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Chapter 30: Day One

Beta-Reader: Ant0nius

~Mora’s POV~

“ Riiiing!”

The alarm loudly echoed across the entire house, waking up the last occupant that was still sleeping.

“Okay! Okay! I’m awake already!” A certain Cow Prime returned tiredly as she regarded her own alarm with utmost annoyance and irritation.

Once the thing was turned off, Mora yawned, stretching her arms and sighing as she prepared for a new day.

‘Ah yes… awake,’ She thought silently, her green eyes slowly opening to the world around her. Her room was now cleaner than when she first returned, with everything now properly placed in the proper compartments and sections of the wardrobe and the shelves.

Blinking quietly and allowing the peace to bring her fully out of her sleepy state, the young woman sighed.

‘To another great day...’

Two weeks had gone by ever since Matt left the farm. Not much had changed in her routine, except maybe for a few new additions to Las Lindas.

“Mora! Breakfast is ready.”

Randal’s voice reached her room, and she blinked again as she remembered that she had much to do for today.

Huffing, she pushed her body off the comfy bed and right towards her wardrobe. Ditching her pink nightwear that she had bought last week, the Cow Prime dug through her clothes and recovered the white shirt, some underwear, and her overalls before she started to put those on.

Once she was done, Mora walked out of her room with a happy smile on her face.

The kitchen was bustling with activity as she entered inside.

Miles was quietly humming as the Cat Prime continued reading his newspaper in peace, a steamy cup of coffee on his side of the table.

While he didn’t look like much, Matt had been right to recommend him for the job. He was average, but while he didn’t excel at the task at hand, he made up for his lacking physical skills with his own determination.

At first she expected a lazy pervert that lived only to leech off kindness, but while the cheeky remarks would suggest that, the young man was actually devoted to the hard work.

Enough to make his presence quite consequential at the fields.

Meanwhile, a certain Bull Prime finished devouring one of the last jam-filled sandwiches on his plate.

“Good morning, Mora,” The big guy greeted, and her own smile grew as he noticed his peaceful one.

It was still a mystery how Matt had decided against mentioning Minos to her. Maybe the human had expected for Mora to be intrigued by the tall man, or maybe he was even more ahead of her and knew how much she liked tough guys like the Bull.

No matter how much the Cow Prime pestered Matt on the phone about it, the human would easily divert the conversation elsewhere. Or mention sudden ‘interference’ to the phone line whenever he didn’t have an excuse to change the argument.

Despite that, the man agreed on her decision to accept Minos’ offer of working at Las Lindas. And her investment was a little more secure on the way the guy worked at the farm.

Various rocks that were created by the rubble from the broken buildings around the property were quickly disposed of by Minos, much to Miles’ own relief.

The Cat Prime had dreaded the duty of clearing up zones with that kind of problem, almost begging to be set permanently to work on the fields. A choice she supported wholeheartedly considering how good he was at it.

“Morning, boss,” The aforementioned guy cited, drawing his yellow eyes on her for a moment and giving her a nod. “Are you ready for another tough day?”

“Isn’t that just a normal day now?” Mora remarked mirthfully, forcing an agreeing snort out of Miles with that comment.

“O-Oh, Mora,” A feminine voice quipped nervously and distractedly as the individual worked with Randal to finish up the last bit of the breakfast. “Good morning- we will join you all soon.”

The Cow Prime huffed at that. “There’s no need to rush, Taffy. Don’t overwork yourself.”

Now it was the Bunny Prime turn to groan. “Don’t tell me Matt told you to say that to me.”

The giddy smile on Mora’s face confirmed Taffy’s suspicions, and thus another groan left her lips before she returned to work on the stove.

Randal paused to smile brightly at his sister. “Morning, sis.”

“Randy, I see you’re up and ready for some apple-catching.”

“Either that or helping Taffs with the kitchen.”

The Bunny Prime had a tiny pout at that comment, something that the Cow Prime connected to the fact the girl was incredibly jealous of who worked on ‘her work station’.

