Story by Ekroth Ekronicus
Written NOT by me, but by [Joe D Mercala], also known by his alias JoeTheMercenary on fanfic. If you like his writing here, go check him out, commision a fic or two and support his activities. His discord is: Joe D. Mercala#8764
Is luck set by the universe?
Like karma, is it something that balances everything or is it something that adds chaos to an already stable system? Does the universe bestow good luck to those who need it or simply at random, and if so does it do any of it for a deeper reason?
Perhaps the universe does not play with dice at all. Maybe it's not like playing in a pitch dark room, playing an obscure variant of poker with a dealer who won't tell you the rules and smiles all the time. Maybe…the universe just is.
King wondered deeply about that as he walked home. The tall, blonde man had his bad luck tested today again and again. Each time by monsters doing something utterly stupid and evil that all bowed down before him in utter and complete fear when they figured out who he was.
It was so bad that it was hard to keep his heart from beating loudly even when he got away from those "battles" because he knew it would only make things worse for him down the line. It was simply part of the cycle, monsters would get captured after surrendering to him, he would get the credit and suddenly he looked like even more of a hero.
Hundreds of heroes, and yet so many got in his way…his life was truly unblessed, so much so that he even vocalized his grief while on the way home while trying to keep his heart from pumping in his ears. "Good grief…can't my luck just be a bit better, for once?"
"My my, is someone having a little bit of trouble with fate?"
The tall blonde turned to see an older looking gentleman sitting on a large carpet on a street corner, seemingly peddling random bits of crap. The man himself wore big glasses and had very skinny arms despite also having a bit of a pot belly under his baggy clothes.
King, curious as to what the man had said to him, approached. "You have something to say old man?"
"Tsk tsk, such a serious faced individual…with such a serious path in life. Something tells me you could use a way to alleviate your troubles." The man raises his hands to spread them out and gestures toward his wares. "There is something for everyone here, needful things that can help just about anyone out."
King looks upon the stuff in question, and frankly it all looks like garbage stuff would find in a grandparents attic. Some sort of taxidermied monkey paw, a bronze lamp, a broken mirror…but one thing did catch his eye. He reached down and grabbed up a small, rectangular box covered in what was almost a heap of dust. Wiping it off…he found there to be a game.
"Tears…to Tiara?"
He had never heard of it, but the old man seemed to have something of an opinion on it. "Oh yes, quite the adventure there. Heroes, villains, magic and so many cute girls, but perhaps those sort of things are not to your liking?"
"Well uh…maybe you're right but you know, sometimes it's good to try new things and…expand your horizons." He reaches up to rub the back of his neck and look away while he's embarrassed. "So…how much for it?"
"Oh no, do please take it off me. I have no time for such games in my old age now." The old man smiles at him, taking the game and wiping the dirt and dust away with a cloth. In an instant it almost looks brand new to King's astonishment. "Just remember, one cannot play games forever, even if one wants to get away from their life."
The strange, elderly man handed the game back to King, who in turn wasn't sure how to respond to the man's cryptic words and simply shrugged it off before he resumed the walk home. At the very least he could say that the interaction calmed him down…and even if the game didn't turn out to be much he had gotten it for free so it wasn't a waste of money.
So, one unlucky man walks away as an old, wise gentleman smiles…waiting for the next person to come in need of his wares.
To someone people think is the strongest man in the world, money is no issue. Sure it can cause a tax issue once in a while, but King has a guy for that.
The real problem is that it doesn't give someone a direction to go in life. Most people find purpose by working so that they can earn a living, but King is a hero and he gets paid handsomely for just…going to meetings and being around the other crazy strong heroes who actually do the bulk of work. Sometimes he thinks it's unfair but really with the anxiety he gets from it he thinks it equals out.
However, still…he wonders what he really should be doing? Is he just destined to play hero and have no other parts to his life than playing games? After all, it's not only a job that would allude him but most girls are put off by his rather serious look and reputation as well…even friendship is a tad tough to find in his position.
He didn't like to think about those sorts of things, but that's the problem about his life. It was either he thought about his loneliness, his games…or the fact that anytime he walked out into the city another weird monster would come to be in his way.
With a life like that, could anybody blame him for wanting an escape?
That's why when he got home he didn't spare much time to think about the next day or take care of any household chores. He wanted simply to forget it all…it was the only way a man like him could mentally survive.
