The Hero’s Party Members Treat Me Well for Some Reason

1 – The Demon Lord and the Hero Party

A room shrouded in darkness in all directions.

*Crack!*

In the center of that place, a man convulsed, spilling a drop of his blood onto the black ground. His blood was as dark and viscous as the earth itself.

Of course, I wasn’t surprised by that. I had known for a while that he was different from humans.

I pressed my sword against his throat.

*Shh…* The cold blade touched his skin.

I looked down at him and said, “It’s over, Demon Lord. Your ambitions are finally extinguished.”

The Demon Lord, once a terror that engulfed this world.

As I spoke those words, I found it hard to catch my breath.

Haah, haah, the rough sounds of breathing filled the pitch-black room.

That breathing wasn’t just mine; it was a collective exhale from everyone present here.

Knights covered in wounds all over their bodies.

A mage leaning on his staff, depleted of magic.

Even a holy maiden who had exhausted all her divine power.

Everyone struggled to breathe and let out their labored breaths.

As the hot breath gradually subsided, I finally realized that the battle had ended.

Truly, it had been a grueling fight.

Difficult to put into words, really.

The room was littered with blade marks in every direction, and in this battle, our party members had nearly crossed the boundary between life and death multiple times.

There was even one sacrifice.

But in the end, we emerged victorious.

We stood resolute, having defeated the Demon Lord who had plunged the continent into fear and chaos. Perhaps when I swing the holy sword I hold in my hand, his head will fall off.

The world had been saved.

Strangely, I didn’t feel any particular emotion about it.

Then, the Demon Lord spoke.

“Heh… How regrettable, so regrettable. If I had just a little more time, I could have gained complete power…”

His bloodied lips curled into a bitter smile.

“If I had been given a bit more time, I could have put an end to this loathsome world… Is that so? In the end, is this where I reach the limit? Is my dream going to vanish here…?”

“…”

He muttered in an unknowable hesitation.

I listened to his words silently.

Ah, it’s not like I felt any sympathy for the guy, but this scene was originally ‘unskippable.’

After talking for a while, he looked at my face and said, “Kill me, hero. I won’t beg for my life pathetically.”

Just as he said, I drew my holy sword diagonally.

Swoosh!

His neck fell with a silvery thread.

At the same time.

[Congratulations!]

[You have defeated the Demon King!]

A system notification window appeared on the monitor.

I stared at that sight in silence.

“…”

*

“Kyaa! Hero, well done! Really, really… well done!!”

“Now the citizens can sleep peacefully. Thank you, hero. It’s all thanks to you.”

“Finally, it’s over… It was truly a challenging journey.”

After subduing the Demon King, the hero party returned to the kingdom in high spirits. On the way back, the faces of the party members blossomed with smiles.

The holy maiden praised the hero’s achievements, the knight looked at the hero with a face full of goodwill, and the mage laughed with relief.

Everyone was filled with affection.

Perhaps when they return, the hero will host a feast with the entire party and start a peaceful life.

Perhaps kings from various countries will honor the hero and record his great deeds in history.

It truly seemed like a comfortable and happy ending.

However.

“…”

I could only click my tongue as I watched that scene.

From my perspective, this playthrough was ultimately a failure.

I see heroines laughing in a carefree manner.

“Saint, knight, magician…”

No thieves.

The warrior party member who failed this time was a thief.

Last time it was a saint, the time before that a magician, and even before that a knight failed.

And now, once again, a thief has been eliminated.

I murmured with a disappointed face.

“Darn it, this time it was really close…”

Unfortunately, the thief was eliminated in the final battle against the Four Heavenly Kings. She couldn’t endure the final phase and chose to sacrifice herself.

Although we managed to reach the Demon King somehow, it was still a half-hearted ending.

So without hesitation, I erased this game session.

All the records I had accumulated so far reset quickly.

It was a shame that all the achievements and equipment I obtained disappeared, but if it wasn’t the ending I desired, I had no choice but to erase it.

“This marks the 999th time.”

In the silent room, I murmured to myself.

Thus, the 999th try ended in failure.

I struggled until the end, but it was indeed difficult to save all four heroines.

Phew, at least I managed to bring all four of them, including the final Heavenly King, alive. I guess that counts as data accumulation.

I should find solace in that… or not.

“Ah!! This f*cking sucks!!!!”

I’m not consoled at all!

In the dimly lit room, I screamed loudly.

It was a hysterical reaction that occurred every time I tasted the failure of the True Ending.

I almost succeeded this time. The plan was perfectly falling into place.

But in the end, I failed again!

Moreover, it was even more painful being the 999th try failure.

Thanks to that, I was able to realize it once again.

This game, “The Demon King and the Hero Party,” is a sh*tty game!

