Saturday, Day 6
At six in the morning, Charlie woke up right on time.
But he wasn’t in The Mines.
He was at home.
“Ugh, my head hurts.”
“Yesterday…”
The memory of what had happened came back, and he sat up in shock.
“I fell asleep in The Mines yesterday!”
He looked around.
Then froze.
Some of the tension drained out of him.
Because he wasn’t in The Mines at all.
He was lying in the bed inside his own little cabin.
“Huh?
This is my house…”
“Didn’t I fall asleep in The Mines yesterday?”
Confused, Charlie got out of bed, got dressed, and rubbed his head.
This time, he didn’t even check his luck.
He went straight to the door and opened it.
“Oh, it’s raining again…”
Rain was falling outside.
“Looks like I don’t have to water the crops today.”
“But I have to go back to The Mines.
That definitely wasn’t a dream.
I’m sure I passed out there.”
Once he stepped outside, he found letters waiting in the mailbox.
There were three in total.
Charlie took them all inside.
[I’ve stocked some new goods: luxury fishing rods.
Feel free to come buy one.
-Willy]
“Willy got new stock?”
“I’ll go take a look later,” he thought.
Then he opened the second letter.
The moment he saw it, he could tell this one was different.
Everyone else used paper.
This one was blue, more like a card.
[My sources tell me you’ve been poking around the old Community Center.
Why not pay me a visit?
Perhaps I have something you’re looking for.
-Wizard M.
Rasmodius]
This letter caught Charlie’s attention.
“The Wizard?
The owner of the Wizard’s Tower?”
“He saw me hanging around there?
Wait, did I?”
“But since he invited me, I’ll go take a look later.”
He made up his mind.
Then came the third letter.
That was also the one that made his blood pressure shoot straight up.
[Dear Mr.
Charlie,
Last night, a Joja team member found you unconscious.
Since the situation was urgent, we immediately dispatched a medical team to bring you safely home.
We’re glad you’re all right!
This service will cost you 246g!
-Morris]
The moment Charlie finished reading it, his blood pressure spiked.
“I knew it wasn’t a dream.
“246 gold… that’s three Sardines.”
That one hurt a little.
But only a little.
It was still better than dying out there, he figured.
After subtracting 246g, he still had 2,218g left.
Charlie stretched his back.
“All right… looks like I need to watch the time from now on.”
“Hmm… I’ll go to Willy’s place first.”
At 7:40 a.m., he arrived at Willy’s shop, but the door wasn’t open yet.
With nothing else to do, Charlie quickly found something to keep himself busy.
“Oh no.
Somehow my fishing rod just appeared in my hand.”
“Well, since it’s already out, I might as well cast a couple of lines.”
Since the shop wasn’t open anyway, he decided to fish for a while.
He kept fishing until 9:30 and caught one new kind of fish, along with one Sardine.
[Anchovy (Normal): A small silver fish found in the ocean.]
Once the shop opened, Charlie went inside and sold the two fish, earning 105g.
Then he looked at Willy.
“Hey, Willy, which one’s the new fishing rod you mentioned?”
Willy brought out a new fishing rod, and Charlie touched it.
[Fiberglass Rod: Use in the water to catch fish.]
“How much?” Charlie asked directly.
“1,800g,” Willy said.
“Goodbye…”
Charlie immediately made a gesture like he was taking his leave.
Willy laughed so hard his grin nearly split his face and cheerfully saw him off.
After all, he wasn’t forcing Charlie to buy it.
After leaving the Fish Shop, Charlie returned to town.
At first, he wanted to stop by Elliott’s place, but he couldn’t open the door.
“Should I go hide from the rain at Penny’s place?” he wondered.
In the end, he decided to go straight to Marnie’s Ranch, then head directly to the Wizard’s Tower.
After chatting with Marnie for a bit, Charlie arrived at the tower’s door.
He climbed the steps and pushed it open.
Inside was a huge cauldron that looked like something the Big Bad Wolf would use to cook a lamb.
Green fumes rose from it.
On the other side of the room, a magic circle had been drawn on the floor, and it looked very impressive.
Beside it stood a man in a black wizard hat, with a full head of purple hair.
It was as if he had known exactly when Charlie would arrive.
The instant the door opened, the man began introducing himself.
“Ah, you’ve arrived.
I am Rasmodius… seeker of the arcane truths.”
“Mediator between the physical world and the ethereal realm.”
“Master of the seven elementals.”
“Keeper of the sacred… well, you get the point.”
After listening to that long list of titles, Charlie really wanted to say that he did not get the point at all.
But he kept that to himself.
“Got it.
I’m Charlie, O mighty Wizard.”
Seeing how obedient he was being, the Wizard waved a hand.
“Come.
I want to show you something.”
Charlie looked where the Wizard was pointing.
There was a sudden bang, and the green apple-like spirit he had seen the day before appeared again.
“It’s that apple from before…” His eyes widened.
“You’ve seen one before, haven’t you?” the Wizard asked.
“Yeah, I have.” Charlie nodded.
“They call themselves Junimos.”
As the Wizard spoke, he snapped his fingers, and the Junimo disappeared.
“I don’t know why they’ve moved into the Community Center, but you have no reason to fear them.”
“I was just startled because they appeared so suddenly.”
“I also found a golden scroll in one of the rooms.
It had writing on it that I couldn’t recognize,” Charlie explained.
The Wizard looked surprised.
“Hmm?
You found a golden scroll written in an unknown language?”
“How interesting…”
He stroked his beard, clearly intrigued by what Charlie had found.
Then he walked over beside him.
“Stay here and don’t move.
I’ll go see it myself.
I’ll be right back.”
With that, he snapped his fingers and floated away like a spirit.
“Holy shit, he disappeared!”
Charlie stared in shock at the living person who had been standing right beside him only a second ago.
Before he could fully react, the door behind him opened.
The Wizard walked in from outside, muttering to himself.
“I found the notes…”
Then he went over to the large cauldron.
“This language is difficult to understand, but… I can decipher it.”
After some translating, he quickly worked out the contents.
[We, the Junimos, are happy to help you.
In return, we ask for gifts from the valley.
If you are one with the forest, then you will see the true nature of this scroll.]
After reading it, the Wizard fell silent for two seconds.
He stepped away from the cauldron and came to Charlie’s side, looking troubled.
“Hmm… ‘one with the forest’… what does that mean?”
Then he returned to the cauldron.
A thought seemed to strike him, and he suddenly gave a little jump of excitement.
“Come here!” the Wizard called.
“Huh, me?”
“Oh, okay.
I’m coming.”
Charlie paused, then quickly walked over.
Once he was beside him, the Wizard began explaining the cauldron.
“My cauldron is bubbling with all sorts of ingredients from the forest.”
“Poisonous mushrooms, herbs, everything you could imagine… Do you smell it?”
Charlie listened, then leaned over and sniffed the cauldron.
A sharp, awful smell hit his nose at once.
Seeing his reaction, the Wizard smiled.
Then he ladled out a bowl of potion.
“Here.
Drink it.
Let the essence of the forest seep into your body.”
Charlie looked at the disgusting thing and swallowed.
“Uh, are you sure?
Is this really safe to drink?”
The Wizard didn’t care.
“Drink it!”
Under the Wizard’s pressure, Charlie shut his eyes and gulped down the green potion in a few swallows.
“How do you feel?” the Wizard asked, watching him.
Charlie’s head was a mess.
He was dizzy, and his vision blurred.
“Trees… so many trees… the trees are moving…”
After a little while, a notification chimed in his mind.
[You’ve gained Forest Magic!
Now you can decipher the true meaning of the Junimo scrolls.]