Twin Blades
A Rune Factory 2 Fan-fiction
Chapter Two: Stronger and stronger
Spring 3rd, Tuesday
Cutter awoke the next morning in good spirits. Stretching a bit before facing the day, he thought he felt stronger today than he had yesterday. Probably from my fighting against those monsters last night, Cutter thought to himself with a smile. Going outside, he saw his overgrown fields and gave a slight groan. "I think…I need to clear these up a bit…" It took over 2 and a-half hours to do so, but even still, he went back to Trieste Forest in order to gain more strength by fighting. It took him until lunchtime to get tired enough to walk back to Alvarna, but even in that time, his confidence with his sword-skills had gone up.
Checking out the bulletin board in the square, he saw more requests for him. The first one that caught his eye was from Max: the blonde guy that seemed to think everyone had a memory problem and would introduce himself every opportunity. It promised big, easy money and he need that – even if it did not promise to be safe, which he had promised in his flyer, despite delivering stuff to Jake: the human hater. "Hey, Max. I saw your note. What do you need me to give Jake?"
"Ah, good of you to come, Cutter. I need you to take this to Jake." Max drawled, handing over a head of Spinach to him.
"…? Okay…" That was strange. It looked fresh, but this was a fall vegetable – how had Max gotten this during the early spring? Oh, well: a delivery job was a job to be done, he thought, walking to the weapon's shop. "Jake? I got something for you from Max."
"Is that spinach? Good – that should double my stamina. Now, if you wouldn't mind, you're in the way of my spear training."
One of these days…he's going to get it, Cutter grumbled in his mind, leaving Jake to his practice. "I delivered the spinach…"
"Thank you very much, Cutter. Here is your payment."
Cutter's eyes went wide. "That's…that's 4000 gold!"
Max blinked, thinking he might have shortchanged him. "Do you think I should add a few hundred more?"
"No, no! I'm just...surprised you are paying me so much."
"Oh, pish! I just had this and thought to give it to you for the job. Are you sure you can accept this little?"
"! I'm sure." Man, if I ever get as rich as this family…
"All right, then. Hope to work with you again soon, Cutter." Max smiled as Cutter walked off, a bit dazed from his windfall. Checking the board again, he saw that little Roy, the sword-crazy sword-smith Tanya's son, needed help. "Wonder what that kid did? All he says is that he messed something up." Finding Roy was not going to be too hard since he mainly hung out with Cammy, either at the square or in her home – the Church. "I heard you were having some trouble, Roy?"
"Oh, Cutter! Thanks for doing this! See, I was playing around in the house and I accidentally tore the Cheap Cloth that was on the table! If mom finds out, they will never find my body…" The boy literally shuddered. "Please, can you get me another one?"
"Well, yeah, actually I picked one up while fighting the Orcs in Trieste Forest this morning…but you should also apologize to your mother as well." Cutter handed over the cloth as he spoke.
Roy all but jumped for joy. "You saved my hide, Cutter! You do not know my mom when she gets mad… Thanks so much – this is for you." The boy handed him some Steamed Bread. Cutter took it and resolved to sell it for more coin rather than eat it. He trusted Roy for the most part, but he didn't think this bread was all that fresh.
Checking out the board again, Cutter saw a request from quiet little Dorothy about a lost amulet. Finding her would be simple as well – she usually hung out around church. However, on his way there, he saw her looking a bit lost near the road between the Inn and the Church. "Hi, Dorothy. I saw your request. Did you need some help?"
"Oh, my amulet…it…it's nothing!" With that, Dorothy ran off.
"Hey, wait! Did you find your…oh, man. I really don't want to scare her by chasing after her, but she must miss that amulet enough to post a note about it…what am I going to do now? I have no clue where to look for it."
Just then, Rosalind passed by. "Hello, Cutter. What are you doing? You looked like you were in deep thought."
"Hi, Rosalind. I was wondering where Dorothy might have lost something. She posted a note about dropping her amulet…"
"You might want to check by the docks. I saw her there a few moments ago, looking for something herself."
