Weed made sure there were no monsters around and headed towards the settlement.
You were first to discover the Village of Exiles.
Rewards:
Fame increased by 300.
For a week the rewards and experience for the village’s quests are doubled.
When Weed approached the gates an almost forgotten message appeared before him. That was the first time since th Dwarf’s Grave at Baruk mountain range.
‘That means i’m first.’
No player yet managed to come so far into the Plains of Despair. There were many players who were disregarding treir lives to explore new territories, but Plains of Despair were just too vast, so this part remained undiscovered.
Exiles from all over the Bersa continent lived here. Almost all of them were big tough guys with numerous scars all over their bodies.
If Weed didn’t know their origin beforehand he’d have guessed that they were barbarians.
Behind villages walls to his surprise he found around 300 hastily-built wooden houses.
“There’s an outsider.”
“See him for the first time.”
All the villagers were avoiding unfamiliar stranger. But that didn’t stop Weed in the least.
“Hello everyone.”
“It seems you know nothing about our village, stranger. We live in a very dangerous place, we can’t waste time on idle talks, especially with outsiders like you.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“I don't trust outsiders.”
Weed tried to start a conversation again and again, but villagers were just leaving while ignoring him or even showing hostility.
“We didn’t forget who banished our ancestors. What did you come here for?”
No one in the village accepted him.
‘Probably this village is completely separated from the rest of the continent and my fame means nothing for them.’
However Weed wouldn’t be himself if he gave up easily.
He decided to take his usual approach: he’s set a campfire in the middle of the village and started to roast a boar that he prepared in advance.
“Come check the meat out, it’s so good you won’t be able to stop. It’s completely free, so eat as much as you want! Also I can carve a beautiful sculpture of any animal for you.”
Weed was aiming at one of the basic instincts - hunger! Who could ignore such delicious food, especially since it was free?
But villagers were still ignoring his efforts and some even got angry.
“Are you making fun of us?”
“We can cook ourselves.”
“Even after starving for ten days a warrior won’t lose his pride. It seems outsiders don’t understand such simple thing.”
“Ahahaha, sculptures... Who even needs them?”
All the inhabitants of Village of Exiles were great warriors.
Despite all Weed’s efforts none of them approached him. The few of them who stopped nearby were just watching from a distance, talking and laughing at him.
And Weed was continuing to roast the boar despite the mockery and threatening looks.
Never before cooking and sculpture mastery failed him. Everyone who as much as tasted his food were absolutely in love with it. And sculptures often brought good results too.
Once he carved a beautiful bouquet for a player named Volk, who was going to propose to a girl he loved. Sculpture mastery was always bringing unexpected benefits.
‘They must have no sense of art... Savages.’
Villagers’ attitude did not upset Weed at all.
‘It’s not the first time I’m being ignored. I’m used to it...’
He remembered well the time he was working at a factory when he was a child.
When Hyun was 14 years old he was already working full-time undoing the seams in a stuffy and dusty room. That was hard and monotonous work and he was only allowed to leave on lunch breaks. Hyun was terribly jealous of cheerful students passing by him when he was on lunch breaks.
At the time he was an outsider for everyone. However that didn’t break him but instead strengthened and made him grow up in spite of everything.
Weed finished roasting the boar, and after having receiving no response, he packed everything back into his bag and continued walking through the village trying to start a conversation. He believed that among all the NPCs there must be at least one who will talk to him.