Darkness. Cold. Then... pain.
Aeris Draemor—or formerly known as Ryo Takeshi—woke up gasping for breath, cold sweat drenching his entire body. The dream of truck headlights racing toward him still felt so vivid, as did the pain when his body was thrown onto the cold Tokyo asphalt.
"Damn..." he muttered, his trembling hand wiping his face. "That dream again."
But as his eyes fully opened, the world around him felt... wrong.
This wasn't his cramped apartment in Shibuya. The ceiling staring back at him was made of old wood with intricate carvings, not the white gypsum he was used to seeing. A strange aroma mixed with lavender and something metallic filled his nostrils. And most disturbing of all—his hands.
Aeris raised his right hand in front of his face. His skin was paler than usual, his fingers longer and more slender. The small scar on his knuckle from being scratched by a laptop keyboard was gone.
"What...?"
He hurriedly got up from the bed—a bed much larger than his shabby futon—and ran to the antique mirror in the corner of the room. The figure staring back at him wasn't Ryo Takeshi, the 28-year-old with tired eyes of an office programmer.
Dark black hair that slightly waved. Sharp gray eyes. A younger face, perhaps around 17 years old, with firm cheekbones and a strong jaw. Handsome in a way Ryo had never experienced in his entire life.
"Impossible..." Aeris stepped back once, then twice. "This is impossible."
But when his gaze fell on the wooden table beside the bed, his heart nearly stopped beating. A letter with a royal seal lay there, and the name on the envelope made him feel the world spinning.
To the Honorable Aeris Draemor, Heir of House Draemor
"Aeris... Draemor..." he whispered, his voice trembling. That name was so familiar. Too familiar.
Memories that weren't his began to flow like a waterfall. A poor noble child from a house that was almost bankrupt. Had no special talent in monster taming. A background character who didn't even have important dialogue in the novel "Tamer Chronicles" that he had read to completion.
And most terrifying of all—Aeris Draemor would die in two months, killed by goblins in an attack on his town.
"No, no, no..." Aeris dropped into the wooden chair, his head supported by both hands. "Of all the characters out there, why did it have to be him?"
In the novel "Tamer Chronicles" that he had read, Aeris Draemor was the definition of a throwaway character. Appeared in chapter 15, died in chapter 23, and his only function was to make protagonist Leon Hartwell look more heroic when he failed to save him.
But what was worse—this wasn't just an ordinary reincarnation. Ryo remembered exactly what happened in this world. The great war between kingdoms. Ancient monsters awakening. And Seraphina Valemont, the beautiful villainess who would become the final boss before eventually dying tragically at Leon's hands.
"There has to be a way..." Aeris stood up with blazing eyes. "I know the plot. I know what's going to happen. I won't die as a meaningless extra!"
He rushed to the wardrobe—a wardrobe far more luxurious than anything he'd ever owned as Ryo—and put on simple clothes. If his memory was correct, today was the last day of registration for the Royal Tamer Academy. In the novel, Aeris Draemor never registered because he had no money and no confidence.
But this time would be different.
When Aeris stepped out of his room, an old servant with gray hair greeted him.
"Good morning, Young Master. Will you have breakfast first?"
"Sebastian," Aeris remembered the name of the Draemor family's loyal servant. "How much money is left in the family treasury?"
The old servant's face became gloomy. "I'm sorry, Young Master. After paying this month's taxes, we only have 50 gold coins left."
Aeris bit his lower lip. 50 gold coins weren't even enough for the academy registration fee of 100 gold coins. In the novel, this was one of the reasons why Aeris never tried to improve his life.
"Sebastian, I'm going out for a while. If anyone asks, just say I'm... inspecting the estate."
"But Young Master, it's dangerous to go out today. There are reports of goblins wandering in the forest near town."
Aeris stopped at the doorway. Goblins. He remembered this detail from the novel. Indeed, two months before the big attack, small goblins began appearing as scouts. Usually, they were weak and easily defeated by ordinary tamers.
But for Aeris who didn't even have a single monster bond...
"I'll be careful," Aeris smiled weakly. "Besides, I'm just going to the town market."
But once he left the dilapidated Draemor mansion, Aeris didn't head to the market. Instead, he walked toward the forest on the outskirts of town. If he wanted to change his fate, he had to start now.
In the novel, Leon Hartwell gained his first power by defeating goblins and getting his first rare crystal in this forest. If Aeris could do the same...
"Maybe I won't die as a pathetic extra," he muttered as he stepped into the shadows of the trees.
What Aeris didn't realize was that from the very first second he opened his eyes in this world, the wheel of fate had already begun to turn in ways he never imagined. And somewhere in the kingdom, a girl with silver hair and ruby red eyes suddenly felt something... interesting... in the air.
Seraphina Valemont, the most dangerous villainess in the kingdom, unconsciously smiled slightly while gazing toward the forest on the outskirts of town.
"Interesting..." she whispered. "Something is different today."