Protagonist

Emmett then started explaining the circumstances of my birth and how I came to be-no not really. All he mentioned was that we’d randomly met a couple years ago at some event that all the rich snobs go to, and our parents had just so happened to bring us along.

“Wait, is that it?” I asked, stupefied by his stupidity.

“I mean, yeah, that’s all there is to it, really.” Emmett answered.

“You dumbass! That doesn’t explain anything!” I yelled.

“Um…your maid’s name is uh, Rosy?”

“Nice, that automatically gives you 1000 points, congratulations.” I said sarcastically.

“I’m leaving.” Louise said as she got up.

“Wait, what? You barely got here!” Emmett said.

“Yeah, and you haven’t said anything of substance, and I don’t really wanna be in your

presence anymore, so bye.” She said as she opened the front door and left, but before leaving she made eye contact with me, giving me a strange look for some reason.

“What a fraud, she came all the way here just to leave after two seconds?” Emmett

muttered to himself.

“Hold on a second,” I got up as well. “I’m gonna walk her to the station and come back, alright?”

“You know she can walk by herself, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s just a gesture of courtesy.”

“Sureee, tell yourself that.” Emmett chuckled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked while exiting, closing the door.

Louise was still not out of sight, I started jogging to catch up to her, and as soon as I got close, I prepared to shout at her to wait. But suddenly, she took a turn that seemed completely wrong.

Isn’t the train station supposed to be the other way, or is it just me? I thought to myself. Nah, that can’t be right, she knows the way more than you do, idiot.

I never ended up calling out to her, instead slowly following behind her. I realize that this context sounds a bit like stalking, but that wasn’t my intention at all.

As I kept following Louise, I looked around at my surroundings. There was no way I’d been through here before, the street didn’t seem familiar at all. The buildings that surrounded me seemed pretty run down, and the entire area felt void, as if it was abandoned. I shook off that weird feeling and kept walking.

Louise then went into an alley in between two houses, with me following closely behind her, making sure not to alert her to my presence.

What on Earth is she doing?

The darkness enshrouded me as soon as I stepped into the alleyway. A cold chill crept up my spine, and a feeling that I had to turn back before something bad happened came into my head, but I quickly managed to brush it off and keep following.

Louise stopped in front of a metal doorway with a slight opening in the middle. Luckily for me, there was a massive garbage bin for me to hide behind and observe as she knocked calmly with an expressionless face.

A few seconds passed in utter silence before the door opened slowly, and shut right behind her as she entered.

I got out of my hiding place and walked over to the door. There was no handle, so I tried to shove it open, but of course, it was no use. I wondered what would happen if I banged it loudly enough to disturb whoever was in there, but I immediately discarded that death sentence, after all I had no idea just who resided inside that place.

It was obviously a secret society, but the question was just what kind? The wealthy rulers who secretly oversee things from the shadows? Or was it more of a cult-like organization that performed rituals and sacrifices? I personally leaned toward the cult, as that type of society might potentially be related to why I suddenly awoke in this world without any explanation.

For now, I wracked my head thinking of a way to pry this door open without alerting the members inside. And then, as if by pure coincidence, my eyes somehow stumbled upon a wrench that was sitting right there, beside the door.

Ain’t no way, this is a trap, you idiot. It’s a trap.

Of course, it was a trap. There was no way it wasn’t, that would probably be the biggest coincidence of all time, surely, if a wrench just so happened to be there when I needed it most. It would also be extremely anti-climactic. Those cultists behind that door were definitely waiting for someone. The question was, were they waiting for me, or for someone else?

Like the idiot that I am, I decided to go in anyway, despite fully knowing what awaited me. After all, I’m the hero of the story, right?

That’s right, I’m the hero. I’m the protagonist who got Isekai’d into this world to save it from darkness, so even if I go in now, something’s gonna happen and I’ll get out of it, surely.

I picked up the wrench and forced the door open, and was promptly greeted by a shivering breeze of fear. I stepped one foot into the darkness, and descended the stairs that laid there between the two walls, with room for nothing else.

The more steps I took, the less I could feel the light from the door outside. My erratic breathing was the only sound that could be heard in this stairway drowned in darkness. My legs felt like they were about to give out at any given moment, my entire body shook, yet I kept descending, I didn’t have any other choice.

If I don’t, who’s gonna do it? I’m the one who was chosen. I'm gonna save this planet, that’s why I’m here.

At last, I finally managed to set foot on solid ground. Right in front of me was a huge area, a large circle engraved on the stone floor. I couldn’t tell what that symbol was, but it was obviously bad news.

I cautiously approached the circle, the moment I reached the middle, a horde of hooded cultists encircled me.

“What the?” I whispered in shock. “Did these guys just appear out of thin air?”

The cultists wore purple robes and each held a lit torch in each hand, but the flame that lit these torches wasn’t red, it was pure black.

“Stay back, you pieces of shit!” I waved the wrench around menacingly, but it clearly had no effect on them. Of course, it wouldn’t, was I stupid?

The cultist at the head that stood right in front of me took a step forward.

“So you’re the leader, huh?” I asked as the cultist ignored me and kept walking.

I gulped but stayed where I was, I had no clue what I was supposed to do now.

You know, I might have rushed into this a bit. Just a tiny bit, though.

The cultist took off their hood, revealing themselves to be Louise, her blue eyes yielding no emotion, nothing at all.

“You son of a-I knew it! You’re the leader of this operation, huh?”

Louise took another step forward, to the point where she was nearly face to face with me.

“You…”I gulped.

And then.

What happened next, was something I’d failed to predict, to even consider.

Louise got on her knees right before me.

My eyes widened.

And then, she spoke softly.

Her words completely shook me.

“Welcome back, master. We’ve been expecting you.”