Vol.1 Ch.14 - To the victor go the toils

The journey to Wheats was rather pleasant, all things considered, at leastuntil the very end. You see, in spite of my eagerness to travel the entire worldone day, it seems my body and mind don’t really align on that front. That’sright, I got sick from all the topsy-turvy driving the wagon driver was doing.Moreover, the dinner we had last night certainly wasn’t helping out mysituation. Anna, of course, couldn’t help but make fun of me for it.“Aww, does little Luney need a break?” She jeered as I tried my best not tothrow up in the wagon.“Come on, Anna. That’s not funny.” Ed defended me, “He’s seriously notfeeling well. I think we should tell the driver to stop for a bit.”“No!” I yelled out in my nauseous state, “We’re so close to Wheats anyways,so stopping now would just be a waste! Urk, we’ll continue as planne-!”And with another gag more, I quickly realized I had already passed the pointof no return. So, in my haste, I went to open the window and popped my headout of the speeding vehicle to hurly my guts out. Damn, just seeing all thepiece of food inch farther and farther away as the wagon continued withoutstopping made me kind of sorry for anyone who would inevitably step one it.“Damn, that really helped.” I went to chug some water to wash away mymouth of the leftover throw-up, “Huh, why are you guys looking at me likethat?”“You… Did you just…?” Anna was at a loss for words.“Did you just stick your head out of the window to throw up?!” Ed donned ahorrified expression, “Grim! That was super dangerous! What if you fell outof the wagon?!”“Oh come on, it was either that or I covered the floor with vomit!” I poutedas I folded my arms, “Pick your poison.”“Ugh, whatever.” Ed sighed, “I guess we should just be thankful thateverything went as well as it did. We should be nearing Uncle’s place too, soafter we find him, make sure to eat a proper lunch again, okay?”“Yeah, need to replenish my energy.” I agreed with him, my stomachrumbling from the hole that has just formed in it.And with that, we had made it safely to Ed’s Uncle’s house! It was this littlecottage painted a pretty aged white color, and the walls had some prettynoticeable cracks at some places. This isn’t to say the person living here waspoor or anything, it’s just that I imagine he has no reason to make it look allthat presentable in the first place. After all, his house is pretty far away fromthe rest of the village, located near the foresty hills just across his wheatfield.“Knock knock!” Ed braced himself before knocking.“Hm? Who could that be?” A young man’s voice could be heard as heopened the door to greet the surprise visitors, “Eh? Eddie, is that you?”Eddie? What’s with that nickname? Honestly, I’d make fun of Ed for this, buta large part of me truly believes no one deserves to be called such a strangenickname. No offense to anyone who likes it, I just think it’s a bit too childishfor my tastes. Ed is fine enough, I’d think.The man who called him that was actually a rather youthful one himself.Given his position as Ed’s Uncle, I had envisioned a more burlier and olderfellow, but this guy looks like he’s just a decade older than us or something.That’s extremely young, all things considered. Must be Ed’s dad’s youngerbrother or something. Appearance wise, he’s pretty slim, with short brownhair and a full beard to boast about. Ed mentioned that this guy reminds himof me, but I honestly don’t see the resemblance at all. Look, even his Iro isBrown!“Yep, it’s me!” Ed grinned, “Nice to see you again, Uncle Ridge!”“Whoa! Look how much you’ve grown since I last saw you!” He immediatelyclosed in for a hug, “You were like… this tall, I think. And now look at you!Why, you’re almost up to my chest by now! Tell me, how old are you rightnow?”“Thirteen!” Ed boasted, “Oh, but I’ll be fourteen in just a month!”“Damn, has it already been that long?” He sounded a bit melancholic, “In anycase, let’s not keep your friends waiting! You can tell me everything aboutwhy you’re all here inside, over a warm cup of tea. How’s that?”“Thank you very much!” Anna and I both answered back all politely.The interior of the house wasn’t all that different from the outside, actually.The walls were painted the same cold white color, and the doorframes werepretty beaten up. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think a solid punch wouldknock the hinges right off. That being said, the house was rather compact inits design. It had 5 rooms, not counting the hallway, but they were all prettycramped. The place screamed “loner” in a way, as it seemed like it’d be justperfect for one person to inhabit it at a time, but even having one guest over,much less three, would only spell trouble.“Ah!” Anna spilled her teacup as she went to grab the sugar from across thetable, “I-I’m so sorry!”“Anna!” Ed hissed at her, “Sigh, sorry about that, Uncle…”“Haha! What’s got you walking on needles like that, Eddie?” Mister Ridgeburst out laughing, “A teacup’s a teacup, but isn’t yelling at a girl an evenruder thing to do?”