《The Bored Hero》


 Prologue: A Distant Place

    Have you ever heard of this story?


    The Great Hero chosen by the goddess, going on an adventure to slay the Demon King.


    Wielding powerful magic gifted by the goddess, he gathers companions and learns useful skills along the way.


    Fighting monsters, obtaining strong equipment, learning tactics and techniques in combat.


    Everyday, getting more and more stronger, until he reaches the Demon King''s castle.


    Here he fights with the small fry demon soldiers, leading up to the Great Four Devas who lead the Demon Army.


    And once he has done that, the door leading into the Demon King''s Throne Room opens miraculously.


    After surviving through harsh trials, and losing many comrades after launching their attack on the Demon Army, the final goal, the enemy of mankind, the Demon King bares its fangs.


    But, what did the Demon King do in this entire span of time waiting for the hero to arrive?


    That, is a mystery we shall never solve.


    But the battle between good and evil still begins, clashing their wills and ideals towards each other to reach a conclusion.


    Using the greatest of magic spells, the Demon King annihilates almost every single comrade that the Great Hero has left.


    In contrast with that, the Great Hero grits his teeth, and gathers his late companion''s willpower and makes it his own.


    Through countless experiences throughout his journey, he has grown strong. Absurdly strong at that.


    His purpose in life has all lead up to this moment.


    The Great Hero thought to himself.


    And at that moment, a powerful third party, such as the Ancient Dragon is summoned and helps the hero in his time of great need. At the hero''s lowest moment, a powerful being as old as time, lends its power to the hero.


    With both powers combined, that the Demon King could not ever hope to defend against, evil is slain.


    At its climax, the Demon King thanks the hero for releasing his curse, and disappears into the void.


    After all is said and done, the Great Hero, exhausted to his limits, and lost his important comrades during the battle, laid down on the cold, hard floor as his boundless strength was leaving him, little by little.


    Even if the Ancient Dragon was all-powerful next to the gods themselves, he could not save a life that was destined to dissipate. But, the Great Hero didn''t hate it for a trivial thing like that. In fact, he even thanked it for caring enough to try. Seeing this, the Ancient Dragon can only weep in frustration and admiration at the Great Hero.


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    The Great Hero that did his duty to the very end.


    Although complaining throughout the way, he was a great man who had slain the Demon King.


    At the end of his short but fulfilling life, the goddess had bestowed a gift towards his undying valour.


    ''Someday, you shall find true happiness.''


    The goddess had said to the Great Hero as she gave her parting gift.


    To this, the hero shed a single tear, as he gently smiled towards the goddess, seeing all his memories flashing inside his head like a lightning bolt. He was in fact, happy. Even though his life was short-lived, he was happy.


    His final words shall be forever remembered in the hearts and minds of the people saved by him in that world.


    .............


    "Although, I don''t know what he said in the end."


    I sigh, thinking that no matter how I try to recall his, I mean ''my'' words from before, I never can remember it.


    "Those memories of yours really are vague, huh."


    Said the middle-aged man standing behind the counter.


    He was a strange eccentric with grey hair and blue eyes. An old man that liked hearing my tales of whimsy.


    "Well it''ll come to me eventually. I just hope it wasn''t embarrassing."


    "Really, I don''t know about that but, isn''t it getting pretty late? Your brother will get worried about you and come again, are you sure you aren''t going home yet?"


    The old man said as he wiped the counter with a piece of white cloth.


    "Ah, I''ll just wait for him today as well. It''s too troublesome to walk home at this hour after all."


    I said, as I slumped my head over the table.


    "Good grief, you never change huh, Great Hero-sama."


    "Shut up. Give me another one."


    "Alright, alright, here.....your caramel coffee."


    Even if I remembered my past life, albeit vaguely, I still have a principle in life.


    And that is...


    "Ah, there you are! Why are you drinking here of all places again little brother?!"


    "Older brother, please shut your mouth for a bit. I''m trying to enjoy my drink."


    "Why you little!"


    I hate troublesome things.

 Chapter 1: A Certain Meeting

    Troublesome.


    A term I use at least once per day.


    It''s something I use to describe the repetitive motions of daily life, every single waking moment of every day.


