If I owned Rune Factory would I really be writing fanfiction for it? Non. I would not.

I hope you enjoy these pointless little do-dads I wrote up while taking a break from playing the game. There's really no point to them, I just did it for fun. There are currently 4. I don't know if I'm going to do more than that because I've progressed a lot in the game and didn't write down much dialogue.

Lest glanced down at the map in his hands and then at the buildings around him. He flipped the map upside down and looked at it again, realizing he had no clue if he was holding it correctly.

"Hmm." He hummed as he tried to gather his bearings. The Little Bandage Clinic was to his left, but he could not for the life of him, find it on the map.

Venti had given him a list of things to do and he had started with preparing the fields, leaving 'meet everyone in town' to last. He hadn't brought into consideration the fact that it was already evening and by the time he had gone into 2 or 3 buildings, everything was beginning to close.

Lest gave up and put the map back into his rucksack. When he got back to the castle (if he ever did, he thought grimly), he'd have to ask Venti about it. Maybe could show him the proper way to read it.

The lights in the clinic were out and the building was dark. The owner must have closed up and gone out. Forte, a female knight he had meet earlier, had told him she lived just behind the clinic with her brother Kiel, but their house was as dark as night. The only building that had any lights on, Lest realized as he looked around, was the Blacksmith's. He had yet to introduce himself to the owner.

Lest walked over to the building and looked for the hours. The sign read:

Blacksmith "Meanderer"
Weekdays: 9:00 ~ 18:00
Holidays: 9:00 ~ 14:00

He pursed his lips and looked around. It had to be after 20:00, so they should be closed. He tentatively reached out and tried the handle, surprised to find the door opened with ease.

Lest stepped into the building and glanced around. The room was lined with tools; farming and otherwise. Swords, spears and other weapons were displayed in neat racks. Towards the back centre of the room was a desk. On the wall behind the desk were two doorways, one on either side. Lest made his way over to the desk and found a small sign that read; "Buy whatever you need. I respect the honour system. - Bado"

Lest raised his eyebrows. Bado must be the owner.

"Hi. And you are?" A deep monotone voice asked. Lest squawked in surprise and looked up. Leaning against the doorway to the right was a tall man with deep blue hair and a matching beard growing along his jaw. Though his arms were crossed his posture was relaxed.

Lest stood up straight and smiled, trying nonchalantly to cover up his surprise and the noise he had made by clearing his throat. "Oh, uh. I'm Lest. It's nice to meet you."

"Oh yeah!" The man exclaimed, his eyes widening in recognition. "You're the new kid who has the memory issues, right?" Lest nodded his head, having heard that so many times that day it didn't shock him any more. "I'm Bado. I operate the forge. But forging stuff is really exhausting, so I don't do it too much."

"O-oh...?" Lest cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brow slightly. He had never heard of a blacksmith who didn't forge often.

Bado grinned and walked over to the opposite side of the desk and bent at the waist a bit, resting his elbows on the smooth surface of the wooden desk. He was practically at face level with Lest.

"So, you remember anything yet?" He asked.

Lest shook his head and frowned a bit. "I'm afraid not."

Bado pulled a look of great sympathy. "Oh, that's a shame. How about you try buying that then?" He pointed behind himself with his thumb,

Lest followed it to a shelf of various sized bottles. He had assumed they were oils for the tools.

"What is it?" He asked.

Bado grinned at him. "Memory recovery potion."

Lest's eyes widened. "Really?!" Venti hadn't said that there was potion that could cure his memory loss. She had even tried to use her magic to help but it hadn't worked. Excitement filled Lest at the thought of regaining his memory and telling Venti about the potion. He looked at Bado with wide eyes, almost unable to contain his thoughts. "How much is it?" He didn't have a lot of gold. What little he did have was from Venti to get his farm going, just enough to buy some seeds, but if it would get his memory back he was willing to give it all away.

Bado's grin fell and he pursed his lips for a moment before looking away. "Uh... That's a whole lot of happy expectation in your eyes there... Sorry."

Lest felt his excitement curl up and die, leaving shrivelled bits of disappointment in its wake. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"All I wanna do is make lots of money without working much. But y'know, I've never really liked taking advantage of people, either." Bado looked Lest in the eyes again, and a brief flicker of concern flashed through his gaze. "So don't go falling for great deals that sound too good to be true, okay?"

Lest averted his gaze, feeling foolish for having believed Bado. He probably seemed like a gullible child. He scuffed the toe of his boot against the bottom of Bado's desk.

