The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3, after three long years of impatient anticipation the release date has finally come. Three years of replaying the same two games to refresh myself for the continuation, three years of carefully avoiding spoilers online. Finally, the only thing keeping me from my goal of finishing the Cold Steel plotline is a crosswalk… and another three or four year wait for Cold Steel 4. But enough depressing thought like that, I have a game to buy!

I gathered myself and rushed towards across the street as soon as the light turned green.

Looking back at all the hard times I've had.

And that truck speeding towards me.

I can't help but wonder if a JRPG that takes way to long to localize was really that worth it.

Still, as I lost consciousness from the pain. I can't help but wish I could've at least played the game.

"I don't care how, let me know what happens after the civil war. Dammit!"

-x-

Some people get welcomed to the gates of heaven after death, some people find themselves in a burning landscape because of some wrong they committed in life. Me? I found myself in an empty house with nothing inside.

No, seriously. I checked every single room, both floors. Nothing, not even furniture.

And because there was nothing inside, I cautiously wandered outside to see what the building looked like. It was a simple wooden building with two floors and a set of windows on each floor. It looked completely rustic like one of those old fashion homes that people recreate in historical towns. Except there was no sign of any modern technology present to make it actually liveable for tourists.

Okay, so this is weird. Not the first place I would imagine the afterlife to look like.

My eyes wandered to a small plaque by the houses' door. The words Krist's House carved into the metal in simple letters.

What's with this super generic NPC house?

It's like one of those badly textured buildings that exist just to try to convince the player that the town has a lot of people living in it.

One of those buildings that feed you the line 'The door seems to be locked' or 'I shouldn't barge in here unannounced.' every time you tried to open the door.

What kind of a faceless NPC is this Krist guy anyways? Krist? That's just Chris with a K, no H, and a T at the end, perfect for a stupid NPC that just gives the same 'Welcome to our town. Enjoy your stay.' line every time the player visits. Seriously, what a-

"Oh good morning, Krist. You're up early."

What.

I turned around to face a short pump woman carrying a basket of eggs. I raised my hand and pointed at my face.

"Me?"

"Well, seeing as you just came out of your house. It would be bad if you weren't Krist, wouldn't it? Might have to call the guard on ya." The woman joked.

But my name isn't-

I rushed to a window on the NPC's- no, my house and tried to make out my reflection. A girl roughly in her mid-teens stared back at me. Long deep black hair that reached down to her shoulders and dark brown eyes stared back at me.

It's my face alright, but I'm in my twenties, not my mid-teens. Somehow I'm back in my teenage body. That's not all, there were no blemishes on my face and my skin was completely smooth even without any make-up. That's impossible, that kind of perfect looking face only exists in... JRPGs.

"Oh hey, Mr. Makolov. Back in Celdic so soon?"

Celdic?

While I had been dealing with the shock caused by my reflection. The pump woman behind me had started a conversation with a middle-aged man dressed in an old-fashioned suit.

"Ha, you caught me, Mrs. Fenny. Couldn't get that famous Celdic brew out of my head. So I rushed here as soon as I could get a day off."

Again. Celdic? As in the location of the Grand Market? As in the place where Class VII's first Field Study took place?

And then it all made sense to me. The old-fashioned setting. The house that looked normal from the outside but had nothing in the inside. Like the empty rooms in the house was made after the house was already built. And the owner's generic name. My generic name.

I… became an NPC. Not just any NPC, an NPC living in the world of the Trails of Cold Steel video game.

"Come on, Krist. Don't just stand there! Greet properly!"

I turned around to the other two slowly. With a forced smile, I let the dreaded words fall out of my mouth.

"Welcome to our town. Enjoy your stay."

-x-

Seriously. What the hell?

First I get run over right before I could buy the game I waited three years to play. Now I wake up in said game as an NPC with a fake house. Not only that I have no money so survival is an issue now. Wait, maybe I got sent over with some Mira I could use. I mean whoever sent me here would leave me completely helpless right?

I stood up from where I was sulking in the living room of my empty house and rummaged through my pockets. Feeling a small shape in one of them, I excitedly took whatever was inside out. My hopes of a wallet or some kind of pouch full of Mira were dashed when I found myself holding a small leather-bound notebook.

Curious, I flipped the book open to the first page. Only to almost drop the book in surprise.

What the hell is this?

Inside the book was a stat page like the ones in the game. The stats read STR, DEF, ATS, and so on, taking up most of the first page. At the top were the words Krist: level 1, title: none, weapon: none, armor: wool shirt, shoes: leather boots, accessories: none.

