《Hero》


 Chapter 1: I Am Not A Hero

    If you got summoned to another world, and thrown the title [Hero] and forced to fight for some random people you don¡¯t even know, how would you feel? Well personally, I¡¯d probably kill myself. Why? Simply because one, I no longer had any ties left to the world and two to see the looks on the faces of the fuckers that dragged me there.


    Honestly, I find those novel protagonists brain-damaged good for nothings. Well, I guess that¡¯s supported by how a good bit of them were human waste before they got dragged over. I mean, come on now, who the hell would laugh and say ¡°yay¡± in that kind of situation? No friends. No family. No modern day comforts. No money. No home. No nothing, except of course the clothes on your back and whatever you have on hand. And worst of all, you suddenly had a couple hundred million lives on your shoulders.


    Of course that¡¯s all hypothetically speaking. By the way, my that¡¯s was ¡®that was¡¯ not ¡®that is¡¯. Notice how it¡¯s past tense? I had all the bullshit in the above paragraph thrown at me. That¡¯s right, I am¡­¡­ A victim of kidnapping and abduction or so I thought.


    I am not a hero. I am an abductee who was dragged to some mysterious place against his will. I am not the saviour of the world. I am a kidnapee who just wants to go home. That is me. A black haired, brown eyed, lazy ass asian male that only wants to rest in peace.


    The white haired old man in front of me, was the ringleader of this kidnapping syndicate. He had ash-grey eyes that made him seem like he¡¯d seen any eternity go by as well as an imposing aura not suited to his age. His voice was deep and resonant and frankly? Annoying as all fucking hell. Made me wanna murder his ass. Unfortunately, I was surrounded by burly hulking men in silver coloured armor that shone like a flashbang.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Hero! Welcome to our world. Please save it by defeating the demon lord!¡± The scrawny, sharp-nosed, grey-eyed bastard said.


    To which I replied, ¡°Hero? Who? Me?¡±


    ¡°Of course! You¡¯re the one our goddess summoned to rescue us in this time of need! So please. Bring peace to the world by slaying the vile monster threatening it!¡± he answered.


    ¡°Very well! I shall save you!¡±¡­. Is that what you thought I¡¯d say? Well sorry, it wasn¡¯t. Instead, I cruelly crushed his hopes and dreams with a single word.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Wh-wh-what do you mean why? You are the hero summoned by the goddess! It is your duty!¡± The old man panicked and stuttered out a reply. Ah what a joy it is to see that expression on his face.


    ¡°Says who? You? Now tell me, why should I do as you say? Look at it from my perspective. What has the demon lord done to me and what have you done to me? Let¡¯s see¡­¡­ Did the demon Lord harm me in any way shape or form? Nope. Did he do that to someone I cared about? Nope. Now what about you? You dragged me away from my home. From my family. From my friends. From my world. You arbitrarily pronounced me something I am not. You tell me to risk my life for no good reason. You tell me to kill a guy who has done nothing to me. So, why should I help you? Now while I may not be strong enough to slaughter you like the fucker you are, I can always kill myself and crush your people¡¯s hope. So tell me honestly, why should I help you?¡±

 Chapter 2: The Bastard Is Actually Kind Of Badass?

    I¡¯d advise you to notice and keep in mind the question mark in the title¡­ That said, on with what happened after I got conned by that piece of dogshit.


    The hallway was spacious enough to fit a couple hundred people at the same time. It had smooth, chiselled stone floors with numerous narrow crevices leading outside the walls. Likely to act as a drainage system during storms. The windows were made of reinforced wood which was further fortified by a bars made of a dull black metal that seemed to suck light in. Scratch that. They didn¡¯t ¡®seem¡¯ to suck light in. They actually sucked in light. Not at the level of a black hole of course. It was a milder kind of distortion but an effective one for keeping defending troops alive. And if I were to look at it from that perspective¡­¡­


    ¡°Then these crevices aren¡¯t for merely draining away rain water then either¡­ Damn this place makes fort knox look like a block of cheese. Whoever planned this definitely knew what he was doing¡­...¡± I subconsciously muttered out loud.


    ¡°Of course! Our king is a wise ruler that¡¯s mastered numerous fields of study! This castle was personally designed by him! The fact that lord hero can see through the some of the hidden defenses so easily is simply outstanding. Can you guess them all?¡± The silver statue walking in front of me replied.


