A bit of spoilers for the third arc and additional facts which will play an important part for the next part of the story! Please enjoy!

Rune Factory – Wishes, Dreams, and Memories

Chapter 3 – A Day in Selphia

The morning sun shone brightly, indicating a sunny day ahead. The light of the morning sun went through the windows of the castle, waking the acting prince of Selphia from his slumber. The hazel-haired young man sat up on his big bed and stretched his arms and legs while letting out a big yawn.

Lest got off from his bed and walked out from his room, heading towards the east castle room where his kitchen was to start preparing breakfast for himself as none of the butlers came into his room with food. Using the available ingredients in his refrigerator, the only thing he could make for breakfast was only a small portion of fried egg. Lest set the plate on his dining table in the main room and sat down to enjoy his small breakfast, only to be interrupted by the sound of knocking on the door.

"Excuse me," The door opened to reveal Selphia's female dragon knight, "My apologies for coming early in the morning."

"It's okay, Forte," Lest rose from his seat and walked towards the door where the female knight was standing and noticed the slight worry on her face, "Has there been trouble in town?"

"No, there is no trouble," Forte shook her head and looked into the main room behind Lest, "Has Kiel been here? He wasn't in his bed this morning…"

"No, I haven't seen him today, I just got up myself. Did he leave a note on his desk or something? " Lest asked in return.

"Well… I'm not sure… " Forte replied with the feelings of uncertainty on her face, "He might have, but I'm afraid I shouldn't be touching Kiel's paperwork on his desk. There were sheets of paper on his desk this morning and this only happens when he is looking into something."

"Hm…" Lest paused for a bit, recalling the fact that the light on the sibling's house was turned on when he was taking a walk on the night before, "I think he's looking in something since last night. I remember seeing that the light was on when I passed by your house last night."

"Is that so?" Forte asked to confirm, getting a nod from the Earthmate, "I see… Thank you very much for letting me know," Forte let out a smile before her smile turned back into worry, "If it's alright, can I ask you to help me find him? I'm worried that he might get into trouble again…"

"Don't worry, I'll let him know when I found him. You can go back to patrolling the town," Lest replied with a smile.

"Thank you very much for your help," The worry on her face disappeared once again before Forte bowed slightly, "I shall be leaving then."

"Yes, take care," The female knight left the room and Lest closed the door before going back to his breakfast.

Lest finished up his breakfast and got ready before heading out towards the field through the door on the back of the main room. The Earthmate did the farming work which he had always been doing since the first time he arrived in Selphia. His enthusiastic pet monsters were helping him with watering the crops he had been planting while repaying all the love and trust Lest had been giving them. With the farm completely taken care of, it was time for Lest to head for the town and start looking for Forte's book-loving brother.

Lest started his search with Bado's shop where Kiel would come once in a while to learn forging from the older dwarf. The shop only had a few visitors as it was still quite early in the morning, but the owner of the shop had already started his daily attempts of earning easy money. Bado was standing behind the counter of his shop, while talking to his potential customers about what seemed to be a regular broadsword. Unfortunately for Lest, Kiel wasn't in the shop after some looking around the building and Lest left the shop to find him in another possible place.

Lest walked towards the north side of the town, heading straight towards the next possible location near the end of the street. He stopped in front of the Sainte-Coquille Manor, where the actual prince lived and worked. He looked through the windows to see Arthur working on his desk with stacks of books and paper surrounding his desk. Moving a little to his right, Lest saw the one person he was looking for sitting on the guest's chair.

Lest knocked on the door and got a reply from Arthur from inside, "Please come in."

The hazel-haired Earthmate entered the building and closed the door shut, "Good morning, Arthur. Busy as always?"

"Ah, good morning," Arthur returned the greeting with a smile, "Yes, but Kiel had been helping me with my research since last night."

Lest turned to see Kiel, who had fallen asleep with his hands holding an open book. Lest let out a laugh and turned back to Arthur, "Yeah, and I can see that he's been using his whole energy into research."

