“I have confirmed that a truck caused in your untimely demise, isn't that wonderful!” Josephine beamed, repeating herself.

“No! Not if I am dead, how is this possibly wonderful?” Shel exclaimed, panic again rising.

“Oh, well it is a positive outcome because you now qualify for the Isekai special, this will give you many advantages in the next life, and I can truly say that you are the very first person I have ever met who was killed by this type of truck, because of this I will give you an extra boon, it takes quite a bit to surprise me at this point, as I have seen just about everything.” Josephine smiled again.

“What is this Isekai special?” Shel asked, she was starting feel like a small animal in a trap, something odd was definitely going on.

“A soul who qualifies is given an opportunity to influence the reincarnation selection process and can opt to retain their memories in the next cycle, however there are a few caveats.” Josephine said sounding like she was answering a question she had answered a thousand times before.

“Firstly you will not be allowed to return to your planet Earth, secondly the world to which you are sent is required to be in what amounts to your medieval age or earlier. There are a few recommendations for world selection as well; A system of some sort is preferred, magic is also a popular choice, and lets not forget that cultivation is also a possibility. “ Josephine smiled.

Shel looked around the empty room again, while she worked out what Josephine was saying, she was sure that she was being conned, something did not seem real about this conversation. She mentally reviewed her memories and tried to pick out where everything has gone sideways. She was on the ship breeze blowing her skirt against her legs and then suddenly here, nothing in between. Could she really be dead? She thought of her last seconds on Earth, she had not heard anything coming, her eyes were closed at the last moment, but she had just looked around the entire deck and bay right before she closed her eyes, nothing threatening had been visible.

Josephine tapped the desk with her finger, getting Shel’s attention again, “What do you think of a harem?”

“I already have a husband, thank you” Shel answered quickly, the pain of loss was still too new for anything like a relationship. Thinking of James brought up one of her favorite memories of the girls in his arms, all three of them asleep in the recliner chair.

“The girls! How did I forget about them” Shel exclaimed. “Where are my daughters?”

“Presumably still on your Earth, why do you ask?” Josephine reached for the folder again, frowning slightly.

“I was literally holding them when my memories stop.” Shel explained, worry creeping to her voice.

Josephine licked her finger and turned a few pages in the folder, her eyes widened slightly and her face lost the cheery smile “Oh, um.. terrible news, it looks like they are also dead.”

Shel’s heart clenched in her chest, her poor babies, if this was real, they did not even get a chance to truly live.

“Furthermore,” Josephine continued, “they do not qualify for any special transition services, they will need to queue up and move on like most of the souls.”

“Transition services?” Shel asked, she was getting confused as this lady kept switching personalities, one moment she acted like a cheery salesperson and the next a cold-hearted administrator.

“Yes, like what we are doing now, I am assisting your transition. We used to have an infants services division, for those souls who died from between conception and age five. Something changed on your planet about seventy years ago that increased the volume of infants requiring services, the division eventually became so overwhelmed that it was closed and infant services were discontinued.” Josephine explained.

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Shel just wanted to get out of this room and grieve, if this was true. Unfortunately she was becoming an expert on dealing with heart wrenching loss.

“You said I can influence the choice for my next world?” Shel asked.

“Yuppers” Josephine grinned, ‘Cheerful Saleslady’ was back.

“I will pick the first one, and you said something about magic?” Shel asked.

“Yes, so a world with a system and magic?” Josephine said, writing it down on a piece of paper on the desk. “Magic is fun!”

“Not too much though, I don’t want to be dodging fireballs all day.” Shel said, sarcastically She was still trying to decide it this was a joke or scam. “Can we talk about a simple world without too much crazy stuff?”

“Sure, so a ‘low key system’ and unobtrusive magic? I can work with that” Josephine said closing her eyes, starting to bodily flicker again.

Shel sat quietly, taking the opportunity to begin to process the uncomfortable situation she found herself in. I am alone, she realized, everyone she loved was gone. With this thought her emotions began to spiral, loss, anger and frustration swirled around in her chest, tears welling up in her eyes.

Josephine heard her sniffles and opened her eyes, “Peace, calm.” Josephine again made a gesture with her hand towards her. Shel's emotions stumbled and separated themselves from her thoughts, cool analysis prevailed again. Shel could vaguely feel the tears on her cheeks, but their importance was suddenly diminished.

“We need you to be able to make quality decisions for this next section, the calm effect will wear off in a little while.” Josephine said apologetically as she closed her eyes and began to flicker some more.

“I have found a world for you” She continued. “It was previously a battleground world where two titanic forces fought each other to a standstill and then triggered mutual destruction. This event stripped the world of its loose magic, however its Mana generation system and Magic logic remain. The worst of the magic war was not fought directly on the physical plane so most of the planet surface is unharmed. The loss of most of the high level people, leaders, and creatures pushed society back to the dark ages. A few hundred years have since passed and Magic is mostly forgotten. All of the active dungeons were either destroyed by the cataclysm or were drained back down to single digit levels.”

“What is a dungeon?” Shel asked, she had a vague idea from some television shows she had watched with her husband, James, but wanted to have it clarified so she could make a rational choice. This thought triggered another thought, the calm spell thing that Josephine cast must really be affecting her thought process, being this analytical was not normal for her.

“A dungeon is a magical entity that is randomly placed around the world, its purpose is to gather and refine magic for general use. A dungeon uses energy commonly called Mana to create crystals and cores, these can be collected by sentient beings to power magic and personal growth. Dungeons try and protect the horde of magic they have gathered with created monsters and traps. They are an important part of the magic ecosystem.” Josephine said.

“So, these dungeons store magic up and people steal it to have magic to use?” Shel asked, she was pretty sure she was dreaming, this whole arrangement felt weird.

“Correct, they concentrate the wild magic into usable Mana, they help reduce the chaotic effect of wild magic on regular animals. On this particular world dungeons can also imprint the System into living animals, plants, and beings, further concentrating the magic” Josephine answered.

‘Whatever a system is’ Shel thought to herself, ‘probably irrelevant to this decision. I will figure it out as I go if it is important’ she figured that she could probably find a nice spot and try and live quietly, if this was even a real situation. She was, after all, a survivor.

“So you are offering a nice quiet world where all of the strong people were wiped out and magic is available if I go looking for it?” She asked shaking her head, this whole encounter seemed surreal.

“Yes, that is a pretty good summation of the world.” replied Josephine. “There are dungeons, and a system too, which meets the requirements for the Isekai special.”

“All of the insanely powerful, System empowered, people were removed during the cataclysm.” Josephine continued. “But that does not mean that there is no strife, or that people do not have power and there is no struggle. This is a world full of extreme potential, and it has much history and artifacts which could be unearthed and used by anyone.”

“I see, possible magic, with a layered history? I am really not interested in being a hero or saving the world or anything. I do not want to defeat the daemon king or lead an army of immortals to overthrow the evil overlord. If I get to pick I would like a simple place to live, and maybe a chance to meet some interesting people.” Shel explained.

“I see, would you like to attend many gala’s or ball’s? Would you like to be royalty and go from party to party living off the backs of the peasants?” Josephine asked while making a little shuffling dance move.

“No! I am a homebody, I would prefer to never even leave my house. I only ever traveled because James insisted.” Shel exclaimed. “After James died I did not really leave the house for almost a year, except to take the babies to the doctor and their grandparents”

‘The babies!!’ Shel remembered breaking into tears again. “Kenzie, Arla” she cried. Sinking back into the chair. “How could I forget them, what is going on?” She asked plaintively.