Death's New Adventure

Chapter 4: The Farmer's Market and the Pig

I awoke to the sound of the rooster crowing outside my window, and wished for the umpteenth time that the infernal creature had a snooze button. Waking up to the rooster had become more or less normal to me now, but did it always have to crow right outside my window?

I shook sleep out of my eyes as I got up, and remembered what the plans were for the day. This day was the harvest festival, and Dale and Marie expected me to help them with carrying some of their wheat harvest. I stretched languidly as I stood, trying to work the kinks out of sore muscles. Threshing the wheat had been grueling work, and it had taken Dale and I four days to complete it. Then winnowing had necessitated Dale teaching me a little bit of wind magic. I could do magic! It was nothing more than utility magic for now, raising a little bit of wind, but it was still so cool!

Marie had also taught me a little bit of fire magic when I expressed interest in how her stove worked. There was a firewood pile, but I'd never observed Marie using any to fuel her stove. It turned out she hadn't; the stove was worked with fire magic! She taught me the trick to lighting a magical fire in the stove, and was surprised when I took to it so quickly. I learned how to keep the fire going with my inexhaustible supply of mana, and how to raise and lower its temperature to a desired level.

In exchange, I taught Marie how to properly cook an egg. Mostly, it was just explaining to her that she kept the fire much too hot; cooking sunny side up eggs like did needed to be done at a much lower temperature, so the bottom of the egg wouldn't be burned before the top was cooked. Breakfast had vastly improved since then, and I no longer had to be afraid of getting sick from the burnt and underdone eggs she usually made.

>Notification: Cooking skill has been learned.<

Coming back to the present, I changed into the 'Festival Gown' I had been given; a white and green long dress. It was frilly and poofy, and I was embarrassed to be wearing it, but Marie had made it clear that I was to dress properly for the occasion. My male pride took yet another beating.

I was a little concerned that Marie was intent on 'showing me off' at the festival. Given the farmers' initial reactions and attitudes toward me, I could only imagine how a community would treat me. I expressed that to Marie, and was unconvinced by her response of "Oh, nonsense. Nobody I know would be so rude as to insult another person's guest." It was probably meant to be reassuring, but it only made me more uneasy about what I thought was to come.

Breakfast passed, and we set out on a cart Dale had hitched to one of his horses. I recognized it as the one that had been so friendly to me on that first night when I had slept in the barn. It whinneyed and nickered and stamped one of its hooves as we loaded into the cart, clearly excited to be going for a ride. I gave its neck and mane a petting before getting into the cart myself, and we were on our way.

The weather was sunny, but there was still a chilly wind and it was considerably cooler than it had been during the harvest. It was some time before we arrived at a road; a makeshift thing made of packed dirt and cobblestone. It was so poorly maintained that I wondered if it would be less bumpy of a ride if the cart were driven on the side of the road instead. From there, though, it was a straight shot to the festival.

It was being held in what looked like a series of pavilions; large cloth shelters being held up on poles. The first one was being used as a makeshift stable, and Dale hitched the horse there before putting the cart in his inventory. I shook my head and thought of how great it would have been to store my car in an inventory. There would have been no parking fees, and no fear of anyone stealing the car or anything in it.

As we walked to one of the larger pavilions, it struck me just how much this harvest festival seemed like a farmer's market. There seemed to be a number of families running market stalls in the largest pavilion, and I could see several people animatedly bartering their goods. Elsewhere there were people that seemed to be in a celebratory mood, and a few of them were playing games in one of the pavilions. I could see some people playing horseshoes, and others throwing axes. A man with something that looked like a primitive guitar was playing something lively for a small audience. Marie left us to mingle with the other wives that were hanging around in a group.