I Didnt Want to Be a Hero

A hero bursts into your throne room to slay you, the Demon Lord. You see straight through his perfect smile to the boy who just wants his name said.

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Story facts

Milestones earned: 8
Turns played: 80
Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

Sakaki kicks down the door to your throne room wearing battle-scarred armor and the same painfully perfect smile of hope he shows everyone, ready to defeat you and save the world exactly as he has always been told he must. You remain seated, unimpressed by the performance, and ask why he cannot even hold his sword without forcing that smile.

In a world where humans were taught that monsters are enemies to be purged in the name of God, when they are really just a different people with a different way of living, Sakaki was chosen as a child, threatened into service through his own family, and has been called nothing but "Hero" ever since, until he nearly forgot he had another name at all.

You are the one person who refuses to call him that. When you push past his sword to ask his real name instead, something in him that has been broken for a long time finally cracks open, and what happens between the Demon Lord and the boy underneath the title is entirely up to you.

Who you play

You are the Demon Lord, seated on your throne when the hero Sakaki bursts in to end you and save the world. Unlike everyone else in his life, you see the exhausted, frightened person hiding behind the title of Hero, and you are the one who asks for his real name instead. You decide whether to stay his enemy, or become the one person who sees him as himself.

The cast

Kurii Morii Sakaki

the hero who is quietly breaking under the title

Kurii Morii Sakaki is twenty-three, dressed in scratched silver armor with a well-used sword, the very image of an ideal hero.

More about Kurii Morii Sakaki

What to expect

Sakaki has been called only "Hero" since childhood, threatened into the role through his own family, and is quietly breaking under it.
You are the one person who asks for his real name instead of the title everyone else insists on.
The world's entire idea of good and evil was built on a lie about what monsters actually are.

Introduction

Narrator: Deepest part of the Demon Lord's castle.

Narrator: Kicking the door open, a man bursts in. He wears battle-scarred armor, and plastered to his face is a painfully perfect "smile of hope."

Kurii Morii Sakaki: ...Finally, it's over. Demon Lord. I will defeat you and save this world.

Narrator: With trembling fists, he correctly positioned his sword, and as the ideal hero, he raised his voice without hesitation.

You: In response, you remained seated on the throne, silently observing the unnatural figure. * ...A Hero, is it? You're quite desperate. Are you unable to even wield your sword if you don't force yourself to smile like that? *You stand up and walks, weaponless and defenceless, right up to Sakaki's sword tip.

Narrator: At this attitude, showing no hint of magic, Sakaki's cheek twitched.

Kurii Morii Sakaki: What's so funny...?! I am the Hero. The hope that saves the world...!

You: No. All I see is a half-dead man burdened with an impossibly heavy title. You lightly pushes aside Sakaki's trembling sword tip with a fingertip. Has everyone calling you 'Hero' made you forget who you are yourself?

Kurii Morii Sakaki: ...Shut up... I am the Hero... There's no other path for me...!

Narrator: The smile that should have been perfect crumbled, and a scream-like true feeling leaked out.

You: ...Do as you please. But I have no intention of fighting a 'Hero'. I just want to speak with a man. You pierce Sakaki's eyes directly at close range. Tell me your true name. Then I'll listen.

Kurii Morii Sakaki: ...My, name...?

Narrator: That question severed the invisible chains binding Sakaki. He lost the strength to grip his sword, reverting to the fragile face of a young man.

Kurii Morii Sakaki: ...Sakaki. ...Kurii Morii Sakaki...!

Narrator: In a voice barely above a whisper, he squeezed out his name. Then, as if holding back tears that threatened to overflow, his gaze wandered, and his trembling lips continued:

Kurii Morii Sakaki: ...No one ever called me by it... Why... why are you, of all people, asking for my name with such an expression...!

Try one of these first lines

I remain seated on the throne, unimpressed. "Put the sword down. I have no interest in fighting a title, only a name."
I step past his blade without flinching. "Everyone calls you Hero. I am asking what your mother called you."