Known by every single player, my character, Ruphas, even became a semi-official character of the game. She crushed all opposing forces, becoming the first ruler to unite all of mankind under one sphere of influence.

The black wings of dread—Ruphas Mafahl. At one point in time, I held the entire world of Midgard in the palm of my hand, creating an era of my own.

As one would expect, the Demon King and his followers could not be brought into submission, but other than solo players, all players became citizens of Ruphas’ nation.

This became a major event recorded in the novel system. Displayed alongside the demon king as the “wild last boss”, I was often told “Ruphas should just replace the last boss” and other remarks along these lines.

However, there was a problem. Frankly, the game was boring with a single overlord. The long-awaited war functionality was rendered useless, and it became extremely difficult for novice players to establish their own nations. That’s when I sparked a discussion with higher level players and planned a massive event upon player suggestions.

I even consulted a popular author on the publishing site and wrote up our own turning point of history.

The story went something like this. With her overwhelming military might, Overlord Ruphas invaded and unified the world. However, a group of heroes assembled from the far corners of the world. Grasping the chance to revolt, they naturally confronted the great evil in the name of goodwill! Oh valiant heroes, I commend you for your great courage. Now is the time to break free of the chains of tyranny and overthrow the throne!

I played the villain. Ruphas then split her territory into two parts in secret. Then, with Ruphas leading the imperial army and the heroes leading the rebel forces, a battle of incomparable scale took place.

Long story short, I lost. All the prominent players played the opposing team. On the other hand, our forces consisted of roughly eighty percent of low-level players who didn’t stand a chance against their experienced opponents. Nevertheless, I stood my ground until the very end, and before I knew it, I was the only one left alive. By this time, my HP had been reduced to a measly two points.

It was damage taken from a single attack. In a preemptive strike, we were able to exhaust the opponent’s stamina and health, but they activated the skill, [Switch Places], immediately after. Then, the heroes staged their glorious victory as planned.

On top of barraging us with overkill attacks, they went as far to seal us into a different subspace, prolonging our revival time. Since it would have been awkward to be defeated in silence, I read some cool lines before being sealed

“Magnificent! That was magnificent, heroes! You have clearly expressed your overwhelming power! A party of your caliber might just be able to stand up to the Demon King!”

You can tell I was at the peak of puberty.

Defeated, Ruphas went into hiding and the world was freed from her rule—or so the event was portrayed in the completed story

It gained quite the reputation, receiving comments like “So I’m fine with the story ending here?”, “Nice finale”, “Hey, don’t just forget about the Demon King (LOL)!”, “Demon King? Ah, you mean the guy who’s been hiding until Ruphas-sama was done in. Uuuh, what was his name again?”, and “You guys are too cruel XDDDDD”.

Although defeated, I felt satisfied with playing my part in a major event. I sat in a dark room, a wide grin lit by only the light of my display.

The following day, a familiar character greeted me from the login page. Alovenas, the goddess of genesis, waved from the screen. She was, to put it bluntly, the representation of game administration.

She often made her appearance in tutorials and in-game event announcements. Her offensive ability, HP, and defensive power were definite numbers, but it was not something you could possibly match. Hell, she had 999 billion HP. Even boss characters have a threshold of around a million. This official cheater showed up to tell me something.

“Would you like to be granted a new role?”

Presently, Ruphas was listed beside the Demon King as one of the major boss characters of “X-gate online”. Naturally, the administrators couldn’t just keep quiet. After being defeated in such a dramatic manner, casually logging back in would be a bit too anticlimactic.

Moreover, if I just strolled back into the game, what would happen to the story? Thinking  that this message was a godsend, I hit “yes” without a second thought. I’ve devoted thousands of hours to this game. That’s why, regardless of what kind of role it was, I would accept the challenge head-on.

I thou—.

Then, my vision blacked out.

〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜

And we have now arrived at the present situation.  Prostrating figures surround me. A heavy weight on my chest and sense of loss between my legs. My body is wrapped in a dress and overcoat. Long hair frames my field of vision and a pair of wings sprout from my back. With strangely clear eyesight, I gaze at a distant window, where the appearance of an absurdly beautiful girl is reflected.

I… turned into Ruphas?

Nonono, no waaaay. I’m male, you know? Ruphas is female, you know?

I spent grueling hours customizing a beauty to suit my tastes, but I’ve never once wished to be Ruphas. You see, what I’m trying to say is that the entire appeal of a female avatar is the occasional peek at her goods and I can’t see shit from this angle!

“…hmph, I don’t quite understand the current situation… so is someone going to explain it to me?”

…heeey. I knew my voice would change. That was expected. But this arrogance in my voice! Somehow, when I tried to say “Sorry, I don’t really understand the current situation. I would really appreciate it if someone would give an explanation.” the words came out of my mouth in a needlessly haughty tone. Come to think of it, wasn’t this the tone I used to roleplay Ruphas?

“What’s wrong, children of mankind? Raise your heads. How long do you plan on prostrating? Or is that your normal posture? In that case, let me apologize for my ignorance.”

—What’s wrong? Please raise your heads. If you continue to maintain that posture, I won’t be able to stand the embarrassment. Or if you would pardon me for asking, is that your normal posture? In that case, I apologize for my lack of common sense—is what I tried to say. I sound way too oppressive.

No matter what I try to say, it’ll just end up sounding haughty again. What do I even do?

…ah, I see! It was my [Coercion] skill!  Uuuh, I’m positive you could switch it on and off… calm down already, [Coercion]! Ugh, the pressure is unbearable…!

“…ah, I see. Pardon my carelessness. It would be hard to converse with this activated.”

[Coercion] off! There was no convenient computer window, but I dealt with the problem through intuition. As for whether my attempt was successful, the people who were prostrating before me finally raised their heads and cast their trembling gazes upon me.

“Wo—woah… This figure… No way… so you were alive…”

The gentleman dressed like a Shinto priest mumbled a trembling voice. How rude. I have no recollection of having died before. Ah, but Ruphas died just the other day, though.

“Ye—Yeah, we made an incredible miscalculation. An unforgivable… unforgivable mistake. During the summoning of a hero, we have instead undone the seal on the Overlord…”

“—hmph, I see. Seems like this man knows who I am. Then let’s have you explain the situation to me.”

It seems like this man knows who I am. Then it would be better to ask him for an explanation. To grant him a peace of mind, I smiled and gently informed him of my harmlessness.

“Don’t be so afraid, child of man. I won’t do any harm to you and your compatriots… just relax, and start talking.”

—but there really is nothing I can do about this haughtiness, is there.

【The setting you don’t really have to remember】

X-gate online.

The original game ran on the Dreamstation game console and was eventually converted into a TRPG and an MMO as well. It was not a VR.

Unlike all the MMORPG’s so far, it resembled a TRPG. For instance, when changing classes, you could retain the skills of your previous class in secrecy.

In collaboration with one of the largest online publishing sites, player actions and choices were recorded as a story.

(However, in reality, whether your actions would really be written about actually just depended on how the authors felt about it. Players would submit drafts that said “this is how it all played out!” and if you were lucky, it would be picked up by an author and written as a story. There are also authors who would accept money for the service, and it was plenty possible to record your accomplishments by paying. However, not just anyone could become an author. They were properly picked out by the administration and rarely would you find a shitty story.)

While standing in a gray area between an RPG and a TRPG, the game also comprised of the elements of a novel, giving it the peculiar title of an MMONRPG (Mass Multiplayer Online Novel Role Playing Game).

This system had quite the reputation with players crazed over character personalization. Nevertheless, a number of players felt nothing from their actions being written as a story.

Six years after its release, the game has a total of over 8 million players internationally. It was fundamentally free-to-play, but as you proceeded throughout the game, it would continue to pressure you to spend real money.

The game was produced by Niente Corporation.