Now, he didn't expect much from the game. He didn't even expect it to work. He opened the box and made sure the disk itself had no scratches but even so the box had looked so dinged up before he wasn't sure…so he popped it in.
For a moment, it sounded like his machine was trying to heat up a piece of steel with how loud the fan was getting while it read the game. It actually worried him for a few moments before it died down and the game finally appeared on the menu, though with a bit of a different title.
Tear To Tiara: King's Gambit.
At first, he just thought maybe someone had mixed up the boxes with another addition of the game long ago or something. Maybe it was some sort of special edition…but at the end of the day it's not like he cared all that much. He pressed a button on his controller and let the game start, not knowing that the title itself…was referring to him.
Strangely, before any logos or stuff like that showed up, the game asked him for his name, which was a bit strange but sort of refreshing to just get into. Though strangely the game only allowed a four letter name which was even weirder. "Ugh…so few characters, not really giving me much choice here…K, I, N,G, there."
Once he inputted his name, the screen turned white, so bright that it actually hurt his eyes to look at it…but then it grew even brighter. The light began to envelope his screen and the room he was sitting in until he had to close his eyes all together.
The moment he did, darkness took him, and for a time he did not know what had happened at all.
Destiny plays both sides of the coin.
One must understand, when it flips it may land heads or tails, but there is always a winner and a loser and it controls the game that way. Rebels can only win a grand battle if there is an evil force to rebel. A man can only be a hero if someone else is a villain. A person can only truly win a game if there is loss to also be had.
So, while destiny flips the coin, some people end up on top while others…end up in other places.
King ends up scrambling to breathe as his eyes tear open to meet darkness. He's gasping with a throat that's deeply dry that hurts to pull air through. Luckily for him in the darkness a voice is there to calm him. "Be still young man, open your lips and relax for a few moments…"
He feels something akin to a wooden spoon press up against his lips, pouring water into his mouth. The feeling is a terrible relief to his body as for the few moments he is awake he can feel his heart thudding with a dull, terrible and loud tone that only the King's Engine can provide.
"Sleep young man…let your heart silence itself along with your restless soul."
The words sound sagely and kind. King can't help but take the advice as his mind is drawn back into the darkness once again. At the very least now the dryness had been sated for the moment, only it grew once again over time as he could feel his body slowly being dragged back to consciousness.
What had pulled him completely from the dark was the light of day finally shining down on his face. His eyes opened only to squint from the light coming out of what looked like an open door. He pulled himself up, feeling sore all over his body. His clothes had not been touched however he found he was sleeping on some kind of uncomfortable wooden cot with a mountain of feathers and hay laid under him, poking at his sides.
"What the..?" His voice scratched against his throat, his eyes focused down on a wooden bucket to the side of the bed, full of clean water that he snatched up instantly.
He felt like he damn near downed the whole bucket itself, barely letting a bit of the liquid run down his chin as he felt his mind become slowly unburdened from terrible dehydration.
"Ah, you have awakened."
King puts the bucket down to see a robed man walk through the doorway. The guy's old age didn't surprise him despite being wrinkled all to hell, it was the strange old look to the man's robes that made him look almost like some sort of monk that made the young man wonder where the heck he was. He looked around to see he was in some kind of wooden shack with not many amenities to speak of other than a bucket, a chair and the bed he was sitting on, all made out of wood and nothing else.
"Your garb is rather interesting to look upon, such a magnificent number of colors." He points to King's flannel shirt. "In my day, one would only see such stitching on the dresses of princesses, though that was a different time I suppose."
King couldn't help but wonder how old the guy could be if he was talking about princesses, but shook his head of the thought while he tried to get a handle on things. "Uh…can you tell me how I got here?"
"Well I cannot be sure, first if I might ask, where are you from stranger?"
"Oh, City Z, is that near here?"
The man looks at him quizzically. "City…Zee? Hmm, never heard of it…must have spring up somewhere around the capital. Oh, I forgot, where are my manners…my name is Folso, I am an elder scribe, may I ask for your name?"
"Oh…I'm-" The young man racked his brain for a few moments, and realized that something was insanely wrong.
He knew he was King, but that was all he knew. He knew it was his title and not his real name…but even so, his real name eluded him completely. "I um…I guess my name is King."
