"Welcome to Doki Doki Magical World Online! The state of the art VRMMORPG brought to you by Whyett Games. You are AI 55269, allotted 2.5 perabytes of game storage. Your information is backed up in our secret headquarters in Antartica in Room VIP 10: Security Level Z."

A monotone robotic voice gave this information to me as my once dark world erupted in small splashes of color.

"As an AI, your purpose is to ensure quality customer experience. You will join a collective effort to provide a vibrant, fun, and realistic world to our dear players."

"I'm not some artificial intelligence!" I complained. "I'm literally a goddess descended in human form. The amazing Scarlet!"

The hateful voice ignored by protests and continued babbling its nonsense.

"As an advanced AI V 6.53+ with superior cognitive functions, you are able to select your role. Your game experience will be analyzed to improve customer experience."

A golden wheel appeared in front of me, much like a wheel of fortune, but with hundreds of options. It had several options blanked out. These were: Crafting Items, Quest Items, Monster Loot, Terrain Elements and the like.

I laughed. Of course I can't be reincarnated into those peasant items, someone as special as me should be anything but ordinary in my next life too!

"Hmm... Player Familiar, Humanoid (Mob), and even Artifact (Sentient) don't seem very good. I don't want to be someone's dog or an ugly goblin. And no way would I like being some wierd inanimate object."

I considered the options for longer and using my intense intellect I was able to narrow down the options to only one: Human (Royalty).

This will ensure that I can enjoy my next life like my last, free of worries except for my astounding beauty. I was worried that I might have to live like a plebian and grow patatoes and clean squatting toilets, but I guess not!

"I choose Human (Royalty)!"

"You are all se-" The robotic voice suddenly stopped, replaced by a different, human-like voice. It was teasing and masculine. Kirito-kun?!

"Error. You are not an AI. Predetermined values have been imported and set. Tehe, do I sound like a robot?"

The robotic voice returned.

"Thank you for choosing. Your AI storage and memory will be cleared to maximize realism. Welcome to Doki Doki Magical World Online, Scarlett-chan, and may the odds ever be in your favor!"

Oh my god, that's what the makeup lady says in The Hunger Games! And I'm not an AI, but I guess it doesn't matter. Swirling white particles surrounded me, rotating faster and faster until everything was white.

"Spawning in Township of Mierdean. You are Human (Undetermined). You are sixteen (16) years of age. Your job is to-" An eerie screeching sound stopped the voice.

"Error. Error. Job value is undetermined. AI backstory instance finished. Tutorial terminated."

"Nani?!?!"

I screamed out loud as I was dropped in some town square. How was I going to play this game without some tutorial? I wasn't a nerd! I didn't know how this wierd loser stuff worked, even though I scored a whole 100 on the IQ test!

People wearing peasant midieval clothing looked at me wierdly. Were they astonished by my aestethics or because I screamed? I shouldn't mind them, like, you should never give plebians any attention. They get so hopeful and start clinging onto you, when you were just being nice. Tch... so annoying!

A stone fountain was to my right. I hate it, but I have to admit that this game was very realistic. You could see the individual cracks on the fountain and each spray of water as it gently wet your face. Not that this fountain was anything special, I've seen way better fountains before while touring Spain and Argentina.

But onto important stuff. I stared at my reflection, and was mesmerized. Ah, it must be a curse to be this beautiful and sexy! Every morning I have to spend atleast five minutes looking at myself in the mirror. My scarlet hair glinted almost orange as the sunlight refracted the water.

"Mama! Look, that girl. A goddess, like from the books!" A little boy pointed excitedly at me.

I didn't react at all.. I was too used to this treatment. The oogling and ahhing gets annoying after a month or so.

"It's rude to point!" The woman peasant scolded her kid, and they hurried along.

Now that I confirmed that I was still supermodel-level attractive, I need to see how much money I have. Luckily, I had a leather pouch convieniently attached to my side.

Kirito-kun probably left me a fortune seeing that he liked me so much!

I excitedly opened my sack up... and dropped it in surprise. 25 round brown coins with holes in the middle of them was all there was. Are these 25 pennies?!? I don't know how the currency works in this world, but this must be a pauper amount! How dare Kirito do this to me?! I'm not his friend anymore!

I sat at the fountain's edge, dejected. I'm basically homeless now...

The wind blew and a single leaf landed on the fountain's water, creating a ripple. My reflection distorted and I clenched my fist.

Yes, all I have is myself now. I disliked Daddy's wealth in the first place. Everything I did felt like it was because of his abilities and not mine. My tutelage, class, status. It also kept him away from me, always trying to make more money. Money is awful! I hate money!!!

The water calmed, as did my heart. But beneath the surface, I spotted glinty things. Curious, I took a closer look.

M-money?! Who would throw away money into this dirty pool? Maybe rich people? I guess for disgusting poor people.

