When I walk through the streets and see couples, I wonder: Will I ever find love? The idea of finding someone special, someone to share my life with, fills me with hope and joy. But at the same time, it also fills me with fear. What if I never find that person? What would happen then?

And when I see groups of friends, I wonder: Will I ever have friends? The idea of having a group of friends to share happy and sad moments with is something I have always wanted, but after being betrayed by those I considered my friends, it is difficult for me to trust people again. Although I have tried to be a good friend to those who have approached me, I have been hurt once again. But I do not lose hope, maybe someday I will find someone to trust.

And when I see parents spending time with their children, I wonder: Will I have that someday? Having a family of my own is a dream I have had since I was a child. The idea of having children and a wife to love is something that has always attracted me, but the idea of not being able to fulfill that dream scares me. What if I can never have a family of my own? What would happen then?

Children, a wife, friends... Being a real normal person. It's what I have wanted for a long time. Being able to lead a normal and happy life, without worries or fears. Being someone who does not stand out in anything, but who is happy and has a fulfilling life.

I... Ah... To be honest, it's difficult for me to have friends. All the people I considered my friends betrayed me. They did not hesitate to do it... They regretted it, but I did not forgive them. After so much time, I had friends again. I really tried to be a good friend to them and avoid any conflict... But they betrayed me. They did not believe in me... They did not trust me. People who do not trust me do not deserve my trust.

I wish to find true love. I wish to have a faithful friend. I wish at least to be as close as possible to a normal person. A normal person who does not stand out in anything. While I achieve one of these things in this life, I will die without regrets.

After I die, I will face hell, or my soul will simply disappear. Whatever my destiny, I will accept it without complaining, because I know perfectly well that I deserve it. I did horrible things in my life, things that I regret with all my being, but the past cannot change. Although I try to change and be a good person, the past will not disappear, what I did will always haunt me.

That's why I will enjoy my life as much as I can, because this will be my last chance. And how do I plan to enjoy it? By fulfilling my biggest dream: to be a normal person.

"So... Could you become my friend?" I asked Yuik, the vampire girl I rescued.

Although, well... As I watched Yuik, the vampire girl I had rescued, I realized that she didn't seem to have realized that I had turned her into a vampire to save her.

I could see in her eyes a deep sadness, an absence of hope that only made the sadness in my heart grow. It was evident that her life had been difficult and painful, and I wanted to do something to help her be happy.

"Could you become my friend?" I finally asked her, hoping she could see the sincerity of my intentions.

She looked at me with hesitation, but finally nodded slowly. I could see the mix of fear and sadness on her face, and I knew I had to do everything I could to help her overcome her difficulties.

I understood what Yuik had gone through and felt because I too had experienced difficult moments. My story in this world had not been easy, but I was determined to do something positive with my life and help those who were struggling.

So, even though I didn't know what was going to happen next, I was willing to do whatever it took to help Yuik find the happiness and peace she deserved.

How did I meet her? Well... First, let me tell you my story in this world.

•

•

After a certain event, I was born in a rather normal and somewhat poor village. However, despite not having luxuries, we always had what we needed to not die of hunger. I was a simple orphaned commoner with no big dreams. I just wanted to live a normal life. I never dreamed of being an adventurer or a hero. On the contrary, I preferred to stay away from those themes because they would only bring me unnecessary problems and I wouldn't have the normal life that I longed for. But unfortunately, fate was not willing to leave me alone.

When I turned 15, my life took an unexpected turn. I awakened a "job," which meant that I had discovered my destiny. What is a job? All humans have a job. Shoemaker, Blacksmith, Healer, Lumberjack, Sword Master, etc. In other words, they are the jobs destined for people, and the awakening of those jobs defines the path of each individual in this world.

