“Oh, thank you, dear hero! You’ve saved the world from the demon king!”

Easy peasy, what's the demon king against a great hero like me-... No, all credits should go to Hiro. I'm merely the puppeteer behind the screen controlling his every movement. But the one who's getting injured and having his mana drained is my precious Hiro.

The ending scene began playing, and the choices I've made throughout the game was shown. The NPC I've saved, the dog in the town I've petted countless times, the many love interests I've left behind to pursue my, nay, Hiro's journey to be the best hero in the town…

I'm a pretty amazing player, aren't I?

After all, I've just spent 48 hours endlessly grinding away on this game just to get the best equipment and skills. I might be overleveled, but hey, it's a sure-win way to play the game.

As the end credits' melody finished playing, a pop-up message appeared.

[Start New Game+?]

Right, new game+... That means I’ll get to complete the side quests and maybe start a harem for Hiro, it's what he deserves. I clicked on the OK button before leaning back against the chair. I should just start the game and create a new save file before going to rest.

I watched as the game began loading, the tiny purple spiral spinning in the corner seemed almost hypnotizing. It’s like my room was beginning to spin along with it. I must've been awake for too long, I thought. With that, I sat up, or attempted to. But as my body jerked forward, everything just faded to black.

Hm. Local jobless man dies alone in an apartment while playing video game sounds like a boring news headline.

Damn it, Nico! This isn't the time to think about stuff like that! You can't just die because of exhaustion yet!

The anime adaptation of the game is about to be released, after all!

At that thought, my eyes snapped open as if they were never closed in the first place. Even so, it was evident that I had indeed blacked out for a moment. My body was heavy, and the back of my head hurts so much, it felt like it was being cracked open.

The floor was hard and cold, unlike the sun shining upon my motionless body, warm, and the clouds floating without a care in the blue, blue sky, soft…

Wait, sun? Clouds? The blue, blue sky?!

I pushed myself to sit up with whatever strength I had in me, only to find out that I'm not in my dark, cozy room anymore. What came into my sight was a beach. An actual beach, with sand and sea, and tanning chairs, like the one I'm sitting on.

Why the hell am I sitting on a tanning chair?!

"My lord! Have you awakened from your nap?" A voice came from my side. So there are people other than me here? I turned around…

Oh, it's just a talking armor.

I slapped myself right across my face.

"Wake up, Nico!! You've been playing too many games!!"

Yet the only sign I’ve gotten was the numbing pain in my cheek.

"My lord! What happened? Are you not feeling well?" The armor asked. For a moment, I was at a loss of word. So instead of replying, I looked around. Nope, no one else here. Just me and my talking armor.

I took in a deep breath. I'm probably still blacked out, that's why I couldn't wake up when I smacked myself- which by the way really stings now that I think about it. Why did I slap myself that hard? Am I stupid?

"My lor-"

"Hey, you." I looked at the armor, ignoring the stinging on my cheek. "Come closer."

"Yes, my lord." I wish it'd stop calling me that. But luckily it's following my orders so far. As it came closer, I took a look at my reflection from its shiny chest plate.

Yup, my face was still the handsome ol' me… Except the fact that I have two red horns growing from my head, sharp teeth, pointy ears, red hair, no big deal.

No biggie at all, since this is just a dream.

"Tell me, who am I." I leaned back against the tanning chair after checking myself out.

"Oh, my lord! You are our mighty, all powerful demon king! You've single handedly fought against the cruel humans when you were at the tender age of five, and brought peace to the demon world ever since!" The talking armor praised, it's hard to imagine an armor would have so many emotions in its voice. Yet, all these felt familiar.

A demon king who was able to face off with humans as a toddler who could barely speak, and a talkative sidekick…

Isn't this the backstory of the demon king in the game I've just completed?!

No way, no way! If I'm dreaming, I want to at least be Hiro! Or even the NPC he saves along the way! Not the ultimate villain of the game!!

This is so messed up! Does this mean I have to die at the hands of my favourite character?! No freaking way!! Is this god's punishment for me because I said in the forums that "Hiro-kun can kill me and I'd thank him, teeheehee"?!

There might be a way to change things around! If I'm not going to wake up anytime soon, I'm going to at least change my fate in this dream!

I sat up again, folding my arms as I tried to recall the plot of the game.

Firstly, Hiro was a normal village boy who was brought up by a couple of potato farmers. But one day, the village was attacked by monsters and everything was destroyed. The villagers, including Hiro had to move to town as refugees. Without their potatoes, his family had no means of income and food. One day, young Hiro saw some adventurers who had returned to town with monster loots. After seeing how much those can sell for, he decided to train to be an adventurer.

Ah, our young and pure Hiro…

Let's see… A few years passed and Hiro is now a full fledged adventurer who's recognized by the town. He had no master and didn't attend school, but his natural talent was enough for him to learn skills easily and wield different weapons. Aside from that, he had also grown into a fine young man who is beloved by all - except for the demons.

One day, he was summoned by the king to eliminate the monsters and demons at the outskirts of town. It was then he saved an NPC by the name of Dominic, who was from a noble family but now an adventurer who was separated from his party. He wasn't that important, but he did give Hiro information about the demon king and his army - which is now me and my army. Because of that, Hiro was able to find out where the demons were coming from and was sent to fight them all, as well as kill the demon king, which is me.

...

So, I should kill the king and Dominic. That way, Hiro wouldn't be called to go on the quest, and won't be able to get more information on me.

It's that simple, right?

All I have to do is to kill a runaway rich boy as well as the king of a nation in my dream, as the demon king.

Yup, easy peasy.