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Battleshift was a fantasy MMORPG developed by Fubuki Inc., a prominent game company based in Japan.

It boasted a player count in the billions and is considered the most popular online game of all time.

Like most games of its genre, players were thrust into a medieval Tolkienesque world filled with magic and dragons and whatnot.

But what truly set it apart from the rest, was the game's impressively intricate virtual economy...

Instead of dealing with a single currency, Battleshift's world accommodated multiple—each one corresponding to the seven explorable nations available in the game.

It didn't end there though. Battleshift incorporated real-time market activity, which meant players directly affected the prices of everything, including items from NPC sellers.

On top of that, every once in a while the developers would implement events that drastically affected the standings of each currency, meaning there was no constant when it came to item value.

That piece of dragon bone you were carrying could have been worth next to nothing if the market deemed it so.

But panic selling would also mean missing out on a lot of profit, so really, it was a gamble.

You may think it childish, but this complex game system was the main reason I decided to major in economics. Critics lauded the game as revolutionary because of it alone.

I could go on about how coin purity and relations between countries affected the everchanging economy of Battleshift... but I digress...

I—Lorenzo—was globally the highest-ranking player of Battleshift before my untimely demise.

It was fun while it lasted. Regardless, I ended up experiencing everything the game had to offer up to that point.

Now then... why go on about Battleshift this far into the story?

Well, the answer lies in the discovery I made during my first month in the slum dweller hamlet.

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「Melyn, do you have any books pertaining to more recent history? These ones only cover ancient accounts.」

「I won't let you see them if you don't call me Big Sister Mel again!」

I was sat in a spacious study filled with countless books. They ranged from fine literature all the way to business ledgers and financial logs.

I constantly found myself allured by the amount of knowledge held in this room.

After finishing up my training sessions, I'd always rush to Rysef's manor and lock myself in this pseudo-library.

Since Melyn technically owned all the books here, she'd always supervise me. In time, however, she proved to be a valuable assistant.

「Sorry Zozo, I don't have any books after the Merulean Era.」

「Dammit... In that case, could you get me something related to economics? Balance sheets, office records, journals—anything will do. Preferably foreign.」

「On it!」

Tall piles of books surrounded me, each containing useful information on the world of Velatya.

Melyn had memorized the contents of every book she owned—meaning anything I requested, had she owned it, could be brought to me at a moment's notice.

「Here are some ledgers from a few years ago.」

「Alright, thanks... wait what's this symbol mean?」

The thief girl popped her head over my shoulder to inspect the ledger in my hands.

「Ah—that's the Ingvard currency symbol. They're a neighboring nation.」

「You know the exchange rate against our currency?」

「Against Jazga gold coins? Uh... um... 」

Melyn scratched her head as she tried recalling the answer.

「Sorry, can't remember. You'll have better luck asking Rysef.」

「Okay... thanks anyways.」

Anything I didn't know, I asked Melyn. If she didn't know, then I would ask Rysef.

It was a simple way of gaining, comparing, and verifying information to procure as much insight into this realm as I possibly could.

「Hahaha! You in here again?! I see you're as busy as ever eh?!」

Rysef's boisterous voice interrupted the uniform swaying of the single candle flame illuminating my desktop. It wasn't enough to disturb me though.

「Aah—hey Rysef!」

Melyn happily waved to her master who stood by the entrance door.

「Yo Mel! You still helping this brat?」

「Of course! After all—Zozo would be lost without me around!」

The thief girl puffed out her nonexistent chest with pride. I ignored the Sentinel duo and continued sifting through the ledger I was perusing.

「You've been spending an awful amount of time here, haven't you? What are you after anyway?」

「Anything really. As long as it furthers my knowledge of the world.」

「It would've been better if you used all that time to further your training, kiddo!」

「Yeah, yeah, I'll get the hang of it soon...」

Rysef tromped over to my side and picked a book up from one of the towering piles.

「Ancient accounts? You're definitely looking for something...」

I stayed silent as I neared the end of my research. There was just one more thing I needed to finish my month's worth of investigating.

「Melyn, remember the map you lent me?」

「What about it?」

I dropped the book in my hands and hastily cleared the desktop. Below the clutter was a detailed map of Velatya.

「H-hey! Don't damage the books!」

「Never mind that... Do you have an atlas perchance?」

「An... huh..?」

My eyes shifted to Melyn, who stood paralyzed with a bewildered expression. She usually followed through with my instructions with ease but...

I guess atlases don't exist in this world huh..?

「You mean a book of maps?」

I swiveled to Rysef. His solemn expression told me he understood what I meant.

