My name is Hiraku. No last name, it’s a sad life.

Though I started in a very cliché opening, my life itself couldn’t even be more far from it.

I say this because I’m not a [Hero].

People with the title of [Hero] are, as you might have guessed, the ones who…

Saves the world.

Gains an impossibly large harem.

Defeats the one chosen to be the [Demon King].

Will always have that ‘Divine Blessing’ of the goddesses where they always get out of a pinch in one way or another.

But most importantly, they receive some kind of cheat-like ability.

Well, what am I then? Sorry to disappoint you but, I’m merely a side character.

That title doesn’t even have the brackets or capitals for the emphasis effect.

=-=-=-=

When I was twelve years old, I was just an ordinary kid on a random countryside town, who spent his life doing house chores and helped his parents on whatever they’ve asked me to.

I have a little sister, though contradictory to the usual, she doesn’t like me. Not in the slightest. You can even say she despise me. She’s a devilish kid who uses her charm and cuteness to manipulate our parents. For example, blaming me for a broken plate, or spreading rumors that I peek on her while she’s taking a bath.

Also, I do not have the thing you call abchildhood friend. What do I have then?

A bully. Yep, she’s also a girl too, but a bully nonetheless.

Since she’s the daughter of the Duke of our medium-sized town, she’s quite rich. And bratty. She spends her whole day criticizing my looks and social standing (Commoner). That or either she’s cooking up a plan to humiliate me in front of a crowd again.

All in all, my life had been terrible that time.

But now that I’m already eighteen years old…

“Hey! Hiraku! You smell like a pig! Get away from me!”

It’s even much worse than before.

Nothing changed much from that time. I’m still a commoner, my sister curses me on a daily basis, and this brat kept on making my daily life a living hell.

“Midget…”

“Wha— I heard that! I can execute you for that, you know?!”

“No, I was saying your name, Bridget. You might have misheard it.”

I smiled the most sarcastic one I could ever make. Before I really get myself executed, I ran away from that rabid dog. I personally know how truly dangerous that girl is. Though she looks younger than my sister, she’s actually just a year younger than me.

Becoming an adventurer is an option for me of course, but I quickly shot down that idea when I appraised my status on some wandering priest.

Name: Hiraku    Gender: Male   Level: 6   Job: Hunter

Strength: F   Speed: F   Defence: F   Dexterity: F

Mana: F   Magic Attack: F   Magic Defence: F

F and F and more F. As you can see, the average for a fifteen years-old kid is even higher than me. Such is the stats of a mere side character, I guess…

“What are you staring at?”

The one who said that was my fifteen years-old kid sister, Sachiko. Her friend calls her Sachi-chan, but I’m forced to call her Sachiko-san (even Sachiko-sama, sometimes).

“I wasn’t staring. I was just thinking about something.”

“Ah! It’s something perverted again, isn’t it? You lolicon!”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

She ran away as if she’s running from a real pedophile. This is a daily occurrence to me, so my heart had stopped aching after she did it a hundredth time.

Enough to say, I hate her too as much as she hate me. Okay, maybe not as much… Just a little bit… Ah. Naah, I still care for her. She’s my little sister all and all. Also, she’s really cute, if she keeps her mouth shut.

“Agghh! I hate my life!”

I yelled that while stomping the ground in frustration. Sometimes I wish I’ll be reincarnated into another world without monsters or those [Heroes]. That would be great!

Laughing pitifully at myself, I busied my hands on assembling another trap for my and Dad’s hunt this coming afternoon. It looks like a simple beartrap, but it’s actually doused with a paralyzing poison. A nifty feature I added on it. So even if some durable monster withstands the initial damage of the beartrap, it won’t be moving for a minute.

It’s nothing special though. I’m sure some Trap Maker in the Capital can do much better than this thing I’ve made.

“There, finished.”

I marvelled at my handiwork. It looks decent enough!

“Hiraku!”

Mother is calling me. For some reason, she’s angry.

“I’m at the workshop, mom!”

“Hiraku, you perverted young man. Sachiko said you touched her breasts!”

My lips formed into a thin line. That girl doesn’t have those, mom.

Gaaah!

=-=-=-=-=

The sun had set, and the moon is atop the sky right now. I’m supposed to be sleeping already with the rest of the townsmen, since it’s already midnight, but this night seemed to be an exception.

I just couldn’t sleep. My mind’s as awake as it can be. I don’t remember drinking the energy herb at the kitchen, so why am I awake?

I noticed the black pendant hanging on the wall to my right. I remember picking up that thing randomly on the street. It’s nothing special, though since I’ve gotten it, I’ve been hearing strange voices at night, telling me to pray to the pendant three times a day. It sounded pretty shady, so I did it. I’m a little curious, okay?

Anyways, the problem of me being deprived of my precious sleep is still present. Just when I started to think about bashing my head on the nearby wall, the light of a torch passed through the gaps of the window in my room. I say window, but it’s merely a flat straw with a stick to hold it up when opening. That’s strange. Is there a patrol going on outside?

Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to peek outside.

“Why are we the one who’s tasked to pillage the smaller houses?”

“Just shut up and do your job.”

These guys are… bandits! The town’s being raided!

And it isn’t only these two. I can see numerous more torches from afar. What happened to the guards guarding the townsgate?

This is bad… I need to wake everybody inside the house. Just in case, I grabbed my trusty beartrap lying on my table to the left. Better ready than not.

For some reason, I also grabbed the black pendant from the wall, and stuffed it inside my pocket.

Since Sachiko’s room was the nearest, I decided to wake her up first. I mildly knocked on the door to her room. I don’t need the bandits outside to notice me too.

