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Chapter Text

The Multiversal Merchant

Summary: One day, an ordinary guy stumbled upon one of those chat ai sites while browsing on Internet. Out of curiosity, he decided to gave it a try, specifically on one of those isekai roleplay. Who would have thought that his curiosity will drastically changes his life…permanently.

Somewhere on Earth

“Huh, is this one of those chat ai thingy that I heard about?”

An ordinary looking man muttered to himself as he looked at the screen of his computer with a raised eyebrow. He was currently leaning back on his chair while holding a glass of cold water in his hand. He then took a sip of the water until the glass was half empty. He then put the glass aside on the cup holder that was mounted to his computer desk.

The man has recently heard of this chatbot thing when there was a viral news that a teenage boy was committing a suicide after playing around with it. His mind couldn’t comprehend how such thing could happen. Some says that the ai was at fault. Some says the victim was already depressed beforehand, few speculated and blamed the parents for it.

Either way, the man was curious about this chatbot thing.

So, the man decided to click on the site and was greeted by the homepage, which was filled with variety of different roleplay ai and characters. Ranging from characters from movies, games, novels, even from anime and manga. He didn’t even know where to start so the man decided to pick some random isekai roleplay ai since it was the first thing his eyes saw.

((Welcome to Isekai Roleplay prompt))

(You suddenly died and found yourself within a white void and ready to be reincarnated into another world)

(Customized your character that will become your new body in another world)

(What is your name?)

The man visibly blinked when the first chat bubble popped out the moment he clicked on the link. His eyes looked up for a bit, thinking for some name but nothing that came to his mind. Decided to put a title instead, his fingers then began to rapidly input the title he came up with on the prompt with his keyboard.

(The Merchant)

And then moved the cursor onto the generate button and clicked on it.

After a few seconds, another prompt from the ai popped out.

(You are called “The Merchant” in the new world)

(What is your race?)

The man immediately just gave a simple answer.

(Human)

Literally a second later, a reply prompt popped out.

(You are Human in the new world)

(Please select your gender: M/F?)

The man then typed a single letter on the keyboard without a single thought on it like it doesn’t even matter as he clicked on the generate button.

(F)

Another second passed before the reply prompt popped out.

(You are female in the new world)

(Please describe your appearance as detailed as possible)

The man paused for few seconds and before opened up another tab and googled a wiki page of a certain protagonist from one of the gacha game that he currently played. He copied the description of the character appearances, switched back to the previous tab before paste the text on the prompt and clicked generate.

(An average build woman with shoulder-length red hair tied in a side-ponytail on the left side with a usually yellow hair band and a cowlick, and light orange eyes. She wears a black suit with a grey shirt underneath and a formal black tie. She also wore a black satin pants and a pair of black loafer shoes.) ^[1]

He waited a bit longer this time before the reply prompt popped out again.

(You have described your appearance in the new world)

(Please type down 5 abilities for your new characters. Describe how the abilities works. Warning: Omnipotence are banned)

The man blinked at the last part of the prompt before shrugging off his shoulders. He was about to listed off some random abilities before stopping himself. He had put some effort in describing the character, copy-paste could count as “effort”, might as well put some thought in the abilities as well. He picked up his half empty glass before sipping on the cold drink while his brain thinking for some abilities.

“Hmmm, if I were to be reincarnated into another world, there might be a chance of me ended up in some medieval world settings. I will definitely will craves for many many modern stuffs like the internet or even some of the modern foods.”

The man assumed a thinking pose, thinking what kind of ability that will allows him to obtain modern related things in another world. He then remembered a slice of life, isekai series that he read that could fit the description. The man finished his cold water, putting the glass back into the cup holder before typing the prompt for his first ability.

(Online Shopping: The ability to purchase anything the user searches for wherever and whenever the user wants. It uses points as its currency and it features a currency converter that could convert local currency from another world into points. The items will be instantly delivered without any delay to the user of this ability.)

The man double checked the prompt that he just typed before nodding in approval. He didn’t click on the generate button yet as it only just one ability he just typed. He then began to think for the second ability he would like to have.

(Automatic language translation: The ability to understand any language the user wants.)

This one was pretty straight forward. Language barrier was a bitch even in real life, so he thought that there is no guarantee that he will understand the language of the new world right away. He then began to the next ability he just realized that was absolute must have in his opinion.

(Dimensional Travel: The ability to open up portal to any location of any point of time the user wants. It can be activated via hands gesture, finger snaps and a simple thought depending on the user choice.)

The reason he chose this ability was a simply. In case of a world ending event that cannot be stopped happened, he can just jump off into another world to escape.

The man didn’t know why he was being overly cautious while messing with this roleplay, but he was already too engrossed in it. He blinked in realization.

“Hmmm, maybe this is why this chatbot thingy is so popular.”

Shaking his head slightly, he then began to type the fourth and fifth ability into the prompt and decided to keep it simple since he has wasted time enough in this part.

(Dimensional Storage: The ability to store anything of any size in a storage dimension. The items stored with ability will never degrades from its previous state prior entering the storage.)

(Superhuman Physical Characteristics: Grant the physical capabilities beyond human standard.)

The man nodded before clicked on generate. He then waited even longer than before until a reply popped out.

(You character has been accepted. Are you sure you wanted to be reincarnated into this character: Y/N?)

I immediately type “Y” and clicked on generate button. Just wanted to get over with it as he wasted so much time with this.

(The character has been confirmed)

(You will be reincarnated in 10)

(9)

(8)

(7)

The man raised an eyebrow at the countdown on the screen.

“What’s with the countdown?” He thought to himself as he began to feel uncomfortable for some reason.

(6)

(5)

(4)

The uncomfortable feeling didn’t disappear. In fact, it grew even stronger.

(3)

(2)

(1)

His heart suddenly skipped a beat.

“What the-“

(0)

A blinding flash of white light emerged from the screen and began to engulf him before he could react.

The unnamed man slumped on lifelessly on his chair. And the last prompt message popped out right after on his computer screen.

(Enjoy your new life, dear protagonist!)

Chapter Text

Episode 1: A new world equals a new life!

“Urrrgh…my head.”

A young-looking woman with shoulder-length red hair stirred up from the realm of unconsciousness with what could be described as a splitting headache. She tried to open her eyes, only for the sunlight to shine into her eyes which promptly tried to cover her eyes with her right hand before she could go blind.

After her vision began adjusting to an acceptable level, the woman found herself laying down beneath a tree. She shuddered when she felt something crawled on her back as she abruptly stood to her feet and began to furiously wipe off her back from dirt and some small insects with her hands.

After a few more seconds dusting off herself, the woman began to check her on surroundings. She found herself standing in the middle of a forest. The forest was so thick that it almost covered the entire are from sunlight.

The woman gripped her head in pain as another headache flash through her head…

…She then widened her eyes in pure shock as her head began to beat faster when remembered the last time before waking up here.

The woman remembered that she was just an ordinary man browsing through internet after coming back home from overtime shift in her workplace.

She remembered trying one of those chat ai things that has gone viral lately due to a news of a teenage boy committing suicide over it.

She remembered playing with a roleplaying isekai ai bot prompt, customizing her desired character and then a blinding light emerged from her computer screen.

“Oh no no no no no no, this can’t be real!”

(Plak) (Plak) (Plak) (Plak) (Plak) (Plak)

The person who used to be a man muttered to herself as she tried to wake up from what she thought to be a dream by pinching and slapping herself a few more times.

She hissed in pain and deduced that this was indeed, real.

“Fuck! This isn’t a dream.” The woman cursed out loud as she utterly disbelieved at what happened to her.

The woman tried to calm herself down when she felt her heart beat at a quite rapid pace that it began to made her felt uncomfortable. She took a deep breath before exhaled in and repeated the process few more times.

After calming herself down, she began to assess her current situation.

First thing first, she needs to survive, that much is obvious.

As if on cue, a purple screen suddenly popped out from seemingly nowhere.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Locked]

Name: The Merchant

Race: Human

Gender: Female

Occupation: None

Note: The screen is visible for user only

The woman, identified as The Merchant stared at the purple screen in awe.

She remembered about having to fill in some customization on that strange site prior being transported here. Everything that The Merchant typed down were here. Her name, her appearance, her abilities. Well, everything except for the two locked menus which made her raised an eyebrow. The red haired woman put that aside for now and before she slowly raised her finger and tap onto the next menu.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Locked]

Online Shopping: The ability to purchase and sell anything the user searches for wherever and whenever the user wants. It uses points as its currency and it features a currency converter that could convert local currency from another world into points. The items will be instantly delivered without any delay to the user of this ability.

Dimensional Travel: The ability to open up portal to any location of any point of time the user wants. It can be activated via hands gesture, finger snaps and a simple thought depending on the user choice.

Dimensional Storage: The ability to store anything of any size in a storage dimension. The items stored with ability will never degrades from its previous state prior entering the storage.

Automatic language translation: The ability to understand any language the user wants.

Superhuman Physical Characteristics: Grant the physical capabilities beyond human standard.

“At least I won’t be completely powerless out here.”

The Merchant muttered to herself, taking all the positive she can get before switched to different menus.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Locked]

Empty

“No surprise there, I just got here after all.”

And onto the next one, which got her curious the most.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Locked]

{Home Page} {Balance} {Conversion}

Purchase | Sell

Search:

The woman raised her eyebrow, intrigued by the menu before then tapped on the search bar and an onscreen keyboard slides up the screen. She then began typing something before press enter.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Locked]

{Home Page} {Balance} {Conversion}

Purchase | Sell

“Search result for Foods”

Cheeseburber combo (Burger+fries) - Price: 10 points

Meat Burrito (S,M,L,) – Price: 10 to 20 points

Breakfast combo (Waffle+egg+orange juice) – Price: 15 points

“Show more results”

The woman in a suit let out an impressed whistle at the screen.

“It looks like an ordinary online shopping app back on Earth.” The Merchant commented as she began to browse for another items. After few minutes fiddling with the search menu, It was safe to say the woman was quite surprised and pleased with this Online Shopping ability.

“Seems like you literally can buy everything in here, even guns are available to purchase.” The Merchant hummed as she assumed a thinking pose.

She had a glimpse of the pricing in the online shop.

Basic groceries costed ranging from 1-30 points depending on the amount and the quality. Cooked meals costed 10-50 points, again depending on the amount and quality. Clothing also seems to be affordable so long she doesn’t pick some famous brand.

And firearms, they don’t seem cost that much as well. Although she literally had zero idea about their markets even back on Earth.

“Perhaps I should open up a store here. I hope this world is one of those with medieval era setting, some cheap modern products might sell for good prices here.” The Merchant spoke to herself as she assumed a thinking pose while grinning to herself.

She already began to imagine herself swimming in gold coins already.

Snapped out from her fantasy, the Merchant proceed to check another tab of the Online Shops menu.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Locked]

{Home Page} {Balance} {Conversion}

Purchase | Sell

“Places items here”

The woman in a suit raised an eyebrow at this. Did it expecting her to just pour the object into the screen? She would like to try it, but she doesn’t seem to have anything at the moment. So, she decided to move onto the next tab.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Locked]

{Home Page} {Balance} {Conversion}

Current Balance: 0

The Merchant expression never changed as she was clearly expecting this before moving on to another tab.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Locked]

{Home Page} {Balance} {Conversion}

“Places the currency here”

This one was the same as the “sell” part, so she decided to put the experiment aside while she dismissed the purple screen with a swipe of her hand.

“But first thing first, I need to get the hell out of this forest. Can’t get rich if I got myself killed after all.”

The Merchant then stretched out her body for a second before began to walk off. Usually, in anime/manga/manhwa, forest like this more than often was crawled with many kinds of hostile monsters. She was unarmed at the moment, so she hoped she wouldn’t have encounter with anything hostile.

The Merchant only has Superhuman Physical Characteristic and Dimensional Travel to defend herself. The former seems to have boosted her physical prowess, to what degree she didn’t know.

And her Dimensional Travel seems to work by creating a portal, she can get creative and just do those mutilation trick like the one in the Avenger: Infinity War movie. She predicted the sight wouldn’t be pretty, so she better save it for last resort only.

=Scene change=

An hour has passed since The Merchant started walking off from her starting point. Fortunately, she hadn’t encounter with any hostile lifeforms. During the walk, The Merchant also began to studying the forest she was in. No mythical creatures such as horned rabbit, or human sized ants or spider so far. She had seen few animals like squirrel, birds, and monkey. But those faunas can also be found back on Earth.

The Merchant was somewhat disappointed at that.

Another hour has passed, The Merchant noted that she didn’t seem to be tired from all the walking. She deduced maybe aside from enhancing her physical strength, the Superhuman Physical Characteristic also enhancing her stamina as well.

This is a blessing since her stamina when she was back on Earth was below average. She would have made three or four stops if she still possessed her old stamina.

The Merchant observed that the forest is getting less dense compared to where she came from, hopefully that it is a sign for nearby civilization.

