Welcome to Gaia! ::

By this point in time, Lucille was pretty sure that the villagers were trying their best to prolong the period of free labour that could be gotten out of her. Well, not any more. She was goingto put her foot down, she was going to…

“Would you like to join us?”

“Huh?”

“Would you like to join us?” repeated the villager with a touch of irritation in her voice. “Ore harvesting,”

“You mean…you will be harvesting too?” asked Lucille incredulously. Previously, the villagers had been content to just sit back and let her do all of the work. So this was definitely a first.

Was she perhaps gaining their trust?

“Sure,” said Lucille jumping up. “I’ll help,”

“Okay,” came the curt reply as the villager abruptly turned. “Follow us,”

“Yes,” said Lucille as she hurried after her guide. “Lead the way,”

--------------------------

Trust the landscape to be as hostile as the rest of the village she had seen so far. Where the mountains had been extremely bare and the volcanoes extremely hot, the glacier is…extremely cold. So cold in fact, that Lucille’s teeth were starting to chatter.

“W-What kind of ore are we looking for anyway?” asked the Reaper as she rubbed her hands together for warmth.

“Machalite ore,” came the curt response.

“What does it look like? Will I be able to recognize it?”

“Yes, like this one,” said the villager suddenly bending down and picking up a rock with curious patterns on it.

“It’s beautiful,” said Lucille, peering at the held ore.

The villager nods in approval. “Find as many as you can. Until the mining is called off,”

“You got it,” said Lucille as she took the offered pickaxe and basket. Already the Reaper was feeling slightly more optimistic about her situation. She had been included into a group acvitiy!

Granted that it was not the most exciting or glamourous of activity (it was actually rather boring and tedious as Lucille later found out), but what was important was that…perhaps finally, the villagers were starting to trust her. Who knows, they might even be up to offering her some food and shelter next.

“A mining we will go~,” hummed Lucilled to herself as she searched the area. Despite how easy the villager had made it look, spotting the ore under all that snow was quite an accomplishment.

And to make matters worse, most of the villagers were already starting to fill their baskets.

Mustn’t get left behind thought Lucille to herself as she frantically began scrambling through the snow. Mustn’t let the villagers think I am not worth my salt .

Her pickaxe hit something and Lucille bent down eagerly to see what she has found. To her disappointment, it turned out to be nothing more than a rather boring lump of granite.

Her next spot was no better than the first as all it unearthed was some very suspicious looking white bones. “H-Has anyone died here?” exclaimed Lucille, dropping her find.

“Sometimes,” replied a villager close by. “Snow storm hits, no shelter,”

For statement so short, it sent a rather long chill down the back of Lucillle’s spine and the Reaper glanced worriedly at the sky overheard. Was it just her or did it have…a rather dark and foreboding look? None of the villagers seemed concerned but then again, nothing much seems to worry the villagers unduly.

Kicking a snowdrift morosely aside, Lucille stared. Could it be? Was it possible?

Yes, it definitely was a fragment of machalite ore.

Perhaps there’s more of it close by thought Lucille to herself as she brushed aside more of the snowdrift. Her hunch was rewarded when even more of that beautiful precious ore turned up. Whooping for joy, the young reaper began to quickly harvest her find and it was not long before the call to end the harvesting was given.

Tired but content (she did not do too badly in the end. All you had to do was know where to look), Lucille followed the rest of the group back to the village.

And hopefully to a warm bath.