Part 33: Let's Risk Lives for the Prettiest Dress

Entry 31: Let's Risk Lives for the Prettiest Dress

We're back and ready to save the world.



But first, beauty pageant time~!

Are you listening? Hey!

Airy, given the tasks that lie ahead, I think enlisting the aid of the other vestals must come first.

I guess, but still...

So, do you have any idea of how the new Sacred Flower Festival even works, Agnès?

I do not... Given all the changes here, the mind boggles.

Well, we did pick up that flyer. Let's have a look... Oh ho! "Entrants will flaunt their beauty on the stage for all to see," it says.

Beauty contest, plain and simple, then. From the sound of it, competition will be fierce...

I've no need to win. I need only alert Olivia to my presence.

But--and I say this with love--you're rather plain, dear. You could get lost in the sea of color.

A-am I...? Then...what do you propose?



Huh? Wh-why are you asking me!?



I'll take the game's word for it.



Then, tell me. What must I do?

Hmm... I suppose step one is studying up on the trends here in Florem!



Fashion...what?

Fashionaaabluh. You know, fashionable? That's how the hip kids said it back home.

Ooh, have a look at this. Tadaaah!

An heirloom floral linen stole!

That's lovely! And so fashionable!

Not fashionable. Fashionaaabluh!

F-fashionaaabluh, then... Edea, where did you find it? I'm envious.

Aren't you!? It was a gift from my mother, years and years ago.

If you wrap it around you like...this! It makes for the perfect accent.

Absolutely fashionaaabluh!

You're always fashionable, though, Edea.

Not fashionable! FASHIONAAABLUH!

Ha ha...

Although you're nearly as fashion-minded as she is, Ringabel. You're always fussing over your hair, and your shoes are blinding.

What can I say? I live my life in front of the mirror.

A proper pompadour is a joy and a responsibility. Shoes and belt must match.

But that's only the beginning. You don't know the half of it.

Clothing I really like, I never wear. Don't want to get it dirty, do I?

What use are clothes you can't wear?

See, Tiz? You're the only country bumpkin in the group.

Give this stole a try. Stoles on guys are in this season.

But this season is warm.

What's the point of wearing a scarf when it's not cold out?

Scarf!? It's not a... Here, just try it.

At times one must suffer to be fashionaaabluh.

This has to look ridiculous... Oh, well, I'll think of it as a sweat towel.

Tiz, you look very, er...f-fashionaaabluh...

You'd look right at home weeding a garden!

I think the party needs help.





This woman near the matriarch's place looks like she spends most of her paycheck on fashion. Let's ask her.



Want one? Well, too bad! The traders don't stock them. Who does? ...Not telling!



Why are the residents so comically terrible?

Anyway, she mentioned the traders. Maybe someone at the item shop knows more?



There's a specialty merchant who comes into town every so often. Seems they're the only source. Though if you're hunting trends, all the girls are dyeing their hair these days. Like that girl, there.



Though I'm afraid we don't carry dyes, either. Really, where do they get all this stuff?

An underground fashion market? Souonds like something to check up o--



Let me guess. "I would dearly love to escort you..." Right?

Without question. But I'm also just plain hungry. Aren't you?

Now that you mention it...

So, Agnès. Any recommendations?

Hmm, let me think... Florem is known for stream noodles. Oh, and water jellies for dessert.

Those sound lovely, but have you anything that sticks to the ribs a bit more?

A bowl of eel wafers, perhaps? Hmm, or I believe queen perch is in season.

Eel wafers...bowl? What in the world?

It's a delicacy made by stacking thin slices of eel from Florem's marshlands. Quite famous.

And what's a queen perch?

A river fish, prized for their aroma. They swim upstream at this time of year, and are served salted or fried.

I think some fried queen perch sounds good, then.

Perhaps I'll try these eel wafers, then.

Ooh, me too! Eel wafers, fried perch, and water jellies!

Ha ha, what, one of everything?

It must be hard to enjoy a leisurely gourmet meal with Airy yelling in your ear about saving the world.

After the party stuff themselves, they find a girl with dyed blue hair.



For a moment there, she was almost likable.

Petalhue, they call it. It's the biggest thing ever. Of course, I discovered it first. Other trends? Like I'm going to tell you! I'm all the beauty Florem needs, thank you very much.



Gameplay tutorial man won't care. The guy on the other screen is too busy obsessing over the Festival. That leaves the man who's mistaken the town for a strip club.



An enlightened opinion. What a woman needs is boldness! It's settled. We're going sexy!

