Chapter 2 - The blacksmith is a douchebag

Furious after the humiliation inside of the castle, I ran away as fast as I could.

“Well it’s fine either way. Even if the king made fun of me, it sounded like they went through a lot to summon me. So the least I can do is to try to accomplish that quest. When he sees how powerful I am, the king will have no choice but to respect me.”

First things first, I needed a weapon. I spawned with clothes on myself and my body felt the same as the one I had before - which is not a bad thing, I mean I wasn’t particularly ugly or anything. But I did not have a weapon which I would need if I wanted to fight monsters and level up.

I wandered through the town until I finally found a blacksmith. I entered while holding my chest proudly and walked in while announcing who I was.

“Greetings, blacksmith ! I am the hero summoned by the king himself. I ask of you that you give me your best weapon !”

“Yeah sure thing, hero.”

The blacksmith was an old man with short black hair and a small moustache. He was muscular, as you’d expect from a veteran blacksmith. He left into his backroom and came back soon after with a halberd, a longsword and a battleaxe.

“Suit yourself, my friend. They’re all of the same quality and price so which weapon you choose depends entirely on the fighting style you’re aiming at.”

“Hmm… so can I have the sword ?”

“Sure thing.”

“Thanks, you’re a great help.”

I took the sword and was about to leave the shop when suddenly a firm grasp grabbed my shoulder and stopped me in place.

“Where do you think you’re going you little thief, eh ? You still haven’t paid for that.”

“I’m sorry ? I thought you were giving it to me for free since I am the hero.”

“Yeah yeah, hero, hero, that’s what they all claim themselves to be, my friend. But this is a business not a charity. If I start giving away my stuff to any random nobody calling himself the hero, I’m not gonna last long in the industry, you get me ?”

“Alright, alright, I’ll pay you then, sigh…”

As I reached towards my pocket I realised I didn’t get my “starting funds” from the king since I left before he could give them to me. So I was left with no money to pay the old man.

“What about lending ? Do you lend your stuff ?”

“No money, no deal. Get out before I call the guards, you broke hero wannabe.”

Sigh… without any starting funds, I couldn’t buy my equipment… and without that equipment I couldn’t slay monsters, loot them and sell that for money… This was an endless circle of disappointment.

Should I just swallow my pride and go back to the castle ? After all, it’s not like there was anything I could do like that.

As I was lost in my thoughts, I heard someone calling my name from a distance - and I wish I didn’t…

“CHOOSEYOURNAME ! Hero CHOOSEYOURNAME ! Please come back !”

The one screaming my stupid name was the blond princess, Esmeralda. Come to think of it, she was the one who had told her dad to stop messing with me as well. Maybe she was not as bad as her father.

“Yeah, yeah I hear you Princess. No need to scream that idiotic name like that.”

“I don’t think it’s an idiotic name, hero ! I think it… hum… ugh…”

“No need to force yourself to compliment something like that.”

“Ahem… anyway, I came here to give you your starting funds.”

“Oh I thought you were going to tell me the king is sorry for making a fool out of me. Well I guess that’s not how the royal family acts around here.”

“I’m so, so sorry… I wish I could tell you that myself but… the fact is Father was still laughing when I left.”

“Pff, that geezer needs to learn some common sense. At this rate his precious hero is more likely to side with the Demon Lord than the Humans.”

Hearing me say that, Esmeralda seemed to become very angry.

“Please do not ever say something like that again, even as a joke ! The Demons are vile creatures that have brought death and destruction to our peaceful country…”

“Yeah yeah, I know. It’s the usual RPG setting, I’m used to it. I bet they’d make fun of my name too anyway.”

“RPG setting ? What ?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Esmeralda looked genuinely confused. Well I guess that’s to be expected, everything is reality for her. To me too but I have to admit that this generic reincarnation setting left me kinda disappointed if anything. Anything is so close to the games I’ve played it’s almost like I already know what’s going to come up next. Oh well, it is not like EVERYTHING is exactly similar. For instance, the fact that the hero is not respected more than a regular delinquent is quite surprising.

“Before I go back to the castle, let me give you a piece of advice. Leveling up will be much easier if you create a party by registering yourself at -”

“- the Adventurers' Guild. Yeah I guessed that.”

“Oh wow, you sure are a man quick to adapt.”

“Yeah, that’s what they say.”

The princess left and I went back to the blacksmith.

“Alright mate, I got the money so can I buy the sword now ?”

“Of course. But with this amount I’m afraid you can’t afford the one I showed you earlier.”

