Liam took about twenty minutes of walking to reach Pelican Town. Even though he felt excited about meeting several characters he had only ever seen through a screen, he behaved calmly and walked at a steady pace, observing what was around him.
He reached the entrance of Pelican Town, and the dirt path was replaced by a paved road.
The town wasn't empty, but it wasn't fully active either. It was that in-between point where people were already awake, but there was still no real noise. Closed doors, open windows, slow movement. Life in Stardew Valley was truly relaxed.
It seemed Pierre hadn't opened yet, so he walked a bit along the street and first saw an elderly woman, whom he recognized instantly. Evelyn.
She was short, with white hair carefully tied back, dressed in simple but clean clothes. Her posture was straight despite her age. She was outside her house, firmly holding onto a wheelchair. Sitting in it was an elderly man with a thin build, arms crossed and a permanently etched frown on his face. His gaze was hard and tired.
Liam approached close enough to be noticed.
"Good morning."
Evelyn lifted her head and immediately smiled, a warm smile that made one forget the years weighing on her.
"Oh, welcome to our little community, dear! You can call me 'Grandma' if you like."
"Thank you, Grandma. I'm Liam."
"It's good to see new blood in town. Your grandfather was a good man."
George looked at him without changing his expression. His eyes were sharp, distrustful.
"Hmph."
Liam nodded.
"It's good to meet you too. I hope we get along well."
"See you later."
He walked away from the pair with complete calm. He didn't want to get too involved with George, he already knew a bit about his stubborn, blunt temperament.
"Take care, young man!"
The path led him near the southern river, where he saw a small group walking. A young woman and two children.
Penny was there with Jas and Vincent. She had brown hair tied back simply and wore modest clothes. Her expression was kind, but slightly tired, like someone used to taking care of others.
The children walked at her side, Jas had striking purple hair, while Vincent couldn't stay still.
She was talking to them about something Liam couldn't quite hear. The children turned first.
"Who's that?" Vincent asked loudly.
Penny turned, a bit embarrassed.
"Hello… you're the new farmer, right?"
"Yes. I just arrived."
"My name's Penny. These are Jas and Vincent."
"Nice to meet you."
Jas watched him with some caution before speaking.
"Hi…"
Vincent, on the other hand, seemed more carefree.
"Hi, Mom says I shouldn't talk to strangers… but you seem okay."
"I hope you like living here," Penny said, ignoring what Vincent had said. "The valley is quiet. I hope you enjoy living around here."
"Sounds pretty nice."
She smiled, relaxing a bit, as if his answer lifted a weight off her shoulders.
"If you need anything, I'm usually around here or at the library."
Liam nodded and continued on his way.
He walked toward the river. The sound of the water was constant. He stopped for a few seconds to watch the current, clear and fast.
'Good.'
He passed by the saloon. It was closed. Too early.
Nearby was Alex, tall and athletic, his body clearly worked from regular exercise. He was playing with his gridball, tossing it into the air confidently. He stopped when he saw Liam.
"Oh, hey. So you're the new guy. I'm Alex."
Alex looked him up and down, openly evaluating him.
"Hi, I'm Liam. Nice to meet you. By the way, you've got good muscles. If my situation improves, maybe I'll start working out to get a body like yours."
Like a typical Stardew Valley player who knew everyone's routines, Liam knew the best ways to get along.
"Cool… sounds great. If you need help figuring out how to work out to get a body like mine, I can recommend a routine."
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. See you."
"See you around."
After saying goodbye, Liam didn't say anything else and headed back to Pierre's shop. Luckily, this time it was already open.
The bell rang, and Pierre looked up immediately. He was a man of average height, with glasses and an alert expression, always on edge.
"Ah! You must be Liam, the new farmer. I'm Pierre, owner of the local general store. If you're looking for seeds, my shop is the place to go. I'll also buy your produce at a good price! A bit of farming could really inject new life into the local economy!"
He seemed a bit too eager to make a good impression on a new customer and potential supplier.
"Yes. I've come to buy seeds."
"Excellent. It's always good to see the farm producing again."
Liam calmly browsed the shelves, checking prices, and was surprised by how expensive everything was compared to the 500G he had.
After looking around a bit, he went to the counter.
"I want two packets of potato seeds."
"That'll be 100G."
Pierre reached behind the counter and pulled out a mesh bag containing cut potatoes, with small roots growing from each piece.
Liam handed him one of the coins.
"Thanks."
"Thank you for your purchase."
Before Liam left, the door opened.
"Ah, right… I was told someone was moving into the old farm. It's actually a shame. I liked exploring those wild fields on my own."
Liam turned around.
Abigail was leaning against a shelf. She had messy purple hair and a relaxed expression, almost carefree and a little curious.
"I get it. I think it's fun to explore the farm too, but unfortunately for you I'll have to clean it up. What do you say we explore together sometime? There are some places that are a bit inaccessible right now, like the building blocked by rocks, and it might be fun to check them out later."
"Really? That sounds great, so I'll consider it."
They looked at each other for a few seconds. It wasn't awkward. It wasn't friendly either.
"See you around," she said, and left the shop.
Pierre cleared his throat, reconsidering Liam. He didn't like her doing things like adventuring, and now that there was someone who might share the same interests, they could influence each other in bad ways.
"Abigail is… special, so please don't let her do anything dangerous."
"Don't worry, Pierre. I'm just glad someone will visit my farm. I'd never ask or convince anyone to do something risky."
For some reason, Pierre found it hard to believe Liam's words, but he didn't give it much thought and stayed at the counter, waiting for other customers.
