Hundreds of people were crowding the spawning area, amazed by the impressive details on the broken marble pillars. The shrine they were at, overgrown with weeds and left at the mercy of time, housed a broken winged statue in its deepest parts.
The statue had no head and was missing an arm, with the other one raised high to reach the missing ceiling. Gazing it, one would feel a sense of loss for not being able to see it for what it once was.
All sorts of characters and races were exploring every inch of the shrine like they were possessed.
“Oh dear, oh dear. My poor back” All of the eyes immediately looked towards the source of the voice, each with a glimmer of greed in them.
The one that had spoken was a small granny with gray hair tied up in a high bun. With an arm behind her back she slowly walked towards the statue, all players making way.
The granny stopped in front of the broken angel statue to offer a small prayer. Once down she went back the same way, but she stumbled halfway. The players swarmed over like starved wolves.
“Granny, are you alright?”
“You should be more careful, you could hurt yourself”
“Granny, let me check if you’re hurt anywhere”
The old lady looked over at the young man that had reached his hand out to her first. With a sweet smile she thanked the young man. “I’m sorry, but could I ask for your help?” The player, smelling the scent of a quest, said yes with no hesitation.
The rest of the players gave the lucky one looks of envy. If only they were a bit faster they could have snatched the quest for themselves.
“You see, I’m not as young as I used to be. Everyday I come to this old shrine to pay my respects to the goddess statue. Alas, I fear that I’ve grown too old to come here. Dearie, would you mind taking me back to the village?” The young man, feeling on the moon, accepted “Of course ma’am”
He crouched down, his back facing the granny. Thanking him, she climbed on his back “Follow the road down. After a bit of walking we’ll reach the village”
Watching the two get further and further, the rest sighed at the missed opportunity. Someone must have triggered an event to make the granny spawn. With renewed determination, they searched even harder the starting area.
Not long after the young man and the granny duo reached the outskirts of the village. He let the old lady down and she patted him gently. “Thank you, young man. Here, take this as a token of my gratitude” She handed him a small yellow flower.
He took it with a smile and examined it. It must be a special item related to the granny NPC, he thought.
Morning Drop
A common small flower that grows even on the harshest climates.
This… This was a scam!
He looked at the granny, but she had already disappeared. He felt broken and betrayed. How could it be? He did all of that for nothing. Just for a stupid flower for quest reward.
Wait.
Did he even get a quest in the first place?
ᴥᴥᴥ ≈ ° ≈ ᴥᴥᴥ
Inside the village, quite a way away from the young man, was Tacha Macha. She was the old lady that tricked the player to take her to the village without breaking a sweat.
Not long after she appeared at the shrine, she found herself surrounded by hundreds of other characters. One would ask themselves how could they even see around with so many people blocking the visual.
Using her small size to her advantage she slipped past the group to the outskirts of the shrine. The ruins were located on top of a hill covered in trees. After taking a quick look at the menu, she opened up the map. Noticing a village down the road, the evil granny inside her hatched a plan.
She picked up the first flower she found, put it in her inventory and started her performance as a sweet, pious lady.
Stolen novel; please report.
Thanks to that, she snatched a free passage to the village and gave the flower to the young man as a reward. While he was distracted by the present she made a run for it. She knew that those sweet NPC words wouldn’t work once the guy found out that there was no quest reward.
Tacha Macha laughed at the thought. She felt like a little kid again.
Taking a stroll in a side street of the village, she opened up her status screen.
Name: Tacha Macha
Level: 0
Race: Human
Hp: 12/12
Mp: 15/15
Strength: 5
Endurance: 9
Wisdom: 11
Intelligence: 10
Dexterity: 14
Speed: 11
Luck: 10
Charm: 7
Unassigned Points: 0
Temporary Effects: /
Those numbers seemed a bit arbitrary for something that she didn’t even choose.
She didn’t want to fight yet, so she opted to know the villagers better. Since the developers seemed to pay a lot of attention to the details, they might have made the NPCs more realistic. Wouldn’t it be great if they felt like real people instead of three lines of dialogue?
No matter where she looked there were players interacting with NPCs. Two guys under a tree, one on top of the other, were helping a granny rescuing her cat, with no less than a few scratches in the face. On the other side of the street, a bow wielding elf woman was bartering for a better price for her pelts. There was even someone that was chasing a bunch of chickens in the middle of the street.
Almost on the outskirts of the village, in a rustic house surrounded by well taken care of plants and flowers, was an old lady with a straw hat busy watering her garden.
Tacha Macha went closer to check out the plants. Some of them were commonly seen in real life, while others were the kind of she’s never seen before. One of them was a light purple bud with red leaves, surrounded by smaller white flowers.
The owner noticed her looking at it. “That’s called Star Chaser, it’s a flower that only blooms on the day before a meteor shower. On that night it absorbs the light from the stars and by the morning, it whiters”
Tacha looked at her. She was a normal looking lady wearing a normal gardening outfit. “It’s a pity that it gets to see the sky just once” The staw hat lady’s eyes sparkled. She got closer in an istant “Isn’t it? It’s even difficult to grow one! You need it to give a drop of water every morning and a bucket of water every night. Plus you have to grow it in the middle of a bush of White Moonlights. It’s a pain to grow it, but the payoff is worth it!”
Tacha was surprised by the sudden chattiness of the lady. She smiled, knowing the pain of a well curated garden. “I’d love to see it bloom one day”
The straw hat lady clasped Tacha’s hands “I’m Molly Ridger. Come inside, I can offer you some tea” Tacha Macha, smelling a potential quest accepted the invitation “It would be my pleasure”
The inside of the house wasn’t that different from what she had imaginated. An humble abode with wood furniture and flowers here and there. Old Molly changed her dirty boots and put down her straw hat before taking out a decorated porcellain tea set. They both sat at the kitchen table while waiting for the tea to be ready.
“I can tell you’re an outsider. I know everyone in this small village, and there’s no one that has shown so much interest in flowers before. I’m so happy that I could find someone of my age to share my hobby with” Molly shed a tear from happiness and Tacha was quick to act on it “I’m happy too. I’d love to be friends with you. No one that likes this much flowers could be a bad person”
Molly’s moved by your words.
Relationship with Molly Ridger has increased by 30.
You have become ‘Friends’ with Molly Ridger.
“I’m Tacha Macha” She hold out her hand in handshake, Molly shook it with no esitation “The name suits you” Then she poured her homemade tea in two cups and offered one to her new friend.
After drinking ‘Molly’s special Daydew Tea’, your mana has grown by 5.
The two chatted for the whole day, talking about plants and gossiping about both villagers and players. “Young punks nowadays have no respect for flowers. Every time I ask one for a favor, they all return with ruined plants that can no longer be replanted” Tacha looked back with horrified expression “How could they treat them like that!?” “I know, right? Every time I just give them a couple of bronze coins just so they’ll leave me alone”
Molly looked outside, noticing that it was already sundown. “Look at the time. It’s such a pity that it’s already so late” Disappointedly, Tacha got up from her seat “I should go then. I’ll come by often”
Molly is happy to have spent time with you.
Relationship with Molly Ridger has increased by 20.
You have become ‘Best Friends’ with Molly Ridger.
“If I had one more bed I would offer you to stay, but alas” Old Molly sighed, before patting Tacha’s shoulder “Listen: this village has only one inn. That old scrooge Hans likes to scam the travelers that pass through. Just tell him that old Molly won’t give him his usual package to treat that little colitis problem of his if he offers you anything above two coppers”
Molly winked at Tacha, and she smiled back. It seems like she had made a very handy friend in this small village.