When I Realized I Was the Game’s Protagonist, I Decided to Dump Everything on the Dark Hero - V1 Chapter 02: Another World Sucks, Don’t Come Here

Chapter 02: Another World Sucks, Don’t Come Here

It had been about two months since I became Blanc, and I was making my way to Wyack territory.

On foot.

“Guess this is far enough for today.”

I sat down on a tree stump by the road and cast [Cleanse], a basic life magic spell that wiped away dirt and grime from my body and clothes.

It was one of those everyday convenience spells, and honestly? I would’ve killed to have this back in my previous life. 

Laundry bills were no joke.

After using life magic to start a fire, I set up my beat-up tent, completing my makeshift campsite for the night.

Dinner consisted of stale bread, dried meat, and some wild berries I had picked along the way.

It was a sad, pitiful meal, but that had been my diet for a while now.

Honestly, without life magic, I would’ve been screwed.

Forget following the original storyline, I wouldn’t have survived this long without [Cleanse], fire, or clean water.

“How much longer is this gonna take…?”

Right now, I was in a town called Bose, located in the Viscounty of Maille. 

Never heard of it.

Maybe it had been mentioned somewhere in the game, but come on—I can’t be expected to remember every single name from the story.

How Blanc even ended up here was a mystery.

Bose was nowhere near the game’s starting point, so I had no clue why he was here in the first place.

Not that I had any leads.

The abandoned house I woke up in had nothing useful—no clues, no food, no valuables.

It had a mirror, though, which meant someone well-off must have lived there at some point.

Not that it helped me in the slightest.

I tried asking around the neighborhood, but all I got was that the house had been abandoned for years.

No one had come or gone in all that time, and naturally, no one knew anything about Blanc either.

On the bright side, the locals were surprisingly nice.

While gathering information, I helped out with small tasks here and there and got free food and some spare change in return.

Was it because of my face?

Did I just have one of those faces?

I ended up staying in that house for about ten days, using the time to gather intel and test a few things.

But in the end, no one ever came looking for me.

After a lot of back and forth, I finally decided to move on.

I couldn’t just sit around forever.

I did at least tell the locals that I was heading to Wyack territory, so if anyone needed to find me, they could always track me down.

Whoever reincarnated me—whether it was a god or something else—couldn’t they have provided a little more support?

“Seriously, if you wanted me to do something, at least give me proper instructions.”

What am I, some corporate drone with a clueless boss?

Then again, even if I did get orders, whether or not I’d actually follow them was a different story.

From Bose to Wyack territory, there were two possible routes.

The first was the safe route, heading east through the royal capital.

It was longer, but the main roads were well-maintained, and there were carriages available for travel.

The second option was the shortest route, cutting straight to Wyack territory. It was faster, but also riskier—the roads were poorly maintained, barely any travelers used it, and the chances of running into monsters were significantly higher.

In the end, I chose a compromise. 

I would follow the royal capital route first, then switch to the shortest path once I had gotten used to traveling.

I was broke, so I needed a way to earn money, and fighting monsters along the way was the perfect opportunity for leveling up.

Well… not exactly leveling up, but close enough.

To test things out, I spent some time hunting slimes and goblins around Bose.

Just like in the original game, I could actually feel a surge of power flowing into me with every monster I defeated.

But it wasn’t like a level-up system, where you suddenly get stronger all at once.

Instead, it felt more like a gradual increase—every battle made me slightly stronger.

Which, honestly, was a relief.

If I had to grind like a gym rat just to get stronger, I probably would’ve quit immediately.

As for magic, I found that spells could be activated by focusing on the desired effect while channeling my mana.

Blanc had affinity for all elements, meaning he could use magic across the board better than most people.

Basically, he had his pick of the lot.

In the game, all you had to do was allocate skill points, so at first, I struggled with figuring things out.

But honestly?

Being able to use any spell instantly just by assigning points was way less realistic than actually learning them step by step.

That said, since the game had a skill point system, there was probably some natural limit to how much magic I could learn at once.

With that in mind, I decided to focus on a handful of spells and refine those first instead of spreading myself too thin.

By now, I had gotten used to hunting monsters, and after two months, I was starting to adjust to life in this world.

So yeah, that’s how my journey to Wyack territory had been going. 

But, of course—this was a fantasy world, after all.

And that meant… well.

Certain things showed up.

“Yo, kid. You all alone?”

I looked up from my dinner, only to find a group of rough-looking men approaching me.

There were three in front, but I could sense two more trying to circle around from behind.

Yup. Human traffickers. I had noticed them following me for a while now.