    "....What the hell are ya looking at kid!? Ya looking for a fight?!"


    Like this situation for example.


    "Huh!? Keeping quiet? What, too scared of us now, that you''re quaking in fear? Is that it!? Oi, answer me!"


    Right now, I was being screamed at by some large-bellied teenager with a mean look on his face.


    Glaring daggers at me just to mask his inner weakness, how pathetic.


    "Hahaha, stop it Taku, can''t you see that you''re making him even more scared yelling at him like that? Look, any moment now, this guy''s gonna piss his pants. What are ya gonna do if he stinks up the place?"


    "That''s right, hahaha just let him be before he makes us smell like piss as well!"


    "Right! Right!"


    "Yeah, just make him get lost already!"


    Followed by what seems to be their leader''s opinion, the other delinquents laugh in mocking tones.


    From what I can see, they seem to have misunderstood my intentions of coming here, out of their own convenience.


    But that''s fine, I don''t blame them.


    Seeing me, keeping silent after their blatant childish threats, I would draw the same conclusion if I were in their shoes.


    While they are jeering at me with their glares and whatnot, I secretly move my eyes to look around me and my surrounding area, ascertaining the numbers of the possible enemy, and the present situation.


    One, two........six, no, seven.


    There''s one hiding behind the large-bellied teenager.


    Obviously, his size is a large deterrent, literally.


    I can''t see the person now, but I can faintly tell there was movement in that certain space behind them.


    I don''t know why he needed to hide, but it''s none of my business, so I won''t pry any further.


    Taking a glance at each of them, I analysed their facial features, body build, and estimated their individual, as well as their group strength. Most of them had bleached their hair in an attempt to look tough, including the stoutly-built one from before, but the tallest one who I assumed to be this group''s boss, had none at all.


    It was a hairstyle that seemed to belong to certain buddhist sects in other countries in the south, but it would make him enraged if I said it out loud, so I refrain from opening my mouth.


    It''s not because I was scared though.


    Let me clarify that, at least.


    I just really don''t like wasting my time making the problem even more troublesome than it already is.


    In fact, I was really just...


    "....No, I''m just passing through but you guys were in the way."


    Although this contradicts my earlier point, I, quite frankly, could care less.


    That''s because, this alleyway that I''m currently in, was the only path leading to a place where a certain ''acquaintance'' was now living in. These guys had just only now coincidentally, chose this alleyway as a hangout.


    And being forced to find a nonexistent path other than this alleyway, to get there instead of walking at my leisure is not worth the effort, plus it sounds troublesome.


    That is really all there is to it.


    "................Pu-"


    "-Hahahahahaha"


    After a short silence, a few moments after I said my reply without a care, a loud cackle of laughter resounded in the dark, narrow alleyway where I stood without a trace of emotion on my face.


    But it wasn''t like my face was completely devoid of emotion.


    Of course, I cannot confidently say that my expression of being tired of everything was an emotion, per say. In fact, as surprising as it may seem, I had never even shown a genuine smile since...


    "The brat seems to be amusing eh? Fine then, ya made us laugh so ya can pass without any trouble. But just this once, ya hear? Find a new way home starting tomorrow!"


    Finally calming down his breathing somewhat from laughing too much, the bald boss of these delinquents signaled to the others to make some room for me to pass through.


    It''s a pathetic means of feeding their ego, by saying that they ''let'' me pass instead of me passing through them, but if it saves me the trouble of wasting any more time here, I''ll gladly take it.


    As to the thing I was thinking of just now, I had already forgot about it.


    Honestly, when I said those words earlier, I was fully expecting at least one of them, if not all, lunge at me with their bodies surrounding me, preventing a means of escape and start an all-out brawl.


    Did they not hear my disrespectful words at the end, or were they just dumb?


    Either way, it doesn''t concern me now.


    Even if they still cause me trouble later on, I can deal with them at that time.


    I calmly navigated my way through the now open path, and moved forward with my usual relaxed pace.


    But just as I was about to leave...


    "You! Call the police, these thugs are-"


    A high pitched-sounding voice interrupted my thoughts, and made me stop abruptly.


