It was a day that started like every other Wednesday. Flying through the skies on the Norad Express airship, we were on a trip to the town of Selphia, a place famous for it's dragon God - and we were on a mission. With a gift in hand, and a dragon in need of a present, we'd set off on a trip to brighten the dragon deity's day - but as is often the way when you travel by airship, things didn't quite go as planned. Before too long, we somehow found ourselves accosted by two stowaways, who tried to steal our purple shiny thing, and somehow managing to knock us overboard in the scuffle that ensued. It's a long way down from an airship - although as the fall's apparently given us a bout of amnesia, perhaps you should forget everything we just said.
Waking up with a thump, we find ourselves in a room with a giant dragon, as you do - but fortunately, it was a dragon of the civilised kind. Rather than roasting us alive or singeing our roots, it instead engaged us in some light conversation. Apparently her name is Ventuswill - or Venti to her friends - and she's one of the land's legendary Native Dragons. Perhaps unusually, she's also very pleased to see you, as she'd been told to expect a member of the royal family to drop by that day. And what with the whole falling out of the sky thing, there can only be one possible conclusion - we must be the royalty they were waiting for. A princess, if you prefer. A princess named Lord Arthur.
Chillin' with Venti.
Lord Arthur, you see, is the name of the royalty the letter told them to expect - and seeing as we match the description by virtue of being in the right place, at the right time, Lord Arthur we must be. Despite, you know, being a woman. Much like a decline in pirates is responsible for global warming, correlation seems to automatically mean causation to these country hillbillies, but hey, who are we to argue with logic like that? Seemingly that bump on the noggin affected us more than we thought, because after a few minor protests, we go ahead with it anyway, and are promptly bundled off to bed to recover from our fall.
The following morning, we awake to find a purple-haired woman standing over us, snoring. Turns out my sleepy stalker is simply one of the castle's butlers-in-training, Clorica, who'd actually been sent to wake me up, but had fallen asleep herself in the process. Seemingly, she's especially talented at the whole napping thing, being able to perform the majority of her butlery duties whilst asleep, which is bizarre to say the least. Still, we probably don't have time to worry about trivial things like sleep butlering - not with a busy day of being royalty yet to come, anyway, and as our narcoleptic maid gives us some apple pie, she explains what our first noble duty of the day will be. Tilling the castle fields. Elegantly, of course. Because even princesses have to get their hands dirty...
Turns out, we'll be mostly getting our hands dirty with turnips, turnips and more turnips, as that's practically all that seems to grow in these mysterious lands. The root vegetables may as well be the national dish of Selphia, given how many we've encountered during our first week - packs of seeds to get us started with our farm, as rewards for completing quests and subjects with an insatiable hunger for them. It's like living in a whole town full of Baldricks - their primary goal in life seems to be the acquisition of turnips.
Turnips, turnips everywhere...
Somewhat awkwardly, while we were busy lugging around the 'neeps, the REAL Lord Arthur appeared, making things feel more than a little bit unusual - especially as we'd already moved into the royal bedroom. But, what could have easily been the shortest reign in history actually worked in our favour - you see, Arthur had a cunning plan; a plan as cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University. He's too busy to devote his time to ruling over Selphia, and seeing as we've already moved in, who better to carry on in his stead, as his in-town representative - and none of the townsfolk will be any the wiser of the embarrassing mix up. If we were willing to help out, that was.
Our response? "Bow before me peasants!"
Will Sarah get found out? Will the Lord fall madly in love with her? Will she discover a newfound love of turnips? Come back again soon for the next episode in the Rune Factory Diaries - make sure you follow us on Facebook and Twitter to be notified as soon as they go live!
