The night with Ionos had been wonderful - much tea was had, many scones were devoured, and a lot had been taught to me. Ionos got me familiar with the basics of the city layout - apparently a lot of different bridges to mind here, with this place being built around a large river that now ran through the whole city - what places might require work in the city or surrounding countryside, and where I might find said people. It turned out that, like in real life, the better the coin for a job, the worse the actual workload.

  Ionos seemed to expect me to look for something in the city that was some mix of comfortable and well-paying, but I was looking for something a little specific: there wasn’t a good chance of me wanting to spend the rest of my life in a medieval world devoid of nature documentaries away from animals, and while I’m sure there were some exotic animal merchants I could bargain for a job with, I was fairly convinced I didn’t really want to.

  So, as a result, while I enjoyed the wonderful walk through the marbled town of Leofric, enjoyed all the painted cobblestone and beautiful late European architecture, the friendly faces of healthy townsfolk, and the great walls and towers that surrounded the city with their golden-white hues, I ended up leaving the gates without really taking a proper view of the place.

  Big cities were never exactly my jam in the first place, medieval or not, and it had occurred to me once or twice just how lucky I was to not only be taken away from the one I’d been trapped in, but also to avoid the responsibility of actually owning my own kingdom like the other four heroes had been made to. Instead, after Ionos had given me a good tip, I was headed on and out of there to the surrounding county

  As I went down the path to Sherr’s Brook, and the ground turned from an ornate path of cobblestone to a more utilitarian dirt road, I was surrounded by the most idyllic plains you’d ever seen - occasional trees, great swathes of grasses and flowers. I looked to one side and saw daffodils and lilacs and to another to see tulips and water sausages in the nearby lake...

  I wasn’t sure if this set of flowers really should have logically been all together like this, if I was totally honest, but as the decor of the wild they were absolutely wonderful, and as I took in a breath the air smelled more fragrant and vivid than anything they were trying to pass off as fresh air in the capital.

  The farmsteads themselves were all well tended and distractingly quaint, but I was on my eye for a specific place, according to Ionos - a couple he was decently acquainted with that were on the lookout for a new farmhand. Why a master magician was decently acquainted with a specific pair of peasants, I probably should’ve asked, but it took the good hour’s stroll from the capital for me to realize that was a pretty reasonable question.

  Knocking on the door with a letter of introduction, I sheepishly waited outside the door for the master of the house.

  I didn’t quite get what I expected as the door opened, meeting a beautiful blonde woman. She looked… mature, tall, with a little black mole around her lip and sparkling green eyes.

  “Hi there! And who might you be?” She said with sparkling eyes. “Honey, we have visitors!”

  I looked up to her meekly, not entirely able to meet her eyes as I held up the letter Ionos had left. “f-for… your household, Ma’am. I was sent to help out.”

  I knew better than to stare at someone’s wife, so I just chose to stare away from anything at all at the moment, but she was certainly a very pretty lady.

  I felt doubly reassured in that decision when I heard a deep-throated voice that sounded like it came from an old movie about barrel-chested action heroes yelling back “In a minute, peach!”

  “I’m Chloe Sherr, by the way. And I’lll let my dear Adam introduce himself-Oh.” She stumbled, realizing her slip. “Whoopsie!”

  “Peach Pie, you know I prefer introducing myself!”

  “I'm so sorry, Honeycakes.”

  “Oh, it’s fine, Sweetpea!”

  I was currently not fine as the syrup of the conversation started to choke me - but it was washed away with the familiar taste of fear as a man the size of a small bear leaned on the doorway.

  Adam was a mountain of a man. He was tall enough to be a professional wrestler and broad enough to be a battle tank. He was not fat, though - his body shape was more like a solid cube of muscle and strength. His striking blue eyes worked with his well-kept blonde beard, one not out of place on a greek god, and it felt like every single fiber of his hair was working to intimidate me. I looked a little further up, hoping he was at least a little bald, but the exquisite mane he had up top looked like golden wheat in the fields. His charming smile on top of chiselled features seemed to drain all the manliness in the room from everywhere else, leaving me a pale scarecrow in comparison.