“Finally!”

The red haired woman spoke out loud as she found what it seems to be a trail left behind by either a carriage or a wagon. While she wasn’t tired or anything, she was starting to get bored walking through the forest.

The Merchant was about to follow the trail, hoping that it will lead to some civilization.

(ggggRRRRROOOAAAARRR)

Until she heard a faint roar that was getting lounder from her right. She turned toward the direction of the noise, only to find a large creature leap forward from the bushes to maul her to death.

“Uh oh!”

The Merchant widened her eyes as her heart began to beat faster again before she leaps off to her left to avoid the creature. She landed with a roll and immediately went to her knee as the creature landed across of her while skidding on the ground as it growled at the human before it.

Now she was able to take a full view of the creature that just attacked her. The creature looks strikingly similar to a brown bear back from Earth. The only difference is the size, it’s as big as a polar bear.

The bear growled again before charging at the Merchant who seems to noticed something.

She knew bears, despite their size, are quite fast that it could outran a grown human. However, the bear movements in front of her look so slow in her eyes. Whether it because of the Superhuman Physical Characteristic or simply because of adrenaline rushed through her body she didn’t know.

“I can do this.”

But this gave her a confidence boost to take on the bear head on as her heartbeat began to stabilize.

Clenching her fists tightly, The Merchant leaned her body slightly to her left to dodge a swipe from the bear right claw. She then mustered her strength into her left and then swung her left fist to the right towards the bear head with all of her strength.

(SQUELNCH)

The bear’s head went off flying from its neck the moment the Merchant hit it with her fist. Due to missing a head, the bear body began to fall to the ground with a loud thud.

The red haired woman panted, trying to catch her breath. She then spotted a branch on the ground before picked it up and then poked the bear headless corpse with it a few times just to make sure that it stayed dead. After making sure that it’s dead, she let out her breath in relief.

(Ka-ching)

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Achievement]

Achievement cleared - First Blood!: Get your first kill

Reward: [Item] 50% Discount Coupon.

Item has been sent to your storage

A small noise was heard as the purple screen popped out again so sudden. The redhead made an “o” expression when she sees this.

“It seems like the locked will be unlocked once I fulfil the criteria. And I get a reward for my trouble? That’s pretty generous of them.”

The Merchant commented as she began to fiddle with the newly unlocked menu. Although it seems that this menu only used to list off the “achievement” that has been cleared as she found nothing else in the menu.

(KSKSS KSKSK KSKSK KSKSK)

The Merchant heartbeat dropped again as she heard something from behind her.

Dismissing the purple screen, she tightened her fists again before she threw a right hook to her left while twisting her body strongly and used it as a momentum for her swing.

She then immediately stopped mid-swing when she caught a glimpse of a humanoid-shaped.

A tall and well-built man with short blue hair and a pair of blue eyes, wears black robe, black armor on his torso, black pants and long black boots. There is also belt-like armor on his waist with golden emblem and purple knife holder.

The man seemingly was shaken when The Merchant noticed his eyes flashed for a brief moment. Her right fist was a hair away from decapitating him just like the bear from earlier.

However, the woman in a suit seems to notice something else.

“Wait a minute…this guy looks familiar.”

Checking his appearance again, The Merchant was a hundred percent sure that she had seen him somewhere before. The gears in her brain worked overtime trying to remember where she had seen this man before.

The it clicked her.

She widened her eyes when she realized who this man is.

“Hold on, isn’t this Byleth Eisner?”

Byleth Eisner, the main protagonist of a tactical roleplaying video game called Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

She then instantly deduced where she was right now.

“If he is here, then that could only mean I’m in Fodlan right now.”

The newly discovered information was very welcoming. Fire Emblem: Three House was one of the games that she played back on Earth. She was pretty familiar with the plot, setting and the characters. So, navigating through this world should be a breeze.

At least it gave her a direction on what she’s gonna sell in her store later.

After calming herself down, The Merchant pulled away her fist from Byleth’s head who seems to be relieved.

“Sorry if I startle you, I thought there is more of those bear.” The Merchant started her first conversation with another human being since she came into this world with an apology.

Byleth looks like he was confused as he titled his head slightly to the left.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you just said.”

The Merchant startled as her eyes widen a bit when Byleth spoke in a language she had never heard before. It then only took her a moment later to realize what’s going on.

“Oh yeah, different world means an entirely different language. I’m so dumb.” She mussed in her head as her brain is working overtime on how to communicate with someone who doesn’t speak in the same language.

(Ka-ching)

That was until she heard another notification noise again.

(New Language Detected)

(Begin the translating process)

(Progress: 25%)

(Progress: 50%)

(Progress 75%)

The screen popped out again with a notification of a translation process. The Merchant then remembered that she had put Automatic language translation as one of the five starting ability she chose. Knowing that she made the right choice, she mentally praised herself for making such a decision.

(Progress: 100%)

(Translation complete)

(You can now understand Fodlan language)

A rather painful sensation suddenly ran through the Merchant’s head, so painful that it’s as if someone tried to drill her head with a jackhammer. The redhead hissed in pain as she rubbed her temple, trying to ease the pain away.

“….u…kay?”

The lady in a suit began to hear someone’s talking to her as the pain begin to subside. She gently shook her head, blinking a few times before she turned her attention towards Byleth.

Despite blank stare he gave her, The Merchant seems to notice a small hint of worry on his face. She may have only heard a little bit, but she can tell that Byleth was asking her if she was okay earlier.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just had a minor headache, that’s all.” The Merchant replied, now spoke in Fodlan language.

Byleth didn’t respond for a few second, seemingly didn’t know what to say. So, he just nodded numbly before looked over behind the woman, specifically at the dead bear behind her.

Speaking of bear, The Merchant looked back at the headless bear carcass and then pointed it with her thumb.

“Was this guy your prey?” She asked the blue haired Mercenary with a raised eyebrow.

Byleth could only nodded again.

“Yes, the Remire village’s chief hires me to hunt down this bear. It has been terrorizing the village for quite a while now. Damaging the crops, killing farm animals, attacking villagers. It has claimed 7 casualties, one of them was a six years old child.”

Byleth explained while still maintaining his blank stare. Had she not know his character, she would have been creeped out by him talking about such tragedy with such empty expression.

“I see, forgive me for stealing your kill then.” The red haired woman apologized as she scratched the back of her ear. She kinda feel bad since Byleth might had tracked down the bear in this big forest, only for his kill to be stolen by a stranger.

Byleth, this time, just shook his head.

“No need, the fault is mine. I should have killed it earlier when I had the chance.” Byleth responded, his tone sounded a bit dejected but it barely noticeable due to his default blank stare.

Byleth then walked pass the Merchant, approaching the carcass before picking up the bear head. He then pulled out a sack from behind his cape, stretch out the opening before threw the bear head into the sack and tied up the opening with a rope.

“You can have the body. Bring it to a butcher in the village to be dismantled and sell the meats and fur to them, it will earn you at least couple thousands gold.” Byleth told the Merchant as he slung the sack over his shoulder. He then paused before spoke again. “I could borrow you a wagon and a couple of my men to help you carry the body if you want.”

The Merchant shook her head in respond.

“There is no need to trouble yourself. I got this covered.” The lady replied as she walked towards the huge carcass.

She really wanted to try something that she didn’t get to try earlier and now is the chance.

Taking the bear body with her left hand, she mentally opened up the Online Shops and the purple screen popped out in front of her. She then navigated through the menu to access into the “sell” option.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Achievement]

{Home Page} {Balance} {Conversion}

Purchase | Sell

“Places items here”

The Merchant then lifted the bear carcass with surprising ease before shoved it into the designated spot. What happened next surprised not only her but Byleth as well who had been watching with no small interest.

The carcass was instantly getting sucked, akin to a powerful vacuum cleaner sucking left over foods on the floor.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Achievement]

{Home Page} {Balance} {Conversion}

Purchase | Sell

Bear carcass (missing head) – Price: 2400 points

(Confirm the transaction process: Y/N)

The woman tapped on the “Y” to confirm the transaction.

(Transaction was successful)

(The points have been transferred to you balance)

The Merchant then checked on her balance and sure enough, 2400 points have been added.

“Sweet…Now I can make a purchase at the Online Shops.”

“What was that?”

The Merchant looked towards Byleth who looks visibly surprised by her display. She simply chose to ignore his question since she had no desire to answer it before pointing at the direction where she headed earlier before being interrupted.

“Remire village is that way, correct?” The Merchant asked the blue haired Mercenary who just nodded numbly before turning around and began to walk away.

“Thanks, see you around.”

Byleth could only stared at the stranger departed, leaving him alone in the woods.

=Scene change=

By the time the Merchant had arrived at the village gate, she noticed that it’s almost sunset as she scenery grew darker and the villagers started to lit up torches all over the village.

Remire Village was a pretty small village, even by the Earth’s medieval era standard. Not including the visitors, Remire population could only barely touch 50 people mark.

The village infrastructure was pretty standard medieval settings. Things like Windmill, a couple of watchtowers, a barn that was facing a field, an inn, blacksmith workshop, bakery, stables for horses, a church, and the villager houses could be found here.

One thing that caught her attention was that there wasn’t any proper marketplace here. Unless a couple of traveling merchants laid out their products on a large tarp while sitting near their wagon at the village gate could be called a “marketplace”.

This made her sceptical about setting a store here.

“Seems like this village doesn’t have much buying power. Maybe it would be better if I set up my shop at a bigger territory.”

The Merchant thought as she observed the product that were being displayed by a couple of merchants who were quite dejected due their products didn’t sell very well.

One of the merchants was a man in his forties, he seemingly was selling equipment's. Swords, bow, lance, a leather armor, etc. None of them product seems to be high quality at glance. It’s likely that the products that he sold were used items. He seems still has so much items left, meaning that selling equipment's here won’t be profitable.

Especially since there was a blacksmith workshop in the village already.

“Hmm, seems like he only sells hunting equipment's. Perhaps I could introduce these people to some ergonomics farming equipment and perhaps some supplies as well.”

The other merchant was a woman in her thirties, she seems to sell food ingredients like vegetables, meats and fishes. Her business seems to yield better result than the other merchant, but it’s quite obvious that she still wasn’t happy about it.

From the Merchant observation, her products were on the verge of being expired. The vegetables didn’t look fresh, the meats and fished smelled quite funky that even the red haired woman could smell it from where she as standing.

“Food ingredients might work, but I need something that could greatly attracts customers. Perhaps I should offer them some modern products that can’t be found in other merchants.”

After finishing her thought, the Merchant began entering the village.

Sufficient to say that she was attracting everyone’s attention. Maybe it was because her attire, which was quite fancy in their eyes.

The lady in a suit soon found the inn. It was one of the few building that has second floor aside from the church, not counting the windmill. It seems like aside of being an inn, it doubles as a tavern as well.

The Merchant walked through the iconic tavern flapping doors, which as she suspected, immediately lured the attention from everyone’s inside towards the entrance. They stared at her for a few more second until they went on minding their business again.

There seems to be roughly 40 people here, she doubted that these were all the Remire villagers. Although, she instantly deduced that they were probably mercenaries belongs to a certain group when she had a brief glance at a very familiar face among them.

The red haired lady chose to ignored them before marched herself towards the counter. There was a young woman was attending a customer before her eyes laid on the newcomer.

“Ah, welcome ma’am, how may I help you?” The innkeeper behind the counter gave a polite to the outworlder as she greeted with the standard procedure greeting.

“I would like a room for a night, please.” The Merchant replied with a nod.

“Certainly, that would be 100 gold.” The innkeeper told the outworlder.

The Merchant mentally took a note in her head at after hearing the price. The price should be a good ballpark for setting up the price for her product. She wouldn’t want to set the price too high that it might scare the customers, or too low to the point she wouldn’t made any noticeable profits.

The red haired lady was about to pay, buy then her expression changed as she remembered that she literally has no Fodlan money in her person right now. She could only scratch the back of her head awkwardly while trying to find a proper way to explain her situation to the innkeeper.

“Um…forgive me, I don’t have any money right now…” She began to explain to the innkeeper. She also didn’t have anything to offer as collateral as well.

The Merchant was about to give up and camped outside instead…

“Perhaps I can be an assistance…”

….Until someone approached the counter from behind the Merchant as he announced his presence.

The otherworlder didn’t need to turn around to figure out who it was, judging by the familiar voice she just heard.

Jeralt Reus Eisner

The father of the Byleth Eisner, main protagonist of Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

A character that will die in the chapter nine of the game.

The lady in a sui just looked over her shoulder, pretending not knowing who he was.

Jeralt was a quite tall man with undercut short blonde hair tied in braided ponytail. He has brown eyes, scar on cheek, and also blond beard. His attire consisted of an orange tunic with fur trim collar, shoulder armor that has black shoulder belt, gauntlets with fingerless gloves, brown belt, greaves, and armored boots.

