"Kyle! Kyle, come on, talk to me!"
"I helped you move three hundred bricks today. Surely I've maxed out your affection by now? Got any secret family swordsmanship manuals to teach me?"
"Knight Kyle, I've got some poisonous mushrooms fresh from the Black Forest. Want a bite to trigger a hidden storyline?"
At that moment, seven or eight newbie players in baggy shorts had surrounded Kyle.
Their eyes gleamed as they stared at him, chattering away with outrageous remarks he couldn't understand at all.
Things like "grinding affection," "triggering hidden quests," and "dropping gear."
Hearing those completely incomprehensible terms and seeing their fanatical gazes, as though they wanted to strip him naked and study him, Kyle felt utterly overwhelmed.
He stood frozen in place, his scalp crawling as though tens of thousands of ants were scurrying across it.
Fortunately!
The High Priest had already put all of Fog Town's native residents through some extremely serious "Pre-Job Psychological Training."
The High Priest had stressed it over and over at the time.
"The honored envoys come from the higher-dimensional world. Crossing the void sometimes causes confusion in their souls and memories!"
"So, if they make unreasonable demands or say things you don't understand..."
"Do not panic, and do not try to understand them!"
"Simply pretend you didn't hear them, then respond with the most respectful, rigidly scripted lines possible!"
Remembering the High Priest's instructions, Kyle took a deep breath.
He stopped working and bowed deeply to the players surrounding him, then recited loudly like a programmed broken record:
"Honored Apostles, thank you for your help with Fog Town."
"May ash and compassion bless you."
After finishing those lines, Kyle turned around and buried himself in his work again.
No matter how the players shouted behind him or even danced in front of