"Hey, is this guy dead?"
"I pressed his pulse earlier, but it looks like his heart has stopped."
When I opened my eyes with a loud stomp, I saw two people watching my face closely. Blink~ blink~ their eyelids up and down for a while until finally they both shouted loudly and backed away.
"Y-You're not dead yet?!"
With my breath still heavy from the unexpected incident, I surveyed the surroundings.
The room was like a small box.
The sound of galloping horse hooves could be heard from outside.
The up-and-down motion that I felt.
'It looks like I'm in a horse-drawn carriage.'
Besides myself and the two surprised people, there were also several people sitting around me, filling the entire carriage. Their faces all looked grim.
"W-What's going to happen to us?"
"Are we going to be sacrificed to demonic beasts?"
"M-Mom, I don't want to die!"
Such mutterings came out of their mouths.
They bit their fingers as they mumbled. It was then that I realized that their hands were bound in handcuffs. I looked at my hands... sure enough, it turned out that I was also one of the people wearing a handcuff.
"Shut up! If you can't shut up, I'll kill you now to keep you silent forever!"
The person escorting the carriage outside banged loudly on the carriage sides to warn us to be quiet.
Moments later, we were told to get out of the carriage with our heads wrapped in cloth like animals ready to be killed.
Snap!
I heard the sound of a loud whip echoing.
"What are you doing? Move quickly!"
Several male and female voices, which seemed to be the people who had kidnapped us, could be heard shouting and whipping us in turn.
Other than the people who boarded the horse-drawn carriage I was in, there were apparently quite a few other people who were captured—about four horse-drawn carriages in total, perhaps? I was only identified by voice, so I'm not sure.
We were all told to walk in a straight line.
Not everyone was willing to obediently walk in a line. Looks like there were some who tried to rebel.
Twhack!
The sound of the whip echoed until the screams of the people sounded so horrible.
Just like those people, at first, my subconscious also kept asking me to open the cloth covering my head while running away and fighting the people who seemed to have kidnapped us.
'It's lucky I stayed calm.'
After about tens of minutes of walking—I was walking in the footsteps of the person walking in front of me—until my legs felt very weak, the cloth covering my head was finally removed.
I looked around and realized that I was in a small valley. While this small valley could only be accessed through a maze-like cave.
'So, the reason why our heads are covered is so that we can't escape?'
The path I had walked was long and winding, so I suppose they didn't need to cover our eyes because it wasn't easy to find the way out.
The view of the night sky was very clear.
At that moment, I finally realized—accepting the fact—that I had been transported to another world.
Various other planets were visible to the naked eye.
Although it was nighttime, the stars in the sky were very bright.
[Welcome to the world of Arcabyss!]
The notification message that appeared confirmed my guess that this place wasn't Earth.
It wasn't just me who was gathered in the open space in the middle of this small valley; the others were also standing there, confused like me.
"From now on, you must enter the cave every day to mine this kind of magic crystal."
Some of the people who had kidnapped us came forward in front of us and made an announcement.
That person held up a crystal shard that he claimed was a magic crystal.
Meanwhile, the other kidnappers handed us a pickaxe.
"You can rest for a while to eat."
I had heard that soldiers who were to be sent on a suicide mission would be given a good meal first.
How foolish of me to think we'd be given good food—we were given slave bread made from dried wheat mixed with dung and sand instead.
Looking at the situation around me, I was reminded of the beginning of the script I had read.
In the script of The Legendary Performer, the story begins with the female main character being kidnapped by a gang of criminals and forced to mine Magic Crystals.
'What should I do?'
The first and biggest question in my head was how to get out of here and back to Earth.
Before I could think further, a notification appeared in front of my eyes.
[Initiating character synchronization!]
I briefly looked left and right and finally realized that I was the only one who saw the notification.
'Ugh!'
My head felt very painful.
Strange memories started popping up in my brain—not that dramatic—just like finding a long-lost object.
From the memories of my background in this world. Until the memory of how I became a slave in this crystal cavern.
[Synchronization complete.]
My name in this world was Arthur Knox.
As for my appearance itself, it seems to be the same, a fat man in his mid-twenties.
'Wait, if my memory is correct, shouldn't the main female lead also be here right now?'
While looking back and forth for the face of the slave woman who had similar features to the main female lead, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
Among the hundreds of faces of people who would be used as mine slaves, I finally saw the face of a woman who fit the description in the script.
'Is it that woman?'
Shoulder-length golden hair, ideal body proportions, and one very prominent feature—fox eyes.
The clothes that she was wearing were just as messy as the other prospective slaves' clothes, full of dust.
Although the woman's face was streaked with dust and blood, with skin as white and smooth as that, it was difficult to hide her beauty.
The woman's name was Livia Flowerside.
"Hehe, looks like there's a gem behind the pile of trash you picked up this time."
"Watch your mouth. You know that our Boss forbids us from carelessly touching them, right?!"
"Tch! I know that."
The kidnappers who were watching seemed to have noticed Livia's beauty. Lustful gazes flashed in their eyes.
Despite being watched with disgusting stares, Livia did not show any panic on her face. She just kept turning her head left and right as if analyzing the whole situation.
'All according to the script...'
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I remembered how I would end up in this world.
All the memories that popped up in my head....
The existence of Livia Flowerside....
All of that became even more convincing to me that the role I was playing in this world was an extra.
What is an extra?
Extras have no dialogue or interaction with other characters.
An extra's face is never shown clearly and is never the focus of the scene.
What's more, an extra has no character name and is never mentioned in the script.
If everything went according to script, then I would die in this crystal cavern.
It was at that moment that the system message appeared before my eyes.
[Survive until the first scenario is completed, then the return to Earth function will be available.]
'Survive....'