I'm posting this early because I have a meet tomorrow and will be out of town for most of the day so to make sure this gets done I'm posting it today. Raguna is in for a lot of "fun" this chapter. Let's just hope he can keep his cool. I hope you guys like this chapter. I really love all of the character in the Rune Factory Frontier series. Unfortunately the character I love the most isn't in this chapter.
I walked out of the St. Poli church and followed the directions Stella gave me, but when I made it to the Business District, something called to me. There was a large set of stairs that lead up into the square. I went up the stairs and went straight to the rock in the middle of the square. Actually the square was more like a circle, but oh well.
The rock in the middle was comprised of three stones piled on top of each other. Flowers surrounded it. The closer to the stones I got, the louder the calling was till I was only a foot away. I could hear singing, but no one was here but me. The voice was angelic, but it repeated the song over and over again. The floating lights were flying around it in large numbers. Was that all that was here? A singing rock? I started to walk away from it, but I heard a small voice call out, "Help…" I circled around, but I was still the only one here. What was the story to that rock? Why did it sing and why did it call for me? I started to walk out again, this time without any interruptions.
I went back to my main job which was delivering a bamboo shoot to some fat guy named Turner at an inn. The Business District was messy and older looking. Some of the brick could be easily moved out of place. I continued towards the inn, but when I made it to the doors, I found that they were locked. A sign on the door said, "Closed for preparations." That was just great. How was I supposed to do a simple job when I can't get into the place I need to get into? I looked over to another part of the building. There was an extra set of doors. I checked them. The door opened and made a loud screeching sound.
"Hello? Anyone here?" I called. This part of the building looked like a bar. A plump looking girl came down the stairs. She was carrying a basket of laundry. Her hair was an odd green color. Two parts of her hair were in braids but the rest was on her shoulders. There was a pink bow on her head and her eyes were the color purple. Her dress resembled a maid's uniform, but it was pink and had a high collar. The sleeve went down to her elbows.
"Oh, are you a customer? The bar isn't open right now, but the inn is." She asked.
"No, I'm here to deliver a bamboo shoot to Turner. Is he in?" I asked.
"Dad! We have a guest asking for you. Where are you, Dad?!" She shouted. The girl walked down the rest of the stair and over to me. "I'm sorry. I'm sure he'll be here any minute unless he got drunk again and fell asleep on his desk."
"It's alright. I'm Raguna, I just moved in."
"Oh, really? I'm sorry I babbled on and on without knowing that. I'm Eunice. My family runs the inn, but I guess you can tell that just by looking. Nice to meet you." She smiled.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." I replied.
"My father should be upstairs, but if he isn't you could always just give the shoot to my mother. Go on ahead and look for them upstairs." Eunice told me.
"Thank you." I went past all of the tables, upstairs. There was a hallway that lead to three locked rooms. Cards attached to the doors read: "The yam room, The strawberry room, and the turnip room." This town was perfect of Mist. They seem to love their turnips. I started to walk down the hall. The first room looked to be Eunice's. Her bookshelf was full of cook books and she had training equipment laying on the floor. Wait, was it creepy that I was in her room and I had only just met her? I started blushing fiercely and fast walked out of her room. The next room I assume is her parent's room. No one was up stairs so I tried the inn lobby. There wasn't anyone in there either. I opened the doors and went outside. Eunice was outside sweeping. I had gone through the entire building and found no one. I went back inside through in doors and there was a fat man at the front desk. He had blue eyes and a brown goatee. Had he been there before? No, he couldn't have.
"Hey. You must be Raguna. How do you do? Sorry, if my daughter caused you any trouble." He spoke. I chuckled nervously. "I'm Turner. I own this fine inn."
"Hello. I'm here to give you this. It's from Sister Stella." I greeted, handing him the bamboo shoot.