A kid traveling alone was basically a walking jackpot for scumbags like these. 

On top of that, even in rags, Blanc had a good-looking face, so I could guess why they were interested.

Not my first run-in with guys like this, either.

As for the ones that tried before?

Let’s just say they probably ended up as monster food.

“Haa… What a pain.”

“Huh? What the hell are y—guh!”

“What the—!?”

“Gah!!”

Before the man could finish his sentence, my spear was already piercing his throat.

Without hesitation, I swept the legs out from under the two beside him, and while one was still down, I finished him off.

The last one managed to roll away, barely putting some distance between us.

Which left me with one wounded guy in front, plus the two sneaking up behind me.

“W-Who the hell are you!?”

The guy in front shouted, but it was obvious—

A distraction.

“Right?”

“—Gyaaaah!!”

“Aaaagh!!”

Without even turning around, I manifested two spears, gripping them in a reverse grip before thrusting them backward.

One hit dead center, piercing through a man’s stomach.

The other sank into a thigh, sending the second guy crashing to the ground.

“Alright, that’s all of you, right?”

“P-Please! Have mercy!”

“Nope.”

“Gahh—!”

I drove my spear into the begging man’s chest, then quickly finished off the two still writhing on the ground behind me.

Merciless?

Yeah, obviously.

This is a fantasy world, after all.

Disabling them without killing wasn’t exactly an option, and even if I took them alive, what was I supposed to do with them?

The most efficient solution was to just take them out.

Less hassle, fewer loose ends.

Not gonna lie, killing was pretty rough at first.

But turns out—you get used to it.

Faster than I expected.

That said, even if they were caught off guard, I didn’t think I’d be able to wipe out five full-grown men without a scratch after just two months.

Sure, I had been grinding monsters like crazy, but this was where the Hero class really showed its worth.

Still, my first fight against bandits? That one didn’t go nearly as well.

I had assumed I was strong enough from leveling up, but when the time came?

Yeah, I regretted not grinding more.

“Hmm… not much here.”

I searched their pockets, but aside from a few wallets, there wasn’t much worth taking.

Which was weird.

They didn’t even have camping gear.

For a roaming group of kidnappers, that made no sense.

Wait. Did that mean… they had a base nearby?

Well, duh. They’d need a place to stash their captives—plus a wagon to transport them. I should’ve thought of that sooner.

“Now what…?”

If I were strong enough, I’d just raid the place and loot whatever treasure they had.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t there yet.

Plus, I had killed all of them, so I had no leads—no idea how many more of them were out there.

And worst of all—

They were probably holding prisoners.

“Haa… This is exactly why I hate fantasy worlds.”

An isekai world is full of nonsense.

Bandits.

Monster attacks.

And while I hadn’t run into any yet, there were shady nobles and demons lurking around too.

If they wanted to cause trouble far away from me, that was fine.

But why did they always have to do it right in front of me?

I had zero interest in risking my life in fights.

But ignoring a situation like this?

Yeah. That would haunt me later.

This was exactly the kind of moral dilemma I hated.

“Guess I’ve got no choice.”

I really wanted to leave before the smell of blood attracted wolves or goblins.

But so much for that plan.

“Oh? That might be it.”

After waiting for a few hours in a tree about a hundred meters away, I finally spotted it—

A covered wagon approaching.

Despite it being the dead of night, they weren’t rushing or anything.

Pretty suspicious.

They were probably part of the same group, coming to check on their missing buddies.

Not that there was anything left to check—

The wolves were busy chewing on them.

The driver noticed the pack of wolves and called out to the back of the wagon.

Immediately, four men jumped out and chased the wolves off with ease.

“…Yeah. Maybe I’ll sit this one out.”

The guys who chased off the wolves didn’t seem all that tough, but…

There was still someone inside the wagon.

And judging by the driver’s behavior, it didn’t seem like a captive.

If they were just weaklings, I could’ve easily taken them down and forced them to spill information about their base and any hostages.

But picking a fight with an unknown number of enemies, whose strength I couldn’t gauge?

That was suicide.

If only the wolves had put up more of a fight, I could’ve used the chaos to take them all down.

Oh well. No point dwelling on it.

I’d just report them to the guards at the next town and call it a day.

That was good enough, right?

As the wagon turned around and left, I dismissed the dozens of spears I had been holding in the air, positioned above the corpses just in case.

“Haa, I swear… Another world is the worst.”

Maybe I should’ve trained more before setting off…

I never thought I’d feel this conflicted over some random captives I wasn’t even sure existed.