Randy was too kind and submissive to take offense at that sudden take over, and he merely helped around while Taffy would take charge of what needed to be prepared for the meals.

Once breakfast was over and the table was cleared out, the small group departed to the various areas they were supposed to work on.

Minos would do fine with going through the stone-removal effort, while Mora and Miles would go through to collect the mature vegetables by the fields and plant new ones in their stead.

The activity was fairly simple considering how much of the farm was left untouched. There wasn’t just enough workforce to fully exploit its entire potential.

Las Lindas was made by 433 acres of farmland that had been under the Linda family for several generations now.

Her family’s estate was the place where Mora had lived for the first part of her life. From her birth up to when she departed abruptly when her mother refused to tell her the truth about her missing father.

Diana Linda was a loving mother and a caring woman to those that had the chance to meet her. The former owner of the farm was also someone that cared the most for her family, whether it be made by biological members or not.

Her unfortunate demise left the burden of keeping up with the farm’s affair to her daughter, and thus Mora was now left to handle everything with the help of those that joined her little effort to bring the farm back to its prime glory.

And there had been progress ever since she took full control of the property. While there was still so much that needed to be fixed to working conditions, the more integral elements in the estate were repaired when Matt was still around and keeping the farm working the best he could.

One man, despite how strong and quick he could be when needed, was unable to do little else other than keeping it all running to acceptable conditions.

Now that most of the debts had been cleared and that the first results yielded since she started to seriously work at Las Lindas exceeded expectations, the Cow Prime felt ready to consider hiring more workers to further increment the gains reported in the last few weeks.

Her decision was somewhat opposed by Randal and… Patches.

Alejandra Coldthorn was a rising businesswoman and her childhood friend. While they might have not seen each other in the friendliest of ways before her return, Mora still believed in the logical explanation that her ‘little sister’ gave her about her reluctance.

The farm was doing well, that was true, but to try and take a risk in increasing the amount of people working there so suddenly could severely drain all the available funds.

The stock market might not be directly of interest to Las Lindas, but if any stocks regarding farming products went down, so would the prices of their vegetables.

That much of a surprise could be troublesome if not deadly for the farm if there was a considerable amount of workers attached to the brand.

Right now? It wouldn’t cause too much of an impact with how well things were going.

But the chances of it becoming problematic was relative to how many people worked at Las Lindas.

Huffing tiredly as she started to work on her side of the fields, Mora took a moment to ponder over the situation.

‘Green Acres- Yeah, they truly got it all wrong...’

Farm life wasn’t as easy as it was made to appear on TV, and the Cow Prime had known of this ever since she was able to walk on two feet.

Diana wasn’t someone that coddled her children into avoiding the truth of having a job at a farm, and she would happily allow them all to experience the tiring experience that is working the fields… or picking apples from the orchards nearby.

Soon, the young woman had her mind set on the work in front of herself. It was going to be another tiring shift, but hopefully things were going to proceed smoothly as usual.

_ Meanwhile, a dark-furred Cat Prime and a younger Cat with white fur ventured inside the farm to search for some food and shelter… _

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“T-Teach, can I just take a break?” Hope half-begged, her tone tired as her expression was.

We had yet to finish the fourteen laps around the building, and she was already complaining. I guess Ambar was telling the truth in saying that the girl wasn’t too much into playing the role of Knight, and that she was more interested in playing a part in medical and support actions instead.

Her physique was good enough for a rookie, but she was supposed to be better than this considering she had been training for three years now.

“It’s only been five laps, and we have yet to go through the climbing exercise,” I pointed out before letting out a sigh. “I know you can do it, kid.”

She breathed roughly, shaking her head as she actually stopped to catch some air.

“Teach, why are you so tough?”

I frowned even more at that question.

“Forgive me if I sound rude Hope, but aren’t you the one that asked to be prepared to be the best medic among Knights?” I brought up with a curious tone, causing the girl to huff.

“B-But what does running have to do with medicine, Si-Matt?”

Before I had the chance to reply, I was interrupted by a certain Nanozell Spirit.