Liam left the shop and checked the calendar out of curiosity. To his surprise, the calendar used the twelve months of the year, and today was Thursday, January 4th. Seeing that almost made his brain short-circuit, because now he'd have to adjust his mind to the new schedule, since in his past life spring started in March.
He set that aside and checked the birthdays and festival dates. There was nothing memorable in January, except that Lewis's birthday was on January 7th, while Morris's birthday had been on January 2nd. The Egg Festival would be on February 13th, and Haley's birthday on February 14th.
After reviewing the entire calendar for half an hour, he had enough information to understand how everything worked, so he walked away and crossed the street toward JojaMart. Before getting there, he noticed a fairly large house, though not large enough to be considered a mansion, it must belong to Olivia.
He followed the path and, after crossing a bridge, arrived at JojaMart. The moment he entered the building, the change was immediate. Everything was clean, too clean. Perfectly aligned shelves, air conditioning, cold lighting. It was a supermarket, a completely different environment from Pierre's shop.
He approached a redheaded woman standing at the counter. She had a neutral expression and rigid posture, checking a list.
"Welcome to JojaMart," she said with a smile that didn't seem very enthusiastic. "Can I help you?"
"Yes, I came to buy potato seeds. How much is each bag?"
"They're about 45G per bag. The potato seeds are in the second aisle. By the way, you can leave the potato bags you brought in one of the lockers to avoid any misunderstandings."
"Thanks."
Liam left the two seed bags and checked the prices of almost all the items. They turned out to be 10% cheaper than at Pierre's shop.
He found the spot where several bags of potato seeds were stocked, identical to Pierre's, and picked up eight.
"That'll be a total of 360G."
Liam handed over the four coins and received his change.
"Thank you very much."
He left feeling slightly annoyed with Pierre. If he had bought at JojaMart, he would have been able to afford one more bag. But there was no use crying over spilled milk, so he headed south, where he found the blacksmith, which had a mine cart and tracks beside it.
He entered the blacksmith shop and felt a suffocating heat from the lit furnace.
"Good morning."
Clint was behind the counter. He was a burly man with broad shoulders and a hunched back, as if the work had taught him to fold in on himself. He had a scruffy beard, soot stains on his clothes, and thick arms marked by years of hammering metal. He didn't fully lift his gaze at first; he seemed more comfortable talking without making eye contact.
"Morning," he repeated, clearing his throat. "What brings you here?"
"I just wanted to thank you for helping me with the tools and to get to know the place. By the way, what services do you offer? I think I'll be coming here often in the future, so I'd like to know a bit more."
Clint nodded slowly, placing both hands on the counter, and Liam immediately noticed that one of his fingers was missing.
"Tools, mainly. Upgrades and repairs." He paused briefly, uncomfortable. "If you want me to upgrade your tools, you'll need to bring me the right ore. And pay a fee, of course."
Liam looked around. What stood out most was the anvil in front of the furnace.
"Do you also break open geodes?"
Clint looked up for the first time, surprised.
"Yeah. Of course. When you have some, don't hesitate to come by. It's 25G per geode." He scratched his beard. "Sometimes useful things come out, but sometimes… trash."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Silence fell again. It wasn't hostile, but it was heavy. Clint shifted uncomfortably, as if he didn't know what to do with the conversation now that the basics had been said.
"You're… the new farmer, right?" he finally asked.
"Yes."
Clint nodded again, slower.
"That's good. The town needs… more movement." He lowered his voice, as if he didn't want anyone else to hear, even though no one was there. "More work too."
"I guess I'll end up coming by here often."
Clint pressed his lips together, as if he wanted to smile but couldn't quite manage it.
"Yeah. I guess so."
He didn't say anything else. He didn't even make a gesture of farewell. He simply went back to rearranging something behind the counter, making it clear the interaction was over.
Liam understood without issue.
"We'll see each other, then."
Clint raised a hand slightly.
"Sure… when you need me."
Liam left the blacksmith shop, and the cool outside air was an immediate relief.
He felt a little bad for Clint, he planned to aim for Emily in the future, but the feeling didn't last long. In the end, the same would happen with Kent's, Pierre's, and Demetrius's women as well.
Liam wanted to return to the farm with the bag containing all the potato seeds. He passed by Haley and Emily's house. He saw Haley outside, well put together even at that hour, checking her phone.
"Good morning."
She looked at him for barely a second and frowned.
"Oh… you're that new farmer, right? Huh? Oh… I'm Haley. Hmm… If it weren't for those horrendous, dirty clothes, you could actually be handsome... Actually, never mind."
Liam didn't take it badly.
"Thanks, although plenty of girls usually say I'm pretty handsome. It's the first time someone's called me handsome in such an extravagant way."
She narrowed her eyes. She hadn't expected such a bold reply.
At that moment, a blue-haired girl came out of the house, closing the door behind her. Unlike Haley, her presence was more relaxed. She was wearing a beautiful red dress. Her eyes were attentive and curious, moving quickly, noticing details.
She stopped when she saw them.
"Oh, hi," she said naturally, looking first at Liam and then at Haley. "You must be the new farmer, right?"
"Yes. Liam."
Emily smiled immediately, a wide, honest smile.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Emily." She tilted her head slightly, watching him with genuine interest.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Liam," he replied. She was a very pleasant person, so being around her felt relaxing.
"Ooh!… I can see it on your face. You're going to love being here, in Pelican Town."
"Yes! All the neighbors I've met are very nice, and the place is quite beautiful. But I'll see you later, I have to head back to the farm. It was nice talking to you both."
"If you're ever looking for something to do at night, stop by the saloon. That's where I work!"
"Sounds fun. I'll be there if I end up having some free time."
Haley stood there in disbelief, watching how quickly they met and got along in less than a minute, only for her to be completely left out.