  I was so very happy I made sure not to stare at his wife.

  “What can I do you for?” The man asked, looking down with a discerning look, like he was inspecting an amazon package. Not that he’d know what an amazon package was…

  “Uhh… work. I’m here work.” I managed to choke out.

  “It seems he does. When’s the last time we got mail from Ionos, dear?” Chloe spoke up, and I perked up as I heard that little tidbit. “It seems he’s some kind of extra hero summoned here from another world. Druid, according to Ionos. And he’s reliable, too.”

  Adam raised an eyebrow, the revelation hitting him as he simply stood there for a second, nodding. “A hero of legend summoned from another world, and Ionos is dumping him onto us? I’d have issues believing this if that didn’t sound so very like the old wizard!” Adam volunteered, putting his head back in a full belly laugh that I nervously joined in on after a few seconds.

  As soon as I did, his face snapped forward, and I felt burned by his angry intensity.

  “Don’t think that gives you any right to free room and board or anything! If you’re my farmhand, you’ll be working hard!” We’ll be having you take care of cattle, tending the fields, digging new ones. Work you’d be plenty able to ignore just taking an easier job in the city.”

  I wondered if he was trying to send me away, or if this was just some test… like he was checking for a prank. Either way, I shook my head no. “Begging your pardon, sir, but most of the work in the city really keeps me far from animals, and I just don’t have interest in that.” I admitted.

  “Hmm. Well, that’s not a bad answer at all.” Adam said, putting a hand to his chin. “You've travelled a long way and breakfast is almost ready. Tell me a little more about your situation while you chow down - we’ve more than enough to entertain a guest or two, and you’ll need the nutrition anyhow, if this is going to be your first day.”

  “You had me at breakfast!” I said with a bright smile - I’d totally forgotten to bring anything along for the long walk here, and the sound of a medieval farmer’s breakfast sounded interesting. For all that this might be my new typical, I was looking forward to seeing how people ate here.

  “That’s the kind of attitude I like to hear!” Adam yelled out, before leading me into the house.

  I was led inside with a laugh and while the house was not the most spacious I’d ever seen, it was far from the peasant house I was expecting. Instead of some tiny hut, this was a 2 story construction that more than beat out my tiny apartment. There were unlit candles I assumed were put on every night on little tables and wall slots throughout a charming wooden interior filled with wooden knick-knack and pretty drawings of cows and people on faded parchment that made me feel like I was in some luxury rustic resort.

  After being led to my seat in the dining room, I took the opportunity to explain things to Adam, who leaned in and listened to everything with a discerning eye. I felt rather embarrassed as I thought through my stereotypical thoughts of a stereotypical simpleton. Adam had plenty of questions and listened intently, not seeming to miss details as I explained the basics of the world I came from.

  He didn’t seem particularly interested in all the city bits, but he was rather intent on hearing about the zoo and the animals from where I came from, as well as my experiences in life. He also seemed relatively interested in the stuff I had to say after I’d been summoned here - though he turned rather quiet around the part where I had to skip over Victor’s little forced partnership, which I hoped just meant that it sounded pretty boring, not untrustworthy.

  When the food came, and I started to wolf down the best porridge and bread I’d ever had in my life, Adam took the opportunity to ask a few proper questions of his own. “So, forgive me for asking, but while you’ve definitely explained a lot of why you came here, to work for us, I think there’s some things missing. Sure, I’ll definitely pay you well - anyone here would for another laborer - but I’m sure there’s some other jobs that might help you train your endurance progression or your prospector skills - and don’t require you to shovel what the pigs leave for you. You’ve given me a general idea of your skill situation, and your money situation, but peasantry still doesn’t seem like it would necessarily be a first choice.”

  I gave a nervous laugh. “well, truth is, there’s one other factor, and the pigs are actually kind of a big part of it.”

  Adam leaned in with an appreciative ear in a way that felt fatherly but also terrifying due to his status as an actual giant. “Tell me all about it, son.” He said with a patient smile.

