Throughout the short night, the three pig brothers did not sleep. If anything, they talked with the travellers and provided them with plenty of useful information about this stage.
According to Porky, the three brothers initially left to find employment in the big city. However, they were met with a lot of discrimination. Many employers had the stigma that pigs were lazy creatures and did not give them any chance. Unemployed and low on their savings, the three builder brothers decided it was too expensive to continue paying rent in the city. Hence, they used the last of their money to move into the countryside, intending to prove they had the skills to pay the bills. They bought materials for houses and started building them. However, it was a difficult process when a wolf kept terrorising them every month on the full moon.“We didn’t want our mother to worry,” Porky admitted. “After building the houses, we wanted to rent them out to others. HoweverRelaying what they learned from the three builder brothers, Zen informed them they would head into town first, where the missing sheep would most likely be.“I’ll look for the red-hooded girl and hunter in the forest,” he informed. “You should proceed to the town without me. Someone else should also find the Shady Merchant in case there are more hints.”Akiko quickly volunteered to return to the Shady Merchant. Sasha was more than happy to reunite with Zen’s party at the small village.In no time at all, the group of four reunited, and Zen waved to Sasha when he spotted her in the sky.“That was fast,” he commented. Those leathery dragon wings looked so cool!Sasha grinned. “I took the shortcut,” she shrugged. Unlike Oritha and her friends, she did not need to follow the winding path on the hills.So far, Liu Feng had no luck locating any forest dwellers. Akiko was still only halfwa
The marketplace was small. There were only five stalls in the area, and already, the shopkeepers were packing up. Splitting up with Oritha, Zen talked to the butcher to see if he had seen any lambs today.“Mary lost her kids? That’s unusual,” the butcher frowned. “It is usually Little Bo Peep who would lose them. Unlike Bo Peep’s well-trained lambs, who knew how to look for their forgetful owner, Mary’s lambs are considered pampered. They usually follow her everywhere she goes. How would they go missing?”Hearing more of the back story made Zen think this wasn’t a simple case of lost lambs. Unlike Bo Peep, Mary’s lambs seemed dependent on her. Something else must have happened. Unfortunately, that was all the butcher NPC knew. Zen thanked him and moved on to the next NPC, a cheesemonger.“Do you know what happened to Mary’s lambs?” he asked.The surly cheesemonger dressed in a white apron wit
“You found them!” Mary gushed as Oritha let Snowball down at last.Unlike earlier, the white lamb was very docile in front of its owner. Zen could hardly believe this was the violent kid from earlier. Sasha and Damian were already making themselves comfortable in Mary’s home, playing with the other lambs in her front yard.Nuzzling into Mary’s palms, Snowball gave Zen a stinky side glance that quickly disappeared as soon as Mary told them dinner was ready. Trotting inside with a waggling tail, Snowball took the lead, and the other lambs followed it inside. Zen and Oritha followed them just as the sun disappeared in the distance.Inside, Mary’s cottage was as cosy as her personality. The steaming hot tray of food was set on the table, and Zen instantly recognised it by its smell.“Is that shepherd’s pie?” he asked with drool almost trickling down the side of his mouth. The smell alone was already enough to convince Z
Ping!Checking the system notification after he had taken his first bite of the delicious lasagne shepherd’s pie, Zen noticed he had successfully learned Mary’s recipe. However, it was a unique item.===Unique Recipe: Mary’s Shepherd’s PieDescription: Warms the body, heart and soul from within. Full of Mary’s affection.*Special effects:Cold immunity for 6 hoursMental attack resistance for 2 hoursNostalgia effect (decreases fighting will by 50%)===Cold immunity for six hours? Even if it were measured in the in-game time, this was huge! The gamer remained motionless as he read on. The other effect was also decent against mental debuffs. However, the player who consumed this item must deal with a critical drawback. Zen was not someone keen on fighting enemies head-on. That 50% decrease in fighting will barely affected him. However, for the combatants, it could be a huge drawback. Logically spe
The plan was simple. The one who boys would distract the black sheep owner when he went to the market for his morning grocery trip while the girls would sneak into his property to shear his sheep. Although they had no idea why the Shady Merchant wouldn’t obtain other types of wool, it was not unusual for the odd man to seek rarities that were difficult to procure.“If he refuses to comply, can I have permission to render him unconscious?” Damian asked, raising a very valid point. Shearing sheep might take some time, and there were only limited conversation cards they could use with a disgruntled and paranoid old shepherd.Although Zen was against the idea of harming the NPC, it was likely the most effective. However, most NPCs in the game were immune to attacks from players.“How do you intend to knock him out?” he asked.Sasha quickly offered some tips on how to knock out an old man immediately with a good neck slice.“Yo
“We’re going to tail him now,” Damian whispered to Zen once the old shepherd left his house for his daily grocery trip. The man wore a brown hat that bore many harsh weathers. “Good luck!”Waving to the cheerful cyborg who had gotten the easier part of the deal, Zen wondered how they should avoid those women in the courtyard. According to Sasha, they were constantly hovering around the black sheep.“They might actually be lambs,” the blonde sniper commented after a while. “I don’t think sheep drink milk. They should be eating grass.”Swooping down from the roof silently, Sasha hugged Zen from behind and carried them both back onto the roof so he could observe the situation by himself. Zen blushed in embarrassment at how easily a girl carried him. Although he was in the body of a teenager now, he still remembered being a grown man in his previous life.When they finally got onto the roof, Zen immedi
Finding a villager who was willing to talk about the obnoxious Raiden was hard. Eventually, the only one willing to share more with the party was the shepherd, who also worked as a part-time barmaid — Bo Peep.“Hm? Raiden?” she twirled her hair with a flirtatious wink. “Buy me a drink, and I’ll tell you. Otherwise, I don’t kiss and tell.”The builder brothers did not lie. Bo Peep was very attractive with her heavy petticoat and skirt riding up her curvy thighs. However, none of the boys were particularly charmed by her. Many regular bar patrons glared at them with envy, but none of those men could compare to the muscles on Oritha’s forearm. Hence, they remained sullenly silent in a corner.To buy a drink, they had to spend one credit. Thanks to the daily quest, it was not a hefty fee to spare. Zen wanted to buy the NPC a drink, but his party members had other ideas.“I’ve seen enough gold diggers like yo
Not wanting to admit it, Zen flopped onto the pasture spread eagle. He was too tired to think or talk or feel. However, Damian’s trash-talking skills were part of the reason they managed to arrive at their destination before sundown. Sasha scouted ahead and found a flock of sheep that belonged to a boy who seemed lonely. After confirming he was Raiden, they quickly met up with her.Ping!While Zen was still trying to refill the oxygen in his lungs, his party members had successfully completed the second main quest. They sheared the black sheep in Raiden’s flock and even offered help with the others.Happy to have company in a long while, Raiden smiled and talked for hours until it was evening. Then, as if reluctant to part with the company, he offered them a place to stay overnight.“It gets dangerous after dark,” he warned. “Why don’t all of you come with me and stay for the night?”Accepting his generous offer, the