The quest board was exactly what you'd expect.
Wooden. Crooked. Covered in parchment held up by nails that had clearly been reused across multiple arcs. Kazuto stood in front of it with his arms crossed, scanning the quests.
"Why are they all like this?" he asked.
-Slime Extermination (Urgent!)
-Lost Cat (Emotional Reward)
-Herbs Needed ASAP (Totally Not Dangerous)
Because this is the early game, I said patiently. You don't get morally complex dilemmas until you've proven you can count to three without dying.
Lira hummed, reading over his shoulder. "Ah. Starter quests."
"You sound disappointed," Kazuto said.
"Not disappointed," she replied. "Cautious. The 'Lost Cat' ones tend to spiral."
She is correct, I added. But we are not foreshadowing today.
Kazuto pointed at the slime quest. "That one seems safe."
"Too safe," Lira said.
He pointed at the herbs. "That one?"
"That one's lying."
Kazuto sighed and grabbed the lost cat notice.
"…Why did my hand do that?"
Muscle memory, I said. Readers like animals.
The cat belonged to an elderly woman on the east side of the village. She cried. There was tea. There was a long explanation about how much the cat meant to her.
Kazuto nodded politely.
Lira listened carefully.
This is padding, I noted. Please act invested anyway.
"We'll find her," Kazuto said earnestly.
"Her?" the woman asked.
"The cat," he corrected quickly.
The cat was not missing in any narratively interesting way.
It was in a tree.
A very normal tree.
Kazuto stared up at it. The cat stared down at him.
"…That's it?" he asked.
Yes, I said. Sometimes problems are just problems.
Lira crossed her arms. "Do you climb?"
"I can try."
He tried.
He fell.
Not dramatically. Not comedically. Just enough to hurt his pride.
Ten out of ten realism, I said.
Lira sighed, adjusted her gloves, and climbed the tree with professional ease. She retrieved the cat, climbed down, and handed it to Kazuto.
"Here," she said. "Hero moment."
Kazuto cradled the cat awkwardly. "I didn't really do anything."
"Correct," Lira said. "But you were present."
That counts, I confirmed.
They returned the cat. The woman cried again. There was more tea.
They received a small pouch of coins.
Kazuto weighed it in his hand. "This is… not much."
"Early economy," Lira said. "Inflation hits later."
She's alarmingly informed, I muttered.
As they left the house, Kazuto hesitated.
"Hey," he said quietly. "Was this chapter… filler?"
I paused.
No, I said after a moment. This was character establishment.
"Oh."
Specifically, yours is 'tries hard.' Hers is 'competent.'
"That seems unfair."
Life is unfair, I said. Stories just make it louder.