“After all, the best class for PvP seems to be the Sorcerer with the spell creation build, huh…?”
Maybe I should have just become a villain.
I should have lived freely, doing whatever I wanted.
“…So, a limited-time event, ‘Dungeon War,’ starts tomorrow? Let’s see… there’s a special skill tree you can only obtain with skill points from the event rewards… Wow, no time for a school trip now.”
That was from my previous life.
One day, I remembered that this was my second time living.
I don’t remember what kind of life I had.
I was probably just a background character.
I think I didn’t have any friends, lovers, or comrades.
Whether it was an accident, incident, or illness—I know one thing for sure.
I was weak and died alone.
And in this second life, my role is already set.
“Oh, that quest… I didn’t know there was a branching path like this. Should I try siding with the islanders instead of going for the massacre ending in my second playthrough? But then again… it’s a stew quest, isn’t it?”
Sitting alone in the mysterious space by the window of my inn room, I browse a game guide wiki on my phone.
I’m completely hooked on this god-tier game.
An action RPG, life simulation, romance, and business management dark fantasy open-world game.
Life Field.
Two months since its release, it’s already sold over 200 million copies worldwide—a monster of a game.
[Complete Guide to Life Field]
[This is the strongest build in version 50! A Hero class with a Spirit Magic skill line!?]
[The Black Knight build is so chuunibyou and awesome. You can take the Dark Lord route.]
[This damage is insane. Enemies melt instantly. Aim for the Dark Descent event as a Mage with the Fairy Bloodline.]
[Top 10 strongest pets! The Wyvern exclusive to the Summoner build is crazy strong.]
[Lol, my clothes got melted off when I made a slime my pet.]
[What origin did you guys choose? I went with the Reincarnated Hero.]
[I chose the “Elf’s Beloved Apprentice,” but I got locked in a cage immediately and now over 1,000 in-game days have passed… Am I trapped on elf time or something!?]
[What ending did you get in your first playthrough? Mine was the “Human-Demon War Begins” ending.]
[How do you reach the “Display the Heads of the Gods” massacre ending?]
[Less than 1% of players have reached that ending, so there’s no complete flowchart for it yet.]
[What’s the conclusion to the island quest? Do you side with the islanders or the mermaids?]
[Sorcerer builds are seriously weak. You lose access to all magic-related skills, and NPC favorability takes a hit.]
[Sorcerer class is a total balance fail. Your crucial Magic stat gets forcibly converted into Cursed Energy, which is a dead stat with limited uses.]
[But Sorcerer builds have a high win rate in PvP…]
[Top 20 strongest items you can get from PvP rewards in Life Field! The effect of the Great Ogre Armor is insane.]
Even though I got a second chance at life, I’m still a background character.
No matter how hard I try, it never pays off.
There was no “strong and starting anew” for me.
That’s why I got hooked on games.
The more I play, the better the results. Unlike reality.
“Wow, again!? Why am I always stuck with the old maid!?”
“Hahaha! Snow, you’ve got terrible luck! Even royalty can’t control their luck with cards!”
“Harusaki, if you said that in Snow’s home country, you’d be charged with treason. You’d probably get 10 years in a cage. Oh, I won. That’s game.”
“Wait! Aki didn’t say ‘Uno!'”
“Natsuki. We’re playing Old Maid, not Uno.”
From the other side of the divider in the mysterious space.
I can hear the lively voices of the popular kids from the room.
“Hey, sorry for barging in! Oh, you’ve already started, huh?”
“We brought some girls! Oh wait, Snow’s already here! Wait, what!? Why!?”
“Oh, Aki’s here too… Ugh, should I go redo my makeup?”
“This room’s full of personalities, lol. I’m hyped!”
“Let’s talk about relationships!”
The voices from the room grow louder.
It’s the night of the school trip.
Everyone’s spending it as they wish.
Friends… I wish I had them in this life.
Wait, did I not have friends in my past life either?
“…Guess I’ll think about the class and build for my new character in Life Field.”
In the god-tier game Life Field, there are over 1,000 character classes.
Even when it comes to the typical warrior class in a fantasy RPG, you have a variety of options: knight, gladiator, heavy knight, cavalry, samurai, and more. There are even joke classes like punching bag warrior, slug warrior, or goblin samurai, making you wonder if they’re even real jobs.
Aside from your class, you can also choose your “Life Path”—your background and upbringing.
After selecting these two, the final choice is your “Gift”—your character’s unique skill tree.
