Amengard is a quirky NPC who lives in the treehouse in the Frontier
Town Halim. She's an occult fan, so, by nature she knows a lot of
mysterious goings-on. She's really a throwback to the WA3 character
who found pleasure in telling people about the days of the year. In
this game, she tells different spook stories for each day. So, to
honor her presence, here's the script of her daily tales, starting
with her initial little entrance dialogue (she says it once):
Amengard: "Welcome. I am called Amengard. Hmm? Aren't you...? Let
me see your face. I have a strange feeling I've met you
before in a parallel universe...No, perhaps it was the
spirit that accompanies you that I met...? ...Whatever
the case, I feel a connection with you, so starting now,
I'll tell you my 365(+1) scary stories. Wait...don't run
away. Well, actually, you can run if you want, but
you'll come back to me again like a boomerang!"
January 01 -- "Today is January 1st, New Year's Day. On New Year's
Eve, I counted as the bell of desire tolled 366 times
for me. My mother was flabbergasted by the sheer
number of my earthly desires... But for me, I learned
that I possess absolutely no earthly desires other
than my interest in the occult, so it was a lovely
way to start the year. By the way, how many earthly
desires do you possess?"
January 02 -- "There once was a man who lived in a village up in
the mountains... He claimed he was descended from
Balam, the three-faced monster. The people of the
village didn't take his claim seriously, for no
evidence supported his tale. Then one day, the man
fell from a tree while working, and passed away. You
can imagine how stunned the villagers were when they
saw his body...for on the back of his head were
wounds that resembled eyes, nose, and mouth."
January 03 -- "There once was a palm reader whose fortunes were
rumored to always come true. But the secret to his
fortune-telling was that he looked at the blood
vessels on the hand to judge a person's health. When
his secret was revealed, you would have expected his
popularity to go up, but instead he found himself
with fewer customers."
January 04 -- "Unwrap a piece of caramel, and you'll find pictures
of girls with a variety of expressions on the
wrappers. There was once a girl who received a box
of these caramels as a farewell gift from her
classmates. But the girl never got around to eating
the caramels for on the day of the move she was hit
by a car. It's said that caramel wrappers were
scattered all across the road...and they all had
faces of weeping girls on them."
January 05 -- "There once was a gambler who had a magical item known
as the Coin of Ruin...a coin that always came up
tails. He used the coin at crucial times and became a
very wealthy man. Yet they say his life was not a
happy one...For though he could win at gambling by
betting on tails, predicting the coin toss of life
proved to be much more difficult..."
January 06 -- "About 100 years ago, there was a lady in Buckeye
named Mathilda. She always wore pure white gloves
and never once removed them. Mathilda died of old
age, and when her family gathered at her bedside,
they saw the gloves liquify and melt away. And with
the exception of the ring finger on her left hand--
on which her wedding ring was placed--her hands were
gone as well."
January 07 -- "When you hear the phrase 'Seven Wonders,' you never
hear anyone describe what the seventh one actually is.
That's because those who learn what the seventh one
is, always lose their lives. It's just like how only
six of the spices in seven-spice are revealed."
January 08 -- "Many people say they have encountered supernatural
creatures on snowy mountains. The creatures are
usually white as snow, as if they had no blood.
Perhaps it acts as a sort of camouflage amidst the
white snow. Because of that, there's no end to the
number of people who encounter them...before even
realizing what they are."
January 09 -- "At night, the statue of the saint in Culane Temple
turns into a beautiful woman dressed in white, and
travels to Port Rosalia. ...Or so they claim... Many
scoff at the tale as nothing but humbug, and yet...
After the statue was destroyed during the war, the
beautiful woman in white was no longer seen about
Port Rosalia."
January 10 -- "A traveling salesman was making his way through
Calucion Pass when he saw a wrinkled old gob watching
him from atop a tree beside the road. The gob asked
the salesman for a shotel but considering what would
happen after he handed it over, the salesman refused.
The old gob persisted, so the salesman sighed and
compromised, saying he'd sell it for 102 tree nuts.
The old gob nodded and disappeared into the forest to
search for nuts, and the salesman promptly fled."
