Chapter 11

Yuto has been feeling much better since he woke up that day. He immediately goes back to work planting the fall crops in the field. As he works, Yuto notices that he can work a lot longer before getting tired. He cuts the weeds down using his sickle, then notices that his tools feel much lighter since he recovered. He wonders if maybe if the rest has made him stronger, but Jennifer isn’t going to tell him what she put in the medicine he drank. All he needs to know is that he’s doing well now that he recovered from his trip down the lowest floors of the spring mines.

As he works, he finds Jennifer caring for his horse Dusty. As she brushes it’s mane, Yuto couldn’t help but blush watching her work hard so he doesn’t have to. She then turns to Milo who is barking at her for attention. She picks the dog up, then laughs cheerfully as it licks her face. Seeing her enjoy her time in the farm is a breath of fresh air for him.

Dusty is growing slowly, yet steadily. Yuto knows that he will need to start training it soon for the horse derby. He imagines a future where he crosses the finish line with his mighty horse earning one of the pieces of the jewel of truth, while Jennifer cheers and praises him. Such a warm and comforting fantasy encourages him to work hard so that image can be a reality someday.

Time passes at the farm, things start becoming a bit repetitious as the days pass by one by one. They wake up, meet up for breakfast to socialize, do their daily tasks, then go to sleep. The fall seedlings begin to sprout out of the ground, grow into mature plants, and begin to bear fruit. They feel proud watching life grow day by day making sure each crop grows healthy. And each day, Yuto takes time to admire Jennifer take care of Dusty and Milo.

Yuto can’t help himself watching Jennifer from the fields. Dusty gallops around the stable, while the fall winds blow through her long golden hair. Her gentle yet vivid giggle makes Yuto’s heart beat just a bit stronger. Every day, he finds her a bit more attractive. He can just stand there and watch her play with the pets for hours if he could. When her shiny violet eyes meet, she just smiles and waves at him. Yuto can’t do nothing else but blush as he looks away and pretends he’s doing his job.

He wants to tell her how he feels about her. He tries to say something at times during breakfast, but he has trouble finding the courage to say how he feels. He also knows that because of their mission, relationships should be the last thing to be worried about. Sometimes he wonders if maybe she doesn’t feel the same way he does, and all he would achieve doing is to make things awkward. Day after day, he wonders when and where would be the right time to confess his feelings.

As the crops bear fruit, they both get busier harvesting and replanting seeds. The yam seeds bring produce the quickest. This allows them to start harvesting quickly to make money quickly. The other crops join in soon after. By mid fall, they are harvesting an insane amount of crops almost daily. Yuto is glad he has Jennifer’s help, there would be no way he can do it alone. As winter slowly creeps in, they do their best to stay warm as they water the fields of plants each day.

Winter draws close, and the crops begin to wilt. As the crops die out one by one, they get a little less busier. This lets Yuto invest in cows, sheep, and chickens to keep the money flowing through winter with milk, wool, and eggs. As soon as the last crop wilts, snow begins to fall. Winter arrives sooner than expected with the fields covered in a blanket of snow.

Since there is no crops growing in the winter months, Yuto takes the time to upgrade his tools to mithril. Mithril is the strongest knows metal in Mineral Town, but there are rumors of a rare and mythical metal hidden in the mines somewhere. This mythic ore is rumored to enhance tools beyond anything humans can achieve, but nobody knows where to find it. Yuto can’t take the time or resources to go look for it, so he settles with mithril for now. There are other metals in the spring mines like adamantite and orichalcum, but they don’t make good tools at all.

After receiving his hammer and hoe back from Saibara, he spends his days mining for ores to ship. He already learned his lesson from going too deep in the spring mines, so he takes great care to mine only deep enough to get out safely. Early in the morning, he rushes out to the mines after eating breakfast. He then drags back a basket full of ores back to the farm to dump into the shipping crate by noon. After taking a dip in the hot springs, he makes a second trip down the mines to fill his basket once again. By six in the evening, he takes the night off to rest and sleep.

Jennifer spends her days caring for the animals in the farm. Each morning she heads to the coop to pet and feed the chickens. After crating the eggs, she takes a lunch break, then heads to the barn to brush and feed the cows and sheep. The cows are too young to milk, but they will mature in a couple of weeks. By then, Yuto will have to take time off to milk them. They don’t sheer the wool off the sheep since they are young and it is too cold. She then finishes her day feeding and caring for Milo and Dusty.

At least once a week, Yuto would ask Jennifer about any visions from the Harvest Goddess. Each time he does, she just sadly says no. They know that finding the remaining pieces of the jewel of truth is their top priority. Without the goddess, they don’t have the faintest clue where to look. Mineral Town is covered in snow, and the farm work must always come first. All they know is that they must continue living day by day, and hopefully find some shards without the help of the goddess.

Sometime in mid-winter, Yuto sleep warm and comfortably in his house. Jennifer has also moved her sleeping bag inside the house since it is too cold to sleep outdoors. As Yuto sleep, he gets an odd dream. In his dream, he is walking around at the base of Moon Mountain where mother’s lake is located. He is looking for something, but he has no idea what it is. As he is walking through the snow, he sees his old friend Tony out in the distance. He waves at Yuto, and walks towards the lake. “Tony?” cried Yuto as he begins to follow him.

Tony casually walks over the frozen lake towards the small island in the middle. Yuto has no idea why he is heading there, but he follows anyway. He calls Tony’s name out several times, but he receives no answer. He just slowly catches up to him as he trips and struggles through the snow. As he steps on the frozen lake, he slips and falls while Tony casually walks over like nothing. Yuto gets up and walks slowly trying his best not to slip or slide through the ice.

