The Underground Mine & The Farewell

"It's finally done..." muttered Edward, looking at the rows of planted crops filling every single corner of Harvey's land.

He had a hat on him to block the blinding sunlight and a wet towel, wrapped around his neck, to wipe off his sweat beads.

"What are you doing... shooting commercial?" commented Harvey from the sideline.

"Shut up, you're ruining my immersion," replied Edward while maintaining the tired-but-fulfilled-farmer facade.

Harvey was rendered speechless by Edward's reply, but he didn't complain or retort it. Instead, he was glad.

Ever since he woke up, Edward had been behaving like a completely different person. His tongue was still venomous, but there was energy in his eyes now. Somehow, he liked this version of him, rather than the depressing hunchback he first met at the Inn.

Next to Harvey's shoes, several mini cones were also watching Edward, who was splashing a bottle of water on his head to cool it off.

One of them, the yellow cone commented, "This man is despicable, budum. He acts as if he worked hard, but in the end, we're the one that would do most of the job, budum."

The light blue one then added, "That's right, budum. If not for Harvey, I would have gone home, budum."

"By the way, what's a commercial, budum. Is it delicious?" asked the orange cone, who was munching a cookie while sitting.

"It's not food budum, it must be a new way to wash your clothes. See, now that his clothes were all wet, it will be easier to clean." replied the light blue cone, confidently.

"Oooo..." let out the other cones at the same time, impressed by the light blue's intellect.

Harvey was smiling sheepishly, not knowing how to react to the Harvest Sprites' gibberish. He then promised them, "Just this time, let him have it. I'll give you all a lot of flours later."

Yes, flours. Not flowers, or gem, or any delicious food. Just flours. All of the Harvest Sprites' eyes glimmered with fervor hearing Harvey's simple promise. They suddenly felt energized and started working alongside Edward who was startled, at first, watching the Sprites approaching him like a pack of hounds.

It was still a mystery why the Harvest Sprites loves flours, even for Harvey himself. Just by giving them a pack of plain flour each, every day, he could ensla— befriend them in a few days.

'But hey, as long as it works,' thought Harvey.

10 minutes later, having enough of his own facade, Edward walked toward Harvey while complaining. "I did everything you said, now it's your time to uphold your side of the deal."

Tilting his head, Harvey asked, "you want a pack of flour too?"

"Not that, idiot. The mine, you promised me to bring me into the mine if I help with your work," complained Edward.

Although he already found out that Harvey's arm was actually fine, the latter still insist on him helping with farming matters. And in the end, Edward finally gave in, but in return, Harvey must guide him into the mine. He wouldn't just let the magnificence ores laying about without being used. Especially, after finding a hidden feature in Mercenary Shop.

"Did I? Okay, okay. But first, we have to go meet someone," replied Harvey, holding his hands up and immediately agreeing after noticing a vein popping on Edward's forehead.

Harvey went inside his house, taking a bag filled with every kind of vegetable from this season. Edward was puzzled by the amount. It was just too many, almost covering Harvey's upper body.

"Did you owe someone?" mumbled Edward.

"Haha. Just follow me." invited, Harvey, while chuckling.

They then walked side by side toward Mother's Hill. The green tapestry, covered his vision, calming the heart of anyone that passed the beautiful forest. There were flowers, small animals, cicadas, spread everywhere the eye could see.

They met Gotz along the way, and some other townspeople, and Harvey's cheerleader squad. For a simple town, it was very lively, and both of them loved every single moment in it. Before he knew it, Edward arrived at the hot spring with Harvey.

"Ahh... so that's it," muttered Edward, having an idea of who it is that Harvey wanted to meet.

They stood next to a waterfall not too far away from the hot spring. Behind it was a hidden entrance into a cave where every kind of ores could be found. He wondered why the townspeople never exploited the cave as a commodity. If they did, this town would have become the richest town in the world.

It contained copper, silver, iron, gold, and more importantly the magical Mystrile ore, all in a single place. And soon after, Edward would know why no one ever used the mine except for Harvey.

He suddenly felt a huge pressure from the waterfall. Not quite literally, but then something was trying to impede and change his mind on entering the hidden cave.

Something even more magical happened. Blinding lights drew Edward's attention, snapping him out of his thought. He noticed Harvey just threw some of the vegetables into the waterfall without any care. Accompanied with the bluish lights, a figure of a woman in green and blue dress appeared in front of them.