January 11 -- "There once was a woman who could fortell how long
people had to live. As was common amongst people with
such abilities, she kept it hidden. One day, she
stepped out onto the street and was stunned to see
that everyone who walked by had exactly the same
amount of time left. She quickly gathered her
belongings and put her hometown of Verklarung behind
her."
January 12 -- "One day, an honest old man dropped his axe in a
spring, but he spirit of the spring admired his
honesty and gave him a golden axe instead. When a
mean old man heard that, he went to the spring himself
and dumped in his own axe. But the spirit of the
spring never appeared. The mean old man got mad and
invited the other man to come over and drink with him
so that he might forget his troubles. But upon
arriving, the honest old man seemed a bit nervous.
After fidgeting for a while, he suggested they go out
for ice cream. The mean old man didn't want to go, but
he gave in eventually and went out for a waffle cone.
As soon as they left the house, the honest old man
said to the other, 'The spirit of the spring was under
your bed, clutching an axe.' The spirit of the spring
of the spring was arrested, and she confessed that she
had planned to strke once the two of them had gone to
sleep."
January 13 -- "Trish, the girl in charge of the library at Clan, was
organizing the books as usual when an old vellum scroll
fell from the shelves. The aged, yellow paper was
clearly addressed to her, 'Trish S.' She was surprised,
but quickly regained her composure and headed for the
library office. She addressed a letter to the girl
whose name popped in her mind, and placed it back
inside the book, and returned it to the shelf."
January 14 -- "They say there's an old umbrella shop in the back
alley of Port Rosalia. In that shop is an umbrella
that, when opened, allows you to see a rainy day--
no matter how nice the weather outside happens to
be. It's a useless item, but very valuable when
you're walking along the beach and feeling blue."
January 15 -- "Today is Alien Day! It's the day when all the aliens
who've come to Filgaia from outer space gather
together in one place to hold a ceremony. When the
ceremony ends, they all receive commemorative gifts.
Filgaian dictionaries are always a popular choice."
January 16 -- "Once, in a certain town, there was a green-haired
demon who lived with a human girl. Shortly after the
girl died, the demon passed away as well. His friend
buried the body, and a silly looking flower sprouted
from the surface of the grave, and it became a spot
where the town's children were forbidden to tread."
January 17 -- "There once was a woman in Port Rosalia who lamented
the fact that she had no money. One day as she was
walking along the beach, she found a pendant with a
large gem lying on the ground. She quickly pocketed
it, and sold it for a large sum of money. She went to
bed feeling quite chipper, but she was never able to
use the money because she was killed by a burglar
who'd heard rumors of her find."
January 18 -- "Guara Bobelo, the home of the Arena... They say that
experiments where the organs of the dying are
exchanged with those of fallen warriors, take place
there. ...It's frightening to imagine. I think I'll
go ahead and engrave the serial number '666' on my
innards."
January 19 -- "There was a girl who spent all day and night
collecting scary stories. But she couldn't remember
when she started this habit of frightening yarns.
Maybe I've been doing it since I was a little girl,
or maybe I started last year. Hmm, I may have to
rely on hypno-therapy..."
January 20 -- "There once was a man who found countless candles
inside a cave near Calucion Pass. As a joke, he blew
on a candle closest to him, but he then felt a warm,
wet breeze blow over his body. He shuddered and left
the cave. Several days later, he took a friend back
to Calucion Pass, but they were unable to find the
cave..."
January 21 -- "Today's scary-but-true story is 'Pollyanna's Spirit
Eye.' Sometimes, a blue eye will appear in your miso
soup. But even if this should happen, you must
continue eating your soup! That eye belongs to a
little girl who died in an accident when she was five.
She's a good spirit who loves lurking in miso soup--
her favorite food--and watches the faces of people
enjoying it."
January 22 -- "Today's scary-but-true story is about the Rorschach
test. Cook meat in boiling water, and you'll get
tasty meat with all the unwanted fat removed. If you
continue cooking the meat, after a while, you'll find
fat floating on the surface of the water. In order to
keep the meat delicious, you can remove the fat from
the surface by using a blotting paper. When you do
so, you'll see an image on the paper that can look
like a human face or an ominous giant butterfly. When
you have friends over for stew on long winter nights,
it can be a hoot trying to analyze their personalities
based on what they see on the paper."
