42 Tattling Along

"You know, we could have asked properly earlier, this wouldn't have to happen." Bob said during the confrontation.

"Of course, doing things in a violent manner would never produce great results." Enma nodded in affirmation.

'But you're the one who hit him in the head.' Minion thought to himself as he looked at Enma.

"We'll be fine." Blight simply commented.

"This isn't looking good. We're wasting time here! I still have to take care of my children!" E couldn't spare much time.

"Didn't you say you were free this weekend?" Enma asked E.

E walked forward and eventually stopped. He tapped his fingers on the iron bars in front of him and began speaking.

"I know what I said. But spending my weekend in a jail cell isn't the best course of action, right?" He thought that it was ridiculous that a game would hold him captive.

'Thinking about it, why did I get arrested as well? I didn't do anything to that streaker.' E also couldn't accept that he got arrested even though he didn't offend that person.

So much for party loyalty.

"Your face looks like you just chewed the sourest lemon in your life. We didn't get here because we hit him, you know?" Enma was fed-up with E's sour attitude.

"Hmm?" E continued tapping on the iron bar.

"We trespassed. That's why we have to serve our time in jail. I don't know how long we'll stay here, just hope that we didn't offend a noble or something." Bob was more worried about the duration they were going to say locked up.

Minion crouched down on the stone-cold floor and thought about his life, just like a real prisoner. Everyone else did the same, except for E. E was still bitter about losing precious hours to serve his 2-hour sentence.

The only thing of interest within another prisoner who looked like dried noodles. His skin was pale and pruned. Yet somehow, there was bliss on his face.

"What the fuck! Eew." Minion, who just noticed that he sat beside a pruned body irked in horror.

"Who's this guy?" Enma couldn't care less about the man's state of being. Enma was more curious about how he became that way.

"He - he -he. Heellooo." The pruned up man struggled to greet them. And despite having guests, he continued sprawling on the stone-cold floor within the darkness.

"A-around. T-these. P-parts. M-Martin, my name." He continued albeit having difficulty speaking.

-

"1st order of business, we will talk about this missy here." Alex stated.

Within the large room that was too heavily laden with luxurious plates and silverware, it was dubious that this was just any mere meeting. This was planned and was graciously funded.

"Talk. Who are you and who do you work for?" Alex continued.

Annera, who was not calm by any means, was not really agitated either. Her excitement was caused by the beautiful displays within the room and took her liberty to marvel upon the fine works of art that cover the room on all sides.

'Is this really just a small village? How did they get this rich?' Annera was awestruck and could not focus on the conversation.

"I'M NOT PLAYING THESE GAMES!" Alex stomped her feet as she shouted in a fury. The plates and utensils alike all shook and it was evident that Alex was thicc.

Annera's attention was drawn back into the conversation and with that, Alex calmed down as well. Alex fixed her crooked dress and collected herself to begin addressing their event.

"With her feigned ignorance, I surmised that this 'lady' would not be of help with questions. Anyone here knows who this lovely 'lady' is?" Alex asked the women within the room.

Whisper~

Gossip~

All of the women were just talking to each other is small voices. They were intrigued by Annera's existence and did not know much about her.

But then, someone raised her hand to answer Alex's question.

"This woman has been trailing us since earlier. I was skeptical that she was following us but it didn't matter so I took her off my mind." The lady continued. She sat back down on her seat after stating her piece.

"Is that all? You didn't miss anything?" Alex dug and asked for more details.

The outspoken woman thought for a while. Her thoughts were already clear since earlier but decided to drag things out for dramatic effect.

"Perhaps I did? Hehe. But I did notice something earlier." She had a devilish smile, a perfect smile characteristic of the tattletales.

"Well? We're waiting." Alex stated, she anticipated the juicy details that will soon be revealed.

"I saw her silhouette together with another person. For all I know, this lady here could be the late-night couple that has been living life on the edge." She revealed her thoughts.

Tattletales have a certain cheat within their arsenal. They're very observant and they're quick to draw baseless conclusions. Although those conclusions may be wrong, it is still interesting to think about them.

"But that can't be!" Another outspoken woman exclaimed.

"Care to explain yourself, Apple?" Alex looked at the second outspoken woman.

Apple stood from her seat and walked towards the first outspoken woman. She whispered into the ears and the other person nodded her head.

"I'm sorry, I may have made a wrong judgment just now. I, Pear, would remain silent for the rest of the night."

Pear lowered her head in silence and took a seat. Now that she was put back in her place, Apple had the stage to herself.

"Now that we're in the discussion regarding the escapades of the nocturnal couple who enjoy the thrills of public fornication, I would like to tell you all the truth that I have come to know from a reliable source."

"Ooooooooh." Every other woman within the room were excited.

Pear—who remained silent—nodded her head in affirmation. She was informed of it just earlier yet she still gets excited about hearing the details in a loud voice.

"I heard from Mr. Dally, as you all know is Mrs. Treetop's husband. He told me, and I quote 'Martin has been absent from our fun the past few weeks. Do you know what happened to that young lad?' and end of quote."

"But that's utterly useless information!" A woman tried to use logic in the tattletale's meeting.

"I'm not done yet. This meeting, being weekly, could not describe the day to day detail of the events that happened during the week. I have to admit, our information sources are not formal. However-" She stopped to take a breather.

"The juicier detail here is that all maidens here in Sunnyside are not single. Martin himself does not have a partner from this village."

"Ooooooooooooh. Spicyyyy~"

"Exactly. I thought about that for a couple of days before one night, I decided to check things for myself." Apple took to her seat and emanated a serious aura. She crossed her hands and covered her visage with it.

"I do not dare speak of what I saw that night. But here I am anyway!" She snickered but her smile suddenly turned to a frown.

"This may cause problems with their relationships, but that's not our problem. I digress, what I saw that night was, as expected, the young lad Martin and a maiden from the village and we know her very well."

"Just tell us already! The anticipation is killing me!" Alex could not hold herself back and stormed towards Apple.

"Woah, Woah. Let me continue. As I was saying, this fair maiden is none other than the young miss, Ligma." Apple finally revealed the details that could have been shortened in one sentence.

Gasp~

The women were all breathless upon hearing this crucial information.

"Who's Ligma?" Annera couldn't help but ask.

"I'm glad you asked, but you should already know based on the context. If you can't even surmise that, then I'm afraid you have no place here." Apple looked down on Annera's ignorance.

"Is this true?! But I keep tabs on the young miss every night, she would never have the time to sneak out at night!" Alex couldn't accept that the young lady she has been taking care of would do such acts.

"But that is what I saw. I would like to investigate further but that would be invading our young miss' privacy. We vowed to not drag her in any of this when she allowed us to use this venue for our meetings." Apple explained why she didn't continue further investigations.

"But, there is one person here who isn't a part of that oath." She looked towards Annera and smiled her sweetest smile.

"Oh fuck. What drama did I just drag myself into?" Annera said in dismay, but her face displayed elation. She was a person who loved quests after all.

[Investigate the Young Miss.]

-The rumors of the passionate young couple that derives pleasure from fornicating within public spaces have been confirmed to be true. However, the investigators could not believe such an outcome, you are tasked to find out more information regarding this matter.

-Quest Acceptance Reward: You will gain a high level of intimacy with the Tattletales.

-Quest Reward: A few gold that the Tattletales would scrape over. The amount varies depending on the level of information you provide.

-Quest Failure Penalty: N/A. The Tattletales, no matter how they tattle could never harm you.]

[You have accepted the quest.]