[A/N: Please remember that this is all fiction, anything that resembles events, groups or people in the real world are all coincidental and not on purpose.]
**********************
I pinched my cheeks one more time for good measure.
"Ouch! So this really isn't a dream...."
I moved further back in the alley way and sat down in the ground near a nearby wall of a house.
"This really is "Breezing through the academy"."
But how did I even get here? I read a lot of isekai stories but they usually start by their protagonists being hit by a truck, but since I don't go outside that probably isn't the case unless a truck fell into my apartment in the 3rd floor.
Maybe I was summoned? But I didn't see anyone that summoned me in that alley, and I don't see any gods that gave me some sort of task to save the world, so that's not it either.
Maybe my soul transmigrated into a character from my novel? But I don't remember writing anyone that wore a potato sack.
Is there a mirror around?
I looked around me and luckily saw one of the houses has a window.
I take a look at a my reflection...
I see a decently handsome young man with black colored hair covering my amber colored eyes.
My body looks much more healthier and fit compared to my original one.
"I don't think I ever wrote any character that has this appearance, I look more like an above average looking background character if anything."
So It looks like I transmigrated into my own novel as a background character.
Now that I think about it, most isekai protagonists have some sort of a stat screen that shows the main character's level and skills. So maybe I also have one?
But how do I exactly see it...
I reach my hand out in the air
"Status!"
...
Thank god no one saw that...
It looks like I can't access it, maybe it's because I'm a background character.
The main character in "Breezing trough the academy" does have a stat screen he uses to level up and get new skills.
But it only applied to the main character.
"That older guy mentioned something about the chaos invasion ended 10 years ago. That's around the same time my novel also started."
Breezing through the academy was a fantasy harem romance slice of life that took place in the academy known as The Spire.
It was a standard over powered MC in a fantasy world with a harem of girls interested in him.
It stayed that way from their first years to the second years of character's time at the academy.
Until at the middle of their third years when sea monsters from the Ocean rise from the depths and hit the world like a tsunami, the event that would be known as the Abyssal Tide.
The story that was all light hearted with occasional drama, the story's plot suddenly took a 180 and became much darker and tragic. With characters dying and fighting all the time.
If it was 10 years after the Age of Chaos... then the main story should be in its first year arc.
And if this really is my novel then in 3 years the world will face a similar catastrophe as the chaos invasion.
But this time the world's global super power, the Barkkeon Empire, lost most of its powerful technology and weapons, and not to mention their greatest weapon the dragons are now bordering in extinction because of the Chaos Invasion.
The Abyssal Tide was a catastrophe that destroyed most of the world. All the villages and cities that were located near the coast we're destroyed by sea monsters.
Hell, the entire country of the Jin Dynasty was completely overrun by sea monsters.
Everyone else that was farther away from the coast had to deal with an endless onslaught of sea monsters coming up to shore to destroy everything they see.
And worst of all...
I haven't finished writing my novel. I was in the middle of the arc and I haven't even thought about how to stop the sea creatures.
So even I, the author, have no clue how to completely stop them. So they might as well be an unstoppable.
Doesn't this mean I and everyone else in this world only have 3 years left to live?!
Even if I decided to hide in a remote location in the mountains and start a farm, I will just be delaying the inevitable until the sea monsters arrive!
W-w-what should I do?! Should I run away?! Run where?! Every single country got hit since the Ocean surrounds the continent! There's no where safe to run to!
Maybe I can use my knowledge and get one of the lost weapons to fight back? No, even if I somehow got all 5 of them, one person can't completely hold back all the sea monsters that will be unleashed! Much less if that person has no fighting experience!
Maybe become a government official? Absolutely not! I'll have to do stuff like run for office and navigate my way trough politics, I don't have the charisma for something like that! Also all the governments in this world are being run by the royalty and nobility. So I can't even join it since I'm just a random hobo!
Maybe I can make tools and weapons? But if I do, how exactly do I present my inventions. An introvert like me with zero social skills will 100% won't be able to say a word when I show my invention to the King. In fact if I make something like a railgun I would probably accidentally shoot the king with it and be sent to be burned at the stake!
Am I really this screwed?! Is it already checkmate for me even though I haven't made a single move yet?!!!
My hands grab my head as I analyzed my entire situation. That's when I noticed something metallic rubbing my skull.
?
I look at my hands, and on the middle finger of my left hand is a golden ring with a shiny purple gem attached to it that reveals a marvelous glow.
What's this ring-
BANG
"Hyah?!"
My thoughts were interrupted as I hear a bang from one of the houses in the alley
I see one of the doors in the alley suddenly swing open and a person wearing a brown cloak comes out in a rush, leaning against the wall and suddenly collapsing to the ground.
"Huh? H-hey are you alright?"
I run over to the person and see blood staining their cloak.
I flip the cloak to see what's wrong.
The person under the cloak is a beautiful tall woman that looks to be around her mid to late twenties with bountiful breasts and long dark red hair.
Her eyes are shut tight as she breathes heavily while she clenches her teeth as if in pain.
A wide wound that reaches from her stomach to her thigh, it looks like she was slashed with a sharp weapon.
I almost threw up at the sight, but swallowed it back down.
I tried to reassure her
"D-d-dont-
!!"
Suddenly I hear the sound of metal clanking in the ground which made my body jump as I turned around.
Behind me are two armored knights, fully clad in metal armor with swords in hand approaching me.
"You there! step away from that freak of nature."
As they approached me one of the knights pointed his sword at my neck.
