Monster Girl Quest, a pornographic game renowned among Monster Girl fans.
Anyone who liked that sort of stuff would eventually come in contact with the franchise, whether it was through memes, references, the web forums, the hentai animation, or the game itself.
But people who came into the game thinking they would deal with a quick fap and go, they would find themselves sorely mistaken…
…As despite it clearly being a game filled with porn, femdom elements and monster girls, it also held a dramatic story that managed to captivate a sizable fandom.
It featured Luka, a young and innocent hero with characteristic purple hair who set out on a journey across the world to bring coexistence between humans and monster girls, both of whom were currently conflicting with each other for a multitude of reasons: whether natural, cultural, or historical.
From there, he would come to meet with Alice, a mysterious snake monster girl who came out of nowhere and decided to entertain herself by following Luka in his adventures, to watch him fail his quest for coexistence out of spite and humor.
And thus, the two of them departed together, starting as nothing more than frenemies and developing a relationship as they progressed further.
Through their journey, they would encounter many friends and foes alike, some of whom helped them, fought them, tricked them, or redeemed themselves afterward as the stakes got higher.
Of course, since the original theme of the game was monster girls and reverse rape, there was also a lot of femdom porn involved in said battles as the enemies would always try to rape Luka while Alice watched from a hidden spot, almost never helping the boy…
…The game's title was "Monster Girl Quest: Lose and Get Raped!", after all.
However, between the fights and sexual assaults, the protagonist also had to face the true meaning of his journey, what it meant to be a real Hero, get to know Alice deeper and discover her own story, and even look further into his own childhood and the secrets of his deceased parents.
It then reached its climax with a long battle against the Goddess that guided Luka through his adventure from the very beginning, the same Goddess that refused to acknowledge his dream for coexistence because of her hatred toward monster girls.
She was powerful, so powerful that Luka and Alice couldn't possibly defeat her by themselves, but with the help of the many allies they met and befriended across the story, they managed to clutch the victory by a landslide and save the world.
And after that, the human hero and the monster girl got married, bringing upon a happy ending to their journey together…
…At least such was the case until the game's sequel, Monster Girl Quest: Paradox, emerged a few years later and rebuked everything that happened in the first game.
But, ultimately… This was just a game.
Originally being a mere visual novel, there were many scripted battles that twisted the odds in the player's favor when the situation got way too dire; being also a porn game, most of the skills utilized by enemies included raping or tempting Luka with their various… charms, regardless of the logic or laws of physics utilized when using said skills.
And that was to not mention the many hints spread across the battles, whether visible through differences between newer and older images appearing in the moment or unusual dialogues and actions that the enemy took in specific turns, which helped the player achieve victory against each powerful foe in the story.
In the end, any average person would be able to successfully reach the happy ending without much of an issue, as long as they paid a minimum of attention to the dialogue and the rest of the screen.
But was it so easy for the characters in the game itself? Was it truly just a matter of having a keen eye and properly allocating resources at each turn during battles?
If the story of Monster Girl Quest were to be unshackled by its gameplay rules and destined narrative, even if all the correct decisions and strategies available were to be exploited…
…If instead of a game, it was a whole different world, would the story progress the same way as we knew it?
Fortunately, I, Matthias Nicolai, did have a clear and concise answer to that big question.
Unfortunately… Well, let's just say that I could have lived the rest of my life without having to know that, considering how the answer came to me.
Although…
…
…No, never mind, let's just proceed with the answer to the big question, or rather, the tale!
Yes, that's right! I won't end this conversation with a simple reply after raising your expectations so much. Not! At! All!
Besides, you're here to get entertained, not just to hear questions and replies, aren't you? Rather than just verbally answer the question, I'll showcase it to you!
I'll show you how powerful the deceptively lewd monster girls of this world actually are!
I'll show you how much blood and violence is truly shed behind the facade of harmless but hostile sexual assault!
And… I'll show you how hellish my life has turned out trying to keep everything together and reach a true "happy ending", regardless of the obstacles and troublesome circumstances showing up across my way.
Because let me tell you, it wasn't easy.
