Chapter 0

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#Prologue

One morning, when you woke up from an uneasy dream, you realized you were trapped in a small room.

A space barely enough for one person to stretch out and lie down.

There was nothing connecting to the outside like a door or window, and the only things in the room were a desk, a chair, and a computer.

No matter who you called, there was no response.

Looking around for an escape, there was no hidden door in sight.

While recalling how you ended up in this situation, the first thing that came to mind was the content of the dream you just had.

In the dream, you died. It was a tragic end, so gruesome that even the shape of the corpse was hard to discern.

Dreams of death are not uncommon.

But what if it wasn’t a dream?

What if everything was real, and you were already dead, wandering the afterlife?

Strangely, there was little fear or confusion. The sense of reality was too faint.

Perhaps the afterlife is just a guess, or maybe you just haven’t woken up from the dream yet.

After scratching your head, you decided to touch the computer.

Whether it’s a dream or the afterlife, you should try what you can do.

The touch of the chair against your back, the height of the desk, the shape of the mouse and keyboard—all felt very familiar to you.

Unfortunately, there was only one program installed on the computer.

Clicking on the black and gray icon, a full-screen game-like interface appeared, followed by something like an opening sequence.

「Once upon a time, in a distant past, there was a knight.」

「A knight who was incredibly strong, brave, and loyal.」

「But no matter how exceptional the knight was, in the end, he was just a human.」

「Fatigue, injury, aging. Many constraints held the knight back.」

「To continue fighting. To protect what needed to be protected, the knight gradually replaced parts of his body with other things.」

「His arms could no longer feel human warmth. His legs gleamed with a metallic shine. Even his burning heart was replaced by something else.」

「The knight’s body was no longer human, but his soul remained as proud as ever.」

「Feeling pity for the knight, his lord told him it was okay to rest now, but the stubborn knight shook his head.」

「As time passed, fewer and fewer people remembered the knight from his human days.」

「The knight’s devotion, pride, and loyalty left traces only in the written words of literature, not in people’s hearts, and even those traces were gradually forgotten.」

「And so, many years passed.」

「The knight’s body had declined to a point incomparable to his prime, and his soul had also reached its limit.」

「Like his story, now only told as an old fairy tale, the knight was left to rust in a warehouse.」

「It was a pitiful sight for a once-proud hero, but the knight had no regrets.」

「Even though he knew this day would come, it was the knight himself who chose this path, rejecting his lord’s pleas.」

「As the knight waited for his final moment, a girl came to him.」

「The girl dusted off the knight’s body and poured magical power to remove the rust.」

「The knight realized the girl was a distant descendant of his lord.」

「The things he had once protected. His medals, more precious and beautiful than any treasure.」

「A living testament that his life was not in vain, the girl, as if by fate’s jest, was once again asking the knight for help.」

「The soul, which thought it had worn out completely, was filled with joy. And with it, an equal measure of sorrow filled his heart.」

「The knight was a wreck.」

「He no longer had the strength to grasp the hand extended to him.」

「It was then that the knight’s soul, lamenting that it could no longer protect, sensed another soul.」

「That soul was an outsider, originally unrelated to this story.」

「But unlike the knight, who had already reached his end, this being held infinite potential.」

「To the outsider, to the unfamiliar soul, yes, to none other than ‘you,’ the knight makes a request.」

「You can choose to accept the knight’s request and write a new story, or you can ignore it.」

「Now, what will you do?」

「1. Start the story.」

「2. Do not start.」

You stared intently at the two options that appeared on the screen.

The deliberation didn’t take long.

You made your choice.

「1. Start the story.」 ←