"My, an unusual one to be sure." The old man said, smiling as he moved to rest his wild bones by sitting in the chair close to the bed. "Well King, a few children found you while they were out playing and informed the people of my village, who in turn brought you to me."
"What? Is there no like…hospital around?" He asked as he put his hands on his knees and forced himself to stand up.
"A what? How would a hostel help you?" The monk looking man replied as King stepped out to look at where he was.
He was confronted with a sight both beautiful and nearly impossible to take in. He stood atop what seemed to be a small plateau where a hut had been built halfway atop a mountain. Around almost every direction were green forests that stretched out as far as the eye could see and were only broken up by more mountains as well as streams and rivers.
The only other feature of the expansive land sits right below at the foot of the mountain. There a small village was set, made of no more than twenty or so huts that featured smoke coming out of them and the sounds of children playing.
Taking in his new surroundings, his knowledge of manga and the sudden appearance of a random man from medieval fantasy game, King turned back toward the hut and asked the old man a simple question.
"Tell me, do wizards, magic, elves and other strange things exist in this world?"
"Most certainly, why would you ask?"
King collapsed onto his goddamn knees as all the blood left his face.
He'd been Isekai'd.
Two months pass, but not easily by any means.
King was aghast by finding out that he had been transported to another world. Folso found his story stranger still about where he was from as well, but in the end there was no real point to explaining it all as it left the dear fake hero in the same place as he was when he started.
So, after a few days of staying with the older man he started helping him with errands and chores to pull his weight. He would pick up scrolls from people in the village as well as ink that came in from a merchant so that Folso could continue his work.
The old man was a scribe. He would either write for, or copy works so that they could be sold to others. Some would give him documents or other times a servant to a noble would come to get some larger text copied. It was a bit of slow, agonizing work for the older man that made him appreciate having a younger pair of hands to do a bit of the legwork.
King had nothing else to do though, despite being isekai'd he found his newer life to be absolutely boring as all hell. No video games, no manga to read. The villagers seemed to be wary of him, thinking him to be some crazy person or a runaway from the law based upon his scar over his eye, so not much had changed really.
Well, one thing did. A month in, King started helping the old man with his job. It really wasn't all that hard to copy other text's, it just took some getting used to with a quill and ink…but it was enough for the old man to consider him something of an apprentice.
That's how King lived for a bit, slowly getting his own money from scribing, enough that he could buy his own clothes and a bed for himself. Maybe soon he could get his own hut…but then he thought about his old life as well.
In the two months he had been in this new world, he hadn't thought much about his old life. He thought about games and manga sure, but his life back then…it really wasn't much to go back to, but then again living as just a scribe seemed almost just as boring, but boring could be good too he supposed.
It was hard for him to reconcile his new life, but sometimes destiny forces you to do so.
"Ah, King, could you perhaps go out and get us some firewood? It is looking to be a rather cold few nights ahead and I do not think candles will serve us alone."
The young man sighed, taking an ax that he could barely lift better than the older man. Despite living in a medieval world King was still bent on living a comfortable lifestyle. He wouldn't spend his life tilling some field somewhere…but it would still mean he would have to do physical work every now and then in a world without indoor heaters or good insulation.
The forest's weren't as quiet as he thought they would be though. Nature was one of those things that was surprisingly unquiet. Crows cawed and bugs would chitter, not to mention a mosquito problem that made the tall blonde man thankful he was living up in the mountains where it wasn't much of a problem.
Sadly though, he had already cut down a lot of the thin trees over time, leaving only the thicker ones around the area. He wasn't exactly a strong guy so that's all he could really manage. It was time for him to give it a go trying to take down bigger ones. Finding what he thought to be the weakest looking one, he took a swing.
What he didn't know was that despite the tree's old look, it was a damn mighty oak that nearly repelled the ax from his hands the moment he struck it. The recoil alone from the blow made the handle shake in his fingers all the way down to his bones.
"Ung…this is gonna take all day…why can't anything work out, is it just my bad luck or-"
Before King could once again question his terrible luck, a sound rumbled through the air. A huff of a great beast that scared the young, scarred man as he turned to face what was making his heart thud inside of him.
It was a kodiak bear, larger than he had ever seen on any nature show. Upon seeing King it reared back, standing upon its hind legs to reach a height of just over ten feet tall, its massive shadow falling upon him as he felt paralyzed with fear.