There are boring, useful, and legendary jobs. Everyone dreams of having a legendary job, but I was not one of them. I simply wanted a useful job that would allow me to survive. I was content with a boring job, like being a librarian or flower seller. I loved flowers and dreamed of opening my own flower shop to live selling flowers and plants for the rest of my life. But unfortunately, I awakened the legendary job [Hero], the most important and famous job in the world, and my days of tranquility came to an end.

"Dreimo is a hero!!"

"A hero has been born in our village!!"

"Dreimo, don't forget about us when you're at the top of the world!!"

"Dreimo, Dreimo, Dreimo!!"

As the villagers and the children of the orphanage congratulated and applauded me for my new job, in my mind, I was only thinking about the death of the stupid God who had given me that job.

"Damn it. You have to be kidding me, Supreme Goddess." I muttered full of anger and disappointment. That job ruined my chance to have a normal life.

I was planning to escape and get a new identity in another country to avoid working as a hero. But given my luck, if I didn't help, this world would be destroyed, and I could never have the normal life I longed for. However, if I defeated the Demon King, I could have a chance to regain my ordinary and normal life.

That's why, with all the pain in my heart, I accepted the job and sighed. My days of tranquility had ended, and now I would have to face the world of heroes.

After accepting my destiny as a hero, my life changed completely. The following week after my feat, the whole village was still in celebration and the most important families offered me their daughters for me to marry them. However, I rejected all those proposals because I don't believe in marriage without love, much less in a harem.

If I ever get married, it will be to a woman who loves me and whom I love too. I will only marry one woman because I believe in true love and a relationship based on mutual respect and loyalty.

Subsequently, important people from the kingdom came for me and took me to the capital, where the King forced me to enroll in the most important magic school in the world. I must confess that at first, I wasn't very excited about the idea, but as I got to know my hero companions, my opinion about the school changed.

During my time at school, I participated in various tournaments, fought against corrupt nobles, and rejected many women who tried to seduce me because of my job as a hero. But the most important thing was that I managed to improve my relationship with my fellow heroes. I made sure that everyone knew we were equally important to the team and that no one felt superior to the others.

Although I must admit that school didn't teach me much about magic, as I already had a lot of knowledge about it, it did allow me to strengthen my friendship with my fellow heroes and prevent any of them from becoming a villain. However, none of this mattered when my life took an unexpected turn.

Once I finished my training at school, I set out on a journey with my 5 fellow heroes to defeat the Demon King. We went through many adventures together and shared unforgettable moments. I considered them my best friends and trusted them completely. But one day, they betrayed me in the cruelest way. The betrayal of my friends left me with a deep pain and a sense of betrayal that I had never felt before. Now I must face the Demon King without the help of my friends and without knowing if I can trust anyone else.

The situation was becoming increasingly tense. My companions were determined to sacrifice me to end the Demon King once and for all, but I could not allow it. I had to make them understand that they were wrong and that I was not the enemy.

"You're not seeing the truth. It's me, your friend Dreimo, not the Demon King. You have to believe me, please."

In the fight with the Demon King, we managed to defeat him, but the soul of the Demon King entered my body and tried to take over my body, and my companions decided to kill me to also kill the Demon King... Or so they thought.

They fell into an illusion. They were deceived so easily that I immediately stopped seeing them as friends. A true friend would at least listen to their friend or at least doubt what they saw, but no, they firmly believed in what they saw.

"We can't risk the Demon King continuing to live inside you. We must do whatever it takes to protect humanity. I'm sorry, Dreimo."

It hurt me to see that my friends didn't trust me. But I knew I had to do something before it was too late.

"Stop! Look at what you're doing! Do you really want to kill your friend?"

It was then that one of them spoke those words that left me frozen:

"I'm so sorry, Dreimo."

I felt my heart stop at that moment. Were they really going to do it? Were they going to sacrifice me as if I were a mere tool?

"It's for the good of humanity."

The pain in my chest was getting more intense. I couldn't believe this was happening. Why wouldn't they listen to me?

"Your sacrifice will be remembered forever."