“Ack, you’re right.” Ed sheepishly glanced at the panicky Anna, who wasnow frantically wiping the table off, “Sorry for yelling at you earlier,Anna…”“Huh? Who cares about that?” She was all too quick to accept his apology,“Now come on, help me out here. I think I’ve stopped the tea from spilling onthe floor, but I need some more napkins pronto!”As the two started working together to clean the mess Anna made, I couldn’thelp but think that all of this could’ve been avoided if Mister Ridge had justbought a bigger table. Though of course, I wouldn’t dare point that out to himright now, as it’d only sound pretentious of me, so I instead steered the topicinto a more actual one.“By the way, Mister Ridge, I’m Lune Grimheart.” I thought to extend my handto give him a handshake, but quickly stopped after recalling what justhappened to Anna, “I’m Ed’s friend. It’s nice to meet you.”“Rather polite, aren’t we?” He joked, “C’mon, boy, we’re not in any placefancy to call for such pleasantries! That being said, nice to meet one of mynephew’s close friends! Thanks for getting along with him.”His country accent started getting a bit more prominent as he seemed to havegotten used to us, which led to our conversations operating a bit moresmoothly than before. Mister Ridge poured another cup of tea for Anna, andeven thought to put the sugar smack dab in the middle of the table for furtherease of access. Even still, she was a lot more apprehensive about taking thesugar this time, not even reaching for it once and instead drinking the teabitter. Ed noticed this, so he tactfully took some sugar for himself, beforecasually asking if she’d like some as well.“Hm?” She tilted her head, “Yeah, sure. But Ed, you don’t usually sugar yourtea?”“Ah, that’s…” He looked away, his ears bright red, “This tea is just reallybitter is all! Seriously, stop asking unnecessary questions and drink yourtea!”It didn’t take long at all for good ol’ Uncle to quickly realize what was goingon between those two, so with a devilish smile he thought up a proper way totease them. Hopping over to the kitchen, he quickly pulled out a bottle of apinkish red juice before plopping it on the table. Confused, we had askedwhat was going on.“Here, drink this.” He poured a glass for Anna and Ed, however skippingme.“Um, okay?” They both glanced at each other before taking a proud swig,“Whoa, this stuff’s pretty sweet! But what is it?”“Humu…” He smirked, “That there was a love-testing potion!”“A what?!” We all jolted in our seats, “What the hell is that?!”“Simply put – it tests your love level.” He elaborated, “If the juice tastedbitter, then you two hate each other, or at least won’t end up together.However, if it tasted sweet, as you described it to be…!”“Eh?” Ed glanced back at the now bright red Anna, “H-Hold on a sec! Whyare you blushing so hard all of a sudden?!”“M-Me?!” She turned the focus back onto him, “It’s you that’s blushing likecrazy right now! Don’t you dare get the wrong idea!”“S-Same here!” He retaliated.As they continued to bicker, Mister Ridge poured me a cup of the samepinkish juice. Worried about how it’d end up tasting for me, I declined, buthe quickly chuckled before explaining to me in a whisper that it’s actuallyjust sweetened rose juice. Seriously, now that’s what I call a prank!***Waking up early the morning after, the last thing I had expected was to getkicked in the face by Ed’s foot as soon as I woke up. Really, I just can’t getover how cramped it is in here. Well, seeing as I’m already up, I guess I’lljust go outside for some fresh air.“Huh?” I noticed a familiar face tilling the fields just outside, “Mister Ridge?What are you doing so early in the morning?”“Ah, this?” He looked at the hoe in his hands, “Why, I’m tending to the cropsof course! Gotta get up early to do it, ‘cause the Sun’s gonna heat up andmake it impossible to work with later. Sorry if I woke you up, you can just goback to sleep.”“No.” I took a spare hoe from the ground and approached him, “I’ll help. I’minterested in how making wheat works exactly.”“What’s this? A Green Iro wondering how something works? You wearingcontacts or something?”In regards to what he said, he was alluding to the fact that a Green Iro istypically only ever interested in finding something new, without everbothering to ask how such a thing works. As for the contacts joke, he’sbasically asking if my Eye Color is really Green and not Blue, which wouldbe the standard for anyone curious enough to ask “How” instead of “Why”.“Who cares about all that?” I started haphazardly tilling the ground, “Let’sjust get this over with...!”“Hold your horses, son!” He took the hoe from my hands, “This ain’tsomething to rush, y’know? To start with, you’re not even hitting it at theproper angle. Then there’s the strength to account for – you can’t just put allyour strength into it, otherwise you’ll tire out before even ten minutespasses.”Wow, to think there’d be so much strategy into something as simple asagriculture. He looks like a simple man, but Mister Ridge really is a hardworker.“Hey guys!” Ed called out to us from the house as Anna rubbed her eyes nextto him, “What’re you doing this early in the morning?”“Why don’t you come here and find out?” Mister Ridge shot back with asmile.“Ugh, my shoes got all dirty…” Anna complained as Ed guided her throughthe fields, holding her hand through each step, “Why, oh why did we have tostop by at a village of all places?”“Hey now, it’s not so bad.” Ed chuckled as we spent the rest of the dayworking for absolutely free.