"Without a doubt, yes," Arthur let out a laugh, "Is there anything you need, Lest?"

"Not really, it's just Forte who asked me to find Kiel," Lest approached the book lover and tapped on his shoulder before slightly shaking him, "Kiel, wake up."

Kiel opened his eyes drowsily and moved his shoulders in response before noticing a hand on his shoulder. Kiel looked up tiredly and saw the person who had woken him up, "Oh, it's you Lest…" Kiel closed the book that he was holding and put it on the small table in front of him before he stretched out his arms, "Wait, how long have I been sleeping here?"

"I don't think that's important," Lest let out a laugh, "Anyway, Forte was looking for you, you know."

"Oh, is that so?" Kiel rose to his feet and took the book he had been holding previously, "I better get going then. Thanks for letting me know!" Lest turned to Arthur, who had gone back to his own work, "I'll let you know when I find something else from the book."

Arthur noticed Kiel's voice calling out to him and looked up from his desk with a smile, "Yes, thank you for your help."

"I'll see you later," Kiel turned to Lest once more before he took off from the office.

"I'll be going as well, Arthur," Lest turned to Arthur, who noticed Lest's calling as well, "And please don't forget to get some rest."

"Ah, yes…" The blond prince let out a nervous laugh, "Take care of yourself as well, Lest."

"I will," Lest finally said before leaving the office. Lest stood in front of the door for a moment until he remembered about what happened at the night before, "Right, I'll go and ask Amber about where she was from last night."

Lest went south from the building, heading towards the Melody Street, and straight towards the building in the south. The hazel-haired young man heard the bells at the door rang as he pushed the flower shop's door open. The green-haired Guardian's small figure was covered by the blue-haired man's bigger figure, but it was unusual for the blue-haired Guardian to be visiting the Carnation's.

Lest was about to call out to the two Guardians in the room, but the tension in the room had prevented him from interrupting. The Earthmate stood beside the shop's door, trying to listen in to the conversation while keeping himself unnoticed by the two other people in the room.

"Is there a way for us to open that door?" Dylas asked with a serious face.

The shorter Guardian shrugged in response, "I dunno, I just got told that I wasn't qualified," Amber replied with a confused look on her face.

"You weren't qualified?" Dylas asked to confirm, getting a nod from the shorter Guardian.

"Gotta have the determination to open it. It's the proof you can change the world," Amber let out a disappointed sigh, "But my determination isn't the right kind…"

The blue-haired waiter let out a sigh, "I can't even picture it…"

Both Guardians let out a sigh and thought silently before Lest stepped into the scene from behind Dylas, "Hey, is something going on?"

"W-Wha?" Dylas was surprised to see Lest standing next to him as he was focused on thinking, "No, it's nothing. I'm leaving."

Lest turned as Dylas was leaving, 'He's the same as always…'

"Welcome, what do you need today?" Amber's usual cheerful voice grabbed Lest's attention back.

"Amber, did you happen to go somewhere last night?" Lest's question turned the smile on her face into confusion.

"Last night?" Amber turned to look at the ceiling, trying to remember what had happened, "I was in bed…?"

Lest looked at the Guardian in confusion, "You didn't go anywhere out of town? I thought that I saw you walking from outside the town gates last night," Lest noticed that Amber was more confused than he was.

"No, I don't remember going anywhere… Ah, I know!" Amber's confused look turned into a smile, "If it's a case of having another me in this town, maybe Ellie can help you!"

'Maybe not…' Lest laughed nervously at the thought, "I guess I was too tired last night that I started seeing things. Okay, I'll get going then."

"Okay, please come again!" Amber replied with a smile before Lest walked towards the door.

Lest let out a sigh and looked back at the memory in which he saw someone looking like Amber coming through the gate, 'But I'm sure that was her…' Lest paused for a few seconds before letting out another sigh, "Oh well, it could be just my imagination…" Lest looked up at the sky, seeing that it was around noon already, "The monsters should already be done with their chores, so I guess I should head back and put them back into the barns."