An actual stat page? So is this a game or real life? Or real life with game elements? Things like this book didn't exist in the actual game. I never saw Rean check his stats after a boss battle. So maybe its something that applies only to me? Could this be the thing that's supposed to help me survive this world?

Now that I think about it, the ability to grow stronger by using game elements like experience points to power up instead of actual training sounds extremely useful. Not to mention perfect for an ex-grind slave like me. Well, in the end, this is just a hunch. But I can either go and test this out or starve to death.

Or, in the worst case scenario, have to get a real job.

-x-

Finding monsters is apparently not hard at all in the Trails Universe. So that, in turn, means that finding people who have monster problems is just as easy.

"Umm. Are you sure, Krist? I don't think I've ever seen you hunt monsters before." Some generic farmer whose name I didn't bother to remember asked worriedly.

"What? No, it's fine. I'm trained, you know?"

"Really? Good luck then."

The good part of being an NPC with no backstory is that I can make up whatever I want and no one can ever prove I'm lying.

"By the way, can I borrow that pitchfork?"

After that, I set off towards the field the farmer pointed me to. Now, I know it seems really risky to fight monsters without actually knowing how to fight. But I think I can take an overgrown rat, emphasis on 'an' because I'm not dumb enough to take on more than one enemy at a time.

I spied a group of Crop Munchers a few meters away from me and began my plan. I took a few grains of rye that I swiped from the farmer's field and placed them carefully on the ground as I moved backward, creating a trail from to the brush I'm now hiding behind. Then I threw a pebble at the Crop Muncher furthest from the group. It turned around, annoyed, noticed the rye grains I had placed and scurried to it greedily.

If that farmer misses the stalks I took I could just blame the Crop Munchers, it's the perfect crime.

I held my pitch fork tightly and when the rat was right in front of me. I aimed right for its eyes and struck with all my might.

The sensation of the pitchfork sinking into flesh was a bit disturbing but I managed to ignore it. Surprisingly, the pitchfork in its face didn't instantly kill the Crop Muncher. So I had to endure its shrieks of pain as I stabbed it again to finish it off.

Holy crap, this is too brutal for a low-level beginner monster. In the game, there's no way a level five monster will die so easily to a level 1. But since everything works like the real world now, it dies to a blow in the head like any other living thing.

Also unlike the game, the corpse of the monster didn't disappear after its defeat. And it death cries caught the attention of its friends. So I took the hint and got the heck out of there. I'll come back for the corpse later, maybe some of its parts are worth a few Mira.

Well, that's one down. Time to do this nine more times.

-x-

"Errr… Are you okay?"

"Huff… Yeah… like I told you… I've been trained."

"But you're covered in blood!"

"Not mine...huff… I've always wanted to say that."

To the farmer who does nothing but tend to crops all day. The sight of a teenage girl covered in blood dragging along ten overgrown rats tied together must be a terrifying sight.

"Hey, do you know if there's anything on these things that'll sell?" I asked the farmer.

"Well… their meat tastes pretty bad but their pelts are really soft. So you can sell that. If you talk to the butcher I'm sure he could teach you how to skin them."

"Thanks, good to know."

"No, no. Thank you! These critters have been getting on my nerves recently. Here, take this as your reward." The farmer handed me the bag of Mira I've been dreaming about all afternoon.

As I left I reached into my pockets and pulled out my notebook.

I haven't had the chance to check since I was busy trying to complete the quest by the deadline. So I'm hoping for some good news. And sure enough.

My level had increased from 1 to 5 and I got the stat increase to match. I had thought I was getting stronger since I only needed one strike to finish off the last two Crop munchers. But I wasn't sure. However, this confirms it.

Well, I guess I know what I'm doing from now on. Don't look down on someone who's grinded every character to max level and collected every easter egg dammit!

-x-

Three months later

"And so she trudged forth, against her greater destiny as common fodder. Day after day, monster after monster. The harsh experiences manifested within her as a growing power. Taking the warrior to even greater heights!"

"Woah so cool!"

"You think we could be like that someday?"

"Heh, maybe if you work hard you brats."

Krist here, freshly level 25, as of yesterday. Currently, babysitting two kids for lunch money. Still, life's been pretty eventful.

Finally brought some actual furniture for my house with the money made from taking requests and selling monster parts. Got myself some decent armor and an actual spear as a weapon. I don't like getting too close so it's perfect for me. I've long since begun to actually fight monsters instead of ambushing them. I could even fight them in a group like in the games.