In fact, I didn't even have time to prepare for the avalanche of problems that was my first day. I wasn't summoned there like some otherworldly hero in a manga, and there was no warning from my side that such a thing would happen either.
It just happened suddenly, before I could even acknowledge what was going on.
Like…
…This—
————————————————————————
"—Fuck!"
*CREAK!*
"Argh!"
*THUMP!* *THUMP!*
Two distinct screams echoed inside a particular house in the countryside, followed by loud noises of a creaking bed and then two heavy thuds as the owners of said screams both fell to the ground.
Matthias Nicolai was among the two, swearing and groaning on the floor as the impact left him in pain, despite wearing a large winter jacket that absorbed some of the force.
Confused and aching at the sudden fall, the young man tried to get up from the ground, only to be welcomed by a sight that left him even more bewildered than before.
Wooden unpainted walls, red curtains that barely stopped the light of the sun from fully brightening the room, warm temperature in the atmosphere… There was absolutely nothing in the surroundings that was remotely familiar in his sight, whether they were pieces of furniture or even the perceived climate outside.
After all, it was supposed to be winter at this time, and he should be at home right now, just about to leave for work in the early morning while the sun still hadn't risen.
Before he could even attempt to make sense of what was going on, however, his eyes met with the other occupant of the room who just screamed alongside him, and for a moment, he could barely believe what he was seeing.
A kid with… purple hair?
While Matthias was wondering what sort of past the boy had for being forced into dyeing his hair with such a ludicrous color, the kid frowned in his direction and asked:
「え, お前は何者だ!?」
The young man blinked in surprise, caught off guard by the foreign words entering his ears.
That wasn't English.
It sounded more like Japanese, perhaps?
Unfortunately, he was not knowledgeable enough in foreign languages to make an educated guess; needless to say, he didn't understand the meaning of those words either.
Hopefully, though, the boy might know English instead.
"...Do you speak English?" He made sure to express himself slowly and clearly so that even beginners in the language could understand him.
However, the purple-haired boy merely looked at him with a weird face as he replied with his foreign language once again, which — of course — went into one ear and left from the other.
It didn't seem like either of them could understand each other…
'…Great.'
An annoyed sigh left Matthias' mouth as he brought his attention back to the room, knowing that he wouldn't get anything out of the boy even if he wanted to, and attempted to understand what his current situation was.
Meanwhile — as soon as he showed signs of distraction — the boy started to talk louder, clearly not having already noticed the presence of the language barrier separating the two of them.
However, the man was already deep into his thoughts, reminiscing about the past minute and hoping that he would find some answer out of it.
Before all of this happened, he was still at home, although he was about to leave the place after just getting dressed for work.
Not only was the outside still dark at that time of the day, but it was also pouring heavily; the horribly cold temperature outside didn't help either.
Forced under those conditions, Matthias had to wear multiple layers of heavy clothes under his thick winter jacket to keep himself just a bit warm. He also had to carry a big umbrella along with his satchel filled with both his personal items and tools for his job, to not get wet from the rain.
But it wasn't really a problem for him at that point, he had already gotten used to the harsh weather popping out in those days after all.
However, as he walked through the main hall of his house to reach for the exit, right in the middle of the path—
*—Snap!* Everything changed, just like that.
In a blink of an eye, he went from walking across a hallway to going airborne inside a stranger's room, before landing on the bed with the boy already on top of it, and with the momentum then pushing both of them straight down to the ground.
It was as if… he got teleported?
…No, there was no "if" or "but", he definitely got teleported. As strange as it sounded, there was no other way to explain it.
But where? Where did he exactly end up?
The boy most likely had the answer to that question, unless he was also a victim like Matthias, but whether that was the case or not, there remained the fact that he couldn't ask any question related to it anyway.
Although—
「—おい!」
"Huh?" Hearing an exceptionally loud exclamation, Matthias couldn't help but turn his gaze back on the boy as he got pulled out of his thoughts again. But his eyes quickly widened in horror as he saw a blade approaching his face.
"Shit!" Matthias screeched in terror as he immediately backed away, and it was only by then that he noticed that the blade was being held by—
'—WHERE THE FUCK DID THIS BRAT FIND AN ACTUAL SWORD?!' His face twisted into panic and anger as his entire attention now fell on the sword-wielding boy who was staring back with a provoked expression.