Her hair was green, tied into two knots to the sides of her head. The rest was braided and left hanging under the left knots. Her dress flowed like a sea wave, never stopping even when there was no wind. Flowers bloomed with her arrival, fishes swam playfully, and the trees danced with the help of the breezes.

"Thank you, Harvey. You always gave me the result of your hard work without hesitating. I'm afraid I would make you bankrupt sooner or later." said the Harvest Goddess.

"It's my pleasure. Without your blessing, I wouldn't have become who I am today," replied Harvey. Edward could see pure respect in his eyes, and... a tinge of red?

And then, the Goddess's gaze moved from Harvey, toward the small boy beside him.

"Edward Kavka. I heard a lot about you." greeted the Harvest Goddess with a warm smile. Somehow, there was expectation mixed with her gaze.

"I wondered who that is, you heard me from," replied Edward. There was no one, except Harvey and the Harvest Sprites, that had made contact with her. No one even knew if she really did exist. So, the fact that she heard a lot about him was a lie in itself.

"Ahh... I'm sorry, it's just a saying. I actually have been observing you, since your arrival." corrected, the Goddess.

'Of course, she is. She's a deity, and since I trespassed her territory, putting a close eye on me would be the first thing she did.' thought Edward.

"I apologize if my action offended you. There were just too many bugs wandering around with bad intention in this world." added, Edward.

Her last word didn't escape his ears, making him wondering, 'this world?'

In a way, she was indirectly saying that she came from another world, or maybe somewhere in another galaxy far far away.

'Is she a part of a Pantheon? Just like Thor who belong to the Norse Mythology?'

But none of that was important for him. No matter which pantheon she belonged to, the fact that she was helping Harvey and protecting this town, proved that she stood on the human side. Less enemy, more friend, just that.

"I don't mind at all. If I were you, I would have done the same," replied Edward, while bowing courteously.

The Harvest Goddess seemed to be amused by Edward's manner. From her observation, she knew that Edward was hard on the outside, but soft and warm on the inside. It seemed the apple didn't fall too far from the tree.

She said, "I'm glad that we are on the same page. So, Edward, the reason you're coming today..."

Harvey hearing the cue immediately told her about the reason they were coming today, to get permission to enter the mine site. It must be noted that to enter the mine, one needed approval from the Goddess herself. And to get her blessings, blood and sweat weren't enough to satisfy her.

But Edward already expected it, it must be noted that the deity in front of him was the most materialistic being in the world. He already made some preparation, including gifts, of course. He even thought of sacrificing every single Mercenary Points he had to satisfy her. The perk of the ores was just that precious and valuable. For him, of course.

"Fine by me, you can go and use it as much as you want." said the Goddess.

Edward smiled confidently and said, "I knew you would say that. That's why I already got th— Eh...? The fuck did you say?"

Harvey gasped and flustered after hearing Edward's words. He whispered, "Edward!"

"Ahh, my bad. It's just bad reflex. What did thou hath sayeth?" muttered Edward.

"Don't worry, Harvey. I'm not that narrow-minded." said the Goddess, assuring him. She then turned toward Edward and said, "You have a lot of questions I know. But I can't answer them. Not now. But don't worry, I meant what I said earlier. Someone already paid your due, so no need to please me with your gifts."

Edward was left confused by the Goddess's words. Just like what she said, he was curious as to why the Goddess allowed him that easily. After knowing someone already paid his due, just like what she said, he wanted to pry deeper.

His thought was interrupted by the magic that the Goddess used. His body grew with greenish color, it didn't do anything but the pressure from before vanished immediately.

Suddenly, the Harvest Goddess floated toward him and whispered near Edward's ear, "Don't believe what you saw. You must hurry. A war is coming."

With those three sentences, the Harvest Goddess reached his head and left a mark of a kiss on Edward's forehead. A notification sounded on his ears, but before he could see it, the Harvest Goddess drifted away and bid the two of them a farewell.

"Now go, dear child. I will pray for you. May the Old Gods and The One-Above-All stand by your side."

Edward and Harvey watched as she faded into the sky with traces of lights leaving her body. The two might not hear it, but the Goddess said her final farewell before she completely vanished, "May you retain your life, Vanessa."

======

Five hours later, in a dark tunnel underground, two lads rhythmically hitting the wall with a pickaxe and a bluish hammer.

""Heave... Ho... Heave... Ho..."" Let out the two, accompanied by the crisp sound of their tools hitting the stone wall.

