The week following her first adventure in the mine, Lizzie made several more trips for ore. She managed to accumulate 10 bars of copper ore. She also spent some time fishing and of course, kept the farm going. Everything she made from the farm was either saved for the upgrades or put back into the farm.
Once Lizzie had killed the ten slimes required for entry to the guild, Lizzie walked the extra quarter mile from the mine to the guild hall. It was a large green building with wood columns framing the door. Inside, Willy sat behind a counter against the back wall. A large map of Hertfordshire hung on the wall behind him. Several barrels and hay bales were scatter across the room, while other walls were strewn with various weapons against a green backdrop. Over by a fireplace in the far right corner sat another man in a rocking chair.
"Hey," said Willy. "Killed your slimes."
"Yes."
"Alright. You're an adventurer." Willy wrote something in a book in front of him. "Talk to Chamberlayne. He'll give you quests."
"Quests?" It seemed Willy's short manner of speaking was catching.
"Talk to Chamberlayne."
Lizzie went over towards the man in the rocking chair, who must be Chamberlayne. He was even older than Willy. He wore overalls over a grey shirt and an old leather bowler hat. He seemed to be asleep.
"Hello," Lizzie said tentatively.
"Oh, you're the new adventurer. About time we had someone else. Been just me and Willy for too long. You'll be wanting a quest, yes?"
"I think so. What are these quests?"
"Simple, you kill a certain amount of a certain type of beast, you get a reward. Take the slimes for example. You kill a thousand slimes, you get a ring to protect you from them."
"A thousand. That's an awful lot. I've only killed ten so far. And the last one hit me and made me feel woozy and nauseous."
"Don't worry. You'll be able to kill a thousand. Keep reproducing, see. You clear a floor and go home, then come back the next day and the slimes will be back. A thousand is easy. There are other creatures too. Bats, insects, skeletons."
"Skeletons?" Lizzie wasn't sure if she believed her ears. Slimes were one things. Bats they had in the city. But skeletons?
"Yep, there a lot lower down though. You won't have to worry about them for a while. Hopefully, you can get a better sword before going up against them. That pitiful thing you've got now won't do much damage."
"Ok. Well, I'll try to do the slimes and bats at least. I'm killing them anyway just to get the ore needed."
Chamberlayne handed her a copy of the list of quests. It had several other monsters listed that Lizzie hadn't seen yet. She hoped they were all much deeper. The slimes and bats were hard enough to kill.
"Come back if you want to buy any swords or adventuring supplies," Chamberlayne told her.
Lizzie smiled at him, waved towards Willy, and left the guild. It seemed she had a lot more work than she had planned on.
Besides her mining adventures, Lizzie really enjoyed her second week on the farm. The best part of her week happened the day following her first trip to the mine. Mrs. Lucas had shown up at her door in the wee hours of the morning. Lizzie was still yawning and rubbing the sleep from her eyes, so it took her a minute to notice what Mrs. Lucas was holding. It was the most adorable grey kitten that Lizzie had ever seen. It had two black stripes on each side of its face and lighter gray patches of fur on its face, chest and legs.
"My cat had kittens recently and they are just now ready for new homes. Of course, I thought of you. Every farmer needs a good mouser."
"He is adorable. I would love to have him. What is his name?"
"Oh, you can name him. We try not to name the kittens that we know will find new homes. What do you think would be a good name?"
"You know, I think I would like to name him Bat. One of my favorite short stories had a grey cat named Bat in it. I think it would fit him perfectly."
"Oh, yes. As long as you don't do to him what you do with the bats in the mine."
"No worries about that. I'm sure Bat here won't fly in my face and attack me, will you Bat?"
Mrs. Lucas dropped the bundle of fur into Lizzie's arms. The kitten curled up shyly for a few minutes, but after settling down a little, it started to purr. She invited Mrs. Lucas in for some coffee, but Mrs. Lucas wanted to return to her own ranch. She had left George in charge and wasn't sure if he would remember everything.