My body shakes as I held my breathe as the sword is just hair's width away from cutting down my neck.
"You know this freak?"
The knight gestures his head towards the woman behind me.
I nervously shake my head.
"Heh, then let me give you give some advice.
Stay away from these mages and if you ever see one, report it immediately.
You can't miss 'em, they're all a bunch weirdoes that do nothing but kill everyone around 'em."
The Valkyria Kingdom is currently doing a magic hunt, where they hunt down and kill every mage they could find, mage is the broad definition of someone that uses magic.
Made by their very own king after a plot that involved several mages to poison him, but instead poisoned his daughter and wife, killing them.
After this attempt, King Erik ordered the execution of every single mage in Valkyria.
Even creating an elite squad to specifically to hunt down mages called Otherhunters.
So the woman behind me is one of those mage, that got caught...
"Oi! if you got what I said then scram!"
I'm not involved with her...
I don't even know her...
So no one will blame me for running away from this situation, especially since I don't have the power to fight back.
"You became deaf or something? I said scram!"
...
I get up from the ground and start running to the end of the alley.
**********************
A Certain Mage's Perspective
I messed up...
To think I managed to fall for their trap.
It wasn't long ago when that merchant I knew came begging for my help to save his daughter.
Since I didn't sense any lies from his words, and I also owed him a debt after all the materials he sold me at an extensive discount. I saw no reason not to help him.
But the hunters used the man as bait without him knowing to lure me in the middle of the city, where they have eyes everywhere and a place I'm more unfamiliar with.
They planned to trap me inside a building then release some sort of paralyzing poison on me, then have several knights finish me off while I was down, if it wasn't for the fact that I managed to detect the powder it at the last second I would have already been dead.
I managed to escape the building they tried to trap me in but one of the knights managed to wound me badly. Much worse I couldn't fully escape the poison they released and breathed some of it in.
It's a miracle I managed to run this far, but now the poison finally took its effects and now I can't move my body. The most I can do is use my magic to somewhat stop the blood loss, but the pain is still immense.
A young man approached me in this state seemingly concerned, but the hunters arrived and threatened him and he seemed to have ran off.
It not like he could have done anything...
A sharp pain was inflicted on my head as one of the hunters pulled me by the hair.
"You ran long enough witch, your head will become a good symbol to what will happen to the rest of your kind."
Its over...
So this is how I die? In the hands of some hunter in a random alley. If I knew it would come to this maybe I would have done somethings differently...
As far back as I can remember I usually spent most of my time in my cabin in the forest, researching and experimenting on magic, isolated from the rest of society. Even during the Age of Chaos, I only erected a barrier for myself and my cabin so I can continue my research. The only thing I contributed at that time was train a single apprentice.
But my extensive knowledge with magic and the arcane granted me the title "Witch of the Woods". I was not particularly proud about that title, After such a long time I forgot the reason why I spent most of my days researching magic in my cabin. I could no longer remember the last time I felt accomplished after making a breakthrough in my research.
The hunter's aims his sword at my neck.
If there was a second chance for me...
...I think I would take a break from researching for a while.
"...ief"
"?"
?
"Thief! Stop that thief!!!"
Both the hunter and I looked at the source of the sound.
The young man who ran off earlier is running over here in full speed with a sack of flour in hand being chased by an older man.
"Ah!"
I see the young man trip on the ground letting go of the sack of flour and causing it to explode into a smoke of white. The flour dust hits my eyes causing me to close them involuntarily.
I was suddenly dropped to the ground with an audible thud as the hunters start coughing, it seems I was not the only one hit by the flour.
*Cough* *Cough* "Wh-what the hell?!"
I feel myself suddenly being carried and wind starts hitting my cheek, blowing away the flour dust in my eyes.
As I open my eyes I see the young man carrying me on his back, sprinting through the alleys.
Why? Why did he save me? Does he know me? Does he or his family owe me a debt?
I can't recall every person I have met before- Khh...
The stinging pain from my wound causes my train of thought to stop, as I continue to lessen the blood loss with magic.
No good... my consciousness is slipping... I need to focus keeping my magic active even when I'm unconscious...
I feel my eyelids getting heavier.
Young man... please... help me...
**********************
That didn't go completely according to plan... But I still managed to pull through.
In truth, me slipping was not part of my plan, I only wanted to throw the flour at the knight's face, snatch the woman, then run wild through the alleys while they were distracted. But regardless, it still ended up the way I wanted it to.
Thankfully my body is much more athletic than used to be that I don't have too much problems carrying a fully grown woman behind my back while running.
This is pretty embarrassing and I might be arrested for charges of sexual harassment since I can feel her breast laid on my back... But right now this is an emergency!
Now I have to find some place to hide or better yet, some way to get out of this city and maybe an arcanist since normal doctors would probably not help a witch in this country in fear for their and their families lives. Aiding or sheltering mages in anyway is considered a major offense in this country and will get you killed or tortured if the hunters think that your hiding something from them.
As I continue running around, I eventually see the end of the alleyway and beyond that I see the city gates, fully opened as several carriages and wagons pass through it.
There! Now I just need t-
*THUD*
A loud sound came from behind me, and a dark shadow looms over me.
"What do we have here..."
I slowly turn my head back, shaking in fear, holding my breathe.
"A runaway quarry..."
A man that's at least 7 foot tall wearing a black raincoat that covers his face and body. A massive crossbow that's a foot taller than the man, with a bolt that is just as large is hung behind him.
"...And a lowly peasant, that's trying to take our game away"
An Otherhunter.