"Fuck! This is lame!" yelled Edward throwing the pickaxe toward the wall.

[Your word, Sir.] complained, Regina.

Harvey ignored Edward's childish comment and keep on hitting the wall, digging through to find the ores they were looking for.

Edward stared at the hardworking Harvey and asked, "When will you stop sulking?"

Harvey paused a bit, but he continued hitting the wall right away. Edward felt frustrated. Ever since entering the cave, they haven't traded a single word at all. Edward thought that he didn't want to say anything because he wanted to save oxygen, since they were deep underground. But eventually, it made him feel lonely after the first hour.

Edward started talking, leading a conversation, but Harvey would just ignore him or reply with a short word like, Yes, No, Down, Up, Left, Right, or just K.

'Is that you a cheat code? That last one was not even a word, are you that unimpressed girl on tinder?' thought Edward.

"Fine, if you don't want to say anything, at least tell me why," said Edward.

Harvey then stopped his work and silently muttered, "She... you... forehead..."

"What is it? I can't hear you," said Edward moving his ear close to him.

Then Harvey spoke again, a bit quiet but loud enough for Edward to hear, "She... kissed your... forehead."

"Huh?"

Edward flinched and run backward, sticking close to the wall behind him. While covering his chest with his hands, he said, "Are you... into that stuff?"

Feeling that the kid behind him misunderstood his words, Harvey yelled, "what!? I'm not gay, nor a predator!"

"Then what did you me— wait..." Edward's mind finally clicked perfectly. It made sense, but he couldn't believe it himself. He then asked, "Do you... uhh... have someone you romantically interested in?"

Harvey answered shyly, "We met her earlier."

"Really? Is it one of the girls in the town?"

Harvey shook his head and then said, "We haven't met any of them today."

"..."

[...]

Even Regina was speechless.

'Oi... you realize you're taking the impossible route, right? This is the Harvest Goddess we're talking about. Even in the game, one must dedicate all of their will to marry her, and that was with the help from the community's guide.'

Edward felt he was being rude to Harvey. Even if it was impossible, love is love. And he wasn't supposed to judge him just because he loves a deity that was far too high to reach.

"I get that you felt jealous, but I'm just a kid in her eye, so no need to worry."

"But I haven't even made a lot of progress with her, and here you are already on the first base," replied Harvey while pouting and crossing his arms.

'Do you even know what first base is?' thought Edward while frowning.

Seeing that Harvey seemed unwilling to let it go, Edward decided to change the topic, "Okay, let's skip the love talk until we're outside. Do you even have an idea of where we are right now? Because I feel quite lost."

Taking the bait, Harvey immediately replied, "Oh, we're already on the 80th floor. What? Do you want to stop for today?"

"Wait, how do you know that?" commented Edward, appearing quite surprised and amazed.

"I don't know. I just know that I know," replied Harvey, feeling proud enough that his nose might extend at any moment now.

"The fuck are you saying?" uttered Edward.

[Sir...]

Little did he know, that Edward also knew where they are right now. Even without the Goddess's blessing that allowed him to know where he was, using his observational ability combined with Radar Sense and his near-perfect memory was enough. Now, he's not the boy who has no sense of direction anymore.

"Okay, let's hit it until the 100th floor today!" yelled Edward while advancing.

[That's the opposite direction, Sir.]

Well, It seemed he still has no sense of direction. Maybe.

======

Edward spent a few more days in Mineral Town. Mainly, to gather Ores as much as possible. Thankfully, the ability to store items into the inventory his new trenchcoat was still there, but the ability to take out the item was hindered by Arceus's Egg hatching progress. No one knew when it would hatch, not even Regina.

Yesterday, Edward finally went into the Winter Mine in the middle of Mother's lake at the feet of Mother's hill. It was called Winter Mine because it could only be accessed in Winter, when the water froze which allowed Harvey to enter it.

But because he couldn't wait until Winter, Edward simply swam through the lake. However, in his path, a greenish monster blocked him. The resident of the lake, the Kappa.

He didn't allow Edward to cross the lake as he stood on his path like the king of the river. Well, if not for Harvey stopping him, that night they would have dinner with a turtle stew as the main dish.

After an anticlimactic gunpoint to the head, the Kappa relented and fled while complaining about the nerve of the kids these days. And finally, after a lot of heaving and ho-ing. He finally got his hands on the most precious Ores in this universe, Adamantite.

