Not quite

Jeff came back to consciousness lying on something soft. Curious. He’d been on his way to met Allison and then- THE TRUCK!

What Jeff unfortunately hadn’t noticed yet was, that his head was resting on the thighs of a woman, who had had bent forward so her gentle smile would be the first thing to greet the Champion of Light when he opened his eyes. When said Champion suddenly jerked upright in a panic, he was instead greeted by the feeling of his forehead smacking her right in the face.

And after the initial surge of adrenalin had passed and Jeffreys brain had caught up to the fact that he was indeed not dead, the realization that he had just headbutted someone finally sank in.

“Oh god! I am “ then the other details of the scene sank in ”….. so…sorry…..” A woman was kneeling on the bed behind him. An exceptionally beautiful woman, in a toga-slash-dress that tastefully accentuated her lush figure. A winged silver helmet hid the top half of her face, and a trickle of blood was running down her perfect chin to stain the robe beneath.

Jeffreys apology seemed to rouse her from her own surprise and her head snapped up to look at him, then her hand closed around a slender golden rod lying on the bed beside her. A second later she was engulfed in a column of ivory smoke and rosepetals. And when it dissipated seconds later there was no sign of blood on the mysterious woman.

“Welcome brave hero.” The woman began, her benevolent smile feeling slightly **** “I am Amora, your humble guide through the grand adventure fate has in store for you. “ as she got back into the role her smile became more genuine “And what an adventure it is! For this season Harem Hotel has partnered up with the beloved AnaChronicles Saga to provide a fresh and exciting twist for fans of both shows. ” Theme-music began blaring from the speakers once again, drawing Jeffrey attention away from the woman and to the fact that they were in the middle of some sort of greek theatre. A pretty small one. The grassy area Jeff stood in was maybe ten meters across and there were only about eight tiers of seats.

No.

At a second glance this wasn’t an open-air theatre at all. It was a planetarium.

Someone had covered the seats in white linen to hide their modern make and the columns at the edge of the seating area were just projected onto the dome.

“- spirit of fresh new takes we will draw the contestants for this season from among the - ” Unheeding of the masters wandering attention Amora was continuing her introductory spiel with increasing enthusiasm, until Jeffrey cleared his throat “ Uhm? What is going on? ”

“ You have been summoned to another world to have an adventure. Only in this case the adventure is a game-show.” Amora said as if that explained everything. “ Which is probably a huge improvement over the usual isekai-experience. All of the cute waifus, none of the hard work. Actually..come to think of it “ she put a dainty finger to her perfect lips as a thought came to her ” there have been a bunch of Isekai that lean into the slice of life stuff. Huh. I stand corrected. Isekai is branching out from the epic adventure thing already. ” Remembering that she was on camera Amora returned her attention to Jeff “Aaaaanyway. As the designated hero all you have to do is lean back and enjoy a gaggle of cute girls competing for your attention. The girls and me will be doing all the heavy lifting.” She promised as she climbed off the bed.

“Is this a prank?”

“No. This is not a prank. This is Harem Hotel: I… Adventure Edition! I’ll go into the details later, but if you could just stop interrupting and play along for the audience?” Amoras smile was getting a bit strained again.

“What audience? I don’t see any cameras.”

Instead of answering Amora raised her hand over her head in a dramatic gesture , and snapped “Behold!” And on cue a dozen large flying eyeballs slowly shimmered into view hovering above the vacant seats “The spies of the wicked demon queen Liliane are watching our every move!” Amora exclaimed in what was obviously a scripted line.

On second look the eyeballs were as fake as Amoras delivery. Paper-mache props the size of Jeffs head that had a poorly concealed camera lens poking out of the pupil. The stiff batwings sticking out of the eyeballs sides were just waggling up and down mechanically. It was almost enough to make Jeff forget about them appearing from thin air. Almost.

“ But alas! ” Amora was forging ahead with her introduction, while Jeff was still stunned speechless by the camera drones “ We do not have time to deal with her vile helpers, if we want to have any chance at rescuing your dear comrades! For Liliane has used her foul sorcery in a **** attempt to interfere with the summoning ritual! “ she put a hand to her forehead in fake anguish “ It was all I could do to ensure your safe arrival my dear hero. But the bodies of the other champions were rent asunder by the witch-queens vile curse, their souls left adrift on the winds of Fate to be reincarnated in new bodies across AnaChronicles. But they are still bound to you by old regrets, so if you were the one to call them they might still find their way to your side. So will you help me reassemble the champions of Light? “ she stretched out a beseeching hand toward Jeffrey.

If Amora had hoped for a resounding yes she was (once again) disappointed. “Just to be sure.” Jeff asked “They aren’t actually in danger? This is just part of the show?”

“Of course they aren’t!” Amora said indignantly “****-Games are for hacks that need to rely on cheap marketing gimmicks. That’s not Harem Hotel or AnaChronicles at all! We are about good clean fun here. “ she promised ”Your companions will compete in a number of challenges to earn points. I can’t spoil the details obviously, but other seasons did scavenger hunts, card games, puzzles or three-legged races to name a few. “

Well that didn’t sound too bad. “What was the part about old regrets? “ Jeff inquired “Do I know these people? ”

“You do. ” Amora assured him “Each contestant is someone you met, and each one wishes they could have made more out of the time they spent with you. “ she explained with a cheery smile and a wink ” The challenges are the adventure part, but the audience is probably more invested in the harem part. “ she explained with another wink ” And now they will get the opportunity to do just that. By showering you with all the love and affection they can muster. And I am sure they are eager to do just that. As soon as we get started with the summoning ceremony.” A hint of impatience creeping into her voice at the last part.

Jeffrey took it for the very unsubtle hint to stop interrupting that it was. “Ok. So what do I do?” Being on a magic gameshow did sound kind of fun. Doing it, while catching up with a bunch of girls who wished they’d been more than friends sounded even better. And if nobody was going to be in any real danger what was the harm in playing along?

“As I was saying…” Amora began “Your comrades souls have been scattered and found new homes in the bodies of individuals across AnaChronicles who always had the potential for greatness but lacked the opportunity. ” Amora winked at the camera “After all there are always characters that capture the audiences imagination despite appearing in only a single episode or two. And it would be a shame if their likeness just gathered dust in the costume department wouldn’t it? Not after all the thought dear old Henson put into all the small details. I always felt his dedication to detail was one of the reasons the show really took off…. ” realizing she was getting off script the host gave an embarrassed little cough “..and that is a story for another time. “ visibly getting back into the Amora persona she continued ”I will now use my magic to find these lost souls, “ Amora affected a look of deep concentration as the crystal embedded in the top of her sceptre began to shine with dark light, and the shadows inside churned.

“Lilianes dark magic still lingers.” She stretched the hand holding the sceptre towards Jeff “Please brave hero. Take hold of the sceptre and join your strength to mine. ”

Jeff had no idea how exactly he was supposed to do that, but that didn’t really matter. Amorra started launching into the next part of the script befiore the master had even fully closed his fingers around the rod. “Yes! I can see it now. One of your party members ended up very very close. ”