After going into the deeper parts of the forest, we found a group of orcs wielding spears and bows, which we had to dodge the arrows as well as attack them and the gates that summoned them, as the path was unable to be trekked through otherwise. And we'd managed to find some lunch for Fresca in the form of some Pickled Turnips, which she happily ate after we had some problems with ant monsters that took a good couple bites at her health.
"Whew! I feel rejuvenated after that!" she smirked.
"I think that even the food may be magical, since your wounds healed up the moment you ate," I smiled back, which Fresca looked at her injuries and saw they had vanished.
"Haha! That's so cool! Now we gotta learn how to cook for ourselves!" Fresca smiled as we then moved forward further and, now knowing how dangerous the ants were, I took them out with water lasers from afar and, when we finished going through the forest, we then saw a whole slew of butterflies, them flying into the clearing ahead, them looking to congregate around a giant caterpillar attached to a tree.
"What kind of?! That's a big bug!" Fresca said in concern as we then proceeded to attack it, making sure to get out of dodge of the spores that it would send out... and then the caterpillar squealed before then turning into a butterfly girl out of nowhere, me then gasping as something happened.
"Don't come in between us! The guardian must remain!" the butterfly monster shouted, me gawking at that.
"The guardian's boss has a message, bug girl! Ventuswill said its time for them to wake up," I said, which the butterfly monster then proved she wasn't the generous type, as she rushed towards me and kicked me in the stomach thrice, me groaning from the pain.
"You think I'm dense?! Ventuswill would never say that!" the butterfly girl said.
"Oogh... she did, though. Because we have knowledge of another way to upkeep the Runes," I said after catching my breath, which the butterfly monster looked at me in surprise.
"Wait... you... you actually heard my words?" she asked.
"Yes, I did. Can you release the guardian, please? The means of restoring the forest's runes won't be right away, but I'd recommend sending some monsters out to try and find the item in question, a Rune Stone," I said, which made her gasp.
"You were telling the truth then... that's what the strange aura I've felt lately is..." she gawked.
"Um... are you actually talking to her? Because I can't understand a single word she's saying," Fresca asked.
"If you wish to know, my name is Ambrosia... I shall remain in this forest, as you have proven your worth in the ways of mercy and the strength to take a hit from me... I'll have my monster friends search for the Rune Stone and make sure no humans are told of it, if you so wish," she smiled.
"We'd greatly appreciate it, miss Ambrosia... as for the guardian?" I smiled.
"Right, I'll let her go, then. Until we meet again... if you happen to have giant Toyherbs, I'll be willing to assist on your farm, so long as you have a monster barn," she smirked as she then did the deed and we saw the sight of a little girl with green hair and wearing a very frilly, pink dress appear on the ground, her looking quite tired out.
"Hey! Are you okay?" Fresca asked as she went to the girl and she smiled as she stirred a bit.
"Hehe... you have a funny face..." she smiled weakly before then falling asleep.
"H-Hey! Wake up! Oh no, what do we do?" Fresca asked in a panic.
"Easy, she's just tired after having powered this land for centuries. She needs rest. Just make sure you keep an eye on her during the winter months, would you? She's a hibernator," Ambrosia smiled... and then we heard a voice.
"Hey, what's going on?" asked Doug, him then looking at Ambrosia in shock before I spoke.
"Easy, Doug, she's a friendly. Help us with this girl over here instead," I said, him nodding, though he did tread cautiously around Ambrosia all the while. We then carried the passed-out flower girl the whole way back to town, which I saw Forte noticed us, along with Illuminata and Xiao Pai. After getting Amber looked at by Doctor Jones and Nancy, they looked at our trio with concern.
"This girl has a steady heartrate, but it's still rather unusual... very fast for a human, almost as fast as a hummingbird's," Nancy said with concern.
"Well, she's an Earthmate, maybe that's why?" I asked, which made Doug confused.
"How can you tell?" he asked.
"It's odd to say, but this girl was originally conjoined to a butterfly monster, and the way I separated them was pacifying the monster girl and then, I felt a bit of my power go into the girl when she appeared on the ground," I admitted.
"I see... so this heartrate is normal for her, then... we'll keep an eye on her and make sure she stays stable," Jones said with a smile.
"Thanks, doctor. We appreciate it," Doug said... but then he looked around in confusion. "Um... that wasn't me that just spoke... did you take control of my mind?" Doug asked to a mirror, which I then heard something. A voice. And it was coming from... a mirror on the wall?
"You showed a moment of weakness, and I'm taking the chance to talk, got it? It's so annoying being stuck in an icky boy's body and only being able to be heard in a reflection or when you're asleep," a female child's voice said in annoyance from the mirror, me then looking at it and seeing that all of us looked the same in the mirror... aside from Doug, who was now in the form of a girl that I KNEW I'd seen before... and considering the note I saw in Eliza that I read, I had an idea of who it was.
