I Don’t Want to Start a Story!

How did he get himself into this mess? He could feel himself starting to zone out as a war of words raged in front of him. To his left, Adelaide barked insults, having completely forgotten the basic concepts of customer service. To his right, the cruel words failed to land on the struggling braincell of Aldwin, who was blocking Max’s only escape. Both of them were eagerly waiting for him to align with their side. “I’m just saying that it’s surprising you’re behind the counter since you struggle with counting-”

“Watch it donkey boy,” she snapped, feeling more and more embarrassed at Max’s reluctance to jump to her aid.

A clearly puzzled look formed on Aldwin’s face. “Donkey boy? It’s been years since I last looked after donkeys?” Max couldn’t help pitying him. He must’ve likened the insult to 'shepherd boy'. How was the shepherd boy’s mutation going? He hadn’t seen him since the meteorite crashed.

“There have never been any donkeys around our area, idiot!” Now that she had mentioned it, Max had never seen or heard of the neighbouring farms owning a donkey either.

“Are you thinking about the miniature horses by the old mill?” Max offered as a possible answer to what Aldwin cared for many years ago.

The confused look didn’t fade. “Maybe? Does it matter?” He did have a point. They were similar and not really a concern to him as long as they didn’t keel over on his watch. “Anyway, I came here to ask if either of you had seen our newest amnesiac?”

“He’s not at the butchers?” Adelaide let out a sigh. She seemed a bit relieved to have a change of subject. Her hurling insults, which didn’t have a possibility of sticking their landing, was nothing but exhausting.

“He wasn’t there when I dropped off a cow earlier,” Max recalled. Where was this stranger? The same story prompt asking him to help showed up and competed for space with Adelaide’s romance plot. Luckily, both stories were easy to avoid since the starting prompts were extremely clear. “What’s the amnesiac like anyway?”

“Tiresome.” “Vexing.”

Adelaide and Aldwin stared at each other in disbelief. It was a rare day when they agreed on something. Even Max was slightly impressed with the stranger’s strong impression.

Adelaide cleared her throat before trying to justify her thoughts. “He keeps talking about being something called a ‘veh-gan.’ For some reason, it means he can’t work at the butchers.”

“I’m pretty sure he called it ‘ve-ghan.’” Aldwin said in agreement.

“Do you mean vegan?” The pair nodded in unison. Max learned a few lifetimes ago that various worlds had different levels of understanding of modern concepts, just like how the worlds sometimes had their own ideas and theories for him to learn.

“You know it?” Aldwin asked, impressed. He seemed to have forgotten Max had no memories.

“I’ve heard of it,” Max admitted. “It means he can’t eat meat or use animal products. Usually, it’s because vegans don't want to hurt animals.” It took a lot of strength not to laugh at the two confused faces pointed at him. The idea must be so foreign to them. More than half of the villagers struggle with getting enough food to eat every day. Why would anyone willingly restrict the food they can eat when not much was available. “He also can’t eat eggs or drink milk.”

“What about fish?” Adelaide prompted, clearly not believing what she was hearing.

“Nope, vegans can’t eat any kind of fish or shellfish.”

“Bread?”

“Not if it’s made with milk or honey.”

“They can’t eat honey?”

“No, honey is made by bees so it’s an animal product.”

“What about crickets?”

… “You eat crickets?” Max asked Aldwin, not quite believing his ears. From his flustered face to Adelaide looking like she was going to puke, he could tell it wasn’t a common phenomenon in this world. Shame, it was a good source of protein. “No… he can’t eat crickets.”

“So strict,” Aldwin muttered in disbelief, whilst his cheeks were still painted red from the crickets.

“No wonder he has an issue with working at the butchers… It’s a choice, right? Why doesn’t he just… stop?”

“I imagine it’s because he’s set in his ways.” His stubbornness is going to get him killed. In the various worlds Max had visited, he had to throw away his morals a long time ago. Theft of a charity? No problem. Murder of a friend? Easy on a good day. Unjustified genocide? Left a pit in his stomach, but it was just a story. Another death, another life, another prompt to choose his own tale to star in. There were never any rewards for refraining from doing the immoral. If he failed the prompt of a story, he died. If he adhered to the script, he could live until he died of natural causes. There was never any significant meaning to his actions. “Hopefully he changes quickly.”

The dark tone went completely over Aldwin’s head. “I’d say. I saw the mayor inspecting the old oak tree. If the amnesiac is as smart as he is stubborn, he should run away now before they decide he’s causing too much trouble.”

Adelaide let out a dramatic sigh of relief. “With the rise of these amnesiacs, I’m glad the king made it lawful for us to get rid of them if necessary… Of course, you’re not troublesome Max. You don’t need to worry,” she said, with a bright smile.

??? It was a law in this kingdom? Max had just assumed that the decrepit mayor had gone mad with power.