Part 59: Luc Village NPC Chatter 1

Welcome back! Luc Village is filled with some interesting NPCs, so let's get started!



: Hmm... good question. We get our tails at an early age, so I have nothing to compare it to. I wonder, is it inconvenient for you not to have a tail? They say that in the distant past our people could fly. I've also heard our tails are remnants of that era. You see, we used to have wings, but when we stopped flying they became tails, which look a bit like wings. See how fluffy and light my tail is? It's almost like I could fly with it.





Well fuck you too, buddy.

: What? Excuse me! Why do you say that?

: You said "what"? Hey, don't you foreigners know how to listen? I'm gonna be the Village Chief soon!

Not if you keep up that attitude toward the people who are going to solve a huge crisis you have no idea is going to happen yet.

: I lost the election by a small margin. But I oughta be the Village Chief if we'll have to deal with outsiders wandering into our village. We've long been isolated thanks to the mist. What'll happen to our customs now? I can't stand it. Our currant Village Chief is too nice to outsiders. I won't allow that.



: by the God of Light as protection, the fact that you're here must mean that the God of Light accepts you.

This is the more common reaction. Well, right after "Holy crap! Outsiders without tails or horns! That's cool!"

: Oh, I almost forgot. I want to add my own thanks for your rescue of Rem.

: Hey look, it's the guys with no tails, the ones who came here with Rem! I'm so envious. I wish I could go outside the village and go see all sorts of stuff! Maybe I should just do it, like Rem did, even though the grown-ups say we're not supposed to! Yeah, maybe I shouldn't just be doing what the grown-ups say! I think I'll just do what I want!

: Hmm. But, you know, if you disobey the grown-ups, you'll have to face to bloodshed a lot of danger. Is that OK with you?

: Them illegal outsiders with their "rescuin' our kids" and "good parentin'"! We oughta build a wall around our half of the world to keep 'em all out!



: I know what I'll do. For now, I'll just do what the grown-ups say.



: Ha ha, thanks. You like this stone? Good stones help protect us, you know.

: Oh yeah? What about this one? It's a memento from my father.

: Oh! My, that's a good stone. In our village, it's considered good luck to chance upon such good stones. I'm sure you could've made it through the Misty Forest even without Rem. That good stone would've guided you. In fact, a stone as good as that one will help you overcome any difficulty you encounter. If I were you, I'd hang onto that stone at all costs.

: Heh heh. Of course I'll hang onto it! It's a memento from my father!

"Stashing Place" counts as holding onto it, right?



: Eh? Oh, we use these in a ceremony. I've just returned from gathering some more to make a feathered robe.

: You've got a feathered robe to use in a ceremony?

: Yes, you've heard of it? The feathers indicate the God of Light's blessing. Long ago, when our ancestors settled here, this area was just a barren wilderness, they say. Our ancestors were struggling to survive, so the God of Light appeared before them, flying. Feathers dropped from his wings and became the seeds for the Misty Forest.



: We're adventurers. We're on a trip in search of the Angelounians.

: Abbenture? What's that? And what's an Angelounian? I never heard of any of this stuff. Where are the Angelounians? How are you going to get to them?

: Well, we still don't know exactly where they are. First we cross the End of the World!



: Oh. Well, you're welcome.

: Pu-Puff! ♪

: Huh? You outsiders, you like to say "Puff" after you talk? Heee heee heee. That's so weeiirrd. ♪



I think these guys are my favorite NPCs, assholes aside.



: Really? And where is the God of Light?

: The God of Light watches over us from the skies. His idol is in the mountains behind us. A statue of the God of Light is enshrined at God of Light Mountain. But don't ever touch that statue! If it should ever be broken, a terrible catastrophe will befall us.

: Oh, is that right? Looks like Justin has a reputation as a klutz.



I think this one would work just as well without context.



: safely. We're all so pleased with what you did. Thank you so much.

: Please don't make such a big deal out of it. We first-rate adventurers have a duty to help people in need.