"What the fuck are you doing, you brat!" Matthias knew it, he knew it was useless shouting at the kid, considering neither of them could understand each other, but what else was he supposed to do?!
The brat was pointing a genuine sword against him!
Fortunately, he wasn't insane enough to actively assault him, seeing that the boy wasn't moving an inch forward and instead kept his guard on.
It was as if Matthias' mere presence was threatening to him.
"...Hmm?"
Wait, yes! If this brat lived here, how could he not be afraid of a stranger that appeared out of nowhere and landed on him?
That must be the case… Maybe, backing off would calm the brat down.
With that idea in mind, Matthias raised his hands in a non-threatening way as he did just that, while also making sure to hold tight on his umbrella just in case things went south.
Even though they didn't speak the same language, body language and voice tone should be a whole different matter, right?
"Calm down," Matthias spoke while matching his hand gestures with the words coming out of his mouth.
"Calm. Down." He repeated with a firm tone, hoping that the meaning of his words would get through the kid's brain, as impractical as this idea may seem.
In return, however, the boy continued to speak in his own language, apparently still not having realized the futility of it… Or maybe he was just like Matthias? With no other way to communicate and hoping to get his point across?
Then, it would be better to just leave.
If Matthias did that, there would be no reason for the boy to point a sword at him unless he had an actual grudge against him, and maybe the man could then find people who could actually speak English and willing to help him.
If his memories of the room were correct, according to how the place looked while the young man was still looking around, there was supposed to be a hall right behind him. That must be an exit to this bedroom, considering it was the only hole in this room he could realistically go through, beyond the window.
Having shaped a mental map in his head, Matthias began backing off as he kept facing the boy, reaching for said exit.
But then, something happened.
It started with a single shout, although it was a shout that neither Matthias nor the boy released. Actually, it came from the outside.
The shout also carried a foreign language along with some distinguishably wild panic, which was why Matthias completely ignored those noises. It wasn't like it had anything to do with him, after all.
At least, that was supposed to be the case before he noticed that the boy actually perked up at the sudden commotion.
More screams came from outside, and while Matthias had difficulty understanding the reason for it all, it seemed like the content of those shouts revealed something rather surprising as the boy was left dumbstruck in reaction to it.
In fact, it was so surprising that the boy shifted his attention from Matthias to the only window in this room, and reached for it immediately.
And upon opening the window widely…
「アッー!」
Screams, chaos, panic, fear… Matthias didn't need to understand any new language to comprehend what was going on. Wherever this place was, the inhabitants inside were going ballistic in sheer terror.
On one hand, he was curious to see what brought upon this mess; on the other hand, the only window from which it was possible to see was currently occupied by the sword-wielding brat…
…Wait, what was he even thinking about?! He still had to get out of here!
And he even got the golden opportunity for it!
*Fwoosh!*
Just like that, while the boy was distracted by the commotion outside the window, Matthias immediately made a run for it and went out of the bedroom. He didn't even bother being silent, knowing that he didn't have time to waste around either.
Of course, that would also alert the boy of his escapade, as shown by how the kid promptly turned around as soon as he heard Matthias' heavy footsteps echo in the room.
In reaction to that, the boy shouted incoherently with a mixture of panic and irritation before he surprisingly also rushed out of the room to chase after the young man, for some reason. But by the time he left the room, the boy saw the escapist hastily climbing down a flight of stairs that was right outside the exit, connecting with a lower floor.
The young man was already beyond the halfway point of the staircase and would reach the lower floor in a matter of seconds. It didn't help that the boy had much shorter legs compared to Matthias due to their massive size difference.
In the end, there was just no way that a mere kid could catch up with Matthias, even by taking into consideration the young man's heavy clothes and less-than-ideal physical conditions…
…Or at least, such were Matthias' thoughts on the matter before he curiously glanced behind, just to see something that made his heart skip a beat in horror.
The brat jumped from the stairs—
*—CRASH!*
Bright stars flew around Matthias' vision, blinding him from the spinning world around him; sharp impacts seemingly pierced through his skin and muscles, causing pain all over his body. His sense of balance was thrown out of the window, and so was his control of the situation.