“As a Knight you’re expected to rush to recover the wounded and to be able to dodge any sudden attacks from an enemy,” Archie answered quietly. “While the war is over, the chances of ending up facing some rogue Narakhan, or even help people through a natural disaster makes this part of the training a must for someone of your caliber, Hopey.”

The girl groaned at the pet name, but I allowed her a couple of seconds to finish her recovery.

Then I spoke again, this time with a more serious tone.

“I’ve met plenty of doctors that regretted being unable to save people’s lives quickly,” I added calmly. “While you might not see the convenience right now as you’re still training, I can assure you that you will be thankful for this once something unexpected happens.”

“That sounds… overly-paranoid on your part, teach,” The Gazelle Prime rebuked, and I shrugged in return.

“Paranoid or not, is it wrong to plan out a solution to avoid more deaths?”

She didn’t reply to that, offering just a nod to gesture that she was ready to resume with her run.

“At least can I get something out of this? It’s been two weeks now...”

I gave her a curious look. “A reward?”

“Nothing much, teach… but I wanted to know more about the truth about the… Grand Knight.”

“Truth? Hope, I don’t want to pull words out of you. Give me a proper response already.”

She sighed. “I wanted to learn more about how you started it all. How you become what you’re now.”

“I thought the journal did a brilliant job retelling what happened,” I rebuked politely.

“It did, but… you also said that it didn’t contain everything,” The girl pointed out fiercely. “Plus it doesn’t start at the beginning-beginning. So what I want to know is-”

“How it all started? How did I get to meet our queen and start wandering the galaxy?” I started to guess out of minor irritation.

I liked having Hope as my apprentice. She was quick-minded, smart, and quite flexible to any exercise I threw at her. But she was also inquisitive. Tremendously so.

I guess that her personality was closer to Grace’s than Kayin’s. I guess the former Captain shared only some of her physical features, not much of an attitude.

“Yes, teach.”

I huffed, contemplating about it for a while.

…

Then I smiled and looked at Archie with a knowing smile. The Spirit nodded at my silent request before I returned to give attention to Hope.

“If you manage to go through the remaining laps without complaining or whining, then I will,” I accepted mirthfully, getting a ‘Yeah!’ out of the now-determined girl. “And Archie will keep an eye to make sure you’re complying with your part of the bargain.”

Her celebration froze as she regarded with her green eyes the smug looking Nanozell Spirit.

Looking uncertain for a brief instance, she ultimately nodded before offering a determined look.

“I hope you’re ready to tell me a highly-detailed story, Matt!”

My smile twitched, widening a little bit. “Less chatting, more running.”

As the young woman returned on her exercise, I allowed myself a moment to walk up to the tall tree by the manor’s entrance.

Ambar’s home was truly as gorgeous inside as it looked outside. But my interest wasn’t over the architecture of the place.

My stare was directed at the bored-looking Geecku perched atop one of the tree’s branches.

She stared down as I approached and blinked with interest, noticing that I was now paying attention to her and no longer at Hope.

“Want to go and get some ice cream, sweetie?”

I was feeling a little bit hungry, and I knew the girl loved snacks at this time of the day.

In fact, the offer perked her interest from the way she tensed up, with her eyes widening in the most adorable display of interest.

“Ice cream?”

I chuckled at that query. “Yep.”

Quickly descending from the tree, she swiftly reached me and… took my hand before starting to pull me inside the building.

“Let’s go, buddy!”

Chuckling again, I allowed the Crest of Life to lead me around the large building.

Some of the servants working there paused to greet us, with a couple of them even exchanging amused looks as we giddily wandered around the place.

The High Prime was quite careful to pick people that weren’t too stiff about etiquette to live there. I guess she knew that having any standard butlers and maids would just make things awkward for her to live in her own house.

Despite that little occurrence we managed to reach the kitchen uneventfully. The massive room contained a big fridge and numerous working tables for the few occasions that saw various chefs invited to the manor during State Visits from other nations.

