Main Character

“No way…there’s no way I was this lucky.”

Aoi Yamada, a 17-year-old high school student from Japan, nearly burst out into tears of joys when he realised that he’d not only been reborn into another world, but as a main protagonist from his favourite franchise - The Making of Heroes.

Developed by the legendary RPG developers, Japan Eagle, the franchise was an ambitious epic fantasy series where all its entries occurred in a linked timeline. Characters from one game would reappear in others, protagonists would become side-characters in other main stories, and even the antagonists, the Silent Sect, appeared in all the entries.

Overseen by the same lead Game Director and Writer, A.D. Nois, the stories were well regarded, highly reviewed and had many fanatical fans, Aoi Yamada included.

“Days of Iron’s Protagonist - Reiss Sunderland.” Reiss began to chuckle quietly to himself. “Thank you, God!”

Well, I was sad that I died a virgin back on Earth, but this more than makes up for it!

Aoi Yamada had not been a popular person back in Japan, but he wasn’t hated or bullied. He was just a loner, largely by his own choice.

Instead, he lived in the virtual world.

Rather than worrying about entrance exams, making friends, trying to ask girls out, he preferred to pull out a game’s console during lunchtime or in his bedroom and just game. His favourite games were all from The Making of Heroes series, though Days of Iron weren’t his favourite ones.

He cited a part of that reason to the difficult development cycle the game had, and the rather public scandal that nearly sunk the game before its release.

The lead artist and former founder of the company, DaGR, quit in quite a public rage.

A famous photograph had circled of four executives, A.D. Nois and of DaGR. A.D. Nois had handed DaGR some roses and gifts as a parting gift, and DaGR threw them angrily at everyone else.

DaGR looked angrier than I’d ever seen anyone. A.D. Nois was praised for keeping her cool during an intense situation, but the executives had pressed charges on DaGR, ruining his life.

…Some people boycotted them, until the scandal was half-buried and half-forgotten and loads of new fans discovered MoH through the Days of Iron games.

But that doesn’t matter now!

In terms of who it’s best to be reborn as, I won the lottery! As much as I love Andrew Webber Cunnings, he goes through a lot of bad things in the Infinity Games so I’m glad I’m Reiss instead!

Reiss checked his new body several times in the mirror, but he couldn’t tell how old he was.

I don’t have the red tinge in my eyes or the small white streak yet, so I haven’t gone through the event in the woods.

In the Days of Iron games, Reiss Sunderland was the adopted son of Count and Countess Sunderland who had a blood child, Reiss’s non-blood related little sister, Elana Sunderland. One day, the two children were playing in the woods behind the house when a monster broke through the barrier and nearly killed them.

Reiss saves their lives by awakening to the dark magic lingering in his chest, but the event changes his appearance, and he becomes scared that he’ll hurt Elana. He starts to avoid her, and their relationship begins to deteriorate, though Elana still deeply loves Reiss, perhaps a bit too much.

“A bro-con who may or may not have romantic feelings for their adopted sibling.” Reiss sighed a little. “What am I meant to do with that? Actually.” Reiss stared at himself again. “What day is-?”

“Nii-sama, let’s play!”

After seeing the iconic big fluffy white coat his sister was wearing, Reiss knew.

It’s the day Reiss awakens.

Yelanvan, the town the Sunderlands ruled, was a remote place at the far north of the kingdom built between snowy mountain peaks and it was famous for its natural hot springs.

In the Days of Iron games, there wasn’t ever a chance to interact or explore the town properly, so Reiss was excited to get the chance to later.

Assuming I’m still alive after today.

In the game, Reiss awoke because the story enabled him to - but Reiss wasn’t Reiss, he was Aoi Yamada.

If he couldn’t awaken to the dark magic inside him, he’d die.

I just died back in Japan when a bus ran me over - I can’t die again so soon!

I want to die of old age surrounded by beautiful women, not alone in the woods!

Unless I wasn’t alone and surrounded by beautiful women!

“…Was I really this sort of person before?”

“Nii-sama?”

“It’s nothing.” He gripped Elana’s hand more tightly as they went into the woods. “Come on, let’s go build a snowman.”