"Is that you, Sally?" I asked, her smiling at that.
"Yes, it's me, sis! It's so relieving to hear your voice," Sally smiled.
"Um... can I get an explanation? This is something I have noticed just as well," Forte frowned as she then came in through the door alongside Xiao Pai and Illuminata, her then going to the mirror next and me gawking at how a boy appeared this time, one that looked to be a little older than me and having a very kind look to him. Same hair color as me, same bizarre, out-of-place clothing, and having a pair of glasses on his face.
"Finally! Thank you for finally going in front of a mirror, Forte! I have to talk to my sisters," the man said, me looking at him in surprise. Could this be Jacob? "You may not remember me, Lenny, but I remember you... it's me, big brother Jacob," he said, me smiling.
"I wish I could remember... but I only know the face and the voice... it's so frustrating," I groaned.
"I only found out when I saw myself in the shine of my shield when we spoke earlier... I assume this hasn't happened prior, since I was able to see my reflection two days ago and it was normal. Now I see a man instead," Forte frowned.
"Trust me, it's very hard trying to talk normally whenever your willpower is so strong, miss Forte. I can only come out when you're sleeping, and even then, I can't even touch anything because of your strong-willed mind," Jacob complained.
"I hate it too, since I'm stuck in a boy," Sally frowned.
"Yeah... is it okay if I can go back to work, then? I need to check up on granny Blossom," Doug asked.
"Only if you can have me, you, Forte, Jacob, and Lenny have a hug together... please?" she asked, Doug blushing, as did Forte, but they came over to me and we had a group hug... me gawking at how I felt the spriits emerge from the bodies of Doug and Forte when I touched them, resulting in a five-person group hug.
"This is so weird..." Illuminata. "I now have a new case to solve! How to separate these people from their hosts permanently!" Illuminata smiled.
"Not as easy as you'd think, Lily," Doug frowned. "From what Sally told me when we've been talking in private, she can only materialize out of my body if I want her to or if I'm asleep. If I'm asleep, she's tethered to a short distance before she'll be yanked back. But if I'm awake, the distance is doubled, but if she goes too far, she'll disappear to the afterlife," he explained.
"That... honestly sounds scary. So they're like ghosts that have partial posession?" Illuminata asked. And Forte looked scared at that, but Jacob smiled.
"Not ghosts, just the mind and soul of who we were in another universe. Ventuswill worked together with the other Native Dragons to bring Lenny here, because of how powerful an Earthmate she was in a world not our own. And the spell affected the rest of her family, so we ended up needing to be tethered to others in the process... by the way, Forte? Try not to sleep naked anymore? I don't want to push any boundaries," Jacob said, which Forte blushed heavily at and then looked at the spectre and punched him in the gut, him feeling it after.
"Oogh... ow... right in the pancreas..." he groaned in pain.
"Don't eyeball me when I'm asleep, how about that?" Forte pouted.
"It's not like he has any choice, same with me, Fresca, Doug, and Sally," I admitted. "We just need to be cordial as possible, right?"
"Fine," they all agreed as Xiao Pai then spoke.
"So the little girl with the antenna on her head, yes? How long will she stay asleep?" she asked in her usual weird way.
"I'll try to administer some medicine to her, but rest is what she'll need the most of. Afterwards, she'll need to find someone to look after her," Jones smiled.
"I'd be willing to look after her. I can sense a green thumb anywhere, and she's got green fingers, toes, and hair!" Illuminata smiled.
"Um, the latter is literal, hehe," I smiled.
"I think it's more mint than green, but that's just me," Fresca smiled.
"Well, we can agree to disagree. For now, we should go and see if we can grab a few more requests from the mailbox," I smiled, Fresca nodding as we then went over to Eliza at 16:00 and we asked if there were anymore requests.
"Yes, there are. Of them, there is one for shipping a turnip, one for growing and shipping a Toyherb, and one for gathering lumber," she said, me nodding as we then did the lumber one right away, as we'd already gotten the quota of 10 pieces of lumber, which Eliza then gave us the reward of a lumber and material stone storage rack... that fit inside of a letter.
"How? How does a lumber rack fit inside of a postcard?" I asked in utter confusion.
"Storage magic. Your bag is another example of an item imbued with storage magic," Eliza spoke with a small bit of sass.
"Heh, that's pretty nifty!" I smiled as we then proceeded to get to planting the seeds of Turnips and Toyherbs and, when we did, we then watered them and, finally, we proceeded to speak to a few people that we hadn't to before as much, those being Arthur, Blossom, and... Porco. And the latter was just as exuberant and wacky as in the game, much to my dismay.
