Monday morning was spent taking care of my garden, and the pots that the kids had put together for me. It seemed they had planted potatoes, which was something I remembered making back when I was a child myself. I remembered failing several times, the potatoes going moldy, but maybe in this rich environment, I'd actually do it right this time.
Then an elf came out of the woods and almost scared me half to death. They didn't look my way, and for a second, I wondered if I was imagining things or if the farm was haunted. Then I remembered that there apparently was an elf living on the land, the one whose rent that I got a part of. I watched him until he was out of sight before I got to work on another tree. The first one I thought about cutting down was flowering, and I realized it was a chestnut tree. I quickly backed up. The chestnuts were worth waiting on.
That day I got two trees down but was sure that my ax wouldn't last much longer. Still, it held up long enough to get that day's work done. One tree went to Cora, and the other went to the government. I then decided to gnaw on some of the roots I'd dug up and cleaned. I didn't even soak it. I hoped to trick my brain into thinking that I was eating more than I was while growing some actual food that I could keep for myself instead of selling.
It'd be nice to have something for myself. Not even a drug, just something that would take the edge off. Still, sitting in the sun still felt nice, so I got it and my books and found a nice place to just soak in the sun. I checked out the Four Seasons website. It was rather jumbled. Someone had made an attempt to put all of it into categories, but really, it did appear that there was no one who officially ran it.
Anyone could post at any time, so it was set up in different boxes. There were emergencies, where a week ago there was a warning about the possibility of a surge of chaos monsters that could potentially surge out of the ruins. Then there were a few different responses that criticized the warning about the monsters. I started writing down names, as it seemed like the handles were the real names of the residents and not just usernames. The one who wrote the message about the possible danger was Owen, who, if his avatar was correct, was a barbarian. From further poking, I learned that he was a warrior who no one took seriously.
Then again, I supposed his job was to be paranoid if he was in charge of watching the mines.
Wyatt, probably the Wyatt that helped the orphans, tried to mitigate the conversation. I was surprised to see that there was a user named Gavin who had a Charge logo as his avatar, which meant he was either a supporter or worked for them. From what I could tell, no one liked Charge here.
Poking around, I found the link where I could sign-up for the website. After putting in my own information, I was told that I would get an email that would authenticate my account before I was able to post.
That meant Gavin had to have gotten authentication as well, which meant he'd been here long enough I got the feeling that most Charge employees were basically cycled in and out regularly. I heard that it was a practice to move around the actually "farmers", but I'd never cared to understand their twisted logic when I worked at Charge myself. It just sounded like a waste of effort and money on the company's side. But Gavin had stuck around long enough to get authenticated. Was known enough the admin had accepted his account.
Another link had to posts about daily life where a pixie named Quinn, often with baby Isla at her hip, posted a lot of pictures around Four Seasons. Most of it was of the general beautiful scenes she tried to capture. She also looked exhausted and very fake smile while holding up her squirming baby. I could believe that she was one of the ones here that was supposed to be recovering from however she'd messed up her own life.
In the news area, Louis posted most of the information about Four Seasons, like little celebrations and holidays, there were a few posts, mostly reminders from Emma who I was fairly sure was the Valkyrie doctor that Cora had mentioned. Then there was a section just to advertise goods and services. Gavin uploaded a lot there, and I started to wonder if he was the manager of this Charge store and farm as that would explain why he had stayed long enough to get his name authenticated. Then there was one from Jorden who was passive-aggressive toward Charge with his own Health Food Store, and then three Pixie sisters who appeared to own most of the rest of the stores in Four Seasons. Finally, I existed out and want back in the cabin.
When I went to sleep, I felt like I had wasted that part of my day, but maybe wasting a little time now and again wasn't such a bad thing.
By the next day, my radishes were ready. Before I pulled them, I made sure I reached into them with my magic to feel them. If Charge taught me anything, it was how to tell when a plant was at its healthiest and best for eating. After, I took care of the radishes the children had brought me. I'd sectioned two of those off, learning that if I let them go, they would grow and make seed pods that in another week would hopefully give me more seeds to plant later. That way I didn't have to spend my limited funds on seeds.
I hoped that next month the government wanted potatoes or radishes. I felt like I could keep these two plants going without buying more seeds, especially if the government kept the amount they wanted low. I'd have to buy seeds for summer. But by then, maybe I could have at least fixed the cabin.
Taking the radishes back, I washed them off and then carefully put them into the box. I hoped that they didn't get any bruises or anything on the way to wherever it was they were sent. I didn't want to get in trouble for something I couldn't control.
Deciding to distract myself, I got all my tools into the library bag and started on my way to the blacksmith shop. It was a bit of an annoyance. Partly because I had through go to the village, but also because the reason I had to go into the village was that the holy place was right in the middle of Four Seasons. If I could've, it would have been so much shorter just to walk through it, but not even I was that stupid.
