The walk back to town that felt like forever, the envelope for Rob and the money for… For the bounty, weighing like I was holding a piece of the sky in my hands.
Entering Rob’s office was like looking at the edge of a cliff just as your about to jump off, this was a climax I didn’t want to reach, a story I didn’t want to end as I let silent tears fall while handing Rob the letter and the money.
“What’s this James?” He asked but I didn’t, couldn’t speak. I just shook my head as I hiccupped from the sadness.
I watched as his face went from confusion as he tore open the letter, to anger, then sadness as he finished reading how his friend had let herself be taken by a monster. All so she could see the love of her life one last time…
“So, this is the money for the bounty right? ‘Sniff’ The let’s go and get it registered, and we also need to go and get you registered as the new owner of the farm.” He rubbed his face to clear off the tears and looked up at me with a smile that looked way to forced.
“It’s gonna be ok Jimmy, I’ll help you with whatever you need… Just promise me one thing, please?” He walked over and held my shoulder, his grip was tight, like he was trying to hold onto something that could blow away in the breeze.
I tried to answer but a short nod and a sob was all I could muster.
“Will you do your best to look after their farm? This is their legacy, and they wouldn’t have anyone else but you take it over. So as their friend, I need you to promise me this.” His grip tightened but I didn’t mind. I knew how long they were friends for, I knew the feeling of seeing a friend die.
I looked into his eyes and smiled. “I promise, I love that farm and wouldn’t want to call anywhere else home.”
“Good boy, now let’s go.”
---------
Six months later.
---------
After a short period of time where the changing of ownership took place, I was focused on keeping the farm going. When I came back I saw a letter from Kelly that I didn’t notice before, Either I was too absorbed at seeing her leave, or she came back after I left.
-Dear Jimmy.
It’s been a fantastic time getting to know you. Me and Alex loved having you here at our farm, and I hope you felt the same way.
I know how much this has to be hurting you, I watched you walk to town from the woods and came back to write this. I guess I wasn’t as prepared as I thought to leave you.
I know you will do a wonderful job as the next owner and wish you all the luck in the world, both this one and the next.
I wrote a few tips on how to effectively operate a farm, I also wrote a list of daily expenses and some things along those lines.
This is the real goodbye Jimmy,
Love you.
Kelly-
I think that the first week was the hardest. I was running around trying to figure things out while trying to find a way to work on my own little pocket farm, Eventually I just focused on growing the greens and the feed on my farm which would grow a lot in a day and that cut down the cost by soooo much! Which let me save up some money to afford the outrageous price of keeping the fence online at night when the dumbass wildlife thought my Kwehs looked tasty.
Oh, that brings me to Bjornson and the others. Bjornson was more than upset when I told him Kelly left the farm to me, Kelly apparently didn’t come and say goodbye to him and judging by how every time he sees me, he launches a full on drop kick like he’s a freaking rocket! I would say he still isn’t all to happy about the change…
But anyways, I’m slowly getting him to come around to the idea and I might even use my taming on him when the time comes. I spent the whole of these 6 months tending to the farm and Kwehs and trying to get a handle on how the expenses and operations worked. I knew Kelly was the accountant for this whole thing but some of the tips she gave me just made my brain do a flip since she used methods that only a more talented money handler could do. Like something about this being a work expense so this is a tax write-off and just shit like that made my head spin. I grasped a few things in time, but I was bumfuzzled about a lot of it except the parts that I could get my hands on. The feeding and milking of the Kwehs was easy as I did for a while now, I even got some help from Kyle when it came time to sell off some things and that helped me set aside the money to pay for expenses.
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However, right now I have got a bigger problem. See I got a letter yesterday after going into town to pick up some seeds and maybe look around for something else I could grow and maybe level up my skill, I just needed 3 things left and it’ll be done, but unfortunately when I stopped off at the guild the first thing missy said when she saw me was that my parents had come by and was looking for me. She handed me a letter from them saying they were taking a quick mission then would come out to see me at the farm.
…. Shit! I forgot to tell them!! It’s been 6 freaking months, and I forgot to tell them that Kelly ran off to become a monster and that I was given the farm!
So, there I was, middle of the lobby, hyperventilating while coming to terms that for 6 months, my family never once crossed my mind!
“Hahaha, I see Hector and Jasmine finally came back, I sent them a letter a few months back telling them about it since I knew you had other things to worry about Jimbo.” Rob came up from behind me and slapped me on my back.
While that did snap me out of my mental breakdown, I think he used a bit more force than usual since my back was now throbbing with pain. I sucked in air through gritted teeth as it was stinging and managed out a quick thank you.
