Chương 1: The Most Pathetic Isekai Run Ever

I actually got isekai'd once. It happened 10 years ago, when I was just a 16-year-old kid suffering from "main character syndrome." Just like any other boy obsessed with light novels and games online, I spent my days daydreaming that some day, some supernatural power would whisk me away to another world where I'd go on an epic quest to save the day. And then, my wish came true.

It happened on a perfectly normal afternoon: I'd just been kicked off the school basketball team for being a bit too "intense," walked home only to overhear that my dad was having an affair (cue the divorce papers), and to top it all off, my best friend texted me that my crush had just confessed her love... to him. Right in the middle of a typical, chaotic teenage day, I slipped on the stairs. And Isekai'd. At the time, it felt like a total godsend.

I landed in a place called the Kingdom of Averula, situated right at the front door of the Demon King's territory. Every 50 years, the Demon King breaks his seal, and the kingdom needs "Divine Heroes" to show up, kill monsters and seal him away again. A total classic trope, a fired-up teenager gets isekai'd into a fantasy world, you can probably guess what happens next, can't you? Well, too bad. You guessed wrong. The character I transmigrated into was just a descendant of a minor branch of the Griffin family.

Basically, I was the childhood lackey for the young master, Jullius Griffin - one of the top candidates to become a Hero in the party meant to take down the Demon King. Fast forward: Jullius goes from "candidate" to one of the final five Chosen Heroes. And me? Still just the lackey. Now, you're probably thinking,"Even an NPC can flip the script and become the protagonist!", right? I mean, I didn't get isekai'd just to serve tea! Exactly what I thought!

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. So, I "accidentally" stumbled into the Investiture ceremony where the Heroes were supposed to receive the divine blessing. Totally by accident. I mean, how could anyone possibly stop a "Chosen One" from another world from accidentally becoming the Hero who saves the kingdom? Thanks to that blessing, a formal Hero's Crest actually appeared on my left hand.

Instead of the usual five-man squad, the Hero's Party now had six. Though, calling me the "sixth member" was a stretch, considering the Gods gave me zero perks. No magic, no superpowers, just a regular guy. Okay, maybe I was slightly tankier than average. After all, I managed to tank three whole hits from the Demon King's right-hand man before I finally kicked the bucket. But wait, let's not get ahead of ourselves. That's a story for later.

Looking back to when I first joined the Hero's party, a lot of stuff went down. According to tradition, anyone branded with the Hero's Crest was legally obligated to join the crusade against the Demon King. So, by default, I was on the team. Of course, the rest of the squad didn't exactly welcome me. They were convinced that because they had to share the "divine grace" with a useless nobody like me, the blessings they received were diminished.

To get into their good graces, I ended up doing all the work that no one else wanted to touch. Like cooking, scouting for inns, hauling supplies. Or taking on those annoying "kill some weak-as-f*ck devil rabbits" side quests that the "Big Five" were too elite to bother with. Or being the designated fall guy whenever someone screwed up. Basically, if it was a glory-grab, it was all them. If it was a total disaster, it was all me.

Somehow, I actually managed to drag myself along with them all the way to the final boss arena - the Demon King's Castle. There, I tanked three brutal rounds of torture magic from Helmmore, one of the Demon King's top-tier lackeys. I honestly thought I could've pulled through, provided we used that Resurrection Elixir we'd found in a dungeon. But the others? They weren't about to "waste" such a premium item on me.

"What if a REAL Hero gets hurt later?" That was their logic. And just like that, my pathetic little Isekai speedrun came to an end. Did they actually win the war after I kicked it? I don't know, and frankly, I couldn't care less. I woke up back in this world as a 16-year-old boy who'd been stuck in a hospital bed for six months with a massive concussion from tripping down the stairs.