Kit followed the pair outside. When he had followed the sound of voices earlier, he hadn’t really paid attention to his surroundings. He had been too focused on finding them to tell them about his accomplishments in the kitchen.
Now that he had slowed down, he noticed the changes that had been happening around the small hamlet. Trees had been planted near the town hall along with long garden beds filled with flowers. Kit was amazed that he hadn’t noticed the changes earlier.
The town hall no longer resembled a slapped together mud hut. Kit felt a swelling of pride for the hamlet. He continued to look around to see what else had changed. Kit spotted a structure next to the town hall.
“What is that?”
“That’s the Spartan Fire quest board. Come and have a look.” Twix pulled Kit in the direction of the new fixture.
Kit blinked at the plain wooden structure that stood in front of him. It had four poles holding up a flat wooden roof. The only thing that made it stand out was the beautifully planted flowers that surrounded the structure creating a flower fence.
Kit walked to the opening in the flowers. Two people could walk through the gap abreast. Underneath the wooden roof was a simple looking wooden sign board. Kit walked over to it to examine it more closely.
On closer inspection Kit could see that the surface of the board was actually a screen with wooden boards on the background. He touched the screen with his fingertip and it flickered to life.
“That’s neat. The wallpaper on the screen looks exactly like a wooden sign board.”
Kit heard chuckles next to him. He ignored the two for now and concentrated on what was in front of him. The screen had two menus to choose from. Spartan Fire quests and Spartan Fire resident quests.
Kit taped on the Spartan Fire quests first. A list of jobs appeared in front of him. Each job offered a cash reward or reputation points with Spartan Fire.
“How do you know which jobs offer prestige points?” Kit was curious how it worked.
“Oh, that’s easy any job that has to do with improving Spartan Fire automatically generates prestige. So, all the tasks to make Spartan Fire more attractive will give prestige points to the hamlet and we get a monetary reward or reputation points.” Twix patiently explained for Kit.
“Accept the flowers for the market quest Kit, and you can help us finish off the quest.”
Kit looked over the quests available until he saw the right one. He clicked on the menu and the quest details expanded.
[Spartan Fire]
Hamlet quest
Flowers for the market, common
Make the market more attractive with flower gardens.
Reward: 1 Spartan Fire reputation point.
Accept/Decline
He wondered what he could do with Spartan Fire reputation points. He asked Twix if he knew.
“You don’t have to worry about that right now. You would have to collect hundreds and thousands of reputation points before it has any use. The main use is to receive one of the royal lines.”
“What does that even mean?” Kit was confused by Twix answer.
“Well let’s see. I’ll just give you the simple answer. There is a king and queen in each state which has a succession line under them starting with knight hood, baron-baroness, viscount-viscountess, earl-countess, marquess-marchioness, duke-duchess, vassal king- vassal queen. With me so far?”
“Yes.”
“There are two ways to earn a royal title, one is through inheritance these are called noble born. The other way is through gaining enough reputation points to bestow you the title. Those people are called bestowed nobles.” Kit thought Twix looked like a school teacher as he explained.
“Does it all make sense?”
“I guess. But what do you gain from getting a royal title?”
“That I’m not too sure of. There are not many nobles in the Forsaken state. All I know is that they are all rich and powerful.”
Kit looked at Mars to see if he had an idea. Mars family had been playing for a long time so he knew a fair bit about the game. Kit was a little disappointed when Mars just shrugged his shoulders.
“Thanks for answering Twix.”
Kit moved his eyes back to the board and accepted the quest.
Ding!
[Spartan Fire]
Quest accepted.
Hamlet quest
Flowers for the market, common
Make the market more attractive with flower gardens.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Reward: 1 Spartan Fire reputation point.
Kit grinned at the quest acceptance. It had been a while since he had completed a quest. He had been too focussed on his restaurant. He was looking forward to doing a simple quest with his friends.
“Ok I got the quest. Let’s go and finish the marketplace.”
The trio walked the short distance to the market. Instead of a field of grass there was now a boundary of flowers clearly marking the area for the new market square. Kit’s gaze roamed over the large area. It was bigger than he had expected it to be.
Kit guessed it was about the size of the one he had been to in Flower Field town. Kit walked through the entrance of the market. The gardens of flowers continued inside the outer boundary. Kit could see that the gardens were designed in a way to section off areas of the market. Kit thought it was very clever.
Kit couldn’t help but to take a deep breath in. The floral aroma smelt wonderful. A smile broke out on Kit’s face. The market was looking great. He could just picture it filled with stalls. As he walked further into the market, he noticed a large fountain in the middle of the plaza.
Kit hurried his steps to get a closer look. The fountain feature was a young girl playing under a waterfall. He was amazed at how lifelike the young girl looked. The glee was plain to see on her delicate face. Even the detail of her dress was intricate. Kit got a familiar feeling from the girl the more he looked at her. Then he felt his eye twitch.
“Damn it, is that Snickers?”
A large booming voice scared Kit. “Kit what do you think of my goddess? It’s one of my best creations.”
Kit’s eye continued to twitch as he turned to look at Leonard. ‘If this town was going to be his masterpiece did that mean he would see Snickers face everywhere he went?’ Kit felt a headache starting to form along with his twitching eye.