"Thanks. Since your on your way back to Stella, could you call Ganesha down here? She the blacksmith and her shop is just above ours." Turner asked. Am I a messager now? When did I become this town's dog? I walked out of the inn and started up the stairs to the blacksmith. As I walked in, I was hit by a blast of heat. An elven woman with long blonde hair and aqua eyes had a shield on an anvil and was shaping it with a hammer. I walked up to her and she put her hammer down. Most of her stomach was showing and she looked fairly young, but so did most elfs.
"Oi, I thought I told you not to come back…" She stared at me. "Sorry thought you were someone else. Haven't seen you around. Are you new?"
"Yes, I just moved in. I'm Raguna."
"I'm Ganesha. I'm Trampoli one and only blacksmith." She stared at me some more. "What? Have you seen an elven blacksmith before? Surely, you must of had one in your last village?" She asked.
"No, I don't recall any." I answered. She looked hurt, but her frown quickly faded.
"You're an honest lad. I like you. We elven blacksmiths are rare, but I can recommend anything we sell with confidence that your getting the best! I'm especially proud of the relief on the edge of this shield." Ganesha held up the cooling shield with some heat resistant gloves and tongs.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not here to shop. I came here because of Turner."
"Turner? That imblece must have chipped the blade on the kitchen knife again. I swear he's cutting up rocks in the kitchen. How could you break something elven made so easily." She sighed. "I'll go down later. That man is so hopeless. I don't know what he would do without that wife of his. If you ever need some good equipment, just come to my store anytime." She smiled. "Oh, sorry. I'm sure you have already ran all over town, but could you do me a favor?" Why not, I've already done something for everyone else I've met in this bloody town.
"What is it?"
"Can you give Danny the payment for my tab. He runs the General Store just below us."
"Alright."
"Thanks. I might price off some of the items for you when you come by." I was just a dog for this people. I just got here and they are pawning off their duties on to me.
"Mom!" I turned around to find a blond haired, little elven boy with blue eyes running up to Ganesha. He had a small wooden sword in a hilt around his waist.
"What is it Marco?" Ganesha asked. "Did the hammer fall on your hand again?" Again?
"No, I drop the frying pan on it." He answered. She looked at his hand.
"You'll be alright. Just be more careful next time. Raguna, this is my son, Marco. Marco, this is Raguna."
"So you're the guy who moved in by Mist. She's so weird don't you think? All she seems to talk about is turnips."
"Marco…" Ganesha sighed. "Go run along. Raguna has things he needs to do."
"Bye." Marco then ran upstairs. Ganesha was shaking her head. I quietly walked out. Walking down the stairs, I headed to the General Store. There was man wearing an apron who had blonde hair and brown eyes. Why did everyone in this town seem to be blonde?
"A customer? You're not? What do you want? Who are you?" He questioned so quickly it was hard to keep up with what he had asked.
"H-hello. My name is Raguna and I just moved here."
"Oh, so you're just making your rounds? I'm Danny, owner of the general story. Nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Danny." Why did I add a Mr? Danny was his first name.
"Please don't call me that. Just plain old "Danny" is fine. Also, I'm the only general store in the village so even if you don't like it don't complain."
"Oh, well, I guess that's good to know." If he's the only general store in the town, that means he can jack up his prices and not care.
"So, what did you come to buy? Seeds? Accessories?" He asked.
"No, I didn't come here to buy anything." I answered.
"If you're not a customer, then get out! I don't have time for you window shoppers."
"No, I brought some money for Ganesha. She said she needed to pay you."
"Oh, well then hand it over." I handed him the money. One, two… Yup, it's all there."
"I'll be going now." I started to walk out the door.
"Wait!"
"What?" I growled.
"If you're going around greeting everyone, can you go to Erik and do something for me? Great, he lives in the South District. Oh, and buy something next time." I walked out of the building. South District was south of here. There goes my first day.
As I walked into South District, there was a man standing outside of his house. He had long black hair and what looked like blue-gray eyes. "Hello." I greeted with a smile. He let out a light chuckle. He was very soft spoken.