Bat had followed Lizzie around for the rest of that week, chasing bugs in the garden and trying to climb the scarecrow. It was nice having an animal on the farm. Lizzie had started to get lonely on the farm by herself.
At the end of the week, Lizzie got to go to her first festival. It was the Meryton Egg Festival. Held in the town square, the festival included a booth filled with goodies to buy and tables covered with food. When Lizzie arrived, she was immediately accosted by William Collins.
"Hello, well if it isn't our newest farmer friend. So wonderful you can join us for this joyous occasion. To what do we owe the pleasure of your company today?"
"Uh…Sir Lucas sent me a letter about it"
"Ah, yes. Sir Lucas is a wonderful mayor. So helpful in attending on all of this county's great inhabitants. He takes prodigious care of us all."
"Yes. He does."
"And can I assume that you will also be joining us for the Flower Dance. I of course, by no means object to the art of dancing. In fact, it is one of my greatest pleasures."
"What is the Flower Dance?" Lizzie asked.
"The Flower Dance! Why it is only the finest occasion of the season. A chance for everyone to dance with their chosen partners. You'll of course want to buy a dress. All of the women wear dresses for it. It is held in a little clearing over in the forest."
Lizzie flashed back to countless high school dances that her mother had forced her to attend with Jane. Did she really want to put herself through that again?
"Yes, well, I will definitely think about attending William. I am quite busy with the farm though, so I'll have to see how busy I am."
"Yes, yes. Hard work is good for the soul. It is a credit to you that you are so conscientious. I'll even dance with you if you manage to attend. Presuming I haven't decided to dance with someone else by that time."
"I look forward to it. Oh, there's Sir Lucas. I should go say hi."
With that Lizzie and William said goodbye and William wondered off to harass someone else. Lizzie did find time to talk to Sir Lucas, as well as several other party goers. She stopped by the booth and looked at their wares. She wasn't interested in any of the décor, but she did manage to buy a pack of strawberry seeds. She should have enough time left in the season to get a harvest. Everyone sat down together for lunch, eating ham, casseroles, and fruit salad. After lunch, it was time for the Egg Hunt. Lizzie thought it would only include the youngest children, but since there were only two kids in the town, many of the young adults were also joining. Charlotte and John talked Lizzie into joining as well.
"Alright everyone joining the hunt, please line up," Sir Lucas called out. "You all know the rules. There are 50 eggs hid throughout the town. The person who finds the most wins. You have ten minutes."
"What's the prize this year, Sir Lucas?" Lydia asked.
"That's for me to know and you to find out. The only thing I'll tell you is that this prize tops all."
Lydia huffed, but otherwise quietly.
"3 … 2…1… GO!"
Everyone scattered immediately. Lizzie decided to head south and check out the area closer to the river. She found a green egg behind a tree and a purple egg under a bush. She looked up to check everyone else's progress. Denny and Mariah were trying to climb a tree to reach an egg. Lydia was flat out running trying to find more eggs. The rest of the participants were more relaxed in their search. Lizzie continued looking and found two more eggs before the whistle blew. Everyone returned to the square for Sir Lucas to announce the winner.
"Looks like our winner this year is Lydia, with 10 eggs." With this, Sir Lucas flourished a large straw hat with a blue ribbon surrounding the crown. "Here is your prize madam."
"Cool, it's the ugliest hat I've ever seen." Lydia's excitement did not fit well with her words.
"How is it cool if it is ugly?" Lizzie asked.
"Because I can fix it up to look good, silly."
Lydia took the hat and placed it on her head. She pranced around the other contestants, pulling Mariah and Denny out to dance with her. The children did end up getting runner-up prizes of small candy bags. The hunt had been more fun than she expected. Although, maybe next year she would pair up with someone else. Everyone went home after the egg hunt, and Lizzie had time to get her new seeds in the ground.