It had been a while since Max was surrounded by accusing eyes. He could assume the mixture of emotions that laid behind them: confusion, anger, fear… It didn’t disturb him too much. He had been planning on getting rid of the irritating amnesiac ever since the system tried to back him into a corner. It was the easiest way out as far as he could tell, but he didn’t anticipate getting worked up enough to carry out his plan in front of the whole village. It should have been done discreetly, during the night, when people were in their homes wondering if aliens would visit them.

Oh well. It didn’t matter. If he were jailed, then it would just be harder for him to avoid prompts. There would probably be numerous stories offering him a way to escape prison with a sympathetic guard or a secretly rich cellmate. And if they were to execute him for his crime… then he would just wake up again in another world.

“You… killed him?” Max looked towards the direction of the voice to the captain of the knights. He seemed to be in disbelief that such a cruel act of violence could occur in the sleepy village where there were aliens, a monstrous shepherd’s boy, the missing son of a Duke, and regular strangers who all had amnesia. A normal murder suddenly seemed so unnatural in a fantastical world.

Max was struggling to reply. He wasn’t too sure whether to confess or play dumb. There was no prompt for him to avoid. The freedom of deciding the consequences of his own actions was making him freeze.

“Don’t be silly, Reymond. Max just tripped,” Aldwin said with confidence. “He’s such a klutz.”

Did he see what happened?

“And the path is really uneven,” Noah added. “The mayor ought to do something about it.”

It was clearly murder?

Adelaide pushed her way through the crowd, clearly feeling entitled as the main character in her own world. Perhaps she thought she was heroic for rushing to his defence, but she looked a little silly in her nightgown. “That’s right. The road needs to be repaired before this happens again.”

This wasn’t going to happen again.

Aldwin was clearly moved. “Who knows when Shinu Road is going to claim another victim?”

… What?

“So many people have been killed by this road,” Liv said with dramatic sobs. “When was the last time it claimed a victim? 30 years ago?”

There was history with this road?

“40.” The butcher corrected Liv.

There was another victim here 40 years ago?

Max made eye contact with the mayor and instantly knew it was a lie. He watched the decrepit old man stare at him. It felt intimidating even though Max wasn’t too sure if his eyes were functioning well enough for him to see properly. Finally, he let out a sigh before waving away his son, who disappeared into the crowd. Possibly to forge a 40-year-old death certificate. “Who would have thought Shinu Road would claim another victim today?”

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Even the mayor was going with this lie?

Reymond looked doubtful, “Someone else actually died on this road?”

No.

“How dare you!” Barked the mayor in disbelief. Whilst he was barely able to hobble through the crowd earlier on his cane, he suddenly seemed to have a sudden burst of strength to wallop the knight in the chest with his cane. The spectators held their breath before they realised the sudden act wasn’t foretelling the old man’s death. “How dare you be so disrespectful to…”

Wasn’t this going too far?

“Mathew,” a voice shouted. Max couldn’t see who it had come from.

Mathew?

“Yes, dear poor Mathew. He died too young here on Shinu Road 40 years ago,” the mayor said with a slight sob in his throat. He was surprisingly good at acting. Now suddenly frail again, he hobbled forward with his cane before giving Max a large slap on the back. The force almost caused him to fall over. Max could have met the same fate as the amnesiac. “See, it’s not your fault that you tripped, Max. This road is just bad luck.”

All the villagers seemed to unanimously agree as they nodded their heads while whispering newly developed rumours about the alleged road. “I’ve been told this has been a curse going on for hundreds of years.” “It started when a witch was buried under the cobblestone while she was still alive.” ‘We really should close down this road on the 40th anniversary of the death of the last victim.”

Max felt overwhelmed with the sudden support. They were willing to string up troublemakers but were very protective of those they saw as their own. It was hard not to be moved by them.

“Now that Shinu Road has claimed its victim, we won’t be seeing anymore incidents like this. Right, Max?” The mayor said while side-eyeing him.

“No, sir.”

The mayor let out a wet snort causing heads to turn in case it was a death rattle. “Good, that settles it.”

Max patted Straw on the nose. The old cow had pulled the farm’s cart into the village in the morning. Now, she was destined to pull them back. The events from earlier were still rattling around in his mind. He didn’t think he could get away with blatant murder in front of the whole village nor did he expect to suddenly start a new urban legend about one of their roads. The most alarming thing was there were no prompts presented by the system after the death of the vegan amnesiac. Out of everything, that was the thing he couldn’t wrap his head around the most. There were so many opportunities to take it further. A story about getting arrested. A story about starting various rumours in the village. A story about a community coming together or drifting apart. A story about a murderer. There were so many chances and yet none appeared. Perhaps because this was an event with himself being the origin?

“How did you get away with that?”

Max recognized the voice before checking with the only prompt he had seen in hours.

Story Name:

???

Genre:

???

Description:

???

Goal:

???

Difficulty:

★★★★★

How to Start:

Ignore Cy!

Max turned around to see Cy sitting on the farm’s cart. “It was just unfortunate that he grabbed me on Shinu Road.”

“Indeed,” the stranger said, while nodding his head. The action caused Max to see a little more of his face. He had thin lips. “You know what was really odd? What he was saying before he died. About you two being the same.”

“Not many amnesiacs in these parts,” Max said slyly.

“You would be surprised,” Cy let out a sigh causing him to frown. “But he was right about you two being the same. Neither of you had a fate. Predisposed to die and destined to be forgotten; if I were you, I would try to find a fate before you meet the same permanent path. I would hate to see you be completely blotted out, Ren.”