Kit couldn’t deny that the fountain looked good. Though he was reluctant to say this to Leonard in case it inspired him to build more eternal Snickers in Spartan Fire. Kit looked at Leonards expectant face and realised he couldn’t lie to the large man.
“Leonard it really looks amazing. Does Snickers know about this?”
Kit hoped she would be against being a model for all of Leonards creations or they may as well rename the town Snickers Ville. Kit saw a glimmer of hope when Leonard avoided eye contact.
“Kit, you must keep it a secret. Snickers doesn’t like me using her in my creations.”
Kit had to stop himself from bursting out laughing. How was he going to hide a giant statue from her? Kit was amazed at how stupid the large man could be. Kit started to suspect that some of his brains went to his muscles. He was very happy to find out that Snickers face wouldn’t be the focal point of the town.
Leonard was still giving him a pleading look. “Alright I’ll keep it a secret. Where is Snickers, by the way? I thought she was coming to help.”
“Oh, she went with Clive into the forest. She wanted to get some different flowers to place around the restaurant. They should be back soon.”
“Then where should I go to plant flowers?”
Leonard pointed to a section of the market that was still just a plain patch of grass. “That’s the last spot left, then we should be finished.”
Kit headed over to the area to see Twix and Mars talking with Grandpa. The old man looked up at Kit’s approach.
“Kit my boy what are you doing here? You should be in the restaurant creating tasty food.”
“I needed a break Grandpa so I thought I would come and help out for the rest of the day.”
“Well then you are just in time. Come grab some seeds.”
Grandpa pointed to a row of baskets. Kit walked over to find that each basket had a picture of a flower stuck on the outside. The insides were filled with tiny seeds.
“We have just mapped out how to arrange this section. I will raise the ground a little in the places the flowers will go. Then you three plant the seeds and I will make them grow when you’re done. Kit nodded his head in understanding. The party got to work finishing off the last section of the market.
Kit filled in the others on his progress in the kitchen as they worked. He told them about creating three new dishes but kept it a surprise what they actually were. He wanted to gauge their reactions as they tried each new dish.
As he spoke about the new dishes he created, three pairs of twinkling eyes were glued to him. Kit laughed at the sight. He could tell they were dying to eat the new dishes, even if they didn’t know what they were.
“All the seeds are in the ground now boys. So, lets grow these beauties then we can head to the restaurant to try the new meals.”
Grandpa took out his staff and it flickered to life. Kit watched as Grandpa slammed the staff to the ground. Kit watched the newly dug earth and little sprouts started to push up through the earth, then grow at a rapid pace. Soon a dazzling display of colour surrounded them.
Laughter filled his ears. Kit turned to look at his friends. They all had wide smiles. Kit couldn’t help but join in.
“Looks good. Even I didn’t think the market could be this dazzling.”
Grandpa looked very pleased with everyone’s efforts. “Alright let’s go see if Leonard needs any help. He should be close to finishing as well.”
They all headed back to the centre of the market. Leonard was arranging benches around the fountain. Kit could see that even the plain wooded benches were caved with flowers along the sides. Leonard had really gone all out to make the centre of the market a focal point.
Twix walked up to Leonard. “Do you want us to help?”
“No, it’s ok I only have one more bench to put in place then I am done.”
Leonard went over to the last bench. Kit watched as the muscles in his arms rippled when he lifted the long bench. Judging by the size of the bench each of them would hold three people. The benches were aligned along high bushes that were used as a screen to shut out the rest of the market. It would be a nice place to sit when people became tired.
Kit watched as the last bench was set in place. Kit stood waiting for the familiar ding.
Ding!
[Spartan Fire]
Quest completed.
Hamlet quest
Flowers for the market, common
Make the market more attractive with flower gardens.
Reward: 1 Spartan Fire reputation point.
A loud cheer went up at the same time the notification appeared. Kit wasn’t expecting the loud sound and jumped. Four people noticed his movements, they all started to laugh.
“Look how happy you are, you even jumped with joy.” Leonard slapped him on the shoulder.
Kit didn’t correct him, he was embarrassed that he had gotten a fright. Kit looked over the completed quest information then frowned. Were they not supposed to get Spartan Fire prestige points on completion of the quest? Kit threw the question to the others.
“Oh, right I forgot this is your first time completing one of these quests. The prestige points won’t appear in the reward section. It will only show personal rewards. The town prestige will automatically be updated in the Spartan Fire menu on completion of the quest. You can look inside the Spartan Fire tab to see how many prestige points we gained.”
Twix looked excited when he talked about the prestige points. Kit was a little excited himself. He remembered that they had discussed yesterday that they had been close to gaining the amount need to upgrade Spartan Fire to a small village.
Kit quickly pulled up the information.
Spartan Fire.
Size: Hamlet
Population: 52 residents
Spartan Fire Prestige: 75
Spartan Fire Points: 95,227
Daily income: 0
Blueprints unlocked: Mud Huts, Farms, Town Hall, market, Spartan Fire quest board
Kit felt his heart start to pound. The prestige points were more than enough to promote the town. A thrill ran down Kit spine. They could now turn Spartan Fire into a small village!
Kit looked at the extra 2 residents in the population section and realised Snickers and Leonard must have official moved to Spartan Fire. He had not seen a new mud hut near his residence, he assumed they must have built a house further from the main area.
Surprising Snickers had not mentioned it to him.