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Inside a dimly lit building, everyone wore cloaks woven from yellow and blue fabric, each with a strange symbol embroidered on the back.
They were all facing the same direction.
At the front stood a stage, illuminated by several blazing braziers.
On the stage was a silver-haired man dressed in an extravagant yellow-and-blue robe. It was both elegant and noble in design, though rather revealing.
With burning passion, the silver-haired man addressed the crowd.
"Life is the most precious thing of all! But the weak Brave cannot save us!"
"That's right!!!"
"So we must bow before the Demon King! We must kneel and beg for mercy instead of placing our hopes in a young, powerless Brave! As long as we survive, what's wrong with becoming slaves? Throw away your pride!"
"Throw away our pride!!!"
"Abandon your own thoughts!"
"Abandon our thoughts!!!"
"For the sake of living!"
"For the sake of living!!!"
Anyone with functioning ears could tell the silver-haired man was a preacher, and the cloaked crowd were his followers.
The doctrine of this religion was simple:
If you wanted to survive, you did whatever it took.
Even if it meant enduring humiliation.
In a world where age equaled strength, expecting a sixteen-year-old Brave to defeat a Demon King who had lived for well over a century—longer than the average human lifespan—was nothing more than wishful thinking.
Hungry, I stopped near abandoned city.
Since I had no idea how far the next city was, I decided to cook for myself.
Later, as I rode past a snowy mountain, I caught sight of a fox-like monster leaping through the air.
That was a rare sight.
A moment later, a tiger-like monster dashed across my field of vision at incredible speed.
So the flying fox had been fleeing from the tiger.
Then, without warning, my motorcycle suddenly started sliding backward.
It startled me enough to slam on the brakes.
Unfortunately, I was on a snow-covered slope.
The surprise made me instinctively lean backward, the snow provided almost no traction, and my center of gravity shifted behind me.
The result...
I flipped over.
"Waaahhh—!"
The motorcycle and I tumbled down the mountainside together.
Thankfully, the motorcycle ended up below me while I was above it.
Otherwise, if it had slammed into the tree ahead first, I'd have been crushed between the bike and the trunk.
After regaining my balance, I ended up sliding downhill instead of rolling.
Then the motorcycle crashed into the tree.
A split second later, the soles of my boots slammed into the motorcycle seat.
I bent my knees to absorb the impact.
"Ow!"
Even so, the rebound was brutal.
My legs hurt like hell.
The force launched me forward.
A tree was directly in front of me.
I immediately planted my hands against the trunk and used it as a pivot, pushing my body to the left.
I barely slipped past the tree before tumbling downhill again.
There were two reasons I hadn't tried to block the tree head-on.
First, hitting it directly could have broken my arms, making it impossible to use magic.
Second, I had no idea whether the motorcycle might explode after such a violent crash.
I wanted to get as far away from it as possible.
Unfortunately, my ride downhill wasn't over.
I rolled over scattered rocks all the way to the bottom.
"...Oh... I finally made it... I think I'm dying..."
The constant spinning had left me terribly dizzy.
I staggered to my feet, unable to tell which direction I was facing, and the lingering pain made it difficult to stay upright.
Just then...
"Grrrr..."
A low growl echoed nearby.
Still disoriented, I searched for the source.
"Detection" had already detected hostile intent.
I slapped my cheeks several times to clear my head.
Then I spotted the fearless monster that dared target me.
It was the same tiger that had chased the flying fox.
The fox now lay motionless beside it.
The tiger slowly approached, patiently waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
I simply raised a hand.
"Stone Bullet"
A small but incredibly hard stone materialized in my palm.
It shot forward like a bullet and pierced straight through the tiger's skull.
The monster collapsed instantly.
Blood poured from its head, staining the pristine snow crimson.
Afterward, I cast an ancient light magic on myself.
"Heal"
A soft white light enveloped my hand.
Every ache and injury from the fall vanished in an instant.
Unfortunately, magic couldn't repair my torn winter coat.
With a sigh, I pulled out my beloved sword from my storage space and walked over to skin the tiger.
I didn't have another winter coat.
I'd have to make one myself.
As I worked, I muttered to the dead tiger.
"If you'd just caught the flying fox and gone on your way, none of this would've happened. But you decided to come after me, so I had no choice. We had no grudge against each other... but I'm sure you understand better than anyone that only the strong survive."
This mountain was probably the tiger's territory.
Driving away intruders was simply its instinct.
Unfortunately for it, the intruder happened to be me.
Its luck had simply run out.
After finishing with the tiger, I skinned the flying fox as well.
Dead was dead.
No point letting good materials go to waste.
I drew the design of a winter coat on a sheet of paper, marking where the tiger hide and fox fur should be used.
Then I took off my torn coat.
The cold hit me immediately.
"So cold..."
I placed the damaged coat, the tiger hide, and the fox fur onto the drawing.
Then I activated the magic that only I could use.
"Create"
Black light burst from my hand, swallowing my vision.
One second later...
A brand-new winter coat appeared.
It featured tiger-striped leather with a hood trimmed in soft fox fur.
I quickly put it on.
Way too cold to waste time admiring it.
Next, I climbed back up the mountain to check on my motorcycle.
I hadn't heard any explosion, so it probably hadn't blown up.
Still, I needed to figure out why it had suddenly rolled backward even though I'd opened the throttle.
On the way up, a possibility crossed my mind.
Maybe I'd simply run out of fuel.
The last time I'd filled the tank was on Level 95 of the Dilibrash dungeon.
After that, I'd driven all the way to Level 100.
Then I'd spent two hours riding around to find a safe, open area while recruiting the general.
After arriving in Asrangari, I'd kept riding almost nonstop.
"...It's definitely out of gas."
When I finally reached the motorcycle, the damage confirmed my suspicions.
The front wheel had come off.
The body was badly cracked.
The fuel tank had split open.
Yet the snow beneath it remained perfectly white.
Not a single drop of gasoline had leaked out.
The motorcycle was completely totaled.
That was depressing.
Looks like I'd have to switch to the much slower electric motorcycle.
After crossing several more mountains, I finally reached the other side.
Just then, a desperate cry echoed nearby.
"Help! Somebody, please save me! Help...!"
I stopped immediately and looked to my left.
"Detection" showed several living creatures gathered not far away.
I stored the electric scooter in my storage space and headed toward the voice to find out what was happening.