“Yay!”

They did, just like in the game.

The monster appeared, just like in the game.

Reiss awoke without Aoi having to do anything, just like in the game.

The dark magic inside him took control of him and taught him how to use it.

The beast was torn to shreds and Elana was crying her eyes out, staring at her older brother covered in the monster’s blood.

In the game, Reiss is overcome with disgust and fear and runs deeper into the woods.

But I’m not him.

Reiss smiled reassuringly at Elana and went to hug her but stopped when he saw the blood on him.

“…I’m sorry for scaring you, but-”

Elana hugged him instead, as tightly as she could.

“Nii-sama, I was…so…scared!”

Reiss relaxed and hugged her back. “So was I. I’m just glad you weren’t hurt.”

Elana kept crying and crying until the search party later that day found them.

After that, Reiss explained to his parents what had happened, another detail that the original Reiss Sunderland didn’t, and he asked for their help to get guidance on how to control these powers.

In the game, Reiss discovers his aunt is the Silent Sister, leader of the main antagonists, the Silent Sect. The reason he has this dark magic is because his birth mother was a practising dark mage who wanted to find more ways of saving people’s lives, but she ended up being hunted by the Church and burnt at the stake as a witch.

“That was then what helped the Silent Sister break away from the Church and make the Silent Sect.” Reiss sheathed his katana after his daily five hundred swings and wiped his sweat off with his towel. “I don’t know if mum and dad will be able to find someone who can teach me dark magic, but it’d help prevent what happens to Reiss in the later bits of the story.”

Not that I have to worry about that right now.

Reiss was 8 years old when the monster attack happened.

He was now 11 and he had, unlike the original Reiss, intensified his training and studying.

In the game, after the monster attack, Reiss becomes too scared of hurting other people, so he stops training with his katana and only does the bare minimum to remember what he had been taught by his wandering sword master.

Aoi had played through all the games multiple times, but he wasn’t sure if the original scenario was proceeding as it was meant to.

Weren’t the Silent Sect have meant to have done stuff by now?

Tartarus wasn’t destroyed in the games…I think?

No, surely if it had been, I’d have remembered. Yeah, that must be different to what happened in the games. Does that mean someone else has been reborn into this world too?

“If they have, does that mean they’re on my side?”

In the game, members of the Silent Sect were locked inside Tartarus, and they would escape. Kara, one of the Days of Iron heroines, would suffer when that happens. Her father would be crippled and the rest of her family wounded in a vicious attack.

If they escaped early, then that event could trigger much, much earlier. As bad as it sounds, I hope they drowned when that place was destroyed.

Reiss continued to train and study hard until the start of the Days of Iron main story, the entrance ceremony at the Imperial Royal Academy, while also trying to keep up to date with world events and anything that was different from the original story.

Mardun Industries and Harken Tech were still the leading tech companies in the world.

The Special Economic State of Jerthe was thriving.

The reports from the wreckage of Tartarus reported no survivors and that all the dangerous criminals inside drowned.

There was a serial murderer, the Pale Corpse Killer, who definitely did not exist in the original timeline.

As the years passed, Aoi’s memories of the original game began to fade.

He’d written down what he remembered the day after the monster attack, just like any sensible reborn person would if they found themselves reborn into a story they’d read in their past life, but it wasn’t as helpful as he remembered.

I wish I had a photographic memory and knew all the dialogue off by heart.

That said, I’m so happy I’m no longer dyslexic! I’m glad that didn’t carry over to this life!

“That would have been nice.”

“Nii-sama is saying strange things again instead of focusing on getting ready for tomorrow.”

“Nii-sama is more than ready for tomorrow.”

“Then, why I am helping you pack your clothes?”

Reiss ignored that comment and instead focused on what mattered most to him - his harem plan.

I know it’ll be risky and it’s foolish, but I really can’t make up my mind about which heroine I want to romance the most!

There was the Days of Iron poster girl, Angela.

The daughter of the world’s most powerful swordsman, Kara.

The former child-soldier turned mercenary, Ria.

There were others too, but, for now, Reiss would focus on those three.