January 23 -- "The monster known as a Greater Beast is a fearsome
creature with nine heads. Because its heads are close
together, even if it washes itself carefully, there
are still spots that are missed. The unwashed parts
petrify over time, and right now, the most popular
perfume in Filgaia is made by grinding up that stuff.
They say that when you wear it, you'll be popular not
only with people but with Greater Beats, to boot!"
January 24 -- "Every day, my mother would buy vegetables that were
labeled 'organic.' But when she learned the veggies
had been grown by the Ogre, Nick, who had used his
own personal material, she quickly put the kibosh on
buying them. I think as long as they taste good, it
doesn't matter how they're grown. I guess adults have
a lot of unresolved issues..."
January 25 -- "There was a statue of a wolf left inside a
dilapidated old house. But one day, a female Drifter
brought the statue back out into the light of day.
The wolf statue felt such gratitude that he presented
the Drifter with sliced up people and monsters. I
suppose it's just like received a dead mouse from
you pet cat."
January 26 -- "They say wandering souls still linger upon old
battlefields. Human souls emit a bioluminescent green
light and cool the area around them, so they make
great presents for students who study at night."
January 27 -- "It's said that long ago, people would use turtle
shells to predict the year's harvest. They would do
this buy heating a turtle shell, and reading the
cracks that resulted. But after a time, the great
turtle general Schturdark grew angry, and any time
a turtle shell was used, a flood would follow. The
scheming Mizar slipped into an enemy country in the
guise of a fortune teller, and performed the turtle
shell divination. Just as Mizar planned, Schturdark
caused terrible floods in the country and greatly
weakened its power."
January 28 -- "Today is the day on which Heal Berries were first
invented... During the great war, the military
distributed canned meat called 'rations' to the
soldiers as healing kits. But after a time, rumors
spread that the meat in the rations came from cats,
rats, and people... The military then developed Heal
Berries as a replacement for rations."
January 29 -- "Today is Saint Calucion's birthday... Saint Calucion
brought miracles to every land she visited. She cured
the sick with a touch of her staff. She pioneered
flood-control construction, and found a third of the
world's hot springs... If this town had been developed
during her era, there might have been a hot spring
here. We lost a truly great person..."
January 30 -- "The eyes of the creeping chaos are yellow, and when
people feel its hungry gaze, they lose their will to
resist and become dizzy. They're released a short
time later, but they can't remember anything that
happened during the interim. ...Wait, why am I saying
this like it's the absolute truth instead of hearsay?
When I start thinking about it, my head hurts so much
it feels like it's going to explode...Help me,
Drifters!"
January 31 -- "A biological weapon developed during the war seeped
into the water supply and infected the wells,
transforming the villagers into orc-like forms...
Well, such an incident occured...supposedly. I'm not
certain if it's true or not, but they do say a tribe
of violent orcs live in Calucion Pass."
February 01 -- "I had a dream in which a black box with a hand
growing out of it grabbed me and said, 'To think I
would be able to see you in this Filgaia, too...' I
woke up thinking I'd had a bad dream, but I found red
marks on my wrist. It must have been a very strong
manifestation of the subconscious. Does it mean my
ideal partner is the square black type?"
February 02 -- "Back when trains departed from Buckeye, they say
the ghost of a woman in a soaking wet dress would
haunt the night trains. Supposedly, those who heard
her muttering words of loathing and chagrin all died
within a week... Now that trains no longer leave
from Buckeye and she's lost her haunting spot, they
say she now wanders with even stronger resentment..."
February 03 -- "According to legend, if you tell 100 scary stories,
a real supernatural creature will visit. The other
day, a woman making a living as an exorcist asked me
to tell as many scary stories as I could in order to
call forth spirits. I was able to summon about three
of them. The exorcist was fine, but I was warn out
from talking so much. I think he method of having
people stand in the four corners of the room and tap
each other's shoulders to summon spirits would
probably has been more efficient..."