All he could do in response to all of this was keep himself in a fetal position, enduring the pain and holding back any noise while focusing all the damage on his limbs and back.
Fortunately, this awful moment lasted only for so long before the floating sensation was replaced by the cold, tough floor from downstairs on which he landed.
Unfortunately, his body was aching and bruised from the collisions he received on his descent from the staircase.
Yet, despite all that, Matthias was only focused on a single thing which was surprisingly neither the sensation of safety after the incident nor the pain spread across his body… It actually was the maniac that jumped on him without a second thought, or maybe even without any to begin with.
'That bastard…!'
That was it, this time he wasn't going to play nice, not without first repaying that brat for all this pain he brought onto him with this reckless stunt!
As soon as he was going to get up, and as soon as he was going to get his hands on that shit stain…!
"Urgh! Fuck…" A painful groan escaped from his mouth as he tried to push himself back up, only to be met with shocks of pain traveling through his body.
But he couldn't stay down for the entire time, not with the kid holding a dangerous weapon and capable of doing crazy things with it.
With that in mind, while ignoring the hurried footsteps of what he assumed was the brat trying to get away from him, Matthias tried to get up again with more determination this time, managing to muster enough strength to crawl up from the floor and get to his knees.
He gritted his teeth, feeling pain across his arms and legs, but he didn't let his agony go out of control as he held himself back from grunting. Instead, he channeled all that soreness into anger before he further pushed himself up to his feet.
Yet, with no real outlet for his accumulated anger and vengeance, Matthias began looking around for the kid who was the source of it all — while tightly holding onto his umbrella, ready to smack the brat with it as soon as he appeared on sight.
Unfortunately… he wasn't around?
His eyes narrowed as he observed his surroundings, looking for the kid. But instead, he only saw many tables and chairs set on the floor and a wooden counter at his side, as if it was some kind of… bar—No, more like a hotel if the numbered keys hanging behind the counter were to have any meaning.
"...Hmm?" A surprised hum escaped from his mouth as he found a certain thing lying on the floor, near his feet.
It was…
"The kid's sword," Matthias muttered, sluggishly picking the sword with one hand and lifting it.
It was a shortsword of surprisingly light weight that was made to fit the kid's small size, with a blade of dark-colored iron forged and sharpened roughly. Matthias was no blacksmith, but even he could see the poor craftsmanship that went into this weapon.
Of course, even if it supposedly were to be rusty or even broken under the slightest amount of stress, the edge was still present and capable of threatening lives, just like it did with his own a few minutes ago.
It could definitely carve out a wound out of a person's body…
…Anyway, it was in his hands now, so unless the kid had a gun hidden under his parents' bed or a phone ready to dial the police, he had no more reason to fear him anymore.
And speaking of which, it was better to find the kid so that he could avoid the latter scenario.
Matthias was already lost in a place where people spoke in foreign languages and with no knowledge of how ever he appeared here to begin with; he didn't want to add a criminal record to the list of his issues.
And thus, with a sword in one hand and an umbrella in the other, he walked a bit further until he reached the only separate hall connected to the dining room. As he looked into the hallway, he took notice of the numbered doors lying at the side that matched the number of the keys available behind.
Clearly, this was indeed a hotel. Although, considering the antiquity of the building, the term "Tavern" or "Inn" felt more appropriate.
Did the kid hide in one of those rooms? If he was still in this building, that was the only place he could be in, since he didn't hear any stair-climbing when he was still down.
But when Matthias began walking through the hallway, a strange metallic noise reached his ears, suppressing the panicking and unintelligible shouts from outside until they were the only thing that could be heard around.
*Rattle!* *Rattle!* So went the noise, resembling pans clashing against pans.
Setting his curious gaze to the closest window in sight, the young man immediately found the origin of those rattling sounds, and — for a moment — he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Soldiers.
No, Matthias wasn't referring to the Army or any militaristic organization of that kind. Right now, he was looking at bonafide knights of the ancient era, covered from head to toe in iron armor plates and wielding swords and spears.
And it was at that point that he wondered… Was this real?
