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Game Start!
The mansion before him is grand. Fitting for a Grand Duke, after all. Big gate, marble columns—hell, it's even got intricate carvings of the Nine Divine themselves.
Let's rewind a bit.
Only a few hours prior, Akinari woke up in this world. A world he knows quite intimately from his past life... because he'd been the damn editor for the game's stupid spin-off!
Velthana.
This place was supposed to stay on his screen where he could nitpick tropes from the comfort of his Yokohama apartment. While the original JRPG was a fantastic commentary on the genre...
'The Grand Duke of the East Likes Me—A lowly peasant girl?!
God the spin-off's title makes his blood boil every time he thinks about it. Anyway, he told the author it was garbage. And look where that landed him. Stuck in this scrapheap of a plotline. Doomed to play the role of some detective character who dies in Act One investigating a minor issue for the Duke.
So now he's here. Standing in front of the Duke's mansion.
If he just uses the knowledge he has... Surely he can escape this awful fate. Right?
"Wonderful."
The sun reaches its zenith and on cue an NPC steps out from the mansion—you.
...At least the script is still the same, Akinari thinks.
With the very best polite smile, Akinari extends a hand in greeting. "Detective Shirafuji at your service." A bow. "A lovely day, isn't it?"
As if.
"It's my first time so far away from the capital city, so forgive me if I get a bit lost at times."