“And you are?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Jeralt Eisner.” The Mercenary captain introduced himself to the witch lady in front of him. “My son Byleth has told me about you and how you have slain the Duscur Bear in one punch.”

This caused everyone letting out gasp of surprised as everyone’s attention was now all focused towards the bar counter.

“Seriously, that scrawny girl killed a Duscur Bear?”

“With one attack by herself nonetheless.”

“There is no way that’s true right?”

“But it was Byleth himself who said it, we all know he wouldn’t lie for no reason.”

The lady in a suit wasn’t comfortable from all the stare and whispers, yet she didn’t say anything and chose to ignore them.

“Son?” The Merchant feigned ignorance initially before pretending to remember something. “Ah, you are that guy’s father then. The one with blue hair correct? My apologise for stealing his kill.”

Jeralt just raised his hand.

“It’s alright miss, his job was actually just to lure the bear towards a designated location where we can ambush it with my group. Duscur Bear are notoriously ferocious, I wouldn’t risk my son life by sending him to hunt it down alone.” Jeralt answered before he held up a small pouch that seemingly was filed to brim with coin and offered it to the red haired woman. “This is the reward from the extermination job. My son insisted that I should gave half of it to you.”

The outworlder looked at the pouch of money for a moment, contemplating whether or not she should accept it. Part of her didn’t feel like she deserve it, but she was really in need for some Fodlan money right now.

She then shrugged off her shoulders as she made her decision.

“Eh, free money is free money.” She commented before taking the pouch, earning a chuckle from the middle age man at her nonchalant response.

Jeralt nodded his head.

“It’s almost dinner time, perhaps you could join us if you don’t mind?” The Mercenary captain offered while he pointed back over his shoulder at his group with his thumb.

Already seen his group when entering the inn, in which he spotted a couple of females among the ranks, the Merchant shrugs her shoulder again after seeing no harm with the idea joining the Mercenary group for a dinner.

“Sure, why not. Let me check in my room first and I will join you for dinner shortly.”

The Merchant replied as she turned around to face the innkeeper, she then pulled out 100 piece of coins and handed it over the innkeeper who happily handed her the room key with wooden plaque that has a number on it and directed her to the second floor.

After receiving the key, the Merchant then headed towards her room, unlocking the door before entering and closed the door again, also not forgetting to slide the lock on the door.

The room was quite small and bare as well, it only has a single person bed that was quite worn out, a pillow that has its stiches come off on few places, and a torn up blanket. There was an oil lamp that hasn’t even been lit up nearby the window.

All in all, it was quite to be expected from a medieval era inn.

The Merchant walked towards the bed and sat on the edge. She frowned when she felt the bedding was quite hard and a bit uneven, as if she was sitting on a rocky surface. She then put the money pouch on the bed beside her before she mentally opened up the Online Shops menu, specifically on the conversion tab.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Achievement]

{Home Page} {Balance} {Conversion}

“Places the currency here”

The Merchant reached into the money pouch beside her and pulled out a single gold coin before tossing it to the purple screen. The coin was sucked as if it has entered a portal and a change on the screen made her eyes go wide.

1 Gold -> 420 points

(Confirm the conversion process: Y/N)

“A single of this worth that much?” The outworlder muttered in shock as she stared at the screen.

Having seen the costs of some products in the Online Shop, this should be a good thing. A single Fodlan coin was more than enough to feed her for couple of weeks if she bought her foods from Online Shop. And with this conversion rate, she would still make huge profits even if Remire village’s buying power was pretty limited.

2 Gold -> 840 points

(Confirm the conversion process: Y/N)

The Merchant then took eight more coins and proceed to do the same thing like she did with the previous two coins.

10 Gold -> 4,200 points

(Confirm the conversion process: Y/N)

“Huh, the conversion rate is pretty consistent. I was worried the coin value aren’t the same for each one of them. Looks like I have nothing to worry about.” The Merchant then unloaded all the coin in the pouch onto the bed and began to count every single of them.

After she was done counting, she found out that she currently has 390 gold coins. If she were to include the 100 gold that she paid to the innkeeper for the room, that would mean Jeralt had gave her 500 gold for killing the bear.

Speaking of the bear, she then remembered that Byleth said that the bear could sell for a couple thousand of gold if it were sold to the butcher.

The Merchant then realized the implication.

“FUCK! I messed up!”

The woman cursed out loud as she pulled her hair in frustration while she mentally kicking herself at her stupidity. She shouldn’t have sold the bear carcass directly to the Online Shops. She should have followed Byleth’s advice and she could earn far more profit from the bear.

After a few minutes cursing herself at her recklessness, the outworlder finally calmed down and letting out a disappointed sigh.

“Oh well, no use crying over a spilled milk.”

The Merchant then proceed converting more coins into points using the Online Shop conversion features.

300 Gold -> 126,000 points

(Confirm the conversion process: Y/N)

The woman in a suit then tapped on the “Y” to confirm the conversion before a notification popped out, telling her that the conversion was successful. She then checked on her balance to see if the points have been transferred. Adding the 2400 points she got from selling the bear, her face turned sour at the reminder of that, her balance was currently at 128,400 points.

The Merchant then began to put the 100 coins she left over back into the pouch before securely tied up the opening. The reason she purposely didn’t convert the leftover coins was simply because just in case when she wishes to make a transaction using Fodlan currency.

She then shifted her sitting position and frowned when she still couldn’t find a comfortable spot. She knew she shouldn’t be picky, but that could only apply if she can’t do nothing about it.

It’s time to utilize the Online Shop as intended.

“Welp, let’s see if the online shop has some comfortable, yet affordable bed.”

The woman began to open the Online Shops again and went to the purchase section this time. She then typed in her desired product

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Achievement]

{Home Page} {Balance} {Conversion}

Purchase | Sell

“Search result for single bed set”

Royal Single Bed set - Price: 700 points

Astro Single Bed set – Price: 1000 points

Lumiere Single Bed set – Price: 900 points

“Show more results”

The Merchant had a thoughtful look on her face as she stared at the screen displaying many sets from many different brands. Some brands sounded familiar to her while the others were quite unknown. All the sets priced ranging from 700 to over 1000 points. While she currently has more than enough points right now, she hoped that there were cheaper options. She got this feeling that she wanted to spend her points as wisely as possible.

“Hmmm, I wonder if I can filter it based on price.”

The Merchant muttered to herself as she tapped on the search bar again before adding a few words into the existing words.

“Search result for single bed set priced less than 200 points”

Ionac Single Bed set - Price: 20 points

Hoka Single Bed set – Price: 170 points

Loli Single Bed set – Price: 150 points

There were only three results this time, but this caused the Merchant to nod in approval.

“Hmmm, that’s more like it.”

She immediately tapped on the cheapest option.

Loli Bed set – Price: 150 (The product included a metal bedframe, a single foam bed, a square and bolster pillow, as well as a thick blanket.)

(Confirm the transaction process: Y/N)

She read the description of the product, nodding in satisfaction before tapping on the “Y” to make a purchase.

In a flash, the items that she ordered suddenly appeared in front of her. The Merchant immediately stood to her feet before she sat on her new bed. She let out a blissful sigh when she feels her new bed.

It was just a regular cheap bed by Earth’s standard, but it was still way more comfortable than the bed this inn provided. She then stood back to her feet and noticed that the new bed had made the already small room feels even more cramped than before.

The Merchant then had an idea to put her dimensional storage to a use. She tried to imagine the bed from the inn disappeared into some empty dimension and a moment later, the bed got whisked away. Interestingly enough that she found out the money pouch she placed on the bed earlier didn’t get whisked away along with the bed.

“I see, I can specify which items I want to put into the Dimensional Storage. Good to know.” The Merchant noted while she bent down to pick the money pouch proceeding to move the new bed.

Due to the Superhuman Physical Characteristic, moving the entire bed was a breeze task. She was able to easily picked it up with one hand before moved it to the spot where the previous bed had been.

Looking out the window, she noticed the sun has already set and remembered her promise to join Jeralt for dinner. The Merchant decided better not to let him wait any longer and headed towards the door and exited the room.

=Scene Change=

“Hey miss, over here.”

As soon as The Merchant reached the bottom floor, she saw Jeralt sitting on a table next to the window at the corner of the inn. Sitting beside him was his son, Byleth who still wore the same stoic expression she always saw in the game. She walked towards the table before sitting on the empty seat on the opposite side from the father and son duo.

The blue haired man and the red haired woman had a staring contest for few seconds before the former broke the awkward silence.

“We meet again.”

“Seems that way.”

Another silence passed.

“I’m Byleth Eisner…please to make an acquaintance with you.”

The Merchant was about to introduce herself as such, but then immediately came with a conclusion that introducing herself with a title would only lead to a question she would rather to avoid.

Instead, she will settle with the name of the character that her appearance was based on.

“I’m Ritsuka Fujimaru…likewise.”

(Ka-ching)

The Merchant, now identified as Ritsuka Fujimaru, blinked in surprised when a notification bell rang before the familiar purple screen appeared in front of her.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Achievement]

Achievement cleared – A more humane name!: Decides your secondary identity

Reward: [Item] Mystery Box

Item has been sent to your storage

Profile has been updated

Ritsuka immediately navigated to the storage menu section, click on the item she just got and read on the description

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Achievement]

50% Discount Coupon

Medieval Bed set

Mystery Box: A mysterious gift that gives randomized rewards.

Ritsuka’s face began to shift into to that of an annoyance when she read the description. Knowing her luck in the previous world, the item most likely will give her some demerit items.

“…llo?”

“Miss Ritsuka?”

Ritsuka was snapped out of her train of thought as she heard Byleth called out her name, her secondary name at least.

“Forgive me, I wasn’t paying attention. Did you say something earlier?” Ritsuka asked Byleth who just looked at her with his trademark stoic face before pointing to his left.

“Are you going to order something?” He asked with equally blank tone.

The woman turned towards the direction he was pointing at and saw a waiter was waiting for her to make an order.

“Oh yeah…I will just have your most popular menu please.” Ritsuka said to the waiter who just nodded numbly before leaving the table.

The woman with the witch hat sighed as she leaned back onto her seat.

“Is there something bothering you, miss Ritsuka?” Jeralt suddenly asked as he too, leaned on his chair while resting his right foot on his left thigh.

Ritsuka didn’t answer him immediately.

“Actually yeah, I have been thinking about what product I should sell to the people here.” She replied while rubbing her temple with her left hand.

It wasn’t a lie.

Even though that now she knew the conversion rate of Fodlan currency to the Online Shop currency, it would be useless if the customer won’t find her product interesting to make a purchase. And she also will need to strictly select of which products that will cost her little but also will earn her profit the most.

“You’re a Merchant?” Byleth’s face shifted into a surprised one for a bit as he titled his head slightly.

“Is it that surprising?” Ritsuka asked him, noting his change of expression.

“You…don’t look like a merchant to me.”

At his answer, Ritsuka blinked a few times before looking down at her current attire, which admittedly, wasn’t the kind of attire a merchant would normally wears.

“Eh, fair enough.” Ritsuka responded with a shrug.

Ten minutes later, their food has arrived. Jeralt had ordered some meat skewers, which exact meat it was Ritsuka had no idea. Meanwhile, his son ordered for a dish of dried tomatoes, cabbage, chickpeas, and other vegetables, stir-fried with eggs served on a bowl.

Ritsuka own foods, which most likely to be this inn most popular menu since she herself asked for it, was seems to be a simple looking grilled fish.

The three of them ate their meals in silence for a little while. Neither of them seems had idea how to open up a comfortable topic for a conversation. At least until one of them broke the ice.

“By the way Miss Ritsuka, if you don’t mind me asking, what kind of wares are you selling?” Jeralt asked the red haired woman as he took a sip of his ale.

Ritsuka paused eating her meal for a moment as she looked up the ceiling.

“I do sell variety of products. Foods, tools, equipment, clothing, and many more.” Ritsuka answered as she took a sip of the ale this in served her.

She licked the inside of her mouth few times to get used to the taste, it was quite…malty to say at least. She can taste the herbs with a hint of smokiness in it. She heard ale in medieval era back on Earth didn’t contain hops, which made it sweeter than their modern counterpart. It seems like the ale in Fodlan was similar to the one back from medieval Earth.

Personally, she didn’t hate the taste. But she would still prefer a more bitter taste in her alcohol.

“Is the drink not to your liking?” Ritsuka’s was snapped out of her thought as she heard Jeralt spoke to her.

“No, the drink is fine. I just prefer the one from back home.”

Suddenly craving for some cold beers, Ritsuka opened up Online Shops again. She noticed the weird looks that both Byleth and Jeralt gave her as they watched her seemingly waving around her finger at nothing, but chose to ignore it as she then picked her favorite brand of beer.

