The Panda's Feeding Ground - Evening
"Here you are sirs, two orders of Golden Bamboo shoot fried rice with panda shrimps, a bucket of Grass Salmon, a bottle of bamboo rice wine and a bottle of Ice Panda milk, for the little one."
"Thank you kindly,"George said whilst flipping a silver coin to the server. The server caught the coin with practiced ease, gave a short nod and went on his way.
Jordie couldn't help but stare hungrily at the plate of freshly made fried rice laying before him. Every ingredient from the bamboo shoots to the shrimp to even the eggs had been meticulously chopped up to be about the same size as the grains of rice. The aroma itself was rich, slightly oily but not unpleasant and full of spices that he couldn't name but did recognize.
"Looks good, right Minos?," Jordie asked as he prepared to dig into his food.
Evidently, Minos was a bit too preoccupied with drinking his bottle of Ice Panda milk to answer. A strange look got onto Jordie's face as he was completely disregarded by the baby minotaur.
"Hah! Kinda reminds me of you when you were smaller, right Duros?"
The aforementioned Tusked Panda monster was too busy enjoying his bucket of fish to give George even a perfunctory grunt of agreement. A strange look similar to Jordie's began to appear on George's face.
Jordie was about to dig into his meal when he was interrupted by George presenting him a cup of rice wine.
Remembering his manners, Jordie took the cup and waited for George to propose a toast before drinking it with him. The two fellows let out a satisfied sigh as the bittersweet alcohol went down their throats.
"So...," George began while pouring another drink for the both of them, "It's not every day that a guy comes riding into town on a Khalkotauroi Cow and a baby minotaur on his back, what brings you to these neck of the woods?"
Ah, the friendly interrogation scene.
Jordie knew that he couldn't share the whole truth with a guy he just met, despite him treating him to a free dinner, but he also knew that when others tried to bold-face lie in these situations, it would blow up in their faces later on. Luckily he remembered the golden rules of lying.
"Well...", Jordie began, "To tell you the truth, I kinda ended up here by accident."
"Oh?," George went, raising an eyebrow.
"Yup. It's a bit of a long story and you probably wouldn't believe me, but if you're willing to listen..."
"I got time," George nodded, "Let's hear it."
"Alright then, ever heard of Greenwind Village?," Jordie asked in an inquisitive tone.
Step 1: When lying about a place, asked them about it first to create a sense of doubt.
"Hmm, can't say I have," George replied with a shake of his head.
Step 2: When they say "no", fill in the details yourself.
"Yeah, wouldn't be surprised. My village is kinda isolated. Merchants only came to the place like once a season due to how impoverished and out of the way the area is," Jordie lied.
"Impoverished?"
"The most dangerous thing we had around us were Green Wolves."
"Ah."
Step 3: Add a detail the person being lied to has seen before in order to facilitate believability.
Green Wolves were a type of D-grade wolf monster, common enough that everyone knows what they are, dangerous enough that people didn't want to deal with them on the regular.
Jordie had seen Green Wolves roaming around the forest he was in and the Rainbow Plains, and the System confirmed that Green Wolves and their other chromatic counterparts were a bit of nuisance all over the place.
"So how do Minos and..."
"Bessie"
"How do Minos and Bessie play into all this?"
"In short?," Jordie said succinctly, "Minos is how I got lost, Bessie is how I got here."
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I was fishing by a river that flows near the village, when all of a sudden, I hear the cries of a baby coming from deeper in the local woods.
Out of curiosity, I followed the crying until I came across a rather harrowing sight.
It was a baby basket hanging from a tree branch as a Green Wolf was prowling beneath it.
The smart move would've been to ignore it or go back to the village for help, but the branch was starting to break so I had to move fast.
I picked up a nearby rock from the ground and tossed it in the general direction of the Green Wolf to either scare it or distract it or... something. Luckily for me, it had spooked an Armor Rabbit and sent it running.
The Green Wolf saw the easier to eat prey and proceeded to chase after it. Just in time too, because the moment it left, the tree branch broke and the baby basket came plummeting towards the ground.
Needless to say, I was mildly panicked as I ran and then dove to intercept the baby basket in time. Let it be known that catching a falling baby is incredibly painful.
With the basket secured in my arms, I took a moment to sit and see who would leave a baby out to hang like that, only to see the cute face of a little baby minotaur. Unexpectedly, the baby basket came with a letter saying his name was Minos so I just stuck with that.
Evidently, I made the mistake just sitting there and playing with the baby minotaur for a bit, because it gave the Green Wolf enough time to come back and see me with it's former dinner plans.
This led to the very fun, don't do it activity, of running with the wolves.
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"I eventually managed to escape the wolf but I ran off a cliff in a panic," Jordie continued while shoveling spoonfuls of rice into his mouth, "Thankfully it was a short one and I landed in a river."
"Seriously?," George asked intrigued by the story.
"Yup. I eventually managed to wash ashore at a lake north of here, followed the river out of a forest and then ran into Bessie, who was injured."
Jordie took another shot of rice wine before finishing his story.
"I nursed her wounds, forged a contract with her and Minos and then she dragged my butt here and here I am telling my story to you."
"Wow," George said, mildly shocked, "That has got to be the most absurd story I've ever heard."
"Told you wouldn't believe me," Jordie said with a smile.
Minos had finished his bottle of milk at this point and let out a small burp. He then began to shake the bottle towards Jordie as a sign of wanting more milk.
"Think I could trade a bottle of khalkotauroi milk for more panda milk?"