    ¡°The pillars are obviously one. The number of them in this hall far surpass mere overkill to the point of being suspicious. Plus, there¡¯s a hole leading out of a couple of them and into the drainage system. The ceiling supports is another obvious one. Even for a castle, the amount used is ridiculously extravagant. I¡¯m guessing those are hidden pathways? And those armor statues, I can catch a glimpse of pitch blackness behind the visors. Meaning that the light from outside must be heading into somewhere otherwise it would reflect off the back of the helmet. Obviously, more hidden pathways. I¡¯m also willing to bet the servants are all trained soldiers or something. Ah right and those paintings? The arrangement is strange. So are the images. They clearly form a geometrical pattern. Considering the fact that I was summoned via what I assume to be magic, that pattern is a magic formation right? By the way, can you tell whoever¡¯s hiding in the suit three armors behind me to stop looking at me like that? Stalking is creepy,¡± I replied without skipping a beat. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    What can I say? I¡¯m Sherlock Holmes. Besides that stuff really was abnormal. Of course I kept my mouth shut about the less obvious traps that I spotted. Why? Simply because all this info was definitely going to go to that bastard. He likely already thought of me as someone smart but still dumb enough to play around with. So, I figured I¡¯d keep in line with his thoughts then tear him in half when the chance presents itself. Back to the supposed yandere watching me.


    The suit of armor moved aside and revealed a dark tunnel behind it. And from that darkness, walked out a peerless out of this world beauty with snow white skin and a cold detached queenly air. No I¡¯m just kidding. It was actually a girl around my age.

 Chapter 3: Twisted Kuudere Or Closet Yandere?

    The passage was pitch black. Completely devoid of light. Same goes for sound. It was so quiet I could hear my own heartbeat. There was even a nice cool breeze~ Made me wanna sleep forever~ Thankfully, I resisted my most basic instinct and decided to follow the breeze. After all, where there is wind, there is an exit.


    After walking for about ten minutes, I reached a dead end. The strange thing about this end, was that two torches were hung on either side of it. The stranger thing, was how there was a glowing glyph producing wind on the wall. Feeling curious, I touched the glyph. All of a sudden, the wall dropped.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    In front of me, was sadly not a naked woman. Guess I¡¯m not a lucky pervert huh? That said, it was in fact a woman in front of me. She was the 15th princess I ran into just now. She was currently sitting on a bed and looking at me with a gaze that said, ¡®took you long enough¡¯.


    ¡°Hoh? So you were expecting me?¡± I asked about the gaze.


    ¡°Well, I figured you¡¯d distract them, slip away and venture off on your own.¡± She sounded a lot less reverential when she spoke this time.


    My curiosity only grew as she spoke, so I said ¡°Ouch! That hurts! You make sound like a little kid. So what made you think that?¡±

 Chapter 4: I Will Never Be A Hero

    My face must¡¯ve looked like a stupid cartoon character. My right eyebrow was raised higher than my left. My head was tilted downwards, and my pupils looked straight at the princess. But the most notable, was that my mouth hung wide open.


    Seeing my face, the 15th princess started giggling. Then, she burst out into laughter, ¡°I guess you didn¡¯t see this coming huh? Looks like you¡¯re not as omniscient as you acted. To begin with, I was never going to take your life. The summoning cost a great deal.Even if we used you as a sacrifice, we¡¯d still have to pay a great deal to summon another. If we did so, we wouldn¡¯t be able to wage a war.¡±


    To that I shrugged and said, ¡°predictions, speculation and deduction are all based off of known variables. You can¡¯t take into account what you don¡¯t know. So if you weren¡¯t going to kill me, what¡¯s under the pillow?¡±


    ¡°A knife to protect myself. Father may be well-loved by the public, but where there are people, there are always idiots trying to get more power. One such method is kidnapping his kin.¡±


    I was dumbfounded once again and said, ¡°...... You hide a knife under your pillow and expect me to believe it won¡¯t be used on me?¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Yes,¡± she replied.


