The Incompetent Hero's Cheat Awakening

I love RPG Maker games.

These days 3D and VR are all the rage, and titles built around those gimmicks sprout up like weeds — but I just can't bring myself to give up that painstakingly pixel-by-pixel craftsmanship people call "dot aesthetic."

On top of that, the RPG Maker scene itself has become a supply shortage lately; only a handful of people still make them, so I haven't been able to play anything satisfying in a while.

That was when I found it.

The so-called Success Story of the Incompetent Hero.

Genre: fantasy, adult, NTR. Yeah — NTR.

Not the kind where the protagonist does the NTR. The kind where the protagonist gets NTR'd.

A few users had left play reviews. Apparently the pixel art and the sex scenes were both ridiculously well made. The RPG systems seemed carefully designed so you could actually enjoy playing them, too.

So a few days ago I bought it and tried it myself.

It was fun enough, in its way. Just like the reviews said, the RPG elements were solidly placed, the sex scenes were properly hot, and the pixel art spoke for itself.

The problem was…

"This is supposed to be a success story…"

Every single ending was an NTR ending.

I thought there might be a hidden ending, so I ground the protagonist hard for the event where you compete against the other heroes — but his specs were the weakest among all of them. No matter how much I trained him, he could never catch up to the other heroes' stats or gear at that point in the story.

There was a razor-thin chance of winning if things went just right, so I even used cheats to jack his stats above the other heroes. None of it mattered.

No matter what I did, the game's protagonist could never escape his fate of getting NTR'd.

"Nngh…"

A strange smell drifted past the tip of my nose. Something metallic, something like dirt, something like rotting wood. Whatever it was, it wasn't pleasant — so I had no choice but to sit up.

"What the hell is that smell… Huh?"

When I opened my eyes, it wasn't the familiar scenery of my apartment that greeted me. A brown wooden ceiling filled my vision.

I was lying on a bed so hard it barely pretended to be furniture.

What the hell is going on.

Even moving my body felt subtly wrong — like it wasn't mine.

Just the usual post-sleep fog?

But that still didn't explain why I was here.

I looked around to get my bearings. One door that looked like the exit. A small side table. And propped beside the bed, a sword with ornate decorations that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠looked like a movie prop. Oh — and a notebook sitting on the table.

Knock knock knock.

A knock at the door, right in the middle of my confusion.

When I didn't answer, the person outside seemed to find that odd and knocked again.

"Hero? Are you still asleep?"

A young woman's voice.

Still no answer from me. She turned the handle and opened the door.

"Oh, you're awake. You didn't come to morning training today?"

"Uh… who are you?"

"Who…? Ahaha. Hero, even as a joke, asking who I am after we've been traveling together for six months is a pretty bad one."

A blonde beauty smiling brightly as she spoke.

If I had to pick out something unusual, it was the armor she was wearing — the kind that looked like it would offer zero defensive value, straight out of a game. And on top of that, despite the fact that I didn't know a single foreigner, her face felt somehow familiar.

"You came back late last night — you must not have gotten enough sleep. Wake up properly and come downstairs. Noren, Marie, and Philia have already finished breakfast."

I couldn't think of a single thing to say, so I just nodded. She closed the door and left.

"Okay, seriously, what."

What is this? What the hell is going on?

Am I still dreaming? I sat there blankly for a moment, then reached for the sword standing beside the bed.

I'd never held a sword in my life — and yet the grip felt as natural as if I'd swung it hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of times.

When I drew ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it from the scabbard, the blade shone with a pure white radiance.

Even a complete amateur like me could tell this was a damn good sword. The edge was so sharp it looked ready to slice a finger the moment you touched it.

In other words, this was definitely not a movie prop.

Next I reached for the small notebook on the table.

The moment I opened it, I saw strange, curling characters scrawled across the page — something that looked almost like English and yet not quite, some bizarre script.

But the weird part was…

"I can read this?"

I somehow understood roughly what it said.

The first page of the notebook read as follows.

"Leon…?"

Don't tell me…

"You've got to be kidding me…"

By the time I'd finished reading the notebook carefully, my head was throbbing.

There wasn't much written in it. Just a brief explanation of who he was and what the situation was.

But that alone was enough.

"…This fucking — this is exactly the same as that story."

It was identical to the protagonist of Success Story of the Incompetent Hero, the game I'd been playing just recently.

The Incompetent Hero Leon, and his party: the female knight Tiris, the mage Marie, the priestess Noren, and finally the hunter and childhood friend Philia.

Unless I was dreaming, I had been possessed into a character inside the game.

"You absolute piece of shit."

Let me be clear up front.

I'm an ordinary office worker.

I've never handled a sword. I've never learned martial arts.

And I'm supposed to fight someone? Fight monsters? Absolutely impossible. I'm confident I'd get three-second-cut.

"AAAAAAARGH! Fuck!!"

The body is the same — so what the hell difference does it make that it's me inside it?! Huh? Leon, use your goddamn brain!!

