Stardew Valley’s Farming Master

Chapter 35: I Underestimated You

Leon didn’t think much of it and instead turned to Penny.

“Penny, did you come to the farm for something?”

“Uh, I just came to thank you. Here, this is for you.” Penny took out a small oil-paper-wrapped package and handed it to him.

Leon reached out to take it, intending to put it away. But seeing the expectant look in her eyes, he decided to open it on the spot. After all, Stardew Valley’s customs leaned Western—opening a gift right away was a sign of respect to the giver.

Inside were several baked cookies sprinkled with sesame seeds. They smelled delicious and looked crisp.

“They look tasty. Mind if I save them for afternoon tea?”

Leon hesitated for a moment. In the game, Penny’s storyline included a little “poisoning” incident—not literally dangerous, but she once tested a new recipe on the player with… questionable results. In that scene, the player’s face turned green. So Leon had always been a bit wary of Penny’s cooking.

“Of course. But they’re best fresh from the oven,” Penny said, nodding. She glanced around uncertainly, then, with nothing more to say, bid Leon goodbye.

“Thanks again for your help yesterday. I’ll be going. Oh, and your farm looks really big.”

With that, Penny turned and walked away. The farther she got, the faster she moved, until she was practically running—as if escaping.Leon was left standing there, baffled.

Still, since she was gone, his attention naturally shifted to the cookies in hand. After watering crops all morning, he was starting to feel hungry. The cookies looked normal enough. He broke off a small piece and tasted it.

It was surprisingly good—sweet but not overpowering, crumbly and buttery with the rich aroma of toasted sesame. The flavor lingered pleasantly.

“Guess I was worried for nothing.”

Chuckling at himself, Leon finished the rest of the cookies, filling himself about eighty percent full.

He folded up the oil paper and tossed it into the trash bin inside his cabin, then tidied his bed before sorting his backpack.

Most of the unnecessary items went into the chest he’d made earlier, including four unique spring foraged plants. As for the green onions—already roughly processed with the Rough Green Onion Handling Technique—there was no point in keeping them. He pulled them from his backpack and tossed them into the shipping box by the mailbox.

The shipping box had been built by some unknown worker. It was large and looked like an ordinary wooden crate. When Leon dropped the onions inside, he could see them sitting in a loose pile at the bottom. Disappointingly, it seemed like this shipping box wasn’t a magical item.

Closing the lid, Leon found himself worrying about spoilage. Mayor Lewis had said someone came every day to collect the goods for sale, but that still meant the onions would sit there for a whole day.

In his backpack or storage chest, items were frozen in time—completely unaffected. But in a normal box like this, the onions could dry out, reducing their value.

That thought made him lift the lid again, planning to take them back and put them in later, just before collection, to keep them fresh.

But when he opened the box, the onions were gone.

“Where are my onions? My big pile of onions?”

The crate was empty. Not even a single onion leaf remained—it was spotless, as if freshly cleaned.

From closing the lid to opening it again, only four or five seconds had passed. Yet the onions had completely vanished. Leon stared, stunned.

To confirm, he went back inside, grabbed a wild horseradish from the chest, and tossed it in. He closed the lid firmly, then lifted it again right away.

Gone.

“I underestimated you.”

So the shipping box did make things disappear instantly upon closing the lid. Leon patted the crate with a wry smile.

He had been disappointed at its apparent ordinariness, but clearly, he’d jumped to conclusions.

Now certain that the box wasn’t simple, Leon no longer worried about losing items. If they vanished the moment the lid closed, there was only one explanation—they had been “shipped” immediately.

“Lewis might not be such an ordinary guy, either.”

Leon thought of the mayor’s cryptic words about the shipping box, and after witnessing its magical function, he couldn’t help but feel that Pelican Town itself was far from ordinary.

When the game had turned into reality, he thought his System Backpack was already magical enough. But after meeting the wizard and learning Forest Magic, and now discovering the box’s instant transport ability, Leon realized Stardew Valley might be far more mysterious than he’d believed.

Still, he had no intention of asking Lewis for details. The mayor would probably just smile and say, “You’ll understand in the future,” keeping up his riddler persona.

Besides, Stardew Valley’s secrets would be more fun to discover on his own—like hidden Easter eggs in a game. That thought only made Leon more excited for his life here.

Having figured out the box’s function, Leon lost interest in further testing. His sellable stock was low anyway. And as tempting as it was, he wasn’t about to jump inside the box to see where it sent things.

That would be reckless. Unknown places weren’t something to explore without intel—too much curiosity could get a man killed.

Then again… maybe nothing would happen if he climbed in. Who knew?