, shooting a trinity of white rays into the sky.

 

When these rays converged, a wave of white aura washed over the entire city. Everyone had gathered on the streets and was kneeling on the ground, most likely as a result of the current phenomenon.

 

"Seriously?" Akira couldn't believe what he was seeing; the current scene was one of the dumbest things he had ever seen.

 

"The light of dawn, a powerful holy spell that could only be cast by tier one beings."  

 

However, only the multiplayer mode of the game had holy magic, implying that some of the multiplayer options are available in the main world.

 

“So If the multiplayer things are available then maybe I need to change my plans.”

 

"But seriously? Why are people kowtowing to this spell? It's simply a mana purification spell that keeps monsters and mana beasts away from the caster."

 

“Oh! So this is the way they solved that problem but again why would people worship it?”

 

The show went on for a while but he had better things to do so he climbed down the tower and went towards his destination which was a small gear shop located at the back side of the market district.

 

All the cities in the Von Astrom empire followed the same pattern as that of the capital but complications like smaller size, population density, the presence of historical sites, and people's resistance to change made that a difficult task to follow. 

 

So the administration devised a solution that included elements of the capital's major features, such as clear district boundaries, housing for all, ample space for major structures such as the adventurer's guild, primary schools, and healing centres, and mixed all this with their own twist.

 

As in Blossom City, churches were made the pivotal point around which other major things were built; they were given precedence over everything else, and everyone happily accepted it.

 

The location he was going to was well-known among both locals and visitors from far away places; it sold not only adventurer gear but also potions and artefacts, making it a three-in-one shop.

 

The thick smell of the herbs and other ingredients required for brewing potions would be the first thing anyone would notice upon entering the shop, followed by the pounding and smelting of metal required for making gears and artefacts.

 

Then there was the stunning layout, designs, colors and overall outline of what went into making the visuals of the shop and the vibe that it exuded, were even better than some of the shops in the capital. 

 

“Welcome Sir, how may I help you?” The store assistant was quick to notice Akira.

 

“Hello, can you get me the owner?” 

 

“The owner? If there is something you need I can help you with it.” The assistant didn’t take him seriously.

 

“Look dude this is way above your paycheck so please call the owner.” He didn’t wanted to waste time.

 

“Sir, If you don’t require anything then I will ask you to get out.” At this point many others in the shop were looking at them and the assistant was liking that.

 

“Sir you are disturbing others and that is bad for our shop so please leave.”

 

“Will this help?” He took out his student ID card and showed him.

 

“Student or not I will have to ask you to get out.” The assistant didn’t even look at his card and said that.

 

He was a new employee and had been told by his colleagues that many students from lower ranked academies would come and try to take some discount on the items that they sold. Now that wasn’t a problem for them but when it started to happen at regular intervals it did become a problem.

 

“What is going on?” A voice came from behind them.

 

“It’s the owner.”

 

“But he’s so young?”

 

“Yeah, he's the son of the previous owner who had died recently.”

 

“That’s so sad.” The adventurers who came from outside of the city were informed about the owner by the locals.

 

“Hiroshi, what's going on? What's all the fuss about?" 

 

The owner appeared to be too young to be running this establishment; his face was egg-shaped, his hair and eyes were the typical black colour, and anyone looking at him couldn't say he was a day older than 18 years old, despite the fact that he was 24.

 

"Sir, this boy is causing all the problems; the moment he stepped inside, he demanded to meet you and won't even tell me why."

 

"And when I told him to get out, he was trying to use his student ID card," the assistant explained.

 

"What's your issue?" the owner inquired of Akira.

 

"I am a student of Origin Academy," he replied, putting an end to all the chit-chat.

 

It might be common to run into someone from the origin academy in the capital, but in a border town like Blossom City, it was a big deal; not many students from here could make it there.

 

So Akira's statement that he was from Origin Academy was quite a shock for them to hear. 

 

"Please bring him to the ground floor office, Hiroshi." The assistant nodded as the owner said.

 

Hiroshi knew he'd made a huge mistake by not seeing his ID card, and he was cursing himself because at one point in his life he'd applied to the Origin Academy but didn't make the cut and now he ran into someone from the same place.

 

“Thank you.” Akira replied and trodden with Hiroshi.

 

In the office, he and the owner, Takashi Takami, sat across from each other. Takashi was slightly concerned but otherwise fine. Actually, Akira was aware that this might occur when attempting to meet the owner, but he was in a hurry and couldn't think of anything else to do.

 

“I would get straight to the point, Armis Vetiti.”

 

The owner's eyes widened and he like Bernard became suddenly more interested in the person in front of him; initially, he had planned to give him a discount and send him on his way, but those words changed everything.

 

"Would you like some weapons, armour, or special potions?" he inquired.

 

"I want to cross Porta Nigra," he said, dropping another bomb on Takashi.

 

"How do you know it?" 

 

He hadn't asked anything about the earlier phrase because he assumed Akira was the son of a noble or a wealthy merchant pursuing his dream of becoming an adventurer, but there was no way he was going to let the latter slide.

 

“Is there a problem?”

 

“No-no I was just surprised.” Takashi had lost his cool but he knew when to apologise.

 

His father had taught him never to question people who knew the phrase Porta Nigra; it was something they should not even imagine. He only needed to follow the standard procedure, and his life would be free of chaos.

 

“I will take you there but I have a question.”

 

“Sure, go ahead.”

 

“Why did you choose us and not the other two shops?”

 

“Hmm, why did I choose you? I had actually met your father and we had some things in common.” 

 

Akira explained while recalling the dialogues from the game in which Takahiro, his father, sat in front of him instead of Takashi. Takahiro should not have died, but he did, and the butterfly was flapping its wings, which was irritating Akira.

 

Aside from him being irritated, there was someone else sitting very close to the Romanov empire's border who was irritated because she couldn't cross those borders and get across.

 

"What the fuck is their problem?" she yelled, directing her rage at no one in particular.

 

"Princess, I think we should call it quits on this futile effort," Derek said, defeated.

 

Jeremy, who was standing on the tree, added, "I know man, this sucks."

 

The three of them had left the academy a few days before with the intention of returning home, but the recent decisions implemented by the Romanov empire had made that impossible. 

 

They had tried every method available, but for some reason all of them had failed; even the secret tunnels Kiara knew about, which teleported people directly to the royal palace, were blocked and unusable. 

 

"Is there really no other option?" As she said those words, tears streamed down her cheeks.

 

She'd seen the horrifying past, where brother killed brother to ascend the throne, where her own father had killed several of his brothers and sisters to ensure that no one challenged him for the throne, and she didn't want the same thing to happen all over again.

 

And yet she was here, powerless and chained, seeing no light at the end of the tunnel.

 

"It's okay, we'll find a way," Derek reassured her, but even he recognised that there appeared to be no way.

 

"Porta Nigra," Kiara exclaimed.

 

"Oh my God, how could I forget that?" she exclaimed, happily forgetting all of her previous negative emotions.

 

“What?” Neither Jeremy nor Derek were aware of this. 

 

"Pay close attention, because this may be our only option." She then began to explain the Blossom City's hidden truth.