February 04 -- "During the war, a flying buff boarded a regularly
scheduled flight and headed from Buckeye to Port
Rosalia. He was excited to be on board, but marveled
at how quiet the trip was and looked out the window.
What he saw was two stopped engines and a giant arm
reaching out of the sea, supporting and moving the
aircraft."
February 05 -- "Dr. Alcaste, the man who managed to capture the
creeping chaos alive, was surprised when he took
off its clothes. No matter how man layers he peeled
off, there were always more, like an onion. On top
of that, the clothes would not burn, did not get
dirty, and never wore out. The doctor was overjoyed
for now he had a business that didn't require
capital, and would revolutionize the clothing
industry. At that point, he didn't realize that
indestructable cloth wasn't all that well suited for
human garments..."
February 06 -- "A long time ago, in Port Rosalia, there lived a boy
whose girlfriend since childhood passed away. It was
a terrible shock, and he locked himself in his room
and would not come out. His exasperated mother opened
the door to his room, saying, 'How long to do you
plan to keep rotting in there?' They say what she saw
before her was her son, now undead, and who was
rotting just as she had said."
February 07 -- "When I was young, a friend of mine would play a game
called 'stairway.' He would gradually crouch down
while walking behind a large piece of furniture. One
day, while walking behind a large desk, he suddenly
disappeared. Surprised, I went around to the other
side of the desk and found an open stone stairway.
Startled, I lost my balance and fell down those
stairs. And that's how I came to find myself here in
this village..."
February 08 -- "A blacksmith by the name of Libera lived in a village
called Boot Hill. He passed away at the age of 41 due
to heart failure. But as they were carrying his body to
the village graveyard, lightning struck the coffin. The
villagers dropped the coffin in surprise, and then
leapt in shock a second time as Libera stood up from
the pine box. They say that until he was struck by
lightning a second time at the age of 81, he lived a
life without a single illness."
February 09 -- "Supposedly, there's an orchid that only blooms once
every 20 years under the light of an aurora. This
orchid is as elegant as a white butterfly and charms
all who see it, but its flowers signify 'terrible
famine.' They say on the years the solar winds cause
this orchid to bloom, bamboo seeds ripen in the
mountains, and rats appear in great numbers. Then, the
world is struck by great famine..."
February 10 -- "Today is February 10th...I shall tell another tale
from the Fantastic-Yet-True series. It's myserious,
but supposedly when children who are terminally ill
draw pictures, they always draw white butterflies.
White butterflies symbolize the human soul... When
children sense that their lives will soon come to an
end, they draw white butterflies..."
February 11 -- "In the drama 'Saint Calucion's Travels,' there's an
episode in each season where a Calucion look-alike
appears. ...When you follow the path she actually
took, you'll find that some visits must have been
fakes. Several times, she covered impossible
distances all in one day. This leads to the theory
that there were Saint Calucion imposters...or that
Saint Calucion was a ninja."
February 12 -- "There once was a powerful magic umbrella that
could go toe-to-toe with monsters... It's expensive,
and for some reason it reduces your popularity with
the opposite sex, but there is one good reason to
buy it. The holder projects a fearsome aura, and
discourages umbrella thieves."
February 13 -- "Do you know about the terrible beast known as
chupacabra, which chomps on people's necks with a
revolting sucking sound? Chupacabras not only devour
people but make them part of their own body. They
say that a chupacabra's meat has the same pomegranate
flavor as people. If you feel like eating pomegranates
but there aren't any nearby, you should go after
chupacabras."
February 14 -- "According to an urban legend, the white threat-like
substance that comes out of a piercing in your ear is
actually a nerve. If that's true, then if you take two
people who both have this same substance coming out of
their piercings and connect them, they should be able
to share senses. ...At least that was the hypothesis a
scientist once dreamed up. He ran the experiment at
once, but discovered that the white thread was not a
nerve, but fat, and the test subjects shared nothing
more than their BMI."
February 15 -- "They say there's an abandoned freeway that runs
near Port Rosalia. And a long time ago, there was
an old lady who would race down it at mach speed.