: Anyway, I've never seen any outsiders before. I like your fir coat's color. I never saw that color on any beast. I wish I had a fur coat like that. ♪ Do you know where that type of animal lives? I wanna send a hunter after it.

: Huh? Oh, this uh... this is not a fur coat. It's cotton. It comes from a plant.

: Oh, really? You can make clothing out of plants? Isn't that hard to do? Doesn't the clothing get ripped up?

: Only in bad fanfiction No, not at all. It's pretty sturdy stuff.



: Nectar? What nectar?

: You didn't drink the nectar? You'd better go to the Village Chief's place right away and talk to him. I can't talk to you, since you haven't had the nectar. You'd better go drink some soon.



: Maybe some people still live on the other side now?



: Eew! A ca-caterpillar?! Oh, I really couldn't accept it. Please give it to Sue.

: Justin! Don't pass it on to me just because you don't want to eat it!

: You rescued Rem? He had been gone for several days. We were so worried! Thank you!

: You're welcome. It seems you're rather fond of Rem, aren't you?

: Umm. Uh, no way! I, uh, it's just that there aren't many kids our age in this village! That's all! Yes, well Rem can be pretty mischievous sometimes. He secretly



Man, now I'm upset that Rem isn't a party member.

: Hee hee. You know all about Rem, don't you?

: Huh? Bu... but, well, yeah. But only 'cuz we've been playmates forever! It's not like he's my boyfriend! Rem's not easy to look after since he's such a little rascal! I have to keep an eye on him constantly!

: A ha ha! That reminds me of someone!



: This tree belongs at the God of Light shrine. I am guarding this place. The God of Light is Luc's patron god, who flies down from heaven to rescue us in times of need.

: Flies down from heaven...? So I guess the god has wings, too, eh?

: An even bigger God of Light is enshrined on the mountain behind the village. Us old timers can't hike that far, so we come to this shrine instead.



: OK, our spears and bows are ready. We've got our offering for the God of Light. This time, we'll be sure to have good hunting. If I catch a nice plump rabbit, we'll have a feast!



After all that jailbreaking, adventuring, and murdering soldiers, it's nice of the game to take a step back and remember that Sue is an eight-year-old girl.

: Look, when we die, we go back to the earth. Plants grow from that earth and rabbits eat those plants to live. Sure, we eat the rabbits, but when we die, our bodies fertilize the plants that the rabbits live on.

: In other words, in this village people and nature support each other in living.

: But... still....



: You're right. Parm doesn't even have a bone dump.

: What?! Is your village OK? To avoid catastrophes, a village must take good care of bones. If folks dump bones just anywhere, it brings bad luck, so you need to dump them where a priest can Send purify them. Our bone dump's in the village center. If we dump our bones outside of the village, monsters will attack us.

: Come on, that can't be true. Well, come to think of it, such monsters do exist.

Justin's obviously never thrown out chicken bones, then had to chase the raccoons and opossums away from the trash.

: Yeah, that's why, in Parm, dead people just get buried. I wonder if it's true.

: Our bone dump's in the village center. A priest purifies the bones of beasts and then throws the bones on the dump.



Well fu- wait, I already used that one.

: I mean, you're such weird-looking creatures; there's no tail, not even any horns on you.

: Well, mister, from our point of view, you folks are the ones who look mighty strange.

: Still, I must say I'm a little envious of your tail and horns!



dammit, Japan. I'm just gonna pretend he was referring to Puffy's antennae.

: Hey, th-those aren't horns!

: Puff? Puuffff!



: What are you doing?

: I'm looking for a guiding stone. It's a mysterious, beautiful stone that can make any wish come true. Stones have amazing powers, you know. And the God of Light is made of stone.

: Oh, oh, now I get it! Even the Spirit Stone is a stone. ♪

: That's why we give stones special treatment in this village.



: Tattoos? You mean like what the sailors have?

