Writing Hardship farm diaries

[Terdin]

I don't like getting inspiration for new stuff, since I've got enough novels to work on as it is, but I got it and writing it out is the only way to get it out of my head.
Here goes...

Prologue:
Some of my fondest childhood memories had been from Grandpa's farm. The wide space where his animals roamed free, trying to help him plant and water seeds by the small river. I wanted to be like him and he taught me how to do some basic stuff. It was a perfect place to play with my brother on our visits, even if we were warned to stay away from the ruins of a greenhouse. Grandma had died there, and he'd never been able to bring himself to rebuild it. We even attended festivals, even if my memory is a bit fuzzy on which ones they were. Mostly we children were running around playing tag, or stealing treats from the tables.

Then there was a time when it seemed like an eternity before I saw him again. Mom said something about a fire and having to rebuild. On our last visit, his house seemed a lot smaller. No kitchen. He had managed to save at least one of his beloved apple plushies though, those that I was never allowed to touch. My parents and my uncle's family each got some of his chests and whatever they contained. My brother got the chest with his mineral collection. Me? I got only a sealed envelope despite him calling me his favorite granddaughter. His exact words about it were lost to me, but I got the meaning, that I was not to open it until I was an adult and desperate for a change. The unfairness burned.
Not long after, he died.

Unable to cope with the betrayal of his death, I couldn't bear to even look at the envelope for many years. Only after I'd got a job, and was made to move out did I find it again. I'd hoped to be able to afford an apartment of my own, but with a low-wage deskjob of handling online orders and customer complaints, I couldn't. I had to settle for renting a room from one of the girls I sometimes spoke with at lunch. After some of my stuff went missing, I made sure to always carry the thick envelope with me. I still didn't want to find out what was in it. Probably just some trite "words of wisdom" supposed to help people go on through a difficult time. But I didn't want to lose it either.

The months, then years, dragged on. Yearly evaluations that seemed designed to keep me at minimum wage, or just above it. While there was a dress code, it wasn't enforced. The guy in the cubicle behind me got no write-ups for the big hat he wore. His occasional grunts and the other sounds coming from him told me that he most likely took extra breaks to watch other stuff, probably on a small window that his hat hid from the cameras continuously monitoring us. I tried to save up for the deposit needed for an apartment of my own, but it was difficult with barely scraping by from paycheck to paycheck, and the sum needed went up every year.

One day, wondering if the rest of my life would be like this or if I should end it myself, I finally decided I could use Grandpa's last message to me and maybe see if it held a life-changing amount of money. So what if they wrote me up or even fired me for reading private stuff during work. P T, the seal read... Patrick Tindall. While I had known his name, I'd always thought of him as Grandpa. No money in it, just a letter, several pages long.

- If you're reading this, you must be in dire need of a change. The same thing happened to me, long ago. I'd lost sight of what mattered most in life... real connections with other people and nature. So I dropped everything and moved to the place I truly belong.

Just reading it made me cry. I could almost hear him speaking those words. Wiping my tears away I continued reading, despite the strange start of a long letter.

- I've enclosed the deed to that place - my pride and joy: Hardship Farm. It's located in Stardew Valley, on the southern coast and the perfect place to start a new life.

I looked at the other papers in the envelope. The deed and all the legal papers to transfer it to me, not a long letter as I'd thought. It felt weird to think the farm had a name, and such an odd one too. I returned to reading.

- This was my most precious gift, and now it's yours. I know you'll honor the family name, my girl.
Good luck.
Love, Grandpa.

P.S. If Lewis is still alive, say hi to the old guy for me, will ya?

Crying again, I wordlessly asked him to forgive me for all the years of thinking my inheritance had been the least valuable, the least life-changing. Despite being at work, I went online to see if I really had all the legal paperworks to take over the farm.

I wasted no time in quitting my job, the two weeks before I could collect my last paycheck went sooner than expected. I also moved out of the shared apartment and my parents allowed me to stay with them "until I found a new place".

"So, why didn't it work out with them?" Mom asked.

"Well, stuff went missing, just small things, nothing valuable, and not often, but kept on happening even after I made sure I knew exactly where I had things and made sure I always put them where they belonged."

She nodded, not fully convinced, knowing how careless I'd been with at least some of my belongings as a child. "How long do you think it'll be until you find a new place?" She asked to change the topic.

"I've already got one, but I need to wait for confirmation first. Grandpa gave me his farm." I showed her the deed. "I've already gone and handed in the paperwork to transfer it to me. He had them all filled in and signed, needing only my signature to complete it. They had some questions as to why the dates for the signatures were so different, but I managed to explain it."

"So that's where it was. We searched his cottage and the farm for it, thinking it might be hidden in a chest somewhere. Even asked Mayor Lewis about it, but he claimed my dad had it. I guess I suspected it might be in your envelope, but didn't want to ask. Didn't want to bring back bad memories for you. But you aren't going to move there, are you? Farming's too difficult for a girl like you. You've been spending the last few years at a desk, you're not fit enough."

"I can do it. I will not give up."

"So you say now, but in a year you'll probably want to sell it and return to the comforts of the city."

What comforts? Dead-end jobs, living from paycheck to paycheck. Always worrying about stuff I couldn't do anything about. I wouldn't be any worse off on the farm, and there were probably more stuff I could do something about, but I didn't say that to Mom.

My parents kept on saying stuff about me not being able to make it, mostly Mom, Dad was occasionally supportive. Then came the day when I was about to leave. I'd made a donation to Yoba and prayed to be relieved of my memories and the skills I'd developed while working for Joja, and I had indeed forgot most of the details. What little I did remember made me sure I never wanted to return to a job like that. I'd also bought some more appropriate leg-wear for farming. Knee-length skirt was good enough for a desk job, but I didn't want crops and other plants sneaking up where they didn't belong. Of course I picked a purple pair of trousers. No reason to not choose my favorite color.

"I've checked the value for the land, Erica. When you give up your attempts to become a farmer next year, you should at least be able to buy a small apartment," Mom said as I packed my few belongings, primarily socks and underwear, and some toiletries. "Don't forget your swimsuit. You might want to take a swim in summer, or maybe visit the spa if it's still there. Come back and visit us sometimes, will you?"

I'd had enough of her negative outlook on my prospects. "I won't come back to visit until I've earned at least a billion G on that farm. Won't give up before then either. You can visit me, if you want." I immediately regretted my words, but I wouldn't give Mom the satisfaction of going back on them. At least it shut her up.

"You should at least try to keep a diary," Dad said. "That way you can see how far you've got since your arrival, and how your progress is going. You should also take some of your Grandpa's tools with you. Sadly, we sold most of his better tools, but you wouldn't get all that far with farming if you had no tools at all."

The tools he brought me looked cheap, more like gardening tools for a back garden than proper farming tools. He was right that they were better than nothing at all, but really. A few rust spots, and dark stains where sweaty hands had gripped the handle for long days at work, revealed their age, but otherwise they were in good condition. I checked the edges, especially on the axe and scythe, and found signs of recent sharpening. At least Dad was quietly trying to help me succeed.

Then I finally boarded the monthly bus to Calico Desert - the closest destination - and asked the driver to drop me off at Pelican Town in Stardew Valley on the way there.

...
To be continued.

 

[Gamer1234556]

Cool!

 

[Liaishere]

I love it!

 

[Terdin]

Moving in
How to start this diary thing... "Dear Diary" sounds so trite. Maybe best to just write what happened.
Oh my. Didn't expect that. When the bus dropped me off I found a red-headed woman waiting for me, around the same age as my mom but maybe a couple years younger. How long she'd waited for the bus, I don't know. I had emailed the mayor of Pelican Town to avoid surprising them entirely, and it seemed like it caused a bigger stir than I thought it would. I think Grandpa choose to buy lands by that town because it had the same initials as him. Anyhow, the woman introduced herself as Robin, the local carpenter, and she showed me the way to the farm, maybe not knowing it wasn't really needed.

It seemed like a much shorter walk as an adult. Seeing the farm was a shock, even if it shouldn't have been all that unexpected. It had been unoccupied for over fifteen years after all. With that in mind it wasn't all that overgrown with weeds and trees. But the vast open space I remembered from my childhood? Not all that big. Large enough to graze a few animals in, which in hindsight was all that Grandpa had kept. The steps down to the canyon floor was paired had a mate close to the greenhouse ruin if my memory was correct. Seeing it with adult eyes made it clear why Grandpa or someone before him had named the farm Hardship farm. How would I be able to earn the ridiculous sum I'd told Mom I'd get? It would take me all my life to get to a billion G, or at least the rest of Mom's life. No. I would find a way even if large-scale farming wasn't possible.

There were no animals now, and neither coop nor barn nor sheds were anywhere in sight. Robin tried to downplay the weeds, trees and general debris. So this was why Mom had been betting that I'd give up soon enough. Some vague mention of her having driven down here to tend Grandpa's grave around Spirits' Eve rose in my memory. She had seen this. But while she was right that I wasn't fit and hadn't been working out for several years, it wasn't something that would last. Taming my farm would make me fit.

"It's less overgrown than I expected considering how long it's been since Grandpa died. Oh, maybe I should mention that I'm Roxanne's daughter."

Robin paused, searching for words. "Your uncle Richard sold off the animals soon after Patrick died, then asked if I could demolish the extra buildings and pay him for the materials I could re-use. I was new here and he showed me some papers that indicated that he had the right to do that, so I did as he asked. Sorry."

It was my turn to pause. "Not your fault. Better than having a bunch of feral animals and even more ruins to deal with."

She led a few steps closer to the front door. "And here we are, your new home."

An older guy exited the cottage-like farmhouse. He was maybe 5-10 years older than Dad. Mayor Lewis. The guy Grandpa had described as an old guy, probably not knowing how long it would be before I tired of city life, and Robin had said he was cleaning up the farmhouse for me. They must've been good friends if he went out of his way to tidy up close to two decades of dust and cobwebs for the arrival of his friend's granddaughter.

"Ah, the new farmer!" Lewis said. "Welcome! I'm Lewis, Mayor of Pelican Town."

I blinked at the impersonal introduction. "Hello, Lewis. I'm Erica Nilson, Patrick Tindall's granddaughter. My mom, Roxanne, took her husbands last name when she married," I explained. So, he hadn't done it for his friend's granddaughter. Maybe he'd just done it to make sure nothing had been left behind that he thought the new owner shouldn't have. "In the letter Grandpa gave me, he asked me to say 'hi' to you," I added, not wanting to mention anything else about the request since Lewis was obviously still alive.

He looked stunned for a moment. "Oh. You know, everyone's been asking about you. It's not every day that someone new moves in. It's quite a big deal!" He paused. "Well, maybe you're not exactly new, but with a different last name you didn't seem related to old Patrick, so we thought you were just someone who'd bought the deed. So... You're moving into your grandfather's old cottage. It's a good house... very 'rustic'."

Robin laughed. "Rustic? That's one way to put it... 'Crusty' might be a little more apt, though."

"Don't be rude! Don't listen to her, Erica. She's just trying to make you dissatisfied so that you buy one of her house upgrades."

Robin grumbled at having her scheme seen through so easily. Mayor Lewis suggested I go in and get rested up from my journey and then explore the town next morning and introduce myself. His tone indicated I should try to get to know everyone even if he didn't say it. After some prompting, he revealed there were 28 people living in the town if you counted the children too, including the two of them. So, 26 people more to get introduced to. I thanked them for their welcome and went inside.

The inside was different than I remembered. No floral wallpaper, just bare stone walls. I ran a hand over it. No. It was new wallpaper that just looked like stone walls. Maybe just as well. The old wallpaper had probably started to fall off. The fireplace was bare of decoration, and the sign of Yoba had long since been transferred to Mom's room, but the old sign - supposedly from the mines - still hung on the wall, moved to a more prominent position. From a distance, the two crossed pickaxes seemed real, but they were just cut out of sheet metal and painted. A low table, some straw mats on the floor, a lamp, and a TV. Not much in the way of comfort. I checked the crystal on the table. Just a glass imitation with no real value. I left it there, the sole piece of color in the house, and more importantly it was purple, making the house feel a little bit more like it was mine. I left the gift-wrapped box on the floor for the morning, having enough to consider as it was.

Where to start... No. Clearing the farm didn't require much consideration. Around the crop land down by the river, and between farmhouse and the two other paths that led from the farm. While I hadn't been able to see either exit today I knew they should be there unless there had been landslides or rockfalls. That was first priority. After that I could go more by what resource I needed. How to keep my vow to Mom would have to wait until I knew more about what ways there were to earn money here.

Lewis and Robin had been right though. I would need to upgrade the house at some point. A kitchen would make it easier to keep me fed. Raw vegetables and whatever I could forage would grow boring fast.

Time to put away this diary for now and get some sleep.

