Part 26: Fresh Start

That moment we arrived in Tartropolatté, I was astounded at how beautiful it was. A largely knit community filled with many different kinds of creatures. Of course, the most common were the Bibbly Bubbles walking around. Most are frequent customers of the cafe. They are even considered pets to a few human employees, although there are just as many that do work as chefs.

Then there are Pikpies. Tiny flying cat-eared cuties which will usually cling onto your back and legs. They seem to like making beeping noises and also love to eat any type of pie you feed them. Sometimes they will get very desperate to get a few bites in no matter what.

Giant Chocoloms fly across the sky like airplanes but the difference is they are actually large sparkling indigo birds who are known for laying chocolate eggs. They often go to more exotic locations across this world but commonly appear high in the skies of Tartropolatté.

While thinking about these thoughts, I was interrupted by how chilly it was. A lot of it comes from these ice cream cone buildings and houses which have raspberry-flavored sorbet rooftops. Then you have the candy cane street lights. At night they glow in the dark, but seeing them off in the day was always a treat too. It’s almost like you’re walking through a largely populated town that looks a lot more bigger than even Animearth’s most booming city: Centreplex. According to the guide book, Tartropolatté stretches as far as 723 miles in every direction.

It is that big.

I could run just about anywhere and actually interact with everything. There was nothing about this which felt less real than most places. I started to wave at the other friendly Bibbly Bubbles who greeted me in return by waving one of their legs.

As Peppie and Prince Cinnamint were touring me around the place, I already felt like telling them everything. Maybe this place wasn’t entirely one to one with the games. While it was starting to feel merely identical to my journey on screen, the avatar I played with was given limited RPG speech options which helped it flow. This was a lot less like that. It clearly set specific freedoms to what was real about this place.

“Say, um… By any chance, do any of you know if I can speak to Princess Candiere? I really don’t know how to put this since you both seemed excited that I came here. It’s like you know what happened regarding the murders.”

The entire town suddenly became chaotic as nearly everyone was finding places to hide. I did not understand why. It must’ve been something I said because Peppie didn’t look too happy. Clearly it had to be the word “murder”.

“Never say that bad word here. Ever.”

“Okay… Why though?”

“That is not something you should be asking about.”

“Prince Cinnam—“

I was interrupted by Prince Cinnamint who casually agreed with her.

“Sorry. Rules are rules.”

Rules? Why were there rules against it? Was saying that word so traumatizing that it affected every town as a whole? It must have had to deal with the ties of the murderer to the game and this world.

Making our way towards the cafe with these thoughts in mind, my last resort was to talk to Princess Candiere.