Immediately upon entering the Inn, the patrons sat at separate tables attention was instantly drawn to her.

The gazes of the occupants looked at with scrutiny, her face was freely exposed, even if it wasn’t they would instantly tell she was an unfamiliar face coming to the Village. Although this Village did receive visitors and was a fairly well-developed one, most were adventurers who have come before, with almost all of them being in groups.

Only someone truly capable would be able to travel past a path frequented by monsters themselves, and her appearance as a young girl only made her appear even more unusual to the observers. Thus, they couldn’t help but eye her warily and with a hint of doubt that such a harmless looking young girl could be a genuine threat.

However, there was always a few exceptions, and despite most being cautious enough to treat a mysterious young girl who’s strength is unknown with vigilance, there was always a reckless group who holds no such precautions.

A rowdy group of men, equipped with a bunch of makeshift weapons and armour, they looked more like a bunch of hooligans, than genuine adventurers. Laughing foolishly they hollered at Talia, before making some crude joke.

Ignoring them she walked straight to the bar, quickly gaining the bar keeps attention.

“What’ll be missy?” He asked.

“I want a glass of your best cider” She replied, before leaning forward, she spoke in a barely audible tone, “I’m here to speak to Anita, about the job she needs to be completed urgently”

The barkeeps face remained unchanged at first, but upon hearing her name ‘Anita’, his eyes widened in surprise as stepped back and took a good at Talia for the first time.

“You're an interesting girl, I will take you to see Anita right away, she had been waiting for a long time for them to send someone capable enough to deal with the task in hand.” He replied.

Without continuing to talk further, he gestured Talia to follow him as she was led in through past the barstool into the back room of the inn. The patrons who had some knowledge of the place, looked on in shock as she was led by the barkeep into the back room, whereas the unknowledgeable ones just stared in confusion, not knowing why the barkeep seemingly placed importance on Talia, one thing in common though they decided to imprint the young girls face within their minds, to ensure they do not cross her path later.

The majority of the men were experienced and hardened from their time as adventurers, so they knew better than to underestimate a person based on their appearance.

Nonetheless, the only group which seemingly remained unaffected was the unruly group of men who heckled Talia earlier, they seemed completely oblivious to the meaning of Talia being taken to the backroom.

But, who would have known that this group would actually have the best evaluation of Talia in the first place, the wariness of the adventurers towards a person like Talia would usually be accurate, as it is impossible for someone weak to make it completely in one piece to this Village alone.

Yet, Talia didn’t actually travel here but was brought here by the mysterious mechanical voice, at the moment she was truly as weak as she appeared to be. Although she did have a few things to rely on which is why she had some confidence, it didn’t stop the fact that she was currently at the lowest level in the game.

Although the men in this ragtag group would be not much better in terms of level and are considered weak, they would still stand a good chance against her if they ganged up on her.

“Hey boss, did you see that girl right there? That's some top quality goods right there, I bet we could sell her for a good price, after trialling her ourselves of course.” A scrawny looking man said.

“Ooo yes boss, why don’t we follow her after she leaves this place? We’re only staying here a few days anyway, I’m sure the Villagers won’t notice the disappearance of some random girl.” A burly man said.

“Quiet, we’re only here to acquire some intel for our ‘business’ and to restock some supplies, the girl is good but we’ll only go after her if we have the opportunity outside this place. The guard captain will have ye head if she catches you doing anything here.” The stern-middle aged man said, compared to the others his gear was a notch higher and he appeared more experience than the others.

“Alright Boss, we’ll do as you say. But, if we catch that girl leaving the Village within the next few days, she won’t be returning.” Snickered the scrawny man.

The rest of the group laughed boisterously at that comment and continued to drink to their heart's content noisily as the hearty atmosphere of the Inn revived once more.

Meanwhile, Talia who remained completely oblivious to plan of the group of men who she had passed by earlier, was currently standing in front of a beautiful, mature looking women dressed in a pure white gown.

