Book-hunting

It seemed not even the monsters were awake at this ungodly time because Daffodil and Asterion arrived at the outskirts of Caspia without any interruptions. Unfortunately, there were some humans crazier than monsters, Daffodil noticed, as he saw a small crowd of players milling about Caspia.

Before they could enter the city, Daffodil pulled Asterion aside and said, “Okay, before we go in, I should explain the whole NPC thing to you.”

“Alright,” Asterion said slowly, a little confused.

Daffodil started, “So Ymara told you that we’re NPCs now, I’m sure. But what he forgot to mention is that we’re compelled to act like NPCs around players. When you get too close to one, your movement slows down a little and you start calling out one of a few set phrases. I’ve tried to fight against it, but you can’t say anything other than what you’re supposed to. That part sucks, but it isn’t the main thing I want to warn you about.

“Whatever you do, don’t let a player initiate conversation with you. It’ll activate a cut scene and you’ll lose all control over your body. When it happened to me I blacked out so I’m not sure what my dialogue options were but, since I’m a type of merchant in this world, it opens up my inventory for them. The players can buy anything in my inventory and sell me whatever they want. If I get stuck in another conversation, I could end up handing over all my coin without realizing it.” Then Daffodil’s eyes drifted to the tag above Asterion’s head and added, “But I’m not sure what’ll happen with you.”

“What do you mean?” Asterion asked as he tried to crane his neck to see the words above his head. As his head tilted back, so did the words. He looked at the tag over Daffodil’s head and pointed to it. “Yours says Botanist. What about mine?”

Daffodil smiled. “Legendary Hero.”

At those words, Asterion blushed. He rubbed the back of his neck and said, “Well, I guess it’s accurate.”

“You were chosen to save the world,” Daffodil said with a scoff and an eye roll, although his fond smile gave away his true feelings. “‘Legendary’ is about the only way I’d describe it.” After a pause, he added, “Although I don’t know how players will react to it. If they see an NPC that’s described as ‘legendary’ they might be curious to check out why. Like I said, you probably don’t have to worry about selling things you don’t want to, but who knows what dialogue options you’ll have. You might accidentally give away our plans. We’re under the Demon Lord’s radar because we’re NPCs, but if a player starts blabbing about it he’ll find out for sure.”

Asterion nodded, his easy smile gone and replaced with a look of grim determination. “You’re right. We have to make sure we don’t activate a cut scene.”

“These should do the trick,” Daffodil said as he opened his menu and summoned two thick strips of cloth. “If we tie them around our mouths it should be enough to muffle our catchphrases if we get too close to a player. I’ll try to lead us down abandoned alleys so we don’t cross paths with any players.”

Asterion agreed and the two tied the cloth strips around their mouths. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as an actual gag and it did a decent job of muffling any sound that managed to escape. Daffodil made a follow me motion and the two entered Caspia.

Luckily, this was the least amount of players Daffodil had ever seen in Caspia, and the ones that had decided to log in before the sun rose all stuck to the main square. The bookstore was a block removed from the main square, so Daffodil led them around the square and down a few side streets until they finally reached a door with a stack of books carved into it. Daffodil pushed the door open and sighed in relief to see no players inside.

Removing their cloth strips, Daffodil and Asterion glanced around the shop. It was relatively small and clearly not frequently visited despite being so close to the largest market in the city. The walls weren’t even visible with every square inch taken up by floor to ceiling bookshelves crammed with so many books that a few looked like they were sagging under the weight. Small ornate signs marked different genres and every book looked to be brand new with how well the shopkeeper was maintaining them.

A rustling in the farthest corner drew Asterion and Daffodil’s attention to a man they hadn’t seen when they first entered. He had been crouched behind the front desk organizing books on the bottom shelf, but now he stood at his full height and dusted off his clothes. He wore round thick-rimmed glasses and expensive looking clothes. Brown, slightly curled hair was expertly coiffed and he had a handlebar mustache to match.

Daffodil walked up to the counter with Asterion awkwardly shuffling behind him. “Hello there, Wilhelm,” he said, eyes darting to the name floating above the man’s head.

Wilhelm finally looked at his customers and smiled when he said, “Daffodil! I haven’t seen you in my shop for a while.”

Daffodil stood dumbstruck for a few moments. He knew Ymara had said the NPCs he’d interacted with before would remember him, but it was another thing entirely for a man he’d only ever seen on a computer screen to look at him with recognition in his eyes. Daffodil was also now realizing he’d never had an actual conversation with the shopkeeper, only ever talking to him with the three preset dialogue options the game offered.

“Uh, yeah I’ve been pretty busy recently.” There was another pause before he finally jumped into the reason for their visit. “This is my friend Asterion,” he said, gesturing to Asterion who was still hiding behind his shoulder, “and we’ve been tasked with killing the Demon Lord. I remember reading a book a while back about the Four Sages, and I think it might help us on our quest. Do you have any books on them?”

Wilhelm paused, and it looked like he was mentally running through his store’s entire catalog in his head. After a few moments, his eyes lit up and he said, “I think I have just the thing.”