  “I… studied so much about animals. in books. Learned a bunch of fun facts. But I never got to really work, work, with them. And I’m a druid, y’know? It’s kind of embarrassing if I don’t even really understand basic things about animals and crops. Fauna and flora. and I figured maybe learning how to work a farm, and live with the animals and plants here might be the way to do it.” I said, leaning back as my cheeks flushed. “You probably know a thousand times more than me, class or no class. And despite how sheltered I’ve been from them, I really do love the environment. Even coming here I still want a job that makes me closer to it. Even if that job’s filled with poop and compost and lots of hard work.”

  Adam leaned back, putting a fist up to his face to hide his expression, as he looked lost in thought. “...Of all the hired hands I’ve ever had on this farm, that was by far the most wholesome reason to work here I’ve ever heard.”

  “There are non-wholesome reasons?” I asked with a raised eyebrow, pausing to enjoy a glass of orange juice to help deal with the consequences of eating an entire slice of toast in a single sitting.

  “Oh, people have come to work here just to mack on my daughters before, so if you were one of them I’d have folded you into a pretzel and rolled you down the hill into the river. Also my sons, but you don’t seem the type.” Adam replied with a lasting grin.

  I nearly choked on my drink as the horrifying thought of Adam changing me from humanoid to tire flashed through my mind. “No worries sir, I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  “So you have a lot of self-restraint around the ladies?” Adam asked with a grin, leaning just a little closer as the wooden table creaked in protest of the massive elbow pushing it into the floorboards below.

  “Terrified of your giant muscles.” I corrected him.

  “Now that is an answer I can trust!” Adam said with a grin, slapping me on the back in a manner that felt friendly and intimidating all at once, just for him to get slapped hard on the back of the head.

  “Behave.” Chloe growled , and the giant buckled more in shock than actual pain from his wife’s gentle remonstration.

  “Err, yes, dear.” Adam grumbled

  “Don’t worry, he plays up being a tiger, but he’s really a kitten.” Chloe said with a smile, rubbing at the shoulders of her kitten-like husband’s tiger-like shoulders. “Besides, my kids have been tending this farm their whole lives. They really don’t need daddy to turn you into a pretzel if you misbehave.”

  It was kind of amazing how something so scary could be said with such a nice tone, but I just gave a nod of deference to Chloe. “Uhh, yes, that, makes sense.” I managed to fumble through. “No worries, Miss Sherr. I didn’t even know you had daughters, so I wasn’t even thinking about that sort of thing.”

  “My youngest is actually out delivering to old Ionos at the moment. I’m surprised you didn’t see her on the way here.” Chloe mentioned, raising an eyebrow.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Yeah. Kind of odd she’s not back already, now that you mention it.” Adam noted with a worried furrow of his brow, rifling a hand through his beard., “I’ll go out there and check on her if they’re not back by the time I’ve instructed the new kid.”

  “Do you think there’s been trouble?” I asked with some surprise

  “With the amount of city guards out in preparation for the hero's arrival? Probably more just a delay than anything. My Mary is far from fragile and this area’s pretty peaceful even without the king’s best patrolling.”

  “Huh.” I said, giving a nod. Adam probably knew the area better than I did, so I didn’t question any further. “...Oh, what are you delivering to the old man anyways? Are you his personal farmers?” I asked. This must be why Ionos knew this family - his personal produce dealer. I guess that meant in a roundabout way he was paying me to do all this.

  “Not quite.” Chloe spoke up. “as a matter of fact, all of Ionos’s shipments are strictly from me. I have a garden filled with herbs - I specialize in tea, you see - and I always send him whatever I can spare for his personal use.”

  “I see…” I said, wondering briefly on how that arrangement must have been made, but Adam slapped me on the shoulder as he finally got up from his chair.

  “C’mon! Time for you to get dressed and get to work, if you’re serious about this farmhand thing. Then I can get to my business in town!”

  “Sir, yes sir!” I said, standing up to salute, confident that this couldn’t be any worse than the odd jobs I’d taken on as a teenager.