“I figured. After all it’d be kind of broken for me to receive an end-game sword at level 1, right ?”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“What ?”

“Never mind. Just give me the best you can offer for this amount.”

“... Ok.”

Just like before, he left and came back a minute later with a wooden sword.

“Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME !?”

He gave me the training sword and took the money I had dropped next to his desk.

“Hey, you literally got your money’s worth, my friend. Now get out of my shop unless you’re buying something with real money.”

I left the shop in disbelief. Was I so important to the kingdom that I did not even get the luxury to start fighting with, you know… A REAL SWORD !?

Let alone making fun of my name, did this bastard king even take my summoning seriously ? There was something I did not understand. If summoning the hero was so important to the survival of the kingdom, why was he treating me with so little care ?

Making fun of me, not giving me any meaningful advice whatsoever, not promising me anything in exchange for completing the quest he gave me to slay the Demon King, and not even giving me enough money to buy decent equipment ?

And in case one argued that a training sword was good enough to defeat slimes, I’d like to remind them that I had not bought a meal, proper defensive gear such as a helmet or a shield, a map, basically everything that’s important for me to start my quest and I was already broke !

And no, I did not get tricked by the blacksmith. I thought at first that the money may have been weak or something in this country but what I received from the king was literally 50 copper coins. On my way here, I saw a tavern that advertised its beers for 45 copper coins per pint so 50 copper coins for a training sword actually seemed like the normal cost..

God… I had not even spent one hour in this new world and I was already sick of it. Everyone treating me badly, me being broke from the start and having to complete a near impossible quest with barely any help. Also the fact that this world was so cliche it was sickening at times.

I sighed even harder and started making my way towards my next destination: the Adventurers' Guild…

***

“So you want to register as an Adventurer ? Very well, may I take your name, sir ?”

“Ugh… CHOOSEYOURNAME.”

“I beg your pardon ? I regret I am not allowed to choose your name myself, sir. Please give me your actual name.”

“Yeah, I’m Slade Burnstar ! That’s what my name is.”

“Sir, I’m afraid I am able to see your ID page, much like anyone else using the basic skill “Observe”. Since you do not have a level high enough to conceal your name, I can see clearly that your name isn’t Slade Burnstar. I will register you by your real name, which is… CHOOSEYOURNAME…”

I waited a second or two and inevitably, the serious looking receptionist started struggling to keep a straight face. Given ten more seconds and he had already let out a little dry laugh.

“My apologies. This is an usual name, that’s all. But let’s remain professional, shall we ? Now you’re registered as… CHOOSEYOURNAME so this will be displayed on your Adventurer card. I’m sorry sir.”

“Tsk, no need to be sorry. Just do your job and shut it.”

The receptionist paid no mind to my provocative tone as he knew himself he was not being professional.

“Alright. Your card is done. I have registered your class as Hero. Now you can take on side quests from the Adventurers' Guild and form a party with other guild members.”

“Yeah right.”

I took the card from him and headed towards the quest board. It was currently empty. As I was looking at it, someone called out to me from behind.

“Hey, newbie. All the quests have been done so if you’re looking to make a quick buck, I suggest going out to slay a few goblins and bring the loot to the Guild’s loot manager. It looks like you’ve just started but anyone could take out goblins with any basic steel weapon.”

The person behind me was a tall woman with a deep voice and red dreadlocks. She was not exactly a muscle woman but she was more ripped than me, that’s for sure.

“Well, I’ve been suggested to start with slimes…”

“Slimes ? Haha, you’re a funny one. Even kids can slay slimes you know, what’s the point ? You’d just be wasting time ! As long as you’ve got any proper weapon you can…”

She stopped talking as she noticed the wooden sword hanging from my waist.

“Wait, is that really your weapon !?”

“... Yeah.”

She could hardly contain her laughter at this point.

“Go ahead and laugh, I’m used to it by now.”

“Pffhaha… no sorry. What class are you ?”

“I’m… a hero.”

“Oh, the hero class, huh ? Sounds like you had some trouble with your start up heh ? You know what, I’ll help you. After all, the hero is meant to save this country right ? Can’t have you struggle when we need you to defeat the Demon Lord as fast as possible !”

“For real !? That’d be a great help, thanks !”

“Alright let’s head towards the plains on the outside of the town. We’ll find some goblins and wolves there. I’ll help you leveling up fast, ok ?”

“Sure !”

Finally it looked like luck had smiled upon me. Or did it ?

Who am I kidding, my adventure as the “hero” of this world was only going to get worse...