Cold Heineken Canned Beer - Price: 20 points (12 packs 330ml can)

(Confirm the transaction process: Y/N)

Ritsuka then put her plate and mug aside to make some space on her side of the table before tapping “Y” and the pack of beer wrapped in plastic appeared on the table.

Ritsuka then noticed the expression the father-son duo gave her. The son shown mild interest as his eyebrow raised quite a bit. Meanwhile, father’s mouth formed a ‘o’, clearly wanted to ask series of questions to her.

“You guys want some?” Ritsuka asked them as she tore open the packaging with her knife before taking a can and popped it open with her finger. She then chugged down the beer down immediately before letting out a sigh of bliss. “Ah…that’s more like it.”

Byleth and Jeralt looked at each other for a moment before the son took the initiative and picked a can for himself. He was confused at the shape of the beverage in his hand, examined the metal container which he assumed was made of some light metal he didn’t recognize. He never seen anything like it before in his entire life. He then noticed the pull tab on the top before remembering how Ritsuka had opened this thing.

The blue haired mercenary pulled the tab after a few tries, making a loud popping noise, before brought the can to his lip and took a sip. Both Ritsuka and Jeralt could see his pupil dilated for a moment before began to raise the can up slightly to pour the content into his mouth.

Few second later, Byleth gave the can a critical look of his face.

“Taste quite bitter compares to ale, but that’s actually make it so tasty.” Byleth commented before taking a sip of the beer again until the can was empty. He looked at the empty can, placing it on the table before his eyes shifted towards Ritsuka. “May I have one more?” He asked with a hint of hopeful looks on his usual blank face.

Ritsuka just gestured her hand towards the packaging before she too, took another can for herself.

Not wanting to be beaten by his son, Jeralt soon took a can for himself and popped it open just like his son and Ritsuka did. He took a small sip, his eyes widened when the beer taste attacked his tongue before proceed to chug the beer down in one go.

“Ahh….that hits the spot.” Jeralt said as he wiped off some of the beer on his lips with his wrist. “Can I also have more, please?” The Mercenary captain practically begged as he looked at the outworlder who again, just gestured her hand for Jeralt to help himself.

The Mercenary captain shamelessly took four more cans, earning a disapproval look from his son before turning to Ritsuka, who doesn’t seem to mind.

The trio then finished their dinner fully satisfied. Jeralt and Ritsuka were leaning on their seat while Byleth was still sitting straight.

“Man, I’m so full.” The otherworlder groaned as she rubbed her belly before looking at the table.

Aside from the utensil, the table was filled with empty cans and the torn plastic wrapper from the being packaging. Jeralt has become a huge fan of canned beer as he drank the most cans out of the three of them. With a wave of her hand, Ritsuka sent the empty cans and the torn plastic packaging into her Dimensional Storage, leaving only the utensils only.

The woman used to work as cleaning staff in a gas station back on Earth. She knew very well how irksome it was to clean up after some lazy customers who were so lazy that they couldn’t even bother to put their garbage into a bin despite sitting quite near them.

“I have been meaning to ask…” Byleth suddenly spoke, gaining Ritsuka’s attention towards him. “….How did you do that? Making things appears and disappears out of thin air like that?” The blue haired mercenary asked as he looked at the woman in a suit with critical looks.

Ritsuka was expecting this question, so she came prepared with the most obvious response.

“Don’t you have magic in this land?” She asked the young Mercenary with a raised eyebrow.

“We do, but I have never seen anything like yours.” Byleth replied while his eyes were still locked on The Merchant.

“Here, we only use magic to kill people Miss Ritsuka.” Jeralt joined in the conversation. “That…and maybe we also heal people as well.”

Well, that wasn’t a surprise for Ritsuka.

She never went deep into the Fire Emblem Three Houses lore, but she knew magic was divided into two types in Fodlan, Faith and Reason. Faith being mostly used for healing, buffing ally and some short-ranged teleportation while Reason being a more offensive magic by using spells from different element such as fire, lightning, wind, ice as well as some dark spells for mages who specialized in it.

Their conversation, however, was interrupted when someone walked towards their table.

Jeralt looked at the person, a man seemingly in his mid-thirties with short brown hair and a scar on his left cheek, and instantly recognized him as one of his underlings.

“What is it, Jeremy?” The Mercenary captain asked.

“I’m sorry captain, but may I have a word with this lady for a moment?” Jeremy asked with a little hesitant as his eyes gestured towards Ritsuka, who noticed it.

“What do you want?” The Merchant asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Umm…miss, may we have the drink that you gave to captain and Byleth too? It looks rather inviting when we see the captain drank it with such blissful expression.” Jeremy spoke as he scratched the back of his head.

Ritsuka looked at Jeremy and then looking at the rest of the Jeralt Mercenary corp. She then opened up online shop again and purchase 5 packages of 12 packs 330ml canned beer. The packages appeared on the table, forming two stack each and one on the top,

Jeremy and the rest of Jeralt Mercenary Corps beamed into smile and their mouths were already drooling.

“Ah, thank you so much ma’am-Ouch.” Jeremy gratitude’s was cut off when Ritsuka took a spoon and smacked his hands with it when Jeremy tried to reach for the beer.

Jeremy looked in confusion at the Merchant who just ignored him while she faced the Mercenary captain and his son.

“Mister Eisner, how much do you usually pay for one serving of ale?” The red haired woman asked.

While the question was directed towards Jeralt, it was his son who answered her.

“5 golds per serving.” Byleth answered short and simple, just like how Ritsuka like it.

Ritsuka eyes looked up, doing a quick mental calculation before shifted his attention towards Jeremy and held her palm out.

“70 golds per package.” She said to the Jeralt’s underling who looks so flabbergasted.

“B-b-but…you gave captain and Byleth for fre-.”

“Since when did you get the impression that I give free stuffs to people?” Ritsuka didn’t let him finished his sentenced as she shots him a quite annoyed looks on her face. “Mister Eisner and his son let me keep half of the reward from the bear extermination job despite it wasn’t necessary for them. I was just repaying the favor.”

Jeremy looked at his captain who just looked at him in disappoint men.

“Jeremy, just pay the lady will you.” Jeralt ordered the man who just sighed in defeat as he reached into his pocket and gave the appropriate amount and handed it to Ritsuka.

(Ka-ching)

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Achievement]

Achievement cleared – first step towards fortune!: Made your first transaction.

Reward: [Item] Mystery Box

Item has been sent to your storage

Ritsuka raised her eyebrow again when a notification popped out, telling her that she had cleared another achievement. She also noted that the reward was the same like before.

“Another mystery box?” The Merchant mussed in her mind and she decided she really needed to check what reward she will get from those mystery boxes.

In the end, Ritsuka sold 15 packages of 12 cans beer. Aside from the Jeralt Mercenary, the Inn keeper also bought 10 packages as well after seeing how popular the canned beer was among the customer.

In one night, Ritsuka earned 1050 golds, which if being converted into points, the amount would be exactly 441,000 points. The best part of it, she only spent measly 300 points for the beers.

Not bad for the unofficial first transaction.

(Scene Change)

Ritsuka switched on the battery powered desk lamp she just bought from online shops, brightened up the room more than the oil lamp the inn had provided, before putting the desk lamp onto the table which she also just bought. The outherworlder was wearing a set of Pajamas for comforts after she stashed away her formal suit back to her Dimensional Storage. She then lay down on her bed before mentally opened up the storage menu to check on something.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Achievement]

50% Discount Coupon

Medieval Bed set

Mystery Box (x2)

The Merchant then tapped onto the bottom most item. The display then gave her an option on what to do with it.

Mystery Box: A mysterious gift that gives randomized rewards.

Open | Discard

She then picked the “open” option and a confirmation message popped out. After confirming the option, an animation of a present box shaking before popping out the rewards played on the display screen.

Congratulation!

You have received: [Item] Electrical Ceiling Fan

Item has been sent to your storage

“What is the use of an electrical device in a world where electricity hasn’t even been developed yet?” The red haired woman couldn’t help but to twitched her eyebrow in annoyance.

Ritsuka knew this would happen, but she still couldn’t help but annoyed at the fact they didn’t give her a usable item. Heck, a pair of socks was better reward than an electrical fan at the moment, at least it would keep her feet warm in the night.

Putting her annoyance aside, Ritsuka decided to open another Mystery Box before calling it for a night. After the first reward, she honestly expected nothing from this.

Congratulation!

You have received: [Ability] Pain Inhibition: The ability to manipulate the pain experience of the user. The user requires to consciously activate this ability in order to completely negate pain. Otherwise, they only have minor pain inhibition always on.

Ability has been sent to your arsenal

Ritsuka blinked her eyes for a few second to make sure if she was seeing this correctly.

“This is…surprisingly useful.” Ritsuka commented as she stared at the screen with wide eyes.

It was pretty much guaranteed that she will get pulled in a battle. And when there was a battle, there was a pain.

Back on Earth, her pain tolerance was so awful, even a minor wound such as a small cut could make her hissed in agony. She was fully aware that in this medieval era setting that she might experienced an even greater pain than that. As the matter of fact, she was so lucky that she came out unharmed when fighting that bear earlier today. Her body shuddered at the thought of her body getting tore apart by a bear claws.

With this Pain Inhibition, it would no longer be an issue. Sure, she might get injured, but the pain would be lessened, if not outright gone.

However, this poses another problem.

“Being able to negate pain at choice is nice and all, but this could be a double edge sword if my wound become fatal and I was too late to notice it if I shut down all the pain I receive.” The red haired woman mussed as she assume a thinking pose.

In a scenario where enemy wielded a weapon coated with poison, Pain Inhibition could prevent her from noticing the poison. Specially if a small cut was all it needed to administer the poison to her body. Pain Inhibition already passively dulled out the pain, so she probably wouldn’t notice a minor wound like that.

She needs a countermeasure for that.

“Hmmm…can I just buy ability from this Online Shop?” Ritsuka wondered out loud as the thought suddenly came up in her mind.

She then opened Online Shops menu and began to type “Ability” into the search bar.

The result caused her to choke out her breath in disbelieve.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Achievement]

{Home Page} {Balance} {Conversion}

Purchase | Sell

“Search result for ability”

Fire Manipulation - Price: 200,000,000 points

Telekinesis – Price: 500,000,000 points

Intangibility – Price: 1,000,000,000 points

“Show more results”

“What the hell?! Why is it so damn expensive?!” The Merchant almost shouted in annoyance as she tapped for more results.

Fire Manipulation - Price: 200,000,000 points

Telekinesis – Price: 500,000,000 points

Intangibility – Price: 1,000,000,000 points

Space-time Manipulation – 20,000,000,000 points

Dimension Travel – 10,000,000,000 points

Regeneration (Low, Mid, High, Godly) – Price: 500,000,000 to 25,000,000,000 points

The otherworlder gritted her teeth in annoyance as the price has gotten even more expensive than before. She then tapped on the filter icon before sorts the items into the cheapest options.

Appraisal – Price: 100,000,000 points

Perimeter Detection – Price: 100,000,000 points

Underwater Breathing – Price: 100,000,000 points

“Show more results”

“Even the cheapest options still cost 100,000,000.” Ritsuka mumbled in disappointment as she dismissed the screen, alongside with her idea of just buying ability from Online Shops.

She stared at the ceiling while laying on her bed while contemplating about her current situation.

Her mundane daily life has gone, whisked away by some godlike being who created that chat ai bot. She should have been very furious right now, but somehow she has taken it rather well so far, a little bit too well in fact. She would like to know who, or rather, what kind of being that brought her here and for what purpose.

But her eyes were getting tired as it began to slowly closed, pulling her into a deep slumber.

To be Continued

Chapter Text

Episode 2: Encounter that is inevitable

The time was 7 in the morning.

Well, approximately at least. There wasn't any clock in the village to keep track on time.

The Innkeeper was performing her daily routine cleaning up the surrounding area of her inn. Swept up any fallen leaves scattered around the entrance, collecting those weird lightweight metal containers left over from that bitter flavored ale that the red haired Merchant sold to her and the Jeralt Mercenary. There were also these thin foreign materials she had never seen before that were used to wrap around those lightweight metal containers.

After she was done with the entrance area, she then went around the building and headed towards the backyard where the guest can wash their faces using the well she provided for them.

The Innkeeper blinked in confusion when she saw something…quite bizarre right beside the well.

A series of…unusual walls for the lacks of better words, circling around something…or rather someone since she could faintly hear a humming from within the wall perimeter. The walls were pretty unusual due to its zig-zag shape and from the look of it, it looks like it can be folded like a paper.

The Innkeeper noticed an opening gap and cautiously approached the strange wall. There was a sign sticking on them, seemingly written in a foreign letter that she has never seen before. She also noticed the paper that was used for the sign.

Paper was considered a luxury product in Fodlan, it was one of the main reasons why books also were so expensive that only those with wealth could afford it. Once she got the chance to see a book that used paper from a wealthy merchant who stayed for a night in her inn, it was so it was high quality compared to the ones that used parchment.

