The City: PuzzleLocked Book 1

Alastair did his best job to be inconspicuous in following Arnar. Despite the rain, Arnar had stopped at a merchant’s stall and happily chatted with the unnamed Vendor 2. Arnar gave a big belly laugh then walked on a bit further stopping at a few other stalls and then walked into what looked like a cafe.

Alastair questioned his approach. First, I’m unlikely to be inconspicuous or stealthy in this dress. Second, it’s not like I’m tailing this guy like a PI. So, Alastair pushed open the door to the cafe. Arnar chatted with the woman behind the counter. Most of the wording was jumbled before Alastair realized he could probably read the subtitles.

Aranar: The missus would be rightly upset if I didn’t return home without stopping in. She’s tried to make these at home, but they just never come out like they do from here.

Vendor: Well, the recipe is a secret. The secret is ALWAYS more sugar.

Aranar: Ha! I’m sure it is! Well, here’s your coinage and a mighty thank you from the Mattias farm.

Vendor: Pleasant travels. See you next week!

Arnar turned to leave then was startled when he noticed Alastair. Arnar said, “This is that scribe I said was following me.” Then, to Alastair, “What is it you want? Did some of my cows’ milk hurt your tummy?”

Alastair was a bit taken aback by the sarcasm and spite in the man’s voice. Defensively, he said, “No, no. It’s just that I’m new here and haven’t been to a farm in a long time. I thought that maybe you wouldn’t mind if I stopped by sometime.”

“Well, that was a few words, wasn’t it? You wouldn’t happen to be bringing along that brawler I saw you with to my farm? Not much to steal out that way, unless you were trying to open your own farm.”

“No, not that. She’s… well, she went off chasing a cat.”

“Ah, isn’t that something? Lots of cats at my farm. Sure, if you want to stop by sometime, then stop by. By the by, I think you ought to probably buy something if you’re going to be in a shop. It’s not nice to take up space without providing something in return.”

“Oh, surely you are right.” Alastair looked at the display. “I’ll have one of what he had. Wait! I’m not sure I have money. One moment.” Alastair pulled up his display. The display of the coin pouch looked different than empty so he switched it over to the numerical display. Coins: 005. So I guess that coin is worth 5 coin units here. He pulled out the coin Flor said Rudolf had given her. “What can I get for this?”

Vendor: “Welcome. Buy/Sell?”

“Um, buy.”

Vendor: “Croissant - 1; Pain au chocolat - 1; Palmier - 1; Macarons (1) - 1; Chouquettes (3) - 1; Pain au raisins - 2; Tarte aux Fraises - 3; Tarte au Citron - 3; Tarte au chocolat - 3.”

“Nice selection. Um, deux croissants s’il vous plaît.”

Vendor: “Croissant - 1; Pain au chocolat - 1; Palmier - 1; Macarons (1) - 1; Chouquettes (3) - 1; Pain au raisins - 2; Tarte aux Fraises - 3; Tarte au Citron - 3; Tarte au chocolat - 3.”

“Hmm. One croissant. And one croissant.”

“Two coins, please.” The vendor packaged up the deux croissants and handed them to Alastair. He placed the coin on the counter and she returned several smaller coins.

“Thanks,” he said, accepting the package and change. “Now, Arnar, how do we get to your farm?” Arnar had already left the shop.

Alastair was finishing up his croissant as he walked into the park. Arnar was already leading his horse through the rain toward a city gate. I guess the farm is somewhere in that direction. It sure would be nice to have a map. He looked around for Flor. She was sitting on a bench under a tree, her leg bouncing up and down. He crossed the wet but well-manicured grass to her. He sat on the bench next to her and handed her a packaged croissant.

“What’s this?! Oh, it looks delicious, especially compared to that slop you made earlier. I mean, it was a proper slop, yes, but still slop. Perhaps I’ll save this to go with our dinner slop.”

“That would’ve been a good call…why don’t they serve a grain with our meals?”

“Horace probably doesn’t get a stipend for it. Or he scrimps on the first two meals and goes extravagant on the third. Maybe we’ll have a proper Wellington tonight.”