"Sounds like the best place for me to start looking for it. Thanks!" Cutter waved to Rosalind as they parted company and sure enough, he saw the amulet along the dock toward the boat that would take one to Blessia Island. What would she be doing down here? Cutter wondered as he picked up the chain of the amulet. She doesn't look like the type to go to the dungeons. Regardless, he was going to return this to her – and she would most likely be at the Clinic now. "Here we go, Dorothy – I found your amulet."
"Oh, th-thank you, Cutter. That was nice of you." She handed him 100 gold for his trouble.
"That's really not necessary, but thanks, Dorothy. See you around." Another trip to the bulletin board and Cutter saw he was almost done with the messages there – only 3 more to go. He took Byron's first – he needed someone to find Barrett for him. That would be easy, or so Cutter thought. Barrett had two places he haunted – outside the grocery store or at the bench in Cherry Blossom Square. Today, it seemed Barrett was going out of his way to stay away from his father – he was all the way across town from his house – right outside the weapon shop. "Hey, Barrett!"
"What do you want?" He said gruffly.
"Your dad wants to see you."
"Then why didn't he come himself? I can't stand him…"
"He's probably just busy." Cutter heard something in Barrett's voice that told him something he was surprised at: Barrett did care about his dad, just couldn't show it. After all, he only said he couldn't stand him. That was many shades better than hating the man.
"I just have to see him, huh? This has to be some kind of joke. Okay, later Cutter."
"Sure thing, Barrett…" Unsure whether he'd keep his word, Cutter went back to see Byron and found out that, while not happy about it, Barrett had seen him. For his payment, Cutter got a second Empty Bottle for medicine. Next, he visited Cammy, who claimed she was going to turn him into Super Cutter by a series of tests. The first one, today's request, was through shadow boxing. Despite not remembering ever doing it before, Cutter aced her trial.
"Good going, Cutter! You look much tougher than you did before. You can do anything you put your mind to!" Cammy cheered, handing him some Toyherb seeds for his fields.
Finally, Tanya…self-proclaimed sharp-object-obsessed Tanya had a trial for him too, but this was much different. She wanted him to prove he was worthy of her weapons and to do that she was going to test him thus far by having him pick on the Orcs of Trieste Forest – he would have to defeat 5 of them for his reward. That wasn't too bad – he'd been fighting them already, so he knew how to duck and weave to avoid their clubs pretty well. For doing the trial without getting himself killed, Tanya gave Cutter an Axe and 500 gold.
"Don't get full of yourself having just defeated Orcs, but still… Keep up the good work."
"Thanks, Tanya." Since it was after 3pm and a Tuesday, Cutter decided to head for the Bathhouse for his first bath. Inside, he found Julia.
"Oh, welcome, Cutter! Come on it!" Julia beamed. She was cute, but too fashion-oriented for him.
Just then, Roy came in. "Hey, is Cammy hiding in here?" Hiding?
"No, I haven't seen her. Playing hide-and-seek again?" In the bathhouse?
"You're sure? I think I'd better look myself…" Was he really heading for the women's bath area?!
"Hey, Roy, stop right there! You can't go in there!" Thank the gods, Roy stopped.
"Hmph! Next time, I'm telling her this place is off-limits!" Roy said before leaving. Julia gave a sigh of both relief and exasperation. Checking over the price of a bath, he saw he really didn't need to spend the 100 gold right away and went out to fight monsters. By 7pm, he was done fighting and decided to cut some wood himself with that axe. He was done by 9:30, slightly more than doubling what Cecilia had given him the day before: an additional 102 pieces of lumber.
"That's enough for today…feeling sore again…" Rubbing his aching arm muscles and stretching out before bed, Cutter drifted off, sleeping the whole night through.
Spring 4th, Wednesday
Checking his fields first thing in the morning, Cutter saw he needed to water and clear them again. It took him almost 3 hours today – chopping wood and smashing rocks in addition to pulling up weeds and grasses. Once that was done, he checked the board quickly and saw there was one request there today. Looks like the flood of requests has ebbed, he thought. This one is from Julia and she's not out and about today until probably 3pm when the bathhouse opens. I'll just take the note down and wait on it.