 

[Terdin]

Spring 1
The gift box proved to contain 15 parsnip seeds. Better than nothing and saving me from spending a few hundred G. The TV was in working condition, and the weather channel said it would be sunny tomorrow. Didn't bother with the fortune telling. Farm chores didn't need luck, and neither did socializing, most of the time. Living Off The Land mentioned foraging for edible stuff while waiting for the crops to ripen, which was good advice. The 500 G I had left after the bus ticket wouldn't buy me more than one or two meals unless there was a Joja mart nearby. No. Even if there was, I wouldn't buy food there again unless I really became desperate.

I started clearing some land near the river, it seemed the most convenient place for crops. After a few trees and some weeds and other debris I paused, realizing my backpack was full already. I used most of the wood to craft a chest to hold the remaining stuff, barely remembering to add the symbols that were supposed to keep the chest's content in pristine condition. Mom had claimed it didn't, because it didn't work for her, but it had worked for Grandpa. Placed the chest next to my doorstep, then planted and watered my seeds before I left most tools in the chest and headed south. I didn't want to get too exhausted to be civil. I had vague memories of following Grandpa south to look for forage. Only one of the three rickety bridges leading south could be used and took me past the farm's small quarry. It was another area of the farm I had been warned away from as a child.

Speaking about children, the first villager I met was a girl heading out from another farmstead with a coiled jump rope in hand, Jas, who shyly returned my greeting. No-one else was in the house, but a counter suggested I could buy some stuff there later. Then a young woman from a small cabin by the river. Leah is a red-head like Robin, but around my age and seems nice enough.

There were just a few spring onions on the sandy ground closer to the sea, and it turned out I didn't need my hoe to get the onions out of the ground. A wild horseradish and a dandelion also got into my backpack, but I hoped I wouldn't need to eat any of it soon, or my breath would prevent making a good first impression.

On my way to town I met a blonde girl heading out to the forest with a camera, Haley. Her dismissal of my clothes reminded me of some of the girls I'd seen in school, not seeming to care about anyone but themselves unless they could gossip about some scandal. Well, I could be grown-up enough to be civil, and avoid behavior that could be turned into malicious gossip.

A sturdy-looking woman around my mom's age was heading out of town, carrying a basket laden with groceries. She introduced herself as Marnie and told me she sold animals. At my mention that my uncle had sold off Grandpa's animals, she apologized for buying them but reminded me that there had been no-one around to care for the animals. I quickly agreed that it was a good thing, not wanting her to make me pay more than needed for animals when I’d finally be able to care for them.

Looking into the nearest house let me introduce myself to a boy, Vincent, his mom, Jodi. Both of them a bit wary but friendly enough. Next door I met a blue-haired young woman, maybe a few years older than me, who introduced herself as Emily and inviting me to come to the Saloon where she worked. Another young woman sat reading under a tree, Penny, who barely returned my greeting before returning her attention to the book.

A look into the clinic revealed no-one there but I found the local doctor, Harvey, taking an after-lunch break close enough that he'd hear anyone calling him back for an emergency.

At the general store next to the clinic I met Leah again. A green-haired woman around Jodi’s age was restocking shelves nearby. At first I took Caroline for an employee, but she turned out to be the wife of Pierre, the store owner, and mentioned having a purple-haired daughter. Pierre seemed happy to have a farmer in town and eager to sell me seeds. It felt kind of strange to know I was the only one producing food and that the rest had to be shipped in. However, I wasn’t about to buy seeds any time soon, needing to preserve my energy for other chores.

Purple-haired Abigail was watching the river from the bridge and admitted to having explored my farm. So, she's probably the reason why it wasn’t even more overgrown than it was, but I forgot to thank her for it.

Then I saw it. A Joja mart. My heart sank, but I still went inside. One middle-aged woman shopping, Pam, warned me to not be a jerk. There were also two young men working. Sam, a few years younger than me, returned my greeting. Shane, at least 5 years older than me, did not, but his name tag gave me his name at least. I didn't say more than hello to them, to avoid getting them in trouble. I also avoided the manager and the cashier near him, not wanting to make either of them think I wanted to buy anything.

Exploring down south on that side of the river I smelled the smith's place before I saw it. A sign said they were open to 4 pm and I entered the building with minutes to spare and introduced myself to Clint, who said he could upgrade my tools. Checked his prices and it costs more than I can afford any time soon. It was strange to find a combined library and museum so close to the smith, but there it was. Not wanting to get sidetracked, I avoided going in.

Crossing another bridge back to “my” side of the river, I went to greet a guy at the bridge leading to the beach, Elliot. He... kinda looks like he matches Haley in vanity, and much too flirty for my taste. He did mention that I had been a source for gossip prior to my arrival. i sighed. They probably would talk more about me behind my back when they learned I was Patrick's granddaughter rather than some total stranger.

The white house nearby proved to belong to Mayor Lewis, even if he was currently out. I could tell from the ledgers and the clearly marked lost-and-found box.

Penny sat on a bench nearby, chatting quietly with a brown-skinned girl introducing herself as Maru. Maru seemed happy to meet me, so it seemed the gossip about my arrival had mostly been positive. A buff guy watching a dog pen beside the saloon introduced himself as Alex, eying me speculatively as he said he thought we’d get along great.

Now that the saloon had opened for the day, I went inside to greet the proprietor, Gus. Didn’t even check what he had for sale, since I didn’t want to be tempted to buy anything. Emily was at work and too busy to chat. To settle my empty stomach I ate a spring onion after leaving, not caring about my breath anymore. If Gus sold food he wouldn't want people to bring their own and eat it there.

The last remaining house in the main part of town held an elderly couple. Evelyn was welcoming, asking me to call her “Granny”. Her husband George was not, but I think I too would be rather grumpy if I was in a wheel-chair like him. A trailer stood near their house, but I avoided that too.

On the plateau north of the main area of town, surrounded by a park, stood a dilapidated house. It was locked and it didn’t seem like anyone was living there. Kind of looked as rundown as how I’d imagined Grandpa’s cottage before my arrival. I frowned at it, searching my memory in vain. Maybe if I saw the inside I'd remember if I'd been in there as a child.

Up another slope was a large building with a telescope in a small fenced-in yard. A dark-skinned guy, Demetrius, introduced himself as a scientist and mentioned being Maru’s father. No surprise there. Robin then emerged from the house.

"Have you met everyone yet? That sounds exhausting," she told me.

Probably more that I seemed exhausted after running around town for most of the day. I counted on my fingers more than once, saying names under my breath to figure out how many of the 26 I’d met. "Not yet. Just 23 of the 26 Lewis mentioned."

Robin merely nodded when I went to see if she had any more family members apart from Demetrius and Maru. I met a pale black-haired guy coming from their basement, Sebastian. He was rather obviously not the son of Demetrius, and seemed older than Maru, so... Robin’s son from an earlier marriage most likely, unless he was adopted.

"Oh. You just moved in, right? Cool. Out of all places you could live, you chose Pelican Town?" He seemed more negative about the town than about me moving in.

"Grandpa left me his farm, and I needed a change in my life," I said, not wanting to say too much.

"Cool." His tone said he didn't care about my reasons.

It was then that I caught a whiff of something I had learned to grow wary of. Well, that explained his attitude. I glanced at the laboratory room behind him before nodding to Sebastian and leaving.

Night was falling and I started looking for the path that would take me to the northern exit/entrance to my farm. In doing so I encountered a bright yellow tent with a scruffy-looking older man cooking some kind of root over a campfire. He returned my greeting in a guarded way.

I pursed my lips. If this guy counted, I was just missing one person, but at this time people would start locking their doors, making the remaining person impossible to find. Maybe I shouldn't have ignored the trailer and the museum. Finding the right path to return home, I paused. I had a vague memory of there being something north of there, but a landslide had at least blocked the way and maybe destroyed what was beyond. Hadn’t there been a railroad station? I think we took the train to see Grandpa a few times. Maybe that was why the walk to the farm had seemed so much shorter yesterday. I also hadn't seen the spa Mom had mentioned, so maybe it was there too.

Returning to the farm didn’t take long, and I cut down a couple more trees before I snuck over to my quarry. The copper ore node I located proved a lot harder than the regular stones elsewhere. Even the normal-looking rocks in the quarry were more difficult to turn into stones for crafting, and one odd-looking stone yielded a geode. Found some kind of seed while whacking weeds on my way to the quarry, but planting it had to wait until morning, when I had regained some energy. Went home to write down the day’s events before I forgot too many details.

 

[Jayamos]

I’m enjoying this! I think it’s tough to write the early game without getting bogged down in details players already know, but the family drama and the farmer’s reactions and clear voice bring it all to life. Looking forward to more. Also, purple trousers!

 

[Terdin]

Spring 2 and 3
I woke up feeling more refreshed than I'd expected after so much physical work. A dream of sorts had reminded me of tree seeds, and how to turn those into a handy snack. Also something about making seeds that would grow more of what I could forage. Weather forecast for tomorrow was rain, so a respite from watering. Fortune telling claimed I'd have bad luck. Maybe best to make sure I didn't fell a tree over myself.

Clint met me on my doorstep as I left to tend my crops and clear some more of my land. He mentioned having heard I'd got my hands on some copper ore and gave me the blueprints for a furnace. I looked after him when he left. He'd heard about it? Who'd snuck onto my farm? Only one I could think of was Lewis. Had he looked into my storage chest when he came to see if I'd shipped anything and then ran to tell Clint? Not nearly enough copper or stone yet to make a furnace.

Then I noticed my mail box had a letter in it. Someone named Willy wanted me to come see him on the beach. Well, it was one place I hadn't visited yesterday, so maybe that was the missing person. Hopefully he wasn't upset that he was the only one I hadn't greeted yet.

I still felled a few trees and watered my parsnips. Looked around for some more tree seeds and made a couple of snacks from them, wrapping them in maple leaves to keep them from messing up my backpack. Made another chest too. It would be bothersome to run back home every time my backpack became full, so having another chest at some other location could be useful.

Took the southern exit to look for spring onions. Despite the supposedly bad luck, there were quite a few of them. Took another detour to have Clint open the geode, which turned out to cost less than I'd feared. A Thunder Egg. Went to see if I could sell it to the museum. The proprietor, Gunther, wouldn't buy it, but asked me to donate it. When I did, to keep the displays from being completely bare, he handed me a small envelope "as a way of thanks", as he put it.

Then I made my way to the beach, steadying my nerves as I walked across the bridge leading out of town. A fish shop stood on the docks. To my relief, Willy greeted me warmly and mentioned having been out at sea yesterday, then handed me his old fishing rod. So, I couldn't have met him even if I'd come out here. That was a relief. Willy also mentioned buying any fish I caught. Maybe that was a decent way to earn some money?

I caught a couple of fish from the sea, struggling with each. Then gathered up the shellfish I could see at the beach, checking a broken bridge with some coral visible beyond it. That had to be worth more than the shellfish. And repairing a bridge was something I should be able to do if I had enough wood. Wondering how long it would take me to gather enough I went to sell my catch to Willy. Not much, but even a couple hundred G meant I'd be able to afford one more bought meal, or more seeds.

Maybe the fish in the river in town were less difficult to catch. They were, and I put down my chest by a bush near Jodi's house. I kept on fishing most of that day, greeting the few people that walked past, eating some onions, then trying one of the snacks I'd made. Definitely tastier than the onions. I even ate some of the smaller fish whole, after gutting them like Grandpa had shown me when I was little. Fishing was definitely demanding more of me than chopping wood was, though a couple of weeks ago I wouldn't have believed it. Night fell as it gradually got a bit easier to catch the fish. Caught a few geodes and other somewhat valuable items too, and of course some of the trash others had thrown in the river. Then I noticed Shane passing by. He told me to leave him alone, his breath reeking of beer. I would, at least tonight. Maybe I'd catch him at a better mood some time later, or at least less drunk.

Noticing how late it had become, I rushed home, throwing some of the fish in the shipping bin on the way. Didn't have time to write in my diary and dove into bed.

Again I woke up feeling really good. Something in the valley's air must be agreeing with me. Then I realized I remembered how Grandpa had made bait from bug meat. The bugs and flies on the farm were too small though and I didn't know where he'd got what he had used, so it was a future problem.

Like the forecast, it was raining on the 3rd, but the next day was supposed to be sunny. Good luck, according to the fortune teller. Took the time to take down some trees and make a snack from tree seeds before heading out to look for more spring onions. I could've saved myself the detour. Luck obviously wasn't involved with the growth of spring onions.

I went down to the beach, to see if what I'd learned about fishing meant I wouldn't struggle as much to catch the quicker fish there. It was decidedly easier. When I went to sell the first batch, I noticed Willy had a rod for sale that could be baited, and that he sold bait cheaply. Even some eel bait. Didn't some dishes use eel? With new determination I went back out, wanting to earn enough to afford the other rod. On my next visit to sell fish, I also checked the envelope Gunther had given me, and my eyes widened. 250 G? He must've been happier to have at least something to display than I'd thought. It allowed me to buy both the rod, the 11 pieces of eel bait he had, and as many pieces of ordinary bait as I could afford.