This was the target she wanted to see straight after entering the Village, the owner of the Thornrock Inn, however, this wasn’t the identity which interested Talia, but it was rather the fact that was she also a Priestess of the ‘Templar Order’.

Members of this organisation were different from Priestesses of the different Churches within the World, firstly they didn’t fully believe in a specific deity unlike the others, who each represented a different God.

Secondly, the Templar Order was an organisation which focused on purely combating forces of evil and forces which can threaten the World, they were unlike the other religious organisations which spread their beliefs, ideas to the populous. Instead, they remained secretive, conducting their own business within the World without even being unknown by the majority.

Their views made them somewhat tolerable to other Churches, yet they still weren’t received that highly, just not to the point where they are unfriendly to them in contrast to the other religious organisations as they each view their own deity as the one ’true God’, so it was obvious they wouldn’t truly get along that well.

The Templar Order believed each deity was needed to achieve balance in the World, so didn’t specifically believe a deity to be superior over the other and did not judge others based on their own views, this made them fairly popular in the game as they were unlike the stuck up Churches, being far more easy-going and less prejudiced compared to the other religious organisations, who to most players were simply intolerable to deal with.

But, the main reason she wanted to speak to her was because of the quest she offers immediately at the beginning of the game.

“So, I presume you are the girl who believes that she can solve the task I have set?” Anita said staring at Talia with doubt.

“Yes, I believe I can,” Talia said unwaveringly, surprising the Priestess at how resolute she looked.

“Well, I admire your confidence, I’m not sure you have what it takes, but if you die it’s not my responsibility anyway, so I will give you a chance,” Anita replied.

Talia suddenly realised a sigh of relief, as an icon popped up indicating she had received a quest appeared.

‘Investigate the Dire Wolf Pack; Description; enter the den of the Dire Wolf Pack and discover the reason for their strange behaviour. Larger, stronger and a large increase in aggressiveness, the Wolf Pack has been running amok in the territory causing a wide amount of deaths towards hopeful travellers heading to Thornrock Village. Priestess Anita senses a strange evil aura emitting from the Wolves and requires assistance in finding out what had caused the strange transformation to the Wolfpack’

Upon, viewing the quest, it was exactly how Talia remembered. A red button was projected on the left side of Talia’s vision. She and an indication that it was accepted was shown. It looked like there weren’t any other choices available so she had accepted the quest.

Now, Talia couldn’t help but give an attempt in trying to discover more about her situation, thus in an attempt to organise her words to appear more sophisticated, she said, “Honorable Priestess, may I have more information about this place?”

She wanted to know if any of the NPCs had any intelligence and she hoped she could gather some clues about why she had appeared within this world.

A mysterious smile suddenly appeared on Anita’s face as she replied, “You should first complete your quest, before getting to know more…”

After finishing with a few cryptic words she left the room, leaving the barkeep to show her way out.

Anita’s answer was truly a surprising one to Talia, to be honest, she didn’t expect much to come of it, but what Anita said had given her hope in finding out why this is happening to her. This was not something that was scripted in the original game, so it gave her the indication that the NPCs likely possess freedom, and that they aren’t some rigid pre-programmed code, making her realise their behaviour is completely unpredictable to her.

‘Looks like I need to complete the quest first, but I should talk to the Guard Captain on the way out, his quest is aligned with this one, and I can complete it on the way there. I’m going to need a few levels to accomplish this one anyway.’ She thought before leaving.

Quickly visiting the Guard Captain who like the older guard at the cate entrance mentioned was ‘hard to miss’, due to his tall frame and the permanently angry expression which seemed to be etched on his face. His face did not talk throughout the entire process of accepting the quest, and she swiftly left afterwards.

Now having a clear goal and the quests target in mind, she left the Village heading to the target of the quests in mind.

Being not too far away, it was a quick journey, unknowingly though her leaving the Village did not go unnoticed by a few unsavoury fellows who had now left in pursuit.