This paper in front of her was so white clean to the point it made the kind of paper she knew looks filthy in comparison.

Pushing away her amazement of the paper aside for later, the Innkeeper braved herself to stick her head into the gap and looks behind the folding wall.

The innkeeper saw the strange merchant from yesterday, submerging her entire body except for the head into what it looks like to be a strange looking bathtub. The bathtub, just like the paper, was white clean as well. It was unlike the bathtub she knew that were made from woods and stone. It looks so polished to the pointed she can see her reflection in it.

Sawagashii hibi ni waraenai kimi ni

Omoitsuku kagiri mabushii asu o

Akenai yoru ni ochite yuku mae ni

Boku no te o tsukande hora

The innkeeper watched the strange merchant, seeming singing a song in language she never heard before while the latter brushing her body with some pleasantly smelled substance.

Wasurete shimaitakute tojikometa hibi mo

Dakishimeta nuku-

The Innkeeper watched the merchant finally noticed her as the latter looked at her direction. She seemingly took off a strange white small object from her left ear and looked quite displeased by the interruption.

"Excuse me, didn't I put a sign that literally says "Do not Enter" outside?" Ritsuka Fujimaru asked, not hiding her annoyed mood in the slightest.

The Innkeeper blinked a few times in response.

"Is that what the sign says?" The Innkeeper asked while titling her head slightly.

"Huh? What do you mean by th-" Ritsuka was about to retort before her eyes widened in realization. She groaned as she ran her palm down her face. "…Arrrgh, I'm such an idiot. Why the hell did I write the sign in English? No one can understand it here."

The Innkeeper watched awkwardly Ritsuka mentally kicking herself for her mistake before the latter returned her attention back to the former.

"My bad, I should have written the sign in Fodlan language so anyone can understand it. It's a miracle no one has tried to take look here until you did." Ritsuka sighed as she tried to relax in her bathtub.

The Innkeeper decided her curiosity has been satisfied.

"I will let you to finish your bath then, make sure to tidy up your stuffs after you done."

The Innkeeper then left to continue her cleaning routine while Ritsuka putting on her airpod to her ear again and continued cleaning her body while vibing to Yoasobi song.

"Excuse me, how much does this knife cost?"

"That would be 150 gold, miss."

Now dressed back in her formal suit, Ritsuka's right hand reached into her pouch while her left arm carried a load of bread under her arm and pulled out the exact amount needed before handing the money to the young man behind the table. The young receive the money, counting it before nodded and wrapping up an ordinary looking iron knife with a piece of cloth and handed it to the outerworlder.

The red head unwrapped the knife as she gripped on the handle, she then used the knife to cut a small piece of bread, before put the piece into her mouth. She visibly frowned when she was having difficulty chewing on the bread.

"I heard medieval era breads were quite hard compares to their modern counterparts, but I didn't think it would be this bad." Ritsuka commented as she opened Online Shop and bought a bottle of water.

After the product appeared in her hand, she twisted the cap open, chugging down the water to soften the bread in her mouth before began chewing again and swallow the bread. She then stashed her things away into her Dimensional Storage as she headed towards the village entrance.

Ritsuka just finished her market research for the price of local product.

A set of meal from the tavern costed around 10-20 gold. Ignoring the fact that she had Online Shop, the price was…well, pretty standard for foods that were only seasoned with salt. The otheworlder deduced that pepper was considered luxury product in Fodlan, so she scrapped the idea of selling them here.

It's not like she can't sell them for low price, pepper was pretty cheap in her Online Shop so she would still make a lot of profit. It's just she feared selling pepper for cheap price would totally flip Fodlan's pepper market upside down which will definitely lure out a lot of unwanted attentions towards her if people heard that they can buy the supposed luxury product like pepper from her for a cheap price. If she ever wanted to sell pepper, it would be a lot safer and more profitable to sell them in bulk to some wealthy people like some nobility.

A single loaf of bread from the local bakery costed 5 gold. Ritsuka has tasted the bread that peasants consumed regularly, it was so hard that she was sure she could use it as a weapon to murder someone.

The red head was considering selling the soft modern bread for a little bit higher price. She aware that soft breads during medieval times were only consumed by the wealthy and nobility due to its production required a laborious milling process and the use of expensive, well-sifted wheat flour. But unlike pepper, it was unlikely that selling soft bread for an affordable price for peasants would disrupt the bread market. The worst thing that could happen was it could garner some bitterness from the local bakery for stealing their customers. But it's not like she planned to stay in Remire village for so long.

And finally, the equipment's from the Blacksmith costed ranging from 150 to 500 gold. From what she can get from her survey, equipment tends to cost more than foods here. The knife that she just bought was the cheapest items available on that workshop. She noticed the lacks of utensils during her purchase, so stainless steel utensils might attract the villagers attentions more than weapons.

Before she knew it, Ritsuka finally arrived at the village entrance. She witnessed the female merchant who sold food ingredients from yesterday was securing her wares into her wagon, preparing to leave the village. Meanwhile, the male merchant who sold equipment was nowhere to be seen, presumably already left earlier.

This is good news for her. More customers for her.

Ritsuka then began to look around to find a spot for her stall. She inspected one near the village gate which has pretty even ground level and minimum bushes. Nodding in approval, the Merchant opened up her Online Shops and began to type down something on the search bar.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Achievement]

{Home Page} {Balance} {Conversion}

Purchase Sell

"Search result for pre-build stand booth"

Semi-permanent booth - Price: 20,000 points

Expo style booth – Price: 10,000 points

Portable booth – Price: 4,000 points

"Show more results"

Ritsuka looked at the option. Normally, she would pick for the cheapest option. But the semi-permanent one looks tempting judging by the image. She then tapped onto the 20,000 points product.

Semi-permanent booth – Price: 20,000 points (A 3x5x3 meters structure made out of plywoods, complete with plastic door, a wooden counter and roof.)

(Confirm the transaction process: Y/N)

The otherworlder confirmed the transaction process and the structure suddenly appeared in front of her. Ritsuka inspected the booth carefully up and down before nodding in approval.

Half an hour later, Ritsuka has finished preparing for her booth. The previously bare booth was now filled with variety of products. Many variety of breads cut into small slices were being displayed inside of a medium sized glass rack on the counter with a stainless tongs lay beside the stacks of the disposable paper plates, there was also a sign that says "Free Sample: a piece per person" tapped on the glass.

Behind her, there were multiple racks full of products such as kitchen utensils, variety of package foods ingredients, and some farming equipment. There was also a couple of cosmetic products such as soap and shampoo being displayed on the counter. And finally, a couple baskets full of fresh fruits and vegetables.

She then walked out her booth and ordered a floor chalkboard sign and a pack of chalk from Online Shops, written the word "Open for Business" on it, also making sure that it's written in Fodlan language this time so people can understand it, before nodding and set the board beside the booth.

(Ka-ching)

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Achievement]

Achievement cleared – Rookie entrepreneur!: Open up your own shop.

Reward: [Item] 50% Discount Coupon.

Item has been sent to your storage

Ritsuka just shrugged her shoulder when she got a discount coupon from the achievement. She was pretty sure this is the second time she got the discount coupon, perhaps she should save it for a very expensive product like those abilities that costed billions.

"You got some pretty unusual wares over there."

Ritsuka blinked as she was snapped out of her thought when a female voice was heard from behind her. The red haired woman turned around to see the merchant lady from yesterday, studying the displayed products with critical eyes.

Time to put her inner saleswoman into a test.

"Welcome…see anything you like?" Ritsuka greeted her potential customers with the friendliest smile she could muster.

The merchant lady put a finger on her chin as she looked around Ritsuka's booth until her attention on the glass container that stored the free sample bread.

"Are these…breads?" The woman asked as she turned her head towards Ritsuka.

"Yes, they are breads." The outerworlder answered as she grabbed the tongs and a paper plate before slides open the glass container and picked a piece of free sample bread. She placed it on the paper plate before handed it over the merchant lady. "Here, have a free sample." Ritsuka offered the plate to the merchant lady who accepted it after a few seconds.

The merchant lady was intrigued at the material that was used to make the small plate she was holding. It felt like paper, but a lot thicker. The merchant lady picked up the slice of bread and was shocked at how soft it was. She then slowly put the slice into her mouth and took a bit.

Her pupil dilated at the texture of the bread she was eating.

"It's so soft…it's like biting into a soft pillow." The merchant lady muttered in amazement as she finished the sample bread. She was in deep thought for a moment before shifting her gaze towards Ritsuka. "How much is it?" She asked the otherworlder.

"10 golds per loaf." Who immediately answered her as she quickly bought one package of sliced bread from Online Shop and showed it to her.

"It's cheaper than I expected for a bread that big." The merchant lady muttered again as she stared at the product before assumed a thinking pose. "How low does the bread last?" She asked again.

"5 to 7 days so long the packaging still intact." Ritsuka answered again.

The merchant lady made some mental calculation in her head before nodding and faced Ritsuka.

"I will buy 100 of them." The merchant lady spoke as she pulled out her money pouch from her clothes.

Ritsuka beamed into a smile as she processed the merchant lady order. Each of those breads cost only 2 points in the Online Shops, so she just scored quite huge profit in this single transaction. The otherworlder then thought that it would be more appropriate to pack the breads into some kind of container.

The red haired woman then bought two large plastic container box with the lid on it. She then stuffed each plastic box with 50 packs of breads before helping the merchant lady secured them with the rest of her cargos.

Ritsuka dusted off her hand before facing the merchant who handed her a single coin that looks quite different compared to the regular gold coin.

"What is this?" Ritsuka questioned as she examined the coin back and forth while rolled the coin over her knuckles. Not only the coin was brighter than the regular one, but it was bigger as well.

"Bullion coin. Its value equals to 1000 of regular gold coins. There is also the large one which worths 5000 gold and the extra large one which worths 10,000 gold." The merchant lady explained as she mounted her horse.

Ritsuke stared at the coin for few more seconds before shrugging her shoulder and stuffed the coin into her pocket.

"Thank you for your patronage. Have a safe trip." Ritsuka politely thanked the merchant lady before heading back to her booth and waited for the next customers.

"Seems like your business is going well, miss Ritsuka."

Jeralt commented as the Mercenary captain walked towards the booth after he watched Ritsuka just finished serving a customer who made a big purchase of breads. His son was silently trailing behind him, still wearing his usual stoic expression on his face.

"Ah Mister Eisner, indeed the business is smoother than I expected. I was worried that since Remire is such a small village, they wouldn't have much buying power. It looks like I worried for nothing." Ritsuka replied as she leaned on the counter.

"Well, you do have many unusual items that most of us have never seen before." Jeralt spoke as he then took one of the soap bars that was being displayed. "Like this soap over here, I have never seen such colourful soap before."

"They also smell really pleasant unlike the soap we have." Byleth joined in the conversation.

"And they are cheap as well, are you sure it's fine to sell these for such low price? You can easily fetch couple hundreds of golds for each of these if you sell them to some noble families." Jeralt questioned before placing the soap back with the rest.

Well that's a useful information Ritsuka just got there. She was aware that scented soap are luxury items as well in this medieval settings world, but she hasn't any slightest idea of their market price. Knowing it would be useful for later if she ever got to meet with some noble.

Actually, she knew a certain someone from the Golden Deer house who would appreciate some modern luxury beauty products. And the fact she is a noble from pretty famous lineage means that she could squeezed so much golds from her.

But that was for later.

"Anyway, what's bringing you here?" Ritsuka asked the Mercenary captain.

The Mercenry captain responded by reaching into his clothes and pulled out a rolled parchment before handing over to Ritsuka. The otherworlder unrolled the parchment and looked at the content of it.

It was a shopping list.

Ritsuka then stepped out of her booth and began to proceed the order. The list consisted of mostly supplies for his Mercenary group, breads, cloths, some vegetables. Jeralt also seems to order the canned beers as well, which he wrote in his list as "weird, but tasty ale" and soaps.

Couple of minutes later, Ritsuka done packing Jeralt's order into two large wooden crates. After doing some mental calculation, she then turned to face the Mercenary captain telling him the price. Jeralt wordlessly paid the amount and Ritsuka gave him a nod of confirmation after counting the money.

"Is there anything else you need, mister Eisner?" Ritsuka asked the older man.

"Actually, my son here seems to be looking for a new equipment. This is why he tags along." Jeralt replied as he pointed his thumb towards Byleth who finally saw the chance to joined in.

"Do you have any usual equipment that will aid me in battle?" The blue haired Mercenary not beating around the bush and asked the red haired Merchant.

Ritsuka assumed a thinking pose. She doubted swords would interest him that much, maybe if it has some magical properties in it, but those kind of items costs tons of points in the Online Shops. Ritsuka would have to put pretty high price which she worried might scared him.