For example, even if you’re a knight, the skill tree you can choose depends on your background. If your life path is “eighth son of a baron,” your skill tree will be suited for survival, called “Battlefield Advancement.” On the other hand, if your background is “descendant of imperial warriors,” your skill tree will be “Emperor’s Protector,” designed to defend others.
“In the game, just like in real life, your birth and occupation decide your fate.”
That’s what I love about Life Field—even though it’s a game, it doesn’t hold back on the realism.
I wonder what kind of skill tree the spell creation build will have for my next character.
It was at that moment.
The door separating my room from my mysterious space suddenly opened.
“Ah… s-sorry, I was curious about this space and… I opened it without permission?”
“Oh, no, it’s fine…”
There stood an incredibly beautiful girl.
She looked like she had just stepped out of an anime or manga, appearing in real life.
Her snow-white skin was flawless, and her blue eyes sparkled like jewels. Her long golden hair, which seemed to shine on its own, reached down to her chest.
“Um, you’re Kasuya-kun, right?”
“Ah, yes.”
She was wearing a yukata. A drop-dead gorgeous blonde, blue-eyed beauty was standing right in front of me.
This is insane. Why is she talking to me? Why did she open the door?
“Oh, it’s our first time talking even though we’re in the same class! Ahem, ahem.”
She seemed to have misunderstood something about my reaction.
No, I’m not flustered because it’s our first time talking or anything like that.
“I’m Snow von und zu Liechtenstein, here as an exchange student from Western Europe, Liechtenstein.”
Her yukata was slightly loose at the chest, though she didn’t seem to notice.
Her white neck, which any boy our age would find captivating, glowed in the light.
“Please, just call me Snow!”
Her smile sparkled.
She exuded an unmistakable aura of being a high-class lady, almost like a princess.
Even without an introduction, I knew who she was.
“Uh, did I mess up my Japanese again? Was that right?”
Standing in front of me was a real-life foreign royal.
The whole country knew she was an exchange student at our high school.
You couldn’t turn on the TV without hearing her name on the news.
“Ah, uh, h-hi. I’m Takihito Kasuya.”
“Yep! Nice to meet you, Kasuya-kun! So… why are you here by yourself?”
“Uh, well… I like small, quiet spaces, they’re calming…”
“Oh, I kind of get that! It feels like a secret base! Can I sit here with you?”
Her sparkling blue eyes, like crystals, gazed at me.
The overwhelming aura of a true extrovert—there was no way I could refuse.
“Oh, sure…”
“Thanks! Wow, the view from here is amazing. You can see the moon so clearly.”
“Yeah, I guess… it is.”
“Huh? Why are you being so formal? We’re in the same class, so no need to be so polite!”
The beautiful girl who was also an actual princess tilted her head in confusion.
I couldn’t help but feel mesmerized, and the situation itself was enough to make me giddy.
But, Takihito, keep it cool. Handle this calmly.
If she’s a first-class gem, you’re trash.
Behave like trash, or else…
“…………”
“…………”
“…………”
I felt their stares.
The room that had been so lively just moments ago suddenly fell silent.
Of course, it had.
“Who is that guy?”
“No idea. Never talked to him.”
“He’s being rude to Snow, even though she’s talking to him. So annoying.”
The popular kids who had been having fun earlier started whispering behind my back.
These guys were friendly with their own, but cold to anyone else. It was kind of scary.
“………”
“………”
“………”
And then there were those three. The ones who were really scary.
The glittering top-tier members of the social hierarchy.
They were the ones playing Old Maid earlier.
A stunningly beautiful girl, a puppy-like pretty boy, and a cool, handsome guy.
Their titles were ridiculous: the center of a super popular idol group, a star model for a famous magazine, and a knight from a royal family.
Attractive people’s expressionless faces are terrifying.
This is bad. If things keep going like this, I’m screwed.
“Huh!? Is that a Life Field magazine!?”
“Huh?”
“Wow, I should’ve studied more Japanese! I can speak and understand it, but I’m still bad at reading and writing… Hey, Kasuya-kun, what’s this article about?”
“Oh, uh, it’s about the upcoming large-scale PvP event, ‘Dungeon War,’ I think.”
“Whoa! Is that the same event they held last month? They’re doing that crap event again?”
Liechtenstein… no, let’s just call her Snow in my head—it’s shorter.
I widened my eyes at Snow’s words.
“Wait… Lichtenstein-san, do you play Life Field too?”
“Yeah, totally! I play it a lot! I mean, the capital city in the game is based on my country! Plus, even the castle in the capital, Revelina Castle, is modeled after my house!”
“What!!? That infamous deathtrap of a dungeon?!”
“Yup! You know how there’s that ballista that fires at you from above the main gate? We’ve got one of those too!”