「You know what an atlas is?」

「No. Don't know what an 'atlas' is. But I figured that's how you say 'book of maps' in your dialect...」

「H-how'd you figure that out?」

「Judging by the path of your research, I'm pretty sure your last step requires a book of maps. Also, context clues. Something you're familiar with right? Haha!」

Once again, the Ashen Thief impressed me with his deduction skills.

From just a few glances a day, he managed to figure out the meaning of a word he'd never heard of before and the final step to my digging.

His intuition was flawless—frighteningly so.

「So, do you have this book of maps?」

「It's probably lying around somewhere in my bedroom. Can't be bothered to look for it though!」

I took a deep breath and reluctantly stood up from my seat.

「I'll go search for it. Farthest room on the second floor right?」

「Haha! You know it!」

As I approached the exit, I heard light footsteps following me from close behind.

「You wanna help Melyn?」

「Naturally! If you wanted a book of maps, you should've just asked. And for the last time, call me Big Sis Mel!」

The two of us made our way up the stairs and into Rysef's private boudoir. It was a beautiful master bedroom with old paintings plastered all over the walls.

A large king-size bed was planted in the center of the room. It was neatly set up, but from the thick layer of dust covering the sheets, I could tell no one had slept in it for a long time.

The chamber as a whole was dusty and generally neglected. I found it odd that Rysef would rarely use his one and only bedroom.

I disregarded the strange abandoned state of the place and started by searching the big wardrobe in the corner beside the door.

「I'll check in here, you go check under the bed.」

Melyn nodded and carelessly slipped in under Rysef's supposed bed, causing a cloud of dust to spew out. I could only wonder how she made it this far without kicking the bucket.

I slammed the wardrobe doors open and was met with an unusual assortment of clothes.

Suits, gowns, tunics, high heels, scarves, mittens, frocks...

There was no rhyme or reason to the outfits in Rysef's closet. I didn't even think half these belonged to him.

「Hey... Melyn, what's with your master's freaky fashion lineup..?」

「Oh... I remember Rysef bringing them home one day... My memory's kind of fuzzy though..」

I could barely hear her muffled voice from below the bed.

「Judging by the condition of these, I doubt he's ever worn them...」

I pushed the old garments out of the way in an attempt to locate the atlas... to no avail. It was a stretch that it'd be in there anyway...

The thief girl popped up from underneath the large bed—her face was powdered gray like a breaker boy in the mines.

「There's nothing here. Any luck on your end?」

「Nope. Only dust, cobwebs, and an angry spider.」

「Then that only leaves...」

By the foot of the bed was a wooden chest with a pin tumbler lock on it. The container was reinforced with nails and metal fittings.

It was the only spot we hadn't checked. We had put it off until everywhere else was searched. Melyn looked at me, as though she was waiting for my next move.

「Well then... let's get cracking!」

「Wait Zozo..!」

The thief girl grabbed me by the arm before I could reach into my pocket.

「What? It's not like I'm gonna break it open or anything... I was just thinking of putting my lockpicking skills to the test.」

「Rysef didn't give us permission to open it!」

「Come on! He'd allow it either way. This room clearly doesn't hold any value to him!」

I released myself from Melyn's grasp and pulled out a lockpick and tension wrench from my trouser pocket.

「Don't worry, I'll take the blame if he gets mad.」

「As if I could let you do that alone..」

The thief girl backed away and let me do my thing.

I sat on the ground facing the chest. Slowly inserting the tension wrench—I began feeling out the insides of the lock with my lockpick.

It was imperative I find the correct position to apply pressure to.

「By the way... what are you doing with all this research?」

「I told you right? I'm learning anything I can about Velatya.」

Melyn jumped on the dusty bed and rolled around like a dog in wet mud.

I could only remain focused on the lock as I tried to brush aside the hundreds of dust particles falling onto me, both literally and otherwise.

「That's not what I meant! I mean why do you want to learn more about the world? What's your endgame? You can't expect me to believe you're doing all this with no goal in sight...」

「My endgame eh?」

I'm going to rule this world and claim all its riches for myself!

Or so I declared brazenly in the heat of the moment...

Upon further deliberation, becoming the richest person in this world would be harder than I thought.

Less than a month in this realm was more than enough for me to realize that.

The people here were smarter than your average medieval peasant. Hell, they were way smarter than a lot of people from my old world.

Not to mention, the presence of magic, thief, and combat skills made it impossible to gauge a person's worth through first impressions alone.

There were simply too many extraneous variables to calculate.

So... should I keep aiming for the top? Or should I play it safe and focus on surviving?

「W-what's your endgame Melyn? Are you planning to take over as the leader of this place?」

「My endgame? Well, let's see...」

Suddenly I felt the lock loosen. Without realizing it, I had pinpointed the sweet spot and unlocked the chest.

