3 First Encounter

It was in the afternoon on a usual day. An inn located in the village of Ludhom, a group of men stood up as soon as they heard a loud bang.

"What was that?!" Matt said. Matt was a middle-aged burly man who was the innkeeper's brother at the same time, leader of the Ludhom Village Guard. Ludhom was a medium sized village under Kingdom of Astragon and was located near the Kingdom of Gemrich's borders, covered in a lush forest. Ludhom's main source of income was their farms, thanks to this, villagers were able to live a normal life every now and then...

"Sam, get me Uncle Chris, Roland and Tim, tell them to get their equipment too, we need to check that sound out." Matt said turning into a young kid that was about 12 years old. Sam was his nephew, his brother Jim's son. He was also working at the inn.

"Got it Uncle Matt." Sam said as he rushed out the inn towards a building that resembled a small medieval barracks.

A short time after Sam left, he came back bringing in 3 more strong looking men equipped with worn out mail armours and shortswords that seemed like they were about to break.

"Sir! We're here!" one by one the men stood in a line and saluted towards Matt.

Matt stood up and walked towards the door, slowly patted Sam's head and left the inn with his men following him.

.....

'Ugh... how long I've been walking for? Also, damn these flies... What kind of maniac developer do you have to be to implement fucking scratching into the game...' Connor grimaced.

Connor stopped and slowly leaned towards the closest tree he could find. He opened his inventory to take out a bottle of water that he got thanks to the equipment shop that he went through in-depth while walking through the forest. As he uncapped the bottle and started drinking it, he heard sounds of footsteps close to him and looked at the direction of the sound.

"I think it came from somewhere around here sir!" One of the men yelled.

Connor slowly took his pistol out of his holster and hid behind the tree as he looked through the bushes, he saw 4 men looking around as if they were looking for something and wearing equipment that looked like armour and weapons Connor saw while playing his old strategy games.

'I thought Warzone was in a modern, contemporary era, what's with this equipment? Is this some sort of a launch event?' Connor said to himself.

As Connor was observing the group, he accidentally stepped on a branch in the bush and as it broke, the branch made a loud cracking sound.

"I heard something! Over here!" One of the men yelled as he turned toward his group.

'Fuck!' Connor cursed inwardly.

In just a few moments, a man discovered Connor hiding behind the tree and pointed his sword at him.

"You there! Step out!" man yelled toward Connor.

'Shit shit shit shit, at least they only have swords, I should stay a bit far away from them. It'll be easy to handle them with my pistol.' Connor thought as he stepped out towards the group.

"Ah... hello! Are you guys a member of Federation or The Empire?" Connor said looking at the group.

Matt was searching in the other direction when Tim discovered Connor, he approached the group and stepped in front of them facing Connor.

"Federation... Empire... what are you talking about kid? Who are you?" Matt said.

'Are these guys NPCs? Players would definitely know the factions right? But it seems weird that there are NPCs that don't know them...' Connor thought this was due to the special "event" that was going on.

"Uh... I am Connor, I don't know what happened but I somehow ended up here. Where is this place? Who are you guys?"

"Are you playing with us? Which village are you from, kid?" Chris interjected his words with a loud voice.

"Also, what the hell is that equipment you are wearing?"

"I've never seen a piece of equipment like that before, is it possible that he is a spy from Gemrich?" Roland said looking at Matt.

'Gemrich? What the fuck is that?' Connor thought.

"What is Gemrich? I swear I am not a spy or something." Connor said.

"Kid, you are in Ludhom Village's territory. That is in Kingdom of Astragon's borders. We are also really close to Gemrich, that's why Roland said you might be a spy. Although we are not in a war with them, no one knows what will happen tomorrow." Matt said.

After stopping for a breath, he continued. "My name is Matt, I am the leader of the Ludhom Village Guard. We heard a loud sound coming from the forest and went to patrol the area to see what's wrong, did you hear the sound as well?"

'Kingdom of Astragon, Ludhom... what? Isn't it just Federation vs The Empire? Damn, did they write a huge lore just for this event...' said Connor as if he was trying to convince himself.

"Ah, yeah. It was probably me. A wolf was trying to attack me so I shot it with my rifle." Connor answered.

Matt slightly frowned. "Shot it with a rifle? A crossbow? You don't seem to be carrying a crossbow." Matt said eying Connor.

Connor holstered his pistol that he was holding in his right hand and slightly moved his left shoulder and unslung his rifle.

Chris, Roland and Tim quickly reacted by moving a step backwards with their swords still pointing at Connor.

"Ah, don't be afraid. I am not going to shoot you, here. This is my weapon. It's called M4, a rifle." Connor said looking at Matt and showing his M4 to him.

Matt's eyebrows twitched. As he looked at the black thing that had a long stick that with a hole in the middle and a box of some sort hanging onto it. "Is this some sort of a magic wand? Are you a mage kid?"

"A mage? Gemrich is using a mage as a spy?" Roland said silently towards Matt.

'Mage? Kingdoms? Villages? Medieval weapons? Did I accidentally picked the wrong game or something?' Connor's mind was in a very weird situation as he pondered over an over again.

"Uh... I am not sure, I just woke up in the forest and the first thing I know is a wolf attacking me and I had to defend myself with my rifle. I have no idea about anything that you are talking about, sorry." Connor said facing Matt. He decided on getting more information about the "game" he is in as he had no other choices anyway. He tried opening menu again but it was still not working.

"So you are saying the only thing you know is that your name is Connor, you have a weird looking magic wand and that you woke up in the forest?" Chris said to Connor, not hiding the sarcasm behind his words.

"Yes, as unbelievable as it sounds, that would be correct." Connor said as he turned to Chris.

Matt stopped and eyed Connor once again. 'He doesn't really look like a warrior but he doesn't look like a mage either. His weapon looks like a magic wand...'

"Kid, follow us into Ludhom. We'll learn more about you there. It's getting dark and this forest isn't a place you want to be without the sun." Matt said in an indifferent tone.

"Sir! What if he's actually a spy?" Tim raised his opinion.

"Enough you guys, he is just a teenager, are you afraid he'll take you down, without a sword? Just take him to the village and we'll continue our discussion there." Matt sighed and jokingly said towards his group.

'Wait, am I being arrested or something? Fuuuuuck... I don't want to attack them or get arrested, I guess I'll just follow them for now. Time to resign to my fate.' Connor sighed inwardly.

In the end, the group of 5 men started moving again in the forest heading towards the village of Ludhom, without expecting what was going to happen to them in the night.