: Sailors? I don't know about any sailors, but I know what tattoos are. They're proof of bravery! They stick you with a quill to make ink go in your skin. It hurts like crazy, but the brave can take it. Even tough guys cry when they get tattooed. The Village Chief's son, he cried. Even the Village Chief cried! Me. I'm not too crazy about pain, so I decided to be a tattoo artist. How about you? When you're an adult, are you gonna get any tattoos? I'm gonna get one that really hurts!

So, fun fact about that guy: he uses the same conversation state flag as the woman in the town square who talks about clothes, meaning whichever one you talk to second acts as though you've already spoken to them.



: Huh? My hair ornament? Oh, you mean Puffy? Puffy's not a hair ornament.

: Puff Puff!

: Aaak! It sounded like that funny fuzzball just said something.

: You know, it's very rude to call him a funny fuzzball! His name is Puffy!



: Oh, is that right? Well, that's even weirder. Man, what a strange beast! That critter, I mean, uh, Puffy there, he's quite an interesting animal.



: That large gate leads to where the God of Light is enshrined. It leads to the sacred mountain.



: I think it's a bad omen that outsiders have come to our village. Ugh, how rude! I wish they would stop staring at me!

Fine, then, we'll just go talk to your clone over there, then.



: Since our village is shrouded in mist, we don't know much about the outside world. Where are you all from, anyway?

: We're from a place called Parm. We came on a ship from the other side of the ocean!

: Ocean? Ship? I don't know, but I'd guess that Parm is like a forest that's very far away.

: Huh, what do you mean by "forest"? Parm is not a forest.

: What?! It's not a forest?! You mean, people live where there's no forest?! I would never have imagined that in the outside world, people live in places that aren't forests.

: Well, I've heard that Parm used to be in a forest, a long time ago.



: Really? Well, that's great. Congratulations!

: I guess only women get to know that kind of happiness, eh?

: It's because I prayed to the God of Light every day. My prayers finally got through to the God of Light. Now I must go to the God of Light's shrine atop the sacred mountain. To make sure it's a safe delivery!

: What? Climb the sacred mountain? In your condition? Is that OK?

: In Luc Village, children can only be born with the help of the God of Light. Hee hee. I can't wait to see my baby's darling face!

: You're the ones who came from the outside world, aren't you? On your way here, did ya find any tail waggers?

: Tail waggers? What are those?

: Oh, tail waggers are light yellow mushrooms that are broad and flat. They're so sweet and delicious! ♪ It's almost the season for them here, and I thought we'd go look for them. They're called "tail waggers" because when we find them, we're so happy that we unconsciously wag our tails.

: Well, we don't have any tails, I'm afraid. Except for Puffy here. ♪



: But, then again, maybe I shouldn't be telling you this. Still, I'd sure like to tell you.

: What is it? Come on, tell me!

: All right, but if I tell you, you gotta promise not to tell anyone. Here it is. Our Village Chief is very proud of his tail, but the truth is, he dyes it! You see, his tail is really all white, but the girls think white tails are ugly. So the Village Chief, he secretly uses Anol nuts to dye his tail darker every night. He's pretty vain for his age.



: Oh, is that right? That's incredible! No one's ever gone through it?

: I don't know if it's true or not, but there's an old legend about that. The "God of Light's Misty Shroud". We call our forest the "Light Forest". At one time, this forest was bathed in brilliant sunshine, pleasing everyone. But people began to take the sunshine for granted, and they stopped being thankful for it.

: They forgot how to live in harmony with nature, so no one noticed when the light began to turn evil. People's hearts became hardened, and their happiness became a sham. But people didn't even notice that. The God of Light did, though. He was anguished to see where the people were heading, so he shrouded the whole forest in mist that the evil light couldn't penetrate, so the evil light would eventually forget the forest.

: Since then, the forest is shrouded in mist and Luc Village is a forgotten place. When our hearts are pure again, the mist will clear and we'll have a true, bright paradise.

Whew. Interiors are up next!