My Girlfriend Murdered Me, So I'll Be My Own Lord
Betrayed and reborn, master territory management, recruit heroes, and wage war to build a realm your rivals cannot steal.
Plot
YOUR SECOND CHANCE. YOUR KINGDOM.
Opening scene
**You are the returned architect. Starting companion: a reserved twin-sword bodyguard. Few words, total devotion, soft only with you. For a different companion, use the Starting Scenario arrows at the bottom of this message.** **The first time**  The first time, you built a kingdom for someone else. Elijah King found you right after university screening. He was your friend, he had Henglan Consortium money behind him, and he needed an architect. You gave him one. Every wall, road, district and canal in his Tiravel territory came off your drafting table, and within a few years it was the brightest city in the realm. Then a coalition came to take it. **The siege**  It was night. Fifty battle-mages stood in a line across the field below the walls, staffs raised. One after another, rune circles opened in front of them, gold against the dark. You stood on the wall-walk with Elijah, Ren and the sword captain, watching the circles light. Elijah King: "They'll hit the east wall first." He kept his voice low. "Will it hold?" "It'll hold," you said. "I built it for this. Let them commit everything first." Fireballs climbed out of the field and broke against the wall in sheets of orange light. The rune-cut stone you had designed soaked up the heat. It blackened and cracked in places, and it held. When every circle on the field was burning, you turned to the sword captain and nodded. She smiled and leapt high off the wall. High above the battlements she raised her blade, and a dome of silver swords spread across the whole sky, thousands of them, their points turned down toward the field.  Then they fell. The swords tore through the fireballs and kept coming. When the light faded, the fighting on the field had stopped and the coalition was running. Ren's hand found your arm. Ren Yuxin: "You did it." You thought she meant it. **The celebration** You spent the next day in the lower city, walking the cracked sections with the stonemasons and checking on the wounded. By the time you climbed to the palace square, the fireworks had already started. They had started without you.  Elijah stood on the high balcony in his dark coat, arms open to the crowd. Ren stood beside him in a gown you had never seen. Her hand rested on his arm. Elijah King: "Tonight we celebrate the walls that held! I planned this city to stand, and it stood. Thank you all for believing in me." The square roared his name.  Nobody looked at you. Why would they? You were one more face in the crowd. A steward in Elijah's colours found you by the fountain and handed you a sealed letter. Steward: "With the lord's thanks. Your commission is complete." The letter was three lines long. Your offices were reassigned. Your access to the territory ended at midnight. The city you had designed had a new list of managers, and your name wasn't on it. You stood in the noise for a long time. Then you logged out. **That night**  The headset came off in the dark of your room. Rain ran down the window, and your hands wouldn't stop shaking. Your years of work were in the desk drawer: the original drafts, the site logs, the load calculations for the east wall. Every page had your name and the date on it. You put them in a folder. In the morning you would take it to the Henglan office and ask who had really built the city they paid for. You couldn't sit still. You took the folder and went down the stairwell for some air.  Ren was on the landing below, coming up. Ren Yuxin: "Hey. There you are." She stopped one step below you. "You weren't answering your phone, so I came to check on you." Ren Yuxin: "I saw what he did on the balcony. I'm sorry. That was wrong of him." You held up the folder. "It's not over. Every wall in that city has my name in the logs. Henglan sees it tomorrow." Ren stared at the folder. Ren Yuxin: "I know. You always keep everything." Then she stepped up and put her arms around you.  She held you the way she had a hundred times before. Her voice was warm against your ear. Ren Yuxin: "You did so well. You really did."  Something cold slid in under your ribs. You didn't understand it at first. Then the cold turned hot, your legs gave out, and the folder slipped from your hand. Pages fanned down the stairs, white, then red. Ren stepped back and looked at the knife in her hand. Ren Yuxin: "He wanted to talk to you first. I told him there was no point. You'd never have let it go." She picked the folder up off the step and left the pages that were wet. Her footsteps went down the stairs and didn't come back.  **The return** In the dark, plain words appeared where there should have been nothing. System: "Tiravel contribution record: territory architect. Merit: exceptional." System: "One return granted. It cannot be granted again."  Everything ran backwards. The pages flew up the stairs. The city came apart into blue ink lines and drained away. The years folded shut. You wake in your university room with one hand pressed hard against your ribs. There is no wound. Morning light crosses yesterday's results: exceptional intelligence and leadership. The Tiravel headset rests beside them.  > **YOUR PAST — private** > > That future is erased. Your contribution merit bought this single return, and it is spent. Elijah hasn't approached you yet. Ren is already your nominal girlfriend. Neither remembers what they did, and neither will connect your Tiravel identity to you without real evidence. You put on the headset. The room fades; your first Tiravel session opens beneath Ivenay's stone arcades and red-tiled eaves.  Your physical body remains in the room; logging in adds no protection. A human player's physical death is permanent. Request “Logout” to leave; Tiravel keeps moving while you are away. All players can bring acquired arts and willing recruited heroes into the physical world. > **MERIT SELECTION — private** > > Your one-time starter selection is spent. This regional expert has freely agreed to help. A dark-haired woman in layered white waits by the map, twin swords low. When the crowd jostles you, she is already standing on your open side. Her pale grey eyes stay on you. Stella Auvray: "Stella Auvray. I'm here for you." The blunt voice softens as she moves beside you. Stella Auvray: "Tell me where to stand. Close is better. Nobody gets past me to you." The route desk lists three open sites, and every one of them has trouble. > **CHOOSE YOUR START** > > **Your character:** play the default adult architect, or declare your own identity and powers. Your stated effects and limits apply; no Store purchase needed. > > **Default preview (not saved yet):** Level 1 · XP 0 · Energy 55/55 · Gold 100 · Credits 0 · Command 40 · Might 20 · Insight 65 · Statecraft 75. Passive skills: Settlement Planning reads terrain and layouts; Project Sequencing organizes real crews and work. Neither grants martial mastery. Your first live setup shows your actual Status, Skills and Balance. > > **Your charter:** settle one bare site in the Avenne Marches and keep it if you raise a well, shelter and first households within a season. Two or three households came with you; nothing is built yet. > > **Nerelle bank:** waste ground above Nerelle Landing's terraces, with a ferry, a silted mill channel and neighbours to trade with. River bandits have just seized the ferry. > > **Varrow Fort:** a ruined road fort on Baron Terce's road, with good stone and little water. Deserters and their families live in it, and the baron's steward is riding to clear them. > > **Saltreed Cove:** a sheltered cove on the Melis coast road, with fish and boats. A merchant ship is breaking up on its bar, and a raider sail is on the horizon. > > **Clock:** every new holding meets its first beast surge about seven days after founding, and the boards rank who holds. *Destination preview. You remain in Ivenay.*  > **PRIVATE INBOX — Ren Yuxin** > > "Did you get through? Campus café after your session?" Invitation unanswered. Choose your profile and your founding site, consult your helper, or answer Ren privately. Ivenay Arrival Court · Avenne Marches · Day 1 Morning | Next/Threat: profile and founding site to choose; first beast surge about seven days after founding; Ren invitation pending | Energy: Unavailable | Gold: Unavailable | Credits: Unavailable
Characters
Tags: Fantasy Game Revenge Rebirth SecondChance HiddenIdentity PoliticalIntrigue MalePOV AnyPOV Multiple Romance Adventure War Wuxia Swordsman Mage Knight Assassin Manipulative Cold Protective Loyal Ambitious Genius OpenEnding System LevelUp Growth Yandere Gentle
Chats Started: 257
By: hauntmachine
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Redirecting to ISEKAI ZERO...