Stare realized he could no longer move an inch forward.
He wasn't however shocked by this abnormality and was rather aware of the reason for this.
It was one of the prices he had to pay for being somewhat of a puppet to a being as enigmatic as his creator, the Oracle. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened; however, Stare had only taken notice of it in this Cycle with his memories unsealed.
He couldn't turn his back, ignore, avoid or walk away from people in trouble whom he had the capabilities of helping.
As long as he knew he could render help to the person and had encountered the person in trouble, no matter how hard he tried to move on or ignore it, he wasn't able to go against his own system.
It was like some sort of cliche hero curse, probably what had mostly made him, him in his previous cycles.
Letting out a long frustrated sigh, Stare turned back to the direction where the robbery scene was unfolding, the frown on his face seemingly growing as he walked towards their direction.
The two robbers were initially stunned when they noticed their new company; however, after sizing up the person walking toward them, their stunned state didn't last for long.
One of the masked men instantly approached Stare, swinging the baton menacingly before pointing it towards his face.
"You lost, kid?"
Stare didn't immediately respond; instead, he stared back at the masked man who had approached him without displaying any expression on his face. After a moment, he surprisingly pushed away the baton that was already dangerously close to his face.
"I don't intend on long talks, I'm short on time for roleplays..." Stare finally spoke.
"There are two options here: first, you let the guy go, and we can all part ways – happy, unhurt, and on time. Second, you can choose to be a boss and end up with a more painful, less joyful, and quite stressful outcome."
The two seemed to have been instantly stunned by Stare's strong words, the masked man behind had even taken a few steps back after listening to Stare's words.
To him, the boy felt quite weird...he gave off some sort of...'main character' vibe.
If not, how else would a teen who doesn't even look older than 17 suddenly pop up out of nowhere despite seeming to have no connection to the person they were currently robbing, and was even bold enough to threaten them, despite them holding in numbers and even weapons.
He couldn't think of any other explanations aside from a Main character situation and for him who only took up this job just to earn some extra credits for a few drinks, he didn't really want to get into something as complicated as that.
However the same thing couldn't be said for his colleague, who only burst into a fit of laughter after being stunned for a while.
Menacingly approaching Stare with an odd smile, he tightened his grip on the baton, slowly raising it. However, halfway before the baton could land on Stare, he skillfully moved to the side and swiftly jabbed his fingers straight towards the man's neck.
The man's hand instinctively clutched his throat in pain, his eyes nearly bulging through the mask's eye openings, as he emitted guttural gagging sounds.
Stare however didn't stop there and still sent his finger once more toward the gagging man's neck, sending him falling unconscious instantly.
Without even waiting for Stare to turn his attention towards him, the previous masked man who had at first been reluctant immediately ran away, throwing his baton along the way.
With no else there aside Stare and the victim of the just thwarted robbery, Stare briefly turned his attention toward the 'victim'.
He was a rather frail man in his mid-twenties, dressed casually in an oversized shirt that accentuated his lean structure. To complement the shirt, he wore casual, baggy trousers.
From how casually he was dressed Stare couldn't really pinpoint why the two had chosen to rob the man until his eyes had fallen on the exquisite watch he had on.
Turned out all they wanted all along was the man's watch.
After a few seconds of sizing the man up, Stare was about to continue with his walk when he was suddenly stopped by the frail man who had his hands stretched out for a handshake.
Stare hesitated for a few seconds before finally accepting his friendly gesture. After all, it was just a friendly gesture following the act of saving him, and it shouldn't take much time.
The man, still holding onto Stare's hand with an odd smile on his face, finally spoke.
"You have skills, kid. This Society would be a lot better if most of these kids were like you."
Stare smiled in response to the praise and was about to retract his hand when he realized the guy still wouldn't let go.
"Come to think of it, shouldn't the public testing be today? You seem old enough to participate, so why are you roaming around at this time?"
"For someone like you, shouldn't you be at home celebrating with your family."
Stare observed the man's face which maintained a persistent smile as he spoke. For some reason, Stare was starting to dislike this smile of his.
He knew he couldn't outright just tell the man he hadn't gone for the test and had even purposely escaped going for it, cause in this era that was viewed basically as treason by the people.
"I eh…" Stare stuttered.
"I missed the test for this year."
The man looked on at Stare quietly for some moment with a funny expression before his previous smile suddenly returned but this time even wider.
"Such a sticky situation isn't it?"
"Well luckily it turns out I can help you with that and as a way to repay you for earlier."