Tears began to stream from my eyes. I didn't want to die. Not like this. Not as if I were a worthless object. Although I knew I was going to survive, I felt like I was dying again, as I was betrayed by people important to me.

"I want you to know... I love you. I've always loved you, Dreimo! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please forgive me!"

Her confession left me speechless. How could she love me and at the same time want to kill me? How could she be so cruel? Despite the pain and betrayal I felt, I couldn't hate her. I couldn't hate someone who had been my friend.

"G-guys?," my voice came out trembling, but no one seemed to hear me. Everything was happening too fast.

That's when I realized I had to do something. I couldn't just stand there and let them kill me. I had to defend myself.

"Wait! Please, just listen...!"

But no one seemed willing to listen. They just wanted to finish me off.

He, who had been my friend, pierced me with his sword. The pain was unbearable in my heart. I couldn't believe someone I considered my friend could be so ruthless.

"I will take care of them very well."

His words filled me with rage. How could he say something like that after what he had just done? I couldn't let him keep hurting my friends.

I knew this could happen. All of my friends were in love with me, but I always rejected them because I didn't feel anything for them, and I didn't want to get romantically involved with any of them because that would only bring problems to the team. I hate harems, I would never have a harem, and I refused to date all of them at the same time. If I dated one of them, the others would get sad and that would only mean unnecessary problems that would delay progress... And he got jealous when he found out that they were all in love with me and not him.

"... You have the soul of the Demon King." I said, realizing that the Demon King was inside him.

I kicked him in the stomach hard enough to send him flying and give me time to recover.

"Impossible! I destroyed your heart!" He said, not believing what was happening before his eyes.

But he was wrong. I was immortal, and a simple attack wasn't enough to kill me.

When the heart of a normal human is destroyed, magic cannot be used. But in my case, there are two reasons why this doesn't apply. First, my body is much more special than that of an average human. Second, a simple attack is not enough to kill me. Many have tried before him.

During my adventure, I acquired many unique skills that I hid because I didn't want them to feel inferior to me. I am immortal, they can only kill me by eliminating my soul. I knew being much more powerful than them would make them feel inferior, so I always made sure to appear just as powerful as them. They don't really know how powerful I am and they can't even imagine how powerful I can become.

"You have the soul of the Demon King, Valen!" I shouted, hoping my teammates would react and side with me.

"He's trying to trick us! We have to kill him! We saw the Demon King's soul enter him! He is the Demon King! Don't be fooled! I know you love him, but he's not Dreimo anymore, he's the Demon King!"

He created an illusion and deceived them. They believed more in an illusion than in me, the boy they supposedly loved. If they really loved me, they would have realized the deception, but they didn't.

I tried to convince them, but it was useless. No matter what I said, I couldn't convince them and they kept attacking me. They tried to kill me and didn't believe me. That made me angry.

I'm not exaggerating when I say I could defeat them in a matter of seconds if I wanted to, but I didn't want to because I wanted them to trust me. But I got tired of trying. I stopped holding back and defeated them in less than 10 seconds. For the first time in a long time, I used 100% of my total power.

I did not kill them, but I did kill Valen, since I had to kill the Demon King. Unfortunately, that was not enough to defeat him.

"Fufu. I underestimated you, hero," said the Demon King, controlling Valen's corpse.

The Demon King used his last transformation. He turned into a giant black dragon, and...

Do I need to narrate the fight?

Blah, blah, blah. After a boring fight, I finally managed to defeat him. I have to admit that defeating him was quite easy, but eliminating him was the hard part since he regenerated almost instantly. I had to sacrifice almost all of my power to eliminate his body and soul forever, finally managing to defeat the Demon King and ending our adventure as heroes.

After the fight, all my companions gathered around me to congratulate me and apologize.

"We're sorry!"

"W-we fell for a stupid illusion!"

"Please forgive me!"

"I don't want you to hate me!"