I screamed curses at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him in my head, but what good did that do?

The bastard had already taken a dump and run. I was the one stuck cleaning it up.

"…Hah. First things first — let's check the body's condition."

From the notebook, it was clear the heroines had already all been turned.

If my memory was right, around the mid-game the heroines got sick of the Incompetent Hero Leon — or got hooked on the sexual pleasure the other heroes offered — betrayed him, and left the party. Once I was alone, I was completely fucked.

"Status."

In this world, the blessing the Goddess bestowed upon all living things on the surface.

A special miracle that quantified your abilities and, through the Goddess's power, gradually strengthened your body and talents — or so the long-winded lore went. In the end it was just a game's level-up system dressed up as worldbuilding.

"If I remember right, for an ordinary citizen, every stat except Magic sat somewhere between 1 and 10."

"…"

My life was definitely fucked. Level 33 and the stats were only a little better than a civilian's?

"…Right. Come to think of it, this bastard barely got any level bonuses, and his base stats were absolute garbage."

Normally, every time you gained a level here, you got three growth points.

Heroes, though, got five per level — so the gap between them and everyone else only widened as they leveled up.

Everyone except the protagonist Leon.

This asshole only got two stats per level.

Thinking about it, wasn't this just a completely unhinged game? How the hell did I even finish this?

A pure, unadulterated hate-the-player game.

"There's seriously no way out of this. What am I supposed to do?"

The more I organized the situation, the more it just hammered home how hopeless things were. No help at all.

"I just want to load a save."

I'd rather start from the beginning.

It was a hopeless NTR game, sure — but if I could start from scratch, I was confident I could run away before things got this bad.

"…Load?"

Wait. Hold on. This game supported save and load, didn't it?

What if — just what if — I could save and load here…

"…Load save file."

I called it out with desperate hope. Nothing happened.

"Yeah, of course. That's my life for you… So now I just wander around terrified of when they'll leave me…"

"?"

In that moment, a voice laced with static echoed inside my head.

As the voice grew clearer, fourteen slots appeared before my eyes.

"…This is it."

My play records from this game.

The fruits of the sweat and tears Leon and I had shared through that miserable cohabitation. It had to be in here somewhere. That one time things got so goddamn awful I fired up a cheat emulator and maxed out his pathetic stats — the cheat file!

"Found it. Save file thirteen!…"

If I remembered right, that cheat file was from the late game.

Every single heroine had already been NTR'd — but who cared about the heroines right now? Surviving was the problem.

I'd load this file and just run. Live out my days with maxed-out stats.

"Ah, fuck…"

This is making me really nervous.

But I had no other options left. I had no choice but to pick this!!!…

I pressed hard on save file thirteen.

"Huh…?"

No.

Don't. That just makes me more nervous.

What do I do? Should I load it?

"Ah, screw it — even if something goes wrong, I'm not gonna die from loading! Load it!"

Suddenly my body felt light.

No — was it that my body got lighter, or that the world got slower…

One thing was certain.

I'd gotten stronger. Ridiculously stronger.

"Hell yeah!!!"

Jackpot.

An even bigger jackpot. I never thought the status would actually load!…

With stats like these, at least I wouldn't get beaten to death anytime soon.

Muhahaha… ha… hah…

"Why… all of a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sudden… so dizzy… Ah…"

Like a sudden bout of anemia, the body that had been flooded with omnipotence started growing heavy as a waterlogged rag. And then I understood why. The stats had skyrocketed, and max HP had risen to match them to an extreme degree — but current HP was still stuck at the old maximum.

In this game's system, when current HP dropped to 10% of max HP, you entered a dying state that reduced your stats and action capacity.

Current HP: 2730.

Max HP: 129870 — dozens of times higher. Meaning my current HP was 2% of maximum… Dying state.

"Leon, why aren't you coming down yet… Kyaaaaaaah!! Le— Leon?!!! Noren!! Noren!!! Get up here right now!!! Leon is—!!!"

Whether I should call it luck or not — because I still hadn't come downstairs, Philia, Leon's party member and childhood friend who'd been waiting below, came looking for me, and that was how I barely managed to survive.

"Leon, are you okay?"

"…"

"Leon…?"

"Huh? Ah, sorry. What did you say?"

Right. I was Leon. I kept forgetting.

I scratched the back of my head and looked around.

Four women staring at me. Only then did it truly sink in that I had entered the NTRPG — Success Story of the Incompetent Hero.

"Hero. I heard from Philia and Noren. Are you truly all right? You've been coming back late at night quite often lately — is that the cause…?"

"No. I'm fine now. Really."

"But… we've never seen your life force that depleted before. For Leon's sake, I think it would be best if you rested today."

The blonde female knight Tiris and the platinum-blonde priestess Noren looked at me with worried faces as they spoke.

Of course, Philia beside them was just as concerned.

Then the girl who'd been quietly reading a book until now — Marie — added a word of her own.

"The information exchange conference is coming up soon. Leon shouldn't push himself."

