ebonymovies Chapter 310 Rome Stories February 26 New Share
Chapter 310 Rome Stories February 26 New Share
Sandy let out a sigh of relief when she heard that, then looked Leon up and down before making a jab. “Honestly, I can’t see you as someone afraid of dying.”
“Nonsense. Have you ever seen me deliberately courting death?” Leon shot back.
“No, but I can always catch glimpses of some old acquaintances in you. And those people were all battle maniacs,” Sandy continued.
“Then you’ve got it wrong. I’m no berserker. Even after eating a Starfruit, the ability I gained was farming-related, not some kind of combat skill,” Leon explained.
“The first one?” Sandy asked.
“Uh-huh.” Leon nodded.
“That’s interesting.” Sandy didn’t seem surprised that Leon had eaten a Starfruit. Instead, she looked at him with genuine interest, as though wondering about something else entirely.
“And you? How many have you eaten?” Remembering his old habit of ranking others based on the number of Starfruits they had consumed, Leon naturally asked Sandy in return.
“Never had one.” Sandy shook her head. “I’m not interested in Starfruit.”
Leon said nothing. He suspected she might be lying, but if Sandy didn’t want to talk about it, he wasn’t going to press.Sandy, clearly uninterested in pursuing the topic, steered the conversation toward life in Stardew Valley.
As they chatted, a young woman in a maid outfit approached, carrying a tray. She set it on the table in front of them but didn’t leave right away. Instead, she turned to Leon.
“Excuse me, are you Mr. Leon?”
“That’s me. What’s the matter?” Leon asked.
“This is something Mr. Qi asked me to pass on to you. Please take it.” The maid confirmed his identity, then produced a small box from somewhere and handed it over.
Once Leon accepted the box, she left immediately, heading toward the staircase to the second floor.
“You’re not going to open it?” Sandy asked, seeing him idly turning the box over in his hands.
“I’d like to, but it’s locked.” Leon shrugged helplessly.
The moment he took it, the System Appraisal marked it:
“Locked Box (???): A mysterious gift from Mr. Qi, said to contain something important. To open it, you’ll likely need a special key.”
After reading that, Leon gave up on the idea of forcing it open.
“Then you’ll have to find the key yourself. The boss loves setting up little mysteries for people to guess at. He calls it a sense of ceremony, but really, he just enjoys the entertainment,” Sandy said matter-of-factly.
“Would smashing it work?” Leon asked.
“You can try,” Sandy said with a smile.
“Forget it. Probably won’t work anyway.” The strange patterns on the box, the faint purple metallic sheen under the light, and its surprising lightness all made Leon think it was probably made of Iridium.
“No fun.” Sandy sighed in disappointment as Leon put the box away, then waved for him to start eating.
…
The meal was exactly what Sandy had described earlier: steamed sandfish fillet, camel milk bread, date pie, coconut jelly, and cold cactus salad. All desert specialties.
The taste was good—nothing life-changing, but enough to satisfy his curiosity for something new.
When the meal ended, there was hardly anything left on the table. Sandy hadn’t eaten much; most of it had gone into Leon’s stomach.
Leon wanted to lounge a bit longer, but Sandy quickly urged him, “Time for you to go.”
“You’re kicking me out right after I’ve eaten?” Leon asked in exasperation, baffled by the sudden shift in her attitude.
“You’ve already cost me an entire morning of business. Do you plan to ruin my afternoon sales too?” Sandy countered.
“I’m just sitting here. How does that affect your business?” Leon protested.
“You’ll see when you step outside. And don’t forget to flip the sign for me,” Sandy said, pointing at the Oasis Store’s front door.
Still puzzled, Leon stepped outside, then turned to look at the glass door—only to see a sign he didn’t know had been hung there:
“Entertaining a VIP Guest. Do Not Disturb!”
…
Leon hadn’t expected that. The thought that Sandy considered him a VIP made him oddly sentimental. She might look and sound like she was annoyed with him, but she clearly valued his visit.
Feeling cheerful, he flipped the sign to reveal the back: “Open for Business.”
Inside, Sandy glanced out the door at his retreating back and muttered, “I thought Emily was coming too. What a waste of a morning.”
Leon, of course, had no idea that the “VIP Guest” on the sign wasn’t him at all. Leaving the store, he wandered into the Calico Desert’s central oasis.
There was still over an hour before the noon bus arrived. With no way back to Stardew Valley for now, Leon decided to explore, get familiar with the area, and look for both the Skull Cavern entrance and the remains of the sand dragon.
He figured the locked box probably contained the Mr. Qi Club membership card that would grant him access to the Oasis Store’s second floor. It was likely Mr. Qi’s way of letting him know he’d been noticed—and if Leon wanted to meet him, he’d have to find a way to open the box.
Which meant the key was probably tied to Mr. Qi’s challenges. Maybe after completing the last step—feeding the sand dragon its final meal—he’d find the key within its remains.
Still, the idea of doing the challenges in order sounded tedious. Leon decided to head for the sand dragon’s skeleton right away and see if he could bypass the earlier steps.
The central oasis was huge—far bigger than the two-screen map from the game. The lush greenery made finding the sand dragon’s remains a tricky task.
Fortunately, Leon remembered they were on a hillside. As long as he aimed for the higher slopes, he should spot them.
Sure enough, there weren’t many climbable slopes in the area. Before long, near a rocky cliff, Leon found the massive skeleton of the sand dragon.
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