Part 17: Sweet & Sour

Sweet & Sour

Music: Town (Day)


Let's see what this terrible character's up to.

Link decides to troll Rusk along the way:


I heard an eccentric king used to bite into Green Peppers before holding jousting tournaments. If they're fit for a king, they're fit for you.
Wow! I didn't know kings even bothered with vegetables...


Oh, and it's Evelyn's birthday today. Basically everyone hints we should give her fish.



W-Why do you know something like...?
Now, I wonder why?



Well, I wanted someone to kill some time with. Because I'm busy.
You must have a lot of free time...well, let's go around town together.
No.



Let's go then.
No.
...

Field trip time! This entire quest is running around until you step in the right area to trigger a scene.



I've hardly ever been to this apothecary.
Oh, really?
Marian works in the apothecary. And Marian likes giving shots...
Do you hate shots?
I l-love them of course! Never again!
She really must hate them.



It's very ugly, isn't it?
It's very pretty.
This is where Wells will sign you up for any festival calling for participants. Hard to understand, isn't it?
Yeah, it's easy to understand.
You can see the ocean beyond the trees.



It feels great...



That normal building is where a nice lady runs her inn. A girl who hates traveling runs the gift shop, and a mermaid runs the bathhouse.



Chef...? Oh, she must mean Blaise. Sherman likes Blaise's cooking, too, doesn't he?
No. And the inn orders all of its meals from the chef as well. She's got lousy taste!
...
However...I find the sous-chef odious.
Sous-chef? Odious?
How can she eat so much and not get fat?
Ah, Collette. So the opposite of odious would be jealous.
She eats whatever she wants, and never gets fat. How odious.
It's the opposite...right?

That's...not really the opposite, but at least Link got the point.


Evelyn's hanging out in the inn, so I get her birthday gift out of the way. She loves yarn despite her allergy to normal clothing materials.


A+ text box fit.


This rockets her near the top of the affection charts, but everyone is so close that doesn't mean much.



Yes, it is quiet.
Hmmm. I really hate places like this. I hate it. So I hope you invite me again.
Y-yeah...



I'm not scared.
Okay.
...Really not scared.
Are you...uh, yeah. It's nothing.
Okay then.




The brother really hates the little sister, and he is always distant.
Emotionally?
Yes. He's cool and calm. Like a librarian.
Librarian???

This quest is literally just "Link shows he understands opposite speak, except this bit where he doesn't." I hate it.



Could that be Shara? Then the opposite of cold is warm.



What? Ummm...the laziest person...least talkative person...
They're both honest girls, but...
Both...isn't the opposite...So if they're honest then...
They're actually bad people.
Ah! So confusing!

Finally, we're done.



Take it easy on me...


Our prize is lots of protein-rich food to get SWOLE with.


Remember Rusk's request from several updates ago, where he wanted this? Well, Link can make it now, so might as well get out of the way.



Yeah! That's it! Sweet Powder! Thanks, Link! Oh, good. Thanks, Link. Here, this is for everything.
Thanks. Wait, you didn't use that Sweet Powder to make this, did you?
What? Oh...That's right, we had some in the house.
...


I mean, it has been a coulple in-game weeks since he first put the request out. Not a big surprise he found some.


Let's take the longsword for a spin again.


This dash attack is alright. Not great, not terrible, just kind of alright. Which is how I feel about the longsword in general - it's just kind of eh.


New day, grass finally starting to grow in along with one sad little onion.


Raven? Wanting to talk? Something must have gone horribly wrong here. We have to investigate.



I see......
Raven?
...Take me.
What?
Take me to Vale:Icy Rosebush.
Oh, yeah. Vale:Icy Rosebush, right? Okay.
...


We make it over, but there's a Wooly hanging around the frozen hellhole for no apparent reason.

Music: Drama



...It's okay. It's okay. It's only scared because we're scared of it, too. It's scared of being feared...
...
So....Don't get too close.


The Convenient Drama Wooly takes its leave.

You, too...
What?
You should stay away from me, too...
Why...?
...Everyone who gets close to me just disappears.
That can't be.
It was a while ago...I came to play here with a friend. But--she disappeared. ...Right in front of me.
...!




I...I don't want to be with you any more.



So today was......my last request.
What...?


...well.


How about that Karina, eh?

Music: Town (Day)



Hmmm...?
Sorry to wake you.
Oh...it's okay. (I was having such a nice dream, though.)
You posted a job request?
A job request...? Oh right. About a delivery.
Uh, yeah. There weren't a lot of details.
Oh, that...(I forgot all about it.)
What?
I need you to get a pendant from Sofia. I'm too busy to go myself.
Weren't you just sleeping?
Well, yeah.
How does that qualify as being too busy?
I was too busy sleeping. Seems pretty obvious to me.
*sigh* Okay. I'll go get the pendant from Sofia.
Great. Thanks. (Maybe I can get back to that dream.)

