Gilbert is the name of the king, right? Just checking

As I write this there are 60 days till Rune Factory Frontier comes out in the US. By the time this is posted I'll probably have gotten the game. For the sake of having a sensicle story line, the events of that game never happen. Also, let's pretend that Ivan's conversation with the king went a tad bit differently.

Chapter 1

"The king? He's coming here?"

Raguna looked up from soaking his bowl of rice in soy sauce to listen in on the conversation.

"It's odd, isn't it?" Edward said more than asked "Think he's here to see about the dragon?"

"Nah. The royal family's got something to do with the dragons, or so I've heard" Lynette leaned against Raguna's kitchen counter and lifted her beer too her lips (where she'd gotten it from was beyond him). Two seconds later she'd swallowed the whole thing in one go.

"Maybe it's to see the tanks?" Zavier guessed "We haven't been able to get rid of them, and they are a sight to see"

"There's nothing impressive about overgrown tanks" Lynette said haughtily "and he's already addressed the issue of the invasion with Ethelberd. I may not be their head general anymore, but I'm still on top of political issues"

"Well, I can't think of any other reason he-My god, Raguna!" Everyone looked over at the amnesiac, who blinked in surprise and confusion, not understanding where Edward's sudden exasperation came from. The doctor sighed and said in a calmer tone "Raguna… how much rice would you like with your soy sauce?" Raguna blinked again and looked at his rice. He'd been so drawn into the conversation he'd forgotten he was adding the substance to his meal. What had once been a nice bowl of white rice was now a black soup with white specks floating in it.

"Er…" Raguna set the bottle down "I wasn't paying attention" It was a lame excuse, but it was the truth.

Edward shook his head. Zavier laughed. Why were all these people at Raguna's house? It was because of Mist. She'd wanted a birthday party for him. Except they didn't know when his birthday was. So she'd picked the day he came to town. But everyone was busy that day. So it was being held a few days later. But by then it was just a joke and even Mist had better things to do then show up.

"You gonna buy a new one then?" Lynette asked "the bar's still open. Or do you have more in your fridge?"

"N-no. I… I may as well try it. You shouldn't waste after all." Raguna picked up a fork, hesitated, switched to a spoon, and stared at the mixture as if it had paralyzed him.

"Well, have some water at least" Edward set a large bottle down for him "for your own health"

"Don't you dare die from having to much salt" Lynette said more bluntly "I'd be annoyed if soy sauce succeeded over me"

"I'm not going to… to…" Raguna trailed off, staring at the black liquid as if the thought of consuming it was causing the stuff to suck his soul out "…to…"

"Hello" Everyone looked up as Ivan entered.

"You decided to show? Don't you have somewhere else to be on week days?" Edward commented lightly.

"Well, business is slower than usual this month. I figured I'd look at some of the spots around here I can't usually make it too since no one was counting on me selling my…" he glanced at Raguna's rice "…wares…"

Noticing the focus of Ivan's attention. Zavier said "Raguna accidentally drown his rice in soy sauce. We're waiting to see if he can eat it or not"

"Is there really rice in there?" Ivan asked innocently, leaning over Raguna's shoulder. Raguna stuck the spoon and stirred the 'soup' around a bit so that some of the disturbed rice came to the surface "How does someone do that on accident?"

"He was pouring it out (he always uses a lot anyway) and we distracted him" Edward said "We were trying to figure out why the king was coming here"

Ivan stiffened "Here?"

"So says the grape vine. Godwin got the letter announcing his intentions to visit. He told Felicity, who mentioned it to Neumann, who told everyone down at the bar like he was a drunk before Emmett could serve him anything. I wouldn't trust anything he said after drinking though. That man has a high alcohol tolerance, but it's my motto to not take a drunk's words seriously"

"Why would he come. He-"

"Ivan" Raguna interrupted "I don't mean to be rude, but could you stand up? You're starting to lean on me"

"Sorry" Ivan, having forgotten he was leaning over in his shock of hearing about the king, straightened up. "But why would the king come here. It wouldn't be for Terrable, and even though those tanks have become something of a tourist attraction, he hates machines. And he already spoke with Sech's Emperor. The only thing in this town that could possibly still be of interest to him would be…" What all had he reported the last time he'd been in the capital city? "…I see. Yes… that must be it"

"Ivan, have you met the king?" Lynette asked accusingly. Sparks always seemed to fly when she spoke to him. She was certain she recognized Ivan from somewhere, but when she'd approached him privately about it when she first moved into Kardia he'd denied it in such a way that she couldn't help but hate him.

"Well, as a traveling merchant I do get around" Ivan gave a sort of passive laugh and a sweet, gentle smile that somehow returned Lynette's frightening intensity. Like one of those false smiles that hid a venomous look of hatred. Ivan recognized her too.

Everyone else was uncomfortable in the same room as those two. Zavier and Emmett backed away. Raguna, in a desperate attempt to settle the two down, picked up his bowl of soy sauce with rice added and downed it the same way Lynette had her beer.

Everyone stared at him as he gagged and hastily drank the water Edward had set out for him.

"…Impressive" Zavier finally said.

Raguna took a deep breath and stood up "I have to go. Mist asked me to befriend a Mini Dragon, and no one's really here anyway so…"

"Come to the hospital when you get back" Edward said jokingly "I have some new and possibly toxic medicines I've been meaning to test. You could try them out for me"

"No thank you" Raguna bowed and hurried for the door.

"Wait"

Raguna stopped and looked back at the merchant, afraid of getting the same fake smile for interrupting the moment. "Yes?"

"Raguna… Do you like living here in Karida?" Ivan asked

"Yes. This is a very nice town. And the people here are all very kind"

"Make yourself scarce for the next few days. I'm probably wrong, but it's better safe than sorry, right?" Ivan said. He had a fake smile again, but this time it was hiding something else. Without moving very fast at all, he quickly passed Raguna and exited the building.

OXXXXXO

Rune Caster: Chapter un. Yay. J'aime bien le premier chapitre! And Raguna downed a thing of soy sauce, so everyone wins. I think the (bleep) that gets him pregnant will be in chapter 3. The only question is… who should the daddy be? Zavier is a little obvious, but I don't like Lukas to awfully much and I always forget he exists, and Camus is kind of plain. My original idea was an anonymous donor (Raggy was used in an experiment), but that won't work with this story line…

Plus I couldn't use Ivan. Cuss they're all related and stuff.

The most painful part of writing this was that my original draft was 11 pages and I had to scrap the whole thing. Clearly, it killed my effort.

OH yeah, while I'm on a roll with this author's not stuff, this story kinda requires using Raguna's "real name" which was never revealed. So I'm making one up. Right now about half the characters'll call him that, so prepare yourself, and maybe see if you can come up with a name I like better then the one I'm gonna use. Just letting you know right now, I can't stand any name you'd actually expect someone you might meet on the streets to have. I don't like most guys names that begin with "G", and I loathe names that end in "ga"