You open your eyes and let out a long, drawn out yawn as a tiny sliver of sunlight filters through your window onto your face. You grumble in disaproval and shift onto your side, pulling the cover over your head in an attempt to hide from the morning sun.
"Goood mooorniiing..." you hear the familiar greeting of your narcoleptic butler calling from above you. So much for sleeping in.
Reluctantly, you throw the covers off of you as you start to rub the sleep from your eyes. It takes you a minute or two of blinking and futtling with your eyelids before you finally manage to pry them open, but once you do, you're immediately greeted by the sight of Clorica smiling warmly down at you.
Suddenly realizing that you're taking too long to respond, you quickly return her greeting. You don't want to be rude, after all. This is the girl in charge of getting you out of bed every morning. It probably isn't the best idea to piss her off, or else you might find yourself waking up with a bucket of water being dumped on your face. And you don't even want to think about what she can do to your food.
"Oh, good morning!" she chimes back, not looking even the least bit offended. Either she was the most patient person in the world, or she'd completely forgotten she'd said anything. Knowing her, you guess it was most likely the latter.
"Ready for your big day?" she asks you with a polite bow. You give her a quizical look as you throw your legs over the edge of the bed, and onto the floor. Sensing your confusion, she tilts her head to the side. "Tommorow's the Spring Harvest Festival. You did remember that, right?"
Not wanting to be reprimanded by Madame Forgetful, herself, you put on a fake smile and try to play it cool.
"That's great!" she beams at you, obviously none the wiser. Nicely done!
She looks as if she's about to say something else, but her head suddenly goes limp, and all you can hear from her is the faint sound of snoring. With the morning pleasantries out of the way, you decide to head into the next room to change into your work clothes before tending to the farm.
***
When you step outside, you're horrified to find the entire field filled with dead crops. Every last turnip, cucumber, and radish, wilted and shriveled into hideous brown husks. What on earth could have caused all this? You were sure you watered the fields before heading off to bed last night. All those vegetables, all that time caring for them... ALL THAT MONEY BUYING THE SEEDS... GONE!! You feel yourself starting to lose it, when a thought pops into your head. Didn't Clorica say tomorrow was the Spring Harvest Festival? How are you supposed to make your showcase with no vegetables?
You start to panic as you drop down to your knees, sifting through the horribly mangled corpses of turnips and radishes, praying for just one survivor. Unfortunately, you had no such luck. They were all dead. You shed a tear for those who lost there lives before falling backward onto the soil, resigning yourself to your immanent loss tomorrow. Out of nowhere, you hear a strange noise coming from around the corner.
"Psst! Over here!" you hear someone call to you. You turn your head toward the sound to see the towns detective, Illuminata, skulking about.
"What the heck happened to your farm?" she boggles in a low whisper. Another tear begins to form in the corner of your eye as you explain that you have no idea what happened. Illuminata listens, but seems as if she's only paying half attention, the way she constantly turns to look over her shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah! Stop blubbering," she cuts you off. You huff at her in offense, still lying flat on your back in the dirt. "Here use this," she says, stealing over to you and forcing a small bottle into your hands. You give it a curious glance before turning your gaze back to the monicled elf.
"Just make sure to sprinkle some on your crops before you go to bed tonight," she whispers, checking to make sure the two of you are alone. She's not making any sense right now. You want answers, but she scurries off before you have a chance to voice your concern.
You have absolutely no idea what just happened, or what the little bottle in your hands is. What could it possibly be? And why did Illuminata seem so adamant that you use it? You could always do what she said and find out, but the whole situation seems suspicious to you. Maybe it's best to just accept defeat...