With that decided, Cutter went into Trieste Forest and proceeded to mine all 4 mining spots – which yielded 3 Aquamarine and 1 Scrap Iron. Then, since he was done with the forest for now, he went to Blessia Island to mine and fight some monsters. It was tougher to fight on the Island, but it was worth it – he'd mined a Ruby, 3 Amethyst, 2 Fire Crystals and 3 Scrap Iron in addition to claiming 2 Quality Cloths monsters he defeated had dropped. It was still another half an hour before the bath opened, but Cutter thought to sun himself outside the place before going in. He awoke with a jerk some 10 minutes after 3pm. WOW! I wonder if Rosalind falls asleep in the sun too when she does this… Cutter thought sheepishly as he entered the bath, for a bath first, then the request.
"Thanks for the bath, Julia. Now, I got this message off the board that said something about lost and found?"
"Could you believe Gordon forgot his Holy Book here at the baths?! Look how thick and heavy this thing is! He's kind of a blockhead, isn't he?" She giggled.
Cutter laughed aloud. "Just don't tell him that to his face!"
"I wouldn't dare!" She giggled again, handing the book to Cutter. "Thanks for doing this for me."
"No problem." Cutter went quickly to the church. "Gordon, I brought back your book of scriptures from the bathhouse…"
Gordon laughed. "I didn't even notice I'd lost it! Thank you!"
Cutter was taken aback. "You didn't notice…?!"
"The book itself isn't important to me. Knowing the scriptures isn't everything. What matters is to believe in them and to live by them!"
"I see."
"Does it sound like I'm just making excuses for losing it?" Gordon laughed again. "Thank you for bringing it to me and thank Julia as well."
"You got it." Cutter headed back to Wisdom Bathhouse. "I gave it back to him, Julia – he said thank you."
"We should both be thanking you for going through this. Here's your reward!" Julia handed him a big glass of green juice. "I made a little too much vegetable juice, so I'll share some with you! See you later, Cutter."
This does look good, but I need money more than juice right now…I won't tell her, though. It might hurt her feelings. Cutter thought to himself as he waved goodbye. He went to ask Byron if he could build that Monster Barn that Cecilia was talking about before when she'd given him the Pet Glove, but he wasn't it. It was early and Cutter felt really well after the bath, so he decided to go monster bashing on the Island one more time tonight! Unfortunately, although Cutter got farther into the area, he was lower on health than rune points by the time he got off the Island. I really need to work on that…
Since he still had high rune energy in him, Cutter decided to head to the forest to knock some Woolies around with Fireball Magic. Since his experience wasn't that high, he used a lot of rune power in less than an hour, but still – experience was experience. Time for bed…my hands are way hot… Cutter thought to himself as he slept on top of his covers to avoid singeing them with his fiery palms.
Spring 5th, Thursday
Chopping up some more stumps and branches that appeared on his fields, Cutter checked his supply of wood. He was nearly triple what Cecilia had given him! "That's pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. Think I'll go mining since my fields are all clean now. The forest only has a few spots to mine in, but maybe I can finally bully those Orcs out of the way enough so I can clear out that four plot near them as well!" Sure enough, Cutter was able to do so with little damage to himself this time around.
It was about 10am when Cutter finally remembered to head back into town to talk with Byron about the barn. It was going to cost only 50 pieces of wood, so that wasn't a problem, and while it was a hefty chunk of change to give Byron the 5,000 gold, it was only a little less than half of Cutter's saved funds. Since it was a four-story building, Cutter was very surprised to hear it would be done the next day! Well, guess I should buy some Grass seed so I can be ready for the beasties, Cutter thought before heading to the General Store. He spent 2700 gold on 9 bags of seed, plenty in his mind.
"While I'm here, I'm also going to buy another bag of Pink Turnip Seed." Spending another 980 gold was a little dear, but Cutter still had nearly 2900 in the till. It was a little after lunchtime when Cutter was done planting and watering all the grass seed he'd bought, but he was very pleased with himself. Thinking he'd kind of been snubbing his neighbors by only farming, mining and fighting when there were no more requests on the board, Cutter remembered that Cecilia liked pretty gems. After all, she had asked him to find a ruby in her last quest.
Taking an Amethyst from his cabinet, he went to the manor to see her. She was very busy cleaning and such, but not too busy to thank Cutter for the gem. Guess I remembered right! He congratulated himself. While he was thinking about it, he also remembered that Alicia liked practicing her fortune telling and Mana had said she was very good at weather readings among other things. He paid 10 gold pieces to hear the weather would remain sunny tomorrow. Alicia seemed very pleased at his business, so Cutter made a mental note to visit whenever she was there to see what the weather would bring.
