Their weapons' tips were all aimed at a singular me. One would assume they'd at least try to be a bit more orderly when going about such a situation, lest they end up bumping into each other, but I guess that's just gonna end up making things easier for me. Don't underestimate a bandit since birth, it'll be your last mistake!

"Oop!" I ducked, jabbing the prideful tribesman and stealing his spear from him, "Pickpocketing's my forte, you know?"

"Now!" The guy didn't hesitate to order a flank attack.

What a pitiful attempt at a formation. They all rushed in, I took care of their leader, and now they wanna try attacking me from the sides I wasn't facing? Obviously, with this many people all surrounding me, you'd expect at least one hit to land, but no.

"What the?" I dodged, ducked, weaved, parried and counterattacked with the spear in my hands, "You guys... Did you ever seriously fight in your life?"

"Tch, he's making a fool out of us!" A lady from the group shouted, "What are you doing!?"

"Stop shouting, it's your fault for not following the plan!" Another man shot back.

"Plan! What plan!? There was no such thing!"

Great, they're confused! Now's my chance to strike! And strike I did because with one jab, I had injured seven of the enemies at once! Impaling their hands into a skewer like fashion, I surprised even myself with that amount of precision! Gah, my arm really isn't enjoying that, though.

"Ugyahhhh!" The men shouted an utterly blood curdling cry.

"Shkunk!" A lady dropped her weapon to tend to him, "Please, please be okay!"

"Shiina..." He looked her in the Eyes, the hand that was impaled tightly squeezing hers, "I... I always..."

What's this, a sudden lovers' moment? Damn, I'm jealous of you, bud. When I got all my bones shattered, Nelly didn't even give me an "I loved you after all". Then here you are, mister Hand Hole, with a leaf bikini maiden quite literally smushing herself against you.

"Ack! Not that arm, dude! The other one!" I felt a stab myself come from behind, hitting my other non-injured one, "Tch, this is gonna be a pain...!"

I messed up. I got too distracted by their flubs and ended up losing both arms. Not literally, mind you, 'cause these wounds aren't deep at all. They'll heal, give it a few days, but right now I don't have that time. I should try to Focus up a bit.

"Drop your weapons!" I shouted a Command, the voice echoing through the clearing we were at perfectly reaching everyone's ears, "That's better! I always did like scuffles more than battles!"

"How'd he do that!?" They all fretted for their life, "Is he magic?!"

"A male Fairy!" One person suggested, "The legends never spoke of this, yet we see it with our own Eyes in front of us! Unlike the ever caring female Fairy, this one just wants to pillage and destroy!"

"He's come to tally our sins!"

Suddenly I'm a magical legend? What's with this frightened atmosphere, it's like they're babies. No one wanted to fight, but they stood their ground just as well. I can understand being a tad shaken or even scared by witnessing my Iro Ability for the first time, but isn't this being a bit too melodramatic? You guys, I just evened the playing field...

"What's the matter?" I still thought to provoke them, since obviously they weren't gonna come attack me by themselves, "I got no arms to fight you with, come on!"

"Ngh... Raaaagh!!" Three of them ran to me in what finally felt like a solid formation, "Kill him! If we skin his face, we'll be safe from the male Fairy!"

"Yeesh, that's a bit much, isn't it?" I scowled, hopping up into a flying kick, "I'll pass, thank you."

"Shoulder!" The two men panicked, "Never mind him!"

That was a fast recovery, looks like they're learning from their mistakes. Ah, two at once, and I can't exactly hit both of them if they're on opposite sides. Maybe this is actually a pretty bad situation?

"Screw it." I sighed, accepting my fate as I randomly picked one of the two and smashed his face in in a similar way to the previous guy, before getting punched in the spine by the other one, "Yaaack!"

Yep, that hurt...! Aaah, gaahh, whoa, head's dizzy. Holy hell, that sent me flying! Just gotta get up, and...

"Tch, dammit." I lied back down once I realized my spine wasn't allowing me to do just that, "I knew I should've tried the split kick..."

Picked up and hung to a nearby tree by a rope tied to my wrists, I had been beaten mercilessly by each and every one of them. Oddly enough, it seems this is the only time they all chose to form an orderly line, when they knew I wouldn't bite back. Seriously, is everyone on this island a coward?

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***

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"pshpsh..." I muttered under my breath.

"You bastard!" The lady from before slapped me with all her might, "This is for Shkunk!"

After that came another person, this time just a little boy. Hm, how odd. I guess I got nothing to worry abou-OOF! Dammit, you fucking short-ass brat! I get it's the only place you can reach, but don't just go for the balls!

"That's for daddy!" He said in tears, "Daddy...! Wake up, dada!"

"pshpsh..." I kept trying to mutter the same thing.

Eh? Wait a second, a kid? Did he happen to follow these guys to here and see me beat his pop-pop up? Damn, that's a bit unlucky, but what can I say, kid? Your dad signed up for the old man's defense force himself, so he should've prepared you for this. Meh, not like I killed anyone.

"Unf!" I got hit by a strong gut punch immediately after from a large bulky man.

"You... You're no death bringer Fairy or whatever. You're just like us!"

"Ptu! What gave that away?" I asked with a bloodied grin, "Gah! pshpshpsh..."

"Is this a joke to you?" He pulled me close, "You come to our land, harm our elder, and now you destroy countless households with just a single spear!"

"Yeah, what did we ever do to you!?" Another person chimed in from the crowd.

"Answer!" The brute kept punching me, "Why!? You're a human too, right!? The elder told us! He said there were other humans outside our islands, so why are you here with ill-will!?"