    When I turned around to see the owner of the mismatched voice, which was quite strange considering there were only the delinquents here and yours truly, a muffled scream was picked up by my overly sensitive ears.


    "Look here, little missy. I told ya to shut your trap already, didn''t I!?"


    Reflected in my pupils, was the bald delinquent boss covering the 7th mysterious person''s mouth.


    Judging by those curves, and that voice too high to be a man''s. I can only conclude that the mysterious person that was hidden behind them earlier, is in fact, a girl.


    If I analyse the appearance of the girl even further, I would say that she was without a doubt, beautiful.


    Wearing what coincidentally is, our school''s uniform, she had skin as white as snow, long flowing black hair, long and slender legs, dainty fingers that looked like they haven''t worked a day in their lives, and breasts...


    Well, let''s just forget the breasts. It isn''t that important.


    As I convinced myself of that, I could feel a chilling light in the black-haired girl''s eyes, but it must have been my imagination. I mean, no one can read minds right? I get rid of my paranoia with that obvious fact.


    In any case, after seeing this I can only say one thing.


    "....Troublesome...."


    I said while sighing under my breath, cursing my luck today.


    "Aah!? What did ya say brat?!"


    I slowly turned around, and put down the paper bag I just bought on the ground beside me.


    I know.


    I can always just turn back now.


    This whole situation reeks of something being done behind the scenes.


    Normally, if you looked at them with a biased opinion, you would say that without a doubt, a beautiful high school girl was being harassed by nameless thugs. But if you had a clear head like mine, you would think otherwise.


    This was not a simple harassment crime, it was a kidnapping.


    Simple questions that seemed strange from the get go popped into my head earlier, like why were there too many people inside an abandoned alleyway, making it cramped. Or why someone would stop a random bystander...


    Well, let''s leave it at that for the time being.


    If I took the time explaining it, I would already be surrounded.


    That would be even more troublesome.


    I know, that somehow, after all of this is over, I might get dragged into a bigger mess than now.


    With my past experiences still fresh in my mind, I knew that best of all.


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    I could always just ignore her and leave without doing anything, not even saying a word.


    Such a simple and easy thing to do...


    A natural instinct to avoid trouble.


    "Now listen here brat! Didn''t I tell ya to be on your way!? Also don''t tell anyone about what ya saw h-Guaaah!"


    "Shut up, baldie."


    How I wish I had that wonderful thing.


    But alas, trouble seems to always find me instead.


    These were the thoughts in my head as I kicked the baldie delinquent boss right into a wall to the side.


    His dumbfounded face as he saw my foot coming in contact with it must be disfigured right about now, as I watched his body become light as a feather, floating in the air before crashing into the concrete wall.


    Ah, ah, I''ve done it now.


    I turned my head towards the other five, plus the high school girl in the center of their encirclement, who were just as dumbfounded as that baldie delinquent. Did they not expect that, and their minds were still processing?


    It didn''t matter what the reason was anyhow, since this usually happens when faced with guys such as these. I didn''t care either way.


    Well, let''s finish this quickly and go do what I came here for.


    "What''s with the dumb faces, you won''t ever hope to even graze me with that attitude."


    I said provokingly towards the simple-minded delinquents, I mean, simple-minded kidnappers.


    And as expected, a few moments later, one of them quickly came back to their senses and ran towards me, about to throw a punch as he pulled his right arm back. Seeing the delinquent leading the way, the fatty from before almost immediately barked orders towards the others as he tried to calm down his heavy and rapid breathing.


    "....G-get him! That brat kicked the boss, all of you go surround him!"


    As the others heard the fatty''s frantic voice, they too, snapped out of their stupor and picked up some weapons behind them. From what I can see, there were metal bats, knives, and a spiked club. Honestly, where did you even get the last one? Of course, I had no interest in how they obtained it, not in the least. It was only my thoughts being idle.


    The reason for that is...


    "Too slow."


    I said out loud, as I dodged the incoming fist lazily, and quickly grabbed the delinquent''s wrist.


    *Crack*


    "...A..ahhhhhh! It hurts! It hurts! It huuuurts!"


    That''s the point though.


