Hello and welcome to my new fanfic of the Rune Factory franchise! I got heavily inspired after the reveal trailers of "Guardians of Azuma" dropped on YouTube days ago. I really wanted to write this part of my story in preparation for the game after I watched the stunning trailer. Go and watch it if you somehow missed it.

This is going to be an isekai/reincarnation type of story but with a twist. If you keep reading this prologue, you'll see what I entail.

Disclaimer: I do not own any Rune Factory characters! I only own my original characters!

Prologue: Reincarnation

If somebody asked you what your favorite video game was, what would you say? For me, it was definitely the Rune Factory series. I have played them ever since I randomly found a copy of the very first game in a discount pile in my local game store. Its unusual cover caught my attention, so I thought I could give it a try.

And I have never regretted picking it up. It had everything I wanted in a video game; fantasy, farming, monsters, story and even romance. The only downside was you could only play as a boy for the first four games before they added a female protagonist in Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny or Oceans in Europe, but that feature was only unlocked in post-game. After that success, Marvelous decided to include an option to choose a gender at the beginning of each new save file in the next games except for the remastered version of Rune Factory 3.

I was so eager to marry every available character both as a boy and girl because each new bachelor and bachelorette was so lovely with different characteristic traits. Of course, I always had a favorite from each gender that I married first before I created new save files so I could marry the rest.

The downside was I had to play through the game twice, one as a girl and the other as a boy, so I could officially say I got every available spouse.

So my wish came true when Rune Factory 5 was released and you could have same-gender marriage without having to play through the game again. They kept that feature in their latest game, Guardians of Azuma. I fell in love with almost every sixteen romantic interests including both protagonists who were finally featured together in the same game like Oceans.

If I were living as a character in that game, I would have an extremely difficult time choosing who I want to marry. Everyone had such gorgeous designs and amusing personalities.

I played for hours as soon as the game dropped on Steam. I have to say, it was the best Rune Factory game by far. I loved the eastern theme inspired characters and designs across the game ranging from monsters and festivals. And it was extra fun because I could build villages however I wanted. I could come up with a design for each seasoned village of my own and give different roles for each NPC.

I was playing late at night with dark bags hanging under my eyes as I was determined to complete the game by marrying the last romantic partner. This time, I saved my favorites from both gender to marry for the last as the female protagonist Kaguya. My vision became hazy as the wedding scene began rolling. My brain warned me if I didn't rest now, there would be harsh consequences.

As a gamer, I ignored the warning signs, but as a human, I knew I should have listened. I fought against the drowsy fog that swept through my head as the marriage scene kept going. Dark spots appeared in my vision and the last thing I saw was the keyboard on my desk, my controller slipping out of my hands and clattered to the floor.

That was how I passed away in my early thirties before I awoke in a new body, reincarnated in a new world with intact memories from my previous life. I couldn't believe it at first until I thanked the gods for giving me another chance to live out my deepest wishes after I realized I was reborn in the world of Guardians of Azuma.

The happiness didn't last for long, though. When I checked myself in a reflection to see who I had reincarnated into, a plain face blinked back. Dread filled my heart as I figured I wasn't reborn as one of the main characters. I had become an NPC whose role was to tend to a business assigned by the player!

Hope was lost for a mere moment before I snapped myself out of my depression. I shouldn't be feeling sorry to myself simply because I wasn't in the body of an important character. I was alive so I should make the best of it.

And maybe, just maybe, I could interact with my favorite characters and see if we could build a friendship which hopefully could develop into a romantic relationship.

But many questions remained; how was I even able to be reborn? Which god took pity on me and gave me a second chance to live after I burned my life away so young? Could I find my answers as a side character?

This is the tale of my new life as a non-player character and how I aided the amnesiac protagonist Subaru the Earth Dancer and his allies to revitalize the abundant land of Azuma after the Celestial Collapse.

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How did you like the prologue? Do you find it intriguing that my original character is going to have the role of an NPC? What kind of influence will she have in the story? Will she follow her pre-programmed role or will she write and follow her own role?

As you know, Guardians of Azuma is not yet released as I post this, so more chapters will come in due time once the game is out in late May of this year. I will also be streaming the game on my Twitch channel on release date, so write it down in your calendar.