“Sachiko! Sachiko!”

I heard shuffling from within her room, then some light curses. Seriously, this kid…

“What is it?! I was sleeping! Geez, how idiotic can you be?!”

Her glare could make a bandit’s a run for its money.

“Come with me. We need to wake Dad an—”

“Stop touching me! Mooooom! Mooommyy!”

Sachiko suddenly yelled at the top of her lungs. Sachiko! Tch!

“Don’t yell! There are bandits outside!”

“Mommy!”

She just wouldn’t stop! Come on Sachiko, even just for once, obey me!

I heard the door at the front yard being forcefully opened. They’re inside now…

“Everyone line up here in the living room!”

The bandit yelled. What am I gonna do now?...

I noticed that Sachiko’s legs are trembling. I warned you! But, this isn’t the time for blaming each other. I need to think…

“H-Hiraku…”

Sachiko tugged on my hand. I know, I know…

“We heard you outside! Come out or we’ll kill you if we find you ourselves!”

Think, think…

“We’re here.”

Dad was the one who said that. He’s with mom… I can see his fingers forming into different signs. It was our sign when we’re hunting.

Go. Outside. Backdoor. That’s what he’s saying… Dad, Mom…

I urged Sachiko to stop staring at our parents, and pulled her away from them. She’s crying quietly. Endure for a while longer, Sachiko.

When we arrive outside, everything was burning. Maybe they were surprised by Sachiko’s yell, so all the bandits forced theirselves instead of sneaking in one by one. Some townsguard are fighting here and there, but they’re obviously outnumbered.

“H-Hiraku, w-where are we going now?”

“I don’t know, but we should get out of the town for the meantime…”

We need to get away from the bandits. At least, when the thieves get out of the town, we can go back and look for survivors… though I doubt it’ll go as smooth as that.

We hid on the back alleys. With the help of the natural darkness the night brings, we were able to go near the gate. I ran into some townsguard corpse earlier, and borrowed a sword. I didn’t forget to cover Sachiko’s eyes. She had enough of this nightmare, and I’m almost at my limit too.

“Help me! Help, anybody!”

I heard a familiar voice behind me. That’s Bridget… yes, that’s Bridget alright. Only she possesses that bright blonde hair here after all.

She’s being carried on a shoulder of a bandit. She kept on pounding the man’s back, but I imagine that the bandit barely felt that.

Gah, I can’t leave my sister alone here… As if Sachiko can hear my thoughts, she’s looking at me with her eyes full of fear.

Really, my life had always been terrible… It’s as if the Goddesses themselves hate my very existence. Here I find myself in yet another hopeless situation again.

Goddesses, I hate you.

Here comes my choice!

“Iyaaa! Don’t hurt me!”

That’s me, yelling. “I’ll give you this cute little girl, just spare me!”

I pointed at the shivering Sachiko. Sorry!

Yosh, the bandit heard my shameless shouts. Sachiko’s crying nonstop, but like I’ve said, sorry…

for using you as a bait!

The guy stepped on the exact spot I wanted. Right there, on that pile of haystack.

Clank! That’s the sound of my trusty beartrap biting my victim.

Bridget was thrown on the ground by the guy, but I quickly snatched her while she’s on midair. She’s really light!

I left the writhing bandit on the ground. Even Sachiko might have not noticed it when I put it there. Actually, one might ask why I’m possessing such a thing inside my bedroom. Well, a real hunter’s always prepared, that I guarantee. Some might prepare handy tools such as knives, but I prefer indispensable traps.

Finally, we’re outside. We rested under an oak tree, away from the burning sight of our town. I breathed a heavy sigh. We barely made it. To keep our bodies hot, I made a campfire from the various dried twigs around.

“Hiraku… you scared me.” Sachiko glared at me again.

“You diss me everyday, you know?”

“B-But that’s!”

“What?”

“…”

“Heh.”

I sighed. Sachiko, not now, okay?

I looked to my far right and see Bridget. Sachiko, follow the example of that brat. She knows how to read the mood, and is keeping silent since she knows she’s in debt to me now—

“Stop staring at me while panting. You make my skin crawl.”

I growled like a hungry lion at her. She’s so hopeless!

But seriously, isn’t this the time where they’re supposed to open up to me and thank me with all they have? What’s wrong with these two? Or am I the wrong one? Huh?

Oh yeah, that only happens to the [Heroes].

Now I’m depressed again…

I’m all alone with my sister and a girl in the forest. It sounds pretty good the first time you hear it, but…

“I’m hungry! Food. I want food.”

Bridget whined like the pig she is. Ugh.

“We don’t have any money now… Maybe I should sell Hiraku’s kidneys on the black market…”

I heard that! Where did you even learn that, Sachiko?!

But, deep inside though, I understand them. Unlike me, they’re still teenagers, but they already experienced such terrible things. I know this is just their way of forgetting it.

It can’t be helped.

“We’ll go the next town. Imperial guards are sure to show here, but that’ll take weeks at best. If we want to survive, we need a place where we can get food and water.”

And the bandits doesn’t seem like they’re going away anytime soon. They’re still busy with the things a bandit usually does, I guess.

Follera Town isn’t that far from here, but if we go by foot, I don’t think these two ‘sheltered’ girls will survive. It would have been alright if my stats were a bit higher than normal, but as you can remember…

I can hunt those monsters, but in a straight up fight? No. And add to that that I have two more people to take care of.

This trip will be long, but…

I looked at Bridget and Sachiko sleeping soundly at the other side of the campfire.

“This Hiraku will do his best.”

And thus, the lackluster adventure of a side character began.