I got reincarnated into a game.
It’s one of those typical games.
You can customize the main character, raise affection levels with heroines, flirt a bit, and even fight.
I started the game because the heroines’ designs totally caught my eye.
But in the end, it led to me being inside the game.
To make it worse…
“An orphan brat, huh.”
I became an orphan from the slums.
If I wasn’t someone with a strong mind.
I might’ve ended my life right there.
But I didn’t give up hope.
Even though the people in the slums are violent, mean, and messed up enough that you always have to stay alert.
Even though the ground is full of filth and trash and the stench never goes away.
Even though if you’re unlucky, you can get caught and sold off by slave traders.
Still!
“So, what should we do?”
“Everyone in the slums is one family! We have to stick together!”
90% of the slums are made up of orphans.
Abandoned kids, basically.
Even though my body was a child’s.
My mind and way of speaking were that of an adult.
So I used the terrain, set traps, and didn’t fall for tricks easily.
The kids started avoiding fights with me.
And even the adults began to stay away from me.
The only real threat left were the slave traders…
“If I hide, I’m good~”
Why even bother facing them? Just hide right away.
There’s no way people trying to capture slaves would come without force.
And like that.
I, who didn’t even have a name, became the survival ace of the slums.
And others started calling me by the nickname “Ace.”
I didn’t particularly mind the way it sounded, so I just named myself “Ace”.
It had a nice ring to it.
One day, as I continued my life in the slums.
“A nun coming here all alone? She’s basically asking us to have a little fun, huh?”
“T-The Lord will punish you for this…!”
I saw the already-unpleasant adults of the slums cornering a lone nun against a wall, pressing in on her.
“Tch…”
I won’t deny that I’ve changed from “good” to “evil” while living here.
You had to toughen up to survive.
But seeing an ordinary nun—not one of the ruthless slum folks—being threatened like that pissed me off.
“Hey, old men.”
“Huh?”
“Ugh… It’s you, Ace…”
“Scram, kid. Grown-ups are about to have some fun.”
While two of them hesitated, watching me carefully, some new guy I didn’t recognize stepped forward with a cocky attitude.
Looked like he didn’t know who I was…
“Haah… You’re really making me bring out my old self, huh?”
“Guh-hurk…!”
Leaving the crying guy collapsed on the ground behind me, I walked up to the nun.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah, yes…”
She looked at me a bit uncertainly, then shook her head and smiled softly.
“You’re still a child, but you know how to step up for others! How admirable!”
“Well… those guys were fucking weaklings anyway.”
“F-Fuck—?! Ahem, anyway! If you’re alright with it, would you like to come to our church? We also take care of kids!”
“Church…?”
I hesitated for a moment—never really believed in anything in my past life.
“We’ve got bread, too—”
“Shit, I’m in.”
If there’s bread, I’ll believe.
Amen.
Namu Amida Butsu.
All is well.
After being taken in by the nun.
I spent my days sincerely, wanting to wash away the bad karma I’d built up in the slums.
“Sister Stella, I finished all the laundry.”
“Oh my, thank you, Ace!”
The nun’s name was Stella, and as we spent more time together, she naturally began speaking to me casually.
To repay the kindness she’d shown me.
I threw myself into every chore and errand I could do.
Before long, I’d become somewhat of a local celebrity within the church.
“Ace is so hardworking and dependable~”
“And he’s good-looking too—he won’t lose out to anyone!”
“When Is becomes an adult, I might just cry.”
“Same here.”
The nuns all thought highly of me because I worked hard, and to me, the people in the church had become almost like family.
It would’ve been great if life could’ve stayed that happy.
But sadly, disasters never send a warning.
“Keurgh! Keurgh!”
“Squeeeaaal!”
From the nearby forest, a massive horde of goblins and boar-like monsters charged straight toward our church.
“Kyaaaa!”
“Get the children to safety first!”
“Kids! This way!”
The nuns rushed to evacuate the children, and used whatever strength they had to barricade the doors and windows.
Thud! Thud-thud!
The pounding on the doors didn’t stop, as if the monsters were dead set on smashing through and tearing us apart.
‘Damn it… Don’t tell me this church is that one…!’
Though it had slipped my mind over time, the church I was living in seemed to be one of the sacrificial ones in the game’s prologue, a setting meant to show how dangerous monsters were.
Unfortunately, the only so-called “combat expert” we had was a chubby paladin
who looked like a total joke.
He’d already been dragged off by dozens of goblins and met a gruesome end.