"When's a good time to catch eel?" I asked.

"Around now, lass. Some fish come and go with the seasons. Others come out at night or in the rain. In the case of eel, both."

Bait sure made the fish bite a lot sooner than they had when my hook was empty. I waited until nightfall before I put on my first piece of eel bait. The first one surprised me with how much more difficult it was compared to even the flounders, but I managed to catch it. Then I found that not just eel went for the eel bait, but when that ran out, I had 6 eels to show for it. I went to put them and the rest of my catch in my chest, even if I'd eaten some of the sardines and herrings, then tried the river. Caught a shad, which was new. Probably a species that came out in the rain, as I hadn't caught one last night. One small-mouth bass later, I got something else on the rod. It was a lot trickier than the eel, darting unpredictably here and there, and got off the hook.

Annoyed, I put away what I'd caught in the chest, ate some of the algae from yesterday, then went to the saloon to see if anyone else had braved the weather. Leah was there, as well as Gus, Emily, Willy, Clint, and Shane. Most of them gave me greetings that were friendly enough, but once again Shane was drunk and told me to go away.

I did so, giving the river fish another go until Shane passed by on his way home. Waiting for the fish to bite had left me with time to think. Alcohol tended to enhance whatever mood one was in. It was the third day straight I'd seen Shane grumpy and unwilling to talk, reminding me a little of how I'd been the weeks before I finally opened Grandpa's final letter. Was he in a depression? I had no idea what to do or say if that was the case. Trying to cheer him up would not work if it wasn't just a temporary setback. What I could do was keep on saying hello to him and hope to let him know he wasn't alone and shunned, even if he seemed to want to be. I hadn't seen anyone else talking to him, even if he probably was exchanging at least some words with Gus and Emily, and with those he lived with. But was it Marnie and Jas, or Leah? I followed him, noting that he headed for Marnie's farmstead rather than Leah's cottage. That might explain some of Jas' shyness too.

I went home, determined to write in my diary, but ended up nodding off at the low table around 2 am.

 

[Terdin]

Day 4 and 5
I once again felt strangely energized with just 4 hours of sleep. Or less, since I'd woken up during the night and moved to my bed. Another memory surfaced, this time of how Grandpa had made the crab pots he'd had soaking in the river. Not like I could make one anytime soon, since they required iron.

Forecast sunny, spirits slightly displeased. Living off the land mentioned the spring onions I'd already gathered a few of.

Not having much bait left, I went to my small quarry after watering the crops. I took out the nodes where I saw copper or geodes first, then a few of the rocks. While the axe had become easier to handle, the pickaxe required different muscles. When I spotted worms, I dug for them, hoping each time that I'd get bait, but instead I got mainly coal, and a few stones. Darn. Oh well. Grandpa had always said one couldn't have too much coal. Backpack full again, I went back to empty it, taking out a few rocks and branches along the way. Checking my stash I realized I had enough copper ore and stones to make a furnace, so I made it. Not enough copper left after it to smelt though.

Then took the route past the bus stop to town, making a detour for a dandelion and a daffodil.

I handed the daffodil to Caroline when I met her in the square. It never hurt to be friends with those running a store. To my surprise, she glanced over her shoulder towards the general store and handed me an envelope.

"Just something you can buy seeds with if you're short on money," she said in a low voice.

I nodded. "Thank you," I said belatedly. Had her husband complained about me not buying any seeds?

As she went over to chat with Jodi, I checked the envelope. Just 100 G. After a quick detour to greet Jodi I went to check Pierre's prices. The money would get me at most 5 seeds, but it would get me 20 pieces of bait. I hurried down to Willy's shop to buy bait instead, greeting the few villagers I spotted on the way. I barely registered their responses.

Went looking for spring onions and to my surprise I found 19 of them, with even some of silver and gold quality. While I'd met Haley going out with her camera my first morning, she wasn't there today and to be honest I was quite relieved to not have to talk to her. I spent the rest of the day near Jodi's house fishing in the river, eating a few spring onions when my strength waned. The fish were definitely getting easier to catch. I caught more gold quality fish than I'd done before, and even a few iridium quality. I somehow caught a couple of geodes and other items other than algae and trash. While I wouldn't pay 75 G to buy a joja cola, I didn't mind catching them. Quick energy boost, but made me restless.

Watching my float left me with time to think. If I were to earn a billion G, I'd need to average over 10 million a year. That sum would get me there in 100 years, which was a lot longer than I could expect to live. Even 20 million would be too low, getting me there in 50 years. I'd probably live that long, but my parents wouldn't. But right now, even 1 million seemed like an insurmountable amount. With what I'd earned over the past days it was clear I wouldn't reach my far-off goal by fishing alone, and I had no idea what would. But it would keep me fed and give me seed money - literally and figuratively - while looking for better ways of earning.

I used my last piece of bait, then was about to cast my line one last time when Shane passed by on his way home. I greeted him, getting a drunkenly loud urging to leave him alone in return. Then I hurried home, bringing some of the fish along to sell, as well as the geodes and an old spoon. At the last moment, I put most of the fish in my chest instead of the shipping bin. If I hadn't money on hand, I couldn't fall for the temptation to buy a cooked meal. With the geodes I'd gathered, it could be a good idea to have Clint open them. Gunther had mentioned occasional rewards for me as the musum collection increased.

I must've fallen asleep by the chest, considering what to bring to Clint and the museum.

Waking up I was a bit surprised to find myself in my bed. A muddy outline of a footprint on the floor, bigger than my feet, told me someone had helped put me to bed fully clothed. I checked my pockets, then the backpack. Nothing seemed to be missing.

Weather forecast for the 6th: rain. Luck neutral. Didn't need some fortune teller telling me that luck was in my own hands.

Exiting the house I found Marnie waiting on my doorstep. I braced myself for a lecture on not sleeping outside. No lecture came. She mentioned finding a stray cat near my farm. I looked down at the white cat by her feet and that was it. Of course I agreed to keep it. A cat could keep mice and other vermin from eating my crops before they ripened, even if she probably couldn't do anything about crows. And she would provide welcome company. Someone to come home to, who was also independent enough to not need constant attention.

I named the cat Belle, because she was a little beauty, and because cats often liked to play with bells. A quick check when Belle rolled over on her back on my sun-warmed porch revealed that she had been recently spayed. The scar was still red even if it had healed enough that Belle wasn't bothered by it. Had Marnie done that before bringing her over? If so, she must have found Belle over a week ago, before I moved in.

The next I noticed was that I'd got mail. The first surprised me. Linus claimed he'd scared away someone else digging through my pockets, but it sounded false. So, Linus had been the one to put me to bed, gently enough that I hadn't woken up. I checked my chest. Nothing was missing, and I still had as much small change as yesterday. He hadn't taken anything as a reward. Maybe I didn't have to be all that wary of him, but that didn't mean I wanted to make a habit of falling asleep outside my home. What if it had been someone wanting to take advantage of me? What if I had enough money that Linus or someone else felt I wouldn't miss some?

Second letter was one I didn't really want to open, as I recognized the envelope. What did Joja company want me? I'd collected my last paycheck already, and there shouldn't be anything more to tie me to them. My hands shook as I unfolded the letter. Oh. Only a notice that they'd cleared the landslide by the lake. Probably something sent to everyone in and around town.

Collecting the money from the shipping bin, I went to water my crops and found the parsnips ready to harvest. Just one crop to water, another parsnip judging by its leaves. I put away the ripe parsnips in the chest. The fish there seemed as fresh as they had been yesterday, making me grin. Apparently the preserving symbols worked as intended for me. Intending to fish by the lake if I couldn't find any rocks worth breaking on the mountainside, I made another chest to place somewhere there, and brought it with me along with my stash of spring onions.

I hurried past the bus stop, eager to reach the smithy soon after it opened. Then stopped as I encountered Lewis walking towards the farm. He congratulated me on my first harvest and urged me to build a scarecrow to protect my crops. Then he beckoned me to follow him, leading me through the park to the dilapidated house. The old community center. When he mentioned selling it to Joja if anyone else bought a Joja membership, I couldn't help but glance in the direction of Joja mart. They wouldn't get to hook their claws into me again. I looked back in time to see him looking at me worriedly. Was I the only one in town apart from him that didn't have a Joja membership? Had he misread my glance and thought it was just a matter of time until I could afford it?

Without commenting, he unlocked the door. Inside was a mess. Plants had broken through the floor, and a hut that Lewis suspected that Vincent and Jas had built. It was then that I saw it. One of those green apple plushies, but standing on spindly legs and waving at me. They were alive? Was that why Grandpa hadn't wanted me to touch them?

Lewis turned around to see what had surprised me, and the apple vanished from sight.

"It was something small here, but it vanished real fast," I said, not wanting to try to describe what I'd seen for fear of being thought of as crazy.

"Probably a rat," he theorized.

Not uncommon in run down buildings, but it was definitely no rat. Another green apple appeared behind him, unless it was the same, again waving to get my attention, vanishing when Lewis turned around to try to see what had startled me.

"You're worrying me, Erica. Maybe you've overworked yourself on that farm. Anyway, I'll leave the door unlocked. Maybe you can help take care of the rat problem. I need to go get some lunch."

Lunch? At this time in the morning? I looked at his back as he left, then went back inside to see if I could find any more apple plushies. I walked carefully in case the floorboards were rotten. The building was gutted. Someone had removed every piece of useful furniture and destroyed what they couldn't remove. The safe had been broken open and plundered. The old boiler looked like someone had set off a bomb inside it. The barrels in the old pantry looked decent at first but their bottom lids were missing. The last room held a surprise. A scroll of sorts, giving off a golden glow, and a yellow apple skittering away from it.

The scroll held a long row of unknown symbols, but some were similar to the symbols I'd carved into the chests. Shaking my head I left the building.

The fresh air outside reminded me of my errands to see Clint and Gunther. I hurried over there, eager to get that over with so I could see what the area behind the former landslide held.

Several pretty minerals in the geodes. Orpiment, Slate, Malachite, and to my surprise also copper ore and some stone. I had to run over to the museum after that to dump... donate the display-worthy stones and the rusty spoon. Gunther mentioned having something for me, but I went back to crack the last ones. Mudstone, Sandstone, and a total of 10 coal. I brought the rocks to the museum, more than half expecting Gunther to reject at least the mudstone. He didn't. He was happy to display it, and I asked him to show me the reward. 9 Cauliflower seeds worth 720 G. I eagerly accepted them.

I took detour to my fishing chest to get the green algae, checking trash cans along the way if there was no-one nearby. Most of the time I didn't find anything worthwhile, but the one outside Jodi's house held a field snack still in its paper wrapper. After that I headed over to the mountain lake and found a shored-up cave mouth, a mine. A bit further on a house could be seen between the trees. Mine first. If I could get permission to help dig there I might be able to earn a bit..

Cautiously I entered the cave, finding a one-eyed man peering down a shaft with a ladder. The man introduced himself as Marlon, leader for the Adventurer's guild located nearby. So, that was what the house was. He gave me permission to go down, with the caution that rocks and ore wouldn't be the only thing I'd find down there. Then he handed me a rusty sword.

"Let's see if you can reach the 5th floor. If you get there, try to reach floor 40, and once there you should see how much deeper you can get." With that, he left.

I watched him leave. He favored one leg, but still moved in a way that made me imagine he could handle just about anything in a one-on-one fight. Outside the sky was just starting to blush.

Why had he given permission to some random young woman? Telling me to go into danger not knowing if I could use a sword? It'd make more sense if he'd entrusted the mine exploration to Alex or someone. Was it because I had been the first person adventurous enough to peek into the mine? Had he been a friend of Grandpa, knew who I was, and wanted to see if I was enough like him? And what was down there? Mom had often told Grandpa to not frighten me with his made-up stories about monsters. Had those stories been true?

I turned my attention to the mine shaft, then noticed the elevator at the back of the room. Not functioning. Neither was the nearby mine cart. I sighed, feeling silly for having got my hopes up. Could I get them to work somehow? There had been mine carts at the bus stop and near Clint's. Were they connected?

I placed my newest chest by the broken elevator and dumped most of my stuff into it. Steadying my nerves, I climbed down into the dark, wishing I had a lantern.

The interior of the mine was more well-lit than I'd expected. One blob of slime oozed, then bounced in my direction. It seemed to take forever to take it down and its tackles hurt more than I expected from something so squishy. I pocketed a piece of its slime and some sap. So, some monsters were real.
No ore at this floor. No way down either, and the mines were supposed to go a lot deeper than this. Some rocks proved as tough as those in the quarry on my farm, others as easy as those elsewhere. One of them covered the ladder going further down.