I was tempted to forgive my friends to continue having company, but in the end, I didn't. I knew I didn't want them in my life if they didn't trust me after more than ten years of friendship.

And I took advantage of the situation to pursue my dream of having a normal life.

"We've literally been friends for over ten years... And you didn't trust me... You believed him... I'm sorry, I want friends I can trust... It's childish, I know, but it's what I want... Goodbye forever. You can have all the credit, I don't care, I'll go live in a forest or something. Goodbye."

"W-wait!"

They tried to stop me, but I ran far away and didn't look back. Although they tried to catch up, they couldn't because they were tired.

From that day on, I never saw my old friends again. I started a new life, finally having what I had always wanted: a normal life.

During my fight with the Demon King, I sacrificed 99% of my total power to completely destroy him and his soul. Although there was only 1% of my power left, I was still stronger than an Orc. If I trained, I could become even stronger, but it wasn't my goal. Now, I just wanted to be a normal person with a normal job.

My plan was to work in a library, and I did it. I became a boring librarian, but it was a job I enjoyed. I used transformation magic to change my appearance and avoid my old hero companions from finding me. I also created a backstory for my new identity to avoid suspicion about my true identity. Due to a curse, I couldn't change my name, but if everything went according to plan, they would never know I was the hero Dreimo.

I changed my red hair for long, black hair that covered my eyes since I didn't like being looked directly in the eyes. Although I now had long hair, like a woman, I didn't care. I used to be very handsome, but I changed my appearance to be more "normal." I became an ordinary citizen, and finally had a normal life.

If I wanted to have friends or a girlfriend, I knew my appearance was important. Although I was now "normal," I was still attractive. Not as handsome as before, but enough to catch the attention of some girls.

My life was simple and routine. I woke up, bathed, had breakfast, worked, had dinner, and slept. I enjoyed this new quiet life and felt more human than ever.

But everything changed when I met her.

"A sex slave?" I asked myself worriedly.

My boss entrusted me with picking up some books in another city, and since I'm used to traveling quickly, I decided to run instead of taking a carriage. Perhaps it's not the most common way, but this way I avoid delays and can enjoy the surroundings while saving time.

On the way, I stumbled upon a hideout of bandits, and as I always do, I faced and defeated them, killing them without hesitation... And then I found her. A sex slave.

"Hey... You look very bad."

Unfortunately, it was common in that world to find people like her. She had dark skin and was covered in painful scars. Her hands and one ear had been cut off, and she had no teeth. Most likely they had been removed to prevent her from biting. But worst of all, she was blind, with bandages over her eyes, and had no tongue.

They took out her teeth so she wouldn't bite when... Ah, better not to think about it, it brings back bad memories.

"You don't have a tongue either... You're probably blind..."

I touched her arm to examine her better, but she began to tremble with fear. With a simple touch, she's terrified, but she doesn't try to escape or scream... She's used to this. She accepts her fate because she thinks there's no escape and that no matter what she does, she'll be hurt.

How long have they been violating and torturing her? It was evident that she was used to this kind of life, resigned to suffer silently for the rest of her days.

"You're very traumatized..."

I could understand her pain, perhaps more than I wanted to admit. Although my healing magic wasn't very powerful after the last fight I had, I believed that at least I could restore her sight.

I gently stroked her head and used my magic to heal her eyes.

"Don't be afraid, you won't suffer anymore. Everything will be fine."

Even though I might not be able to use my magic for years, I knew it would be worth it to have saved her.

"Done."

Carefully, I removed the bandages from her eyes and smiled at her.

"Everything will be fine, don't worry. Hello."

The young woman's expression was cold and hopeless, with a look that reflected the suffering she had endured. So much pain that she didn't even feel any faith.

"... Do you have family? Any distant or close relatives?"

She shook her head. She had no one.

She denied it... She has no family... Was she sold by her parents? Maybe she's an orphan who was kidnapped.

