Zeki runs the Kilima Valley General Store by day and a black market called the Underground by night, and once you reach friendship level 2 with him, he hands you three flyers and asks you to quietly advertise it. Spread the Word is that errand. It looks simple until you realize the flyers are not dialogue prompts — they are gifts, and half the village will refuse them.
Quick answer: Open your inventory, split the stack of Zeki’s Flyer if needed, then use the gift option on three villagers who accept it (Ashura, Kenyatta, Auni, Caleri, Chayne, Elouisa, Hekla, Jel, Najuma, Tamala) and return to Zeki in the Underground to claim 20 Renown and 400 Gold.
Unlocking Spread the Word from Zeki
Spread the Word is Zeki’s level 2 friendship quest, so it will not appear until you have finished his earlier quest, Wares in Low Places, and found the Underground beneath the village. Friendship climbs by talking to him daily, giving him items he likes, and completing his weekly wants.
| Category | Items |
|---|---|
| Liked gifts | Any fish, Copper Ore, Copper Bar, Iron Ore, Iron Bar, Gold Ore, Pearl, Fish Stew, Fried Catfish Dinner, Fried Fish, Sashimi |
| Weekly wants | Unopened Oyster, Golden Salmon, Silver Ore, Gold Bar |
Finding Zeki depends on the clock. He works inside the general store from 9AM to 5PM, eats at Ormuu’s Horn from 5PM to 9PM, and runs the Underground from roughly 9:30PM to 2AM. He is asleep and unreachable between 2:30AM and 8AM.
Where Zeki’s Flyer is stored and how to hand it out
The three copies of Zeki’s Flyer sit in the quest items area of your bag, not the main inventory grid. The tooltip reads “A flyer for Zeki’s backroom business,” and it is tagged as a Quest Item that cannot be sold. If the flyers appear greyed out when you try to gift them, split the stack first so a single flyer is selectable.
Note: because the flyer goes through the gift interface, it consumes that villager’s daily gift slot. If you are chasing friendship efficiently, hand flyers to people whose weekly want or loved gift you were not planning to deliver that day. The flyer still counts as a normal gift and still raises friendship.
Villagers who accept Zeki’s flyers
Ten Kilima residents are willing to take a flyer. Any three of them finish the quest, so pick whoever is closest on your route. Press M to open the map and look for the grey circles marking where each villager currently is.
| Villager | Usual spot |
|---|---|
| Ashura | Ormuu’s Horn, usually at the counter |
| Auni | The inn during the afternoon |
| Caleri | The Library, almost always |
| Chayne | Shrine early morning, Apothecary 9AM–5PM, Ormuu’s Horn in the evening |
| Elouisa | Fisherman’s Lagoon in the morning |
| Hekla | Night Sky Temple or the Library |
| Jel | Tailor’s shop, 9AM–5PM |
| Kenyatta | Town Hall in the morning, Stables in the evening |
| Najuma | Around Kilima Village |
| Tamala | Flooded Steps or Central Stables, afternoon and evening |
Ashura and Kenyatta are the most convenient pairing if you want this done in one in-game evening, since Ormuu’s Horn and the Stables are a short walk apart.
Who refuses a flyer, and why it does not break the quest
The other 13 residents will turn you down. Sifuu, Delaila, and Eshe are the ones players run into most often, and Eshe in particular is the person Zeki is worried about — she is the village magistrate and the mayor’s wife.
Offering a flyer to someone on the refusal list is safe. The flyer is not consumed, the quest does not fail, and no progress is lost — you just get some dialogue and keep all three copies. That means brute-forcing your way through the village is a legitimate approach if you would rather discover the reactions yourself.
Some villagers hand you gold when they take a flyer, reacting to the news of a market they did not know existed. That is a bonus on top of the quest reward.
Turning in the quest and the reward
Once the third flyer lands, the objective flips to Ready to Turn In and the tracker changes to “Return to Zeki.” Head to the Underground through the shortcut in the General Store — Zeki is down there at night — and pick the “I handed out all the fliers” dialogue option.
You will see a Quest Completed! banner along with the payout.
| Reward | Amount |
|---|---|
| Renown | +20 |
| Gold | +400 |
| Friendship | Points with Zeki, plus points from each villager you gifted |
If the flyers will not gift
The single most common snag is not finding the flyers at all. After the inventory rework, quest items live in their own tab — on Switch, the right shoulder button cycles you over to it. Pebbles and other quest-tagged objects moved there too.
If you can see the flyers but cannot select them in the gift menu, separate the stack of three into individual items and try again. Restarting the game has also cleared the issue for players who could see the stack but got no response from NPCs. There is no talk-to prompt for this quest, so if you are waiting for a conversation option to appear, it will not — the gift button is the only route.
Finishing Spread the Word cements your access to Zeki’s Underground, which is where the black market inventory and his later friendship content open up. Three flyers, three willing villagers, and one late-night walk down to the market is all it takes.
