Chapter 14: Clearing the Fields!

Pete and Claire were standing in front of their fields, overseeing the desolate state of the land.

"The field has seen better days," Pete said, folding his arms.

"When I saw the ad for the farm, it looked so gorgeous." Claire sighed, dropping her arms. Could they clear this farm and make it look better? So many rocks, branches, and weeds were scattered around. Where do we even begin?

"Yeah, the old man took care of it well." Pete stared at the sky. "When I was a kid, the farm looked beautiful. It was much colorful back then."

Claire hummed. "Now it looks so… dull."

"Woof, woof!"

"Oh…?" Pete turned to the sound and his eyes lit up. A little puppy ran to them. "Oh, it's the puppy!"

"Huh?" Claire followed his gaze. "Oh!"

"Woof!" The puppy ran in circles around him. Its tail was wagging around.

"Hey there, buddy!" Pete crouched down and patted it. "I almost forgot about you!"

"Has it always been here?" Claire asked, dropping to her knees. I want to pet it…

"Yeah, I met this puppy yesterday." He replied. "I think it might have belonged to the old man."

"He's an adorable one!" She stared at the puppy. I really want to pet it…

"I know, right?" He scratched the puppy behind its ears. "Oh, you like that, don't you?"

Claire could do nothing but watch Pete pet the puppy. She's never had pets of her own as her apartment didn't allow it. She wasn't aware this farm had a puppy until now. How… do I approach a puppy? She was afraid of scaring it away. Ugh, but I want to pet it!

"… Here."

"Huh?"

"Don't you want to pet it?"

Pete nudged the puppy towards her. The puppy looked at Claire with wide, curious eyes.

"C-Can I really…?" her lips pressed together.

"Of course." He smiled softly. "Go on."

Claire slowly reached her hand towards the puppy's face. Her hand froze for a moment, then continued towards it. The puppy approached her hand and gave it a few sniffs. It nuzzled against her fingers.

"O-Oh…!" Her eyes widened in delight. She carefully placed her hand on its brown fur between the floppy ears and began petting it. It was fluffy to touch! I'm petting a puppy!

Pete chuckled. "Not so bad, is it?"

"Yeah…" Claire smoothed her hand to its body as she got more comfortable. "It's so cute!"

There was something about Claire's face that made Pete stop and gaze at her. The bubbly curling of her lips. It was like that of an innocent child receiving a pet for their birthday. It's… rather nice.

"What is its name?" She asked.

"Oh." He rubbed his lips. "I… don't know what its name is. There's no name tag."

"I see." She nodded, pondering her mind for a bit. "Why don't you name it then?"

"Me?" He pointed at himself. "Name it?"

"The puppy is yours now, wouldn't you say?" She replied with a smile. "So you should name it!"

"Huh, well…" He scratched his cheek for a moment. What do I name the puppy…? He didn't have any pets at home. The only pet he played with was the old man's dog. Come to think of it, what was its name…? Let's call you…

"… Koro."

"Woof!" the puppy jumped up.

"Koro, huh…?" Pete poked its cheek. "Do you like that name, buddy?"

"Woof, woof!" the puppy bobbed its head frantically.

"I like that name." Claire agreed. "It's settled then! Your name is Koro!"

"Woof!" Koro spun around, officially accepting the name.

"Now, then…" Pete stood up and tightened his white gloves. "Let's get to clearing the fields."

"All right!" Claire followed. "What's the plan?"

"We've got rocks, weeds, and branches here and there." He took a sickle out of his backpack and moved it around, testing its weight. "Luckily for us, the old man left his old tools in the toolbox. They're still in decent shape."

"That's good to hear." Claire nodded. I thought they'd be in terrible condition.

"Since you're so good with bashing skulls…" He narrowed his eyes at her. "You can handle the rocks. That'd be a wise use of your hammering."

"… Are you still mad at me?" Claire puffed a cheek out. She equipped the hammer she bought from the city.

"Maybe I am." He laughed softly, standing in front of a weed. "What's your best guess?"

"I would say maybe you are." Clare returned his laughter. She would be more careful with the hammer.

SLICK!

Pete cut a weed. It turned out smoother than he expected. "Not bad!" He proceeded to cut more weeds nearby, one at a time.

"I gotta get to work, too!" Claire clapped her face to pump herself up. Stones, prepare to get smashed!

SLAM!

Claire smashed a stone, and it broke down into a cuboid. Huh, what's this…? She picked it up. She didn't know what to do with it, but she had a feeling it'd prove useful. I'll set this aside for now. Time to smash more stones!

Pete cut weed after weed. Wooh, this is tougher than I thought! He rubbed the sweat off his forehead with a white handkerchief. How's Claire doing? He turned around and saw a small trail of cuboids in her wake. W-Woah, she's hammering away! She's stronger than she looks.

"Huff… huff…" Claire rubbed her forehead with her sleeve. This is kind of fun!

"Good job, Claire." Pete patted her shoulder. "May I ask what those stone things are?"

"Oh, I figured they could be useful for something!" Claire replied. "I don't know what for, yet."

"Huh, all right." Pete nodded. Maybe they could be used as materials…? They'd have to put them away. There might be storage we can use.

"So, what's next?" Claire turned to the land they cleared up. "Rocks are clear! There are still many branches around. I've got an axe."

"You can go ahead and clear them, too." Pete set his sickle away to equip a hoe. "I'll till the fields."

"Okay!" Claire swapped out her tool with an axe. Time to get cutting!

SLAM!

Claire cut down a branch; this time, it turned into… lumber! So that's what they were! They must have been materials! She's still not sure what they would be used for though she had a few ideas. But I better keep them, just in case!

She continued cutting down branches. There was a stump nearby, much bigger than any of the branches. Could her axe cut it? That might take a few hits.

SLAM!

"Huh…?" Her axe got lodged in the stump. She pulled it but it didn't budge. It's stuck! Driving her leg against the stump, she managed to pull the axe away. It barely made a dent in it! I'm trying again!

SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!

Claire's quite energetic. The loud sounds were distracting him, admittedly. His eyes shifted to the sound only to find her recklessly cutting away at the stump. What the…?

"Huff… huff…" She panted heavily and dropped the axe. This stump isn't going away! Surely, it shouldn't be this difficult? She picked up the axe again after wiping the sweat off her face. I need to try harder!

"Don't push yourself, Claire!" Pete rushed to her and held her tool. "You're going to break your axe!"

"This is tough…!" Claire sighed. "I can't cut the stump."

"Let's leave it be," Pete suggested. I don't think I can cut it either. "It's enough. We only need a small field to get started."

"Okay…" She fell back onto her butt. That took a lot out of me. The stump could wait another time. It was riddled with dents.

"Take a break." He patted her shoulder. "I'll continue tilling the fields."

Pete returned to the empty area. Everything's clear here. He grabbed his hoe again and took out a journal from his pocket. Let's see here…

They would soon learn how to plant their first seeds.

...

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I've decided to stick to game logic here. Obviously, cutting stones and branches don't turn them into materials, but I'd figure I'd stick to the world of the game. It's kinda comical, I'll say.

Stay tuned for the next chapter!