Prologue's over. Time to get into the good stuff.

I should probably mention that I will not be using the Harvest Moon calendar, but instead the real world one. Let's just say it's for pacing.


Settling Down

Chapter 1 – Loose Begginings

Tarbin is, no matter how you look at it, a town. The term fits it perfectly, as it is too small to be considered a city, yet too cosmopolitan to be considered a village. Located low in the middle of the empire, it couldn't be really considered a trading post, yet it see's enough traffic to flourish, despite its proximity to some monster-infested locations. (Heck, maybe even because of it. Stocking for adventurers can often pay well if you know what you are doing) To Shine, however, it's just another town like all the rest. People passing by, children playing in the street, pretty young women turning their head as he passes by…

Well, an adventurer's physic does have some advantages…

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to stick around for a bit, chat with the girls, see if there is any trouble bre… no, that wouldn't work. He already tried that once when he worked as a store clerk to earn some extra money. But it was dull work, and even his weary soul tired of it soon, leading him back onto the road.

His thoughts travel back to the book he found. It seemed fascinating at the time, talking about the Earth as if it were a living being. He thought whoever wrote it must have been a genius. Come morning, though, he realized that such methods were inefficient compared to Agrimagic. The book went on in detail of how one must have patience, and gave the impression that some crops could take months to grow without magic, as opposed to days. Still, it was an entertaining read for the road, so he took the book with him, storing it in his bag of holding.

Shaking thoughts of what he read out of his head, he continued the search for his intended destination. From what he picked up, it was some noble's house, which was somewhat odd considering the cargo (a package of rocks, as far as he could tell), but the pay was alright and the job didn't seem dangerous, so here he was.

Passing through the town square, he made his way northward, asking directions as he went. Before he knew it, he arrived at a medium sized set of gates, housing within them a large white mansion; three stories high, with gold trimming around both the edges of the windows as well as the corners, it gave off a sense of wealth, while at the same time not being too imposing.

Spotting a bell next to the right-hand gate, Shine pulled down on the cord, hoping to alert a person inside. Soon after, a young-looking elf maid came running out of the mansion. Of course, young-looking was the key here, since an elves' true age could not be so easily discerned by human eyes. Still, with thin smooth arms, long silky hair, and a pretty face it was pretty obvious that she was probably considered a teenager among the elves. The uniform showing off ample chest didn't hurt either.

"How may I help you?" She asked in a seemingly impatient manner.

"I'm here to deliver a package", Shine replied, pulling it out of his bag of holding with a grunt.

"Very well, hand it over then."

"Ah, I'd like it if I were paid first, if you don't mind."

A look of slight annoyance passed across her face, but after a moment she said, "Please wait a moment," and went back inside. A few minutes later she comes back out, opens up the gate, and beckons shine inside.

The lobby is open and sunny, with a grand staircase in the coming up both ways to meet in the middle of the second floor. Doors all over led to who knows where, and the way to get to the third floor remained unapparent. Standing in the middle of the polished-tile first floor was an elf that looked to be middle aged by human terms. He stood with an air of dignity, and gave off the air of importance while at the same time remaining casual, mirroring the view of the mansion in some respects.

"Ah, the courier, I assume?" He said in a neutral tone, "I have your payment right here, so if you would kindly…?"

Shine handed over the package while accepting the payment in Geian Dollars. Counting over the payment, he stopped short when his client turned the package on the floor and started shifting through the rubble.

"Nothing" He said with a disappointed air. "How disappointing. Elsa?" He intones to the young elvin maid.

"At once, Master Jermain" She opens what turns out to be a broom closet and begins cleaning up the mess.

Shine stands on the spot for a few more seconds, not sure as to what he should be doing. Jermain notices that he is still there, and gestures to follow him outside. Once there, he goes into detail on how he is a fan of rare rocks and geodes, often placing orders from far off regions. This particular shipment, unfortunately, didn't seem to have anything that he didn't already own.

"Still, it isn't a total loss. After all, there were a few rare ones in there. A man needs his hobbies after all, eh?"

Shine uncomfortably agrees, and tries get the fact that he should be going across without sounding too insulting. Luckily, he is saved by Elsa running back out.

"I apologize for interrupting, Master Jermain, but the young mistress has been calling for you."

"Ah, very well" He says, walking Shine up to the gate. "Keep an eye out for those geodes for me, eh? I'll pay a good sum if you find any good ones. After all, the earth is the greatest treasure of all, isn't it?"

Shine pauses for a moment as the words ring in his heart. They sound very close to what he read last night. The moment passes, though, and he says goodbye to the odd elf household, walking back to the main part of town.

