Chapter 1 - Welcome to the Drachenfall Dungeon

Their eyes open widely

After the dragon is gone. We are sit.

“What the is that ?! A dragon?! A f*** dragon?!”

“Middle levels of the dungeon,” he said, like that explained anything. “You were knocked out in a pit trap. Lucky we found you first.”

Dungeon?

No.

No, no, no, no, no.

I twisted my head. Behind us was a party of three more adventurers: a girl in white robes glowing with faint light, and a crusader in full armor with the scariest stare I’d ever seen.

“I think this is a mistake! I’m not supposed to be in any dungeon!”

The crusader scoffed. “They all say that.”

“I was in my kosan five minutes ago!”

“You were half-dead under rubble when we pulled you out,” the tall guy muttered. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

I looked down. I was still in my hoodie and jeans. Still clutching my GameBoy—which now had a cracked screen.

No way.

No. Freaking. Way.

I swallowed hard as the realization hit me like a double shot of espresso straight to the brain.

This wasn’t a dream.

This wasn’t a game.

This wasn’t my kosan.

Blue torchlight flickered across broken stone as I crouched behind the crumbling wall of what looked like ancient ruins. My breath caught in my throat.

Across from me, three strangers—my unlikely saviors—pressed their faces to the cracks in the wall, eyes wide, unmoving. They were watching something. Something big.

I swallowed.

I peeked through a gap between stones, just enough to see—

Is that a freaking dragon?!

The creature’s massive wings beat slow and heavy, kicking up clouds of dust with each step. It sniffed the ground, steam curling from its nostrils like a kettle left on too long. Its scales shimmered like molten steel, and its glowing eyes scanned the ruins for . . .

Probably us.

The moment it turned its head the other way and let out a low growl, the three adventurers beside me finally let out the breath they’d been holding.

.

.

.

"Okay... I think it’s gone," the white-robed girl, Asuna, whispered.

"That thing was chasing us?!" I whisper-shouted.

Before I could process that, the swordsman—Kazuha, I think his name was—whirled on me.

“What the hell were you doing sleeping on the Hero’s Altar, huh?!”

“The what now?”

Kazuha glared at me like I’d just spat in holy water. “You were lying on top of one of the most sacred sites in this entire dungeon! You don’t just nap there like it’s your grandma’s kotatsu!”

“Hey, I didn’t choose to be there!” I shot back. “I didn’t even know where the hell is this!”

“Sheesh, Kazuha! Dont I was right...” Asuna crossed her arms and squinted at me like I was a puzzle with the corners missing. “You might be the Hero.”

“Wait, what?”

“Haaaaaa!.” Kazuha groaned. “No, . . . don't start.”

“Think about it!” she said. “He appeared on the Hero’s Altar, right? After it glowed for the first time after the lord Drachen died, thirty years ago!”

“Nah, the Altar must be broken. Coincidence.”

“He looks otherworldly.”

“That’s just his hat.”

“He’s holding a magic artifact!”

I looked down to my gamebot. “This is one?”

“. . . Ancient relic,” she corrected with a nod.

I blinked.

“How about this,” Asuna grinned. “If he is the Hero, you treat us to drinks tonight, Kazuha. If not, then I’ll cover the tab. How about that!?”

Kazuha scoffed. “Deal!”

“Do I get a say in this?”

“No,” they both said.

I turned toward the third adventurer, a crusader woman in silver armor with eyes like sharpened steel. She had said nothing since the dragon passed. Her name was Tiara, I recalled.

“Umm, . . . is it always like this?”

Tiara gave a small shrug. “It is normal.”

.

.

.

We moved quickly, following a path Kazuha said he had marked earlier with chalk sigils—some kind of adventurer trick. The narrow tunnel twisted and turned, sometimes splitting off into smaller paths, other times dipping low enough that I had to duck.

Tiara stepped closer and tilted her head. “You really don’t remember how you got here?” she asked.

“No,” I muttered. “One second I was lying in bed, playing a game. Next thing I know, I’m being shaken awake like a sack of potatoes mid-boss fight.”

Tiara nodded thoughtfully. “Strange . . . but perhaps it was the fate.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Fate?”

“You are the Hero. Or… maybe you’re something else. There are so many mysteries about how the dungeon works.”

I frowned. I didn’t feel like a hero. I felt like a barista who’d forgotten to turn off the espresso machine.

“Come on,” Kazuha said, sheathing his sword and slash some of the grass. “Let’s get out of here before that thing decides to come back for dessert.”

.

.

.

After we climb the small alley. The cramped hallway opened into a massive stone corridor, more like a subterranean plaza than a hallway. The ceiling soared above us, arched and ribbed like the inside of a cathedral.

And what I saw next nearly made my jaw unhinge.

“Wait . . . is this . . . a market?!”

Stalls lined the stone walls. People bustled back and forth. Some wore armor, others robes or aprons. There were lanterns floating mid-air, carts selling hot skewers, potion booths with glowing liquids, and even a merchant hawking what looked suspiciously like grilled slime-on-a-stick.

Music played from somewhere. Someone laughed. The smell of roasted meat and spice wafted through the air.

And all of this… was still inside the dungeon?

My eyes sparkled. My jaw dropped.

"Whoaa, . . . This , . . . this is like the game i’ve played!"

I turned in a slow circle, drinking it all in. For the first time since I woke up in this bizarre place, I wasn’t panicking. I was… fascinated.

Tiara, standing beside me, noticed my expression. She smiled slightly, then reached out and patted my shoulder.

“Welcome,” she said, “to Drachenfall District Dungeon Daiki.”

My heart skipped a beat.

This wasn’t just some random labyrinth.

This place was a living, breathing city underground.

And as ridiculous as it sounded—amidst all the monsters, magic, and mayhem—one single thought filled my mind:

Maybe, . . . maybe i could find my journey here.