Otto, the market manager, has been a great help too. At first, he approached me to try and stop me from leaving town to fight monsters all day. But as I proved to him that I could handle myself he started to help me collect and manage the requests in the town. Though he likes to hand me the nondangerous ones first so I'll be too tired for the dangerous ones.

Still, it's not like defeating the low-level monsters around Celdic is leveling me up anymore anyway. For some real grinding, I have to head to the nature park. But no one requests monsters to be killed in their natural habitat so I have to do that on my own time. These days I'm either destroying a natural preserve for experience points or running around doing odd jobs, Rean Schwarzer style.

Still, I don't really what to do now that I've gained my bearings. I mean, I guess I can try and follow the main story by going to Thors. But I'm a literally a nobody, even the commoner students were good at studying and had parents to pay for their tuition for them.

If you asked me before all this what I would do if I was transported to the world of the Legend of Heroes universe. I would say without a doubt that I would attend Thors and follow the story first hand.

But now, this is my life, this is real. Not some daydream I can dream to go exactly the way I want to. With these circumstances can I even do whatever I want? What if I fail and lose the few things I have right now?

Screams in the center of town interrupted my brooding. People started running past us and away from whatever's terrorizing the town. I grabbed I random townsfolk and questioned him.

"What's going on!"

"A-a monster's attacking the town. Run! Even the soldiers stood no chance against it!"

A monster? Those bums calling themselves the Provincial Army may do a terrible job of maintaining order. But they are definitely stronger and better equipped than me. Evacuating is probably the best option. So I turned to the kids.

"Run! Follow the crowd and find your parents-"

I was cut off by a sudden roar from behind me. A huge towering beast came into view, destroying a building with its massive size. The monster looked like a giant giraffe covered in foliage, a large red eye with a cross-shaped pupil sat at the center of its chest.

Is that… Heidrun? What is a Cryptid doing here! I thought it was hiding in the depths of the nature park! What's going on? Celdic was never attacked by a Cryptid in the game!

Urgh. Nevermind that.

"You two, run NOW!" I said as I pushed the two kids away. The Cryptid turned its eyes towards us and lumbered towards us with another deafening roar. "I'll distract it!"

After making sure the kids were running as fast they could, I rushed towards the side of the gigantic Cryptid and smashed my spear against its leg. I doubt my wooden spear could actually pierce it so blunt damage will have to do.

Heidrun didn't even wince from my blow but it was annoyed enough by it to start focusing all of its attention on me. I jumped forward to dodge a swipe from its tail and ran behind it, strike another blow to its hind legs for good measure. The Cryptid turned and started following me with a surprising burst of speed as I maneuvered between buildings trying to dodge its attacks.

Normally, it's unthinkable for a level 25 to challenge a level 100 or up enemy and expect to last more than two turns. But I'm not fighting in the game's tiny combat space nor am I trying to kill it. I just need to dodge and earn enough time for the townspeople to evacuate.

But it turns out, that line of thinking was still too naive.

As I leaped left, feeling the shockwave caused by the vegetation covered leg slamming into the cobblestone next to me. I barely breathed a sigh of relief when a sudden force slammed into my abdomen.

Damn! I forgot about its tongue.

The pain was nothing like I've ever experienced before. Not only was its whip-like tongue fast, but it was also covered in thorns. The gashes on my side bleeding profusely were evidence of that fact. The attack launched me into a cart of supplies, that hid the fact that I was still alive from the Cryptid who seemed to have lost interest. It lumbered back towards the direction the townspeople fled.

Damn. This is what I was talking about earlier. In order to survive, I have to be strong or depend on someone who's strong. Since I've been transported here I've been all alone, only the first option is available to me. This is stupidly unfair, though I guess that's what real life is like. But still, is this how it ends? Celdic destroyed by a dumb glitch while I bleed to death. Did I cheat death just to die again?

"My that was an excellent showing!" A cheerful voice brought me back to reality. "For an ordinary person like you at least."

I slowly turned my head towards the voice. What greeted my eyes was a short green hair boy in a red suit. A long object covered in cloth hung on his back. The red tattoo on the right side of his face warped slightly as he grinned at me.

"Hello! You're not looking too well. Though considering you just tried to fight Heidrun, you're quite lucky to be alive!"

"W-who-"

"Say, wanna help me with an experiment?" The boy ignored my question and took off the bundled object on his back and uncovered it. Revealing a pure black lance longer than my entire body. On closer inspection, tangled lines resembling veins covered the entire weapon.

"I want you to use this against the monster over there. I want to see what it does. That's the experiment!" The boy exclaimed cheerfully.

