[Adelie]

Treasure hunter?

Of course, he had no idea what she was talking about. What treasure? What hunters? Why would there be treasure on a farm, of all places? Were there other treasure hunters around here, and why hadn't he seen any of them?

All these questions and more popped into his head and went entirely unanswered. He'd considered using amnesia as a cover story to bombard his newfound contact with questions, but the way she was acting, he didn't have high expectations for that plan. So if she was so convinced he was a treasure hunter, then a treasure hunter he would be. "Um, I guess you could say I am," he said, trying to balance how much information he was giving out. Too much and he'd make it obvious he had no idea what she was talking about; too little and he'd look increasingly suspicious. "So, that makes you one as well?"

[The Barn - 11]

[Adelie]

She looked him up and down; her suspicion clearly hadn't abated. "So you got one of those weird flyers, too?" she asked; perhaps she was ignoring his question, or perhaps she considered her response enough of an answer in and of itself.

"You mean the ones they were handing out in town?" he asked, bluffing wildly. Of course, he had no idea what flyer she was talking about, but he figured he couldn't approach this conversation by claiming no knowledge of anything. If all else failed, he could just say it was a different flyer. "Yeah, I got one of those." Worried she'd press him for a look at this flyer - which he obviously couldn't produce since it didn't exist - he added, "Didn't bring it along with me, though. Honestly, I didn't really read it much. Just saw this place on it and hurried over."

He didn't sound too convincing himself, but at the very least she hadn't proclaimed him a liar just yet. So there probably was a flyer, then - she hadn't made it up just to get him to talk himself into a trap - and it had something to do with why she, and perhaps other treasure hunters, might be here. Maybe if he could get her to trust his story, he could get a look at the flyer.

[The Barn - 12]

[Adelie]

"You came all the way from town in those clothes?" she asked, sounding incredulous. But a good kind of incredulous - more surprise he'd managed such a feat than suspicion that he wasn't what he claimed to be. "That's half a day's walk in the cold."

He shrugged; in all honesty, he was glad she wasn't pointing out that his modern clothes looked anachronistic in this world. "I guess I'm used to it," he said.

You've leveled up a skill! Cold Resistance lv1 -> Cold Resistance lv2

As if to emphasize just how he'd gotten used to the cold, the system dinged him with another notification box. He read it out of the corner of his eye, trying not to visibly focus on his - her lack of reaction implied these notification boxes were only visible to him, and other people didn't have access to similar skills.

Made sense, really. Of course the guy who gets magically summoned to a world gets weird skills to go with it; it's only fitting.

[The Barn - 13]

[Adelie]

Turning the conversation back before further discussion of his weird traits could occur, he asked, "Say - about that flyer. Do you have yours with you?"

"I do," she said, a puzzled expression on her face. He noticed she reached for her drawstring bag, but didn't make any moves to take anything out of it. So that was where the flyer was - but it wasn't like knowing where it was stored was going to do any good unless he planned to commit homicide.

"Can I take a look?" She seemed about to refuse, so he improvised an excuse. "I heard a rumor there's more than a few types of flyers out there, so I wanted to see if yours is different."

She frowned at him, but his argument seemed solid enough. "All right," she said, pulling a crumpled piece of parchment out of her bag. A few pieces of dried and broken plant matter came out with it, but she made no mood to pick them up from the floor as she handed it over. "What kind of different are you talking about?"

[The Barn - 14]

[Adelie]

Treasure and adventure await.
All travelers and treasure seekers are welcome.

Silver Farm
1 Sedukai Rd.

The flyer said little and hinted at little more. A sepia-tone print of some pastoral landscape - which he suspected was likely this farm in the summer - took up most of the space on the page, while a few terse lines of neatly-printed text filled out the bottom. The only substantive clue it offered was the name of this place.

Silver Farm. That, in itself, told him nothing. Silver could be a descriptor; silver could be the owner's last name. Silver could just be what the owner was hoping the farm would bring in.

"Well?" the girl demanded.

"Looks the same as mine," he said, turning the paper side to side so it would look like he was conducting a through, in-depth analysis of the similarities. In truth, he was buying time while he tried to examine the flyer.

[The Barn - 15]

[Adelie]

Ven's Silver Farm Flyer
A flyer promising treasure and adventure to those who visit the address on it. Ven acquired this from a notice board in town.

What an impressive skill he'd lucked into. It consistently told him absolutely nothing he wanted to know.

Frowning, he handed the paper back to the girl. Her expectant look told him he had forgotten something; thinking quickly, he realized she was probably curious about the rumor he'd mentioned. "Yeah, I'd just heard some of the flyers were different," he said. The flyer didn't give him much to work with - he had to come up with an example to make it sound more believable. "Like, the image showed the farm in different seasons or something like that. Don't know if that's a clue or anything, though."

"Hmm," the girl said. "I didn't see any different images in the stack I got my flyer from."

[The Barn - 16]

[Adelie]

The good thing was she was collaborating with him to find out more about his made-up riddle; the bad thing was her memories didn't corroborate his made-up evidence. That could bode either poorly or well for him, depending on how he played this out.

God, he hated dealing with people. He'd never been particularly good with people - especially women - but these things constantly seemed to force himself into social situations where he'd have to lie or bluff to do anything.

"Yeah," he said. "I don't remember it too well, but I think my fliers were the same way. I think it might've had something to do with location - maybe everyone who got them from the same place got the same ones." He looked up at her with a smile, trying his very best to make it charming and not grotesque. "Maybe we both just got unlucky."

[The Barn - 17]