“You’re kidding me.”
“Also, Kasuya-kun, you don’t have to be so formal. We’re classmates, after all.”
“But you’re speaking formally too, Snow-san.”
“Huh? Oh, right! Haha.”
Oh… wow, this is fun.
I’ve never had a conversation about games with someone before. I never knew it could be this enjoyable. But Kasuya Takihito, don’t get the wrong idea. Look around.
“…………”
The stares from the group of social elites have grown harsher, like I’m some sort of kidnapper who’s taken the princess.
And then…
“Hey, Kasuya, right? Don’t you think you’re being a little too familiar with Snow-san?”
A well-built guy from the group of elites approached me. I think he’s the captain of the baseball team. Compared to the idol, the model, and the knight, he’s kind of second tier…
“I mean, were you guys even that close? Just a word of advice: don’t get any ideas. You live in a completely different world.”
The next guy to speak up was a well-built handsome guy. If I recall correctly, he’s the ace of the rugby team.
It’s clear they’ve noticed me, and things are about to get tough.
My school life is going to be even more difficult after this. I might even get bullied.
“Hey, say something. You’re acting all high and mighty just because Snow-san is being nice enough to humor you with some game talk, aren’t you?”
“W-wait, Okajima-kun? N-no, that’s not why I’m talking with him…”
“Yeah, I thought so too. And Kasuya-kun, right? Didn’t know you could talk so much, but seriously, read the room. We’re hanging out with Snow-san right now.”
The second-tier guys were starting to really get involved. This is terrifying, genuinely scary. Is this how things go, after all?
For someone like me, a background character, I don’t have the right to have friends or talk about my hobbies––
Skill activated.
––Maybe… I should just become a villain.
Wait, hold on. Could this be… an opportunity?
I don’t remember much, but my past life probably didn’t amount to much either. I probably just ended up as another background character in the end.
In moments like this, I probably avoided conflict and stayed neutral.
That’s why, in my past life, I died alone, didn’t I?
The opposite of love is indifference.
So, what would happen if I was hated instead?
Would that be better than being ignored?
––Maybe becoming a villain wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“Hey! Why is everyone acting like this? Oh, that’s right! Kasuya-kun, why don’t you join us for some cards?”
“Uh, well, I mean…”
“Kasuya, I think I remember you from a while back… oh, right.”
“Snow, you should choose your friends wisely. Your kindness can sometimes be cruel.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that, Aki? I’m not talking to Kasuya-kun with that kind of intention!”
When you think of a villain, they’re usually arrogant and fearless.
Fearless… fearless…
Acting casual with important people sounds like a villainous move, right?
Important people… oh.
“Oh, Kasuya-kun, I’m sorry if it seems like it’s my fault… um, wait, being stared at like that makes me a bit, well, nervous.”
Standing before me was a true blue-blooded royal.
Skill activated.
Courage roll successful.
A special option has appeared.
“Your Highness, it’s an honor to share a hobby with you.”
“Huh?”
I casually stood up and moved my chair right next to Snow-san’s.
We were so close, our faces were practically touching.
The scent of soap and sweet citrus filled the air. It was incredible. Truly, I apologize.
“W-what…?”
“Huh?”
The second-tier guys froze. Their eyes wide, nostrils flaring.
“Uh… um…”
Oh wow, Snow-san’s face was bright red from embarrassment and anger. Could this cause some kind of international incident…?
An international incident?
…That sounds kind of villainous! Yes!
“What???”
Even the top-tier group’s three members, who were usually expressionless, had their lips twitching.
Scary. This is really scary.
But still.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“What do you mean? I’m just talking with Her Highness about games. Right, Your Highness?”
“Cut the crap!!”
“What are you doing, man?!”
The second-tier guys raised their fists.
But before they could—
“You’re way too familiar with Snow.”
“Wait! Aki! He’s just a regular guy!”
It all seemed to move in slow motion.
Before I realized it, Snow’s knight, a dashing blond guy, had already thrown a punch, now just inches from my face.
Oh man, this is definitely going to hurt.
Before I could even close my eyes, my gaze shifted to the window.
Huh? Was the moon always that big?
And then, it all began.
“W-what…?!”
“What’s going on…!?”
“Snow! Get over here!”
“W-wait, Aki! Kasuya-kun is being surrounded by light!?”
“Snow-chan! Aki! Quick, get to the room!”
“No good!? The light is here too!?”
The moon had filled the entire window.
It wasn’t just this room—screams echoed throughout the inn.
The light painted everything white.
––It’s beautiful.
And with that, I lost consciousness.
Ritual initiated. Status Open.