Heading for Blessia Island, Cutter mined some more gems and a bit of ore – a piece of Iron being the best one – from the nine mining spots there. Going back to the village, Cutter thought that he'd never been in the Messhina Valley just yet. Let's change that – right now! Cutter urged himself on as he approached the place. He found a grapevine near the riverbank area and plucked the four ready bunches from it after he defeated the monsters guarding it and their portal. Farther in, he found more monsters and some new mining spots – 5 more to be exact on the path to the mountain.
However, to try getting to the mountain was something else – there were fences he couldn't get through without breaking, just like in the forest and on the island. Who made these things…and why do I not just bust them open? It's like I know they are there for a reason…but I can't remember why… It was frustrating when Cutter thought of it, but he made himself not think of it most of the time.
Finishing off his night by fighting some rooster-like animals – Cluckadoodles – and getting a small egg from one of them, Cutter headed back home, shipped what he could and went to bed.
Spring 6th, Friday
"YES!" Cutter cheered, seeing his Pink Turnips ready to pick. "Guess Douglas and Mana had little to worry about having me grow those." Before he picked them, however, he watered the sprouting Toyherb flowers and the patches of grass seeds he'd planted before. After picking the ready Pink Turnips, Cutter also planted the bag of seed he'd bought the day before to get another harvest ready soon.
Heading off the farm to start battling in the forest again, Cutter happened upon the barn that Byron had said would be done today. Barn nothing! This is a house! Cutter gaped. Byron stopped by seeing Cutter standing there and explained that each floor of the barn held 4 monsters each. "That makes a total of 16 possible monsters in this one barn. That should be plenty for now." Bryon laughed as Cutter just nodded, stunned.
"Thanks, Bryon."
"No problem, Cutter, my boy. Enjoy." With that, Bryon left and Cutter entered the barn. Once inside, he looked around, barely noticing Mana enter until she spoke.
"Oh, you have a barn now, Cutter?"
"Yep. Paid for yesterday and ready today. How's that for speed?"
Mana giggled. "Since you have this barn and can befriend monsters, I think I'll give you this." With that, Mana handed Cutter what looked like a sheet of music. It was titled 'Special Concerto.'
"What is this?"
"When you play this music, it will make your monsters perform their special abilities, whether that be casting magic, performing a special attack, or even healing you in battle!"
"Wow! Thanks, Mana. That should come in really handy."
Mana smiled, saying over her shoulder as she left. "I know you'll use it well."
Maybe she's not so bad…Cutter thought then shook his head violently to clear it. What am I thinking?! Douglas will paste me to his wall if I go after her now! I need to get stronger before even contemplating that!
Fighting and mining didn't take long in the forest, so Cutter headed for the valley just before 10am. The forest had been a total bust mining – 4 scrap metal – while the valley did yield a bit better with a pair of bronze and an iron in addition to the scrap metal. "At least I'm getting stronger and better at this!" Cutter said aloud, trying to be positive.
Leaving the valley, he decided now would be a good time to give Cecilia, Barrett and Max a gift. Not because he was wanting Cecilia that badly or wanted to be best friends with Barrett and Max at this point; it was more because he thought he knew what he could give them to make them happier that he'd moved in. To Cecilia at the manor, he gave a Ruby. To Max, since he was there too, Cutter gave a Proof of Warrior, which Max had mentioned he liked since childhood. Finally, he found Barrett, giving him a piece of iron – which Cutter was told not to wonder what it was going to be used for! Well, that's better than telling me he hated it. After all, I haven't been fishing yet, so I couldn't catch him Salmon in the valley, like he told me he likes…
Going to the bulletin board, Cutter saw a new posting from none other than Max. He laughed aloud. "Seems that I impressed him with that Proof of Warrior, eh? Let's see what his easy, safe work is this time!" Max seemed to think this work was a "secret mission", so he played along. Cutter was to bring Max an Arrowhead, and no one else was to know of it.
"Uh, Max – I already have one if you want it so bad…"
Max all but snatched the rusty thing from Cutter's hands. "This will definitely prove that I defeated a monster. This will stop all the stupid gossip that I'm just a braggart who can't actually fight!"
