The story begins with El, an eight-year-old girl, experiencing a sudden and terrifying transformation during her village's annual festival. As villagers celebrate, El's eyes turn blood-red, and she instinctively recalls the world's structure: a land composed of five leaves, with her home, the Cloudy Country, being one of them. This transformation marks her as a demon, a race feared and persecuted by humans due to their unpredictable nature and unknown powers. The villagers, in their panic, begin to stone her, and her childhood friend, El, is paralyzed with fear.
El is chased to a cliff known as the Demon's Fall, a place where those who turn into demons are cast off. As she falls, fragmented memories of a past life surface: a world called "Nihon" with advanced technology and a deep love for video games. She realizes she has been reincarnated into a simulation RPG called "The Tale of the Five-Leaf Country," a notoriously difficult game. She remembers the game's premise: a heroine is summoned to bring peace to warring nations, and the player's starting country is random. El's village is in the perpetually overcast Cloudy Country, a land where humans and demons are in constant conflict.
During her fall, El unexpectedly gains the "Flight" skill, allowing her to survive a crash landing in the forest. She discovers her demon traits: blood-red eyes and black, bat-like wings. She also realizes her past life's memories are not just recollections but a complete reincarnation. She deduces she has been reborn as a young version of El Dorado, the "Most Terrifying Witch" from the game, a powerful demon who becomes a mid-boss and a significant obstacle for the game's protagonist, Yuko. El is distressed by this revelation, as the game's El Dorado is known for her seductive appearance and manipulative abilities, which El, in her current eight-year-old body, cannot replicate.
El's primary goal becomes survival and escape. She discovers she possesses a unique "window" interface, similar to the protagonist's, displaying her name, age, and skills: Illusion, Flight, and Cleaning. She realizes her "Illusion" skill might be the key to her survival, as it can create convincing illusions, potentially allowing her to disguise herself. She also gains a "Tamer" skill, enabling her to befriend monsters. She uses her skills to survive in the forest, befriending slime monsters who help her navigate and clean.
Her journey leads her to the capital city of the Cloudy Country. She encounters Lotus, a young soldier from the Knights, who is investigating the disappearance of slimes. El uses her Illusion skill to temporarily change her eye color back to blue and pretends to be a lost child to avoid detection. Lotus, despite his gruff demeanor, seems to recognize her or perhaps feels a sense of responsibility, allowing her to enter the city. El's immediate goal is to blend in and survive, abandoning any notion of becoming the formidable El Dorado from the game. She aims for a peaceful life, focusing on acquiring new skills and avoiding conflict, while the world of "The Five-Leaf Country" continues to unfold around her.