It’s a bastard of a game with a common harem theme and no proper happy ending!!

Even the game mechanics, being a roguelike where you die once and it’s over, made it difficult to see any H-scenes.

Certainly, here is the translated novel excerpt:

······No, to be more precise, it was difficult to find the sweet, romantic scenes I desired.

In the route of defeat, there were an overwhelming number of heroine humiliation scenes.

[Devil and Hero Party]

This game, which involved a normal hero party going to defeat the devil, was a unique combination of a roguelike and dating simulation system.

The random elements that kept the game from being boring and the heroines becoming more intimate as you journeyed were the charm of this game.

Thanks to this, it was quite popular when it first came out.

The enjoyable game mechanics and beautiful heroine illustrations were enough to gather interest.

However, the popularity soon dwindled within a few months of its release.

In reality, the purpose of this game wasn’t about the hero becoming strong and forming a harem, but rather about being defeated and dying.

This game is an erotic game.

It’s not just any erotic game, but an extremely niche erotic game infused with grotesque and dark fantasy elements!

As a result, all players genuinely wanting to break through vanished, leaving only genuine perverts.

Of course, there were people initially attempting to achieve a harem ending at all costs.

Since it was a game with many random elements, many claimed that by attempting multiple times, one could save all four heroines.

But the path to such an ending was long and arduous, inevitably leading to the elimination of one or two heroines in some way.

Thus, those pursuing the true ending all ended up dropping out, except for me.

And I also felt like I was slowly getting tired and about to drop out as well.

Just thinking about the time dedicated to this game, it’s already been nearly 7 years. Spending more than half of my twenties on this erotic game.

Yet, despite that, I hadn’t saved all the heroines in the game.

I’ve defeated most of the bosses dozens of times, and still.

As difficult as it was, despite knowing the strategies, there were many failures in clearing the game.

“This damn game, seriously.”

At this point, you might ask:

No, if the game is that damn frustrating, why not just give up?

For someone investing seven years in just an erotic game, I might be the crazy one.

I was well aware of it.

But despite knowing that, I couldn’t give up.

It’s a truly, truly embarrassing fact.

A reason so absurd that it might even provoke a rueful laugh.

“I really like the heroines in this game.

No, actually, this is more than enough to express it as love.

I really liked the heroines in this place.

The heroines in this game were all very attractive.

It’s not just that their illustrations are pretty, each heroine is three-dimensional, and they each have their own distinct charm points.

On top of that, all the characters are courageous, kind, and strong… It’s impossible not to like them.

But these damn game developers took these attractive heroines and turned the genre into a perverted adult game.

I couldn’t understand if they were getting some s*xual pleasure out of breaking something strong, but anyway, I couldn’t comprehend those guys.

“Sigh…”

A sigh escaped on its own.

Honestly, by this point, I had started to think that there was no such thing as a true rescue ending from the beginning.

It was blocked by the system from the start, and I’ve just been wasting my time.

When I thought about it, my mood naturally sank.

“…Well, there must be something.”

Still, I made an effort to pull myself together and grabbed the mouse again.

After all, it’s a roguelike game full of random elements, there must be something.

And I’ve come this far, completing it up to 999 times, it would be too much of a waste to give up now.

So, let’s just try up to 1000 rounds, no more, no less.

After that, it wouldn’t be too late to decide whether to quit or not.

That’s how I pressed the [New Game] button for the 1000th time.

And something amazing happened.

[Achievement unlocked: ‘The Unyielding One’!]

[Hidden route unlocked: ‘Noble Sacrifice’!]

[Will you accept the challenge?]

“Oh!!”

I exclaimed without thinking.

A hidden route! And even before starting the game!

Well, well. I knew there had to be something.

This game must be so extensive, there’s no way they didn’t prepare something like this.

I smiled happily and looked back at the monitor screen.”

In front of my eyes, I see a fateful choice window.

[Will you take the challenge?]

[YES or NO]

“Of course, YES!”

Anyone who doesn’t take this opportunity is insane.

Without a hint of hesitation, I clicked the mouse.

And—

[Warning! The difficulty of the monsters has greatly increased!]

[Warning! The hostility of the characters has risen!]

[Warning! Unexpected variables may interfere during gameplay!]

“…Huh?”

Amidst the bright light surrounding me.

[May luck be with you]

I lost my composure.

*

—And six months later.

“…I didn’t press YES back then, damn it.”

I am currently in a game.

“Hero, is this the only way you can behave?”

“Ugh, it’s disgusting. Hey, can’t you walk a bit farther away?”

“Even Enen would surely curse you when they see you.”

“…Disgusting.”

And every day, I was ridiculed by these heroines.

A sigh escapes me.

“Ugh…”

This damn game, seriously.