Sunday, Day 7
At six o’clock, Charlie woke up on time, just as he always did.
After getting dressed, he went straight to the TV.
He turned it on and paused.
“Huh?
The Queen of Sauce?”
“What kind of show is this?”
Charlie was curious, though he guessed it was probably like the cooking shows from his previous world.
He selected it, and the host was teaching a recipe called Stir Fry.
He watched carefully for half an hour.
Once he had the recipe mostly memorized, he took his medicine and headed out.
He didn’t have a kitchen at home yet, but he remembered he could get one by upgrading his house at Robin’s place.
It would cost a lot of money, though.
So after saying hello to Emily’s sister, his plan was to go fishing and make some money.
With luck, he could upgrade his house soon.
Or maybe buy a Coop.
After watering the crops, Charlie headed into town.
When he arrived, he checked the time.
8:30 a.m.
He stopped in front of Harvey’s Clinic and waited for it to open.
He wanted to thank Harvey.
…
9:00 a.m.
Charlie walked into the clinic.
Harvey had just stepped up to the front desk.
“Hey, farmer boy.
Morning,” Harvey greeted him first.
“Hey, Harvey.
Morning!”
Charlie took out a Wild Horseradish and handed it to him.
“Thanks for yesterday, Harvey.”
“I don’t really have anything fancy, but I wanted to bring you something.”
“Here.
It’s not much, but it’s yours.”
Harvey’s face brightened a little.
“No problem.
This is great, actually.
I love Wild Horseradish,” he said with a smile, accepting it.
Charlie quietly made a note that Harvey liked Wild Horseradish.
They chatted for a while longer before he said goodbye.
There was still one last person he needed to meet, so he left the clinic and headed down the road.
Penny was still reading beneath that tree.
The spring breeze stirred her short hair, making her look bright and lively.
Charlie held himself back and decided not to say hello.
He turned left and arrived at Emily’s front door.
When he pushed it open, Emily wasn’t there.
“Huh, Emily’s not home?”
“Gus’s place shouldn’t be open yet, right?”
“Emily?
Are you here?”
He called a few times, but no one answered.
He had spent the whole morning preparing, only to miss her anyway.
That left him a little disappointed.
He was about to leave for fishing when he noticed the trash can beside Jodi’s house wasn’t closed properly.
Charlie was a bit of a neat freak, so of course it bothered him.
He walked over and was just about to shut it.
Then he realized it wasn’t that the lid wouldn’t close.
Something was stuck inside.
He looked closer and found a whole Coconut in there.
“A Coconut?
A whole Coconut?
There aren’t any coconut trees on the beach, are there?”
Charlie stared at it in disbelief.
Since Pelican Town didn’t have coconut trees, there was only one explanation.
This Coconut had to be imported from somewhere else.
That made it a rare find.
“Is Jodi’s family that rich?”
He looked around.
Seeing no one nearby, he quietly picked up the Coconut.
“Pelican Town doesn’t even have these.
If I put it in the shipping bin, I wonder how much it’d sell for.”
“It should be worth at least a hundred or two, right?”
After a little private celebration, Charlie prepared to flee the scene.
But just as he ran past Emily’s front door, it opened, and a blonde girl suddenly stepped out.
He was startled and had no time to stop.
With a thud, the two of them crashed into each other and fell to the ground.
A notification chimed in his mind.
[Quest “Introductions” Complete!]
“Ow, ow, ow.
What did I just run into?”
“Wait… the quest is complete?”
Charlie was surprised by the voice in his head.
Only then did he realize the person he had just bumped into was probably Emily’s younger sister.
When he opened his eyes, he froze.
A young girl was pinned beneath him.
His hand was on her shoulder, and their legs were tangled together.
She had long, wavy blonde hair and wore a pink dress.
She was very pretty.
His first impression of her was rich heiress.
From her appearance to her clothes, she had that polished, well-off air about her.
Right now, though, she looked like she was about to cry, one hand held tightly over her chest.
When she noticed him looking at her, she turned her face away.
“I-I-I’m sorry…”
Charlie was clearly startled and immediately scrambled back several steps.
No wonder the fall hadn’t hurt much.
He had landed on top of someone else.
The girl he had knocked over stood up too.
Then she looked at him like he was something filthy, a sharp contrast to how helpless she had seemed a moment ago.
“Sorry… I didn’t mean to,” he said awkwardly, trying to explain.
But the girl obviously wasn’t going to forgive him just because he said that.
She kept wiping the places where he had touched her.
“Ew… so dirty…”
“You ruined my whole day.” The source of this chapter is g.com.
“Get lost…!”
With that, she turned to go back inside.
Charlie knew it would be awful to leave her with such a terrible first impression.
So he quickly took the Coconut he had just picked up out of his backpack and held it out to her.
It was the most valuable thing he had on him right now, so maybe…
“I’m really sorry.
I honestly didn’t mean to.”
“Here, take this.
Consider it an apology…”
He bent down and offered the Coconut to her with one hand.
When the girl saw it, she paused.
After a short hesitation, she took it and looked at him.
Her tone softened a little.
“Fine… I’ll forgive you this once.”
“But now… move.
You’re blocking my door.”
With that, she went back inside and slammed the door behind her.
When the sound faded, Charlie lifted his head.
Seeing that she was gone, he finally let out a breath of relief.
At the same time, he hadn’t expected a single Coconut to be that tempting.
It had actually gotten her to grudgingly forgive him.
He opened the interface.
“Oh, her name is Haley.”
Looking at her name, Charlie wrote Loves Coconuts!
in her notes.
After that, he went to the beach.
It was now 11:30 a.m.
He planned to spend the whole afternoon fishing.
He kept at it until 6:30 p.m., finally wrapping up his afternoon fishing trip.
The results were:
Stick: 1
Seaweed: 8 — restored stamina, consumed
Sardines: 10 total — 1 Normal, 4 Silver, 5 Gold
Herring: 4 total — 1 Silver, 2 Gold, 1 Iridium
Halibut: 3 total — 2 Silver, 1 Gold
Anchovies: 3 total — 1 Silver, 2 Gold
The treasure chests yielded one Diamond, one Artifact, eleven pieces of Coal, and one Sapphire.
Afterward, he went to Willy’s Fish Shop.
Willy had said he would stay and wait to see his catch today.
“Willy, I’m here to sell fish!” Charlie called out, full of confidence.
Willy was the same as ever, greeting him with a smile.
This time, though, he seemed to know Charlie had probably caught quite a haul.
After selling all the fish, Charlie’s money reached 4,406g.
With the 100g reward from completing the quest, that made 4,506g.
As Willy bought the fish, he looked over the catch, gave Charlie a thumbs-up, and praised him generously.
“Nice work, kid.
Keep it up.”
“You’ve got a bit of my old style.”
“If farming doesn’t work out, come out to sea with me.
Forget being a farmer.”
Charlie was practically floating with happiness.
At this rate, it wouldn’t take many more days before he could upgrade his house.