The nuns prayed for his soul, but sadly, I didn’t have time for that.
‘I have to do something.’
I wasn’t the protagonist, but inside this church, I was the next best thing to that paladin in terms of combat ability.
All I had were some dirty tricks I learned in the slums and a body that was only slightly tougher than average.
Meanwhile, that useless paladin at least had two beginner sword and divine skills.
I grabbed a wooden chair.
My body now wasn’t much stronger than it was in my past life.
But I had to do this.
–Thud! Thud-thud!
The banging on the door grew faster and faster, and the church doors slowly began to give way.
–KWAANG!
With a loud crash, part of the door shattered, and the barricades behind it began to slowly slide back.
A goblin rushed in immediately.
It seemed stronger than the rest—it was holding something that looked like a poorly-made sword.
‘Now.’
Hiding behind the door, I swung a chair straight at the goblin’s head in a surprise attack.
Thankfully, the goblin dropped its weapon and staggered, dazed.
“HAAHP!!”
I snatched the sword off the ground and drove it straight into the goblin’s mouth.
“Keh-REEGH!!”
Once I saw its body go limp, I yanked the blade back out.
‘I felt it when I stabbed it… this thing…’
I’d noticed it was bent, but now I could see it was warped into nearly a half-moon shape.
Still, it was all I had—I’d have to make do.
What followed was a brutal bloodbath against the goblins pouring into the church.
One. Two. Three.
I kept killing them.
Over and over.
But unfortunately, I’m not the protagonist.
–THWACK!
“Guh-agh!!”
Just one swing from a goblin’s club sent my vision spinning.
‘I have to protect them…!’
This church…
It took me in when I was barely surviving in the slums.
And now I’m supposed to lose everything, to these damn goblins?
“Like hell! Not happening!!”
Don’t screw with me.
“Hey, God! You hearing this, you bastard?!”
Okay, not something you should yell in a church.
But what the hell does it matter?
“If you’ve got even a shred of decency, the least you can do is protect this damn church!!”
You drag a normal gamer out of his life, drop him into this mess, and expect him to just deal with it?
Grinding my teeth, I tightened my grip on the bent sword’s handle.
‘Even if I die here, I’ll at least block the damn doorway.’
The door still only allowed one goblin through at a time.
But soon, they’d break through fully, and then they’d flood in.
“RAAAAAAHHHH!!”
Then fine.
Even if I die—I’ll block this door.
–STAB! STAB!
That damn paladin got taken out in seconds ‘cause he was up against too many at once.
But me?
I was fighting one-on-one.
So I managed to hold out for quite a while.
‘Isn’t this when the hero is supposed to show up or something…?!’
I cursed the gods in my head for not sending help, forcing my heavy, battered body to stand again, and kept swinging at the goblins.
–STAB!
A rusty dagger sank into my thigh.
–CRACK!
A wooden club shattered my ribs.
–SLASH!
A jagged stone slammed down on my foot.
Each goblin I faced chipped away at me piece by piece.
Until finally, I hit my limit.
–THUD.
“Keurgh, keurg…”
“Huff… huff…”
Yeah.
I couldn’t fight anymore.
I was only thirteen.
And I’d just taken down nearly twenty goblins.
If anything, that’s an achievement.
But so what?
‘Sorry, everyone…’
Once I die, no matter how much I’ve stalled, the goblins will end up killing everyone anyway.
My vision blurred.
My eyes felt hot.
Maybe tears were falling—out of guilt.
I’m so sorry, everyone.
–FLASH.
[This is the end.]
“H-Huh…!”
A radiant burst of golden light, so bright it instinctively snapped my mind awake.
The goblins were still standing before me, but the atmosphere was nothing like before.
“K-Keurgh! Kehehe…!”
They looked… afraid of me.
No, more precisely.
‘This energy…?’
They were afraid of this strange power now flowing through my body.
“T-This is… divine power…!”
“So overwhelming…!”
So this is what divine power feels like.
The nuns hadn’t yet reached the level where they could use it, and that sorry excuse of a paladin had such weak divine energy that even he couldn’t tell it apart from a breeze.
“…Thank you for giving me this chance.”
God had been watching.
And He gave me this chance.
Then I’ll gladly dedicate myself to Him.
I rose, strength returning to my limbs.
The goblins slowly backed away.
Finally, they had the sense to be scared.
I pointed my curved sword at them, its shape like a hooked fang.
“Receive the grace of God.”