    I retorted in my head after seeing the twisted wrist of the delinquent who was grovelling on the ground, holding it as it had twisted in a strange direction. I felt no pity for him, as I was the one who inflicted that injury after all.


    Hearing his scream, the others faltered a bit, but it seems the fatty''s cries roused them to lunge at me once more.


    Carrying the dangerous-looking weapons that a normal person my age would be scared to death of when looking at it in front of them, they slowly surrounded me from all sides. The fatty, who was the exemption, hid at their backs.


    Though I said that, there were only a measly number of three delinquents surrounding me.


    Plus, their stances were only served to threaten, but when looked at closely, were full of openings.


    "Attack me already, I don''t have all day."


    I spit out my true feelings as I lightly tell them to start.


    From what I already concluded, these guys'' combat experience was close to nil after all. Even if they had weapons...


    "..Take this brat!"


    "You underestimating us huh!?"


    "Die!"


    The metal bat was swung horizontally, by the brown-haired delinquent, aiming at my left arm, while the knife was in a piercing motion towards my abdomen, started by the bleach-haired delinquent. Finally, the spiked club was held by the short-haired crew cut delinquent and swung overhead.


    "....It would still be useless.."


    Moving one step forward, I disarm the bleach-haired delinquent of his knife by doing a knee-kick towards his outstretched hand that was holding the knife, and after confirming the knife was successfully dropped onto the ground, I stretch out my leg, and kick the surprised delinquent in the chin, rendering him unconscious.


    The other two weapons'' targets had disappeared, so they only landed on empty air.


    Immediately taking advantage of that opening, I grab the crew cut delinquent''s shoulder and shirt collar, and pull on it.


    While simultaneously using my right leg in kicking his lower leg that was used as his center of gravity, I throw him onto the chest of the brown-haired delinquent, effectively killing two birds with one stone.


    All of this was done in the span of a few seconds.


    Even after the three was lying on the ground, groaning in pain, I didn''t even break a sweat.


    This was because my movements just now, was only using the minimum amount of energy needed, hence I didn''t get tired physically. I can''t say the same for my mental state though.


    Obviously, what I just did wasn''t hard.


    It might sound conceited but it''s true. Anyone can do it, with a bit of practice.


    In fact, this tactic of surrounding me from all sides was lacking in both numbers and manpower. It was nothing compared to the time a horde of demonic beasts surrounded the hero''s party.


    The remnants of my memories were still vaguely showing up in my thoughts from time to time.


    Compared to that time, this wasn''t even a warm up.


    Releasing a sigh, I look towards the dumbfounded fatty by turning my head slightly back, giving him a sidelong glance.


    "You''re next."


    I said in a slightly deeper tone.


    "H..Hiiii!"


    It seems that my light threat had worked, and the fatty feared for his life and ran away.


    If there''s one thing I had miscalculated here, it has to be the fact that the fatty can run faster than I originally thought.


    It''s troublesome to chase him since he was going the opposite direction of my destination, so I decided not to.


    Ah, I can feel something even more troublesome will happen in the near future, as I regret letting him run away now.


    But it''s not like these guys here were killed, so the end result will still be the same after they regain consciousness.


    Let''s just leave it to the future me.


    Yeah, let''s do that instead.


    As I shake away my anxiousness for the future with my usual irresponsible thoughts, I turn around and start walking in the opposite direction. But just as I reached the place where I put down my paper bag, a voice called out to me as soon as I started picking it up off the concrete ground...


    "U...umm!"


    As I was dusting off the accumulated dirt from the bottom of the bag, I leisurely turn my head to look for the owner of the voice behind me.


    Ah, I almost forgot about you.


    Rude as it may sound, I didn''t consciously fight those thugs for you. I only did it to appease my heroic tendencies that manifested as a result of my accumulated memories from my past life.


    Not that I can say that out loud.


    Still, it wouldn''t hurt to do the bare minimum of interaction with the victim, troublesome as it may be.


    It seems every thing I encounter is full of trouble these days.


    Oh, when shall I attain that peaceful life, full of me indulging in laziness and carefree days, that I have been wanting all this time?


    I ask myself that very same question each day.


    But, as always, the answer to that question was of course...


    "Please, join the student council!"


    Not today.