"Help! Somebody, please save me! Help...!"
I headed toward the cries to see what was going on.
Soon, I found them.
Five ragged-looking men had surrounded a woman with short orange-yellow hair. She was dressed in ordinary clothes and struggling desperately as they held her down.
"Welp... I get the picture. Time to go."
I had no interest in playing the hero. This had nothing to do with me.
Besides, I hadn't even reached the main island yet. I didn't have time to waste here.
Just then, the orange-haired woman looked straight at me and shouted,
"Mr. Tiger over there! Help me!"
Considering I was wearing a tiger-striped coat, calling me "Mr. Tiger" as a first impression was understandable.
I ignored her plea and quickened my pace.
"Don't leave!"
(Ignore her. Ignore her. Those five look exactly like bandits. Besides, what are she doing on a snowy mountain in the middle of winter? Reserving wild yams of spring? This has to be some kind of trap.)
Suddenly—
Boom!
A tree I had just walked past burst into flames.
I spun around.
Five hostile intentions.
I stared at the five men cautiously.
Then they all started shouting at me like lunatics.
"Where do you think you're going?! Did you think you could escape the eyes of Nung?!"
"Just because you're not saying anything doesn't mean Piri's ears, can't hear the panic in your heart!"
"I don't even need to hear you! Yi can tell from your mouth that you're too scared to speak!"
"Even though all I smell is wood and snow, Kou's nose can still smell your desire to run away!"
"And Moli's brilliant mind has already figured out you're planning to report us to the knights!"
"You'll never escape the hands of the Letjida!!!!"
...Had these guys escaped from an insane asylum?
Even the orange-haired woman couldn't help herself.
"You're all crazy. Ah...!"
"Don't call me crazy! I'm not crazy!"
"You're the crazy one! Your whole family's crazy!"
"I just loved her so much that I killed the boyfriend who betrayed her!"
"I just like setting fires! Watching people panic makes me so happy!"
"I only wanted to cure this sick society! Why does everyone think I'm insane?!"
The moment she called them crazy, the five men let go of her.
Furious, they started screaming back at her, each sounding less convincing than the last, and even moved to attack her.
I immediately rushed over, shoved the five lunatics aside, and pulled the orange-haired woman to safety.
...Wait.
Has the sound of ocean waves.
On a mountain?
No...
That was my phone ringing.
Someone was calling me.
Unfortunately, I didn't have time to answer.
Honestly, I wasn't particularly eager to rescue the orange-haired woman.
But watching five people gang up on one person still left a bad taste in my mouth...
Unless, of course, that one person could actually take on all five alone.
Besides, the five lunatics had already directed their hostility toward me.
They'd even attacked with magic.
There was no way I was letting that slide.
So I gave each of them a solid slap.
One slap apiece was enough to knock every one of them unconscious.
Then I turned to leave.
The woman I had just rescued immediately chased after me, glaring.
"Hey, Mr. Tiger! Were you seriously going to leave me behind just now?! That's horrible! Someone was in danger! How could you just ignore it?!"
"Sorry. I thought you were with them."
I came up with an excuse.
Honestly, she already struck me as the troublesome type.
"How could I possibly be with those lunatics?! Do I look crazy to you?!"
"How should I know? They didn't look crazy either. More importantly, why were you up here?"
If she hadn't wandered into the mountains alone, none of this would've happened.
What did that have to do with me?
Not everyone had a hero complex.
I only acted when it benefited me.
"How old are you?"
Why was she suddenly asking my age?
What did that have to do with anything?
After hesitating for two seconds, I answered.
"...Seventeen."
The instant I said my age, she exploded.
"What?! You're younger than me, and that's how casually you talk to your elders?! Are you asking for a beating?!"
She actually raised a hand as if she were going to hit me.
So that's why she'd asked my age.
Annoyed, I shot back,
"I think you're the one asking for a beating. I answered your question, but you ignored mine. Why are you so obsessed with who's older?"
"What?! Didn't anyone teach you to respect your elders?!"
