On a horse-drawn wagon traversing a road.

“Hey! Hey you!”

You opened your groggy eyes to find yourself in the back of a covered horse-drawn wagon. You were sitting against one side of the wagon in the middle of two other passengers while another three passengers sat against the opposite side. The person in the middle across from you was looking you straight in the face.

“You’re finally awake,” the person said.

You glanced around the interior of the wagon. You didn’t know where you were, but there was something familiar about the setting.

“Hey, you got anything to drink?” The middle person across from you asked.

You studied the talkative young man. He was pretty young, probably 18 like you before you flew your birthday plane into the pacific ocean. He had spiky brown hair and wore a simple light padded armor over his flashy yellow tunic and green trousers. He gave off an adventurer vibe. In fact, every one in the back of the caravan wagon were probably adventurers.

“I uh… don’t know,” you mumbled in reply.

“Don’t be like that,” the guy said, “There’s got to be something in that big backpack of yours.”

You glanced down and realized you were hugging a sizable pack to your chest.

“Name’s Conrad,” the guy said in a friendly tone, “We should get comfortable with each other, don’t you think? Seeing as we’re all headed to Yvengrand.”

Yvengrand. That name was familiar. That’s the name of a city in a game you’ve played some time ago…

Your recent memory returned. You recognized the setting now. Waking up in a caravan on the way to Yvengrand! That’s the prologue of the game, Monstrum Arcanum I.

Holy, I’m at the start of the first game! You thought to yourself, and this Conrad fella… Oh yeah, I remember him…

Conrad smiled at you. “What’s your name, friend?” He asked.

Shit… Conrad will die in the ambush up ahead. That’s how it played out in the first game.

“Uhhhh… Vincent,” you replied, coming up with a name on the spot.

You immediately regretted making up a name. What if you were the main character, Jaden? You could have totally fucked up the story’s continuity. You wished you had a mirror right now.

“That’s odd, I thought your name was Keith?” a girl’s voice spoke up to your left. “That’s what the wagon-master called you back in Tortsmouth.”

You turned your head to look at the girl seated on your left. She had fiery orange-red hair neatly tied into a braided bun on her head. She was dressed in tight fitting traveling gear that was noticeably of higher quality and make than the other adventurers.

“Holy shit, you’re Ashley Talvert!” You blurted without thinking. You couldn’t believe that you are sitting right beside one of the main heroines of Monstrum Arcanum I. She looked so much cuter up close than the pixelated avatar that represented her in the original retro game.

Ashley’s mouth fell open in surprise. Her face quickly turned beet red. “What?! N-No! What are you talking about?!” she said, clearly flabbergasted.

You wanted to slap yourself. You remembered too late that at the beginning of the game, Ashley was traveling incognito under a pseudonym. Her actual identity wouldn’t be revealed until much later in the game.

“Oh u-uh….” You stammered, “Apologies, my lady, you looked like someone I knew a long time ago.”

Blushing profusely, Ashley quickly turned away from you.

Wait… did she call me Keith? You thought to yourself as a drop of cold sweat broke out on your forehead.

In the prologue of Monstrum Arcanum I, the hero Jaden was traveling on a wagon to Yvengrand with a bunch of unaffiliated adventurers when the wagon was ambushed by monsters. The only survivors from that ambush was Jaden and Ashley. Everyone else was killed.

So if I’m not Jaden…

You glanced to your right. Sure enough, the hero of Monstrum Arcanum was sitting to your right, his handsome face nodding along with the wagon’s sway as he slept peacefully while hugging his sheathed sword.

Fuck, I reincarnated as a ****-flagged npc? You thought to yourself in horror. What kind of gift is this? Mommmmmmm!