Floor 2 gave me some copper ore, and some kind of large bug flew mindlessly back and forth. I attacked it, to see if they were easier than the slimes, and if that would give me the materials for making bait. My answers were yes, and yes. I avoided a slime that seemed fenced in by some rocks and looked for the way further down. Some of the rocks proved to contain pieces of coal. The sap got discarded for a piece of quartz that might be interesting enough for Gunther. I had enough sap from chopping down trees.

Floor 3 held some larvae. I killed two with some difficulty, but the third went into a cocoon and turned into a fly that was a lot different than the mindless bug, seeking vengeance for my earlier attacks. It went down after giving me some nasty scratches. 3 pieces of bug meat for later bait went into the backpack. I ate some onions before looking for the way down. I made sure to get all the copper ore before hacking at random rocks in my search.

Floor 4 brought more larvae, and more flies. The one mindless bug was a relief in comparison. More copper ore and quartz too and an earth crystal. I ate a few spring onions while looking for the way down. A glance at my watch put more urgency to my search. Just one more floor and I was down at the first level Marlon had mentioned. Why had he specified floor 5? I went down as soon as I found the ladder, not even worrying about what I might find, figuring I could scurry up almost as fast as I got down.

A second after I reached floor 5, I jumped at a "ding!" to my right and a lamp lit up. The elevator showed signs of having been returned to working order. I went in, noting that it only stopped on ground floor and floor 5, but I didn't stop to think more about it or who had made the repairs. It was already past midnight.

I threw the stuff for Gunther in the chest, took out my fishing rod and seeds, then hurried home, forcing myself to run despite being worn out and nursing injuries from the monster attacks.

 

[Terdin]

Cool!

Thanks! You're the cause of igniting the writing itch. My alpha reader is not happy that I've started something new instead of working on what I already had.

I love it!

Thanks! I've been busy trying to keep up with my inspiration.

I’m enjoying this! I think it’s tough to write the early game without getting bogged down in details players already know, but the family drama and the farmer’s reactions and clear voice bring it all to life. Looking forward to more. Also, purple trousers!

Thanks! And yeah, I know the beginning of the game has a strong tendency to be the same for many players, with limited ways of earning money and what not. Once a MC does appear in my mind and demands their story told, they tend to have a consistent personality. Seeing as how I have a strong preference for what clothes my farmers wear, it would be silly if the MC didn't like purple.

*checks word count* So far I've been able to keep up the same pace as when I was doing NaNoWriMo. Yikes.

 

[Gamer1234556]

Thanks! You're the cause of igniting the writing itch. My alpha reader is not happy that I've started something new instead of working on what I already had.

I am so flattered. Glad to see that I am inspiring people to write their own fanfics! Can't wait to see more!

 

[Terdin]

Day 6
When I woke up to the welcome sound of rain, I checked my injuries. Or rather, where they had been. Only some residual tenderness remained, but it was the first morning since moving here that I didn't feel perfectly fine despite all my hard work. Realizing I'd forgotten to write in my diary the last two days, I wrote down what I remembered of them.

Sunny tomorrow, poor luck. Well, that excluded going to fish at the river. With that kind of luck I would probably get way too many of those fish that I couldn't catch... yet. To my horror I found that I was putting more stock in what the fortune teller said. If monsters and those apple creatures were real, maybe luck did affect my life.

I went out to empty surplus items from my backpack before turning the bug meat into bait and filling the bait holder on the rod. Then I realized I had enough materials to make the scarecrow Lewis had mentioned and brought them out before wondering how I'd figured out how to make one. Probably some old memory awoken by hearing the word and left to grow while I was busy with other stuff. I was just about to go plant my seeds and the scarecrow when I noticed I'd got mail. More than one.

One slightly gnawed envelope with childish writing from someone who called themselves "hat mouse". Well, this hat seller sure worked on their name brand.

A letter from Pierre advertising the bigger backpack I'd seen in his store. Sure, I wanted it, but could I afford it anytime soon?

One from Robin thinking I should build a well. Not gonna happen, even if it was cheap. The plateaus were small enough that a well would only reduce the available space, and the canyon had easy access to water.

One from Marlon, asking me to slay 10 slimes. I had one down already, so... Or maybe it was 10 slimes from now on. Better go for that. They weren't that dangerous that I needed to risk getting accused of trying to cheat. They were just difficult and annoying to kill.

At the back of the mailbox I found a blue envelope, but not the pale Joja blue. A saturated, almost midnight blue. I opened it. The text was luminous blue against the dark blue paper.

"My sources tell me you've been poking around inside the old community center.
Why don't you pay me a visit?
My chambers are west of the forest lake, in the stone tower. I may have information concerning your... 'rat problem'.
-M. Rasmodius, Wizard"

Then I noticed the bottom of the letter, with pyramids and something that looked eerily like one of the apple creatures. He might know something about them. Maybe he could even translate that scroll for me.

My first thought was to go and bring the scroll over to the Wizard, but I hesitated. What if those apples would get angry if I took it? What if the writing faded if I took it out of the building, or one of the other villagers saw it? Better ask him to go over there to see if he could find and read it. But farm chores first, or I'd never reach my goal.

Seeds planted and a couple of trees down, I headed south, towards the forest I'd avoided. As a child, the bushes had been taller than me, making the forest seem much denser and easy to get lost in. Now, the lake was easy to find. I went around the north end to follow the west side, and spotted the tower through the canopy. Finding a path leading to it took longer.

At the foot of the stairs leading to the door of the tower, I swallowed nervously, my mouth dry. Was magic real too? Mom had insisted that it was all tricks and sleight of hand, but since yesterday I'd had been given reason to doubt it. What did the Wizard want with me? That thought repeated as I ascended the stairs.

The door opened before I could knock. I walked in trying to seem more confident than I was, but flinched when the door closed of its own accord behind me. A huge cauldron giving off green smoke bubbled next to me, making the tower smell earthy and somehow poisonous. The wizard stood in front of me, his clothes black or very dark purple, with gold accents. His purple hair and beard made me think of Abigail, whom I had only managed to meet once, but his hair had a more saturated tone. Next to him was something that looked like a textbook summoning circle.

"Come in. I am Rasmodius," he began, then launched into mentioning his achievements to make himself seem more powerful. And it worked. Maybe that was what made him break off halfway through the third or fourth such.

"What did you want?" I asked, in a voice that was squeakier than intended.

"You're Erica, and your arrival to the valley foretold."

"Because you knew Grandpa... Patrick gave me the deed to the farm?" I asked.

Instead of acknowledging or denying it, he turned to the circle. A glow formed at its center and there was one of those apple creatures, making an odd high-pitched sound.

"I believe you've seen one of these before. They are the Junimos, spirits of the valley, but they refuse to speak to me."

With another of their odd squeaks, it vanished and with it the light surrounding it.

"Are they dangerous?" I asked.

He shook his head. "They're harmless, but can be helpful."

"There was a glowing scroll in the community center, but I couldn't read it," I hurried to say, wanting to delay whatever task he'd give me. "I didn't want to touch it."

Rasmodius paused. "You found a scroll with an unknown script? Stay here. I'll go see for myself."

I jumped as he vanished in thin air. Blinking, I wondered if the after-images were real or just my imagination. Mere seconds later, the front door of the tower slammed open, startling me again. Rasmodius entered. Not a word of apology for scaring me, but then he did seem like the kind of jerk who didn't bother with apologies.

"I found the note, and deciphered it." He paused and pursed his lips before continuing. "It reads: We, the Junimo, are happy to aid you. In return we ask for gifts of the valley... If you are one with the forest, you will see the true nature of this scroll."

The pause in the middle of it was as if he censored himself. Before I could come up with a question about what to do, he frowned, then walked a few steps to his cauldron and stared into it for several seconds before adding a few ingredients and giving it a stir with a rod marked with odd symbols.

"Come here. My cauldron contains the essense of the forest. Baby fern. Moss grub. Caramel-top toadstool."

So that's why I'd smelled danger. The brew was poisonous. My legs obeyed him even though I wanted to run away. He scooped up some of the liquid in a mug and handed it to me.

"Drink it. It will make you one with the forest. The only way to attune your senses."

I stared at the green liquid that was still bubbling slightly even though the mug remained cool to the touch. Feeling like he'd force me to drink it if I didn't do it myself. Taking a deep breath I drank it in quick gulps, trying to avoid tasting it. There was no avoiding it though. It's slimy texture coated my mouth, making its taste linger on my tongue. Sharp, bitter, oily, fungal taste. My stomach roiled and it took all my willpower to avoid throwing up. I didn't want to be forced to drink a second mug of it.

Then its effect hit. I briefly felt his hands steadying me, before I lost all sense of time and space. Leaves swirled around me, through me. Trees, a forest, came into clarity. I was a tree. One of them. Drinking with my feet and breathing through my skin. Growing in experience, each year adding a layer, staying young-looking for centuries, and only fearing the axe that could end my life.

When I came to, I staggered as the hands that had held me let go.

"You have gained the power of forest magic. The scroll should reveal its secrets to you now."

It took a second to register what he had said. His tone was oddly satisfied. Why hadn't he drunk the liquid himself? Had I been his lab rat, to see if the brew was deadly or not? Or was it that he didn't consider the Junimo worth dealing with? He probably thought it was better to let someone like me cater to their whims, since they were asking for gifts of the valley in return for their aid.

There were so many questions I wanted to ask. But the first, whether magic was actually real, never left my mouth. It had been proven to me. I already knew it was real. Too real.

"It might be better to not mention the Junimo to the villagers," he said. "Most people can't see them."

It answered many of my other unspoken questions. Why the rest of my family had ignored the "apple plushies". Why I hadn't been allowed to play with them. They were living creatures, spirits taking visible shape, maybe physical too, unseen by all but me and Grandpa. The reason he'd so often called me his special grandchild.

I tried to sum up my remaining questions, but all that came out was a pathetic: "Why me?" I hadn't asked to be involved with magic and monsters and spirits.

"That is for you to find out in due time, young Erica. However, fate is ultimately in your own hands." His voice was stern, indicating I should leave.

I could hear another meaning behind those words. If I didn't feel like I was up to the task, he wouldn't stop me if I decided to end my life. Not what I needed to hear so soon after having been close to doing that. That time I had chosen to live when given a third option. There wouldn't be a third option this time. Without another word, I left, not wanting him to see me wipe away tears.

The forest outside seemed different somehow. More alive. A whisper of the myriad of life forms living unseen in the forest floor rejoicing in the rain. Decided to explore more of it, and was surprised at how easy it seemed to spot the edible things now. Picked up a couple of horseradishes and a dandelion on my way south.

A dilapidated house stood near the sea. Was this the 'old old old house' the hat seller had mentioned? I hurried to it, but stopped when I saw the proprietor. A large mouse. The 'hat mouse'. Had I already had that forest magic in me, and the potion just made me aware of it? I didn't go see what was for offer. For one thing I was pretty certain I didn't have enough money for any of its hats. Maybe I should get a hat to keep the rain out of my eyes, and avoid getting sunstroke on sunny days. I hurried past, crossing some rickety bridges over to the spring onion fields. 12 of them today.

Like my first day, I looked into the houses along my way on my way to the community center, apart from Leah's house. She had locked her door behind her, whichever way she'd been going. I even made detours. In part to get to know the townspeople better, part to hear a bit about their ordinary lives. They didn't have to deal with magic, monsters, and demanding spirits. Most of them complained about the weather in one way or another. Ordinary stuff. Reminding me of normal life. The oddest thing was that I met Sebastian near the Saloon. Our first meeting had got me thinking that he spent the daylight hours in his basement, only coming out at night.

"If I just disappeared would it really matter?" he asked in response to my greeting, sounding lost.

"It would," I assured him, but couldn't bring myself to specify further. "I got to go," I said before running off.

So, Shane wasn't the only one with a depression. Sebastian was too, even if he didn't get drunk and trying to turn the hopelessness to anger. I couldn't deal with either of them right now. I had enough with myself, needed to sort out what had happened today. I ran into Abigail coming out of the general store. For a second her purple hair gave me an urge to run away, then I reminded myself that Abigail wasn't related to the wizard.

"Hello."

"The valley looks more interesting in the rain... don't you think?" she asked me, more cheerful about the weather than anyone else I'd met that day.

"It's like everything comes alive," I said without thinking.

"Must be easier for you on the farm too," she said. "Seeds sprouting without you needing to water them."

I nodded and hurried up the stairs towards the community center. The door creaked open, protesting the damp weather. Went over to the scroll.

For a moment, the symbols wavered, but now I could read them. Most of it was as the Wizard had told me, but the last part stood out. "If you are one with forest magic, you will see the true nature of this scroll."

My heart sank. Not 'one with the forest'. Rasmodius had censored himself. Played down the importance to keep me from panicking too much before he could awaken the forest magic in me, before it was too late for me to escape and my fate was sealed. He'd used the correct terminology afterwards.

