LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 3: I Am Not Alone... Again.
From being inside during a hot summer evening, half of the village had fallen asleep whilst waiting for the old mayor to finish his speech about the newest, inefficient plans to handle their alien pests. Max couldn’t tell if the people were tired from slaving away at their jobs or if the sudden outburst earlier at the village meeting had worn them out. Even the mayor’s son was beginning to nod off on a knight’s shoulder. Perhaps his father’s voice was too comforting for him?
“Right then, Reymond.” The mayor turned to the knight supporting his son. “Did I miss anything?”
He seemed as eager as anyone else awake in the village hall for this torture to end. “No, you got everything.”
Without being asked, Aldwin raised his hand whilst blurting out, “What about the meteorite that fell this afternoon?”
Story Name:
Hunt Down the Monster
Genre:
Horror
Description:
After encountering a meteorite, a local shepherd boy is slowly becoming a possessed creature. He must be stopped.
Goal:
Kill the shepherd boy.
Difficulty:
★★★★☆
How to Start:
Confirm Aldwin’s story!
Max regretted opening his mouth earlier.
The knights gave a nervous shuffle at the idea of more work suddenly appearing. “What meteorite?” The old mayor barked at him. His sudden change in tone and the echo through the ancient stone building caused half of the sleepers to start awake, including his son who almost fell over when his consciousness sharply returned.
Just as Aldwin was about to speak, Max elbowed his stomach as hard as he could without changing his expression. “It’s… it’s nothing,” he choked out whilst trying not to cry.
“Then don’t speak,” the mayor said dismissively. “Anything else?”
“You need to be careful with your elbows,” Aldwin whispered to Max as a couple of tears escaped the corner of his eyes.
“Sorry.” There was no emotion in his voice. “Someone was pulling on my sleeve.”
Suddenly, the pained Aldwin was scanning for the non-existent pesterer. “Has he stopped?” He let out a sigh after Max nodded. “Just be a bit careful in the future. You’re stronger than you look. If it weren’t me then you could’ve seriously hurt someone!” Max couldn’t help smiling at his simplicity. He was indeed foolish, but there was a certain charm to him.
“Alright, if there’s nothing else…” the mayor began to scan the village hall for anyone else trying to prolong their torturous meeting. In excitement that it was almost over, the awake villagers began nudging the sleepers so they could all leave as quickly as possible. “There doesn’t seem to be anything else…”
Everyone around Max was gearing up to leave. He couldn’t help feeling disappointed and then confused when the system appeared with another prompt.
Story Name:
Guide the Uninitiated
Genre:
Isekai
Description:
A stranger is claiming to be from another universe and is here to become the MC.
Goal:
Help the system out and show him the ropes.
Difficulty:
★☆☆☆☆
How to Start:
Confess you are the same to the stranger!
Oh no.
It had been a long time since he saw a story like that. They never end well. But where was-?
The sudden pounding on the village hall doors caused all the villagers to turn and stare at the mayor. Before their hopes got too high, the mayor blurted out, “Jesus Christ. What is it now? Who’s the idiot who forgot how to open a door by themselves? Go help them out, Liv.” Liv, the shop keeper’s wife, let out a deep sigh before opening the door. She stood back as the man pounding on the door stumbled into the echoey stone building.
Max wasn’t surprised to see the man wearing neutral, plain clothes with a frightened look on his face. Compared to him and the other people in the village, his appearance in this world was more atypical as he displayed exotic features with the shape of his eyes and cheeks. The most alarming feature was his vivid red hair colour, as if it were dyed. Unlucky, it didn’t take long for Max to realise in his previous lives that the more foreign he looked, the higher the expectations of the story prompts were. “Where am I? I’m not in Philadelphia, am I?” No shit. “What’s going on?” He pleaded to the villagers.
The mayor let out a tired sigh, “Another amnesiac.” Bessie and the farmer glanced over at Max, but he never took his eyes off of the stranger. “Who’s going to take this one in?”
“Amnesiac? I’m not-”
“How about you, John?”
“Nah, we ain’t got the space after our newborn-”
“What do you mean amnesiac? I remember taking the bus to go to work when-”
“Larry?”
“I mean we could, but it would be difficult for us too…”
The mayor continued to ignore the stranger recounting his daily commute to work in a mythical sounding Philadelphia. “Reymond, any spare budget to help accommodate the newest stranger?”
“Not really,” the knight seemed perplexed by how the locals were so quick at adapting to all of the strange interruptions to their village meetings. He had been to a few turbulent ones before, but today was the worst he had seen. “We can spare 80 gaeles-”
“80 gaeles?” Larry scoffed.
“You’re not listening to me! By the time I reached the office, Lisa asked me to go out to the nearest coffee shop and-”
“We’ll take the stranger and the 80 gaeles,” the butcher raised his hand as a volunteer. “Seeing as we now have an empty bed, and I’ll need someone to help out around the shop.”
“Perfect, he’s yours. If he causes any trouble, let us know and we’ll string him up.” The stranger stopped mid-ramble from the threat. Max felt a little sympathetic as he saw his face grow pale from the seriousness of his situation. When he first started waking up in the various worlds of stories, it took him some time to adjust too.