The Dragon's Wrath: Ashes of the Fallen by Brent Roth Read Free Book Online Page B

and shawls. There was a colorful assortment of various sizes and lengths and it was precisely what I was looking for.
    The shawls and scarves were the nicest looking of the bunch, with fancy embroidery that were more fitting for females than males, but there were a few semi-masculine ones that drew my attention. Though, one look at the mirror on the wall and all interest in a scarf was lost.
    It wouldn't really match my blood-stained fur coat and leather armor.
    Oh well, even I wanted to appear somewhat reasonable.
    Rummaging through the bandanas, it took me nearly ten minutes to separate and find a suitable one to my liking. Narrowing down my choices to a plain white or black, I settled on the white one to match my gear. It wasn't perfect and was really quite pedestrian but I figured it would suffice for the task at hand. As long as it filtered out some of the ash and kept my mouth and nose from burning, I would be a happy man.
    Walking over to the counter where the older man with intermixed white and blonde hair sat with his head hung low, I couldn't help but wonder what was bothering him. I didn't want to waste any time on some random NPC, but it was hard to ignore a clearly depressed person sitting in the corner of a dimly lit store, even if it wasn't a real person.
    "How much are you asking for this bandana?" I questioned politely while placing it on the counter in front of him. He eyed the piece and sighed before looking up at me.
    "Ten copper for the plain ones like that," he answered with little interest.
    "Ah, I see," I replied while grabbing ten copper out of my pouch. "I'll take it then."
    As I looked at the man in front of me, his eyes seemed to light up slightly when he saw the coins in my hand. Waiting for him to take them, I carefully watched as his mannerisms changed right before my eyes.
    He eagerly took the coins from my outstretched hand and quickly changed his tune as a smile appeared on his face. "Oh thank you very much," he said gingerly, having temporarily woken from his depressed slumber. "If you're interested in any other goods, to possibly replace that stained coat of yours, I do have a line of furs in the back I can fetch for you."
    "Hmm, I may have an interest in some female clothing, though I'm not certain on the size just yet," I replied casually while glancing around the room. "A gift for some friends of mine, you see."
    "Well, I have plenty of clothes perfect for that!" he exclaimed. "All shapes, sizes, and colors, from moderate to extravagant, wool or linen, I've got them all!"
    "If you have the time, I would be interested in seeing a few summer dresses," I stated with a kind smile. "They're tall women, but rather slender. Something loose and breathable, would do well I think."
    "Right this way!" he said while standing up and leading the charge.
    The chipper mood of the clerk gave some indication to his position within the store. I figured he was most likely the owner or at least tied to the profit in some shape or form, and a slow business day likely got him down. I didn't know much about the limited artificial intelligence system, nor did anyone outside of the developers really, but I realized with my interactions with Selene and Katherine, that they were quite far along with their emotional responses.
    It was almost too real, sometimes.
    There must have been a preset emotional trigger set into the businessman, so that his motivation and happiness was tied into how well he did financially. I mean, there was definitely some behind-the-scenes play at work with manipulated and scripted motivation, seeing how NPCs happily stuck to one job for their entire artificial lives.
    They weren't truly of free-will, these NPCs.
    Well, I wouldn't be the one to break that to them.
    The thought of truly self-aware AIs kind of scared me a little.
    It was a little too soon for that, anyways.
    "Has it been a slow week for sales?" I asked genuinely yet not innocently.
    "Ahh… yeah, it has been a rough month," he