Author's Note
This story is based off of an idea for a fan-game created by the Ushi no Tane user Kameko Suigami. This will sadly never be a real game...
Chapter 1
Lenore yelped a little as the wagon rattled along the road, holding on to her seat for dear life. Traveling by wagons and carriages was extremely bumpy; she was surprised she hadn't fallen out yet. The man who sat in front, controlling the horse pulling it, looked back at her with a twinkle in his eye. "Are you alright back there, Miss?" he asked, and she somehow managed to smile as she used one hand to smooth down her dusty brown hair.
"Yes, I am," she replied, and as the man turned away, she added under her breath, "I think." Really, she hated riding on these things. Suddenly it jerked to a stop, and she was nearly flung from her seat. As she straightened up, she asked, "Are we there already?" The man turned around again to look at her, looking somewhat surprised.
"No, the horse just suddenly stopped," he explained, sounding perplexed. "He's never stopped like this before..."
"Oh, well, if it's not too far away, I can just walk the rest of the way," Lenore said hastily, flashing the man a reassuring smile.
"Well, the destination is only about an hour away by foot," the man said slowly, "But I don't know... I mean, letting a young woman walk all that way on her own is—"
"Ah, thank you," Lenore interrupted, smiling at him. She reached into the pocket of her brown dress and quickly handed him some change. "Here you go, this should cover the trip. Is this enough?"
"Well, yes, it is, but—" She grabbed the rucksack that contained her few worldly valuables—just some clothes, money, and a few other miscellaneous objects—and quickly hopped off the wagon.
"In that case, I bid you a good evening, sir," she said, smiling politely at him.
"But miss, it's growing dark!" he protested. "By the time you arrive, it will be past nightfall!"
"I do not mind," Lenore replied. "Thank you for bringing me this far, though." Before he could protest further, she turned and began walking the rest of the way. Though she wouldn't say it, she actually felt relief at the prospect of getting off of this accursed wooden wheeled contraption. Walking a few miles on foot would be much better on her stomach than riding in that thing. However, it briefly crossed her mind that it was strange that the horse had suddenly stopped and refused to go any further. That was, indeed, very unusual. For the moment, though, she pushed it out of her mind and focused on the long trek.
Finally, after about an hour of walking, she came to a stop. Reaching into her rucksack, she rummaged around in it and pulled out a piece of paper from inside. Written on it in large, slanted letters in a fancy script was the message:
We Invite You to Death's Head Hollow!
We are in need of farmers, and you have been recommended for the position.
We shall provide you with a farm and a house.
Please come!
The message had caught her attention the moment she'd first read it. She had been "recommended" for the position? She had never heard of the town, let alone know anyone who could live there, so she did not know who could have "recommended" her. It made her curious, to say the least. After some debate, she had decided she might as well check out the place and learn who had recommended her. If she liked it there, she would stay; if not... then she would just leave.
Now was the moment of truth. She had arrived at the farm. Looking up from the paper, she then briefly wondered if this even was the farm. It was a dreary place; the fields had darker soil than she'd expected, and there was lots of dead grass. There was an old house with peeling gray paint in the corner of the field, though that actually wasn't too surprising to her. The entire area was surrounded by a lot of dead trees.
"This is a farm?" she asked the air, scratching her head.
"Yes it is, a voice said behind her. She jumped in surprise and turned to see a mysterious man with a top hat and fancy jacket standing next to her, looking at the field with a smile. "My name is Teivel. I'm the mayor of this town. I take it that you are the new farmer we invited."
"Ah, yes," Lenore responded, smiling nervously. "But, um, is this place really good for farming? I mean, it looks kind of... dead." The man laughed and turned to look at her, smiling to reveal large, slightly yellow teeth, though she barely noticed this...
"Nonsense!" he laughed. "It looks fine to me!" Lenore did not respond, instead busy staring at him, and his laughter died down a little. "You keep staring at me. Is there something in my teeth?"
"N-no," she said, shaking her head slowly as she kept her eyes focused on her face.
"Oh? Then what are you looking at?" he asked.
"Your eye," Lenore replied slowly, staring right at the large, single eye in the center of Teivel's face. "You only have one eye..." Teivel didn't say anything for a moment, simply looking at her with a blank expression.
"And you have two," he noted slowly in an equally awestruck tone as hers. Then he suddenly burst into laughter. "Haha, you'd think you have never seen a cyclops before!" Even as he laughed, Lenore couldn't help but think, That's because I haven't...