After some time, Yuto arrives at the small island in the lake. He walks around the thirty foot tall hill looking for Tony. As he walks around, he finds Tony standing near an entrance to some type of cave on the front of the hill. Yuto looks at Tony curiously, but Tony just smiles as he stands by the cave entrance. Yuto then looks into the cave, and sees a mine that leads deep into the earth just like the spring mines.

“Would you like to go inside?” asked Tony just before Yuto wakes up suddenly. He sits up and rubs his head for a while. He is a bit dizzy, but he doesn’t feel sick. “What a weird dream,” he says as he shakes his head vigorously.

The six o’clock alarm goes off on his cell phone which wakes Jennifer up. She stretches her arms, then looks over at Yuto who is already fully awake. “Good morning, are you feeling well?” she asked yawning.

“I’m good. I just need a little breakfast,” answered Yuto. As he steps off his bed, he winces as his leg gets a sharp pain on his knee. He then pulls back his pajama pant exposing his right leg, and sees a bruise.

“How did that happen?” asked Jennifer examining his leg.

“I must have slipped on the ice,” he answered. He then gasps, realizing that he slipped in his dream, but somehow still got hurt outside the dream.

“When did you slip and hit your knee?” asked Jennifer curiously.

“I had a weird dream last night. Tony was there luring me to Mother’s lake where I slipped and fell on my knee. There was a cave in the middle of the lake, and I think he wanted me to go inside.”

Jennifer thinks for a moment, then says, “that’s unusual. I never seen a cave in the middle of the lake. Only a hill in the island.”

“I know, but it seems so real. But maybe I just imagined it, and I just hit my knee on the wall while I slept. Just forget about it.”

Jennifer nods, but feels that there may be more to Yuto’s dream. The way he describes it reminds her of one of her visions from the goddess. Until they get more information, she’ll have to just leave it alone. They climb out of their beds, eat breakfast, then rush out to do their daily chores. Jennifer heads to the coop, while Yuto heads out to the mines.

As Yuto heads to the hot springs, he looks to the west where mother’s lake is located. He has no idea why, but he feels drawn to that lake. He feels that what he saw last night was only a dream, but it also feels too real to simply ignore. Curiosity gets the better of him as he drops his basket and walks towards the lake. He isn’t sure what he will find there, but the lake will bother him all day if he doesn’t just look.

The lake is frozen solid and covered in snow. A wince of pain jolts through his leg as he remembers the fall he took in his dream. He steps on the ice, risking it could crack and swallow him whole. Step after slow step, me marches carefully to the island in the middle. He knows that what he’s doing is insane, but the thought of there being another mine just drives him crazy anyway. He wants to know if maybe there is more to the dream he had the night before.

At the island, he takes a look around the hill. He is looking for a clue, or maybe the ghost of Tony who could give him answers. The hill looks exactly like his dream, but he doesn’t find any entrance to any cave or Tony at all. He then puts his cold hands in his pockets saying, “just as I thought, it was just a silly dream. There is nothing here.”

As he continues to circle around the hill, he arrives at the front where he saw Tony in his dream. He squints as he notices a large boulder in the spot where the cave entrance was. He taps the boulder, it feels heavy but breakable. He presses his ear against the boulder, and he can definitely hear air swirling around. The boulder is solid, but the hill is hollow. Curious to see what is inside, he pulls out his hammer, and charges himself before swinging it.

As the hammer makes contact with the boulder, it shatters into the cave behind it. Yuto gasps as the cave looks exactly like it was in his dream. “I don’t believe it, there really is a cave in here!” yelled Yuto. Whatever Tony wanted him to find, he found it. Only question is, what is inside the cave?

He takes a quick look inside, but it is too dark to see. Unlike the spring mines, this cave either hasn’t been explored yet, or it’s been a very long time since anyone has been inside. He wants to explore it, but he has no idea if it’s even safe. He almost died underestimating the spring mines, he doesn’t want to make that same mistake again. Instead, he rushes back to the farm to tell Jennifer what he found.

Yuto arrives at the coop where Jennifer is working. He asks her to meet him in the house so they can discuss what happened at mother’s lake. In the house, she sip on some warm tea as Yuto explains everything that happened. “You actually found a cave at mother’s lake? I don’t understand, how could you have seen that in your dream?” asked Jennifer.

Yuto shakes his head and answers, “I have no idea. I just followed Tony in my dream, and he showed me the cave. It’s like he wants me to go down there and find something, but I have no idea what it is.”

Jennifer pinches her chin and makes a serious looking face as she says, “what you are saying seems to resemble a vision I normally have from the goddess. But why is Tony communicating with you instead of the goddess? I don’t understand.”

“Maybe it’s not a vision. Maybe Tony’s spirit is haunting the farm, and he is trying to help us,” answered Yuto.

Jennifer shakes her head no as she says, “I have not felt any spiritual energy since arriving at the farm. Something different must be happening, but I don’t know what it may be.”

“Even so, we should check it out. Maybe there is another piece of the Jewel of Truth down there. Even if I’m wrong, Tony wants me to find something down there.”

Jennifer nods in agreement. Instead of going back to the mines, Yuto helps Jennifer finish the farm chores. They then spend the rest of the day preparing for a trip down the lake mine. They had some experience from the spring mines, so they get well prepared for anything. They go to the clinic to stock up on medicine for both stamina and fatigue. They also prepare extra food full of nutrients so they can get out safely. They have no idea what to expect, but they are brave enough to find out.