The words faded and was replaced with a picture of packets. Touching one, the scroll changed to show pictures of what the Junimo wanted, along with just a snippet of text. Winter forage bundle. Hopefully I'd see those things when winter arrived. Then looked at another. Spring forage bundle: Wild horseradish, Spring onion, Dandelion, and Daffodil. I had 3 of them. I put them there, then remembered seeing a daffodil in the park and ran out to get it. On my return, I found that they hadn't voided the first three items I'd left off. I added the daffodil, and the scroll's guardian Junimo bundled up the four items and ran away with them, dropping off a present for me. 30 wild spring seeds, for growing forageable items.

Then I sensed the arrival of two other scrolls, one after the other. I first checked the remaining bundles for the current scroll. The forest bundle would require me to stop making field snacks for myself for a while. The wild medicine bundle on the other hand made me feel like I'd never manage to get any of those items. Summer and Fall forage bundles would have to wait until then.

The closest of the new scrolls held bundles for crops I could grow in the various seasons. No winter crop bundle though. Rare crop bundle. Just needed one item, but I hadn't heard of either of them. Fish farmer bundle needed two of three options, but I hadn't caught any fish with roe so far, and I had no idea how I'd get squid ink. Artisan bundle needed a whole 6 items, but gave twice as many options for them, half of them fruit.

The other new scroll was by the broken fish tank, and all the bundles asked for various fish, specific for each, apart from the crab pot bundle where I could choose what to give the Junimo. I'd seen some of those options on the beach. Had sold them to Willy. Though I also had some of the fish for other bundles in my fishing chest in town. Eel, bream, sunfish, shad, even a sardine. I decided against fetching them. I'd planned to go fish at the lake, so I had better do that before it got too late in the day. Maybe those fish paid better than the sardines, herrings and anchovies at the beach. I ate the higher quality spring onions before leaving the community center, making space for the fish.

Unfortunately, watching my float also left me with time to think. About the motivations of the Wizard and Marlon. I did need the mines to get enough copper to upgrade my tools this side of winter, so I had to get used to fighting monsters. The Wizard though... Could I ignore his presence? I had my own goals in life, and they did not include using magic. A fish taking the bait interrupted my thoughts. Largemouth bass. I needed two of them for the bundles but this one was going in the shipping bin.

How much might the other villagers know? I couldn't tell them about the Junimo, or about having magic talent. Didn't want them calling me a witch, or shun me. More fish got caught as I considered everyone in town one by one and realize I didn't know them well enough. Then my backpack got full. I ate the lowest quality chubs and carps to make space and give me the energy to catch more. Rarely caught base quality fish anymore unless I cast too close to land where the small fish hid.

A while later, an owl flying by overhead reminded me it was late, so I took the northern route back to my farm. Most of the fish went into the shipping bin, including what I'd put away in the chest earlier. Hopefully it would give me enough to buy a hat. Put some copper ore and coal in the furnace before going inside to write in my diary. As much as I wanted to forget the day's events and what the Wizard had said, I couldn't.

 

[Terdin]

Day 7
Once again I woke up feeling perfectly fine. I froze mid-stretch, knowing why it kept happening. It was the forest magic. That magic, or maybe the Junimo, were also responsible for me waking up knowing how to craft new stuff. What kind of reason did the Junimo have for helping me? Did the forest magic have a mind of its own, some shadowy reason for making me stronger by the day? Now it was a bait maker and a recycling machine, neither of which I had all the materials for.

My mouth set into a line. They might be using me, but I couldn't deny having found their help so far useful for my own goals. My resolve lasted until I got the impulse to check a supposedly empty pocket in the lid of my backpack. It wasn't empty. It held a thin bundle of cards and a folder. All of them written in Junimo script. Interactive. Skill levels. Friend levels with the townspeople. Crafting information with all my options listed in the order I'd learned them. A map. An animal card for Belle, that would probably keep information of other animals too once I got them.

I sagged to the floor when I found the card for special powers. That cauldron. The mere memory of the taste made me nauseous. A lot of empty spots. What would be demanded of me to fill them? Some of them looked like books, so hopefully those powers wouldn't be too horrible to gain.

The folder contained stuff I'd shipped off, or acquired in one way or another. The star card in there... One star filled, for catching 10 different fish, lots of unfilled stars. At the back of it was a card that allowed me to see the bundles in the community center. When had the Junimo placed these cards in my backpack? When I was busy giving them items in that first bundle? Or during the night?

It took a while to gather my wits again. Right. Check the TV. Try not to think too much.

Sunny tomorrow, which meant watering. A new show with Queen of Sauce, teaching me the recipe for Stir Fry, or, should I say a better recipe for it. One that didn't rely on pouring a mix from a frozen bag.

Good luck today, according to the fortune teller. Felt like a good day to visit the mines... No, chores first, then go down to see what the hat mouse had to sell. Best to buy some seeds from Pierre if I could afford it, so I could complete the spring crop bundle. Belle had already headed out, and got petted briefly after I loaded the last of my copper ore into the furnace. Filled up Belle's water bowl. Then down to plant and water the wild seeds, and the cauliflower seeds. Had to extend my planted area and go fill the watering can once before all had been watered.

Yesterday morning I'd been fine. Today, I was reluctant to cut down trees, feeling guilty for ending their lives. Knowing I needed the wood, lots of it, I reconciled with that guilt, promising my tree brethren that I would plant trees too. Only problem would be finding a good spot for a grove.

Never got to the hat mouse. On my way there I spotted a purple wagon by the two huge ancient trees to the north of Cindersap forest. The woman in the wagon introduced herself as a traveling merchant who had odd stuff to sell. Well, actually, most of it was ordinary items. The odd thing was that she had just one of most of it. Then I spotted it. Rare seed. 5 of them. Could this be the answer to the rare crop bundle? Despite the 1000 G price tag I bought one before noticing it had to be grown in Fall.

"You won't find that anywhere else," she said. "The fruit it grows is in high demand by some people. It's difficult process to get viable seeds from them, but I know a place that's had some success with it. Hope to see you on Friday when I stop by next time."

High demand meant it probably sold for at least twice the price of the seed. If I got more of them, I could hand one fruit to the Junimo and still recover the cost of the seeds, with some profit left over for me if I got silver or gold quality fruits. From her comment, it seemed like she'd gotten an exclusive deal with the person making the seeds.

I returned home, took out a few more trees on my way through the farm, and realized I had close to what I needed to fix the bridge at the beach. Two more trees, then bring the wood into town. Spotting the sign on the General Store, I once again changed direction. Best buy the seeds for the bundle before the shop closed.
Met Abigail heading out and listened to her complaint about having pushed off her homework. Maybe she was younger than she looked. Then Jodi and George emerged from the private areas of the building. Jodi muttering something about what to make for dinner and George complaining about it being too cold.

"What were they doing?" I asked Caroline who was trying to seem busy by making the goods on the shelves look neat.

"The previous owners built an altar room. We aren't all that religious, but we let the townspeople use it. Tuesdays I hold a exercise class in the big room between here and the altar room."

"Oh, I thought everything beyond that door was off-limit to the rest of the town. I might see what that exercise class is about some time, even if I currently get plenty of training trying to tame my farm."

"The other women and I will be happy to see you there."

I nodded to her and went over to Pierre.

"Hello, Erica. Need some seeds or fruit saplings?"

"Just some seeds. Potato, kale, green beans, two of each. Maybe some parsnips if there's enough money for it. I really wish I could afford even one of the fruit saplings."

Just over 60 G remained after buying the other seeds, so I got 3 parsnip seeds rather than go for just one more potato. Then I hurried down to the beach to repair the bridge there, with just a few smaller detours to greet people along the way, wanting their comments about their ordinary lives, hoping they'd let me forget for just a few moments what had happened.

Picked up the two coral pieces that I could get by the tidal pools. Tides had washed away those I'd seen last time. Considered selling them to Willy, but instead hurried home and placed them in the shipping bin. The new seeds needed planting, and watering. So much for my intended full day of mining. But enough remained that I could go through the backwoods, get some copper ore for the furnace, and maybe take down a few slimes. Wouldn't hurt to get some more bug meat for bait too. Waved a greeting to Linus on the way.

"Have you come to ridicule me?" Linus asked.

"What? Why would I do that? I just wanted to say hello."

"Oh. It's just that I'm used to minding my own business. Too many make fun of what they don't understand."

"I'm off to explore the mines," I said, feeling better to have at least someone knowing where I'd gone if I ended up needing rescue.

Linus raised his eyebrows, but gave me a nod that he'd at least heard what I said.

Floor 5
Didn't seem too bad at first, until one rock sprouted legs and attacked when I tried to destroy it. Was surprised when it dropped a cherry bomb and a crab. I immediately thought of the crab pot bundle. 2 of the bugs gave me bug meat. A slime. Found the ladder down while breaking a path to some boxes. Another rock crab thing attacked when I'd almost reached them, dropping another cherry bomb. Nothing in the boxes.

Floor 6
Felt insecure at first at not having the elevator available for an easy escape. But I only found some of the bugs, and a slime. Three copper ore nodes, one of them requiring a detour after finding the ladder.

Floor 7
Could see the ladder down beyond some rocks when I arrived on the floor. A welcome surprise, even more so than the nearby odd-looking node that dropped a topaz. At first I thought there were no monsters, but when I spotted a slime, I went for it. Spotted 2 copper ore nodes beyond the ladder and got those too.

Floor 8
Three slimes, fortunately enough not at the same time. The last slime dropped a ladder. I ate the green algae that two of them had dropped while looking for copper ore. Again just two nodes. Pocketed a quartz that just lay there, having made space for it by eating the algae. One rock crab attacked when I got too close to it, but I didn't stay to fight it and ran for the ladder.

Floor 9
The first slime I encountered dropped a green algae. I dropped the pieces of slime I'd pocketed, not seeing much value in them other than as trophies, to get the green algae so I could eat it. Two more slimes and a bug made me feel I'd cleared up the monsters on this floor. Until I stepped on the sandy part and something attacked me from below. I desperately flailed at it before it could retreat beyond my reach, receiving several bites to my legs and feet before it died. Got a geode for my troubles, at which I again dropped the slime pieces from the last two. Some barrels in one corner held some wood, but there was nothing I wanted to throw to make room for that.

Floor 10 surprised me.
No rocks to break, no monsters, just an elevator door, a chest and a ladder down. I went up to put away most of my loot before going back down. The chest was still there, and proved to contain a pair of leather boots, sturdier than what I had on, providing some defense. I put them on before I realized the elevator's usefulness had extended again. Went back up to decide what to bring home.

Sorting through the chest, my thoughts swirled. Did the elevator have one stop for every five floors? Were the Junimo, or whoever, only repairing the elevator bit by bit to avoid me overreaching and getting myself killed if the monsters grew more dangerous by the floor? Should have enough copper now to be able to upgrade the pickaxe and make my life a bit easier. Just needed more money. Which meant fishing. I was one slime short of being allowed to enter the Adventurer's Guild. Drat.

Tried to hurry home, but my wounds made every step painful. Halfway through the backwoods I couldn't take it anymore, so I stopped and just curled up to sleep, not caring what happened as long as I didn't have to take one more step until morning.

 

[Terdin]

Day 8
Woke up... in my bed. I lay still for a moment, processing that I'd slept so hard I didn't notice getting carried for such a distance. When I got out of bed, it took me a while to register something else. My feet, and legs didn't protest. Hesitantly, I peeled off bandages to check where I'd been bit. A bit of redness, but no broken skin. My socks and trousers had blood stains on them though, along with some of the fluids from the monsters. I changed my socks, noting for the first time that the boots I'd found were my size. Marlon's work? Was that why I'd found a ladder ready to use on floor 7 of the mines?

I changed to clean socks and checked the TV. Sunny tomorrow. Fortune teller telling me the day was in my hands. Living off the land mentioning fences for animals. As if the natural escarpments wouldn't keep them mostly contained. That said, I could use some fencing along the cliff edges to ensure I wouldn't fall off if working late into the night and forgetting where I was.

Checking my backpack, the skill card showed I now was level 1 for both combat and mining. Had been at 0 yesterday. That explained why I had gained a few recipes. Wouldn't make any of them anytime soon. I needed the copper ore for upgrading my tools, and the bug meat was better used as bait than for making a ring. Didn't even want to contemplate turning them into a steak, not even if I'd had enough of it. Yuck!

Someone had sent me mail. Robin, suggesting I expand my cottage to include a kitchen, which was already on my to-do list. Then a letter from Harvey saying someone had brought me to his clinic and that he had taken care of me free of charge because I had too little money. That someone was probably Linus. Darn. I'd forgotten to thank Linus yesterday. Maybe I had better do that today. Now I had to thank Harvey too.

