"Yes! I finally made it past the gate!"
Yeah, I shouted it. In public. Sue me. A guard gave me the weirdest side-eye, but honestly? Don't care. Let me have this one victory.
…Except the victory smelled like dust, sweat, and cheap medieval food court vibes.
"Wait… what even is this place?"
The city exploded around me—like someone mashed together Akihabara's Sunday market with a Dark Souls village. Stalls overflowed with food, weapons, armor, random glowing crap that probably cursed you if you touched it. People bargained, shouted, laughed. And all of them looked like they'd just walked out of a fantasy manga photo shoot. Velvet cloaks. Golden trims. Accessories so shiny they could signal satellites.
Meanwhile… me.
I looked like a half-digested goblin threw up on me. Because, fun fact: my cute modern outfit got eaten by a slime last week. All I had left was a rag stitched together from dungeon scraps. It was less "isekai heroine" and more "discount trash NPC."
And then— GROWLLLL.
Oh. Right. My stomach. Haven't eaten in… three days? Four? Dungeon time runs on Dark Souls logic, so who knows.
I followed the smell of grilled meat like a moth to a flame. A stall ahead was selling skewers—yakitori style. Jackpot. Except… there was no grill.
That's when some random guy snapped his fingers and roasted his own skewer with fire magic. Just like that. 13
"Are you kidding me?!"
Me? I had SS-rank Water, Wind, Ice. Basically Elsa with artillery mode. But when it came to food? Completely useless. Unless people here enjoyed eating popsicles made of despair.
I wasn't drooling, okay? (…Fine. Maybe a little.)
"Please… I just want something warm… edible…"
I plopped down against a wall. People walked past without a glance. Some sneered. Most didn't even notice. It hit me harder than the hunger—
I was invisible.
"Why… why did I end up in a world like this…?"
Meanwhile, me? I've got SS-ranked Water, Wind, and Ice magic—perfect for wiping out goblin armies, completely worthless for making lunch.
My stomach begged. My pride screamed. I sat down in a corner, cloak tight around me, trying not to drool. (Failing.)
"What kind of RPG protagonist can't even feed herself?" I muttered.
People streamed past—some sneered, others didn't even register me. I was invisible.
"Why… why did I wish for this…?" My voice cracked. "Isekai, new world, adventure—it sounded amazing. But nobody told me it would hurt this much. Starve this much. Scare this much."
Isekai dreams lied to me. I wanted magic, adventure, freedom. And yeah, I got them. Along with starvation, pain, and a wardrobe from the Goblin Outlet Store.
No respawns. No UI. No safety net. Just me. Alone. "Am I really the protagonist here? Or just… a background character in someone else's story?"
My stomach growled again, echoing the question.
And then—
The air glitched. Like a bad VHS tape.
The bustling market around me warped for a split second—stalls twisting, colors bleeding, people freezing like mannequins. I blinked, and suddenly—everything was normal again.
Merchants yelled. Kids laughed. A bard strummed his lute like nothing happened.
But I saw it.
I know I saw it.
And then… someone's voice whispered right behind my ear:
"You don't belong here."