Numerous racers challenged the Racer Granny, but
her tactics always prevailed and she defeated them
all, one after another. When her once numberous
challengers dwindled over time, like an endangered
species, a rival to the Racer Granny appeared.
...It was a granny who raced naked, a Racy Granny!
Their dead heat was like none ever seen before, and
both of them spun out off the highway into the sea,
never to emerge."
February 16 -- "There once was a motorcycle buff who claimed he
could hear the voices of motorcycles. What sounded
like an engine roar to us, he understood as a
complete and eloquent language. He must have had
that ancient tool, the Magic Staff."
February 17 -- "They say that people under anesthesia crazily
babble things they would normally never say. When
I was undergoing appendix surgery, I suddenly
started talking about what day it was (Sprout Day).
That was so embarrassing...Why couldn't my deep
subconscious come up with a scary story about
appendixes instead?"
February 18 -- "My uncle says that during the great war, he was in
charge of food refrigeration at a military base.
Inside the freezer were huge slabs of pork and beef,
hanging on meet hooks. In that forest of meat dwelt
the ghosts of pigs and cows, making for an enjoyable
and pastoral--though slightly red--landscape."
February 19 -- "They say that beings called 'Guardians' existed in
Filgaia in the distant past. Guardians are spirits
of power that symbolize earth, water, fire, wind,
the stars, light...and emotions such as love and
desire. But at the same time, guardian worship is
considered to be a cult...I tell you, this is an
awful age we live in. Every night a white tiger
and a strange turtle appear beside my bed so I wish
they'd hurry up and remove that designation."
February 20 -- "When I tell these scary stories, Drifters will
sometimes stop and ask me what I'm afraid of. Once
I answered, 'The thing I fear most is money,' and
the Drifter tried to hit me with a bag full of
gella. I skillfully evade the attack, making a
mental note to myself to answer 'berries and tea'
next time."
February 21 -- "I once received a magic ring from a traveling
salesman. When placed on a maiden's ring finger,
the initials of her future husband are supposed to
appear on the inside of the band. ...I hesitantly
tried it, and five letters from a language I don't
know appeared. I'm starting to think it's a gag
item."
February 22 -- "There once was a girl with a head full of dreams
who claimed that flowers had pixies inside them.
She said this so often, her classmates called her
'Pixie.' Seeing her happy face upon hearing that
nickname, made her classmates joyous as well.
Everyone was happy, but it's not a story one can
feel completely happy about. Why? You'll have to
ask Pixie..."
February 23 -- "In the distant past, in a town called Meria Boule,
there lived a wise king called Garbeth the 3rd. He
was so virtuous, when he passed away, the people
cried for days... But too strong an attachment to
those who have died can prevent them from passing
onto the other side. They say that because of how
much he was loved, the good king Garbeth became a
ghost that continues to wander the castle..."
February 24 -- "It's a well-known story that the Ape Man Vargon
was discovered by a maid who was on a mission to
find an engine for her employer. But there are
few who know that the Ape Man Junma was actually
brought back by the maid as a souvenir from her
trip to the Amazon..."
February 25 -- "Those three large sacks hanging from the front of
my house... One of them is a visitor from the great
cosmos who emits a sweet aroma and thereby attracts
male aliens. If you were a male alien such as
'chaos,' you'd find yourself unable to resist the
urge to get inside. If you don't feel that
impulse...then you're either a native Filgaian or a
female alien."
February 26 -- "In a certain castle town with a famous bakery,
there once lived a blonde man who stayed cooped up
inside the house with the curtains and blinds drawn
year-round. The man was beautiful, with delicate
features, and many girls fell in love with him, but
none of them succeeded in drawing him out. One
exasperated girl forced the blinds open and invaded
the man's bedroom. In that instant, the man, who
had been sleeping in the nude, turned to ash and
blew away in the wind. He was a Crimson Noble...a
race of vampires to whom sunlight was a mortal
enemy."