The information exchange conference.

A gathering where the three heroes chosen by the three Holy Swords traveled their respective regions, trained, and exchanged intelligence for the purpose of defeating the Demon King.

Of course, it also served as a way for each nation to honor the heroes' efforts — but that was the basic idea.

And at this conference, Hero Leon would be abandoned by his party and left to wander alone.

The conference met once every three months — four times a year.

And if my memory was right, the party left as early as the third conference, or as late as the sixth…

It varied depending on the route, so it was hard to pin down.

"Then we'll handle this commission ourselves. Hero, please rest."

"She's right. Since we don't know what drained your life force… we need to be careful."

"A job of this level is nothing."

So leaving me — or rather, Leon — behind was already decided.

They each gathered their weapons, stood up, left a word or two, and Tiris, Noren, and Marie headed outside.

Lastly, Philia looked at me, then rose from her seat.

"I'll be back, Leon."

"Come back safe."

I gave a small wave as I saw Philia off too, then let out a long sigh.

"Finally alone."

I stood up as well and headed to my room on the second floor.

My immediate lifeline hadn't been cut. So the next problem was what came after. Clearly the status was going haywire in the best way possible.

But no matter how far you pushed the stats in the game, you couldn't relax in the late stages.

Late game, everyone was pumping their stats and power with every kind of item and skill — so I needed gear and techniques to match, or I'd fall behind.

"The one silver lining is that at least I don't need to replace the weapon."

The one scrap of conscience this game had: the Holy Sword.

As if trying to patch the completely wrecked balance even a little, the Holy Sword Leon carried was more powerful than either of the other two. So what I needed was equipment other than the weapon, and powerful skills that would let me use these stats at 100% or more.

A few enhancement events came to mind.

And among them, one in particular flashed through my head.

"The Sword King's disciple… event."

An event in the early-to-mid game where you combined certain clues to reach the Sword King.

There, you earned the Sword King's recognition and became his disciple.

"Most of the Sword King Secret Arts are techniques with high fixed coefficients."

Even with low gear and stats, the Sword King Secret Arts put out excellent firepower in the early-to-mid game — but the flip side was that their attack-power scaling coefficients were low, so their power dropped off hard in the late game. Especially in the extreme late game, you'd see the surreal spectacle of basic attacks hitting for 1000+ while skills only did 600–800.

"But that was the game. Lore-wise, Leon had such garbage talent that he could never draw out the true power of the Sword King Secret Arts."

This place was reality, for all intents and purposes.

And thanks to the cheat, I was a man whose stats had hit the absolute peak of 999.

Me, using the Sword King Secret Arts? Yeah — nothing's stopping that.

"All right. Decision made. Once this conference is over, I'm going to find the Sword King."

"Five dead ahead! Incoming!!!"

"Hah!!"

At Philia's call, Tiris charged forward with her shield raised.

Just as Philia had said, five of the target magical beasts appeared from the front. Tiris smashed one with her shield to stagger it, then swept her sword in a wide arc to block another. But the remaining three she couldn't stop — she had no choice but to let them through.

"Freezing Arrow! Rapid Shot!"

Philia, who'd already confirmed the enemies' approach, unleashed techniques she'd prepared in advance.

She imbued her arrows with the power of ice and loosed five of them in rapid succession. Aimed mainly at the legs, the arrows froze the points of impact and threw the massive monsters off balance.

"Noren!"

"O sacred veil of light that shields us from the beasts of darkness… Protection."

And the remaining two beasts.

From the rear, Noren's holy power manifested a translucent white barrier that finally halted them.

The moment every beast's movement stopped, a crimson light coiled around the staff of Marie, who had been preparing her magic.

"Fire Rain!!"

Pillars of flame surged toward the sky.

Then the pillars split into five streams and slammed directly into the magical beasts.

The beasts shrieked as they burned; a few thrashed in desperation and lunged toward Philia, Noren, and Marie — only to be finished off by Tiris's sword as she returned to the front in a single bound.

"That went smoothly."

"No one got hurt, either."

"If Leon had been here, someone definitely would have."

"…"

At Marie's last remark, Philia fell silent.

Everyone except Marie was already past level 30. And the magical beasts they were hunting here were only low-to-mid level 20s.

Beasts a five-person party could handle without trouble — and yet Leon alone always came back covered in large and small wounds.

And every time, treating them fell to the priestess, Noren.

"…You already know, but at this next conference, Marie is going to Ragna's party. There's no longer… any reason for Marie to stay in this party that would help her."

While everyone else was reading the room and staying quiet, she spoke first.

"And the rest of you?"

"I…"

"I… will simply follow the will of the Goddess…"

"…"

At Marie's question, no one could give a clear answer.

They too… for their own respective reasons, would cross over from this party.

Whether it was the result of a duel fought for honor,

whether it was simply because they couldn't resist the pleasure,

whether they believed it was the only way to protect someone precious to them —

none of them could ever bring themselves to say it out loud.