  A few hours later, with every muscle tensed, a lot of hay and grass moved, dirt shovelled, and pigs fed with some difficulty, I was happy to collapse face-first in the hayloft for a moment. This was much worse than the odd jobs I’d taken as a teenager.

  “If I didn’t know better, I’d say the pigs viewed me just as much like food as the slop…” I complained, sitting in the top of the barn. “No problem if I take a little break in the hay up here, right?” I asked no one in particular. I wasn’t the most city of city boys, but farming was hard, and this apparently was not one of those stories where the hero just gets to ignore pain or fatigue. My muscles were already all screamy, and I had hardly started.

  “Yeah, we all do it every once in a while. Just don’t let dad catch ya.” I heard a new voice speak up.

  I looked up to see the newest arrival. Wearing a red shirt and jeans, and with messy golden hair that still went down to her back, the woman sitting across from me gave a broad smile that highlighted the freckles on her nose as her blue eyes danced with mischief.

  “Name’s Mary. I’m the eldest daughter of the Sherr family.” she said, before leaping up to the top of the hayloft from the ladder. “So, you’re the new like, secret hero hire, right?”

  “Err, I am. Wait, secret?” I asked.

  “Technically all the heroes are secret. It was included in Ionos's letter… ‘course, we weren’t supposed to read it, but I snuck a peek anyways. Kinda important to know about the stranger you’re suddenly sharing a job with, right? For all I knew you were some terrifying punk that was hiding your criminal past by extorting my dad, pretending you had a job here or something” She commented with a grin, her boots clacking against the wood as she took a seat on a bed of hay.

  “...Well, I hope the letter put any worries about that to rest?” I asked. This girl had an active imagination!

  “The letter? your face put that to rest.” She replied with a giggle, as I felt my cheeks grow hot. “what’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, puffing out my cheeks.

  Mary just gave a shrug, holding back a chuckle. “Don’t worry about it. I heard this is your first day - and everyone’s usually knocked for a loop their first day, ‘less they’re farmers too.”

  “Yeah… Your dad had me working hard, moving hay, taking care of the animals, cutting grass with a sickle, lots of shovelling, moving stones…” I mentioned.

  Mary gave a slight frown, thinking all of this through. “you actually… did all that pretty fast, if you’ve managed that in only a few hours. The field’s pretty big.”

  “Honestly? a lot of it was just figuring out how to feed the dang animals. The horses seem a little suspicious, first, the pigs are pretty quick to push you around, the chickens… well, okay, actually, the chickens were pretty nice. Easiest part…” I said with a smile, giving a sigh. “...I’m Noah, by the way. Figured I should introduce myself even if you read my name ahead of time.”

  Mary just shrugged, holding out a hand to shake. “Guess they were real about heroes being built different! Shake my hand.” She said with a smile.

  I went to get up and do just that, but my knees slightly escaped me as I banged one of them on the hayloft and immediately rolled to the side…

  And realized I was a little too close to the edge of the hayloft.

  “Why isn’t there any rai-hai-hailing!” I whined as Newton slammed me into the ground with his patented gravity drop.

  I struck the floor like a rock, smacking hard into the dirt beneath, but my poor body took the impact much more like a twig as I wiggled a little on the ground.

  “Owww!”

  “Oh my god! Are you okay, newhand?” Mary yelled, sliding down the ladder to reach me, but I was a little more preoccupied with what was right in front of me in the form of a small menu item.

  [System message: “Farmer” is now ranked to Level 2!]|

  “How did that count as progress?!!” I wheezed, giving a whine as it loaded more messages:

  [Animal friendship increased by 1

  Dexterity increased by 12

  Sickle modifier increased by 1

  Gained “Farmer’s endurance”

  Gained “Enhanced Stamina 1”

  +50 Druid Experience]

  “Okay what’s a sickle modifier even mean?!” I whine, staring them down. “and what’s this about modifiers?”

  “Those… were words, yeah.” Mary replied, giving a smile down to me as she got out a strange kit. “Hold still. I’ll get something on that wound.”