February 27 -- "The beach that connects Port Rosalia to Frontier
Town Halim is right next to a shallow, beautiful
blue sea... But that shoreline is one full of
tragedy... During the great war, a special forces
unit headed for the base at Celesti was wiped out
by a giant wave... Perhaps it was the lingering
spirits of the soldiers who never made it to
land... Even now when night falls, a platoon of the
dead appears and drags lovers on the beach into the
sea. ...You mustn't dismiss this as a silly rumor
and go swimming in the sea, you know. The scientific
basis is that the long beach's shallow sea generates
deadly rip currents that travel from the shore out
to sea."
February 28 -- "One dark moonless night, a Drifter stepped away
from camp to answer a call of nature and saw a woman
waving from a group of trees. Having no interaction
with the fairer sex for some time, the Drifter
approached the grove. The woman smiled and
disappeared into the trees. The Drifter suddenly
sensed danger and hesitated in front of the grove.
Then a woman's slender white hand appeared in front
of him and gripped his arm. The Drifter yelped at
the ice-cold touch, and the hand vanished into
nothingness."
February 29 -- "An older member of the village passed away last
year, yet the gravestone stated that he'd passed
away at the age of 18. Fearing a mix-up by the
stonecutter, the family asked why he had used that
number. The stonecutter replied, 'The man was born
on February 29th. As that day only comes in leap
years, he only had 18 birthdays in total.' The
family laughed, and then realized they could have
saved a buncle on birthday presents had they
realized this from the beginning."
March 01 -- "Beyond the dark side of the moon is a moon of the
moon that follows the moon. Because the moon's moon
can't be seen from Filgaia, its existence was doubted
for a long time and scholars who subscribed to the
theory were ostracized. But calculation's show that
even the moon's moon's moon's moon does, in fact,
exist. With faacts like that, one starts to imagine
that perhaps there could be Filgaias inside Filgaia,
like matryoshka nesting dolls."
March 02 -- "In the country village of Surf, there once was a
chicken that dreamed of flying in the sky. After much
great effort, the chicken succeeded in fulfilling her
dream of flying, but... The village elders, who hated
anything that defied normalcy, declared that she was
evil and made her into fried chicken. That is why
Surf Village was destroyed by a vengeful chicken's
curse."
March 03 -- "It's time for a tale from the True Stories series.
When people carry good-luck charms, they choose
strange looking items. The theory is that something
they find creepy, will surely startle evil spirits
as well and as chase them away. For example, the
primitive Baskar people used tickets, hairpins,
batteries, and other such items to ward off evil."
March 04 -- "They say that can openers were once warriors in a
previous life. They're people who, at the moment of
death said, 'In my next life, I want to always be
sharp, and cut through opponents that no one else
can!' So when you use a can opener, you should be
careful to pay it the greatest respect."
March 05 -- "'Purple mirror.' If you don't forget this phrase by
the time you turn 20, on the night of your birthday,
you'll be taken away by a woman dressed in red.
'Yellow mummy.' If you don't forget this phrase by the
time you turn 20, on the night of your birthday, you'll
be taken away by a beefy man. If you remember both of
these phrases, the woman and the man will each grab one
of your arms and argue over who owns you."
March 06 -- "The woman Drifter in a red jacket spoke of a pair of
hungry dead sisters who lurk in the dunes near Buckeye.
Those who don't notice the girls as they cross the
dunes have their toes nibbled off. With your toes gone,
your chances of dying in the dunes increases. It
becomes difficult to walk and you die of thirst, or
you're unable to escape monsters. The dead sisters
enjoy pushing over the first domino which eventually
leads to death."
March 07 -- "The jumbo bearcat is the king of beasts, whereas Ragu
O Ragla is the king of monsters... Many wonder which
of the two is stronger...So some guy in Guara Bobelo
actually set up a match between the two of them. As
all Filgaia watched, the match began, but... Three
seconds after it started, the two collided with one
another and annihilated the entire coliseum, along
with the spectators. Thus, the most powerful being
in Filgaia remains unknown to this day."
March 08 -- "Sometimes you'll find places you ought to be able to
jump across, yet they seem to be blocked by an
invisible wall... It's fairly common in ruins.
According to Drifters with strong psychic ability,
it's caused by lonely spirits who haunt the ruins,
floating in the air and repelling intruders."
