The display rack is brimming with worn paperbacks featuring an extremely muscular…

The display rack is brimming with worn paperbacks featuring an extremely muscular, sword-wielding barbarian on the cover. Nearly all the titles contain the word Hjelmdall somewhere.

This is entirely, completely you. You have found the right books.

"Wow, more Hjelmdall..."

Mountains of it. Heroic quantities of Hjelmdall. Roy's puny shirt is nothing compared to the real deal.

[Leave.]

"Storekeep, tell me about the muscleman books."

"Oh, Man from Hjelmdall. A very popular series of adventure novels." She looks at the book with some disdain. "They're awfully immoral and violent books."

"Who's this Man from Hjelmdall?"

"He's a 'hero' from the frozen northlands. He travels to all sorts of lands and mainly kills people. There are hundreds of books in the series... and they sell incredibly well."

It's pulp adventure. Takes place in a faux-mythological non-place called Hjelmdall. There is no such region on the Katla isola.

"Why are they so popular?"

"Blood and violence, scantily clad women, epic narratives, all those mystical things he encounters. They're bound to grab those with little imagination and nothing to do."

"That doesn't sound like something I'd be interested in."

"At last, someone sensible..." She fiddles with her pendant. "However, I still urge you to buy one. Can't judge a book by the cover, they say!"

"If you're a novice of the series, I'd recommend 'Hjelmdallermann: the Man from Hjelmdall.' It's supposed to be a good introduction to the series."

"Sounds good. Which one should I start with?"

"What does it matter? They're all the same." She rolls her eyes, then fiddles with her pendant. "However, the customer is always right, they say."

"I want to buy the 'Hjelmdallermann' book."

"Oh yes, certainly." She rubs her hands together. "Another good sale."

You've acquired an interactable item. Investigate this item further by going to the INTERACT tab in your INVENTORY.

Do any of the books call out to me?

A twinge at the back of your head makes you flinch. Your eye starts twitching.

Ugh, what is it?

Your hand reaches toward a book with glossy cover art of the very muscular Man from Hjelmdall -- in chains -- kneeling in front of a staircase leading to a throne. A woman sits on the throne, leering at the man.

She's laughing at him. Belittling him.

Between the throne and the Hjelmdallermann lies a bonfire, casting shadows on the wall. The shadow of the woman's head-dress looks like a pair of devil horns. The title reads: "Man from Hjelmdall and the Devil Woman".

Hmm, aren't all women devil women?

Especially those leering types who seem to wear nothing but an armoured bikini. There's also some sort of a snake-lizard beast slithering around her abdomen-chest-shoulder region.

It's symbolic of vice and sin.

The display rack before you is burdened under piles of Man from Hjelmdall novels.

"Storekeep, this book is misogynistic. How can you peddle such filth?"

"The entire series is also endearingly racist, if I may add."

"Oh, sir, I know." The storekeep apologizes immediately. "This really isn't representative of our values. But the store has to cater to its customers."

Interesting.

Ow!

Nothing of interest. Only silence and the cosmic background pain-radiation.

Look through the display of books.

Rows and rows of Hjelmdallermenn blur your vision. You make out some titles: "Man from Hjelmdall and the Mammoth-Riders", "Man from Hjelmdall: Return to Hjelmdall", and the solipsistic "Man From Hjelmdall and the Hjelmdall Man."

Enough.

Good god, how many are there?

Maybe a hundred? "Man from Hjelmdall and the Sages at the End of the World", "Man from Hjelmdall and the False-God", "Man from Hjelmdall and the Scorched Earth", "Man from Hjelmdall: The Hjelmdall Colonies", "Man from Hjelmdall and the Swamp Beast", "Man from Hjelmdall and the Snow Crabs."

Those snow crabs are worse than they sound.

Is that all?

Not even close! "Man from Hjelmdall in Hell", "Man from Hjelmdall and the Forest of Slaves", "Man from Hjelmdall Under the Lake", "Man from Hjelmdall: Hjelmdall Burning". There's even "The Trial of Death", a Pasternal combat game book set in the world of Hjelmdallermann, and so much more.

"I want to buy 'Man from Hjelmdall and the Devil Woman'."

She nudges her glasses. "It is a best-seller for a reason."