novelraw Chapter 129: The Spirits Aren’t Too Happy
Chapter 129: The Spirits Aren’t Too Happy
After saying goodbye to Clint, Leon still didn’t give a serious answer to Clint’s question before leaving.
After all, if he told the truth, Leon feared Clint wouldn’t be able to take it and might sink into a funk.
So, what was the question? That had to be traced back to after Leon finished cracking open the Prismatic Geodes.
When Leon had cracked them and learned about Clint’s automatic geode-cracking machine, he didn’t rush to leave. Instead, he stayed to chat.
It was small talk—whatever came to mind. But Leon was the one doing most of the talking while Clint mostly listened. Occasionally, Clinton would say a few words, but his voluntary contributions were pitifully rare.
Perhaps realizing that his quietness might bore Leon, Clinton seized on Leon’s sharp-looking casual suit as a conversation starter, asking whether wearing a suit was convenient for farm work.
Leon replied that all his other clothes were hanging out to dry, so he had no choice but to wear something he usually wouldn’t. It wasn’t that he liked farming in a suit.
After all, Leon had friends who had been lovesick fools before—he’d seen the state they were in when they found out the goddess they adored went out for a meal with another man. So he chose a harmless lie for Clint’s sake.
Even if he told the truth—that he had worn the suit to Emily’s house, had breakfast and lunch with her, and worked side by side in the kitchen to make a sumptuous lunch—Clint might not show much reaction in front of him.
But in private? Leon could guess well enough. And he could only feel regret, without any ability to empathize.Because Clint’s ending was already written: unrequited love with no return. Emily simply didn’t like his type at all—something she had mentioned to Leon twice before.
Such a heart-piercing truth was best told by Emily herself. If Leon were the one to break the news, the two might not even remain friends.
Back at the farm on his bike, Leon first checked the furnace he’d set up that morning. The flames were out, the metal cool to the touch. He didn’t know when the smelting had finished.
Still, it made it easy to pull out the drawer holding the copper ore and see the newly smelted copper ingots inside.
They were the same size as the ones he’d snagged for free in the miners’ rest area, but these shone brighter and had sharper edges.
Opening the other furnaces, he found identical ingots in each. Gathering them all into his System Backpack, he saw only two lonely chunks of raw copper ore left. He sighed.
If he had five, he could smelt another ingot. If he had four, he could craft a cherry bomb—unlocked with his mining skill upgrade. But with just two, he could only toss them in the chest and wait until he had enough.
He turned away from the furnaces, changed into his everyday clothes, and took up his hoe to till new soil.
Once the ground was soft, he sowed premium cauliflower seeds and watered them right away. After planting all fifty, he left the field to fetch fiber, coal, and wood to craft a new scarecrow.
He planted it in the center of the freshly sown cauliflower field.
After all, in spring crops, cauliflower had the highest economic value—and these were premium seeds. Leon couldn’t risk any mishaps. Whether he could afford to plant hops and starfruit next season would depend on this batch.
Once he confirmed every seed was in place, with no bare patches, Leon stripped off his shirt and sat under the cottage eaves, letting the spring breeze cool the sweat from his body.
From tilling to planting to watering, he’d done it all without pause. His stamina system could keep up, but the exertion still drew plenty of sweat.
He decided to save bathing for before bed. For now, sitting in the breeze until he cooled down was one of his ways to steal a moment’s rest.
He sat there until the sun dipped low, the air cooling.
He didn’t bother putting his shirt back on—there was no one else on the farm, and bare skin wasn’t indecent here. Besides, sweat-damp clothes, even once dry, still had a stubborn smell.
Switching on the TV, Leon followed Marlon’s instructions, pressing the number seven on the remote seven times in a row.
The local news vanished, replaced by a program with a black background and no sound.
On the screen, a wooden table sat in the center, a crystal orb resting on it. Behind the table, a robed old woman rested her hands on the surface, staring into the orb.
The crystal orb glowed faintly, lighting both the table and the old woman’s half-shadowed face against the dark backdrop. The mysterious atmosphere was flawless.
One glance and Leon knew—this was a fortune-teller.
“Oh, oh, a new viewer has joined our program. Let me see… from Stardew Valley, no less. How rare.”
Leon froze, uncertain whether she meant him.
“Since you’ve found your way here, you must want your fortune told. Let me hear the voices of the spirits. Oh no… poor child, the spirits are not in good humor today. They might just try to cause you trouble.”
She lifted her head suddenly, and Leon had the uncanny feeling she was looking right at him through the screen. Strange as it seemed, in this world it felt natural.
“But fortune isn’t everything, child. Life must go on. We’ll meet again tomorrow.”
The moment she finished, the TV switched back to the news as if nothing had happened.
But Leon was certain he had seen and heard Welwick’s prediction about his fortune.
Pressing seven seven times again, he returned to the channel.
“Oh, child, you’ve come back. No matter how many times you try, I’ll still tell you—your luck today is bad. To change it, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”
The moment she whispered, the screen cut back again.
“So it switches channels automatically after the reading. No wonder she can spot who needs a fortune-telling.”
Satisfied he hadn’t imagined it, Leon stopped trying.
After all, if he annoyed her, he might lose the chance for free readings.
And once again, Leon gained a new understanding of this world—it seemed the lives of ordinary people and supernatural beings were rather different. He just didn’t know if an ordinary person could also find Welwick’s fortune-telling channel and receive such predictions.