Golden Turnip #3: Wizard's Gold

Chapter 3: Learning Something New


Molly loved to go on about how wonderful and rewarding it was to work on the farm and how majestic the golden plants were. The farm was looking lively and beautiful; Molly knew that her grandfather would be proud of her, even though he never wanted her to be a farmer.

She became closer to the other farmers and villagers, but spent most of her time with the Wizard and would ask him questions about her family. He knew things about her grandfather and her parents who had died soon after Molly's birth.

At first, the Wizard had needed crops in his spells and so he came to Molly's grandfather constantly. But through this, they managed to become friends.

Then, a little while before Molly was born; her grandfather stopped talking to Wizard, even going so far as to avoid him. The Wizard still did not know why.

She did wonder why this was, from time to time. She had always wanted to know the riddle that was her grandfather, but she was fascinated further by this secret.

The Wizard could think of nothing he had done that would make her grandfather act in such a way, so it probably wasn't caused by him directly. Perhaps somebody else in town was getting into her grandfather's head, and making him fear the Wizard.

That was still a rather pointless idea, among the many theories Molly had. When she wasn't working, this is what she usually pondered. Well, that secret and the pendant.

The pendant she'd gotten from her grandfather. When the Wizard saw it, he told Molly its story. He had crafted that pendant, and enchanted it. Her grandfather had requested it, but the Wizard had no idea why until now.

All the spells cast on it were spells of protection. He had clearly cared a lot about Molly, even before she had been born.


It was a day like any other; Molly had just harvested a new batch of golden crops and was off to see the Wizard about what to plant next.

She entered the Wizard's house, noticed he was a bit distracted, and said, "So what'll it be this time?"

"Hmm… Oh, yes. Strawberries. Lots of strawberries," the Wizard said, turning to face Molly as he mentioned the strawberries.

"All right, and let me guess. You want one of the strawberries?" Molly said.

"No, actually," the Wizard said, surprising Molly. "I have something else in mind."

"Okay, what is it?" Molly asked, foolishly.

"I ask for… your first born child," the Wizard said.

Molly stared at him. Silence followed. The Wizard looked slightly embarrassed.

But then Molly smiled a slightly scared smile and answered, "It's a good thing I plan on staying single forever, huh? Okay, I guess I accept."

The Wizard smiled for a brief moment, as though he were about to laugh. Molly awkwardly left, hoping her fear was not too obvious.

They went on with the deal, the Wizard asking for normal things from then on; settling Molly's nerves.


As the days passed by, Molly noticed Gill was watching her.

He came by the farm to watch her work and when she came to town, he watched her from his window. He was surprised at how hard a worker she really was, considering she was probably rich from all the golden crops.

Getting sick of this, Molly finally decided to just talk to him more; in a hope to prevent possible stalking in the future. Most of the time they got along fine but they did argue every now and then. Molly enjoyed the Wizard's company more, even if he was creepy from time to time.

Molly sometimes wondered whether she considered Gill her rival. Even since the first time she'd met him, she felt like proving herself worthy although…

Now that Molly thought about it, she had probably met Gill before. Back when they were children, when the Mayor came to visit, he would sometimes bring his son. They never spoke to each other, but Molly knew that she knew Gill.

And so, one day Molly was working on another field of golden crops when Gill stopped by. Again. Molly was rather sick of hearing his obnoxious voice. That's how she heard it, anyway.

"Hello, Gill. I was just about to go take care of the livestock," Molly said, as she had not only focused on crops, but being a rancher as well. "Just come into the barn if you want to talk." Molly half hoped he wouldn't come into the barn. But he did. Of course.

As Molly brushed the cows and sheep, Gill tried to make conversation, and sometimes he'd say something that Molly actually did want to talk about, which they would then talk about and, surprisingly, not get into an argument.

"Hey, Molly. There's been something I've been thinking about," Gill said, stopping their conversation short.

"Hmmm, yeah?" Molly mumbled, not really paying attention.

Gill walked up to Molly and waited until she stopped brushing her prize cow. She then turned around and came face to face with Gill. Gill took Molly's hand and said, "I know it's probably a stupid question but… do you like me?"

Molly responded, "Not most of the time."

She turned back to brushing her prize cow while Gill's heart almost snapped in two.

"Wait… Did you mean… w- what I think you mean?" Molly stammered. Molly turned back to Gill and stared into his eyes. "T- This is all s- so new to me…" Molly mumbled.

And still she didn't answer. Because she knew nothing about love. She argued a lot with Gill but maybe… that was because she liked him. Molly had no idea.

She was just about to say, 'I don't know,' when instead, she said, "I guess so."

"Well, that's just great!" Gill said, and it seemed like one layer of awkwardness had been removed.

Molly stood there, speechless for a moment, and then decided it could be worse.

Gill went home happy, but Molly did little else for the day, worried about what Gill might do next.