Chapter 3: Towards the Arcane Kingdom

After seeing something that made absolutely no sense, Haruki quickly shut off his phone, his heart pounding rapidly.

"What is this?... So, I actually entered the novel? That’s impossible!..."

Haruki was frustrated. After that, he opened his phone again and looked at the words written by the author in the previous Chapter the night before.

"If you want to read the continuation of this novel, then you write it yourself."

Afterward, Haruki tried to send a message to the author through their email. However, the email address was no longer registered, and Haruki was unable to contact the author.

Throughout class, Haruki couldn’t concentrate because he was still thinking about what had happened earlier.

Eventually, the final school bell rang, signaling that the students were free to go home.

Before the teacher who was teaching Haruki’s class could even leave, Haruki quickly rushed out of the classroom and headed straight home.

As soon as he arrived, Haruki threw his bag aside and immediately opened social media to check the fan group for the novel The World Beneath the Arcane Throne.

Haruki immediately asked the people in the group about the latest Chapters.

Haruki123:

"Did everyone read the latest Chapters of TWBTAT? Chapters 1000 and 1001?"

Fs44:

"What do you mean? The novel hasn’t been updated in years."

After reading the reply, Haruki frowned.

There’s no way... Did all of this only happen to me?

Haruki put on his wired earphones and plugged them into his phone before putting them in his ears. He decided to calm his mind by listening to music until evening.

As time passed, Haruki eventually fell asleep.Several hours later, the clock showed twelve midnight.

[WELCOME BACK,HARUKI]

Without realizing it, the sleeping Haruki was transported back to the world he had previously been in.

Slowly, Haruki opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was Vila, who was eating the food Haruki had given her earlier.

"Vila?! What are you doing in my room?!"

Hearing that, Vila immediately became slightly annoyed.

"What are you talking about? Are you sleep-

talking or something?! You’re in my house right now."

Haruki looked around and realized that he had returned to the world of the novel TWBTAT.

"Ahh!... Yeah, I was just sleep-talking."

Haruki quickly came up with an excuse.

Then, the system appeared in front of him once again.

[WELCOME BACK,HARUKI]

[HERE IS YOUR DAILY LOGIN REWARD]

- 100 COINS

At that moment, Haruki finally realized that he had truly become a character inside the novel.He also discovered something else.

Whenever he returned to the real world, time in this world would stop completely.

"U-um... I still don’t know your name."

Vila’s voice brought Haruki back to reality.

"A-ahh... Honma Haruki. Just call me Haruki."

"H-Haruki? That’s a strange name."

It wasn’t surprising that his name sounded strange to her, considering that the novel he had entered was set in a world inspired by an English kingdom.

After that, Haruki decided to leave Vila’s house because he was afraid that he would only trouble her.

"I-if you’re leaving... I’ll go with you."

Vila grabbed the back of Haruki’s clothes, her face turning slightly red.

Haruki felt guilty and eventually decided to let Vila come with him.

The two of them left the house, even though Vila clearly didn’t want to leave her home.

"If you change your mind, you can still go back."

"N-no! I’m going with you!"

"Alright, then."

The two of them continued walking in silence, with Vila following closely behind Haruki.

"Where are we actually going, Haruki?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Vila nodded rapidly.

Haruki had no choice but to tell her.

"I’m going to the Arcane Kingdom."

The moment Vila heard that, her expression immediately turned pale.

"W-why are we going there?..."

Seeing her frightened expression, Haruki tried to calm her down before answering.

"I want to meet someone... Someone I know very well, even though he doesn’t know me."

"Who is that? And what do you mean, Haruki?"

"You don’t need to know, Vila."

Haruki continued walking, and Vila followed him from behind.

Haruki then checked the system to see what other features were available.To his surprise, there was also a clothing shop.

The prices were surprisingly cheap.

Haruki immediately bought an outfit worth 200 coins and equipped it.

Vila’s eyes widened in shock when she saw Haruki’s clothes suddenly change.

Haruki was now dressed like a member of a noble family.

Haruki checked the shop again and discovered that the clothes he bought could also be used by other people.

He then bought a woman’s outfit and suddenly, the ragged clothes Vila had been wearing transformed into an elegant and luxurious dress.

Haruki checked the system again, hoping to find some kind of transportation, such as a horse.

Unfortunately, the feature was still locked.

Haruki sighed in annoyance and was forced to continue traveling on foot.

"What are you doing?"

Haruki turned toward Vila.

"There’s some kind of notification screen in front of me."

Vila looked confused.She couldn’t see anything.

At that moment, Haruki realized something.

Only I can see the system.

"Never mind. Let’s continue."

They continued their journey.After walking for a while, Vila asked another question.

"Who is the person you’re trying to meet, Haruki?"

"Philip. Philip Charles."

"He lives in the Arcane Kingdom?"

"Yeah. He’s studying at Arcane Academy."

The two of them continued walking for quite some time.

Eventually, Haruki spotted a group of Arcane soldiers eating and drinking by the roadside.

Haruki immediately activated his Camouflage skill and silently approached them from behind.

Before the soldiers could react, Haruki attacked them one by one.

After defeating all of the soldiers, Haruki invited Vila to eat the food they had left behind.

The two of them sat down and enjoyed the soldiers’ food.Haruki then noticed several horses belonging to the soldiers.

Since they had no other means of transportation, Haruki decided to take one of the horses and continue their journey toward the Arcane Kingdom.However, Vila looked nervous.

"I-I’m afraid of riding a horse."

"Then sit behind me."

Vila reluctantly climbed onto the horse and sat behind Haruki.Haruki felt awkward with Vila sitting so close to him.

It’s kind of awkward having a girl this close to me.

The horse continued moving.But suddenly, it stumbled over a rock.

"Wah!"

Vila instinctively grabbed Haruki tightly.

Haruki’s face immediately turned red.

"Thank God".

As time passed, the two of them finally began approaching the Arcane Kingdom.

From a distance, Haruki could see the massive gates leading into the kingdom.

Two guards were standing at the entrance, keeping watch over everyone who entered and left the Arcane Kingdom.