The Forsaken Hero

It had been a week since we came to the royal palace.

Lead by Samejima, everyone discussed the matter of our support from the palace.

The information we obtained is as follows:

The nation this palace is in is called Wrystonia. It is the most advanced nation among all those on Rostalgia.

His Majesty Ginger seemed to fully be in support of Samejima and the others, even without them asking.

The most prominent and skilled teachers of swordsmanship, magic, and martial arts are here in the palace.

Each and every person was a.s.signed a room of their own and a maid to take care of their needs. I’m envious.

And now for the important part.

That doesn’t include me.

The reason why has to do with the ability examination we had five days ago.

I can remember what happened vividly.

We were first gathered into the palace’s largest room.

They were identifying everyone’s statuses, something essential when it comes to battle.

Since everyone was confused when they brought up statuses, Heige Strauss, Wrystonia’s military general, explained what it was in detail.

In Rostalgia, a window with your status on it will appear upon you saying the word open.

Stamina is exactly what it sounds like. Although you wouldn’t die the second it hits zero, you will faint and be unable to move. As fainting in a dungeon is akin to death, we were advised to never let it get to zero.

Mana refers to the amount of spirit that’s be exhausted when you activate magic. We were told to be be careful to not overuse it as it will cause our minds to weaken in a similar manner.

Strength is simple, every-day physical power. In a head-on collision, the one with the higher strength will push back the other.

Resistance is the numerical value a.s.signed to how much damage we receive is reduced by. The more accustomed to pain you are, the higher the number.

Dexterity is related to how fast you can move. The higher the number, the easier it would be to dodge attacks.

Thinking the whole system was similar to a game, I’d opened my status to see it for myself.

“Open.”

Katsuragi Daichi
Job: Hero Lv. 1
Stamina: 75
Mana: 20
Strength: 50
Resistance: 300
Dexterity: 10
Unique Abilities:

… Huh?

It doesn’t look like those numbers are that high though…?

Didn’t I get a portion of Claria’s power?

… No, maybe this is enough to be considered strong?

Like right here, my resistance is abnormally high… it’s because I’m familiar with pain though.

Then, just as expected, my faint glimmer of hope was shattered.

“That’s amazing, Shinji!”

Samejima Shinji
Job: Hero Lv. 1
Stamina: 500
Mana: 430
Strength: 480
Resistance: 300
Dexterity: 500
Unique Abilities:

All but one of his stats were more than five times mine.

He even had unique abilities.

Rather, it’s a bit shocking that he’s right up there with me on resistance. I don’t have any strong points at all.

More and more people checked theirs, but they all had unique abilities as well.

None of their stats were as high as Samejima’s, but there were all at least double mine.

They’d definitely received Claria’s divine protection. It’s obvious that Samejima was given preferential treatment, too.

I heard about it a little while afterward, but even standard soldiers have their stat values all exceed one hundred.

As the most skilled person in the nation’s forces, Heige’s stats had all settled around four hundred.

At any rate, I’m even weaker than an army grunt.

I could take a defensive role to make the best use of my resistance, but my stamina is so low that I’d collapse right away.

I’m useless.

Why is it just me?

Because I’m weak?

Because I’m gross?

I don’t know why.

After that, my status was revealed to everyone, causing me to quickly be known as the Useless Hero among the castle’s inhabitants.

His Majesty Ginger was quick to abandon his support for me. The other twenty-nine people were all high-spec heroes, he had no reason to bother with me.

I slept in the stables. Swordsmanship, martial arts, magic, I was forced to study everything myself.

There’s no way I could learn anything. But if I ever complain, they’ll definitely throw me out. I’d at least like to be spared from that.

This is all because I’m a weakling.

Unable to do anything, defeat anything, or win anything.

I don’t want that!

I’m told that I’ll be brought along to the next dungeon expedition out of a sliver of mercy, but my livelihood in this world is done for if they judge that I’m unfit to do anything.

Anyone would be able to see that.

Which is why I’m giving it my all this week, more than ever before.

I reduced my sleeping hours to the very limit.

“Ninety-eight… ninety-nine… one hundred!”

I swung my sword for one hundred sets of three every day and made sure to run as long as I could.

“Fire, ignite! Fire Seed!”

I also practiced magic. I’d finally gotten to the point that I could produce a lighter-like flame.

The other b.a.s.t.a.r.ds in my cla.s.s look like they’re able to use more effective and powerful magic, but it’s my loss if I care about that.

Rather, I want to praise myself over getting this far on my own. Good job, me.

I was able to fool myself like that.

I’ve been able to slim down a little due to how little they’ve been feeding me and how much I’ve been exercising.

My stats had hardly changed at all, however.

My strength and stamina improved only enough to look like an apology. No matter how many times I use magic, my mana isn’t budging at all.

Unfortunately, as I don’t know this world’s common sense, I don’t know how to improve my mana.

It’s related to one’s spirit, so maybe I have to be enjoying myself?

I tried spending the whole day with a smile on my face to experiment. Avoiding any thoughts about my self-pity, I tried to think positive.

It caused the other people using the road to feel uncomfortable, but it worked.

My mana rose a single point.

I vowed that I would never ever do that again.

I continued implementing the methods I thought up to raise my stats as efficiently as possible.

—The all-important day arrived in the blink of an eye.

Escorted by Heige and six other soldiers, we commenced our expedition into Wrystonia’s largest dungeon, Rigal’s Den.

Everyone looked confident despite heading into battle.

More accurately, they looked like gradeschoolers on a field trip.

Why are they taking this so lightly?

I’m here wanting to turn back right now.

… Let’s make sure I’m in the best position to run away, at least. My dexterity’s only gone up by three.

Once the last of my cla.s.smates entered the dungeon, I followed in behind them.

I didn’t quite realize it at the time.

—A cruel fate was awaiting me.