Chapter 1
The moment I opened my eyes, I found myself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling.
“…How cliché.”
No, it really is cliché. A roof woven from straw, exposed wooden beams, and the pungent smell of hay. If this isn’t the template for an isekai, then what is?
“…Haha, seriously? I actually reincarnated into another world.”
My name was Yuuma Satou. In my previous life, I was in my mid-twenties and a nobody office worker. “Office worker” might be too generous a term; I was a mob employee exploited by a black company. I had few friends, no girlfriend, and lived my life supported by games and light novels.
Then, one day, I collapsed from overwork and… probably died.
“…Oh well. I was never meant to be the protagonist of any story anyway.”
I chuckled self-deprecatingly.
But the next moment, I suddenly realized something.
“…Where am I?”
Looking down, my body had become small, like a child’s. My limbs were thin; I knew it without needing a mirror. This was definitely reincarnation.
It seemed I was going to start a new life in another world.
…However, I don’t want to be a hero. I don’t want to build a harem. And challenging the Demon Lord or the Hero? Absolutely not.
“I want to live as myself, quietly… as a supporting character. That’s the best way.”
I decided.
***
More than a decade passed.
I grew up in a small, remote village. My name remained Yuma. I abandoned the surname Satou. Here, only nobles or the wealthy had surnames.
Village life was monotonous. Tilling fields, tending to sheep, and occasionally gathering firewood in the forest.
I maintained minimal interaction with the villagers, living as inconspicuously as possible.
—But.
“Brother Yuma! Something’s happened!”
Every time a village child ran up to me, I would think:
Why do incidents keep finding their way into my ordinary life?
This day was no different.
“A cow got loose again! It went outside the village!”
“Sigh…”
With a sigh, I followed the cow as the child requested.
Even if I didn’t go, the village adults would eventually handle it. But for some reason, things always seemed to resolve themselves unusually well when I got involved.
Perhaps that’s what people call… “protagonist privileges.”
“Honestly… I just want to be a supporting character,” I muttered to myself as I stepped into the grassland on the outskirts of the village.
A large brown cow dashed past me. Swinging its horns as if challenging me to “catch me,” it rampaged.
“Be careful, Brother Yuma! That cow will charge with its horns!”
“Hey, don’t get me involved…”
With the (dubious) cheers of the children behind me, I chased after the cow.
Normally, this sort of task would be handled by the strong men of the village. But whenever they were all busy, an incident would occur, and I would happen to be nearby.
—As if someone had orchestrated it.
“Well, what should I do?”
The cow was charging with the momentum to trample the village fields. If our food supply suffered, it would be a disaster.
But I’m not a hero. I’m useless at swordsmanship or magic. All I can do is probably—
“Hey, over here!”
I shouted, drawing the cow’s attention.
And I deliberately guided its direction towards the forest, away from the village. Even that should be enough.
But—
“MOOOOOOOO!”
The cow suddenly charged directly at me.
Whoa, I didn’t expect that! I hastily jumped back.
In the process, I tripped on a stone at my feet and fell dramatically.
“—Ack.”
My body rolled on the ground. The cow passed right before my eyes.
At that moment, my dangling leg accidentally got tangled with the cow’s front leg as I fell—
“BUMOOO!?”
The cow fell forward spectacularly.
After collapsing face-first onto the ground and struggling for a moment, it grew still as if it had given up.
“…Huh?”
The children watched me in stunned silence from behind.
“Amazing! Brother Yuma took down the cow!”
“You really are amazing, brother!”
“…No, that’s not right. It was an accident. Just an accident.”
Despite my frantic denials, the children’s eyes were shining.
And the villagers who rushed over later also believed the misunderstanding.
“Yuma, you… you had that much power?”
“You’re the village’s pride!”
“No, no, no! I just fell!”
No matter how much I tried to explain, people only interpret things in a way that suits them.
And contrary to my wishes, rumors like “Yuma is reliable” and “He has hidden strength” spread through the village.
…No! I just want to be a supporting character!
The day after I “repelled” the cow—or rather, “knocked it down with the momentum of my fall”—was the next day.
As I was drawing water at the village well, someone suddenly called out to me.
“…Thank you for yesterday.”
When I turned around, there stood Lisa, a village girl.
Her shoulder-length chestnut hair swayed, and her cheeks were flushed with shyness.
“Huh? Oh, you mean about that cow?”
“Yes. If it had just charged into the fields, all the crops at my house would have been ruined. So… I was really saved.”
Saying that, Lisa clasped her hands together tightly in front of her chest.
It was the gesture of a maiden in love.
“W-wait a minute. I just fell—”
“You don’t have to be so modest. Everyone knows. Yuma-kun, you’ve been working hard in secret, right?”
“No, I haven’t worked hard at all! If anything, I’ve been running away from hard work—”
Seeing my desperate denial, Lisa smiled faintly.
Her smile was strangely alluring.
“…I like that about you too.”
“…Huh?”
At my dumbfounded exclamation, Lisa’s face turned bright red up to her ears, and she hastily corrected herself.
“N-no! I mean… um, that is, I respect you!”
Even as she said it, she kept glancing at me.
“Seriously, she’s completely misunderstanding this.”
I just want to be a supporting character.
And yet, somehow—
A sudden gust of wind lifted Lisa’s skirt, revealing her white legs above the knee.
I quickly averted my gaze.
“—!”
If anyone saw this scene, more unnecessary rumors would surely spread.
I want to be a supporting character, so why am I being thrown into a situation like this romantic comedy?
—No, that’s not right. This isn’t my fault.
It’s “privileges.” An invisible force called protagonist privileges is trying to drag me to the center of the story.
While frantically denying it in my heart, Lisa’s moist eyes gazed at me.
For a fleeting moment, my heart fluttered at her gaze.
…No, no, no. I am a supporting character.
I can’t possibly make a romantic flag here.
Telling myself this, I tried to quietly disengage from the situation.
“Yuma-kun… I want to talk to you again.”
The voice that reached my back echoed with an strangely sweet tone.
—Before I knew it, my story had already begun to move.