Was what Matthias was beholding through the window real?
Was this actually a site for shooting a movie? Was he somehow sent to such a secluded town that they didn't even have their country's military to protect them? Did he get sent off to a different world or epoch of some kind?!
Where in the absolute FUCK was he?!
For the time being, Matthias pushed aside the existence of the reckless brat and put his umbrella against a wall to reach for his phone inside his satchel, which…
"...You've got to be kidding me." Matthias muttered with an annoyed tone as he noticed cracks spread over his phone's screen. Repairing it was going to cost him quite a bit…
…Well, at the very least, it still worked, seeing as it turned on without issues when he pressed the power button at its side.
Without missing a beat, Matthias went up to his GPS to find his whereabouts. However, the screen showcased only the local area around his home, which of course was not where he currently was.
His geopositioning was active, so he shouldn't have any problem finding his location under normal circumstances. But, even after minutes to the end, he still received no concrete answer, with nothing appearing on the screen other than a lack of connection…
…No, that wasn't the right term. He now understood where he was NOT.
GPS tracking worked on a different line compared to wi-fi and bluetooth. Even if Matthias was out of range for the latter two, satellites should still be able to pick up his phone when geopositioning was active, and at minimum send him his current position.
And considering that the entire world was supposedly being surrounded by satellites, enough to track any location visible on the surface of the Earth for as long as it wasn't in the open sea or under some dark tunnel…
…Well, as unbelievable as it was at first, his earlier thoughts may not be a joke anymore.
He might actually have gotten transported into a different world.
The language barrier, the weird hair color of the kid, the ancient-looking structure surrounding him, the sword in his possession, the armed knights outside the building, the lack of technology and mobile data that should be active across his entire home country, the unexplainable sudden warping that brought upon all those issues… It all made sense now.
And as Matthias came to full realization, an awkward smile seemingly carrying a lot of enthusiasm appeared on his visage.
Traveling to another world… That was a kind of experience that Matthias could only observe through the television and the internet.
Most shows and books that featured that trope told tales involving a person — from the familiar Earth — being transported through various means to the unfamiliar world where the story was set, which usually held a lot of differences from the previous world: technological or magical by nature.
That wasn't everything those stories contained, however. There was also a great deal of adventure, romance, or even action depending on the concept that the story was encapsulating.
Some popular concepts included heroes and demons, others were about warriors and dragons, and there were also gods, wars, magic… Rather than being just a trope, the genre of "Another World" — or "Isekai" as commonly defined in the internet — could be considered an entire setting itself with the amount of narrative potential it held.
And even though Matthias wasn't sure about how much his surroundings had changed compared to the world he was used to living in, the chances of him being mixed up in such epic tales as depicted in those kinds of shows was far from 0%.
But…
"This is bullshit…"
…No such exciting thought was actually running through Matthias' mind right now.
In fact, the smile he had on his face wasn't supposed to represent any sort of enthusiasm. It was manifested more due to an awkward fear, instead.
Matthias' grip on the kid's sword tightened to the point his left hand was trembling, while his right hand held onto his phone with a relatively lighter grip to avoid breaking it. At the same time, his throat tightened, his pupils shrank, and his breathing started to get ragged.
His heart palpitations felt unusually loud to his ears, while – in contrast – the commotion that was still happening outside was gradually turning into mere white noise. He was entering in a state of panic.
He was in another world…
He was in another world…!
He was in another world!!
Fuck, he was in another world!
What the fuck was he supposed to do now?!
*Step!* *Step!* *Step!* *Step!*
Heavy steps followed Matthias as he returned to the dining hall while fiddling with his phone. Even though he was a grown adult with a job and everything, he knew next to nothing about what to do under these circumstances, so he did the first thing that came to his mind and dialed up his family.
His parents should have some kind of answer or suggestion, at the very least, and even if they didn't, it wouldn't hurt talking with them about it…
With hope in his heart, Matthias sat on a random chair and expectantly looked at his phone as it tried to reach for his father's, the person he trusted the most in his entire life.
…
…
…
*Click!*
"I'm sorry, but the person you've called-"
"FUCK!" Not even bothering to keep his thoughts with himself, Matthias loudly cursed as soon as he heard the voicemail and shut down the call.