  [Mary has used a healing kit! Healed 8 HP!]

  I felt the aching pain in my limbs suddenly die down with more speed and efficiency than a billion aspirins could provide as she used some strange tools in a little kit she’d pulled out, filled with strange green vials and some other strange tools.. Suddenly, my aching back was back to full, and my Creaky limbs were feeling ready to do push-ups. “wow! That's amazing! is that part of the farmer job?”

  “As in, part of my job?” Mary asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Yeah, like… part of your levelling path, or… whatever..”

  “Oh, that’s the whole thing that like… heroes, do, right? I don’t know anything about that, but it’s important for a farmer to learn a little about medicine, like this minor healing kit, while on the farm, in case you get banged up. ‘Course, I wouldn’t have even felt a little fall like that. ” she replies, a smug look on her face.

  ”Dunno about that, given you’re, like, half my size.” I point out, looking Mary’s 5’0 frame up and down.

  She gave a slightly annoyed grunt, before reaching down, grabbing me by the arm, and hauling me over her shoulder like a piece of wood. I immediately wiggled to get free with some surprise, but windmilling my arms around was not in fact flying me out of this madwoman’s grasp and instead just making her laugh.

  “Ahhh! Okay! Okay! I give! I give! You’re right!” I whined. “have mercy. You just healed me! Can’t waste that!”

  “Heh. You kinda remind me of a possum.”

  “Because I’m deceptive?”

  “Because you got a volume issue when you’re scared.” She responded with a cheeky grin as she put me down gingerly, to my eternal relief,

  “Anyways, dad sent me over to get you. Time for you to get some dinner, recharge yourself. Mom made dragon nuggets, so you should come on and get ‘em.” She added. “If you get there last, they might be all gone.”

  “Dragon nuggets? that sounds awesome!” I yelled excitedly, jumping up to go eat. Before I could, another virtual pop-up blocked my path, as another system notification appeared in front of me as a flat, blue menu notification.

  [Your Druid level has increased to 2.]

  “...Eh?”

  it took a second for the gears to turn and for me to remember what my druid level is, before a second pop-up came up, as if it had no faith in my memory.

  [you have gained an ability point.

  You have gained 20 MAG

  You have gained 10 END

  you have gained 20 mana

  You have gained 10 Health

  You have earned [[druid body]]

  “Ohhh! I’m level 2! That’s great! I can grab shapeshifting!” I said with a grin, opening up my ability menu.

  “Summon plants” was on the very left- my mortal enemy, Shapeshift - Rat was in the middle, and my finger hovered around the button to select it.

  But on the right, I noticed something else.

  “Animal Companion.”

  My hand hovered around the button. “Animal Companion” sounded… pretty good, actually. Maybe because, beyond this group of honest farmers, I had been feeling pretty alone.

  Looking at the shapeshifting button with a bit of frustration, as I thought back to Victor’s little talk, I had an immediate frown cross my face.

  I did have the realization - ‘Summon plant’ had a single submenu - there was no way ‘Animal Companion’ was without one, given the sheer number of potential animals you could potentially gain.

  I tentatively touched “Animal Companion”, hoping to see what the menu gave me, and confident that I was starting to figure this place out

  Confidently wrong, of course, as I was given no prompt, and instead, I felt a migraine coming on

  [Downloading…

  Selecting!]

  [Chosen animal companion spawning]

  “Guughhh… gah…” I whined. This whole ‘headache from the world reaching into my head’ thing was really a lot more painful than I wanted to keep on going through!

  The menu closed suddenly as the pain kept going up, and I winced, closing my eyes as it kept going like a dentist drill on the side of my ear…

  Eventually, mercifully, the pressure subsided, and I opened my eyes.

  In front of me was… a large, green egg, covered with blue spots.

  “...Oh.” I said with a smile. Any other protests left me as I picked up the egg, cupping it in my hand, and brought it up to my chest.

  “...Hi there.” I breathed out, as a warm smile stretched ear to ear across my face.