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?”

“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 do 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 pillow…… 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.

“Well sorry, I got big~ news for you. I. Will. Never. Be. A. Hero. We may not be able to choose how we are born, but we can choose how we die. And I choose to not die on the battlefield for people I don’t even know. I choose to not die for people who aren’t worth saving. Look at the world around you! Humans are scum through and through. You, your father, me, those guards. No one is an exception to this simple maxim. Humans are incorrigible scum not worth saving. We’re all greedy hypocrites who only care about ourselves. And since I am a selfish, greedy, hypocritical bastard, I won’t be putting my neck on the line for people I could care less about.”

“After all, why should I save them? Why should I help them? Only fools do all they can for those who harm them. And you people are one of those that harmed me. So tell me, why? Why should I lend that power I don’t even have to you? Because it is my duty? One I didn’t even choose to bear? Duty is someone a person takes up of his own will while knowing the consequences. I did not choose to bear this burden and hence I will not bear it. So mark my words. I. Will. Never. Be. A. Hero. I will not fight for the weak. I will not defend the defenceless. I will not uphold your justice. And above all, I refuse to fight for you people. So hear me now and remember these words. I WILL NEVER BE A HERO. You can grant me whatever title you want. Be it [Hero] or [Saviour] or whatever else you can think of. But, I. Will. Never. Be. A. Hero”

After I said those words, I stormed out of her room and back into the passage. Honestly, I don’t know what came over me. But something did, and whatever emotions I had inside started bursting out. Besides, there was simply no way I’d sacrifice myself for the sake of upholding some worthless justice. I’m not batman.

After a while, I reached the hallway where I ditched the guards. It was deserted. Looking out the window, I saw that I spent more time with that woman than I thought. It was already evening. And frankly I felt tired. So, I just sat down leaning against a wall and closed my eyes.

Suddenly, I heard someone shout, “Lord hero! Where have you been?!” Based on his voice, he was that leader fella.

Apparently I hadn’t quite cooled down yet. So, when I heard the word ‘hero’ I snapped and glowered at him, “Don’t call me that.”

“E-E-Excuse me?” it seems he didn’t quite get what I meant.

“I said DON’T CALL ME HERO” I shouted with killing intent.

“U-U-Understood Lord He-, Lord.”

“Good, now take me to my room I’m tired and sleepy and fed up with this day.”

“Very well, Lord.”

After walking for about twenty minutes, we reach the room I was to stay in. It was quite fancy. Much too fancy for me to feel comfortable in. The room was huge, about the size of the above average living room. And that was just the sleeping area. There were paintings and other such decorations on the wall which formed what seemed to be a miniaturized version of the geometrical pattern I saw in the hallway. The bed was so large it put emperor size to shame. There was also a closet filled with numerous clothes for all sorts of occasions. Formal suits for noble parties and the like, clothes for travelling, armor. You name it they had it.

Then there was the toilet. You wouldn’t believe how relieved I was when I saw it. It wasn’t a bucket or a random hole in the ground. It was a proper seat with a hole in the middle that sent the human waste down some sort of pipe. They also had proper toilet paper. As for the bath, it was a bathtub. Apparently you put your hand on a glyph to fill the tub up with water, warm, cold or hot.

That said, I really was dead tired, likely due to the emotional drain from those outbursts, so after taking a dump, I dropped face up onto the bed. Unfortunately, sleep didn’t come easily. There was just too much on my mind. Sadly, when sleep did come, it was plagued by a strange dream.

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Author’s note:  The chap’s a little short, but I figured it’d have more impact that way. I do not guarantee the next one will be longer since I’m just taking out a blank doc and typing whatever I can think of. That said, the next chap will probably have a slice of lifey kind of feel to it. Oh and I’m still looking for people to draw me a cover image for free. You can either do whatever you want then email it to me at [email protected] or just email me saying you’re willing to do it and I can give you some ideas on what I’m thinking of. That said, comments make good motivation so give me more and I’ll continue writing. If one day the section ends up deserted I might just lose my motivation~~~ Note that this is blatant blackmail/threat. Oh and do help me increase views by sharing this with your friends.

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Written By H0RR1BL3CPU

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