When I Realized I Was the Game’s Protagonist, I Decided to Dump Everything on the Dark Hero - V1 Chapter 01: Just Let the Locals Handle It

Volume 01: Let’s Go Meet the Villainous Noble

Chapter 01: Just Let the Locals Handle It

“Nope. Nope. Absolutely not.”

I muttered to myself, staring at the cracked, worn-out mirror in front of me.

Reflected back was a young boy, no older than ten, with wild, unkempt golden hair that had grown out far too much.

His clothes were nothing more than rags, and his cheeks were sunken, but his sharp blue eyes and well-defined nose hinted at a handsome future ahead.

“Hmm, yep. This kid’s definitely gonna be a looker. As expected of the protagonist.”

—That’s right.

The protagonist.

The legendary RPG “Eima Chronicles: The Two Heroes” had a main character named Blanc.

And the boy in the mirror looked exactly like him.

Since I seemed shorter than in the game, I was probably in the early timeline, before the main story began.

Just yesterday, I had been a normal working adult, going home after a long day, going to sleep as usual…

Then, the next thing I knew—I had shrunk into a kid!?

…Yeah. The fact that I could still joke about classic tropes meant I wasn’t panicking too hard.

Alright, time to assess the situation.

No matter how I looked at it, I was definitely Blanc. Which meant—yeah, no doubt about it.

I had been thrown straight into the world of “Eima Chronicles”.

And of all people, I ended up as the protagonist.

Why me? Seriously. Whoever made this choice, redo it. I’m built to be a mob character, not the main guy.

Blanc was the textbook definition of a classic protagonist. 

Born an orphan, he was eventually taken in by a viscount’s family after a certain incident caught the lord’s attention.

He was raised as a companion and bodyguard for the viscount’s daughter.

A year later, at thirteen, he underwent the “Blessing Ceremony” and received the Hero class, making him an instant celebrity throughout the kingdom.

As he grew, he got dragged into various incidents, gaining experience along the way.

Later, he enrolled in the royal academy alongside the viscount’s daughter, where he uncovered the existence of demons conspiring to resurrect the Demon King.

Determined to stop them, he took up arms to prevent the Demon King’s return—and that was the basic premise of “Eima Chronicles”.

“Yeah… no thanks.”

Why the hell should I be risking my life? I’ll politely decline. Let the locals handle their own problems.

And before anyone says, “But technically, your body is a local’s!”—I don’t want to hear it.

Besides, there’s no way I can act like the original Blanc.

Sure, I might look like him, but inside, I’m just an average office worker. 

My values, instincts, speech patterns, food preferences—even the way I walk—they’re all different.

If I tried to follow the original storyline, there were bound to be discrepancies.

The worst-case scenario? Thinking I’m staying true to the game, only to unknowingly throw everything off track.

That sounds exhausting.

“But still… ignoring the story completely feels just as dangerous.”

By now, the demons were probably working behind the scenes all over the continent.

And once the Demon King fully revived, it wouldn’t just stop there—he’d lead an all-out invasion with an army of monsters.

Blanc and his party were meant to be the ones to stop it, but without the Hero (Blanc), things were bound to turn out way worse than in the original story.

Stop the Demon King’s revival before it happens? Yeah, no chance.

He’s already revived.

Well, technically, he’s still just a soul at this point, so maybe “revived” isn’t the right word.

Right now, he’s probably searching for a high-spec vessel that’s compatible with his soul.

In theory, anyone who can use dark magic can become his host—even a goblin or slime.

But if the body doesn’t match the soul, or if it’s too weak, the Demon King won’t be at full strength. Which is why he’s looking for the best possible vessel.

“What a pain…”

I didn’t want to follow the original plot, but ignoring it completely wasn’t an option either.

A classic lose-lose scenario. 

Ugh, so annoying.

Maybe I should just dump this whole problem on someone else… But it’s not like there’s anyone who could replace the Hero—

“Wait. Actually… there is.”