"Being older doesn't automatically earn respect. And it definitely doesn't give you the right to treat younger people however you want. Respect goes both ways. Real respect comes from the heart."
"I've got more life experience than you!"
Life experience?
She didn't look experienced at all.
She was just older and had become an adult before me.
Still, I went along with it.
"Then you must be amazing. Why were you the one crying for help?"
"What good is life experience in a situation like that?!"
"Endure it."
In this cruel world, people without power had no choice but to endure.
Doing whatever you pleased would only get you killed sooner.
She pointed at herself in disbelief.
"You wanted me—a man—to let five other men assault me?!"
...
For a second, I wondered if both my ears and my eyes had stopped working.
She had just said she was a man.
That completely caught me off guard.
"...Say that again."
"I said you wanted me—a man—to get assaulted by five other men."
"One more time."
"You wanted me—a man...?"
"You're a guy?!"
She'd now claimed to be male three separate times.
Was this one of those beautiful boys people talked about?
Because her face looked completely feminine.
Even her voice was fairly high-pitched.
"Of course I am!"
Was this one of the world's seven great mysteries?
A man who looked exactly like a woman...
Eh.
If he said he was a man, then he was a man.
It wasn't any of my business.
"...Then why were you asking for help? Couldn't you have just told them you were a guy?"
"I've got delicate features, silky hair, and a slim figure that looks just like a girl's. What if seeing me changed their sexual orientation?"
He shamelessly praised his own appearance.
Personally, all I saw was a dirty face and dry, messy hair.
I had no idea where all that confidence came from.
Then he rolled up his sleeve to show off his slender arm.
I became even more suspicious about his claim.
Still...
People judged by appearances.
Maybe those bandits really would've gone after someone who looked like a girl.
"...Fine. Do you at least have any obvious male features?"
"Of course! Look how big my Adam's apple is."
He tilted his head back and proudly pointed at his throat.
Sure enough, there was a noticeable Adam's apple.
...Not exactly the answer I'd expected.
"For a woman, that is pretty prominent."
"Which proves I'm a man."
He sounded completely confident.
Of course, some women also had prominent Adam's apples due to higher testosterone or being extremely thin.
He didn't look underweight.
So if he really were a woman, it'd probably be the former.
Whatever.
Whether he was a man or a woman had nothing to do with me.
He was just another passerby I'd happened to meet during my journey.
I nodded, turned around, and started walking away.
Since he was heading downhill as well, he simply followed behind me.
Then, rather rudely, he asked,
"Hey, what's your name?"
"Henry."
Without even thinking, I gave him a fake name.
I disliked rude people.
I also believed respect should be mutual.
There was no reason to give him my real name.
"Hey! That's rude! Aren't you going to ask for my name?"
Couldn't he tell I didn't want anything to do with him?
He really was a pain.
If I ignored him, though, he might actually hit me.
"...What's your name?"
"Sta... No, Stark. Stark!"
That hesitation made it obvious he was hiding his real name.
Not that I cared.
"Oh. Stark. So what were you doing up in the mountains?"
"I'm from Pintoshi. I was passing through on my way to the capital."
"I see."
I had no idea where that was.
Nor did I care.
A simple response was enough.
"What about you? Where are you headed?"
"The capital."
"Perfect! Since we're going to the same place, let's travel together."
"No."
"What?! Don't you know you're not supposed to refuse an elder's invitation?!"
"Nope. Don't force your age-based hierarchy onto me. I'm from Aimebisalon."
The only reason I mentioned where I came from was because my country didn't have such a ridiculous social rule.
If it were a good custom, I'd happily respect the local culture.
But a system that let people bully others just because they were older?
I wasn't compromising on that.
Realization suddenly dawned on Stark's face.
"So you're from Aimebisalon. No wonder your coat looks so stylish."
"No. I made it from materials I found on the spot."
"You made this?!"
"I just stitched it together. It's nothing special."
"It's that easy?!"
Stark grabbed my coat in amazement to inspect it.
How rude.
I slapped his hand away as I answered.
"Yep. That's right."
..I think this troublesome person has latched onto me.