The smithy was connected to the Warrior's Guild. A barbarian sat in a chair on the Warrior Guild's porch with a sword next to him as he dozed. I took a quick picture to add to my contacts. This was probably Owen the Adventurer, though he was a lot older than his profile picture. Not so much he couldn't be a Warrior, but even if this wasn't a hot spot, I hoped he had someone helping him, or at least someone that he was training.
I then went into the smithy to get my tools checked.
"I'll be there in a second!" called a gruff voice.
"Alright," I squeaked, looking around at all the different art pieces that had been displayed all around the room. That was the only name that I could think of to call the collection of things I saw. There were some normal things I would expect to see, and some of the art was pretty. But mostly it was just frightening and weird.
"A, hello, you must be Ni," said a drawling voice. I turned to see a dwarf come out from the back. His most prominent feature was a big dusty beard and eyebrows along with a pointed hat that seemed to come straight out of a stereotypical children's story. "How can I help you?"
"Oh, ah, I was wondering how much it would cost to have my tools checked for durability?" I said taking my bag and putting it on the table. The dwarf reached forward, paused, and then looked at me.
"No charge. May I check them?"
"Um, yes," I said, dancing a little from foot to foot.
"Great," he said, any awkwardness gone as he took the bag. "Why don't you go to the Warrior Building? That'll take a little while, and they have some interesting things hung up there that Gavin'll be happy to tell you about."
"Oh, sure," I said, and watched as he disappeared. Was it really going to take that long just to tell me how much longer my tools would last and if they could get fixed or not? Still, after standing like an idiot for a few minutes, I left the building. I wasn't sure about talking to Gavin. He still appeared to be taking a nap, so I decided that taking a look around at the trophies. They were probably from the nearby mines
There were quite a few interesting things among the scary ones to check out. Mostly morbid curiosity had me wandering from plaque to plaque. There were a few neon color things in jars that apparently were filled with the remnants of slimes. I was pretty sure that slimes were low-level creatures that moved slowly and would slowly digest you if they could, but that they were easy enough to avoid. At least, that's what they were like in the books and movies I'd seen.
There were some stones that looked a little like eyes, labeled as coming from iris worms, another plague under giant fangs from cave snakes.
"Pretty cool, huh?" asked a voice that had me jumping. I looked over to see an elf smiling at me. His ears basically stuck out straight from his head, and he looked like he'd jumped into a dumpster of clothes and old armor and had a small sword at his hip. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I'm Wyatt, a protector here."
"Protector?" I parroted. The elf's skin darkened a little in a blush as he scratched at his cheek.
"Ah yeah, I'm not good enough to be a Warrior, but I help Gavin around the place and join him when the mines start getting a little more dangerous," said Wyatt.
"Have you come to sign up?" asked Gavin, the door banging open and making them all jump as they turned to him. He seemed like one of those fighting protagonists from those old propaganda cartoons about fighting against the evil of chaos. "You look like quite the spunky lass!"
"What… um, I'm a lad, I guess?" I said, stumbling. "I'm also sickly and…"
"Don't be ridiculous," said the barbarian. He bounded through the room, somehow both looking old and spry at the same time. From behind the desk, he pulled out an old-looking scabbard. He threw it in my direction, and I stumbled a little even as I caught it. "I am Gavin, and I have been a warrior here for ten years. I knew when I first saw Wyatt that he wouldn't ever be a good warrior, but I see potential in you!"
My eyes widened, and I turned to Wyatt and have him a little bow in silent apology because I didn't think I could stop the barbarian from continuing to spot off his ridiculousness. Wyatt just smiled uncomfortably and made fluttering motions with his hand.
"So, let's go and try you out in the ruins," said Gavin, coming much too close. I tripped a little over my feet, as I stumbled backward.
"Um, I'm Ni," I said a little uncertain. "Ah, the new farmer. I run the Sunshine Farm, and I can't actually be a dedicated warrior."
"You could be back up," said Gavin, and now I wondered if he wasn't so much in my face about it because he was insane, but because he was desperate. "If something happens, and chaos tries to flood the land, there needs to be as many of us ready to fight as possible."
"He's recruited everyone that hasn't had the backbone to tell him to shove off," said Wyatt with a sigh and a shrug. "You've met Isla right? He made her an honorary member."
"Wait, aren't they like two?" I asked incredulously.
"She'll be two in a month," said Wyatt with a wide smile. Maybe that's why he stayed; he found this whole thing funny.
"All of us need to protect our home if the time comes," said Gavin, sending the elf a look that promised trouble if he kept badmouthing him. "Come, nymph, let us go and test your metal."
"Ah, but I'm waiting for my tools to be looked at. I don't want to be missing when Anthony comes back with them," I said, trying to give the sword back, but Gavin walked through the door backward, and I realized he was trying to trick me into following him to the ruins. I turned on Wyatt, but he just smiled at me and raised his hand to show that he wasn't actually going to help me.
"Ah, dear Anthony, he would have made a fine warrior, but he chose the noble art of making metal tools. It is both a great boon and a great sadness. I'm hoping once he trains his new apprentice, he will join us in fighting back these evil chaos creatures," the barbarian said in triumph.