The subtitle of Eima Chronicles was “The Two Heroes.” Meaning—Blanc wasn’t the only Hero in the story. There was another.

His name was Noir Wyack—the heir to the Duke of Wyack, one of the most powerful noble houses in the Epinant Kingdom, where the game’s story took place.

With his jet-black hair and preference for dark magic, he was known in the game as the “Dark Hero.”

Blanc’s title, on the other hand, was the “White Hero.”

Even though he had blonde hair. Go figure.

Noir’s personality? A complete nightmare.

Arrogant, short-tempered, and completely reckless—he was an absolute problem child.

Since Blanc was a commoner who received the Hero class, Noir constantly picked fights with him, leading to multiple clashes throughout the story.

His stats also reflected his hot-headed nature—high speed, high attack power, but zero durability. Honestly? He was way easier to use than Blanc, who had more balanced stats.

But because of his pride, he neglected his training, fell behind Blanc, and eventually hit rock bottom—classic villainous noble material. And as for his fate?

It generally went one of three ways.

First is the Demon King’s Vessel Route

In this scenario, Noir ends up as the perfect host for the Demon King’s soul, which was still searching for a compatible body.

Since Heroes were considered “the natural enemy of the Demon King,” having one as a host meant the Demon King would be stronger than ever.

Next is, Overlord Route

This was the path where Noir refused to accept defeat and obsessed over surpassing Blanc.

When the Demon King tried to possess him, Noir turned the tables, absorbing the Demon King’s power for himself.

By this point, he had pushed his Hero potential to the absolute limit, and on top of that, he now had the Demon King’s strength—becoming the ultimate final boss.

And finally, there was the Allied Route.

This was the “classic hero story” where Noir, who had disappeared midway through the game, suddenly returned just in time to save Blanc from certain doom.

Together, they defeated the Demon King, side by side.

It was also known as the Awakening Route.

While he wasn’t as overpowered as Overlord Noir, this version of him was, to put it lightly, insanely cool.

Honestly? Even cooler than Blanc.

With a guy like that around, I had the perfect candidate to take over the role of Hero.

Sure, he had some personality issues, and he definitely had his own baggage, but let’s be real—dealing with Noir is way easier than fighting the freaking Demon King.

“Alright. Let’s dump everything on him.”

I’ll support him as much as I can, so he’ll just have to deal with it. Seriously. I mean it.

Of course, there was a slight problem—

Noir was the heir to a powerful duchy, meaning he wasn’t exactly someone I could just casually approach.

Right now, I was nothing but an orphan, which meant that if I screwed up, I could easily get executed on the spot.

I needed to figure out a safe way to get close to him.

“Hmm… but what should I do about Almeria?”

Almeria was one of the game’s heroines—the viscount’s daughter who would eventually take Blanc in.

If left alone, she was practically a magnet for trouble, so ignoring her wasn’t exactly an option either.

…Well, whatever. I’ll just dump her on Noir too.

He’s the heir of a ducal family.

The least he could do is handle this much.

Either way, step one was getting to Wyack territory.

I couldn’t start anything until I got there.

The problem was—

“How the hell do I even get there?”

“Status.”

…Nothing.

“Menu.”

…Still nothing.

“Appraisal.”

…Yeah. No surprise there.

Not being able to check my status was a major problem.

I mean, sure, a person’s true ability can’t exactly be measured by numbers alone.

But still—not knowing my own strength?

That wasn’t just inconvenient.

If I didn’t have at least a rough idea of what I could do, surviving would be hard enough, let alone getting anywhere near Noir.

In the game, there were multiple references to characters absorbing magic from defeated monsters.

So, there was probably some kind of experience system in this world.

I’d have to test that out before heading for Wyack territory.

Figuring out how to learn magic and skills was also a top priority.

But first—

“Uh… where the hell am I?”