......

Why is Ringabel of all people taking charge of this? Edea must be out of earshot.

That lady there is on the right track. Get her to teach you a thing or two.



Immediately after this, Edea appears and drags Ringabel off. When they return:



Tee hee. What can I say? I see these clothes and just can't help myself.

That's abundantly clear, looking at all the bags in Ringabel's hands.

My poor, numb hands...

Wooorth iiit! I mean, just look at this adorable one piece!

But Edea, you already own a dress that's practically identical to that!

Whaaat? They're totally different!

See? The length is shorter on this one. It's all the rage.

If you go buying new dresses every time the hemlines change, you'll be broke in no time.

Yes, and my purse is in no condition to support her little habit... Heh.

Needless to say, mine is no fuller. I haven't got two coins to rub together... Heh.

Don't tell me...

Thank you sooo much, Tiz!

Aaah! That's MY wallet!

Edea's picking up some bad habits from the locals.



Luckily the sexy lady the guy was talking about is still around.



The old man of the woods comes a few times a year. He's a total pervert, but the clothes he sells are knockouts.

The old man of which woods, exactly?

Somewhere in the southeast. Down past Mt. Fragmentum, from what I hear. Whoever he is, he said he knew the matriarch and the vestal of water. He was leering when he said it...

For being called "Ill-Natured Girl" she's quite helpful.



Southeast across a mountain range, old lecher, lives in woods, sews clothes. Wait, it couldn't be...



Ho ho ho! You'll be looking for the sage of Yulyana, then.

He didn't even have to finish...

How a man of his years manages the trip here from the Yulyana Woods on foot, I'll never know.

What? There's a path connecting Florem and Yulyana by foot!?



It's unsettling how eager you are about all this...



Evidence of the man's tireless commitment to sexy clothes, my dear.

I knew from the moment I saw him he was no ordinary grandpa.

Sooo, I have no problem with the fact that we wound up out here, but...

Do you two really plan to put Agnès in something s...sexy?

I fear I am ignorant in such things. What makes a garment sexy, precisely?

Er, goodness, how to put this...

Hold that thought! Agnès, my dear, why spoil the surprise, hmm?

Today's "black as pitch list," entry number one...Ringabel!




Now that we've spoken with the locals, we've triggered the first two side quests for chapter 2. We'll get to them eventually.



But first, we've got a deadline: hiking all the way to Yulyana and back again before the Flower Festival.




Through a monster-infested wildland, halfway across the continent...



Into a hostile cavern system...



...which reuses the graphics of the game's tutorial dungeon. They could've at least recolored it.



All in the name of being fashionaaabluh.



Norende Ravine v.2, otherwise known as Mount Fragmentium, does have a varied group of new enemies.



A dryad is a wood nymph, typically depicted as a pretty, nude young woman. This game's dryad, with those attack names, looking not like a sexy lady but a tree is one of the game's best sex-related jokes.



Cait sith seem intelligent. They get along with the other monsters. Why are they attacking us?



Stop running! We're trying to murder you!



These guys give a large amount of JP as well, but the running away bit and large variety of mobs in the area to sort through makes them difficult to grind.



High five!



Hardest enemy in the dungeon. Just like Animorphs, all those fantasy monsters can't match up to the sheer physical strength of an ordinary grizzly bear.



The trail forked left and right from the entrance. This is at the end of the left path.



Likely a reference to infamous late 1800s London serial killer Jack the Ripper.



Map of the first screen.



The second screen contains another demihuman. Like his fellow in the Temple of Wind, he's not open to chatting.



Complete second screen. The layout is more complex than Norende Ravine, if only slightly.



Taking the northern path to the right leads to a dead end and a weapon. For being a tiny island that disappeared hundreds of years ago, Wa stuff sure does show up everywhere.



Taking the southern path to the right leads to our dear buddy, Adventurer.



The party continues on, oblivious.



Good. That was a harder hike than I'd thought.

*CRASH*

Wait! What is that!?






Next: What foe dares stand in the way of fashion? Nothing will keep us from one of the most uncomfortable cutscenes in the game!

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Event Viewer
Main Scenario:
A Gemstone in the Rough
The Must-Have Item
Asking the Trader
A Huge Boom
Sex Appeal is Mass Appeal
The Old Man of the Woods
Know Any Perverts?
Terratoise

Party Chat:
Tres Fashionaaabluh
Florem's Finest Food
I Want This, and That, and...
Sexy Clothes