March 09 -- "The foolish King Merkabah the 8th kept three
mandragoras as pets. He called them Man, Dra, and
Gora, and it's said that they stayed by his grave
even after he was violently purged from the throne..."
March 10 -- "The other day, I'd invited to tea a Drifter who
specialized in exorcisms. He expressed his surprise
to me, saying...'It's hard to believe you can stand
living in a place like this.' Apparently, there are
evil spirits inhabiting the ceiling, fireplace, four
corners, and the middle of the room... Feeling uneasy,
I asked him to tell me which one was the worst. He
averted his eyes and replied, 'She's right in front of
me, so she might get upset if I said anything...' I
replied, 'Oh, I see...' and backed down, but since
then, something's been bugging me..."
March 11 -- "'Urban legends'? It's strange how that phrase is
still used, even though the war destroyed all urban
areas... In the future, even if the human species is
gone, I'm sure 'urban legends' will be spread by chaos
and gobs..."
March 12 -- "They say there once was a chicken that laid golden
eggs in Guara Bobelo. If you incubated the eggs, they
hatched into the same type of chickens, so the owner
became quite rich. But the chickens that laid golden
eggs produced large quantities of dangerous metals in
their droppings. They caused great pollution downstream
from Guara Bobelo, and the owner ended up paying more
in damages than he gained."
March 13 -- "There once was a young woman who had the unfortunate
ability to see ghosts--but they only appeared as faint
glows or auras. One night, she visited the local pond,
but was blinded by unearthly light emanating from
within. It turned out that fishing season had opened
the day before, and she was simply seeing the spirits
of the fish that had been caught. One cannot help but
wonder what she'd see at the local slaughterhouse..."
March 14 -- "You know those rumors about the so-called 'suspicious
bags' that hang from the front of my house? Well
there's nothing suspicious about them... It's true
that a Drifter once climbed inside one and never came
out again. But that's how the bags are supposed to
work, so I wouldn't call that suspicious at all!"
March 15 -- "A housewife named Rosa once lived in a town called
Milama. One day, she found a shiny gella coin in a
waterspout. She pulled it out with a pair of tongs
and found that running water had etched her and her
husband's names onto the coin."
March 16 -- "Were you ever forbidden from playing with Tarot Cards
as a child? It seems like a silly restriction, but
there's actually a good reason for it. A Far Eastern
cook named Taro Tanaka will guide you to make a better
future, but since he comes from a different culture
than ours, it causes a variety of problems. You'll
receive a message like 'it's best to squat and hover
when using a toilet...' But honestly, all that's going
to do is make extra work for the cleaning lady."
March 17 -- "On the mountain path connecting Guara Bobelo to
Buckeye lies an underwater tunnel famous as a place
of supernatural occurrences. They say a creatur that
shouldn't exist lives there--a remnant of dinosaurs
from ancient times. The spirits of workers killed in
mining accidents merged with the lingering energy of
the dinosaurs and took on a physical form in the dark
depths of the water. Several Drifters have gone there
to challenge the beast. Some had their organs devoured;
others returned as mangled corpses tossed up onto the
banks of the Autumn River. You ought to be careful,
too..."
March 18 -- "It seems something about the light of the moon has
the power to disturb the human mind. Thus, the phrase
'You'd best be careful on moonless nights' is not just
an old wives' tale."
March 19 -- "A short while ago, a brand of candy that came with
'Mr. Ragla' stickers was popular for a time. But some
kids got so caught up in collecting the stickers, they
tossed out the candies that were supposed to be the
main draw. One night, all the children who had thrown
away the candies suddenly disappeared. The parents
frantically searched for their children, but... In the
last place each child was seen, there was nothing left
but a sticker of Mr. Ragla...with blood on his mouth."
March 20 -- "The skewered sweets eaten during the equinox
celebration mourn three brothers who were sentenced
to death by skewering. And that's why you mustn't
eat skewered fish at the same time. Otherwise the
three brothers will feel sorry for the fish that met
a similar fish as theirs and come for revenge."