Alastair snorted. “More likely skimming a bit off the top of the stipend to put a bit more in his belly.”

“What do pastries cost, anyway?”

“One coin per. We have three coins left. It seems they call their currency ‘coins’.”

“It’s a unit of measurement, alright. Was the croissant good?”

“It’s unlikely I’d lose weight here if that’s an indicator.”

“Ohh, high praise. I wouldn’t be able to tell you gained weight under this dress. Don’t try to test me.”

“Did you pet a cat?”

“Yep. A little silver-haired cutie named Ratree. Didn’t give us enhanced anything that I can tell, though.”

“Well, we’ll keep trying. Back to the tavern and out of the rain?”

“Let’s go!”

Back in the tavern, Flor mopped and Alastair prepared the evening meal. After finishing, Flor played with Dax while Alastair entered the nonogram. It was the same puzzle he completed earlier and he didn’t even get a + 1 to Nonograms for finishing it. The time still progressed forward an hour and he still lost four energy. This time, though, several loaves of crusty bread waiting as the stew was cooking on the fire.”

“Did I create the bread with my mind?!”

“Nope. They were delivered a bit ago by the bakery. Apparently, it’s part of the stipend.”

“Do you feel bad you saved your croissant?”

“Not at all. I’ll have it for a nighttime nosh while you regret that you ate yours too fast.”

“Ooh, that’s mean.”

“If you ask nicely, I might share.”

“Are we calling it a night after we eat and clean?”

“Well, we do want to see if the experiment holds. Fall asleep in a bed and see if we wake up in that bed, rather than in a boat,” Flor said.

“It’s pragmatic. What do we do if it doesn’t work?”

“Before we sleep, we should perhaps make a list of what we need to accomplish tomorrow to progress to the next day, assuming that just sleeping in a bed isn’t enough.”

“Didn’t Phil in Groundhog day have to have a perfect day?”

“I think he just needed to prove to Rita and himself that he was happy with who he was.”

“Well, we already know we’re perfect together.”

“Indeed we are!” Flor moved to kiss him.

Horace walked in just then. “Hey, no kissing in my kitchen or I’ll dock your pay.”

Alastair answered, “Outside the mandated stipend of meals and lodging, you aren’t paying us. Unless this is another meal done properly, amiright?”

Horace laughed.

Your disposition with Horace changed from Cross to Neutral

What was that? Disposition? Do I now have to keep track of how happy I make everyone in town? I wonder if Flor got the same notice?

Horace continued, “Anyway, get your bowls and an extra helping of bread. I might throw a coin your way if I’m pleased with your work.”

Flor and Alastair served themselves then went into the common area. As they dug in, Alastair said, “Did you get a disposition change notification?”

“Yeah, just one more thing we’ll have to keep track of, but for which we don’t have an appropriate interface.”

“Makes me wonder just how convoluted this game’s objective is. So far, we’ve been here not even a full day and have to track down cats, solve some puzzles, develop relationships with the neighbors, and solve all the interconnected mysteries associated with those, all without knowing if any of those affects progress toward our objective of getting out of here.”

Flor said, “Well, that was a recap. But, on top of that, how are we, er, you know, alive in the real world, still?”

“Oh, dang. You’re right about the recap. The go-to answer for these types of situations is time dilation. Basically, a day here is like a second in our brains. However, I don’t really know in this case. I think I remember in SAO that the characters were moved to hospice and fed intravenously, almost like a Matrix situation.

“Well, I’d prefer the time dilation over the matrix scenario.”

“Me too. So, are we calling it a night? It looks like it’s getting dark outside. As if the sun has given up trying to fight the rain. And if we’re trying to minimize risk to survive until tomorrow, that’s how to do it, right?”

Flor thought it over. “Let’s at least go for a little walk. Maybe just to the Released Prisoner guild and back, to get a better idea of where it is? I need to clear some space in my stomach for this croissant, anyway.”

“Yeah, sure. Let me get directions from Horace and tell him we’ll clean when we get back.”