「Ah—Melyn, the chest's open.」

「Ooh really?!」

The thief girl jumped off the bed and joined me in unfastening the remaining metal latches that barred entry into Rysef's personal trunk.

Creeeaaak...

It took some strength, but as we prized it open, the sweet smell of weathered pages came spilling out.

We had finally found the atlas.

「Huh... I didn't think it was actually in here...」

「What's that supposed to mean, Zozo?」

Melyn jokingly punched my shoulder.

I lifted the book of maps out from the chest and placed it on my lap. It was a thick and heavy book bound by black leather.

It was in relatively decent condition too, considering the amount of dust that accumulated inside.

「With this, I can finalize my research. I've never seen a book like this before. What about you Mel—?」

The thief girl remained glued to the box. I rose to my feet and looked at the remaining contents of the chest.

「Oh?」

A framed picture. Too good to be a painting. Depicted, was a young girl that resembled Melyn against a garden backdrop.

She wore a fine white dress and bore a bright smile.

「Is that you Melyn? I didn't think Rysef had a camera with him..」

No reply. She continued to stare unseeing into the box.

I waved my hands in front of her eyes to get her attention.

「Hey, Melyn... You alright?」

「Hm? O-oh... Yeah... I think Rysef carried a camera around at one point...」

「Seriously? Didn't strike me as the photographer type. I'm guessing he broke it with his ape strength right?」

I chuckled, before noticing how pale Melyn had become.

It then occurred to me this photograph could've been tied to the trauma Rysef had talked about.

Quickly, I shut the chest and picked up the atlas.

「Big Sis Mel, let's head back. I want to finish this up before dinnertime. Could you lend me a hand?」

「U-uh... yeah... Let's go Zozo!」

The girl instantly perked up and grabbed me by the hand. That part of her was reminiscent of Rysef's constant façade. It was sometimes reassuring, and sometimes unsettling.

Having returned to the study, I hurriedly opened the atlas to compare it with the map on the desk. As I juxtaposed the two, Melyn sat quietly behind me.

It had been a while since I saw her this subdued. It brought back memories of our first meeting...

---

It was as I suspected...

Wrapping up my research, I breathed a sigh of relief. Had the conclusion been any different, all my digging would've been for naught.

So, what was this groundbreaking realization?

This world, Velatya, was the same world as Battleshift's. I mean, the name was kind of a dead giveaway.

Ergo, I was in a video game—or more accurately, a world taken from a video game.

Not a mind-blowing development, but my reaction upon confirming this theory was not as nonchalant as you'd think:

「Old bastard must think he's real clever sending me here. When I kick the bucket and meet him again, I'll make sure he's the one with a halo on his head...」

But, that wasn't all.

If that was the sole conclusion I'd gotten from my thirty-day investigation, I'd be no wiser than that geriatric coot calling himself a god.

No... There was an interesting twist to this copycat realm. One that made me all the more eager for what was to come.

It turned out, I was in a future timeline of the game's world—something like an unofficial sequel that was set thousands of years after Battleshift's story.

To explain my research more thoroughly, I've decided to paraphrase the notes I'd written based on the hundreds of reading materials I'd consulted.

It went as follows:

• This Velatya followed the same continuity as the Velatya from Battleshift. Many books I read made references to characters and events found in the game.

• Battleshift was set between the years 1163 to 1173 during the Merulean Era, depending on the expansion pack.

I wrote these notes at Apla 26th, 982 Garrick Era—which through my calculations and research, meant 2,024 years had gone by since Battleshift's story.

• From what I remembered, eras were determined by world-changing phenomena.

The Merulean Era was defined by and named after the Merulean Wars—a global war between all seven nations propagated by the country of Merulea.

Meanwhile, the succeeding Garrick Era was named after Garrick Huldst, some ultrapowerful mage from the last era.

The name never popped up in Battleshift, so he must be one of God's original characters.

This guy was apparently responsible for splitting the earth asunder and forming the sky islands.

It explained why Velatya's geography had dramatically changed within a couple of millennia. Only magic could produce such unnatural results.

• As for the aforementioned seven nations, many of them had understandably changed.

Countries, cities, borders, currency—almost everything was entirely different, no doubt due to the world-ripping crisis that had taken place 900 years ago.

It was no longer the Velatya I knew. I did spot a few familiar city names throughout my research, much to my delight. Yarzon was unfortunately not among them.

• On the topic of the seven nations, it should be noted that the other races of this world were completely wiped out for whatever reason.

Elves dark and high, beastfolk, orcs, dwarves—we humans somehow managed to outlive them.

This also meant countries that had once belonged to those races, had fallen under human control.

Did a genocide take place? Did God choose to omit them from this world? I had no way of telling.

All I knew was, the whimsical and fantastical world of Velatya had become a boring realm of humans. And as a human, that worked in my favor.

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