“Now why did you come today, Jimmy? I know that the farm isn’t in a position where you can take on missions. Was there something that you needed help with?” Missy asked as I calmed down.
“Ugh, yea actually, I was hoping that I could have you find some seeds for me? I already have a stockpile of Greens and feed, but I was hoping to expand their food a little. Or even my own I guess, since it’s not wise to keep spending all my money on eating out at restaurants. I was hoping to start growing my own food, maybe expand the business in the future?”
“Hmmm, that’s not a bad idea, I can see if my friend that works at the market has any crop seeds, she can let me have or atleast sell you at a discount. Come by tomorrow and I should have something for ya.” Missy smiled at me and pulled out her phone to message someone… Wait, a phone! Why didn’t I get one yet… That would solve some issues and save on so much travel time!
“Hey, now that I think about it. Where could I get one of those?” I pointed at the phone and Rob just looked at me with confusion.
“It’s standard for every Gifted adventurer that goes through a portal. The guild even gives a special one with a direct line to HQ to all it’s employees. Did you not get one when we first brought you and signed you up?”
“No? Was I supposed to? I don’t really remember but I think I would if I had gotten a phone that worked on this side of the damn portal.”
Rob sighed and went behind the desk and into a storage room. When he came back out, he had a box that he handed over to me.
“This is the HQ special model, since technically your still employed with us I’ll give you this one. Like I said it has a direct line to HQ and just for you, I’ll even put in my private number so you can reach me personally.”
“Oooh, I’ll put my number in aswell incase you need something else without having to come all the way here!” Missy said with a suspicious amount of joy.
I grabbed the phone after they were done and smiled as I said thank you and left. I still wanted to wander around a bit and look through the stalls at the market, just in case I found something juicy to grow. The marketplace was busy as usual and stuffed with adventures hocking their wares on one side and the more production-based ones selling theirs one the other. I travelled up and down both sides but besides a couple axes that looked really cool, I didn’t see anything that was screaming my name.
“Hey, you there with the goofy face! Come here!” A man yelled from up ahead of me. I didn’t think he was talking to me at first but after looking around and seeing no one else I pointed at myself and he nodded.
“Yes, you. Goofy face, come here. I think I got just what you need.” I walked up to his stall in confusion and saw as he just had some rusty looking knives and what looked like some weeds that were plucked from the side of the road.
“What ya think? Pretty cool right? I fished these out of the lake in the B ranked zone. With a little bit of polish, I bet these beauties would shine! Only 50 bucks each and they are yours!” He smiled and rubbed his hands together, Was someone pranking me? Didn’t this guy read any books at all because this was straight up one of the most cliché things that could happen.
But I humored the guy and pulled out my cube to investigate them.
“Whoa, whoa! What are you doing!?”
“I’m seeing just how valuable they are? You don’t have a problem with that right? I mean you must have risked so much to fish them out of the dreaded B rank zone, or so you said.”
The guy stuttered for a moment but doubled down. “Ofcourse I did! I had to dodge ferocious monsters and demons to get there and back safely! Go ahead and use that weird thing. I promise that my wares are hidden gems 2000%”
I chuckled as I shook my head while holding up the cube. It took a second but then spread out to form a screen while electric blue text scrawling across the screen.”
[Rusty lake sword]
[Fished up from Deadman’s lake]
[Once owned by ???????, it has been lost at the bottom of the lake for decades and has rusted and broken up until what remains is nothing but a rusty knife.]
[Plantability : None]
[Can be restored]
[Atk +1]
Hmmmm this one had a bit of potential, let’s look at the weeds next.
[Deadman’s veins]
[Grown in and around the site of bloody battles, consumes the nutrients of corpses and blood to grow. Appearance is that of a long stalk with several leaves with grey vein like stripes growing throughout the entire plant.]
[Plantability : Yes]
[Potential Grown items : Deadman’s Veins 75%, Bloody rose 20%, Corpse Grass 5%]
Dammit, ok this guy might have a couple things I want…. I guess it’s a cliché for a reason…
“I’ll give you 50 for both the knife here, and the weeds.”
“No can do, 50 for the knife and 50 for the wee… I mean the miraculous herbs.”
I stared at him deadpan for a moment. “55 for the knife and ‘miraculous herbs.”
“90”
“60”
“…..89”
“61”
“Dammit, ok 75 final offer!” He shouted.
“Done!” I handed him 75 bucks and walked away with a rusty knife and a bundle of whatever the hell this Deadman’s veins stuff is. I’ll find a use for it soon, but now it’s off to the nearest blacksmith.