I put some copper ore in the furnace and went to pet Belle and refill her water bowl. Then went to water my crops. The first time I refilled the watering can I washed my socks too. Then used the watering can to try to remove the worst stains from my trousers, wishing - not for the first time - that I had more clothes available to me. Refilled it after the remaining crops had been watered, to make tomorrow easier for me. Refilled the furnace.

While I had intended to fish today, I went to check the quarry first, gathering a few more pieces of copper ore, and two geodes. Cleared out some of the ordinary rocks too, and digging up a couple of spots that held clay and coal respectively. Took out a couple of pines before gathering the money from the shipping bin and heading into town with my geodes and fishing rod.

Encountered Harvey where I'd spotted him on my first day. He looked surprised to see me.

"Thanks for taking care of me," I said to not forget it.

"How come you aren't bedridden today? How are your feet? I can't believe you were so exhausted you slept through an oppossum or raccoon trying to eat you alive. I was thinking about going to check up on you, certain that you wouldn't be able to get out of bed."

"The animals probably left me alone. It was the monsters in the mine that did a number on my legs."

He paled. "You've been going into the mine? It's been off limits for years. Marlon's been sure to keep people out of there, only allowing Clint in from time to time. I think Clint's a member of that Adventurer's Guild."

"Marlon's the one who gave me permission, and a sword. And an invitation to join the guild if I pass his test," I added. "I guess Linus might've been the one to bring me to your clinic."

A slight twitch, confirmation of my guess.

"The person preferred to be anonymous," Harvey said. "They helped me carry you over to your cottage after I'd seen to your wounds. I still can't believe you're up and walking. You should take it easy today."

"I'd planned to spend most of the day fishing," I admitted. "But really, something here seems to agree with me. Before coming here I wouldn't be able to manage on just over 4 hours of sleep, but here I wake up on my own just as the sun peeks over the horizon." I pulled up a trouser leg to show him where one of the more painful bites had been. "And I never healed this quickly. If there's a next time, could you just disinfect and tape the wounds?"

No ifs about it. There would be, I needed the metals from the mine, but I didn't want to worry him.

"That would be unethical," he began, then bent to probe my leg. "But maybe I could make an exception for you if you are certain about it." He straightened and looked sternly at me. "I'd rather that you avoid the mines altogether. Lewis said something about you having a quarry on your farm. Couldn't you get the minerals you need from there? Or you could buy them from Clint. You shouldn't be putting yourself in mortal danger just for a bit of metal."

"I'll consider it," I said before leaving, adding 'for all of two seconds' in my mind. Quarry would take too long to gather enough to upgrade my tools. Clint wanted too much money for his ores.

I noticed the calendar outside the general store for the first time and checked it. I'd missed Lewis' birthday. Beside it was a help wanted board. Jodi was asking for a flounder. Went inside to say hello to Pierre and his family before heading for my fishing chest to see if I had one left. Leah was there too.

Leah stopped me on my way out. "Why did you want to become a farmer?"

I could almost hear Pierre pricking up his ears to listen. "I wanted to escape my old life," I said, picking the easiest explanation. No need to tell her how depressed I'd been, or about my vow to Mom.

"Hey, that's pretty much why I came here too. I wanted to connect with nature more, both for inspiration and materials."

"Grandpa left me the farm, probably because I was really admiring him when I was little, and he often called me his special grandchild," I added.

"I hope you'll grow some tasty vegetables," Leah said. "I'd better go pay for these before Pierre thinks I'll forget."

I hurried over to my spot for river fishing. No flounder in the chest. And no sunfish either, so I must've sold it. Ocean fishing it was then. But geodes first. 4 of them this time, and thanks to the corals, I could afford it. Jamborite, Alamite, Earth crystal, and some stones. It was tempting to sell them to Clint, but the rewards from the museum could be worth more.

I handed them in, placed them on the shelves, and Gunther told me he had another reward for me. Melon seeds. A Summer crop if I remembered correctly.

"Could you hold on to that for a while? I'll come get it before Summer begins," I promised him.

"Sure. When I put together the rewards I figured you'd take most of Spring to reach 10 donations, not just a week." Gunther looked like he was about to say something else, but he just shook his head. "Sure feels good to have something besides books to show the visitors. Penny brings the children in for tutoring a couple times a week and last time they eagerly talked about what might've showed up next time."

"I'm glad they won't be disappointed. I hope I'll find something interesting while fishing."

"It would be nice if you could find the missing books too," Gunther said. "Though hopefully not by fishing. I don't want to have to spend days to try to rescue a book from water damage." He led me to the shelves to show the various categories that had books missing. Just about the only section intact was the one for children's litterature. "Here's a list of the missing books."

I pocketed the paper and nodded farewell. "I hope I'll be able to find them in good condition," I said and left.

On the beach I picked up a clam, leaving the other one and a mussel, then went to a place near Willy's front door and cast my line. Had intended to only go inside to sell my catch just before 5 pm, but my backpack filled up and forced me to go in before that. Because of the 3 geodes and 2 magma geodes that had been in small treasure chests that snagged on the line. Only sold the anchovy, the herrings, and one of the sardines. Kept the two flounders.

With the quest item in hand, I went to hand it in, greeting Elliot on my way to the beach. Picking up the left-over shellfish and getting a gold quality coral from the tidal pools, I went into town. I found Jodi and her sons gathered in the kitchen, dinner almost ready.

"Hello. Do you need something?" Jodi asked.

"Just caught this for you," I said.

"Oh, it looks delicious. Makes me wish I had waited with making dinner, or that you'd caught it an hour earlier." She took a look at my face. "Now it'll make us a nice dinner tomorrow," she added. She put it on a plate and put it in the fridge. "Here's for your trouble, dear. Buy yourself something at the saloon or something. I've heard you don't have a kitchen at your place yet."

"I will," I said. Not exactly a lie, I would have a kitchen at home some day, even if I wasn't desperate enough to buy food at the saloon.

"Mom's made lentil soup today," Vincent said, sounding miserable.

Jodi stopped mid-stir and turned to her youngest son. "And you'll eat it," she told him sternly.

"How's it going?" Sam asked me, nodding towards the fishing pole in my hand.

"Well enough. I'm catching enough to eat, and sell."

"That's good," Sam said, with Jodi saying the same thing almost simultaneously. "I hope you find a way to cook your food," Jodi added.

I shrugged. "I will, once I have a kitchen. For now, it's just bony sashimi," I said to remind her that some forms of cooking wasn't more than presenting the raw ingredients in a pleasing way.

"What's that?" Vincent asked with sudden interest.

"I remove the guts, and often the head and skin too, then I eat the fish, bones and all. Sashimi is slices of raw fish, so it's similar in taste."

Vincent turned to his mother, but Jodi shook her head. "No. You complain when you find fish bones in cooked fish. But tell you what. I'll give you a small slice of that flounder to let you try raw fish."

"Yay!"

I headed out to fish, and kept it up until I ran out of bait, realizing I'd forgotten to make more. Two more geodes. Sorting through my chest and bringing the geodes and some of the stuff I could give the Junimo, I went to the saloon first to meet a few more people.

Pam was too drunk to even notice me saying hello. Clint sat at a table with Willy, glancing at the bar from time to time.

"Pam and Clint come into the saloon almost every night. Shane too. I'd probably go out of business if they stopped coming, so don't try to drive them away," Gus warned me.

"I doubt I could," I said.

Emily took a long look at me, then leaned closer. "This world's full of spirits and magic... Some don't want to believe me, but it's true. I can see it in your eyes... You believe in the other world, like me," she said in a conspiratory voice.

Was she one of those that could see the Junimo? I didn't so much believe in magic as knowing it was real. But it wasn't something I wanted to admit to. Didn't want to be seen as an excentric or crazy. Emily was secure enough in the community that she dared to be open with her beliefs and opinions.

"There is a lot of stuff in this world," I said noncommittally, then turned to the last figure in the saloon. Shane.

"What do you want? Money? I'd give you a pot of gold to leave me alone."

"No, it's not what I want. And you wouldn't," I said. "Not if it meant that you had to stay sober for a week because you couldn't afford any beer."

Shane groaned at that thought, and I slipped away while he considered the prospect. I did need money, but that didn't mean I wanted to take advantage of another poor person.

The night air felt good. I dropped off the sardine, a bream, and the two shellfish with the Junimo, then headed north to see if I could catch Linus before he went to sleep. He was nowhere to be seen, so I peeked into his tent where I found him sorting through a bag that had some leaves of wild horseradish poking out of it.

"Hello. Just wanted to say thanks for the other night," I said quickly before he could derail me again.

"No need to thank me. I'm happy by myself, and don't need new friends."

"I just wanted you to know I'm not ungrateful." I nodded to him. "Good night."

I picked up a nearby leek that Linus had somehow missed, then headed into the backwoods. Another leek and a wild horseradish made me glad I'd just made room in my backpack, then made it home before midnight. Put more copper ore in the furnace, and prepared my backpack for tomorrow's chores, before going in to write in my diary.

 

[Luna_Tuna]

The only good fanfic I’ve read on here 🥹

 

[Gamer1234556]

The only good fanfic I’ve read on here 🥹

 

[Terdin]

The only good fanfic I’ve read on here 🥹

Thanks! =^.^=

Yours is a darker story with a lot more tension and high early stakes. I like it so far, but I can see why others might not.

 

[Cuddlebug]

Hey, no reason to be sad, tastes are different and I totally agree with @Terdin 🫶

 

[Terdin]

Day 9
Woke up with an idea for how to cook over a campfire, and how to turn moss into soup. Darn wizard and his cauldron, though admittedly he'd said it contained moss grubs, not moss. Still not anything I wanted to try to eat. Then again, I hadn't seen any moss so far, so it wasn't like I could cook it even if I'd wanted to.

Weather forecast rainy, luck bad.

I made a detour to pet Belle before watering my crops. Went to check the quarry, and clear out some of the rocks from it. I'd need the stones for buildings, like a silo so I could store food for animals ahead of time.

I debated what to do with the day. Maybe better to go fishing after opening the geodes and turning in anything new to the museum. Getting anywhere in the mines might be difficult on a bad luck day, but I could visit floor 11 to look for more bug meat and copper ore... No. Fishing was better. It wouldn't make people worry and gossip about me. Maybe place a fishing chest at the lake too, so I could avoid having to throw stuff away. But I needed a few more trees for that. Went to cut down some of the trees near Grandpa's grave. It was out of the way for me, and had been left mostly alone, so I went in with axe, pickaxe, and scythe so I wouldn't have to go back to fetch the right tool. Came out with more than enough wood to make a chest and the satisfaction that more of the young saplings now had the space to grow into mature trees.

Belle got interested in the bait-making process, and ate the few scraps that were left over, hopefully a sign that she was starting to see my farm as her home. It was annoying to have to take a detour to the far side of town to handle the geodes, but I consoled myself that it allowed me to talk to people along the way.

Checking the clinic, I found that Maru worked as receptionist, which seemed odd for a town this small.

"What do you do around here?" I asked.

"I sort the files, and analyze various types of samples. Just Tuesdays and Thursdays though. Besides that, Harvey likes to keep me around in case his medical equipment malfunctions. I know my way around mechanical and electronic stuff too."

I glanced at the computer behind her. "Yeah, I guess a malfunction would be anything from a major inconvenience to mean a difference between life and death," I ventured.

"Must be pretty easy to be a farmer, I guess," she said, changing the subject. "Not much that can malfunction there, is there?"

"Not right now. I imagine there may be at some point, but right now it's more of a hobby level vegetable garden than a working farm," I admitted.

Harvey emerged from the back. "Hello, Erica. Can I do anything for you?"

I shook my head. "Just came in to see what the clinic looked like."

He nodded. "Take care not to overwork yourself."

I left, and spotted a daffodil across the square. I took a detour to pick it. Made it back to check the general store and look for Caroline since she seemed to like daffodils. Music from behind the door reminded me it was Tuesday. After a quick greeting to Pierre, I snuck into the interior of the building to see which of the town's women were there, feeling like I was trespassing. Marnie, Jodi, and Robin were doing various forms of training, all of them too focused on what they were doing to do more than acknowledge my greeting. Emily danced to the music and found the breath to tell me that exercise should be fun.

"Hello, Caroline." I tried to hand her the daffodil.

"Thanks. Could you put it on the dresser over there. I'm all sweaty and salt's not good for flowers."

I did as asked.

"Good to see you came to see what this is about," Caroline said. "If you stop by another time, maybe we could discuss what you feel you need to train."

"Yeah, maybe. See you later." I ducked my head and made it out of there.

Leaving the store I found Abigail had left her room to help out at the store. She groaned as I approached. "I'm not in a good mood right now," she warned me.

"Some later time then," I said and left after a quick exchange of greetings with Lewis who'd come to shop.