Lest started walking back towards the castle and went through the middle gate heading towards the dragon room as he usually did even when the Native Dragon was still well and alive. Once he entered the room, he noticed a glimpse of red and purple within the room. He turned to the side of the room and found the third Guardian he had saved talking with her ghost friend.

"If that's the case, would she just end up just like you?" Dolce asked her friend beside her.

There was a slight uncertainty in Pico's eyes before she answered, "That's… possible… But if it is, why can't she stay here?"

Dolce turned to Pico, "Would it have something to do with regrets? If she didn't have anything to regret, there would be nothing to tie her here, correct?"

There was another pause from Pico before she nodded, "That's possible, but again … remember, she's different from us normal mortals," Pico noticed the disappointed sigh coming from her friend and let out a smile, "I expect you wish to know how much different, correct?"

Dolce gave her a nod, "Yes…" The Guardian turned to the entrance of the room as she was about to leave and was surprised to see the Earthmate standing by the entrance, "Lest! Y-You're here!"

"Sorry, but I didn't mean to eavesdrop on you two," Lest said as he walked towards the two, "Is there anything I can do to help? And who is this that you're going to bring back?"

Dolce let out an annoyed sigh, "Idiot," With a short comment, the female Guardian continued her walk out of the room, leaving her ghost friend.

"You don't get it, do you?" Lest turned to see Pico, who was looking at him with a serious face, "If you've heard us talking, you should be able to find out who we're talking about," The statement Pico had made before she disappeared from the room made him even more confused.

"Something is going on, and I think the Guardians are working on it together…" Lest paused for a moment, trying to connect the pieces of the puzzle together, only to lead him into another dead end, "I still don't get it…"

Lest put the mystery behind him and continued towards his field which had been completely watered. The Earthmate went to his shipping bin, which was located at the other end of his field, to make sure that the crops harvested by his monster pets were all there. Once everything was clear, Lest led the working monsters back to their respective barns and brushed them as part of the reward.

With the monsters secured on their barns, Lest's work for the day was finished. After stretching his arms up, Lest headed towards the northern exit from his field and into the northern part of the town. The Earthmate walked towards the red building at the west corner of the town, which was the town's inn. After a few hours of walking around town and working in the fields, it was time to reward himself with a long, relaxing soak in the hot water.

Lest headed towards the men's bath once he had paid for it, getting into the relaxing hot bath to relax his muscles. Soon after, two more people joined him on the other end of the men's bath while having some serious talk. Looking through the hot bath's steam, Lest noticed that the two people were Leon and Barrett, who had come to visit Selphia for the day.

"It's not about the materials or the money," Barrett's voice was heard, "It happened to be fluke I managed to make one the first time. I don't remember how I made it in the first place."

"I see…" Leon's reply with a disappointed voice was heard, "My apologies for asking the impossible."

"Why do you need the Homing Ring? I'm sure Lest can already use the homing spell because he's an Earthmate and Earthmates tend to have that ability," Barrett replied with a question.

"You mean Omni Gate?" Leon asked, getting a nod from the brown-haired teacher, before he shook his head, "No, I think the power of that spell will be too much to handle at once, especially when you know who you're trying to bring back."

"I see," Barrett let out a small smile, "I guess you can find people willing to do the insane just about anywhere."

"Oh?" Leon responded while feeling a bit surprised.

"Yeah," Barrett nodded, "It's probably wise not to attempt that spell. Lest tried that once before, but the rune energy just… exploded…" A sigh came out from Barrett's mouth, "It's too dangerous. We got lucky last time, but we can't be sure the next time we would be as lucky."

Lest had heard parts of the conversation, and things were starting to make sense to him, 'Venti…' Lest let out a sigh and continued relaxing in the bath a few minutes longer before he left the bath and got dressed. He left the inn and headed back towards the castle as he had finished his work for the day.

He stood by the door to his room for a moment and lowered his head, thinking about the things he had heard from the Guardians that day, 'There're trying to bring back Venti…' Lest raised his head back, 'Let's see if I can get some more information tomorrow…'