Walking around the main square, Shine begins to wonder where he should go next. Thinking it through, his mind returns to that old patch of farmland he spent the night in. His mind wanders over the words that Jermain said. "The earth is the greatest treasure of all". One thought leads to another and he suddenly finds himself thinking about whether or not it would be interesting to try it out. He shakes the idea out of his head from the sheer ludicrousness of it. Even if he were to try, he has no land, no tools, and he doubts that he would be able to make much off of it, what with Agrimagic being the main competition.

…Still, it's not like he doesn't have any income. If fact, he considers himself being moderately wealthy from all the loot and bounties he has collected over the years. It wouldn't hurt to try. Maybe if he could go back to that piece of land he slept the past night at…

No, it was one thing to take shelter in a run down shack during a rainstorm, and an entirely different one to use the land as if it were one's own. (Books are an entirely different story, of course, especially those that have been obviously abandoned. Nope, not stealing however you look at it) These thoughts put away all ideas of farming out of his head, and even though a little melancholy remained, he made his way to the local chapter of the Guild.


The Guild was the primary establishment for adventurer around the Gea empire. Founded around 500 years ago, it is the primary means of finding adventuring jobs and bounties, as well as a good place to rest and relax. Most outposts double as a bar and inn, allowing to adventurers to find what they need without too much hassle.

Entering through the swinging double doors, Shine walks in to find a young blond woman manning the front desk. Looking up, she gives Shine a pretty smile, after which she turns back to writing in the large tome below her.

Shine throws her a smile back, but it soon fades as he walks over to the large postings board. Just another pretty face in another town that he would soon leave behind. Looking at the various job postings, bounties and advertisements, he tries to find something that catches his eye. He almost gives up on there being anything worthwhile, even going as far as to start to turn away to rent a room from the young woman, when he spots an advertisement out of the corner of his eye.

"FOR SALE: PATCH OF LAND. GOOD FOR BUILDING OR ANYTHING ELSE YOU MIGHT WANT TO DO WITH IT, I CERTAINLY DON'T CARE. FOR MORE INFORMATION, SEE DREM THE BLACKSMITH."

Below the large print was a description of the land for sale. Small patch of land, run down shed, it almost sounded like-

Sometimes, fate will never tell you which way to go and you can only rely on your own guts and intuition to guide the way. At other times, though, it not only gives you a sign, it smashes it into your face and leaves an imprint. And when you are an adventurer, you learn to either pick up on these signs or have your face smashed in. Yanking the flyer off the wall, Shine runs out of the Guild at a hurried pace, surprising the young woman at the desk as he passes by. Finding the spot where he tore off the ad, a look of surprise comes across her face. That ad had been there for months, and she was about to take it down. What would an adventurer want with a piece of land like that?


"I'm not going to lie to you, that piece of land isn't a good buy," Drem intones as he hammers a glowing sword on his anvil. "It has no magic in it, which makes it useless for growin' stuff the way you humans are used to. And even though it's close to the town, it's still too far off to build anything of importance."

The Dwarf speaks with a slight accent, but otherwise his common is very good. Short and stocky, he gives off an aura of both strength and honesty, which is making Shine a bit uncomfortable, considering the book he took most likely belongs to the Dwarf standing in front of him.

Throwing the sword into a barrel of water, he turns back to Shine and asks, "That said, you still interested?"

Shine nods. "I'd like to try something… well, let's call it an experiment."

Drem shrugs. "Well, whatever you want. It'll be a weight off my mind. It's a useless piece of land, after all. Belonged to my Grandfather, back when food was made the old way. Now that makin' food by magic has taken hold, though, it's unlikely that we'll ever return to those old ways. A shame, but not much one can do about it."

Hearing the words "The old way", Shine hesitates. A moment later he asks, "By the old ways, would you be referring to farming?"

Drem stares for a few seconds, and then lets out a few chuckles. "So that's what you have in mind, eh? Where did that idea ever pop into your head?"

Again Shine hesitates, and then decides that since the Dwarf has been honest with him, he should be honest in return. He pulls out the book and presents it.

Drem's eyebrows shoot up as he takes the book and looks it through. "Well, well," he intones, "Now how did I end up missing this?" After hearing Shine explain about the box it was in, Drem nods. "Never did get to clean that place out fully." He spends a little while longer staring at the book's contents before handing it back over.

"Never thought the old man would ever write a book. Never seemed like the type for words. Still, I guess we all have secrets, eh?" Drem chortles a bit before going on. "Keep the book, you seem to have taken a liking to it, and it will probably help you more then it would ever help me. The shed is part of the deal anyways, so it's yours by right in any case."

Drem puts his hands over the anvil and leans forward toward Shine with a smile that contains amusement.

"That is, of course, assuming that we still have a deal?"


Drem didn't have any tools available, since farming was outdated long ago, but he said that he would work on some if Shine asked in the future, should the need arise. As it stood, the tools in the shed would probably suffice. They were well built, and even in old age the tools made by a dwarf were still good.