But right now the place was mostly desolate if not for a few servants keeping an eye over the place and a tiny group of them was busy cleaning some bits of the humongous room.

We arrived at the fridge, knowing that Ambar had bought a large amount of ice cream ever since we discovered Geecku loves it.

I never had the chance to have the Lizard Prime test some of this cool treat, but the way she devoured her first few cups was enough to cement it as one of her favorite desserts.

I reached for four watermelon-flavored cups, offering three to the famished girl while I reserved just one. There was no need to risk the fact I had yet to go through the climbing exercise with Hope.

Just as we took a seat to start some quality time with ice cream, our attention was stolen by some voices starting to approach the kitchen.

At first it was too muffled to realize who it was. Then they came closer, and I recognized Ambar’s and…

…

Oh no.

My eyes widened, my brain telling me that the Bear Prime couldn’t have done this to me. Not like this, not so suddenly and unexpectedly.

Yet I could now sense her familiar energy pattern and I tensed up in dread.

It’s her, my mind screeched as I completely forgot about the ice cream and waited for the situation to happen.

Hiding was futile, especially with how sharp her sense were despite how many centuries of peace have ensued since the war.

“Come on, there’s no need to be a stick in the mud. It’s not my fault your son took a liking to my daughter,” Ambar said with a mirthful tone. “Think of it, at least you know Naerie is a good candidate.”

A huff interceded her words. “What I worry the most is that he is so close to you and your perverted ways.”

The Bear Prime giggled at that affirmation, and I braced for the worst as she stepped inside the kitchen, soon followed by her interlocutor.

I felt a nervous smile appear on my face as I found myself staring at the third person I really didn’t want to meet so soon.

Wearing a pretty pink kimono, the white-furred Cat Prime stopped for a moment in her conversation with Ambar and turned her beautiful orange eyes on me.

At first confusion flashed through her stoic look. Then she blinked as her head tilted to the side in visible surprise and… then her eyes widened.

“Theo?”

…

“Hello, Katie.”

She blinked again.

“‘Hello’?” She parroted in visible shock. “You’re- you’re here and you- Ambar, what is going on here?!”

The loud outburst caused the Crest of Wisdom to giggle nervously.

“He’s back. Theo is back. And his name is Matt.”

Kate Aryoko turned back at me with a stern look. “You- What- Explanation!”

I tensed even more at that escalation. She was getting angry alright and Geecku’s giggling wasn’t helping.

“Like Ambar said… I’m back.”

…

She didn’t say anything else, and before I had the chance to add some more details to avoid any unneeded fights I saw the blonde Samurai quickly rush at me and jump over the table.

My jaws dropped as I saw the Crest of Light diving towards me.

In a normal instance, that sentence would’ve caused me to panic and dodge the assault.

But then I noticed a tiny detail that made the entire attack less dangerous.

She didn’t have any of her swords deployed, instead I saw her arms spreading in preparation as she effectively pounced me on the floor.

Wrapping her arms tightly around my neck and looking at me closely with her intense orange eyes, I easily ignored the pain of the fall as I stared back at her. Tears were forming there.

“You- you’re alive. You didn’t- die?”

I sighed, a kind smile forming. “I told you I wasn’t planning on dying. Let’s just say that I was ‘cast’ away when the war was over.”

“W-What?”

I shushed her as I tightly wrapped my own arms around her waist. “Now, now, we will talk about this later. How are you doing, Katie?”

Her smile twitched, and her tears were much to my sadness still alluding to a crying session soon to come.

Yet I didn’t mind this situation as I addressed the Crest of Light.

Ignoring Geecku’s and Ambar’s giggles, I focused on talking with the surprised Cat Prime.

_ But boy, I was going to prank Ambar for stabbing my back like that. The nerve of that perverted Bear! _

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AN

This is the end of ‘The Golden Month’… but not the end of the story. Not at all.

A prequel is already in production, and it will focus on the War. Yes, we’re venturing that deep in the lore.

Prepare for explanations about Matt and his relationship with the various Crests, some more info about his powers and… his true Ship!