So, before I tell you my story, there is a few little things you should know. Firstly, my name is Wolve. Strange as it may be, I am Wolve. Get over it. Secondly, my dog's name is Aroo. I do not want to have to tell you this later, so I am telling you now. I chose the name Aroo because I thought it was cute and sounds like a dog's howl. My cat acquired the name Katze, pronounced Kaht-zeh. Katze is german for cat. Katze the cat, Cat the cat.
Another important thing you should know is that my dear, sweet mother decided to leave me on my father's old, dying ranch while she went off to god knows where, telling the friendly local deity to try to make me work. I have never been lazy, to tell you the truth, I was just never... motivated (yes, that's the word). Anyways, that is how this story of mine begins.
"WAKE UP!" Was the loud, bellowing holler that I found myself awakened to on a fine spring morning.
"W-wazza?" I mumbled lazily in response. My eyes opened slowly to reveal the Witch Princess looking at me.
"About time you decided to wake up, you lazy git! You have a letter from the Harvest King. Read it." She didn't look overly angry, or very irritated at all. In fact, she looked happy and ultimately proud of herself. I had to assume that her shriek was, in fact, her first attempt. The Witch Princess did like to cause trouble and aggrivate people.
I reached calmly for the note in the Witch Princess's hand and read the letter silently.
'Hello, this is the Harvest King.' It began, 'The Harvest Goddess and the Harvest Sprites were punished because you didn't work. They've been sent away to another world. If you work hard and achieve your goals, I will return the Harvest Sprites and the Harvest Goddess to this world. Do you understand? The two Harvest Sprites at the Harvest Sprite Station and Guts at Harvest Sprites, Inc. are still in this world, so they should be able to help you get started. Well, do your best.
Sincerely, The Harvest King.'
I stared at the note with notable irritation. I felt slightly bad for the Harvest Goddess, seeing as it wasn't her fault. It was truly unfortunate that such a duty fall on her shoulders.
"It's going to be lonely now that I have nobody to argue with..." The Witch Princess muttered silently, "Anyway, work very hard. I'm counting on you." She addressed the last two sentences to me before disappearing in a flash. I fell back onto my soft bed and moaned.
"What luck..." I grumbled, "Now I have to save the Harvest Goddess and the Harvest Sprites... Oh well, I suppose this is one of those things that I just can't let be... Ah, hell, maybe I can manage to impress a cute guy while I'm...! That's it! Yeah! I'll make everyone proud! The guys won't be able to resist a working girl, right?!" I shot up immediately and threw my door open! However, a middle-aged man blocked my way to get any farther. I recognized him vaguely.
"Thomas, what are you doing here?" I growled. Thomas was the mayor of Mineral Town, a small town not far from Forget-Me-Not Valley, where my abode resided.
"Oh, Wolve! Good morning!" He cooed. I knew then that something was up.
"What is it, Thomas." I hissed.
"Well, my dear, you know how I help out around Forget-Me-Not Valley alot? Well, to tell you the truth-"
"Oh, sweet mother of god, what kind of gamble did you lose this time?" I growled.
"Well, the man who was in charge of the valley's shipments moved away yesterday." Why hadn't I heard this earlier? "So we had a meeting to choose a temporary replace-"
"OH NO!" I howled.
"ANYWAYS, I lost the rock paper scissors match. So, here I am. I'm the replacement shipper."
"Aw Man! I'm fine with you losing until it impacts me! Who do I speak to about this?!"
"I could understand this situation alot better if this was Mineral Town, but why do I have to take care of shipments for..." Thomas started to mumble to himself as he headed into the direction of the exit. "ANYWAY, I'll be handling your shipments, so I thought I'd come by, say hello, and give you a heads up. Luckily, it seems you don't have much to ship at the moment." He motioned lazily towards my field.
I must admit that it was a truly pathetic sight. All that my father left me on his property was the house and the stable. The LARGE field behind the house, however, was overrun with stumps, weeds, stones, and all sorts of other unwanted items. Upon seeing all the work I would have to do in order to start actually being able to do something, I sighed.
