Chapter 1 - The Hero's End
This work has been published under the former pen name "Hiroshi Takahashi."
I have done something irreversible.
There must have been other ways, but of all things, I chose the worst possible path.
That's right, I certainly saved the world.
I was even called the strongest Hero in history. I could kill the Demon Lord with one hand.
But I lost far too much.
So, perhaps this is the punishment handed down to me.
Today, I wash dishes while being nagged and scolded by the manager.
As long as he's just saying I'm slow or asking how long I'm going to take, it's still on the better side.
"You're seriously useless, Nakamoto!"
"I'm sorry."
"This is why former shut-ins are... Hey? A guy like you would probably kill his parents, wouldn't he? After a family meeting, you'd just go 'stab.'"
He spat out the insults loud enough for everyone in the shop to hear.
A shut-in, huh.
I won't deny it.
Looking at the blank period on my resume, anyone would interpret it that way.
My background is a little—no, quite unique.
Incredibly, when I was fifteen, I was summoned to another world.
To a world of swords and magic, a so-called medieval European fantasy style.
Moreover, it was a strange space-time with a game-like system.
I spent seventeen years in that land.
I devoted my teens and my twenties to adventure, and before I knew it, I was thirty-two.
It was only last year that I finally defeated the Demon Lord at the end of a long journey.
And as for what happened then, it was a transfer back to Japan.
That's enough, thank you for your hard work. The Hero should return to his hometown.
Having been told something along those lines, I was tossed back to Japan.
It was beyond abrupt.
At first, I thought it was a dream.
Naturally, my parents were extremely surprised to see their son suddenly appear in front of the house.
Well, of course.
If a child who had been missing for over a decade showed their face for the first time in years, it's normal to jump in surprise.
I was bracing myself to be asked, "You were alive?!" but the words that came out of my mother's mouth were, "When did you go out?!"
Well, that's how it was.
Before the priests sent me back to Japan, they said something about maintaining memory consistency.
It seems the years I spent unfolding various adventures in the other world were altered in the perception of people in this world to "he was shut in at home."
The inside of my head remained as it was, but the memories of the people around me were tampered with.
I don't know how they did it, but it was convenient... no, it might have been meddling I didn't need.
Because the resume I ended up with was:
'Keisuke Nakamoto, thirty-two years old. Middle school graduate, no work history, former shut-in.'
There was no way I could find a decent job.
It's been almost a year since I was returned to Japan, and I've been spending my time drifting from one part-time job to another.
Now, I'm a low-level worker at a ramen shop in front of the station.
When I was in the other world, I used to slice Orcs with a holy sword. I'd snip-snap those pig-men.
Now, my days are spent mincing roasted pork with a Chinese cleaver.
I'm certainly good at cutting pigs, but this isn't it.
Sometimes, I wonder if I've gone mad.
I start to doubt myself, thinking that maybe I've been seeing a long hallucination.
That being a Hero was all a delusion, and the real me had been sleeping in my parents' house the whole time.
But the status window still floats in my field of vision, and I can use magic.
If I felt like it, I could lift a truck with just my fingers.
My skills and physical abilities are no different from my time in the other world.
I was perfectly sane, and I remained a Hero.
I wish they had sent me back after weakening me to the level of an ordinary person.
Current me is too strong, and it's difficult to hold back.
When I pay attention to stay within the range of a normal person, my movements become incredibly clumsy.
Thanks to that, a clumsy clerk who keeps dropping and breaking dishes was born.
If it were a cute girl, it might be fine, but for an old man over thirty, this wouldn't be forgiven.
If it's something categorized as my "owned item," I can cast [Skill: Strength Enhancement] magic on it.
If I increase the durability with magic, it won't break even if handled with my monstrous strength.
I do that with my own belongings, but the shop's tableware is treated as the manager's property.
Therefore, I can't enhance them, leading to this state of affairs.
Outside the house, I'm nothing but a troublesome destroyer.
No job lasts long.
I have nothing now. Not a shred of the glory of the former hero remains.
The bottom of society.
But that was fine.
Because I am a sinner.
When I think about what I did in that world, I have to keep atoning forever.
—Hero-sama, this will truly defeat the Demon Lord, won't it? Our lives won't be in vain, will they?
Apologizing to the voice echoing in my head, I finished my work for the day.
I broke two plates. That's a record low so far.