This chapter takes place a few days after Rose gets used to Echo Village! Hope you enjoy! ^^
"Are you seriously telling me to go over to Rose's farm and give her a cow and the equipment to care for farm animals for free? You must be crazy." Neil huffed.
"And why is that?" Dunhill asked.
"If I give her a free cow, she'll expect me to give her all my animals for free!"
Dunhill sighed. "You out of all people should know that a farmer isn't a farmer without an animal, Neil. Besides, you wouldn't even have this job if you were expected to give your animals away for free." He explained.
"Alright, alright. I'm going." Neil groaned.
After he got the cow and the equipment, he headed to Rose's farm.
Rose was eating a turnip salad, thanks to the turnips she had harvested the other day.
She then headed outside to care for her crops, when she noticed a cow happily munching on the grass next to her house.
Is that what I think it is?!
"Aww!" The farmer squealed in delight as she ran towards the cow.
"Look at you!" She giggled, petting the bush of hair on its head.
"Hey! Get back here!"
Rose slightly jumped and looked around to notice Neil running into the farm area.
"G-good morning, Neil." She greeted with a shy smile. She hadn't seen him since the day she came to live in the village, so she still wasn't used to talking to him yet.
"Yeah, I had the greatest morning ever chasing this runaway cow." The animal dealer caught up to her, slightly panting.
He then watched as the cow mooed happily, rubbing up against Rose's legs.
"H-hey, watch it! You're going to make me fall!" She laughed, bending down to reach the cow's height.
"And here I thought she was going to trample you. Looks like she's taken a liking to you." Neil stated.
He thought she was going to trample me? That's some expectation...
"She's really cute, too! She reminds me of my father's cow, Betsy!" Rose grinned as she stood up.
"If that's what you think, then she's yours."
"W-wait, what?" She asked, surprised at Neil's sudden statement.
"You heard me. This cow is yours. You're lucky Dunhill sent me to give her to you. Don't expect me to give you any more free animals." Neil crossed his arms as he said the last sentence.
"Free? B-but—"
"Just take her! Geez, it took me long enough to chase her all the way here!" The animal dealer then sighed."Give her a name already. I'm not wasting any more of my time here."
"Hmm...I got it! I'll name you Winter, how about it?" Rose asked the cow in a cheery tone as she petted her head with a smile.
"Moo!" The cow mooed, delighted.
"Winter? We're in Spring, if you can't already tell." He slightly snickered.
"W-well, I had nothing else so I decided to name her Winter because her coat's as white as snow..." The farmer explained in a mutter."Besides, she seems to like it!"
That's actually pretty clever...
"If that's it then I guess I'm done here." Neil started as he was about to turn around and leave."I'll see—"
"Wait, Neil. I, uh...don't really know how to care for a cow..." Rose told him and immediately shut her eyes tightly.
"Then who's this 'Betsy' I've heard so much about?" He growled, turning back around to face her.
"S-she was my father's cow, b-but all I did was brush her when I first came here!" She reasoned.
"And to think you're the daughter of one of the best farmers in the village..." Neil groaned under his breath in irritation.
After Neil taught Rose the basics of taking care of farm animals, she thanked him.
"Thank you very much for bringing Winter here and everything, Neil!" She grinned.
"It's nothing. I should also tell you that I work in the plaza along with Rod selling animals from Monday to Thursday and 10:00AM to 6:00PM. We don't work on rainy days, if you couldn't get that into your head somehow. You should stock up so your animals don't end up getting sick by then." He explained.
"Got it!" She nodded."O-oh, and before you leave...Can you maybe check on Winter tomorrow? Just to make sure I'm caring for her right?"
Neil looked at Rose for a moment before responding. Her eyes are so full of hope, I don't want to know what'll happen if I say no...
"Sure."
After Neil left, Rose got straight to work with Winter. She talked to her, brushed her, fed her, milked her, and then led her out to graze.
"Happy grazing!" The farmer gave the cow a quick pat on the head and then headed out into town.
There she saw Hina, Charles and Camellia's daughter playing with Toni, Rebecca's son.
"Rosy!" The little girl exclaimed and ran towards Rose when she noticed her walking out of the farm area.
"Oh hey, Rose!" Toni ran up to the farmer as well.
"Good morning, you two!" Rose smiled when they caught up to her.
"I saw Neil walking into your farm with a cow, Rosy!" Hina started.
"Yeah, me too! What happened?" Toni asked, curious.
"Well, Dunhill told him to give me the cow. I guess a farmer isn't a farmer without any animals!" She explained.
"Ooh, can we see it sometime?" The little girl asked with a big grin.
"Yeah, I wanna see it too!" Toni smiled.
"Definitely! I'll let you two come by the farm this weekend. Just make sure you ask your parents, okay?"
"Okay!" The two kids nodded.
Rose then headed into the forest area of the mountains and noticed Iroha walking towards her with a small smile.
"Hey, Iroha!" She waved, greeting the blacksmith.
"Hello, Rose. How are you doing today?" The blacksmith asked.
"I'm good! I'm just looking for a way to use up my time for today, since I already took care of everything at the farm." Rose explained."And you?"
"I am doing well. I've managed to finish the gifts that I meant to give you when you came." Iroha told her as she looked into her bag.
She then fished out a hammer and axe from her bag and gave them to Rose.
"I know these are not your regular type of gifts, but I figured you could use some tools at your farm." She started."Take them as 'farm-warming' gifts." She ended with a smile.
Now I can get rid of some of those old trees over at the farm! Not to mention a small tree that started to grow in front of the doorway of the barn... This happened to me in my game, actually! Before Iroha came into town, a tree started sprouting right in front of the doorway of the barn. It ended up getting fully grown and it became hard for me to bring out my cow -_-
"These are going to help me with my farming big time! Thank you!" Rose grinned, putting the hammer and axe into her bag.
"I'm glad to hear you enjoyed them. You can use the hammer to mine for some ores, which may also help you with your farming as well. Maybe the both of us can go mining together someday."
"Definitely!" The farmer started. "How about this Sunday? I'm letting Hina and Toni into my farm Saturday, so I might be busy that day." She explained.
"Good idea. I cannot wait until then!"
Sorry for the week delay, but I was working on something else! I have a really big urge to write this, but I have an amazing idea for Allen in a chapter or two! Look forward to it! As always, reviews are highly appreciated and ideas are accepted! ^^