Went in to say hello to George, but he didn't want to talk. From further inside the building came grunts from Alex. The door to his room was closed. I quickly left to avoid finding the cause first-hand. Evelyn was tending a nearby flowerbed. Maybe she knew. After greeting her, I changed my mind and decided not to ask what Alex was up to. Didn't want to embarrass or upset her.

Hurried over to Clint to open the geodes. The first three gave me a total of 5 stones. Then a calcite and a dwarfish helmet. I blinked at the helmet, and for the first time I knew what made Gunther like working at a museum. The only time I'd seen one had been at the national museum in Zuzu city, and now I had one that I was allowed to touch. Then an orpiment and another helmet.

"Magma geodes? Seems like you've been pretty deep into the mines," Clint said when I took them out of my backpack.

"No, not yet. I found these while fishing." I resisted asking about how deep one had to go to find them. Probably deeper than the 40th floor.

"Oh."

It was kind of disappointing to just get some copper and iron ore, and just one piece of each, from the magma geodes. I still thanked him for helping me, then recalled something.

"I think I've already donated an orpiment to the museum. Could I sell it to you?"

"Sure. I'll give you 80 G for it, take it or leave it."

I sold it, recovering some of the cost of breaking open the geodes. Orpiment went for a lot more at the places that sold minerals to those thinking any kind of pretty stone had special powers. But resellers had to take out a profit, just like how Clint might buy my ore for a pittance while selling it to me for many times that. Joja corp. did the same. The only reason they could sell stuff so cheap was that they paid as little as they could get away with to their providers and workers. Had experienced some of that myself.

Gunther was happy with the new donations.

"This one's an old design. You say you found it in a geode? That means it could be from before the elemental war, fought between dwarves and some of the more intelligent monsters. Began over a thousand years ago. Sources are a bit vague on both beginning and end of it."

Made a couple more detours before I could start to fish. One to say hello to Robin and Demetrius, and check what I needed for a silo, and another to deposit the stones, ores, and the too-small helmet in my mine chest. Said hello to Linus along the way but only got a grumble in response. I placed the new chest on the closer of the two small islands in the lake, right next to the footbridge.

As I stood there, I had once again time to think between each nibble. Not much I could do about Joja other than avoid them as much as I could. Maybe I should've gone in to try to talk to Shane before he could get drunk, but it wouldn't do much if he'd been warned he'd get fired if he talked to people on the clock. The community center on the other hand was something that I could do something about. Hand stuff in and hope the rewards were worth the effort. The mines were also something I could do something about, even if Clint and Marlon might be the only ones to appreciate it. Oh, and Gunther too. He liked the minerals and so far he hadn't asked how I'd got them.

Apart from fish and trash, I'd also caught a couple of treasure chests with ore. Then I caught a third and I stared at the content. Stone, ore, and a book in perfect condition titled Jewels of the Sea. I quickly checked the list of books missing from the library, but this wasn't one of them.

I hesitantly tried to read it, at which point the pages caught life, turning rapidly on their own. Then it flew at me, into me. I'd braced myself, but still staggered and found myself unable to breathe while it felt like something was dissolving inside my ribcage and spreading throughout me. I'd expected a bruise or even a wound, not... whatever that book did. When I could, I gasped for air.

Was this one of those things on the cards? I checked my backpack, and found an image of the book on my special powers card. Touching it revealed a mention that I now could get roe when fishing. Which meant I might be able to complete the fish farmer bundle at some point. I looked at the other book-shaped outlines. I'd have to go through that kind of experience that many times more? Why couldn't it just have... no. It didn't seem like just knowledge that could be transmitted by some words on a page. Maybe the other books weren't either.

As much as I couldn't deny that this transmitted power could be beneficial, and that I was curious about the other books, part of me still wanted to run to the Wizard and beg him to remove the magic and stuff from me. Yet I didn't want to give him that satisfaction of seeing me break down. Nor did I want to find out what kind of price he might demand of me for it or if the removal would be even more unpleasant. If he even would. A suspicion rose that he would claim it was impossible, whether or not he could do it. The Junimo seemed somewhat interested of communicating with me, while they'd refused to tell him anything, so he wanted to see what I could get out of it.

I was about to put away the cards when I noticed the skill card had changed. Fishing had gone up to 5. I stared at it, noting that the 5 and 10 levels were marked differently. Something would happen during the night, and with what had just occurred with the book, I wasn't sure I'd like it. There was no way for me to avoid sleeping. Even the times I had tried to stay up, I'd fallen asleep or lost consciousness at 2 am.

I cleaned and ate two low-quality chubs, then grimly resumed fishing. Tried to focus on the float bobbing on the water and push aside my thoughts.

Sebastian walked up to stand almost beside me, and lit a handrolled cigarette. The smoke made me cough the time he exhaled it in my direction to get my attention. Yet I waited until I'd landed my next fish before I acknowledged his presence.

"Why did you do that?" I asked, raising my voice slightly to overcome the sound of the small waterfall south of the lake.

He shrugged. "I've been thinking... People are like pebbles skipping across the surface of the lake. Eventually we're gonna sink."

"Or make it to safety on the other shore," I replied, suspecting his comment was as much caused by depression as what he was smoking.

In response, he dug out a pebble and made it skip across the surface. Three times before it couldn't go further. Tried again. Four skips, then a green fish leaped from the lake and tried to eat it.

"Oh man... was that the Legend we just saw?" He blew more smoke my way.

"The what? I thought it was just a largemouth bass."

"Like, it's a legendary fish that no-one's been able to catch... That's why everyone just calls it the Legend. Supposed to only be seen when it rains."

I nodded doubtfully and cast my line again. The last bit made it more likely that my guess had been correct, even if I hadn't seen any largemouth bass past 7 pm before. Sebastian said something about me not having a chance against the Legend, and I didn't bother with an answer, knowing a beginner like me wouldn't be able to catch it if experienced fishers had failed. Maybe I could make an attempt once I got better at fishing and could afford better gear. Sebastian left a while later. I ate two more low-quality chubs to regain the strength to cast a few more times before it was midnight and time to make a final selection of what to bring home.

I brought all the iridium and gold quality fish, as well as the silver bullheads, and placed them in the shipping bin, hoping they'd sell for enough to pay for upgrading the pickaxe. Checking my chest, I placed two of the three crabs in the shipping bin too. Then went inside to write in my diary.

 

[Terdin]

Day 10
Woke up with sweat cooling on me. The dream had seemed too real. A choice had been laid on me, whether I wanted to keep on fishing, or if I wanted to take it easier with crab pots. It had probably been correct in that the crab pots were easier. Just bait them and come back the next day. But I would still have to make the crab pots, using materials I could ill afford. I had chosen to become a fisher, to take the more difficult path.

Why? I needed to make my life easier, not more difficult.

Something from yesterday surfaced and I checked the cards. Now, when I touched the lit up elongated box for Fishing 5, more text appeared. Fisher, fish worth 25% more.

"Drat. Why didn't I wait with selling the fish?"

Shaking my head I checked the TV. Forecast windy with a pollen warning, luck bad. Couldn't argue with that.

Belle was curled up on the mat, happy that she could spend the day indoors. I left her the fish heads from the chubs I'd eaten yesterday in case she couldn't catch any mice or bugs in here. Some scraps of raw fish still clung to the chub heads. Time would tell if she'd eat them whole or just clean them of anything edible. Or if I'd find the cleaned fish heads in my bed. Cats could be sadistic little creatures when they wanted to be.

Once again I'd got mail. A letter from Dad, asking how I was, and with 500 G folded into it. Sure, he claimed it was because he had more money left over now, but that rang hollow. It was just an excuse for the gift, to make me feel less guilty for receiving it. It was useful though.

I checked the shipping bin to see how much the fish had got me, and blinked in surprise. More than I'd expected to get. Had that bonus counted from the moment I reached Fishing 5? Now I had just over 3,000 G. More than enough to upgrade the pickaxe. I grabbed 5 copper bars and made sure I brought the pickaxe along. Almost ran towards town when I remembered the shops, including the blacksmith, wouldn't open until 9 am. Enough time for me to go and see if there were any spring onions that might help me keep up my energy levels through a day of fishing.

Found a spot of wriggling worms, unless they were Junimo arms waving at me to show they'd found something since I'd never actually got any worms or bait when trying to dig them up. In any case, an old rusty spur emerged, adding the museum to my list of places to visit.

Just nine spring onions, but two silver and one gold quality. Another spot beconing to me was near them and I dug up the book. I barely had time to look at the title before it vanished from my hand in the same way the Junimo tended to vanish. One of the lost books.

"Thanks for taking it to the library for me," I said, hoping one of them heard me. "And thanks for the artifact earlier," I added.

I made a detour to the beach, finding another spot that had some glass shards, old enough that the edges had been worn off. I thanked the Junimo for showing me where they were, before I picked up some coral and a sea urchin that I sold to Willy.

"How's the fishing going for ya?"

"Good enough. Going to spend the day fishing."

"It's a good day for it, lass."

I went to donate the two artifacts on my way to see Clint. Penny sat outside the museum under a small roof that I hadn't noticed until then. She said she wanted some time alone before going inside, so I left her to go donate. No rewards yet, but Gunther was happy to have two more artifacts to place.

"Hey! How are your tools holding up?" Clint greeted me when I stepped into his smithy.

"Could be better. So I came to upgrade my pickaxe." I handed it over along with the 5 copper bars he'd listed.

"And the money... that's 2000 G. I'll start working on it straight away. You can come pick it up the day after tomorrow."

"Thanks," I said, despite having hoped it would be done sooner.

I went to check how much the backpack Pierre sold would cost, checking the trash cans along the way. Only good one was some green algae in Lewis' trash can.

The General Store was locked, and a look beside the door told me all I needed to know. Closed Wednesdays. I swore under my breath, then paused at the foot of the stairs leading to the park. The roof of the community center was just barely visible through the rain. Maybe I could hand some stuff to the Junimo.

I returned to my fishing chest by the river. Looking in to say hello to Emily and her sister, as well as Jodi and Vincent. Sam wasn't in, and Jodi mentioned he was working.

I quickly caught a gold quality shad. The river fish bundle had listed catfish and tiger trout, so maybe the one that had got away earlier was one of them. Two smallmouth bass later, something bit that was just as uncooperative as the one I'd lost. Several times I thought I was about to lose this one too, but after a long struggle, I had it in my hand. A catfish. Getting the silver quality shad I had from before, and one of the silver quality eels, both of which I hadn't been able to fit in my backpack last time, I headed for the community center.

Dropped off the gold shad for the quality fish bundle first, then the fish for the river and night fishing bundles. Quickly left after that, feeling that the Junimo, many of them, were watching me. As if each item left for a bundle drew more eyes, more expectation. Maybe I could get them some of the fish from the lake too today, even if that meant adding to the tension inside the building.

Something waved at me on the bare ground in front of Robin's house. Not the movement that had given me artifacts. I dug it up. 3 carrot seeds. Free seeds were good. They went into the lake fishing chest while I surveyed the situation. I could give them a carp now, but I lacked largemouth bass and bullhead. Needed two of the bass, actually, and they weren't on the feed once evening fell.

Got the fish I needed before 7 pm, along with a joja cola, 3 carp, and some trash, but I was running out of bait when I caught the last largemouth bass. Picked up the seeds, the fish I needed, and dropped off the trash apart from the cola.

Took a deep breath before entering the community center to drop off 4 more fish. Some kind of energy was definitely gathering. I went to check the other two scrolls. Decidedly less energy in the pantry, where I hadn't given them anything. The first room should've had some tension since I'd given them four items, but it was as low energy as the pantry. As if completing the bundle had released whatever energy had built up.

How many others in town could sense this energy? Stop in the door thinking the fish tank's energy meant the building was haunted? Would they see the scrolls or would the Junimo hide them from the townspeople? The Wizard would sense the energy and know exactly what it was, I was sure of that, but would anyone else? Best not to ask. I fled from the building.

Not much fishing to be done without bait, unless I wanted to wait seemingly forever for the next bite. I went to the saloon for some human interaction to ground myself. Sam and Harvey stood by the bar. Sam mentioned something about liking Joja cola on rainy days. I couldn't resist digging out the one I'd caught and gave it to him. Its resell value was most likely at least as much as he earned per hour at Joja mart.

Harvey fidgeted before speaking up. "Hello, Erica. Read anything interesting in the library lately?"

I shook my head. "No, unfortunately not." His words reminded me that I'd forgot to see what kind of information was in the book I'd found. Had been so focused on my other goals for the day.

Harvey looked crestfallen. "Er... well... I hope you're taking care of yourself. Today's weather is not good for sleeping outdoors."

Sam and Emily both turned to look at me.

"You've been sleeping outdoors?" Sam asked, admiringly. As if he wished he could do the same without getting scolded by his mom.

"At this time of year?" Emily asked, concerned.

"Not by intent," I said and went to say hello to Shane.