    This time, I was well and truly speechless. Who the hell points a gun at someone saying, ¡°hand over your money but don¡¯t worry I won¡¯t shoot you even if you don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Uhhh¡­ yeah I don¡¯t believe you. And assuming you weren¡¯t going to kill me with that knife, then I¡¯m guessing there¡¯s something in that chest you¡¯re going to use on me. You know, the one that kept hidden behind your legs while you were sitting down. Maybe something sort of mind control potion or something magic like that?¡±


    ¡°Nope. That would be counter-intuitive to our purpose in summoning you. You can¡¯t access the power you were granted unless you don¡¯t it on your own free will.¡± She seemed like she was telling the truth. But, suspicious as I am, I didn¡¯t trust her. I mean, she admitted to trying to use the honey trap method on me and even having a knife under her bed¡­¡­ I¡¯d have to be more naive than a baby to trust her. That said, something she said did in fact catch my attention.


    ¡°Ah right about that. I have no power. I¡¯ve been feeling the same ever since I got here. No improved physical stats or anything like that. Trust me, it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t sense any changes, but that they¡¯re really not there. I tried to see if anything was off with my body on the way here. Nothing at all.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because it hasn¡¯t awakened. Trust me just this once, there is immense power sleeping within you. When the time is right, it will show itself and you will wield it.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Oh? And when exactly is that time?¡±


    ¡°When you wield your sword as a [Hero].¡± Those simple words pushed my fury to its brink.

 Chapter 5: Empty?

    The world seemed bigger. But I guess that was because I had shrunk. If I had to take a guess, I was probably 9 in the dream. I was lying on the cold, rough cement sidewalk. The ground around me was stained in some hot red stuff leaking out of my stomach. I wasn¡¯t kicking or screaming or begging for help. I didn¡¯t have the energy or the will to do so. I was just lying there with lifeless, emotionless eyes, gazing at the world around me.


    The cruel, cold world, where not a single soul radiates warmth. The heartless world which was neither black nor white. Just an indifferent dark grey. The worthless world filled with people just as worthless. The forsaken world that wasn¡¯t even worth hating.


    There was hundreds and thousands of people milling around me. But to them, I was invisible. No that¡¯s wrong. I wasn¡¯t invisible, I was negligible. Then, a little girl that was a little younger than me saw me. She pointed at me and said something to the grown up holding her hand. The grown up covered her eyes and dragged her away.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    As the blood drained away, I lost what was left of my energy and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I saw the world beneath by feet. I was standing on some sort of invisible platform. From up here, people looked like the ants they are. No¡­ that¡¯s an insult to ants. After all, humans are the worst of the worst, beneath even amoebas. No exceptions, not me, not you, not anyone else.


    Suddenly, I heard a voice from behind me, ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you, my valiant [Hero]. I am what the humans worship as ¡®goddess¡¯ but you may simply call me Christine.¡±


    To that I replied, ¡°Well aren¡¯t you a new part to this dream? In the hundreds of times I¡¯ve been here, you¡¯re the only variation. I¡¯m guessing you¡¯re the goddess that brought me away from that shithole into a dump just as shitty if not worse? Well I¡¯ve got two words to say to you. And they aren¡¯t ¡®thank you¡¯ they¡¯re ¡®fuck you¡¯¡±.

 Chapter 6: The Slumbering Lion

    King¡¯s POV


    30 minutes after the summoning


    ¡°...It should¡¯ve been me.¡± I say to the dying woman lying on the bed.


    Her once beautiful raven black hair now a silvery white. The fire that used to be in her eyes, completely burnt out save for a few embers. And on her face, was a sad smile that pierced through my heart. Staring at her now, I could feel my very soul being pierced by a trillion spears.


    ¡°The world needs you more than it needs me. After all, you are the one who brought about this new age.¡± She replied


    ¡°That¡¯s bullshit and you know it. Even if everything, humans, animals, demons, plants, monsters, all go extinct, the world will continue to exist.¡± It was a simple truth. The vast world would always be. With or without creatures atop it, the world would always remain. Unless of course some godly being comes to destroy it.


    ¡°Sigh, even now you¡¯re still like this¡­ Time can¡¯t be reversed you know? And even if it could, I¡¯d make that choice once again. After all, because of you, I could see that dream of mine start to become reality. Even if it is no more than a budding sapling, not many people can even see that much. ¡°


    ¡°Then why not just wait a little longer? A little more and that sapling would¡¯ve become a tree.¡±


    ¡°Enough. I am tired and need to rest. Besides, could you have beared to sacrifice one of our children?¡±


    Unable to reply, I leave the room and go to my office.