"Are you new here?" He asked.
"Yes, nice to meet you. I'm Raguna and you are?" I questioned.
"You… don't need to know my name. All of the villagers forget it anyway." This guy was depressed.
"Are you Kross? Hello." I asked.
"How do you know my name?!" He seemed angry and fearful.
"Huh? It's written on your mailbox. You really write your name with cute letters, Kross." Weird guy, but I feel like there's more to him.
"That isn't my writing. I'm sure the mailman just wrote it herself out of consideration. Make sure you take a look a your mailbox every morning. Anette doesn't like it when your box is full on unread letters. Now, I should get back to work. When you need some help, don't hesitate to ask. Just come to me when you want extensions." He started to mutter some words I could just barely make out.
Answer me, tree stump.
What is a house and what are extension…
Even if you break the stumps, a despairing tomorrow waits you because you don't know when it can come back.
Why, oh why, do I swing the axe…?
"That sounds like a sad song."
"Yes, when I was young, a man I knew very well, the man who wrote this song…" This guy was just simply depressing. Oh well, got to go find Erik. There was only one house left. I walked inside and a brown haired, brown eyed man greeted me.
"Hey, young man! I am Erik and I run this farm. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too. I'm Raguna. I just moved in next door." I greeted.
"Oh, in that house with the large field? If you need any advice about your field you can ask me any time. W-what? Do I have a girlfriend?" I didn't asked if he did, but his face started to turn bright red. "I can't tell you!" Erik broke down into nervous laughter.
"Didn't ask…"
"Why are you here?" He shouted. This guy had more problems then Kross and Danny combine.
"I have something from Danny." I answered. "Uh, I don't know what I'm supposed to ask you for…"
"You're quite young and immature for running off without hearing what to do, young man!" Erik chuckled. "But, lucky, I know what he wants. The seed has just arrived. Thank you for relaying the message. I sell seeds here and I can share the crops I grow with you. Just ask."
"Will you stop calling me that? You yourself are about as young as I am." I mutter.
"And if you want to know anything about farming, just ask me. What, do I have a girlfriend?" He broke out into a nervous chuckle again and his face went red.
"Give it a rest…"
"Don't plant turnips in another season! Rumor has it that they turn into monsters and destroy your field, but when the sun come up, they dry up and what are you left with? Dead grass and a broken green thumb. Of course I'm not scared of it at all. That's that. Just be sure to harvest your crops at the end of a season." He broke into another nervous chuckle. This guy is loony. Kross has a better personality. I sighed and head back to the church to speak with Stella.
She was in by the alter still, and smiled when I came in. "Hello Raguna. You sure took a while to get back. I didn't think this town was the confusing to get around." Stella chuckled.
"It's not. I got stuck doing favors for everyone I met." I replied.
"Well, everyone needs a little help now and then." Stella told me. "Can you do one more thing for me? I know you have had a hard first day, but there is something I'd like investigated."
"Of course Sister Stella. You gave me a place to rest it's only fair that I do something to repay you."
"You must have noticed that there is a clock tower across the way from here. In front of it is an interesting sapling growing. No one seems to know what it is. I was thinking, that with your foreign knowledge, you might know what it is. Would you be so kind as to take a look at it?"
"I'll go right way." She smiled and I walked out of the church. The clocktower was a very interesting building and looked older than more of the town. To the right of the building was a small plant. It looked like a bean plant of somesort. I watered the plant and walked back home.
It was late and almost nothing got done. I sat down and started writing a letter back home to Tart. Her real name was Tori and she worked in the library back home. She of all people was going to worry the most. Plus if I sent the letter her, I could count on her to tell everyone else. After I finished the letter I put it on the bedside table and laid in bed. Maybe this place will be more interesting then I first thought.
I don't know about you guys, but I like Erik. Kross is an interesting character too, and there is more to him than what meets the eye. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter. Like always, please leave a comment on anything I could do better.