In Marvel Universe, if someone asked which material is the strongest, the fan would answer confidently, Adamantium. A virtually indestructible man-made steel alloy which does not occur in nature.

Edward believed that the Adamantite in this mine must be close enough to rival the Adamantium of the Marvel Universe, and there's one way to test it.

'Blackbeard.'

Light glimmered and a double-barrel shotgun appeared in his right hand, along with the Oni Gauntlet. He pointed Blackbeard's muzzle toward the Adamantite and pulled the trigger without hesitating.

Bam!

Upon impact, the Adamantite produced blinding sparks. Edward covered his eyes and peeked through his arms. Just like he thought, the Disintegrating ability or buff of Blackbeard is really strong. Strong enough to damage the Adamantite.

But upon closer inspection, the progress was far too slow from normal, and the damage itself could be said almost non-existent.

"Did I found a goldmine?" muttered Edward. He couldn't express his joy with a single word. That was just how valuable the material for him. The only test he could do now was to try the same experiment on the real Adamantium and compare them.

But even without the real Adamantium, he believed that this Adamantite was far more valuable. The mine would reset and change shape when Edward re-enters it, just like the game. With this, he could get an infinite amount of Adamantite as long as the Harvest Goddess allowed him. It must be noted that Adamantium was very rare, rare enough that it almost felt like a fairy tale.

With hundreds of kilogram of Adamantite, it would be enough to activate the hidden function of the Mercenary Shop. However, he still needs to wait until Arceus hatched. That was when the ability to take out items from his inventory can be used again.

Returning to the present, Edward was in the Town's Inn, making a call. A woman's voice could be heard on the phone line, it was Jean. Before he returned to the city, he needed to inform them of May's little case.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Jean, feeling distraught because of the words Edward said earlier on the phone.

"Just like I said, I'm not taking her," repeated Edward.

"I heard it, but why? You need to tell me your reasoning," asked Jean once again.

"To call it reasoning, that's wrong. I just feel our intervention was unneeded."

"You can't just decide that alone. We need to talk about it and came up with a decision together."

"I didn't though. Wait." Edward didn't hang up the phone and just looked around him. There were a lot of people in the Inn, celebrating little May's birthday. It was a merry birthday party.

He took a deep breath and yelled at the top of his lung. "May is a mutant! And she can speak with animals!"

The term mutant was already spread through the world. Everyone, even children knew what it meant. And the response from everyone who heard that word was filled with contempt and fear.

But, not this Town.

Edward stretches his hand forward, allowing the panicked Jean on the other side to hear the people's response.

"What? You also knew? Maaan, now I don't feel special anymore." said the owner of the winery, Duke.

"Haha... it's okay, at least now I can ask her to help me speak to my chicken without hiding it." said the son of the Poultry Farm's owner.

"Well, it's not really a secret, everyone knew it." said the Town's Mayor, Thomas.

Edward just smiled hearing their response. In the past few days, he already roamed the Town and found out that May's little secret wasn't actually a secret. It was hard for a girl as small as her to hide it, so the Townspeople individually kept it a secret, believing that they were the only one that knew about it.

"Whoaaaa, that's cool! Can you tell me what my crickets said?" asked Stu, another kid around May's age, while showing her the cricket right in front of her.

May was shocked by the cricket's appearance and slapped it away in reflex while screaming. It landed on the cake, the Mayor wanted to catch it, but because of his stubby arm, he couldn't reach it and instead fell on the cake, covering his face.

That small spark led to chaos as it triggered a chain reaction, Jeff the supermarket owner, tripped on the cake's icing which fell on the floor. He accidentally grabbed Duke's pants, stripping them off. The embarrassed Duke wanted to run away, looking for a cover but he also got tripped by his pants and so on and on.

The Merry party instantly turned into a pandemonium of accidents.

"Do you hear that?" asked Edward.

"Sounds bad," replied Jean. She meant the ongoing party. "But I get the gist of it. I'll tell Professor later. So when will you return?"

It has been almost a week since Edward left for Mineral Town. He hadn't returned even once. They wondered what was so interesting with that countryside town, but they never asked about it.

Just as she was done asking, Edward heard the sound of approaching aircraft. It sounded smaller than he thought.

"Don't worry, I'll be back today. My pick up just came now," replied Edward while smiling.

After he hanged up the phone. The door was opened with a bang as a black man with an eye patch came in.

Looking at the chaos inside the Inn and cake that was flying to his face, the man couldn't help but mutter, "Motherfucker."