He was only struck out of that fear when it roared down at him. Nearly pissing himself he pulled his hands back to try to throw the ax at the bear, only to end up missing to hit the tree far above and behind the bear before he started running for his dear life.
At the very least he was tall and that granted him long legs that gave him something of an edge, but it wouldn't be much against a bear. Even a kodiak could reach a speed of about 30 miles per hour, grossly overspeeding even the best of normal humans.
King did at least get a head start that allowed him to seemingly escape through a winding path of trees. He thought that it might be possible to break sight from the bear and possibly get out of the forest, but realized that it would be impossible for one simple reason.
The King's Engine, the tool that had once helped him avoid fights for the fear it would drive into his would-be enemies…was nothing more than a dinner bell for the bear, as it could hear it easily throughout the forest. Even now he could still hear the bear tearing through the bushes to find him.
It got even worse though. In turning back to look as he ran he only ended up slamming directly into a tree while distracted, worse yet when he grabbed his head in pain and stepped back he saw it was the very tree he had thrown the ax into.
"Oh come on!" He shouted as the bear finally burst out of the trees, finally coming upon him.
King could only lay down and curl up into a ball. His heart felt as if it would explode in his chest. The ground was shaking with every thump of the big furry beast moving closer to him. There was no way to fight, no way to outrun it.
The life of the so-called world's strongest man would, ironically, end in another world thanks to nothing but a bear.
Well, it might have, if not for something that King realized.
In the last few moments before the bear was right upon him, he put his ear to the ground…and figured out that the ground shaking had not been because of the animal stalking him.
Suddenly, the ground under the beast shattered. The bear lost its foot, falling back as a large, metal hammer burst forth from the ground, making King suddenly crawl back into a tree as he watched a figure emerge from the hole in the ground.
It was some kind of girl…dressed in strange, white and red garb with brown hair. She held up a ridiculously sized hammer that she wielded without any sort of resistance at all despite its seemingly obvious weight. She seemed to be looking around quickly while wiping some dirt off her shoulders.
"Dang, this should have been the inside of the mountain…oh, sorry, I scare you big guy?"
King's surprise at her wore off as he saw the bear get back up, standing again to show its incredible size as the young, scared human pointed up at the beast with tears of incredible stress in his eyes. He wanted to tell her to run away but couldn't find his voice out of pure fear.
The young girl turns, looking upon the bear behind her. "Oh no…now you don't look like one of those cute and cuddly bears do you?"
A claw was the creature's reply as it swiped down at the small girl's head, but King watched as the little one moved out of the way of the blow only to then jump up into the air with that great hammer of her's.
"Too bad you aren't cute!" In one strike, she comes down and brings her hammer right down against the bear's head. The blow is so strong and forceful it knocks the bear right down against the ground and shatters the earth under it, creating cracks that reach all the way under King's legs as the girl lifts the hammer back up over her shoulders like it was nothing. "I could never hit a cute and cuddly bear."
In his two months, King had heard stories of magic and other things…but there had been nothing of note around the village to really see any of that sort of thing, but this had been different…he had now seen a young girl wielding a giant hammer like it was nothing. That was the sort of stuff that was Isekai gold.
"I…you…" He was trying his best to stop his heart for the moment so he could speak, but it seems the girl didn't really care much for him, the bear or the situation.
"Sorry but I have to go, I have a mountain to mine!" She states before slams the hammer back down and digs a hole miraculously faster, leaving the dirt behind her to collapse and leaving nothing to prove she was ever there, well…except the dead bear.
However, fate was not going to leave it at just that. Her exit had hit a root of the tree King had been hiding against, dislodging the ax from the top and letting it bounce off a branch…only to come down right upon the bear's skull to embed the ax blade deep in and splatter the young man in blood.
Just then he felt it, an utterly familiar feeling. The blood, the terrible elation of the battle being over…the only thing that needed to come next was-
"Oh god…did you kill that thing?"
Suddenly and without warning, a dozen of the villagers had run up his way through the forest, saying they were drawn by the massive earth shaking blows they had heard only to see King, splattered with blood while the corpse of a great bear had seemingly fallen before him with a woodcutting ax they had seen him chop wood with before.
Before he could protest they hefted him up upon their shoulders. They spoke about how that bear had been such a problem that the village had even named it. Bazuso the man-slayer, finally brought down by the new hero of the village.
King was so sad he could cry. No matter where he went…his luck followed.
All hail the conquering hero.