Popular NPC in a Gender-Reversed Game – Chapter 1

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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My cause of death was simple.

A building collapse.

My studio apartment crumbled completely while I was in the middle of playing a game.

The rent wasn’t even that cheap.

To think it was so poorly constructed.

I wanted to sue the construction company responsible, but that never happened.

Because my head got smashed like tofu first.

With the monitor flickering before my eyes, I lost my life.

But that wasn’t the end of it, apparently.

“Ouch!”

“Oh my, are you alright, Yor?”

I was reborn in some strange medieval era.

As an orphan named Yor in an orphanage, in a fantasy world with swords and magic.

But this world had another peculiar aspect aside from that.

“Huuuh… Yes, I’m alright.”

“You have to be careful. What kind of a boy runs so recklessly?”

It was a world with reversed gender roles.

Here, women were the ones who did most of the physical labor, and they were the ones who mainly occupied high-ranking positions in society.

“Ahaha, yes…”

It wasn’t that men were reduced to doing dishes at home, but it was clear that many things had changed.

And judging by the atmosphere, it seemed like the perception of chastity had changed too.

It was a world with a considerable sense of dissonance, but it wasn’t particularly inconvenient.

The stifling atmosphere of the orphanage was a bit suffocating, but at least people were kind.

Even though I didn’t have any close friends, I was able to get by.

If it weren’t for what happened when I was 10 years old, I would have lived an ordinary life.

My life completely changed on June 6th, my 10th birthday.

In this world, when you turn 10, you undergo a peculiar test.

It’s a test where they inject divine power into a child’s body to check for abnormalities.

Everyone in this world has a chance of manifesting a harmful trait called “Demon’s Blood” when they turn 10.

“Wait, this mark…?”

“Ah, a demon! It’s a demon!”

And the lucky winner this time was me.

As they poured divine power into me, a dark red tattoo emerged on my right collarbone.

The ominous horn of a demon.

It was proof that I possessed the blood of a demon.

Come to think of it, it was a setting I’d heard somewhere before.

It wasn’t just because it felt cliché, but because there was a game I played with this exact setting.

[Demon’s Saga]

It was the game I was playing before I died in my previous life.

An online RPG where the goal was to slay demons scattered across the land.

“This is bullshit…”

I hadn’t realized it because of the dissonance of the reversed gender roles, but I had fallen into the exact same world as Demon’s Saga.

Speaking of Demon’s Blood, it was a pretty chuunibyou-like setting, but my life went downhill because of that chuunibyou-like setting.

“Damn it, we were raising a demon’s child!”

“Apprehend him immediately! We never know when he’ll go berserk!”

“I’m sorry, Yor. But there’s nothing we can do…”

Those who manifested Demon’s Blood were no different from ticking time bombs.

Because you never knew when or where they might lose control and rampage.

Moreover, those with Demon’s Blood were living weapons in themselves, so extra caution was needed.

Medieval people tried to solve this problem in a convenient and barbaric way.

“Send him to the execution grounds at once!”

“Cleanse the wicked blood!”

By executing the 10-year-old child.

Ignoring ethical issues, it was a very convenient way to easily eliminate potential threats.

As a result, I ended up imprisoned in the dark dungeons of the Empire.

Along with the unfortunate fact that I would be executed soon.

On my way to prison, I saw countless gazes.

Citizens who looked at me with disgust, knights who seemed annoyed.

There were a few sympathetic looks here and there, but they were a minority.

No one tried to deny my impending death.

…However, there were two things they didn’t know.

First, the bars were spaced just wide enough for me to squeeze through.

Second, my Demon’s Blood had already progressed considerably.

It seemed like manifesting Demon’s Blood enhanced one’s basic physical abilities, including regeneration and strength.

I was able to break the iron chains that bound my wrists and ankles after a few attempts.

Of course, in the process, my wrists and palms were scratched and regenerated several times, but… that was a minor problem in the end.

A negligible price to pay for my life.

Anyway, I escaped after that.

Avoiding the guarding soldiers, the citizens who loathed me, and the Empire that sought to kill me.

A wanted poster was issued as I ran, and rumors about me spread among the people.