"Welcome to my wonderous food emporium!" Porcoline smiled as I could literally see and smell the food that lined his outfit. Some smelled good, others smelled slightly rotten.
"Uh, yeah... my name is Fresca and this is Lenette. And who are you?" Fresca asked, trying to be polite.
"I am Porcoline DeSaint Coquille! I come from a long line of confectionaires that bring the gift of food to all!" he smiled proudly.
"So if we wanted to get some food or learn how to cook, you're the one to talk to, right?" I asked with a smile.
"But of course! But that's not all! If you happen to get a proper license to craft items such as armor, weaponry, medicine, and farming tools, you can come here and get some special recipe bread! Eating just one will allow you to gain the knowledge of special recipes! But if your skill experience isn't high enough, you can't keep the bread down whatsoever, trust me on that," Porco said, me smiling at that.
"I feel I can trust someone about not keeping food down when they're wearing food," I smiled.
"But of course, of course!" he smiled widely as I then looked to the right and heard Margeret playing on her harp, which sounded lovely.
"What song is that?... It sounds pretty," I asked.
"That is Margeret's favorite song, 'Goodbye May Seem Forever'. It's a very personal song for her and she plays it at least once a day," Porco smiled.
"I'll ask her at a later date about that, then. Wouldn't want to hear it from someone else, after all," I smiled as Margeret saw we were speaking and she hummed.
"It's a song that I learned from my mother... before she had passed away," she said, me frowning at that.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Margeret... no child should ever have to go through that at such a young age," I said with a sigh.
"Aw, thanks... I'm assuming you know that elves such as me and illuminata have a longer lifespan than humans do, correct?" she asked, Fresca shrugging her shoulers as I nodded. "Illuminata is about the age of 25 for elven years... and I, myself, am 18 in elven years... but for human years, Lily is almost 102 and I'm pushing towards 73," she smiled.
"Ah, I got it. For every 4 human years, an elf ages by about 1," I smiled.
"Huh, exactly right! For someone who lost their memory, you know a lot," she smiled.
"Well, I was honestly just guessing. I didn't know the exact age difference. But... would it be possible for you to share how your mother died?" I asked, her sighing at that.
"She was targeted by the horrible Sechs empire... she was a halfbreed of human and Earthmate, meaning that she was going to be the last in my family line for Earthmates... and the Sechs have gone off the rails in the past couple decades, killing Earthmates just for the fact that they're Earthmates," Margeret said, me gulping at that.
"I see... rest assured, Margeret, when we get strong enough, we'll try our hardest to take it to those horrid Sechs," I frowned.
"I appreciate the enthusiasm, but they're an entire nation of armies. A single person couldn't hope to get to their capital on their lonesome," she said.
"Who said it'd be just us? Or that we'd end up going to their capital?" I asked, her being confused. "I heard a rumor that this empire had attacked this town in the past... and I have reason to believe that this same army hired mercenaries to try and kill and rob Fresca before our arrival, as we had important items they sought for," I frowned.
"Ah, I see... how can you be sure that it was them?" Marge asked as I then recalled something... their helmets had a specific symbol.
"Do they have a symbol? One in the form of a gun surrounded by flames?" I asked, which Margeret gawked at.
"Yes, that exactly!" she gawked.
"I saw that the helmets of the mercenaries had that exact symbol," I said, which made her stop strumming instantly.
"The Sechs were after you? What kind of reason would they want to hurt you two?" she asked.
"Well, mainly Fresca, as I appeared shortly after they attacked her," I said, which confused her. "And the main reason I can think of... she's an Earthmate and the cargo was extremely important. But when they attacked us, the cargo was sent overboard and across these lands," I said, her nodding.
"I'll keep an eye out, then. What should I look for?" she asked, me going to her ear and whispering.
"Four glowing stones. One is bright blue, another bright yellow, another exuding dark black, and one more emitting a light green," I said, her nodding at that.
"I'll be on the lookout. I guess you don't want me to spread word, because of the Empire's cruelness?"
"Exactly," Fresca said, catching onto my plan.
"Okay, I'll keep that in mind. I should get home, then. And you should, too... but before then, have this," she smiled as she handed us, get this, a spare Elvish Harp! "That thing has love magic imbued into it. It's the only other one I own, so don't hurt it," she said, me smiling as I found my new weapon.
"Thanks a lot, Margeret. We're grateful for this," I smiled, us then going off to home at the castle and going to bed... and, once more, I had to resort to cuddling with Fresca so I wouldn't get sent through the bed and into the ground. Odd that I could phase through marble flooring, but not iron or rock.