Cutter looked at Max with a look of wonder. THAT was the secret?! Oh, man…if I told everyone that I got that for him…
Max turned to see Cutter still there. "Oh, that's right! I still have to pay you. How rude…" With that Max fished out Cutter's pay: 6,000 gold pieces!
…That'll keep me silent! Cutter thought with only a pinch of shame. After all, this would put food on the table, not spilling the beans on Max. "Thanks, Max!"
After he left the mansion, Cutter went to see Alicia for a weather prediction: Sunny once again. Good for the plants, so Cutter was pleased. Alicia seemed pretty pleased with herself as well and Cutter's payment didn't hurt matters!
On Blessia Island, Cutter fought and hammered ore stones. It was a pretty good haul of gems, with a crystal and some bronze thrown in; only 3 pieces of scrap metal here. He even found an Orange Tree with three ripe oranges on it! Picking them, he headed back home. It was a quarter of 4pm when he decided to get a bath to replenish himself, and then he went to badger some monsters in the forest to work up his magic skills. Once he was out of rune energy, he decided to up his fighting skills in the valley. It was almost 20 past 8pm when Cutter finally came back home and went to bed.
Spring 7th, Holiday
Cutter woke from a dream with a heavy snore. He hadn't wanted to wake up today – the dream had been sooooo nice. He had traded places with Herman and was having a feast with all the ladies of town! Well, maybe that was just because I haven't chosen a lady that I really want yet, Cutter thought to himself getting out of bed. It took 2 hours to get the fields watered and looking decent. Once that was over, Cutter turned his mind to fighting, which for now meant the forest. It was too early for more heavy battle, or so he thought.
3 hours later, Cutter felt better and more limber, so he took his attentions (and sword) towards the valley. About a half-hour after lunchtime, Cutter felt a bit sore, so he left the valley, but very happy: his mining had yielded some silver this time. Since Douglas' store was closed today, he went to see Natalie, in case she'd buy some of his herbs, which she did. Once done with that, Cutter gave Max another Proof and Cecilia, who was at the Inn today, another Ruby. It was as he was walking past the bulletin board home that he noticed Cecilia had a request for him. "Eh? A wild plant for cooking? Whatever does it for Herman, I guess…"
"I really need some Indigo Grass. You can find them at Blessia Island, but I haven't go time to get it myself. Do you think you could get some for me?"
"Sure, Cecilia. Leave it to me!" Cutter almost crowed, making her laugh.
Before heading to the island, however… "Alicia, what's the weather look like tomorrow?"
"Sunny once again! Thanks for checking in again, Cutter!"
Cutter handed her the 10 gold pieces she charged. "No problem. It's actually kind of fun, like betting whether you're going to even say rainy!" He laughed a bit.
Alicia did too. "Well, all good, sunny weeks must come to an end sometime…and you'll be the first to know when it does!" She waved to him as he got on the boat at the pier. It didn't take long to nab the grass, but Cutter spent some time mining as well. It was a little after half-past 3 when he got the Grass to Cecilia, who was now standing with Jake between the bathhouse and the blacksmith's.
"You found it! Thank you! I think I'll be able to make quite a treat with this."
"You think? You mean you've never tried this recipe before?"
"Nope. Say, you want to be the first to sample this dish? It won't kill you. I don't think it will, anyway."
Cutter laughed a bit uneasily. "You know what? I think I'll pass on that…"
"Oh well." Cecilia giggled.
"Maybe next time?"
"You bet! Here's a small token of my appreciation for all your help."
Cutter looked puzzled. 200 gold coins…and a big brush? "Is this for my shoes or something?"
She laughed out loud this time. "No, no. That's for the monsters you catch when you tame them!"
"Oh…okay. I got it. Thanks."
It was only 4pm when Cutter got home, but he was tired from today for some reason and didn't feel like a bath tonight. I'll take one…oh, that's right; Julia's closed tomorrow…well, looks like I'm dirty until Tuesday then! It wouldn't bother him too much to be a little dirty. Now, if he stank, that was something else! Chuckling at his own thoughts, Cutter decided to get some shut-eye. My first week here…wow…
