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It lulls players into a peaceful state of mind.
And then it kills them.

Everything. Heroine or not.

Another Tale.
A notoriously infamous dark fantasy game.

Naturally, I never played it myself.
In our circles, killing off heroines is considered a total taboo. You don’t eat, use, or even touch that kind of thing.

I was just a bystander, watching the early players who got wiped out without knowing anything, and the reckless latecomers who were about to meet the same fate.
For a while, that’s how Another Tale became a trend.

On YouTube Shorts, a video titled [All-time Biggest Backstab Moments: Player Reactions to Another Tale] was uploaded, featuring edited posts from the game’s gallery.

Popular streamers uploaded videos of themselves writhing in pain while playing Another Tale firsthand.

Instead of playing the game myself, I just skimmed the highlights through YouTube, forums, and Namuwiki.

I, too, joined the trend that way.

In short, I don’t actually know much about Another Tale.
Hardly anything sticks in my memory.

I probably wouldn’t even recognize the main characters if I saw them.
Well, unless you showed me the scene where they die.

To begin with, it was never that meaningful of a game in my life.
If it had been, I would’ve played it myself.

…But then why is it?

Sometimes, that game comes to mind.
Out of all the countless games, why only that one?

A sudden thought hits me.

Could it be?
This world.
This fantasy world might actually be the world inside Another Tale?

“…No way.”

Of course not.
This world was far too peaceful to be one of dark fantasy.

About a year ago.
I became aware of my past life.

As a result, my modern Earth self and my fantasy-world self blended into one.

Not much changed outwardly.
I was still the young master of the noble Vendel family.

The Vendel family was what you’d call a prestigious household.
Their domain was far removed from the central lands, reflecting the will of the former lord who had no interest in politics.

The Vendels had for generations produced famous swordsmen.

In other words, everyone in this family had eyes like hawks.
Human weapons, raised from childhood to train with the sword.

So the first emotion I felt upon regaining my past-life memories was fear.

What if my family noticed something strange had happened to me?

This is a fantasy world where magic and miracles are real.

“My soul has been replaced overnight”?
On Earth, that’d be nonsense. But here, entirely possible.

The problem is—anyone who tampers with souls in this world, regardless of type, is immediately marked for extermination.

A young master whose personality suddenly changed?
Two likely options pop up if you click on that scenario: [1. Interrogate] [2. Torture].

So, I tried my best to behave exactly as before, hiding the fusion of selves.

Pointless.

I soon realized it was all meaningless.
The sharp eyes of a swordsman clan couldn’t be fooled by the likes of me.

—But it turned out differently than I feared.

I was… an illegitimate child.

My mother was nothing but a servant.
Even if she bore the lord’s child, that fact didn’t change.

My oh-so-noble father considered her far too lowly even to take as a concubine.

And so, the child of a servant.

The family had no interest in me whatsoever.

Since they never cared, they never noticed my change.
Even if they did, they thought little of it.

It left me confused.
Was I supposed to be happy about this?

I decided to take it positively.
At least my biggest problem was solved.

Another plus: in this world, “illegitimate child” was the most common and insulting of slurs.
But me? I was born immune to it.
As motivating as being an orphan already immune to “parent insults.”

Thus, I overcame the crisis of self-awareness in a rather unexpected way.

Now came the next question.

—So. What now?

I was a noble-born young master of a fantasy world… but an illegitimate one.
Ignored by family, retainers, even servants.

What kind of future awaited me if I stayed here?

—Military service…!

Among illegitimate children, there was a culture of volunteering for the army to earn recognition from their fathers.

Absolutely not. Never. Ever.
I swore I’d never do that.

In my past life, I’d died at twenty-one, barely freed from the curse of mandatory service.
And here, there wasn’t even a smartphone.

The choice of military was out, no questions asked.

So let’s think.
An illegitimate child who says, “Unlike the others, I don’t want to serve”?

My family would probably sparkle their eyes with interest—then ship me straight to the worst unit imaginable.

Thus, I reached a perfectly reasonable conclusion:

Escape.

If they already treated me as if I didn’t exist, then nobody would complain if I actually disappeared.
Logical.

So I’ve been accelerating my escape plans.

The earlier an illegitimate child rises, the more independent he becomes.
Thus, today at dawn, I left the Vendel mansion’s annex where the servants stayed.

“Lord Rishir.”

At the entrance, a woman greeted me.
She was Maya, the exclusive maid of my younger half-sister, Roera.

“Good morning, Miss Maya.”
“Lady Roera requests to meet with you. Today at noon, in the front courtyard of the main house.”

She skipped over my greeting, delivering her message curtly.
For a maid, it seemed rather bold—but this was already an improvement.

In Vendel, who held higher status: a maid or an illegitimate son?
Needless to say, the maid.

Most of them were nobles themselves.
Unlike me, a half-blood.

The retainers treated me as “young master” only in formality.
Their scorn was always obvious.

Maya too used to treat me as invisible.
And now?

“…”
“…”

She bowed when our eyes met.

Why? Because I greeted her kindly every single day.

That alone was progress.
To me, it felt like being treated as an emperor.

Since gaining past-life awareness, my life had been improving little by little.

…But Roera asking to see me?

Not a good sign.
When a Vendel sought out an illegitimate child, it usually meant trouble.

“Oh dear. I suddenly remembered something very important I must do today.”

Yes, the “stay outside until evening to avoid Roera” kind of important.

“Then shall I tell Lady Roera you’ll visit once your task is done?”
“Please tell her not to wait.”
“Of course. You would never keep the Lady waiting.”
Nope. Absolutely not.

She might not sit still for a no-show, but that wasn’t my concern.

What could she do?
Tell Father?

And what would Father do?
Disown me?

Please. I’d take that as an award.

“…”
“…”

Maya looked at me with suspicion.
But when I smiled, she quickly averted her gaze and left.

I too had places to be.

──────────
▶ Another Tale ◀
This is another story.
──────────

Father.
When I return from this place, will you acknowledge me then?

Will you regret the harsh days you made me endure?

I wish to believe you will.

So please—

“Please…”

The man sobbed.

He instinctively knew.

Here, on this nameless frozen mountain battered by icy winds, he was going to die.

The face that surfaced in his mind was his father’s.

He had come here for his father’s honor.

But the father in his mind still looked at him with scorn.

From then, his sobs became indistinguishable from laughter.

Before he could vent all his emotions, his breath ran dry.

As his warmth faded, he stared into the sky and began to murmur:

“Yes… yes…”

Soon, his breathing stopped, his body slumped.

At the same time, an icicle fell from above, piercing his skull.

Moments later, the illegitimate child rose again.

With lifeless eyes, he gazed toward his homeland.

▶ Fate 19: The Returned Bastard

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▷ Fate 19: The Returned Bastard – Deactivated.
Rewards will be granted accordingly.

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Would you like me to make this into a smoother, novel-like English adaptation (instead of direct translation), so it reads like an official light novel version?