Chapter 286: The Central Town

We soon arrive at the first town.

The townspeople are humanoid characters that seem to be reusing generic assets—there's a lack of design consistency, but it's endearing.

"Huh! Still, they're surprisingly well-crafted. Hard to believe this is an indie project."

"Well, before 'The End,' all he really did was make games for fun... so it makes sense."

Still, it's truly admirable how much effort they put into entertaining others like this.

"Welcome! To the town of Chūō!"

So this is the center of the game world, then.

A man with a cheerful, cheerful smile greeted us—clearly a typical NPC.

"Oh, the famed friendly pigs! What brings you here today? Come to buy a woman like usual?"

Then came the choice: "Yes" or "No."

What kind of response is this, from this NPC?

If everyone chooses "No" this time, then:

"Wait... so why are you here... Ah! You've seen the royal decree, haven't you! Hahaha! It's impossible for ugly creatures like you, pig people, to win the heart of such a beautiful princess! Even if you manage to rescue her, you'll never be allowed to marry her! You're just too unattractive!"

And so, I ended up being laughed at.

A bad feeling crept over me... Then, right away, the Gambler muttered.

"This trash is mine to kill. Tama, help me."

The following display was nothing short of impressive. Tama and the Gambler together seized the man, dragged him into the bushes, and in an instant, stabbed him to death.

At that moment, the villagers uttered the following words.

"Hey!" "Gyaa!" "Gee!" "It hurts!" "What's wrong?" "What are you doing?" "Wow!" "Ugyaa!" "Stop it!" "I'll pay you!" "Don't kill me!" "Don't chew my shoes!" "I don't want to die!" "That's right, I'll marry off my daughter!" "Help me!" "I- I- I- Be cursed!"

Why does this NPC have such a wide variety of dialogue lines?

"Good. Now I've leveled up too....Though the only item I have is garbage."

M-messy, these people are.

No, if this is possible in game terms, maybe this is actually the proper approach.

Either way, since I only have a toilet brush in my inventory, this method is impossible for me...

Yellow Pig: "I- I've done it... I've killed someone..."

White Pig: "What have I done..."

Pink Pig: "I- I can't help it in this situation...!"

Blue Pig: "…………Kukuku………He'll be drawn to it soon."

"Alright. Let's use the money we earned to prepare for our journey. …And then, we'll charge the fortress to the west."

And so, the four of us set off together toward what looked like a weapon shop.

What we discovered there.

It seems that in this 'Porkman's Quest,' changing weapons or armor isn't possible.

No matter which weapon I picked up, all I got was a message saying, "Not compatible—designed for humans."

Likewise, I couldn't switch the "Rubber Cup" I was currently equipped with into a "Iron Sword."

It seems the only way to progress favorably in the game is to raise the level of the piglets—nothing else.

And there's one more thing.

It seems every time my character says something like a drum bearer to the companions, some kind of "happiness" gauge gets steadily eroded.

Then, what happens? My screen gradually fades to sepia, the field of view narrows, and the characters' movement speed slows down—something fatal in an action game.

Apparently, Red Piggy can't stay sane unless he occasionally harasses his companions.

"Hey, Mr. Gambler."

"What is it?"

"This 'Happiness Level' thing... did you notice it?"

"Yeah... Looks like this 'Happiness Level' might be key to the game."

"Then that one too."

"Uh-huh. It's pretty bad. My character takes a big penalty whenever I commit crimes."

"Exactly."

"Also, each character seems to have its own personality. Judging by their dialogue, the blue one doesn't seem to resist killing people much."

I knew that.

"But how do you even raise this 'happiness level'?"

"Well... I mean. The guy we just killed gave us a hint."

"?"

"Sleeping with women. The 'Porkman' seems to absolutely love that."

Wow... seriously?

Curing the stress of murder by buying women.

That's yet another terrible influence on young minds...

"Then again, it's just the kind of fancy nonsense those fancy pigs get up to—so I suppose they'd neatly gloss over that part, right?"

A few minutes later, my expectations were perfectly dashed.

The brothel in "Chūō Town" featured an array of impossibly large-breasted girls, seemingly ripped straight from a foreign 3D game's MOD data, standing in a row as far as the eye could see.

Hello, Little Piggy Chantachi! I love you so much!

Fuck me! Fuck me!

Dance wildly, it's super intense!

Don't get your hands dirty with criminal acts, okay? ☆

Even if they existed in the real world, they likely wouldn't be able to walk properly on two legs. Still, with their breasts—occupying about a third of their volume—swaying gently, they smiled at us.

"...You damn fool, next time I see you, I'm giving you a proper scolding."

One by one, the characters from the grumbling "Gambler" persona entered the brothel.

There was an elderly woman with an unnervingly lifelike appearance.

She spoke in a strange mix of katakana, saying, 'Right now, I can do it with these guys!' while presenting four girls.

Their appearances were so absurdly exaggerated that they fit perfectly into the four options: 'Beautiful, Average, Average, Old Rock Lady.'

The rate of happiness increase also seems to follow the pattern: beautiful > average > Old Rock Lady.

"Things are starting to make sense now..."

"Yeah."

"In this game... someone has to inevitably end up with a disadvantageous role."

The "Game Master" had described the theme of this game as "friendship and its collapse."

In other words, this 'Porkman's Quest' is filled with elements designed to provoke betrayal among teammates.

"Hey, 'Gambler'?"

"What?"

"When we meet that 'Dungeon Master' next time, how about we beat him up together?"

"Sounds good to me."

She replied with a wry smile.