11 The Importance of the Generic MC (1/2)

Diesel strolled through the suburbs of Tokyo looking for his next target. This time, he had been given a different kind of assignment. Rather than provided with a specific target ahead of time, he had to choose an appropriate hero candidate to whisk off based on the prayers that came from another world.

Diesel choked on his fuel when he first heard that from Kami-sama.

”I thought you said that most of the people we send away were hellbound to begin with!” He argued, annoyed that Kami-sama had given him an assignment to send an innocent person away.

”MOST. I said most. There are worlds out there that really need the abilities of otherworlders, who are granted hero-like abilities due to their different compositions than its inhabitants. It's like Superman living on Earth instead of Krypton. That sort of thing.”

Kami-sama spun off into a lecture, saying that the crossing of people into other worlds sometimes resulted in the natural appearance of new powers. Although, how great of an ability that they obtained upon arrival couldn't be predicted, so sometimes the heroes became overpowered, and sometimes, not much at all happens.

”It's a bit tricky and unpredictable, granted. But so far, we've minimized the collapse of entire worlds.”

Uh-huh. That meant that they couldn't save all of them…

”In comparison, we do send many more bad people to other worlds. They just get a memory wipe and end up as fodder for the inhabitants or a summoned hero to overcome. Though occasionally, they do reform and become a good person, or they end up with even greater powers, ruling that world with an iron fist. Well, as long as the world doesn't fall apart, it can squeak by with a pass.”

Oi, that's some heavy responsibility that he was passing off right there! Diesel knew that some people enjoyed settings where an evil MC got his way, but he certainly felt bad for the inhabitants there!

”In any case, please find a generic teenage boy to play the part of a hero, like one of those faceless ones you've seen in your so-called 'isekai' anime that you humans love so much.” Kami-sama shooed Diesel into the portal.

Right…a faceless teenage boy…that sounded easy at first, but as Diesel traveled around the suburbs, he began to realize that he actually had a hard time applying that to real-life people.

Just by spending a bit of time watching prospective candidates, Diesel felt too much personality to call any random boy 'faceless.' Even the sullen, reserved ones who he thought of as the natural choice ended up showing more character in the first ten minutes than some entire novels did. Yet, he was required to spend a day getting to know each one. He was starting to wonder if it was ever going to end.

If Diesel was going to make any kind of decision, then he would have to lay out some ground rules. Out of the ones already examined, he would cross them out as a candidate if they didn't meet certain conditions.

Condition #1: Should not excel in anything.

The other world had purposefully requested for a faceless, uninteresting hero. The reason was that they didn't want to deal with any surprise abilities that they couldn't handle stemming from the hero's home world. It was better for the world's inhabitants to 'give' the hero something that he would be good at. The hero's appreciation and reliance of said ability would make him more predictable and easier to control.

Diesel inwardly gagged at how devious the architects of the hero summoning truly were.

Condition #2: An absence of important ties to friends or family

After all, the hero shouldn't be tied down constantly with the desire to go back. It was even better if they didn't click with their family or were loners in society. Establishing ties with the new world's inhabitants ensured the hero's loyalty to the cause.

Diesel wished that he had called his mother more. In fact, he wished everyone would call their parents more!

Condition #3: Easy to indulge and satisfy

For all intents and purposes, the generic hero should be one that wore his desires on his sleeve. Typically, that meant preparing nice gear or money for him ahead of time and having him conveniently 'discover' it. When all else failed, or if the other world's inhabitants were in dire financial issues, then there was a standard practice that they could always default on – the allure of a harem.

In fact, the other worlds often requested for Kami-sama to gather data of the summoned hero's personal preferences so that they could prepare willing maidens before his arrival. Women were, of course, more plentiful than riches and rare equipment. And a summoned hero with hardly any interaction with the other sex would easily accept whatever stereotype they threw at him. It would just be a matter of dropping them in the right location at periodic intervals to keep things going.

'So, that's why getting isekai-ed often equated to gaining a harem. They were just being lazy!' Diesel thought after reviewing each of these points, information that Kami-sama had passed onto him. Suddenly, the reason behind the prevalence of these faceless main characters started making sense to him.

”Wait…doesn't that make me a faceless generic hero!” He yelled at Kami-sama at this sudden realization. He had fit some of these conditions, sadly enough.

”W-What was that? Krrrr…I couldn't hear you over the static. Krrrrrrr…” The radio suddenly cut off at that point.

Diesel had a strong urge to throw the radio at the ground, despite it being inside of the driver's area, attached to the dashboard.

”Static, my ass! There is no such thing as spotty service when it comes to calling the Divine Realm!”

Though Diesel was a bit pissed that Kami-sama had pretty much confirmed that he was one of those types, he still had a job to do.

Given the three requirements outlined previously…one particular person came to mind.

A little while later, Diesel found the person in question again.