This story was born from a Reddit posts:
What if you get reborn as the 'HERO' with all of your items, classes and etc.
So here I am, for nostalgia's sake.
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Swordhaven
Isekai
Whenever someone thinks about such genre, only one thing comes to mind.
Adventure, OP abilities, cheats, systems and a harem of girls following you around.
The Typical Isekai package, a very clear ideal world for any loser or someone tired of living in the real world. Anyone can relate to such genre. Fatigue over the real world, such beautiful world is akin to a breath of fresh air for anyone.
But we all knows that's trash Isekai.
The real Isekai adventure is cold, gritty and filled with hardships.
Why?
Cause your dumbass got thrown into a world with zero knowledge of history, culture and norms of the current society you find yourself in. Not to mention, you don't have money, identification, or background.
Your a ghost, a nobody in this world.
That's what happened to me when I found myself in Swordhaven, bastion of good in this fuck up world of magic and swords. AQW or AdventureQuestWorlds, that's the world I have found myself in with 'Lore' as the name of the world. Oh don't forget the puns. This world had a lot of puns.
Now back to me, some washed up guy, unemployed and still living with his parents somehow got Isekaid into one of his childhood games. A dream come true right?
Fuck not.
I'm a fucking beggar in the streets of Swordhaven. With no money and identification to myself, I was nothing more than a street urchin. Jobs? No one would hire a fucking foreigner, especially with no talents, skill or identification.
But what about cheats, powers, and systems?
Zilch
Nah da
Zero asf
I got thrown here with realism mode maxed the fucked out.
Thus, beggar me.
I don't know how long I was a beggar. Days simply pass me by like a delirious dream, mostly because of hunger from eating scraps and fighting over rats that re somehow the same size as a full-grown stray dog. I was dirty, covered in scabs and wounds, and smelled like shit.
I don't even know what I look like.
I only found out when the kingdom went to war, when the army began conscripting men and women against the forces of evil. I simply joined because it's the only way I won't die of hunger. Fortunately for me, I got in despite being a beggar and all. Turns out they really needed all hands in deck against th evil empire waging war against them.
After cleaning up months worth of grime and dirt and healed by the military healers, I found out I was Isekaid into this world in my teenage youth. Oh the innocence.
.
.
.
As if I had those to begin with, Ha!
So War! What happened next?
For months, I got subjected to the worst military training arc I had to go in. Due to the locals of this world being far more hardy compared to a Human from Earth, the drills are far more punishing and brutal to shape a real soldier for this war.
Aka fodder.
Fortunately, I managed to pass but barely. The thought of food and a bed with a proper roof keeping me up from the rest. I was a desperate man, I needed to live.
After physical training, we are then sorted on which division to train aka the four main classes.
Warrior, Mage, Rogue and Healer Divisions.
I tried to enter the Mage or Healer divisions due to their magic affinity and position in the back of the army, aka far away from the main fight. I don't know about you but I don't like getting hurt. I'm a fucking coward and around of it.
Bad news is that I have zero magical affinity.
I got drafted in the Rogue division instead due to my lack of muscles for the Warrior division.
What do Rogues do?
Rogues in the army act as scouts and light infantry of the army. If the Warrior division is the bulwark and the iron wall, Rogues are the one's behind them, the Spearmen, Archers and more. Rogues are basically the all-rounder division of the army.
Which sucks for me.
Then the war came, the evil forces of the ShadowScythe Empire now in Swordhaven's doorsteps.
The kingdom is under siege.
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I didn't fight.
The first moment I got the chance to broke from formation, I looked for a ruined house and a place to safely hide. I instead found a little girl crying over a pair of crushed corpses. I pulled her with me and we both hid in the cupboard, shushing her quiet.
We didn't move, we didn't speak. We only listened as the siege waged on.
We both fell asleep soon after.
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The next day, news of the Death of King Sepulcher of the ShadowScythe Empire rang across the world. With it, Drakath's return and the arrival of a new faction in the world.
The Chaos Faction.
I got separated from the girl when I got arrested. Turns out, someone snitched about my cowardice. I went to prison, awaiting my trial after the kingdom's clean up.
It's not too bad.
I still get free food and water although without my freedom.
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My trial went ahead and a fitting punishment was dished out.
I was to be thrown to dungeons of the ShadowScythe Empire, becoming a material for necromancy for the fallen empire as part of the payment for the new Empress after the death of Sepulcher.
Oh I forgot, the Good and Evil Faction are now under an alliance to take down the Chaos Faction.
Welp, death now comes to me. At least it will be painless.
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I arrived in Skullhome, the current location of the fallen ShadowScythe Empire under teleportation and was immediately thrown to the dungeons.
Of course I tried to break free but goddamn, those skeletons are actually hard as fuck despite looking like they need some milk. Under the dungeons of the Evil faction, I didn't get food or anything at all.
The undead don't need much things afterall.
So there I was, starving and waiting for my turn to become a skeleton.
"What's this? They sent a human?!"
Oh that's Gravelyn.
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Instead of turning into a skeleton, I was instead turned into Gravelyn's personal gopher aka errand boy and man, this girl is a slave driver.
Her father will be so proud!
Her first errand for me is to prove my allegiance to her by performing acts of evil in Swordhaven. Let's just say I did a lot of evil stuff that cannot be spoken unless I want to be banned in this platform.
After proving my allegiance and running back and forth across the continent for weeks, I was tasked to collect her father's Unlife insurance now that he is dead.
Yes, that's a thing. Daddy Sepulcher actually had insurance for when the time he kicks bucket.
The insurance company was located in Swordhaven and after a week walking, I got to see the amount Sepulcher left behind.
Boy, he left a fucking fortune and more! The whole insurance could even bankrupt the entire bank as the kingdom in one go.
And Gravelyn wants it all most definitely.
Obviously, the bank wouldn't give it to me citing that Sepulcher is undead so the insurance doesn't apply except the insurance was penned under Unlife Insurance aka for Undead settlement. Despite that counterargument, I was thrown in Swordhaven prison once more for my transgressions.
This time, I got free food unlike in Skullhome prison.
Time to wait for Gravelyn.
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Gravelyn sieged the city a second time this year, demanding her father's Unlife Insurance handed to her and her pet human returned.
I begged to Lord Brentan, General of the Swordhaven army, hugging the man's legs. It was useless gesture as Gravelyn's skeletons pried me off the man and took the insurance money.
Girl just robbed the entire kingdom.
Someone save me from my slavery, please bring me back to my comfy prison cell!
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