Yeah, that’ll be easy enough. Just make 3 beautiful girls fall for you, convince them to enter a poly-relationship and then see if we can add more to said relationship.

Reiss sighed and laughed quietly to himself. “Honestly, when I say it like that, it sounds stupid.”

“You didn’t say anything, Nii-sama.”

Reiss ignored that comment and finished finalising his plans for triggering the initial flags with all the three heroines, and how to improve it, so he spent the night rehearsing how best to handle everything.

When he arrived at the Imperial Royal Academy, he triggered the flag with Angela and made sure he didn’t get Reiss’s ‘lucky pervert’ moment.

And then, he saw something that couldn’t possibly be true.

“The Star Student, Alice Eagold.”

“That’s impossible!”

His outburst had been drowned out by the applause of those around him, and even Angela who was sat beside him didn’t seem to notice.

This might be the biggest change!

Alice Eagold was the Star Student even though she was meant to die when she was a small child.

As concerning as that was, Reiss had to focus on his own plan first.

He met Kara and Ria and got on with them better than the game Reiss, especially Kara who could see how hard he’d trained. He also met Reiss’s other friends, but his mind was somewhat pre-occupied with his harem plan, and the revelation that Alice Eagold was alive.

Then.

“The envy of all Japanese boys.”

“Huh?” Reiss made eye contact with the boy behind him. “What did-?”

“Find me this evening, protagonist, on the roof. But don’t ruin your relationships.”

I can’t ignore that now, can I?

So, Reiss took Arc up on his invitation.

“You’re here.”

Reiss grunted as he locked the rooftop door behind him. “I could hardly ignore you after speaking to me in Japanese.

They stared at one another intensely.

“You too, then?”

Arc nodded. “My old name was Tetsuko Haruki, 15 years old. You?”

“Yamada Aoi, 17 years old. I don’t remember a character called Arc in Class 1.”

“That’s because he was originally an NPC in Class 5 with a handful of unvoiced dialogue lines.” Arc grinned. “He had talent, but he wasn’t super smart or hard working. I changed that. You though.” He scowled. “How much have you changed?”

“Only my relationship, or Reiss’s, with his sister and the encounter with Angela. I didn’t do anything that would’ve resulted in the incident at Tartarus or that would cause the Silent Sect to go into hiding.”

“...Like I feared. There might be more people like us messing with the original scenario.”

“Well, if you’re telling the truth, then neither of us have done anything major.”

“Not unless the Butterfly Effect has come into play or if the world itself is trying to correct itself. There are stories like that.”

Reiss shrugged his shoulders. “As it stands, our knowledge from our previous lives has limited uses. It’s not useless, but it’s far from ideal. Either way, you haven’t told me what you want.”

“I just wanted to confirm what you’d done and if you were like me,” Arc said. “I don’t mind if you want to try and get a perfect harem, as long as you help stop the events in the scenario and try to keep the narrative on track.”

“And if I don’t?”

Arc smirked. “Who knows?”

“I won’t do anything stupid, so I hope you won’t either.” Reiss stared daggers at Arc. “Try not to contact me unless it’s necessary.”

“You realised it too, right?” Reiss stopped in his tracks. “There are lots of people in our class that aren’t meant to be there.”

“…Alice.”

Arc nodded. “I can’t vouch for everyone in there, but she definitely can’t be there unless either someone saved her or she’s like us.”

“She must be like us, right? Who would go out of their way to save her and then put her on a pedestal to remove Rikard from his position as the Star Student? Should we try asking her some questions in Japanese?”

“It worked on you,” Arc mused.

“…True. Fine, let’s do that tomorrow.”

With that, Reiss left.

“There are others,” he mumbled in Japanese.

If Alice Eagold is like us, then she’s the biggest issue to my plans and she might keep trying to change the original scenario. Maybe it’s a case of reincarnation where she doesn’t know the world she’s been reborn into, or maybe she does know and just didn’t want to die?

I don’t mind you saving your own life and other peoples, but if you interfere with the main story too much, then everything I know about this world could become useless.

Well, whatever the case, we’ll see soon enough, Alice Eagold - or whatever you real name is.