Oof, that one's tough. Look guy, you're making me out to be a racist or something. In any case, none of this would've happened if you had just let me keep chasing the old man. Dammit, first I get ganged up on, and then I don't even get a decent fight out of it! The hell...

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"pshpshpsh..."

"Grrr...!" He finally snapped, daring to put his ear close to my mouth, "That whispering, what the hell are you saying!? If you got something to say, speak up!"

"Psst..." I quietly replied, my Eyes glowing a gentle golden Yellow, "The next hit you deal to me will deal no damage."

He must've assumed I was mocking him, so he winded up for what looked to be the strongest punch he could muster. Nonetheless, a mental blockade so to speak had made him subconsciously back out of it halfway through. By the time the fist reached my face, it had only gently pushed my head, but at the speed he was shaking me, plus the added acting from my part, I managed to make the others believe I got the snot beaten out of me. Yep, this was another use of my Iro Ability. Pretty good, right? With this simple little chant, I managed to evade getting hurt by any of these guys ever since I got tied up to this tree.

"Now if only I had thought of this sooner..." I sighed, using his confusion to my benefit as I slammed my head against his skull, immediately knocking him to the ground.

"He's gonna try and break free!" Everyone that had one chucked a spear my way.

"Miss me!" I Commanded as the hundreds of spears just barely grazed my skin from all sides, ultimately breaking the rope that was tying me up by the wrists, "Owowow! Arms are still broken, mind you! Geez, you guys didn't even try to make me comfortable!"

They were appalled, terrified even. Is this what it felt like to be feared? Kinda feels familiar, I think I remember this feeling from back in my bandit days.

"I got a girl I like." I confessed, "She's real cute, smart as hell, and responsible to boot. A real delight."

"What the...!?"

"She's here, somewhere. On this island." I explained calmly, "At this point you probably met her, a ginger haired girl named Nelly."

"T-The Fairy!" They immediately recognized her.

"The old man, upon beating the crap out of me mere meters away from my own home, had kidnapped and taken her here." I continued, "You understand now? Why I was so cruel to you just now? What you "did to me". I got beef with that old rat bastard elder of yours, and you're only in the way."

"The elder... kidnapped the Fairy?" They seemed genuinely perplexed.

"No, the elder is a kind man! And the Fairy seemed happy!" The boy from earlier shot back.

"This collar I got on." I pointed down with my chin, "She has the same on her ankle too, right?"

"Ah..."

"What, you guys seriously thought she was a guest?" I actually started laughing, "A guest that has to be chained up and threatened not to leave. I dunno about you guys, but to me that sounds like a hostage."

All of a sudden, a good majority of them had just up and turned around to leave. Like when a party's over, and the host claps their hands to adjourn the meeting, except without the signal. It was that unanimous of an action, without any prior warning or extra words to lengthen the moment. They just picked up their injured comrades and went back the way they came. Are these guys... for real?

"You there, what's going on all of a sudden?" I flagged down one of the remaining few.

"Where else? Back to their homes." He chuckled, "In spite of what you may think of us, we're not stupid to chase danger after the issue has been resolved. Heh, at least not most of us."

As he said this, he glanced back at three others. A guy, and two girls, all of whom appear to be around my age, though obviously taller.

"Sorry boy, I guess we owe you an explanation." The girl spoke in a ditsy sort of way, "Thing is, the elder told us your crush came here willingly as a tourist. We gave her a warm welcome, and she calmly waited for some guy to wake up from a coma. Sound familiar?"

That's...!

"That's you, I assume." The second guy of the group surmised, "She's no Fairy, and neither are you. Right, we should've doubted the elder's words sooner, but usually things don't go well for people that did that in the past."

"So you're all just working under his tyranny?" I furrowed my brows.

"Don't make it sound so bad." The fourth and final member laughed, "We lived here hundreds of years before he came by and announced he was our distant ancestor's friend or whatever. He introduced our grandparents to some new technology and terminology, but apart from that, we were always gonna end up like this—A peaceful, pacifist community of farmers, fishermen, builders and doctors."

So that's why I felt these guys were underpowered. They really did never pick a fight with anyone!

"I don't understand this at all." I shook my head, "You guys claim you don't blindly follow his orders, yet the moment the old man whistled, you had the entire island's army at the ready just for one guy."

"Pheh, did you hear that, guys? He said army!" The first guy wheezed, prompting the others to follow suit, "Boy, we have no army. Who're we defending against?"

"Those guys you fought were farmers, housewives and kids, all forced by an unwritten rule to protect the old man lest an evil curse befell them and their loved ones." The ditsy sounding girl spoke after him, "We always kinda knew he was lying, but ain't no one gonna test their luck like that."

"I... I see!" I smiled along with them, "Then you now know the truth! The old man is the reason why all these bad things happened. We're both victims of his stupid actions, so please help me defeat him!"

"Hmm, let me think about it..." The other girl looked about, "Guys, I'm at a complete loss as to what to do here—Do we help the guy that mercilessly beat up a ton of our fellow islanders, most of whom are now impaired for a very long while and will be unable to work the fields?"

"Ah." My smile waned, "You can't be serious..."

"Let's not forget he's the one that burned down the Founder's Tree." The other guy added.

"Yeah, there's no way we'll help someone as despicable as you." The first guy's smirk grew scary, "Boy, we're sorry for this, but understand that this has nothing to do with the elder anymore. Simply, it's an Eye for an Eye."

"Khk... Alright, it'd only make sense to be this way." I answered back confidently, "But once I beat you guys, the old man's next, y'know."

"Same here." They smiled, "Our goals align, but this is just one of those rare instances where the enemy of our enemy isn't our friend."