"Don't you have work to do?" Shane asked in return.

"At this time of day?" I asked.

No-one laughed. They didn't want to anger him. It confirmed my sense that he had to be approached a little at a time. Never too much at once, just being someone who dared to not avoid him. A bit like trying to pet a hedgehog curled up in a ball. I left him grumbling to his mug of beer.

Internally I had to agree that he was right. I did have things that needed to be done, like trying to get more bug meat for bait, but I didn't want to admit to that with Harvey within earshot.

Clint came into the saloon and sat by Willy's table. I waved at them before going over to talk to Leah. Hadn't seen her for a few days. She mentioned the stuff she'd found when foraging, and that she intended to cook something new when she returned home. It made me a bit jealous. She had a kitchen. As if I was the only one in town that couldn't cook at home.

Pam told me I was too young to be moping about in the bar, and Gus predictably asked if I wanted anything when I talked to him. I shook my head and left before he could convince me to buy anything. Unfortunately, the smells from the dishes he sold followed me outside, making my stomach growl. The green algae I'd found earlier didn't do much to settle it.

A few steps later, I stopped. If I was to go hunt bugs, I had to bring the sword, and it was still in the chest at the farm. I went home grumbling louder than Shane had been. Mostly about Pierre not having his store open so I could buy that bigger backpack. I was walking past the bus stop when I recalled the carrot seeds and told myself that the enforced detour would let me plant them.

It was almost 10 pm when I left for the mines. Later than I wanted, but all I needed were a few bugs. I wasn't aiming to reach the next floor with an elevator.

Looking at what I had in my mine chest, I pursed my lips at the sight of the cherry bombs. How well did they work? How far away did I need to go to be out of the blast radius? Maybe better to test them up here where there was plenty of space.

Looking around, I noticed a side path partially blocked by a rockfall. The bomb was probably too weak to clear it, but it was more likely to give me some indication of blast strength.

Setting it down and lighting the fuse, I ran about 10 steps before turning around. It went off, and it seemed like I had ran about twice as far as needed.

Then I noticed it. That small cherry bomb had cleared the rockfall. Definitely a 'handle with care' item. I put the other back into the chest, since I couldn't clear an escape route ahead of time.

Sword close to hand, I went into the side passage, hoping it wouldn't be insufficient for whatever was there.

When it widened to a chamber, I faltered. Someone was there, and he... it... was wearing a type of helmet I'd last seen in the mine chest. A dwarf. Only its glowing red eyes were visible in the darkness of that helmet. As if dwarves didn't have any facial features.

"Hello," I ventured since the dwarf didn't make any move to attack me.

"Olai'tu an o sol sun dol doo Uhopay Ruanu, otu olai?" the dwarf asked.

"What?" Not understanding a word of what it had said, and not wanting to get caught in some misunderstanding, I fled to the elevator.

Floor 11
It began as a narrow passageway leading to a larger room which unfortunately was blocked by rocks. I got a few bugs, but then I had to use the ladder, return to the surface, and go back down. On my second visit a few bugs had moved to where I could reach them, but most remained out of reach. I saw a slime gooping around beyond the rocks, but on my third visit it had moved further away.

Midnight arrived, and I fled the mine, running home. Reached my cottage shortly after 1 am, giving me enough time to prepare my backpack for the morning, and go in and write in my diary.

 

[Terdin]

Day 11
It was my first day of not waking up well rested, but still better than if I'd had as little sleep back in the city. I still had the six base quality spring onions left since yesterday, so I ate two of them for breakfast before checking the TV. The fish heads I'd left for Belle were nowhere to be seen, nor had they been in my bed.

Rain tomorrow, and the luck of the day was in my hands. Living off the Land talking about the need for scarecrows and bigger backpacks. Already ahead of the first, and would've gotten the latter already if the general store hadn't been closed yesterday.

The watering can already in my backpack, I went out. With the rain tomorrow, I wouldn't need to fill Belle's water bowl, but she still got some attention before watering my crops. The parsnips were ready to harvest, but nothing else was. As I put away the parsnips and the watering can, I eyed the chests contents. Then picked up a parsnip and the crab. Learning to deal with the increasing tension from the Junimo scrolls might be good training in case I had to visit the Wizard again. The fishing rod, the hoe, and the three pieces of bug meat also came with me. No visiting the mine until tomorrow.

I had mail. Why hadn't I noticed until now? Robin had lost her axe. Of course I'd help her if I could, but wasn't sure if I'd be the one to find the axe. Leah and Linus were often foraging and having lived here longer they'd know where Robin usually went to gather wood. Unless... unless she had only sent the mail to me, and written it in a way to make it seem like she had mailed copies to several people in town. Had she even lost her axe by mistake, or had she put it somewhere on purpose to see if I was an honest person?

If I were to be able to get a decent amount of fish, I'd better go see how many spring onions I could get, and fish near Willy's shop so I could buy bait if I ran out. Crafting bait and putting it on the rod saved me one spot. I ran across the farm, and down towards the spring onion fields.

13 onions today. Five of them with silver quality and one gold. Looking for other forage, I was brought to an abrupt halt.

There, near the cliff, lay an axe.

I'd be surprised if Robin said it wasn't hers. Most of the people in town seemed to avoid gathering wood, probably buying what little they needed from Robin. But first I should go and see how much the larger backpack cost. And of course checking in on the people along the route there... and rummaging through the top layer of the trash cans if no-one saw me.

It was a relief to hear ordinary comments. Vincent complaining about having to get his shots at the clinic, Jodi trying to coax him to put up with it, and Sam merely acknowledging my greeting. Emily had yet to start her day, but that wasn't all that surprising considering that her job kept her up until after midnight. Haley complained that she had to throw away much of last season's clothes to make room for the new season's clothes. I was tempted to tell her that she always seemed to wear the same thing, apart from scarf and belt. I almost asked Haley if I could look through what she was going to discard, to see if there was something in my size. But that would've given her an opening to tease me about it, so I didn't.

Penny, reading under a tree, expressed her gratitude for the library when I passed her by.

"How much for the backpack?" I asked Pierre when I entered his store.

"Just 2000 G."

Being a few G short almost made me dart out to see if there were any shellfish or corals on the beach that I could sell to Willy and raise the last bit, or run to Robin and hand her the axe. Then I recalled the envelope Jodi had given me. 300 G. Just what I needed. More than I needed even.

I handed over the money with one hand and got the backpack with the other. Quickly moved all my belongings, including the cards in the lid pocket, to the new backpack. Having twice the space for stuff would make a huge difference.

"Anything else?" Pierre asked.

"Two cauliflower seeds. Need money to buy bait too," I said.

"What are you gonna do with your old backpack? If you're just gonna throw it away, could you give it to me?"

"What are you going to do with it?" I asked.

"If I clean it up and mend any holes, maybe I could sell it to Jodi or Marnie. Vincent or Jas will need backpacks for school books soon enough, and it's more suitable for that than the size you just bought."

Despite knowing he'd probably price it as if it was new rather than second-hand, I handed it over. Better that it was used by someone else than ending up in a landfill somewhere.

I looked at the help wanted board. Penny wanted a sunfish. Same as I needed for one of the fish tank bundles. Might be a good idea to also go see if I could get any of the other shellfish for the crab pot bundle from the beach. But first a detour to talk to Alex and his grandparents. Alex stood outside, tossing a gridball.

"Hey, Erica! Did you know I was an all-star quarterback in high-school?" he said before I could say anything.

"That's awesome," I lied. If he wanted to lie, I could too.

"Don't look that way. It's true. See this little star on my jacket?" he insisted.

"I'm kind of busy. Came to talk to Evelyn and George," I said to get away and went inside.

Of course, I didn't so much talk to them as listen to their complaints. George that it was cold for the season, and Evelyn that Georges spent too much time watching TV. The rest of the townspeople had probably heard them complaining about similar things often enough before. The way George seldom ventured outside could only partially be explained by him being in a wheelchair. The gravel path outside couldn't be easy for him. But enough people snapping at him after one gripe too many was probably a stronger cause for him preferring to watch the TV rather than talk to others. I excused myself after a short while.

One oyster and one clam on the beach. I left the tidal pool area for when I returned to spend the rest of the day fishing there. Then going to the fishing chest outside Jodi's house to get a couple of sunfishes.

The first bit soon enough, but the second didn't get caught until I'd caught three smallmouth bass, two green algae, a broken CD and a can of joja cola. Both sunfish were of iridium quality. Their movements were easy enough to predict that they didn't have time to get damaged in their attempts to escape.

Penny had long since put aside her book and walked off. I looked for her in the trailer and found her washing the dishes. She wiped her hands when she saw the fish in my hands.

"Oh, just what I needed for dinner. I'm trying to learn to cook more fish dishes. She got an envelope from her skirt pocket and stuffed it in a side pocket on my backpack before taking the fish. "You might not want to handle that with fish-slime on your hands," she explained.

"Thanks."

"I can only hope Mom will be back to eat dinner before she goes to the saloon. I've told her so often that she shouldn't be drinking on an empty stomach, but..." She shook her head. "But complaining about it won't do anyone any good. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to help me," she said a bit too quickly.

I nodded to her and left. Time to deliver the stuff to the Junimos.

First the parsnip. The expectation that arose was barely noticeable against the background of the fish tank.

Then the crab, oyster, and sunfish. It made the air difficult to breathe that close to the scroll. Four of the six bundles needed just one more fish, the fifth needing two, and the last needing three.

If I could complete one of the bundles, then maybe the tension would ease a bit. But my strongest bet for finding one of the remaining nine fish was the ocean, and that was the one needing three, so getting just one or two would only make it worse. Or making a crab pot to catch one of the remaining options for the crab pot bundle. But that required iron bars that I didn't have.

Willy's comment of "some fish come and go with the seasons" came to mind. Maybe I had to endure this until Summer. Maybe it had been stupid of me to bring so many bundles close to completion this early.

I met Maru on her way home from work when I came down the stairs to the main part of town.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," she told me.

I glanced over my shoulder. "Yeah, the community center is a bit eerie," I said. "Creaking timbers, drafts... even small breezes often catch the wrong edge and make odd noises. Maybe not ghosts, even if the place could make you believe in them, but a constant worry that a piece of plaster or something could fall onto me. Lewis asked me to see if I could get rid of the rats there, so I make an attempt from time to time."

Maru shuddered. "I wouldn't be able to do that. Please ask Doctor Harvey for help if one of them bites you. The infections rat bites can cause can be nasty if not treated in time."

"I will," I promised, knowing the Junimo were unlikely to bite. They faded out of sight when I got close, and I wasn't trying to catch them. I had also yet to see any traces of a rat infestation. "I'd better go see if I can buy any bait from Willy before he closes shop." I ran off.

It wasn't entirely an excuse. I was short on time. My focus on catching two sunfish had delayed me.

I arrived on the pier in time to see Willy come out with his fishing rod. He gave me a bit of a lecture on the importance of having a high quality fishing rod with both bait and tackle when going fishing before he let me go. Nice bit of salesman talk. Create desire to make sales later. And I would want a rod that could handle attaching tackle to it, if it made fishing easier. I knew there were better quality rods than the glassfiber rod I had, even if it currently was the best one available in Willy's shop.

Having lost the interest in ocean fishing I went up to the lake. I spotted Robin and Demetrius standing and watching the town from the edge of a cliff, and remembered the axe. I took it out of the backpack.

"Is this the axe you lost?" I asked.

"Oh, thank you for finding and returning it. I tried using one of my other axes, but it didn't sit right in my hands and I almost cut my own leg with it." She handed me an envelope with the reward money.

"No problem. Found it when I went looking for spring onions. And I'm glad you didn't get hurt."

"You're probably growing a lot of interesting plants on your farm, huh? Maybe I should stop by and check some day," Demetrius said.

"Not all that interesting, unless you count growing seeds from the forageable plants around here."

"That's exactly the thing I'm talking about. Some of those are notoriously difficult to get viable seeds from, not to mention avoiding having them wilt before harvest."

I almost told him of having learned a way to make those seeds. But what if I had learned it only because of the latent forest magic I'd had at the time? Wilting was another possible problem that I didn't want to have to handle. Then again, wasn't wilting a problem with any crop if you forgot to water them? The soil in the flood plain should be able to retain enough moisture that it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Part of why Grandpa had grown his crops down there.

Of the fish I caugth at the lake, only one chub had any roe. I put it aside in the nearby chest in the hope that I could collect enough of any of type of roe to complete the fish farmer bundle.

Sebastian came out to have a smoke when I used my last piece of bait. Just green algae. With a glance towards the mine, I left all of my green algae in the chest. Then I wouldn't have to run too far if I ran out of food in the mine. Making an excuse to Sebastian, and detouring a few steps to greet Linus, I went home to plant and water the cauliflower seeds, and go to bed earlier than I'd done since my arrival.