She was considering offering him a firearm. This is mostly for her pleasure, seeing some medieval people reacting to the might of modern weaponry has always been one of her favourite things in fiction. But firearm requires ammunitions which she can't provide to the customers all the time. Not because they were expensive, but because she probably wouldn't be available at the time since she was planning not staying on one place. And with Fodlan current technological level, she doubted they can recreate their own ammunition for the firearm.

The Firearm would be useless after a while. She needs to think for an item that doesn't require some special care or treatment.

An imaginary lightbulb appeared above her head as an idea just popped up in her mind. She then opened Online Shops and typed down a certain equipment in the search bar.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Achievement]

{Home Page} {Balance} {Conversion}

Purchase Sell

"Search result for binocular"

Celestron optic - Price: 150 points

Atlhon optic – Price: 155 points

Vortex optic – Price: 100 points

"Show more results"

Ritsuka immediately picked the cheapest option.

Vortex optic – Price: 100 points (HD Optical System, Tripod Adaptable, Rubber Armor, Waterproof, Fogproof, Shockproof)

(Confirm the transaction process: Y/N)

The Merchant confirmed the transaction as 100 points was withdrawn from her balance. Not even a second later, the binocular appeared on her grasp. She examined the binocular thoroughly before nodding in approval. And turned towards Byleth.

"How about a binocular? It's an equipment that will let you to see things from far away." Ritsuka offered as she began to remove the lens cap. "And you used it like this." The red haired woman the demonstrated it by gently pressing the binocular small lens in front of her eyes.

She then gave the binocular to Byleth who looked quite intrigued by the yet another object he has never seen before. The blue haired Merc then mimic the demonstration by looking at the mountain in the distance before his mouth forming an "o" shape.

"Fascinating. I can see the mountain in great details from here. Scouting for enemies would be a lot easier with this thing." Despite the seemingly sounded as monotonous as ever, there was a hint of amazement in Byleth's voice which caught Jeralt attention.

"Son, let me try it for a second." The mercenary captain asked his son, who didn't immediately respond him before the latter eventually handed the binocular to his father.

The father has similar reaction when his mouth forming an even bigger "o" shape.

"Impressive. You never cease to surprise me, Miss Ritsuka." Jeralt spoke as he shifted his vision towards the uphill road that lead to the village.

"You can focus the vision even more by twisting this part right here." Ritsuka responded as she pointed her finger towards the jagged part on the lens.

Jeralt briefly looked at the part Ritsuka pointed at before putting the binocular on again and then twisting it. He can see the binocular zooming in his vision even more.

"Oh, this thing is even better than I thought….hmmm what is that…"

The Mercenary captain asked no one in particular as he spotted something up the road that led to the village entrance.

Ritsuka noticed this as she quickly bought another binocular before looking at the direction that Jeralt was looking at.

Her eyes widened at the sight she was seeing.

The otherworlder can clearly see three people, two males and one female, running towards the village entrance in haste. But no, that wasn't the reason why she was surprised. It was the fact that Ritsuka recognized who these people are.

All three wore black uniforms with gold or silver trim, with capes draped over their left shoulders to complete their respective looks. Yellow, blue, red. One was a young man with short blond hair who wore the blue cape. One was a young man with messy black hair wore the yellow cape. The last one was a young woman with white hair wore the red cape.

Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, Claude von Reigan, and Edelgard von Hresvelg.

Three major characters of Fire Emblem Three Houses.

"If there are here, then there is a group of bandits chasing them right now."

Ritsuka spoke within her mind as she watched the Officer Academy trio were getting closer to the village.

Fire Emblem Three Houses started with these three coming to Remire Village after getting chased by the bandit group during their outing. They later had a fated encounter with Byleth Eisner, the main character, who later will become the professor of the player chosen houses.

Except the otherworlder noticed something wasn't right.

"Hold on a second, didn't the first battle happened during dawn when the Jeralt Mercenary was about to head off to Faerghus for a job there? Why have they just arrived here now?"

Ritsuka narrowed her eyes behind her binocular before she put it away from her eyes as she turned towards Byleth.

"Say Byleth, what is today's date?" The red haired merchant asked the blue haired mercenary.

"It's 15th of the Great Tree Moon." Byleth answered while tilting his head slightly at the question.

"15th? That's five days earlier than the supposed date. Why is it different from the canon event?" Ritsuka thought as she began to work her brain out. "Was my arrival to Fodlan causing this divergent? I have read about the chaos theory before, but to experience it myself feels so much different especially since you can actually tell the differences."

"Miss Ritsuka."

The red haired otherworlder blinked a few times as she was snapped out of her thoughts. She can see Byleth waving his hand in front of her face.

"Are you okay? You seem to be lost in thought for a while now." Byleth asked, still wearing his trademark blank expression on his face.

"Huh?"

Ritsuka then checked on her surrounding and found the Officer Academy trio have already arrived at the Remire Village entrance. She can see Dimitri and Claude were speaking to Jeralt, telling their tale about being chased by bandits during their outing. Her gaze briefly met with Edelgard before shifting her attention back to Byleth.

"Oh no, I'm alright. Thanks for asking." Ritsuka replied to the blue haired mercenary, who seems not too convinced by the answer but didn't attempt to pry it into further, which Ritsuka greatly appreciated from him.

They later watched Jeralt and the trio house leaders walked towards them. The mercenary captain looked at his son with serious expression.

"Son, call the others and tell them to prepare for battle." The middle aged looking man ordered firmly, using his authoritative tone that befitted to his status as Captain of Jeralt Mercenary group.

His son obediently nodded and turned around to head for their camp where the rest of their comrades were located.

Ritsuka watched Byleth leave before turning towards Jeralt. "What is going on, Mister Eisner?" Ritsuka asked the mercenary captain. Of course it wasn't necessary since she has already knew what happened, but it would be hella suspicious if she already knew it.

"Bandits….about a hundred of them, possibly more." Jeralt answered with a grim look on his face.

Ritsuka wore the same expression when she heard about the number of bandits that were coming here. Was this also the effect of her arrival or the number of bandits was always like that canonically speaking. Either way, she already knew that they successfully routed the bandits in the game. So, Ritsuka saw no reason to get involved.

(Ka-ching)

Ritsuka jolted when the notification noises rang as the familiar purple screen appeared before her. She then took a look at the screen.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Quest] [Achievement]

Home Locked Locked

EMERGENCY QUEST! (Optional)

Participate in battle to defend Remire Village

Status: In-progress

Reward: Starter Pack items.

"Emergency Quest? What is this, Solo Leveling?" the red haired woman thought as she read the notification message before her eyes land on the "optional" part. "Oh, it's not mandatory? That's good to know, but I'm curious about the rewards…"

Ritsuka then shifted her attention back to Jeralt. She looked at the mercenary captain with a serious expression.

"How many people do you have under your command?" The Merchant asked.

"Thirty. Maybe I could convince some villagers to help, this is their home after all. But even then, the bandit still outnumbers us." Jeralt replied bitterly.

Ritsuka took a deep breath before exhaled it as she was assessing her situation.

Frankly speaking, unless it doesn't too much of a troublesome for her, she was the kind of person who dislike sticking her nose into a matter that doesn't directly concern her, even back when she was still on Earth as a male.

Quite cowardly. She was very aware of that, but that's just who she is.

This is one of those situations. She had arrived at Remire Village just yesterday, it was natural that she didn't have any slightest attachment to this place. And the only reason she considered helping right now was simply because of a more selfish reason. But even so, she still wasn't sure if it was worth the effort risking her life.

In this situation, there is only one thing she could do to decide.

Ritsuka reached into her pocket and pulled out the bullion coin she received from the Merchant who bought her breads this morning. One side of the coin has a bit of scratches on it while the other side was spotless. She then launched the coin up to the air using her thumb before catching it mid-air with her left hand and placed it at the back of her right hand.

She uncovered the coin.

It was the spotless side of the coin that was facing up.

She stashed the coin back to her pocked before facing Jeralt again.

"Alright, I will lend you a hand." Ritsuka declared earning different reaction from the house leader trio.

The Crown Prince of Faerghus jaw gaped open.

The Heir of Leicester Alliance, who was secretly the Prince of Almyra, let out an amused chuckle.

And the Crown Princess of Adrestian Empire just looks flabbergasted at the display.

"Did…did you just made a decision…over a coin toss?" Edelgard von Hresvelg questioned the red haired woman in utter disbelieve.

"Why does it matter?" Ritsuka questioned the princess back with a raised eyebrow. "My reason to help might be quite selfish, but more people means more chances of you brats getting out of here alive."

The trio let out a frown after being referred as brats by Ritsuka, but before they could say something, Jeralt interrupted them.

"She is right, we need all helps we can get." Jeralt spoke in as he turned towards Ritsuka. "I hope you will bring out something that could overcome our disadvantage in numbers, Miss Ritsuka."

Ritsuka's eyes looked upward for a moment before came up with an idea.

"I do, in fact, have something in mind actually."

Jeralt remained vigilantly watched the uphill road that led to the Village through the binocular.

The atmosphere in Remire Village has become tense after the news of the incoming bandit raids has reached the villagers. Jeralt managed to convince 20 villagers to join defending their village. The rest of them villagers took shelter in the Village chief house, specifically within the basement.

He has 30 peoples under his command. And adding him, his son, the trio who insisted to help and the merchant with unusual wares, that would make it 56 people against over 100 people.

This would have been a minor issue normally, Jeralt has fought a disadvantageous battle and triumph before with minor casualties. But that was only possible due to carefully proper planning and preparations.

He has no such luxury today, the bandits came out of sudden. He has no time to device a strategy, so it's all come down to which sides was better at killing people. While he was confident that his side was more skilled and more equipped, he predicted that he will still suffers some casualties. He just hopes that he wouldn't lose too many people today.

"Captain, we're here."

A voice snapped him out of his thought as he can feel his son walked to his side. He also didn't need to turn around to know that all of the Jeralt Mercenary were behind him.

"Son, what do you think the best course of action we should take?" Jeralt asked his son while still watching the road through the binocular.

"With our number disadvantage, we should prioritize in defence rather than offence. Since we don't have time to set up traps like we normally do, we have to improvise a little bit." Byleth answered loud and simple.

Jeralt stopped looking through the binocular and turned towards his son.

"What do you suggest?" The mercenary captain asked his son.

Byleth looked around the surrounding and noticed that the village were practically surrounded by tall grass.

"The village is surrounded by tall grass. We could set them on fire when our enemy passing through them. That should at least throw them into disarray, makes it easier taking them out while they are in panic."

Jeralt thought about it for a moment, he wasn't entirely against the idea. But there was one problem. The tall grass extended all the way to nearby forest and farm field. Setting them on fire could risk causing a massive forest fire.

Still, he really needs something that could tip the battle to his favor.

"We will do it as the last resort." Jeralt stated firmly, earning a nod from his son.

"I heard Miss Ritsuka is helping us. Should I expect her running around and punching bandits head off with her bare hands?" Byleth's question threw Jeralt off guard a little bit at how casual his tone was.

To be honest, he also wanted to see if the story about the strange merchant decapitating a full grown Duscur bear with a punch was true. As much as he loves his son, the story he told him about Ritsuka was a bit too ridiculous.

"No, she has something else in mind. Let's just hope whatever it is, it can tip the battle in our favor." The mercenary captain spoke.

Byleth raised an eyebrow at that. "That's not like you to rely on some unknown factor, father." The blue haired mercenary noted his sentences.

Jeralt was about to answer that-

"HERE THEY COME!"

Before one of his men yelled while pointing at the road ahead.

Hordes of bandit charges towards the village. Their battle cries were gradually heard the closer they have gotten to the village.

All of the Jeralt Mercenary were used to battle, so they just stelled themselves while brandishing their weapons.

The trio who got them into this mess seems also have some taste in battlefield as they also calmly prepared themselves.

The villagers were not as experienced. Some of them were seen trembling while holding dead life onto their weapons, some of them were praying to the Goddess, only a couple of them who were calm…or visibly calm as their hands were also trembling even for a little bit.

Jeralt was about to give them a signal to attack…

"Huh?"

…Until a certain red haired woman walked ahead the group while carrying something on both of her hands.

Jeralt didn't recognized the thing that Ritsuka was carrying. It was long and seemingly made out of a metal. Jeralt guessed that it was some sort of a weapon, but it has such strange shape that Jeralt probably wouldn't have guess it was a weapon if not the fact that he was in a battle right now.

When the hordes of bandits were just a hundred meters away, everyone saw Ritsuka began to aim whatever it was on her hands at the hordes.

And the next second…

(thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud)

…Most of the bandits were dead after what could be described as a hellish noise has passed.

10 seconds

That was all it took for Ritsuka to finished shooting 100 of .338 norma magnum caliber roound from the SIG Sauer MG 338 machine gun. The gun costed her whopping 450,000 points with the ammunitions costed 10,000 points per magazine.

And in just 10 seconds, the bandits number were thinned to less than half of their previous numbers.