    There, I begin looking over the reports I receive on a day to day basis. The reports talk about more or less everything. Thankfully, they were arranged in order of importance. Otherwise, I¡¯d probably die an earlier death having to sift through all of them. Right at the top of the list, was one of a traitor. The worst kind of traitor. One that betrays the species.


    ¡°Hmm? A viscount? Oh? It¡¯s a survivor of that suicide squad I used back then. That explains a good bit. He¡¯ll be a perfect candidate. Send everything worth to him.¡± I say to the man hiding in the shadows.


    ¡°My lord? If you do that he¡¯ll open a rift and the demons will invade the capital!¡± He said with worry. To that worry, my only thoughts are, ¡°Sigh¡­ I need more competent subordinates. Ones that can think properly. Or better yet, one that doesn¡¯t disobey orders.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the plan. Oh and since he¡¯s a traitor that¡¯s going to die anyway, list embezzlement under his crimes too.¡±Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    To my words, the shadow starts to panic. ¡°But my lord! Thousand of people shall perish!¡±


    Sigh, this is why subordinates that can think are annoying. They think they¡¯re smart but they always fail to take into account the variables given.


    ¡°Have you forgotten about the [Hero]? This will be a perfect beginning to his legend! A subordinate trusted by the king betrays the human race, dooming the capital. Then, with a halo of justice overhead, the [Hero] steps in and saves the capital. It¡¯ll also be a perfect excuse for me to slip away from the limelight. After all, I¡¯m growing old. If the people don¡¯t find a new hero soon, there¡¯s bound to be a ridiculous amount of trouble.¡±


    Of course, that¡¯s only if that useless piece of shit decides to do his job. Why couldn¡¯t I have gotten a retard that says ¡°YAY!!! I¡¯LL BE THE BEST HERO EVER! I GUARANTEE I¡¯LL SAVE THE WORLD!¡± like the other kings? Why¡¯d I have to get a useless bastard that¡¯s greedier than a bandit with a mouth wider than a lion?


    Total net worth of the country including all hidden assets as down payment? Ten times the amount after the job is done? That bastard is clearly going to run away with all the money. And worst of all he actually dares take my daughter? And still complain about her? Fucking bastard! Most ¡®heroes¡¯ would¡¯ve refused the engagement, then set out to kill the demon lord while trying to win her heart during the journey. That scumbag didn¡¯t even do that much! I should¡¯ve killed him where he stood¡­¡­


    ¡°I-I see. Understood my lord! I sincerely apologize for doubting your orders. Please forgive me.¡±


    ¡°Done. Dismissed. Now hurry up and fulfill my orders.¡± With that, the fool set out.


    ¡­¡­


    The next day.


    Sitting on top of chair at the woman¡¯s bedside, I say to her, ¡°So, this will be the last I see of you huh?¡±


    ¡°My time is up after all.¡± She replies.


    ¡°Is it really worth it? To give up everything to protect this worthless reality? This was your dream you know, not mine. You should be the one to see it appear completely.¡±


    ¡°Sigh, will you just drop it? What¡¯s done is done¡­... You two really are alike. The only difference is how the two of you became like this¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s exactly because we¡¯re similar that I know your sacrifice wasn¡¯t worth it.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s exactly because you¡¯re similar that I know it was worth it.¡±


    I could feel the first tears I ever shed dripping down as she spoke.


    Seeing those tears, she smiles and says, ¡°This is probably the first time I ever saw you cry. I¡¯ll be waiting for you. Don¡¯t leave me alone too long okay? I¡¯ll miss you.¡±


    With those last words, her eyes close and I wipe away my tears.


    Before walking out, I leave behind the words, ¡°Rest in peace. I¡¯ll be joining you soon. And who knows? Maybe in the next world, you¡¯ll see that dream of yours come to fruition. Oh and if it turns out that this wasn¡¯t worth it, I¡¯ll just bring that dream right to you. Christine.¡±


    After leaving the room, I head to one of the watchtowers. There, I watch the hero as he begins his tour of the city. As I watch, I think to myself, ¡°I sincerely hope you prove me wrong. Otherwise, even if you somehow survive, I will take your life. If that causes the world to end, then so be it. A world without her is a world without worth to me anyway.¡±