Hmm... but aren't I poor right now? It'll be okay to accept their generousity, right? Right! And I love money! It's my favorite thing in the world!

Even when accepting aid, one has to be graceful and elegant. With a beautiful sweeping motion, I collected a fistful of coins and deposited them into my pouch, before repeating the action. Most of my findings were bronze and disgusting, but some glinted silver. Barely acceptable. I would rather find green jade, diamonds, or gold.

Before I knew it, a crowd had gathered, whispering and gasping, some pointing at me. I was used to this amount of attention so I ignored it.

But the crowd grew larger and larger, and now they were talking louder.

"Such a beautiful girl... to the wishing well... unbelievable! I've never seen her before... Maybe she's not around these parts?... Of course she isn't... We would know if there was someone this gorgeous from Mierdean... Should we alert the guards?... I'll feel bad!... Maybe she really needs it..."

Huh. I couldn't clearly hear what they were saying. I was almost done emptying the fountain of its welfare anyways. I'll leave afterwards because I don't want to be fined for causing a public disturbance, just because I was too mesmerizing to looking at!

Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulders and heard a stern voice.

"Excuse me, miss! What you are doing is unacceptable. The money from the wishing well is collected during the holidays to be distrubuted to the needy as alms! You have no righ-"

I turned around to find myself face to face with a tall, decently looking middle-aged man. He wore a metallic unform with what looked like cheap leather. His neck-tag read: "Guardsman Moom-san."

The guardsman did a double take and choked on his words. "N-no righ..t ahem! No right..to! ahem! Excuse me!"

It seemed like I was in some kind of trouble. I don't think what I was doing was wrong... I mean I'm basically giving myself, who was needy, the money! This way they don't have to go through the trouble of wetting and dirtying their hands to collect these coins. Why was I getting yelled at? I shouldn't be the villian here!

But I knew these types well. I snickered inwardly.

Blinking rapidly, I appeared flustered. Hot tears formed at the corner of my eyes. "I-i'm sorry... I ran away from... home... my parents wanted me to marry... this unknown... man... for money. Hiccup. When I met him... I saw that he was old and fat... and a loser, probably a nerd too! He wanted... to do inappropriate things to me."

I took a deep breath and gave out another large sob. "So I ran through... the woods for days... I'm so hungry... had nothing to eat... but I didn't have any money... and I didn't know!" I burrowed my head into my arms and continued crying. Raising my head a tiny bit, I peeked at the guard with shimmering crystaline eyes.

Moom's face softened, full of compassion. "Sorry, miss... I didn't know your circumstances!"

"What a sad story! If the coins aren't used for poor victims like these, then what better way can they be used?"

"Right?! And she's so amazingly pretty too! What a pity!"

The crowd seemed to be in my favor too.

"I will return the coins... It's just... the bad scary man... has sent out hunters... to find me! Oh! I just need to pay my parents back what he paid for me so I can be free..."

I opened the bag and began slowly emptying it into the fountain. A rough hand suddenly clasped mine. I looked up, acting surprised.

The guardman stared at me, unflinchingly. "It is against the honor of a man to watch a woman suffer and do nothing! Take the coins. I will deduct what has been taken from my pay."

I smiled inwardly. But outwardly I was unable to speak, shaking with emotion. "A-are you sure? This is a large sum of money!"

"Don't mention it. I can easily manage that much with my payrate."

I reached forward and wrapped both of my sexy lithe arms around him. "Oh, thank you so much, Boo- I mean Moom!"

His breath grew quick and uneven. Whispering so only he could hear, I mouthed, "Maybe, when I pay my dues... I can live with you?"

He gulped and coughed out, "G-gladly!"

Separating myself from his embrace, I waved widely at the crowd. "Thank you, township of Mierdean! I won't ever ever forget this token of kindness! I will always keep it with me, here!" I gently patted my chest.

I then turned around and fled, my leather pouch bulging at the seams. Better to disappear before they take back their offer!

I finally stopped at the shadow of a worn down stone wall. Catching my breath, I wiped the sweat that had gathered on my head. God, I must look so sexy right now. I always looked the best right after a workout or out of the shower.

"You have met the requirements and learned: Charm."

The monotone voice caught me by surprise and interrupted the quiet. Ah! I almost had an heart attack. And what is Charm? How come I don't feel any different?

"Alert: There is one day (24:00) before the prophesized summoning will occur. Undying heroes from another world will be transported to this one en masse to bolster humanity's forces against evil! This shall be the turn of the great war!"

What is this?! I feel like something very important was just said. Undying heroes? Do they mean players? Well, I don't really care, as long as they mind their own business.

I need to find a place to sleep now. And some food would be nice. And I also need to plan for the future...

The sun was setting over the town's walls but mine's was just beginning to rise.