"... Sorry." Bado repeated, lowering his head to see Lest's eyes again. When they made contact, he straightened up again and Lest's gaze followed him. A small pout remained on Lest's face. "Well anyway. Your memories are in your head, so I can't really help you dig them out. But if there's anything else you need, just ask."

Lest felt a small smile playing at his lips and a warmth growing in his chest. Everyone had been so nice to him. "Bado..."

"- The other townsfolk. I'm sure they'd be glad to help." Lest could see Bado was trying to keep another grin from spreading across his face, and only seemed to have to try harder when Lest frowned again.

"... And me, too." He added. His grin was replaced with a pleasant smile and Lest raised his eyebrows slightly. "So don't go trying to carry too heavy a load all by yourself, okay? Settle in, build a life here, and let your memories come back at their own pace."

Lest looked down at his boots and felt himself smiling again. Everyone in Selphia was so nice and willing to help him, it was heart-warming. "... Okay." He said softly before looking back up at Bado, who smiled back.

"So," Bado started, leaning on his elbows again. "Did you come here for a little late night sword shopping?"

"Oh!" Lest exclaimed, suddenly remembering his original reasons for entering the shop. "Actually, no." He pulled his rucksack off his shoulders and set it down, kneeling on the ground he began searching through it.

Bado watched with an eyebrow curiously raised, leaning farther over the desk to watch Lest riffle through his bag.

Catching hold of the map, Lest stood up and stepped up to the desk. He placed the map on it and sheepishly looked up at Bado. "I'm uh... Kinda lost. I need to get back to the castle, but I can't find it on the map." Lest shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Can you help me?"

Bado looked down at the map for a few moments in silence before looking back at him with an eyebrow raised and the corners of his lips twitching. "Please?" Lest added as a second thought.

"Where'd you get this map?" Bado asked, tapping it with his finger.

"Vishnal gave it to me when I said I was supposed to go meet everyone. had a drawer of maps and that... That's where... It's..." Lest let his words putter out to silence. Bado was giving him a look as though he were a child telling an amusing fantasy story. "What?" He asked.

"Vishnal, eh? That explains it." Bado shook his head and chuckled.

"What are you talking about?" Lest asked, looking down at the map again.

"Well, if you plan on meeting all the townsfolk in Alvarna then this is the map for you. But this map ain't gonna help you here in Selphia." Bado chuckled again.

"Wait, what?" Lest asked, his eyes widening.

"This isn't a map of Selphia. It's of a different town. No wonder you couldn't find the castle." Bado continued to laugh as he handed the map back to Lest.

Lest looked down at the map in his hands and felt his cheeks heating up. "Oh." He mumbled.

Bado stood up straight and yawned. He stretched his muscles and popped his neck before walking around the desk and towards the door.

Lest followed his movements with his eyes.

"Where you going?" Lest asked, still gripping the useless map in his hands.

"Well, come on. I'll show you how to get back to the castle. Can't have you wandering around town all night, you might become monster-chow. And how would that look on me?"

Lest quickly picked up his rucksack and stuffed the map in, hurrying over to Bado, who was even taller than he had realized. "What about your shop? Aren't you working?"

Bado shrugged and waved his hand carelessly. "I'll think of a better way to make money tomorrow. Something that involves less work." Bado held the door open and let Lest exit first before following him.

"See the clinic over there?" Bado asked, pointing towards it. Lest nodded. "Well if you stand facing the clinic and go to the left, that's the lake."

"Okay." Lest said, making a mental note. "Which way is home?"

Bado smiled and turned so he was facing his shop. "If you're facing my shop, go right. Over this little bridge." He said, leading the way over said bridge.

Mere seconds later, Lest found himself standing in the town square. The request box and the door that lead straight to his room had barely been a yard away from him the whole time.

Lest felt himself blushing again as he muttered a simple, "oh..."

"Aaand, here's the castle." Bado laughed loudly.

Lest looked down at his boots, and kicked at the ground. "Well... I'm embarrassed..." He muttered quietly.

Bado laughed and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. This one was free, next time it'll cost ya." He winked at Lest and turned back towards his shop. "See ya later, kid."

"Ah, wait!" Lest stepped forward and smiled. "Thank you, Bado!"

Bado returned the smile before making his way back to his shop.

Lest watched Bado leave, his head cocked a bit to the side. Once Bado was out of sight, Lest turned and ran into the castle; more than ready to settle in for the night.

I love Bado so much it hurts. He's so great.

Anyway! I've written like 4 of these little stories based on actual in-game dialogue, nothing special really. I'm gonna upload all of them at some point.

I also have a couple of plots of some bachelorxLest fics but I don't know if I'll ever actually write those.

So yeah, good night!