Of course, he couldn't reach his father. They were worlds apart!
The only one who could help him under these dire conditions was himself and him alone…
…But how?
What was he supposed to do about all of this?!
Matthias' feet repeatedly stomped on the floor out of sheer stress as he thought hard about his next actions.
'Should I… go outside and talk?'
'No… I don't even speak their language, I can't ask about shit with the people here.'
'But then what else can I do? If I can't even communicate with people, how can I learn anything?'
"Haah…" Realizing that he was starting to get too anxious for his liking, the young man inhaled and exhaled to let go of all the tension and stress accumulated in his body.
'No.' Matthias affirmed in his mind.
'No, no, no…'
As he mentally chanted that word over and over again, everything that was previously flying through Matthias' head gradually vanished until nothing was left inside.
'I shouldn't be so hasty, hastiness will only make things worse,' so ran his thoughts.
It was a common theme throughout Matthias' life that he was all too familiar with: he tried to do multiple things at once or move left and right too quickly, but instead of solving issues faster, he only created a mess that took even more time to fix.
He was used to this experience, and he was used to dealing with it too.
If he acted too hastily right now, he had no doubt at all that he would end up regretting whatever he might do very quickly in the future.
But still, what else was left to do under these circumstances if communication was out of the question?
He could try using… sign language, maybe? Drawings weren't outside of the possibilities either. In fact, it did sound like a more optimal option.
Sign language took time to fully learn, if it wasn't dependent on the spoken language, and he had to hope that the meaning behind his gestures would be understood either way by his listeners.
But drawings? Everyone understood drawings!
Although, ideally, he would need to find a chalkboard, or something like that that would allow him to just draw and wipe off pictures as he wanted…
'Maybe there's something here?'
"Ugh…" Matthias stiffly stood up from his chair as he felt his bruises pulsating after spending some time sitting down and relaxing, but he didn't let the pain cloud his mind now that he had something close to a goal forming in his mind.
However, in the blink of an eye, just like how he first appeared in this tavern — upstairs — everything changed again.
————————————————————————
At the very beginning, Matthias was where he was supposed to be all along: in his own home, surrounded by gray-painted hallway walls, and within the dark ambiance he was used to seeing every day.
Then, after his first warping, he appeared in this one old building, surrounded by wooden walls instead. It all appeared as if he traveled to the past.
But now… now there were no walls at all.
Instead, a bright light shone everywhere, making the view as clear as it could possibly be. But as for what the view that welcomed Matthias this time was…
'…Heaven?'
That was the first word that came out of Matthias' mind as he observed his new surroundings again, after recovering from the surprise this second unexpected teleportation brought upon.
Golden clouds flew far and wide across his vision, covering the sky above his head and the horizon that separated the marble-paved floor from the celestial firmament. Complete silence overcame the atmosphere, replacing the chaos represented by the villagers outside the tavern.
And, unlike before, a new person was standing in front of him.
Fitting the local setting, the person in question appeared to be an angel: a woman with white wings behind her back and golden locks covering her head, all while being dressed in a white silky dress that reached her knees.
She looked like a perfect representation of a biblical angel, the ones usually depicted in religious books or on colored glass in the churches, although she notably lacked a halo to match the rest of her appearance.
Notably, she also held a particularly stern expression as she gazed right into his very soul through his eyes, and kept her arms crossed right below her bountiful chest, as if she was trying to judge him — to assess him with the naked eye.
However, Matthias wasn't intimidated by such a thing. Far from it, in fact.
Although… it was for a rather strange and somewhat unbelievable reason.
There was something buried deep into his memories that was responding to this entire sequence of events. And with that, Matthias wasn't just referring to this place, but also everything strange that happened from the very start, from the time he first spawned in the tavern.
The purple-haired kid he met some minutes ago who also had a live blade available on hand, the reckless behavior of said kid, the chaos raised by the villagers and soldiers outside the tavern, and the apparition of this particular familiar-looking angel…
…He might just be tossing rocks in a lake with this guess, but wasn't this particular arrangement very similar to the starting plot of Monster Girl Quest?