This is fishy, obviously suspicious. But. I have no better choices, it's either use this obviously evil weapon or die here. Dammit! I'll do this! I have nothing to lose! I've decided, I'm going to beat that Cryptid, survive, and then I'm going to Thors! I am going to see what happens after the second game with my own eyes!

Wordlessly, I grabbed the lance from the grinning boy. The moment my hand touched the weapon I felt a strange force. Like something was taken from me. I ignored the strange sensation and the pain on my side as I chased after my opponent.

But first, there's something I have to do if I want to survive.

I took out the notebook kept in my pants pocket and checked the equipment section of my status.

Equipment: Blood Lance Diarmuid- A lance capable of bypassing all defenses, striking only flesh. This ability has a charging time and can only be used every ten minutes. The lance is currently sealed and requires a large amount of lifeforce to regain its full potential.

Sealed? Lifeforce? I see. That explains what I felt earlier. No wonder that strange kid didn't use the lance himself.

My grip tightens on the weapon and I felt the suction growing stronger. The Cryptid was right in front of me now. I increased my speed and ran past it, turning around to face it as I did so.

If it's like this I have no other choice. The boy from before was strong and probably not going to let me live if I don't remove the seal on the lance. Then, the only option is to sacrifice... Heidrun's lifeforce to awaken the lance of course!

My grip tightened even more as the weapon responded with an even stronger hunger. And before the monster could react to my sudden presence. I threw the lance with all my might at the glowing eye on its chest.

The lance struck deep into the monster as visible distortions appeared around it. The vein-like patterns glowed red as Diarmuid greedily drank up the Cryptid's lifeforce. The Cryptid tried to resist to no avail as it grew weaker and weaker. I watched as it slowly stopped struggling and began to crumble to dust. I walked to what's left of its corpse, picking up the lance and pocketing the lost art I knew it would drop.

"Wowee, that went even better than what I thought!" I kept myself from jumping at the cheerful voice that broke the silence.

"What did you think was going to happen?" I asked even though I knew the answer.

"That you'll die of course! To think that you actually killed it." The boy looked at the lance curiously. "Yep! Looks like Diarmuid is awakened too. I knew a Cryptid's lifeforce would do it!"

"Wait. You knew? Then you could've killed it yourself!"

"Haha, it's not that simple. This creature is a product of my organization's grand plan, you see. If I killed it for my pet project I would get into a lot of trouble." The boy grinned unsettlingly. "So I had to make do with taking the lifeforce of the townspeople instead. It's not that hard to believe a monster invaded a town and killed a bunch of people, right?"

I see. He wins either way. Either the Cryptid kills a bunch of people he can absorb or someone else kills the Cryptid and he gets away with treason. This kid's pretty dangerous. But there's something I still have to know.

"Isn't involving a whole town like this risky? You must have had an alternative."

"Well, I was going to make Heidrun rampage in the natural park and use the monsters there as resources. But strangely, there were way fewer monsters there than I predicted. Because of that Heidrun kept going and started moving towards town. So I decided to roll with it." The boy replied matter a factly.

Oh. Oh shi- I mean damn, I can't believe how evil this guy is. This is all his fault. Entirely his fault.

"Anyways. Enough with this boring stuff. Let me get to the good part." The boy bowed dramatically. "My name is Campanella. I work for the organization known as Ouroboros as Enforcer Number 0. After what I saw today I want to extend an invitation to you."

Ouroboros! Number 0? I don't recognize him at all. Damn, my friends who told me to play the other Legend of Heroes games must be laughing right now. Nevermind that, what does he mean by an invitation?

"An invitation? To do what? Be an enforcer like you?"

"Oh of course not, you're way too weak." Campanella laughed, much to my annoyance and embarrassment. "Right now at least. I'm inviting you because you have the potential to be one. That's how recruitment works, right? How about it? I'll let you keep the lance. And that quartz Heidrun dropped."

Join Ouroboros? That's certainly not something I thought was going to happen when I got transported here.

But that's life too I guess. Unpredicted like I said.

Despite all the craziness this kid caused. I think this is the opportunity of a lifetime. I wanted strength and I wanted to be my own person in this new world. Not some extra tagging along after the main cast. Joining an organization, albeit an evil one, would kill two birds with one stone.

"I'm in," I said without hesitation. Campanella grinned. "But first…"

I looked down at my side.

"Can you stop the bleeding?"

Alright finally done. Hopefully, this story seems interesting to all of you. I'm not trying to make a self-insert here, so if any of you have suggestions (Pairings, possible changes to canon, or certain scenarios you would like to see) feel free to PM me and I'll consider it. I'm trying to write a story people will like after all. Reviews help a lot, too. Well, that's all for now.