"Are you sure you don't want a nicer farm in Mineral Town?" He joked the last part. Everyone knew that I was used to life not only on THIS farm, but also THIS town. To move would be like a form of blasphemy. "You know how to ship things, right?" He pointed at the large bin next to Takakura's house (Takakura was a slightly grumpy man who shared the property with my father, meaning he had a house there, but didn't do any farmwork).
"A-a little." I muttered, a little embarrassed. Thomas rolled his eyes and motioned me over. He looked pudgier than normal, I supposed that the culprit for the trick was the rising sun. He kind of looked like a oversized apple as he seemed to waddle over to the shipping bin.
"Alright, when you want to ship something," He began, "just toss it in this box right here. I'll collect everything in the box every day at 5 pm, and the money will automatically be added to your acount."
"Even on holidays?" I asked. He jumped up.
"No, of course not!"
"I knew it." I laughed, "Too busy partaking!"
"I'll be starting today, so you can expect me back at 5 to pick up your shipment!" I watched the oversized apple waddle away. It was his fault for wearing a bright red jacket and a red tophat (which would be the stem, mind you).
"All right!" I shouted dramatically, "Now what?" I slouched over. Katze came over calmly and began rubbing up against my leg, purring. "Oh, that's right. I should probably feed you two, shouldn't I?" Aroo came bounding out of nowhere as soon as I said food. It took almost no time, and after a minute or so I had nothing to do again. I decided that perhaps the best idea would be to start cleaning up the field using the tools that my father left me. I decided to start by cutting the weeds with the sickle.
I didn't think that it would be that heavy... I remember lifting the sickle and almost dropping it. Somehow I managed to devoid the entire field of weeds before evening came. So then I decided that, despite my almost aching arms, perhaps it would be good to discard of the stones in the field. So, I dropped off the heavy sickle and picked up an even heavier hammer. Indeed, I am SO smart.
I remember hitting a large rock at least 10 times before finally realizing that I could do nothing against it. By the time I was finished with that, the sun had fallen. However, did I stop? No, because at the time, I was a genious. What did I do? I traded my old hammer for my old ax, at which point I started to take down fallen tree branches in pitch darkness. I'm pretty sure I dropped it on my foot twice before I ended up passing out. I think it was around... Oh, who knows when.
I woke up the next day, surprisingly. Thomas was already prepared to greet me at my door, insisting that he had found the ball that I lost inside the shipping bin. I didn't lose the ball, Aroo did. Once again, I fed my cat and my dog and had to tidy up my field again, as more weeds had somehow grown in overnight. However, this time I was smart enough to know that I couldn't remove the boulders and stumps if I tried.
The next step in the process was to use my father's heavy little hoe to plow the field. Fun, right? Of course! And it is also fun to wake up the next morning to learn that you passed out under the mid-afternoon sun after completing three rows. Oh joy. I continued using the same process every day, rain or shine, until I finished my ENTIRE field. Feed, Clean, Plow, Pass Out, Feed, Clean, Plow, Pass Out, ect., ect. Takakura was the one who had to keep dragging me back home. No festivals. No fun. Just Work.
I decided to speak to my old friends around town, and let everyone know that I was alive. I decided to start with the old couple on the edge of town; Galen and Nina. It was about 4 in the evening when I found myself crossing the bridge beside Vesta's ranch. And then... I heard what sounded like the chimes of a bell.
"Y-Yes! Finally, Forget-Me-Not Valley!" The shout came from behind me. I turned around to see Roller, one of many Harvest Sprites sent to another world.
"Roller!" I gasped.
"Wolve! Thanks for bringing me back! I wasn't sure WHAT was going to happen there for a while!"
"It's good to see that 20 days of working did something." I groaned, "Look at these blisters!"
"Oh, I've got just the thing to help you relax! Come, follow me!" He started off into the opposite direction that I was going. I had no choice but to follow. "You see, we were experimenting with ways to deal with how to do the jobs and such," I quickly found myself inside Harvest Sprites, Inc. with Roller. "And what we ended up with was... This!" A new door opened up to a seemingly endless basement.