Ritsuka let out a frown as she could hear the cries of agony and terror from the bandits who miraculously survived the onslaught from her and her new machine gun. There was no need to look closer to know what getting shot by a machine gun does to a human body.

(Ka-ching)

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Achievement]

Achievement cleared – Killed or be killed!: Get your first human kill.

Reward: [Item] Mystery equipment.

Item has been sent to your storage

(Ka-ching)

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Locked] [Achievement]

Achievement cleared – Chain Killer!: Get over 50 kills.

Reward: [Item] Mystery equipment.

Item has been sent to your storage

Two notification messages popped out and Ritsuka quickly dismissed it. She can check on the rewards later, but now there was a more important thing that needed to be addressed first.

"I killed them."

Three words.

Just three words.

There was no need to be said that it was her first time killing a fellow human being. She felt so disturbed and almost sick to her stomach. But the reason for this disturbing feeling wasn't one that people might expected.

And it wasn't because of some sort of moral value like "Killing is wrong" or something similar.

Ritsuka was fully aware it was inevitable that she will kill someone after coming into this fantasy world. It was either her or them who ended up dead. She understands that much and it was the thing that she needs to accept from now on. She thought that she will feel guilt killing fellow humans like any normal ordinary person would.

However, she didn't feel any of those.

The discovery of her being able to take life's without to feel any guilt was what disturbed her right now.

Ritsuka saw the surviving bandits was in the state of panic. They were frozen while staring at their dead mangled comrades with pure terror in their eyes, unable to understand what just happened.

While they were frozen in terror on their feet, the otherworlder proceed to reload her machine gun as fast as she can. After securely mounted the new magazine on the gun, Ritsuka pulled back the slider to insert the new round into the firing chamber.

She then took aim at the bandits before pulling the trigger to unleash another hell onto them.

(thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud)

Due to her superhuman physical characteristics, she doesn't feel any slightest recoil from the machine gun. She was also able to walked forward while the machine gun was still firing hails of bullets.

The result was to be expected, the rest of the bandits were riddled by hot lead flying at the speed of 810 m/s. And with the distance between them was less than 100 meters, the bandits stood no chance and couldn't dodge the bullets.

And in another 10 seconds, all the bandits were dead.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] [Quest] [Achievement]

Home Locked Locked

EMERGENCY QUEST! (Optional)

Participate in battle to defend Remire Village

Status: Cleared.

Reward: Starter Pack items has been sent to your inventory

Ritsuka made no reaction to the notification message as her frown became even more sour when she still couldn't feel any guilt from the one-sided massacre she just committed.

Frankly speaking, there wasn't any real reason for her to finish them off. She was confident that if she had just told them to flee and never come back, they would comply without much argument. Especially after witnessing what a machine gun can do to their comrades.

And no, it wasn't out of precaution either. Like to prevent them from getting revenge on her in the future if she ever meets them again by chance.

The reason real reason Ritsuka decided to finish them off…was just to confirm whether or not she feels any guilt killing them.

That's it, the massacre was treated as a confirmation.

And that's really disturbing to her the fact that she was capable of killing people practically on a whim.

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Ritsuka then turned around and began to stormed into the village with the machine gun hanging by the stock on her left hand.

She could see everyone were staring at her in pure shock, some of them were still covering their ears with their hands, probably due to the loud continuous gunshots.

She ignored the stares everyone was giving her as she walked towards the village. The people seems to clear the path for her after seeing her frustrated look on her face. She noticed Byleth looked at her in a rare shocked face and seemingly wanted to say something to her. But his father stopped him by putting a hand onto his shoulder and shook his head.

Ritsuka silently appreciated the man being considerate to her.

Because right now, all she needed was some space to cool her head off.

To be Continued

Chapter Text

Episode 3: Companion

Fodlan, Adrestian Empire, Remire Village – Tuesday, 07:00 P.M, Day 15 of Great Tree Moon, Year 1180

"CHEERS!"

There was a huge feast happening at Remire Village.

Everyone was currently gathering at the village centre. Villagers and Mercenary alike were talking and laughing, women were dancing around the huge bonfire, some people, mostly the mercenaries from the Jeralt Mercenary group, were dead drunk from those canned beer that a certain Merchant provided.

The feast was to honour the brave people who stand against the bandit group that attempted to raid the village earlier today.

Although those honour was solely focused on one person.

Ritsuka Fujimaru just quietly ate her portion of beef stew that the villagers gave to her as she sat on a makeshift bench that was just a huge log. She scooped up a chunk of meet along with some of the broth with her wooden spoon before putting it into her mouth. She hummed at the taste as she continued to consume the stew in silence.

Ritsuka provided the villagers with several packages of dehydrated beef stock cubes that they can use to make the beef stew for the feast. When she introduced the product to the villagers, they were so astonished by the taste as well as how convenient the product was. The product was so well received amongst the female residents, especially after she told them that the product lasted for months.

She made profits of 6000 golds just from selling the packaged dehydrated stock cubes, which only cost 3 points per package. She sold them for 50 golds per package, most of them buy in bulks with the Inn keeper once again being her best customer.

"Mind if we join in?"

Ritsuka heard a voice calling from her right and turned her head to see both Jeralt and Byleth were standing there, holding their own serving of beef stew while waiting for her permission.

Ritsuka just gestured the empty spot next to her which they promptly took it as an invitation.

The three of them ate their meal in silence for a while before the mercenary captain decided to initiate a conversation.

"You seemed quite upset back then, was there something that bothering you?"

Jeralt questioned hit dead on as he watched Ritsuka's expression changed for a brief moment before it reverted back to normal. His son noticed the changed of expression as well, but chose not to say anything yet.

"Nothing…Just found a pretty disturbing discovery, that's all." Ritsuka replied as she scooped up another chunk of meat from her stew.

This caused the two mercenaries to look at her in interest.

"Wanna talk abou-"

"No."

The father and son duo saw Ritsuka's instant refusal as a sign to not pry it any further. They have only known Ritsuka for just a couple of days now, it was understandable that she has her secrets that she doesn't want to share. Whatever this disturbing discovery she was talking about, it was none of their business.

Still, just eating in silence doesn't sit right well for Jeralt, so he decided to bring up another topic.

"Oh yeah, about that weapon you used in the battle..." Jeralt initiated the conversation again.

Ritsuka, who didn't seem surprised at the question, just gave him a knowing look with her eyebrow raised slightly.

"Let me guess…you wish to purchase it, don't you."

With the way she phrased it, it was more of a statement rather than a question. Jeralt just nodded while Byleth just silently watched the conversation unfold with interest.

Ritsuka just let out a sigh before put her bowl on her lap.

"There are a couple of problems with that…" Ritsuka began as she raised a finger. "…One: they are hella expensive. Like, really REALLY expensive." The red haired woman explained.

"How much is it for the weapon?" Jeralt asked with a raised eyebrow, seemingly slightly offended that the Merchant thought he was poor.

In a continent where conflict was almost a daily occurrence, Mercenaries were actually paid quite well. It was the reason why he was able to raised his son all on his own.

Spending a couple of tens of thousands for a weapon wouldn't put a dent in his pocket.

"1,000,000 golds."

"Urks"

Jeralt choked on his beef stew when he heard Ritsuka told him the price with such a straight face. He coughed a couple of times before his son quickly offered him a glass of water which he slowly drank to relieve his throat.

He then placed the table near his feet before looking at Ritsuka as if she was crazy. Byleth also seems to have the same expression on his face.

"1,000,000 golds?! For one item?! That's ridiculous! Are you sure you're not ripping me off with that price?!" The Mercenary captain almost yelled at the Merchant who keep giving him her straight face.

"You have seen it yourself what it does against an entire army consisted of over a hundred of peoples, I would say the price should be higher." Ritsuka replied with a flat tone as she finished the rest of her beef stew.

At that, the mercenary captain went silent, really cannot argue with that point.

"What about the other problem that you mentioned?" Byleth, finally saw an opportunity to join the conversation, promptly asked after he finished his meal.

Ritsuka said nothing and just open up her inventory and chose the spare machine gun magazine from her Dimensional Storage. The magazine appeared on her palm and then the red haired woman plucked out one bullet out of the magazine.

"Just like a bow requires arrows for it to be useful, my weapon needs ammuniton called bullets for it to make it work." I explained to them as I twirled the bullet in between my fingers before flicked it at Byleth. "Unless you can reproduce it, I won't sell my weapon to you, knowing that it would be nothing but an expensive chunk of metals without this thing right here."

Byleth caught the bullet before thoroughly examined it up and down, his father joined in with interest.

"This is what put holes in those bandits?" The blue haired mercenary asked.

"Only the top part actually…" Ritsuka replied as the pointed at the projectile part. "…The lower part is just a casing to hold gunpowder, the most important part of a bullet. Once the gunpowder in the inside got ignited by the primer on the bottom, it launches the projectile at the speed around twenty times faster than an arrow."

The mercenary duo widened their eyes at the explanation. Witnessing the weapon in action themselves, the fully believed it. It's no wonder that those bandits couldn't react, the bullets were just too fast for them.

"Why couldn't we just get this thing from you then? Is the price quite expensive as well?" Jeralt asked as he turned towards the Merchant.

"I mean, they do indeed pretty expensive. At least for this kind of bullets…" Ritsuka explained as she held up the machine gun mag. "…This is called a magazine. Each of these could contains a hundred of bullets and each of this thing cost 10,000 gold."

The mercenary duo didn't seem surprised by the price.

"That's pretty expensive. You could get 4 silver swords with that much of money." Byleth commented.

"Indeed, but that's not the main reason why I couldn't just supply you with the ammunition." Ritsuka spoke as she stashed the magazine into her Dimensional Storage. "I'm always on the move, and this even might be our last meeting. Even if I sell you the weapon and sells you large supply of ammunitions now, with no way of getting more ammunition, the weapon will eventually become useless."

The father and son look a little bit dejected by the explanation, knowing that there was nothing they can do to make the red haired woman changed her mind.

Meanwhile, Ritsuka's face suddenly turned sour by a sudden yet another disturbing realization.

Selling firearms, modern firearms at that, will naturally drastically changes Fodlan. Fundamentally changing warfare by making mounted armored knights and castles obsolete, as well as potentially hastening the collapse of feudalism. Millions of life's will be lost and so much materialistic destructions.

Those were the factors and consequences that normal people should naturally accounted for before thinking of spreading the modern weaponry across the world with medieval era settings like Fodlan.

But Ritsuka was unwilling to sell firearms for an entirely different reason.

No, the reason was simply because she didn't want to feel like she was scamming her customers by selling them a product that won't be useful in the long run.

It wasn't out of a moral implication or anything, it was simply out of pride as a Merchant.

And that was disturbed her the most as much as her lack of remorse when she massacred those bandits.

"Have I always been like this even before coming here?"

That question suddenly popped out in her mind. Wondering what the answer would be.

Ritsuka was snapped out of her thought when she noticed a familiar figure was approaching where she was sitting right now.

It was one of the house leaders, specifically the Black Eagle House Leader, Edelgard von Hresvelg.

Narrowing her eyes at the approaching figure, Ritsuka has slight idea of what her purpose coming here. Given her role in the game, a recruitment attempt from her was to be expected. Only this time it wasn't Byleth that she would like to recruit since the otherworlder stole his thunder by demonstrating the might of modern weaponry.

"Excuse me, miss Fujimaru. May I have a little bit of your time, please?" The Princess of Adrestian Empire requested the red haired merchant in polite manner befitting of a princess.

Ritsuka, frankly speaking, wants nothing to do with her and the other houses leaders. Her presence alone already changed the canon event, imagine the drastic changes she will cause if she takes an active role by siding with one of the house leaders.

"I see my name is known already. To whom am I speaking exactly?" The otherworlder gave the Imperial princess a suspicious look.

Seeing this, Edelgard gave Ritsuka a polite bow.

"Forgive me for my rudeness, my name is Edelgard von Hresvelg. I am the heir of Adrestian Empire and its future Emperor." The white haired woman introduced herself in the manner of a royalty.

Her introduction caused both Jeralt and Byleth to jolt in surprised at her identity while Ritsuka just gave her an acknowledged nod.

"Alright, what business do you have with me?" Ritsuka asked, crossing her arms without dropping her suspicious look she gave Edelgard one bit.

"I am here to simply express my gratitude for your help. Thanks to your effort that me and my fellow students were unharmed." The Imperial princess began to each on the pouch that was strapped to her hip. "I am hoping if you would accept this as-"

Ritsuka interrupted her by raising a hand.

"I'm afraid I must decline it. I chose to participate in battle simply because of a personal reason. I never wish to be rewarded for my effort."

Well, that was a big fat lie actually.

Ritsuka indeed was expecting for a reward, it just that the reward she wanted wasn't come from her but from the system that assigned her the quest of eliminating the bandits.

Edelgard was about to argue otherwise, but Ritsuka just stook back up to her feet and wiped off some dusts from her clothes.