Shine rushed to the general store for supplies. The elderly man standing behind the counter looked surprised, but was glad for the business, and had his brown-haired granddaughter help Shine out as he picked out some rations, as well as some seeds. Since it was the beginning of spring, turnips seemed to be a good place to start. Paying the shopkeeper, he rushed back out, leaving the old man and his granddaughter wondering just what he had planned.

Arriving at the shed, Shine moved things around until he had a makeshift home. It was a shame that the small cottage that used to be nearby was somehow destroyed, but what can you do. Drem said the house fell during an army raid within the past few centuries, and Shine decided to not pry any further. In any case, Shine wasn't really planning to stay for long enough that a house was needed anyways. Calling this an experiment wasn't too far off the mark. He had no idea what would happen, and in a way he kinda liked it like that for now. Maybe if this panned out, though…

But that was a really big if. Best to smart small and assume that it would go far. Walking outside, Shine surveyed the land that was now his. The flyer had said small, but seeing it midday like this made him realize that it was actually more of a medium plot of land for its size. That suited him just fine; small would have been more than enough on its own, the extra land is just a bonus. Near the shed there was a small pond, and bordering the edge of his land parallel to the road was a small creek. Seemed like he could catch fish if all else failed, if he could find a rod.

Well, no time like the present. Stepping out onto the dirt close to his hut, Shine opened up the book to the beginning and started reading.

"The first step that any farmer must take in farming is the plowing of the land. A sacred rite, it brings the farmer and the earth together, as one works the other to reach their full potential and vice versa. A good farmer learns to channel his energy through his plow, and by sending it through the earth he is rewarded by the earth's own energy in return…"

The book went on like this, describing the connection between the earth and the farmer in more detail. In fact, there really wasn't much about plowing at all, with the only real advice being, "Take the plow over your head, put it into the ground sharp end first, pull towards you, step forward, repeat. When you finish one row, start another, and keep going 'till you run out of land."

Shine looked the advice over a second time. It seemed easy enough. Turning back to the beginning, he glanced over the word "channeling". The word reminded him of how one could channel energy through a weapon to achieve better results. Wondering if there were any similarities, he eventually decides against trying it. The last sword he had was a pretty decent one, and even that one broke after channeling energy through it a few times. Though the old tools were sturdy, he didn't want to risk breaking them, since they were all he had at the moment.

Well whatever. He put the book away and took the old hoe out of his bag of holding. There was a lot of land to be plowed, but he didn't let that deter him. After all, it's just moving dirt. How hard could it be? Walking to the corner of his new land, he raised the hoe over his head. Savoring the moment a bit, he swung the hoe forward and punctured it into the land.


Author's Notes, apologies for the length:

What kind of abomination will be unleashed from that unassuming puncture? (Answer: None) What exactly is channeling? (Answer: The art of sending energy through weapons and tools to increase the effects. I.E. Charging your weapon) When will this story pick up! (Answer: …heh heh heh…)

Tune in next time for the next exiting episode of ACTION FARMING (not the story's actual name)

That aside, let's have a few notes for real here. Three things, really. One, no the dwarf does not have a Scottish accent. I know all Dwarfs are the same, but I hate stereotyping, so there you go.

Second, I realize that this he gets the land in an absurdly short amount of time, but hey, it's basically the same length as any other Rune Factory/Harvest Moon intro. And I didn't really want to drag this part out, considering the pace I intend to go at. Getting the land didn't need to take up two chapters worth of time since in the end we all knew that this was probably where he was going to end up. Feel free to review and prove me wrong, though.

And finially, after each chapter from now on, I'm going to include a friendship/affection chart, just like one might actually find in a Rune Factory/Harvest Moon game. If a person isn't named, there will still be a short description of them if they will probably be a major character in the story somehow. After I give the person in question a proper introduction, I'll replace their description with their name. Shine, being the protagonist, won't show up, since these relations will mainly be from my perspective of how others fell about him. What are his feelings on other people? Well, I hope the story will convey those as we go along.


f is friendship, and h stands for heart/affection. A capital F or H stands for either greater friendship or love/affection, respectively.

Jermain : f (he likes people who listen to him about rocks)

Elsa:

Drem: f

Blond girl at guild front desk:

General Store Shopkeeper:

General Store Shopkeeper's Granddaughter:


Aww, no love interest to ship at yet? It's only the second chapter. Trust me, we'll get there, it will just take time. Not that I doubt that some of you aren't going crazy at it already…

Well anyways, I will probably be less wordy in these before and after notes from now on. Just wanted a reference point in the archives so people aren't confused later.

If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in a review. If I like it enough, I might work it into the story somehow. (Yay interactive fiction! Well, interactive fan-fiction!)

See you next time in Chaper 2, entitled "Die Earth Die!"