At the orphanage where I grew up, there were several employees who tried to sell orphans for their bodies, both for organs and sexually. Fortunately for them, I always saved them and killed those employees.

"Do you have any friends? Any acquaintances?"

She also denied it.

"I see..."

She's alone in this world... Without friends, like me. Without family, like me. She was raped and tortured... like me.

She's... like me...

It was as if she were a reflection of my own past. I couldn't leave her alone.

"I'm going to examine you. [Analysis]."

I then activated one of my abilities to analyze her body.

Mmm... She had several sexually transmitted diseases, and unfortunately she was pregnant, although her baby was dead. Ah, this is disgusting. How many times must she have been beaten to force an abortion? How many times must she have miscarried? Her body was too damaged.

"I must do something."

It wasn't ideal, but it was the fastest solution to ensure her full recovery.

"Please open your mouth. It's nothing bad, I promise you."

The young woman opened her mouth without complaint.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you."

I bit my finger and put some of my blood in her mouth to turn her into a vampire. As I watched her body regenerate and heal, I assured her that she had nothing to fear.

"Don't worry, it's medicinal. Don't be afraid."

As I watched her health improve, I realized I had no other choice. I gained this unique ability when I killed a Vampire Queen, and now I have the ability to grant immortality to others.

Now that she's a vampire, she has a special body and the ability to regenerate. All her wounds will disappear and she will become a healthy girl again, though her mental state cannot be fixed with magic.

Unfortunately, her mental state cannot be fixed with magic, but I hope she will recover and be happy again.

"...You've really suffered... Would you like to come with me...? I want to have a friend... So... Could you become my friend?" I asked her.

She looked at me in the eyes and nodded slowly. Her teeth had already regenerated, but she wasn't smiling, she was just going along with it, afraid to refuse.

"You won't suffer anymore, I promise you. Soon you'll be better."

I lovingly stroked her head.

Suddenly, a message appeared in front of me, informing me about the curse she had obtained.

[Curse detected.]

[No communication: The bearers of this curse cannot speak.]

...I don't know how to remove curses.

People who become vampires sacrifice their humanity... And according to my research, new vampires acquire a curse as divine punishment or something.

I'm sorry, but you won't be able to speak again. A small price to pay considering your body is healthy again.

"How old are you? Over 20?"

She nodded.

"Over 25?"

She nodded.

"Over 30?"

She shook her head.

"Are you 28?"

She nodded... She's 28 years old. She's still very young.

"I'm 26 years old. Nice to meet you."

I stroked her head and smiled.

"I hope we become great friends."

Finally, I found a friend in her. Although I know it will take time for her to trust me, I am willing to give her a home and food while she gets used to my presence.

I finally got a friend, and I hope this time it's just a friend.

She and I are so similar... I promise you'll never suffer again. Never.

I picked her up in my arms and started walking.

"I'll take you to my house and prepare a delicious dinner. Please don't be afraid of me, I won't do anything bad to you."

She's still trembling with fear. Yes, it's understandable. It will take a long time for her to trust me. I'm just a stranger to her, it's normal for her to be afraid of me.

"You know, the starfish to the east of the Capital are blue because they feed on a blue plant called Lazuk."

I don't know what to talk to her about, so I'll tell her interesting facts about this world while I take her to my house.

I won't ask her anything about her past to avoid her remembering bad things. I'll avoid talking about things that bother her.

For now, I'll just give her food and a home while she gets used to my presence.

"The three moons are called Kam, Kem and Kim after the Trillizos heroes who saved this world thousands of years ago. Nice names, right?"

She nodded slowly, still looking at me with that cold gaze.

"Yes... They are nice names."

I promised her that she would be happy again and that she would never suffer again. Although I can't change her mental state, I hope that with my company she can find a little peace in this new world that is now her home.

I promise you that you will be happy again, you will not suffer again. I promise it with all my being.