"Where are we going?"
"Just this way. Watch your step! Now if I remember correctly... The Switch should be... HERE!" The room began to light up and revealed a casino-like area. "This new system is... The introduction of a casino!"
"EPIC!" I shouted in awe.
"If you need some help, you can do so like always by talking to Guts on the first floor. To hire help with this new system, you will need the medals that are sold here. There's a book with more details about the system on the counter on the first floor. Read it if you need help understanding something."
"Got it, Roller!" I laughed.
"Now, Wolve, I'm afraid I have to ask a favor of you. Please bring back the Harvest Sprites from that other world. I'm sure they'll all be a big help to you!" He almost seemed to have tears in his eyes as he requested it.
"Hey, No worries Roller! I got this!" I responded as I started to leave.
"Y-You're right! No worries! Good Luck!" He shouted after me.
"Wolve!" Guts shouted my name as I came into the main room of Harvest Sprites, Inc., "Where have you been?! I was worried when I didn't see you!"
"Hey Guts, look! Blisters!" I showed him my blistered hands, the result of working hard on my fields. I expected him to smile and praise me, but instead he frowned with displeasure. I feel that now may be the time to explain that the Harvest Sprites were like family to me.
"Wolve! You're not supposed to work until you hurt yourself! Yes, It's important for you bring back the Harvest Goddess and the Harvest Sprites, but you need to take care of yourself too!"
"Don't Worry, Guts! I finished plowing my entire field, So now all I have to worry about is keeping it clean and watering my turnips." I laughed.
"Your ENTIRE field?! Wolve! Y-you need to get your hands checked by the local doctor!"
"But Guts!"
"No buts! I know that you're scared of him, but you need to get checked. I don't like how those blisters look."
"All right, All right! I'll talk to Dr. Hardy!" I grumbled as I left the hollowed tree, slamming the door behind me.
And so my path was altered, again. Rather than going to visit Nina and Galen, I was mentally forced to search for Dr. Hardy. When I didn't find him at his house (Which is ALWAYS the first place I look), I extended my search to his patient, Romana. It was dark out by then, I assumed almost 9 or 10 at night. As I slowly started up the well decorated Path to Romana's mansion (yes, a mansion), I sensed that something was off. I started to run up the stony pathed path as quickly as I could manage.
As I finally reached the large fountain in front of the large home, I was knocked to the ground with a loud *THUMP*. I hit my head on the stone ground as I fell. Whoever ran into me (or I suppose that I ran into), decided to be polite and help me up.
"Hello, Beautiful. Walking alone at night?" The other, whose voice was that of a man, asked.
"Well, aren't you polite." I grumbled as I held my head.
"I'm quite the ladies' man, and a prince of the stars." He seemed to boast. His style of speaking was not something I had experienced in the Valley, so I knew that he was new. And then, the door opened.
"HEY!" Lumina, Romana's granddaughter, cried out, "Aren't you that famous thief who warns his victims ahead of time?!" I jumped away from him, not to be associated.
"Hehe. Sorry, but I'm a bit pressed for time." He chuckled, "I'm about to jet out. Call me Phantom Skye. I have a feeling we'll meet again. It's in the stars." He started to leave, causing me to automatically start after him. However, I ended up stopping in my tracks as my head began to pound. I fell to my knees.
"Wait right there!" Lumina shouted from behind me. She quickly walked over besides me. He stopped in his tracks and looked back at her.
"Hold up, beautiful. Don't let such raw anger steal away your beauty." Phantom Skye flirted. Ah man, This guy is so cheesy!
"What a smooth talker!" Lumina' s voice suddenly cooed, "Phantom Skye!" The theif started to walk away, yes WALK AWAY, with Lumina following like a fangirl behind him. She returned a few moments later with a huge smile on her face.
"Phantom Skye! He... he got away from me!" She cooed.
"Man, Lumina! I can't believe you fell for-!" I flinched as my head began to feel like it would burst. "I can't believe-" I found myself unable to finish the sentence as I collapsed to the ground.