...why are we helping her, again?



Karina asked me to pick up a pendant from you.
No.
What?
Here you go. This pendant, right?



...
What's the matter?
Um, nothing...
I see. Anyway, it's not important, so please tell her to be careless.
Wait, what?
She needs to be careless with it. Don't tell her that.
Oh, okay. Got it...I think.

And since we happen to be here...



(...What would Gaius do in this situation? Oh, that reminds me. Wasn't there a letter from Gaius in my mailbox...?)

There wasn't before, but there probably is now!



Hmm.
Good morning.
*yawn*....Yeah, good morning.
Sleeping on the job again?
Yes...Uh, I mean, no, I wasn't.
You already said that you were.
I was copying Sofia.
But you said "good morning."
I meant the opposite.
So you meant "good night"? You're going to bed?
Hmm...maybe? (Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.)
...Anyway, I got you the pendant.
Oh, thanks. I'll take it, then.

Let's open up our inventory and hand it...wait, what the fuck?



...I guess there's no arguing with personal taste.

Here, Karina.
Oh...thanks.
It was really no problem. I could've almost done it in my sleep.
What?
Hmm?
(Was that a crack about me sleeping?)
Oh, and Sofia said that you should be careless with that. But I think she meant...
Yes, I know. I'll be careful.
...
What's the matter? (What a strange expression.)
I'm just impressed by how well you can understand her.
Why wouldn't I? I don't think there's anything weird about how she talks.
Really? I think it's pretty weird.
Oh, it's just her way. Who isn't a little weird? Anyway, here. For you. Thanks.



Thanks for helping me out.
Ah...

You can't fool me! I haven't seen the "Request completed!" box yet!



I was just giving Karina a hand.
You were? That daughter of mine...I'll bet she made you look after the.store so she could sleep!
Well, uh, not exactly. She asked me to pick up a package from Sofia. Because she was busy umm...watching the store.
I guess that's OK, then...Well, thanks for helping.
Oh it's OK. I (kinda) got a reward for it.
Oh, I see. She's usually too lazy to even pay for help, you know. You should be flattered.
Ha ha...
Well, back to work. If I left it up to her, there'd be no store!
Heh heh. See you later.



Ha ha...


That 10 gold is going to make or break this operation, I tells ya.


I mean, the first one will make you bigger, just not in the way you're hoping.

Meanwhile, in Monster City USA...

Music: Monster Village



HELLO! HELLO! SO TINY!
Will! I'm sorry.
Oh, no. That's okay.



Capes are the formal attire of univir. Do you mean to insult them?!
I'm sorry...
Though I suppose they are not the.most practical attire for the desert. Still, it's not so bad once you get used to it.

Why are you wearing formal attire 24/7, other than "the artists didn't want to draw more than one outfit"?

>Is it the pointy ears?

Yes, our ears are very similar to those of elves. There's a chance that we share a common ancestor, but I haven't found any hard evidence.
Ondorus, you've researched a lot of things.
Yes, there isn't much else to do around here.
...

Similar to the elves. And dwarves. And Raven for some reason. Maybe the pointy ears don't actually mean a whole lot.

>You mean the horn?

Yes. The horn is the source of our magical abilities.
Is that right?
Why and how our magical abilities are tied to our horns remain a mystery.



Kuruna's fishing request is on the backburner, so let's see what Zaid wants. (He won't give us normal dialogue until I finish the fetch quest that's also on the backburner)



There's a lot of stuff that this camp.needs. If you're gonna hang out around here, you're gonna have to start pulling your weight! Just watch me and follow my lead, and you'll pick things up.
Um, okay. Will do. But didn't you have a job request of some kind?
Oh, that's right! I want to you get 3 Pineapples for me. You can get them from the piney monsters if you beat up enough of them. Go get 'em!



3 Pineapples...okay!


What Zaid doesn't mention is that pineapples have a comically low drop rate. I murder Pineys for 8 in-game hours and not a single pineapple drops.

They're technically growable, but finding their seeds is rare. You can get them from dungeon chests, or by encountering a traveling merchant at the inn(who we haven't seen yet) when they happen to be selling some. I'll stick to murdering pineapple monsters.


At least with the timing on this quest I'm pretty sure it's the game going "hey, maybe you should grind some so you don't get killed all the time in this dungeon?" Still don't need it blocking me from other quests, though.


What's left of the night is spent chopping wood in frustration.