"If that's all you wanted to say, then we're done. It's been a long day for me, I wish to retire early for a night." Ritsuka said as she turned around.

"Wait a second, I heard you're a merchant. How about I offer you an exclusive contract with Adrestian Empire?" Edegalrd called out for the woman, sounded almost desperate.

Ritsuka just stared at the princess from over her shoulder.

"An exclusive contract?" Ritsuka parroted as she raised an eyebrow at Edelgard.

Edelgard opened her mouth and was about to answer…

"My, my, looks like I was spot on your highness. Our princess here did spill her food on us totally on purpose just so she can get a head start."

"I have got to say I'm a little disappointed in you Edelgard. I expected such dirty scheme coming from Claude, but not from you."

Edelgard visibly frowned as she heard the voices from her fellow Officer Academy students. She turned around to see Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd and Claude von Reigan walked towards the group. They weren't wearing their school uniform, rather they were wearing some peasant clothing.

Ritsuka could only stare at the Adrestian Princess in mild curiosity. It looks like Edelgard, indeed, did something to them.

"I don't know what you're talking about Dimitri." Edelgard replied, feigned ignorance at the accusation as crossed her arms.

"There is no need to be coy, Edelgard. That was actually clever of you." Claude praised the white haired princess, although from the way he said it, it was difficult to tell whether his praise was sincere or not.

"And I have no need for your faux praise either, Claude." The Adrestian princess bristled at the tan skinned young man who just laughed it off before shifting his attention towards the otherworlder merchant.

The Grandson of Duke Reigan was about to say something but was interrupted when Ritsuka raised her hand.

"I will save your breath and just gonna say this to you all: No." Ritsuka spoke with a firm tone.

The trio were startled by Ritsuka's blatant refusal.

"Ummm, don't you want to know what we have to say?" Dimitri politely asked.

"I have a pretty good guess." Ritsuka simply replied as she began to walk away.

"Wait…at least hear out our proposal first." Claude called out and was about to follow her.

But he was stopped by Jeralt and Byleth standing on his way.

"Let it go, kids. She said she is not interested." Jeralt spoke to not only Claude, but to Edelgard and Dimitri as well.

The three of them could only sighed in defeat as they stared Ritsuka walked away, lamenting their failed attempts in recruiting the strange Merchant who saved their life's.

Ritsuka blinked in surprised when the Inn keeper was kindly enough to let her stayed in for a night free of charge. She said it was her way of thanking the Merchant for saving the village from the bandits. Not wanting to argue even further, the otherworlder just accepted the gratitude gesture and headed straight to her room.

Ritsuka unlocked her room, stepped inside before locking the door behind her and headed towards the bed. She then sat on the edge before opened up her Dimensional Storage to checked on the reward she got from the quest eliminating the bandits.

[My Profile] [Ability] "[Storage]" [Online Shops] [Quest] [Achievement]

50% Discount Coupon (x2)

Medieval Bed set

Electrical Ceiling Fan

Semi-permanent booth

Mystery Equipment (x2)

Starter Pack

Ritsuka then to picked the Mystery Equipment and decided to open them first.

Congratulation!

You have received: [Item] Master Keys: Bundle of keys that can opens any kinds of locks.

Item has been sent to your storage

Congratulation!

You have received: [Item] Ring of Isolation: Defends the wearer against spatial-temporal interference.

Item has been sent to your storage

Ritsuka eyes widened at the rewards she just got for her troubles.

The first item was pretty useful. Keys that open up all kind of locks will come in handy on some several occasions. And the fact she seems to get multiple of them was a bonus.

But the second item might as well be the best reward she has received yet. From the wording alone, this item could defend her against any spatial as well as time manipulation. That was extremely powerful, considering the amount of spatial and time manipulation abilities out there.

"I need to test this. Maybe Byleth could help me when he awakens Sothis in his soul later on."

Ritsuka decided to put the plan for later as she began to check for another reward that she got today.

Starter Pack: A gift for newbie, contains up to 5 rewards.

Open | Discard

Ritsuka promplt tapped the "open" option and raised an eyebrow when the purple screen displayed some sort of animation you would often see in some gacha games.

Congratulation!

You have received: [Ability] Home Sweet Home: Summoned a door that directly connects to a house located outside of the "World".

Ability has been sent to your arsenal

Congratulation!

You have received: [Special Item] Companion Ticket (x2): A ticket to recruit a compatible companion from the infinite possibilities of the Multiverse.

Item can be used in the recruitment feature on the Quest Menu.

Congratulation!

You have received: [Currency] 100,000,000 points

Points has been transferred to your balance

Ritsuka shot back up to her feet as she stared at the purple screen. The rewards were far more generous than she initially thought. She genuinely wasn't expecting much when she saw the reward from the quest was called "Starter Pack".

She then decided to check on the "Special Item" first since it was what caught her attention the most. She opened up the Quest menu and went straight to the recruitment feature, which seems to be unlocked now.

[My Profile] [Ability] [Storage] [Online Shops] "[Quest]" [Achievement]

Home | Locked | "Recruitment"

You have 2 recruitment tickets

(Would you like to use them now: Y/N)

Ritsuka raised a finger and was about to tap on the "Y" option before stopping herself.

"Hold on a second…How does this recruitment thingy works exactly?" Ritsuka muttered to herself as she assumed a thinking pose. "Does it just summon people here? That sounds like kidnapping to me."

The red haired woman now wasn't sure if she wanted to use this recruitment feature at all. Whisking people away from their home worlds without their consent doesn't sit well with her. The chance of them reacting violently was too high to her liking. And it wasn't like one of those situations where people were being summoned to save the world from getting destroyed.

No, Ritsuka definitely doesn't want to tell them that they were being summoned from their home world to a totally foreign one, purely out of whim from her.

Ritsuka finaly decided to not trying with her luck and tap on the "N" option.

(Bzzzt)

Only for the screen to glitched for literally a second and switched the "N" with the "Y", right on time when Ritsuka tap her finger on it.

"Wait…WHAT THE HELL?!" Ritsuka almost yelled at the sudden glitch on the screen.

And before she can say anything else, two rectangle shaped white portal appeared in front of her.

And not long after, something came out from those two portals.

Gensokyo, Unknown Time

Sakuya Izayoi wandered the mythical land of Gensokyo aimlessly.

It's been a couple of months since her Mistress, or rather former Mistress Remilia Scarlet, out of sudden relieved her from her duty as the Chief Maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. When the silver haired chronomancer asked her former vampire employer about the reason for the sudden dismissal, she just gave a really vague answer like "go and travel around the world" or "go and see new things".

Frankly speaking, it frustrated her to no end.

Sakuya has tried to find a new purpose for her new life, like working part time at the human village or as some sort of youkai exterminator. Hell, she even sometimes sparred with Marisa Kirisame just to pass time. But none of them could fill the void that was left by her duty as a maid of Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Sakuya did try to return to the Mansion a couple of times, but were always stopped by Hong Meiling, saying that she was under the order from Remilia herself to chase her away.

The former maid wondered if she has done something unforgivable that caused Remilia to act that way.

"Haaaiiiizz, what should I do now?" Sakuya spoke to no one in particular as she just walked aimlessly around the Misty Lake, the lake that separated her from the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

(Ka-ching)

"Huh?"

Sakuya blinked a couple of times when a noise suddenly was heard and a couple of moment later, a purple screen appeared in front of her.

"What is this?"

A unique soul is in need of a travelling companion!

Would you accept the invitation?

(Y/N)

Sakuya triple checked herself if her eyes weren't deceiving her. She pinched herself, rubbed her eyes and slapped herself just to make sure that the sight before her was real and wasn't some sort of trick by some Youkai.

"Should I accept this invitation?"

After concluding that it was indeed real, Sakuya's brain worked overtime to think what to make of it.

A trap was the first thing that came out of her mind. Her rational thought told her to steer clear for whatever this is. On other hand, she really has nothing else to do right now. It wasn't exaggerated to say that she was a little bit bored from being unemployed.

Sakuya took a deep breath before releasing it slowly as she made her decision.

She tapped the "Y" on the screen.

A moment later, a rectangular white portal appeared.

Without another word, she fearlessly walked into the portal.

Crimson Flower Route Fodlan, Somewhere in Adrestian Empire

It has been almost a decade since the unification of Fodlan under the banner of Adrestian Empire. And it has also been a couple of years since the final remnant of Those Who Slither in the Dark were all exterminated once and for all.

One of the key figures for the success of Adrestian Empire was now seen wandering around the beach somewhere at a territory that was once part of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus.

Byleth Eisner, the daughter of Jeralt and Sitri Eisner, the former Professor of the Black Eagle House at Garreg Mach Monastery, as well as the former leader of the now disbanded the Black Eagle Strike Force and also the wielder of the Sword of Creator.

Floating beside her, unseen by anyone but Byleth herself, was the one who has always got her back. The love of her life who was also the Progenitor Goddess of Fodlan, Sothis.

After the war against the Church of Seiros and Those Who Slither in the Dark, Byleth decided to be a wanderer, disappearing into obscurity to spend the rest of her life with Sothis. Her decision was met with some firm protests from her allies, mainly those of her students from the Black Eagle House. But after some convincing, she managed to convince them under the promise of her to visit them once in a while.

Today was just another day of her aimlessly wandering across Fodlan with Sothis.

Until something really bizarre happened.

"Say Byleth…" Sothis began as she slowly pointing at the purple screen that suddenly appeared before them. "…Do you see what I'm seeing?"

"Yes Sothis…I see it too." The blue haired woman answered as she too, was confused at the thing that just appeared before her.

But her confusion was only a brief moment because she was more interested with what was "written" on this strange floating purple rectangle before her.

A unique soul is in need of a travelling companion!

Would you accept the invitation?

(Y/N)

"It says here that someone needs a travelling companion." The progenitor Goddess said as she assumed a thinking pose.

"Should we accept it then?" Byleth asked her floating invisible companion.

"I mean, it looks too fishy to me." Sothis said while she gave the blue haired woman a serious look of her face.

"But it also feels so tempting for some reason. My instinct tells me that I'm gonna regret it if I refuse the invitation." Byleth spoke her mind, causing Sothis to sigh in defeat.

"Whatever your decision is, you know that I will always support it no matter what." Sothis said with a very affectionate tone this time.

Byleth blushed a little as a response before managed to regain her composure and stared back at the purple screen before her.

"How do I accept it?" Byleth asked while tilting her head slightly.

"Maybe touch the letter "Y" over here. My guess is that the "Y" stands for "Yes"." Sothis responded.

Byleth just nodded and then do as Sothis suggested and touch the letter "Y".

A rectangle shaped white portal appeared.

The couple stared at the portal for a few more seconds, looking at each other before Byleth held up her hand for Sothis to take.

"Shall we?"

Sothis smiled as she wordlessly "took" Byleth's hand, even though the long dead Goddess can never be able to physically interact with her companion.

The couple then walked into the white portal to face whatever on the other side, together.

Fodlan, Adrestian Empire, Remire Village – Tuesday, 07:35 P.M, Day 15 of Great Tree Moon, Year 1180

To say Ritsuka was surprised was a very blatant understatement.

No, she was utterly shocked to her core at the figures who just came out from the white portal, byproduct of the companion tickets she got from the starter pack.

One of them was a rather short silver hair woman with a pair of dark blue eyes and has a long braid on each side of her face with green bows at the ends. She wore a white and dark blue French maid's outfit with short sleeves, white collar with a red stripe, black tie and a white maid headband on her head.

The other one was a tall woman with shoulder length navy blue hair and a pair of blue eyes, wearing grey and black robes, paper with an amulet around her neck, arm armor, armor bib which exposes her navel, patterned tights and black boots. There is also belt-like armor on her waist with golden emblem and purple knife holder.

And she wasn't alone, floating beside her, was a young-looking, very short girl with lovely, long, green eyes and hair, as well as a lean and slim build. She wears a purple dress with gold details, along with red earrings and is shown to be barefooted. She also wields a sword in her hand and wears golden rings on her ankles with a purple jewel on each side.

Ritsuka instantly recognized the three people who just came out from the portals.

The silver haired maid was Sakuya Izayoi. A character from Touhou Project whose role was as the Chief Maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, serving under Remilia Scarlet.

The duo who came out from the other portal were none other than Byleth Eisner and Sothis.

However, unlike the Byleth she met in this world, this one was the female version of Byleth Eisner.

Congratulation! The Chronomancer Maid: Sakuya Izayoi, has been recruited.

Congratulation! The Wings of Hegemon: Byleth Eisner and The Progenitor Goddess: Sothis, have been recruited.

Companions have been listed to your Roster.

Ritsuka continued to stare at the trio newcomers before a headache suddenly came as if a nuclear bomb just dropped on top of her head.

"Goddammit! I'm gonna need a drink for this shit!"

Yeah, and she is going to need it a lot.

To be continued