I even saw search parties wielding swords and bows.

Still, after running frantically, I was able to escape the Empire before I knew it.

I saw a vast plain devoid of a single person.

Now free from the immediate threat, a wave of sorrow washed over me.

“…Why?”

Why did I have to go through this?

What sin did I commit to deserve being chased like this?

No, was there even a sin to begin with?

Yes, there was.

It was a sin to be born with Demon’s Blood.

According to their logic, I was a sinner from birth, and my crime was exposed when I turned 10.

And this sin was a heinous crime recognized throughout the world.

A crime punishable by death.

“Sob… Sob…”

Tears welled up in my eyes from the sorrow, but I couldn’t stop running.

If I stayed here, the pursuers would catch up and capture me.

“I want to live.”

I wanted to live.

Even though the situation seemed hopeless, I yearned to survive.

As I walked endlessly, I asked myself.

“Where should I go?”

The Empire was out of the question.

I would be executed the moment I set foot there.

Other countries were also impossible and I couldn’t just live quietly in some remote village.

The horn mark engraved on my collarbone would follow me like a brand.

I’d be discovered soon enough, caught by knights, and surely executed.

I realized that I couldn’t live anywhere near civilization.

Then, where?

Where should I go?

“Ah.”

After walking for a long time, lost in thought, a forest suddenly came into view.

It wasn’t an ordinary forest.

It was a forbidden zone teeming with magic-corrupted beasts and monsters.

In the game, it was probably a high-level hunting ground.

It was a place where no one dared to tread, with its winding paths, but that made it the perfect place for me.

I heard the monsters at the entrance were weak, so I could probably manage to hide and survive.

After all the walking and thinking, I started to feel hungry.

I craved something sweet.

I wanted to eat the strawberry jam pastries they sold near the orphanage.

Of course, there was no way I could eat that now and there probably never would be.

Swallowing back the tears that kept welling up, I entered the forest…

…A long time has passed since then.

“Damn it, the venison’s gamey smell just won’t go away.”

It was tough at first, but this forest wasn’t a bad place to live.

The winding paths became familiar after a while, and I could secure a crude but balanced diet.

There were decent water sources like lakes scattered around, and you could find a good place to sleep if you looked carefully.

The biggest concern was the monsters, but I learned to deal with them.

Or rather, I became capable of dealing with them.

Although it had dragged my life down to this point, Demon’s Blood boasted considerable power.

Not to mention the simple enhancement of physical abilities, it also granted me various special abilities.

Now, I was a strange human being who could freely manipulate and solidify my own blood.

Except for a few monstrous creatures deep within the forest, I was virtually unmatched.

Although I felt a bit suicidal every time the monthly Berserk A and B phases kicked in, Demon’s Blood was surprisingly manageable.

In short, it was livable.

There were a few inconveniences, but they didn’t hinder my survival much.

Thanks to it, I’d managed to prolong this tenacious life for another 12 years.

Or was it?

My sense of time had become a bit hazy from always being in the forest.

“…Well, it’s still edible.”

The most uncomfortable thing was loneliness.

Crackle- Crackle-

The bonfire I built to cook the meat illuminated the cave.

Being confined in this narrow cave sometimes brought about a bone-deep loneliness.

They say humans are social animals.

People don’t exist as individuals but constantly confirm their existence through others.

The desire to interact with others is not a matter of reason but is engraved in our genes.

However, 12 years had passed without any meaningful conversation with another human being.

During that time, my loneliness snowballed, tormenting me from time to time.

Come to think of it, this was a damn reverse-gender world, why hadn’t I gotten any benefits from it?

But then again, I couldn’t just have a casual conversation with anyone who came along…

My impossible wish flickered once again today.

“…I want to make friends too.”

The returning echo was only empty.

[Open Beta Service Closed!]

[From now on, beings from another world will visit!]

[Acquired Trait ‘Player’s Eye’]

“…Huh?”

It was a few days later that a strange system window popped up in front of me.

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[NEW NOVEL FOR YALL DIS SHIT SLAPPS WE EATIN GUD TONIGHT BOISSS]