March 21 -- "There once was an innocent man who was imprisoned at
Illsveil. They say he prayed to the statue of Saint
Calucion who granted him the power to transform into a
white albatross. But he did not make it home, for the
albatross was caught and roasted by the other prisoners
who were hungry. Calucion grew angry and transformed
the prisoners who had devoured the bird into monsters.
...There's also the theory that the story was fabricated
to stop albatross poaching off the coast of Port
Rosalia."
March 22 -- "During the great war, Navy communications operators
passed along whispered rumors of a frightening
phenomenon. At two in the morning, a message would
arrive from a nonexistant number, and in it was a list
of people who would die in battle within the next 24
hours. Out of fear, the operators decided to immediately
toss the list in the shredder the next time one arrived.
But when they tried to do so, the list cried out in a
human voice, 'Argh! We'll be torn apart!' ...Just as the
operators shuddered in fear, a missile exploded above
them, tearing apart the list...and the ship itself."
March 23 -- "Many people with supernatural powers exist in Filgaia.
For example, take the woman named Sarah from Guara
Bobelo. She possessed a special vision that allows her
to watch video tapes of Arena matches--without putting
the tape in a player. However, since then DVD has
replaced video tapes as the most popular video format.
Her powers obsolete, Sarah lost her job and now lives
the life of a pauper."
March 24 -- "When I was still young and Friedrich lived next door
to me...One day, an antique chest that my grandfather
bought, repositioned itself on its own. Its new
location was much more sensible and convenient than
before, so we didn't think much about it. Thinking
back on it now, I think that chest's ornate cat paws
must have been real."
March 25 -- "They say that near the Great Stairway on rainy nights,
a mother's ghost appears and asks passers-by to hold
her baby. It's hard to refuse, but you must not hold
her child. The instant you do, the baby will evolve
into a bizarre monster and tear into your chest..."
March 26 -- "While passing through mountains and dungeons, if a
strange creature asks for your name, never give your
real name. People's names contain their true essence...
A creature that learns someone's name can manipulate
that person as they please. So, in that situation, just
make up a fake name like 'Fulcanelli' or something."
March 27 -- "I heard this story from a woman Drifter...Inside
certain ruins, you'll find a variety of statues such
as goddesses, lion, etc. If you take those statues to
antique brokers, you can sell them for a lot, but...
Drifters don't do that very often. If you remove
these statues from the ruins, they become homesick
for their previous location and cry out, 'Maya-hi!
Maya-ho!' So if there's a statue in your way, it'll
be less trouble for you to just smash the thing rather
than pick it up."
March 28 -- "The Mountain of Needles, the Lake of Blood... There
are so many different levels in Hell. And in order to
come up with those, Hell has a job opening labeled
'Designer from Hell.' They say the pay is good, but
the bad karma you rack up from creating facilities to
make people suffer means you'll go to Hell, too."
March 29 -- "There once was a man who always wore a shirt with
many patches on it. One day, the man's friend, who
was walking with him, saw that one of the patches had
fallen off. He said 'Hey, you dropped this,' and
tried to hand it back to his friend, but he stopped
in surprise when he saw the words 'You Win!' written
on the back. It then became his turn to wear the
patch-laden shirt every day."
March 30 -- "Let me tell you a scary story about dried noodles.
There once was a boy who wanted to smoke cigarettes
like his father. But his mother grew angry with him
for wanting to smoke when he wasn't old enough, and
gave him a dried noodle in jest. But, as is typical,
the boy acted stubbornly and held the noodle in his
mouth all the time--as if it were a cigarette. The
only time the noodle left his mouth was when he saw
his own reflection in the water and said, 'Hey, give
me that noodle!'"
March 31 -- "They say cats can see things that people can't. So
when you pick up a cat and look into its eyes, you
can sometimes see a ghost hovering over your shoulder
in the reflection... If you put a bunch of cats in a
circle and sit in the center, you can get a full
360-degree view of the spirit haunting you."
April 01 -- "There are 88 guardians in a grain of rice, so if you
leave any rice in your rice bowl, you'll be hated as
a guardian-killer. So good children must eat every
last grain of rice and try to become a guardian-eater
instead."
April 02 -- "Filgaia is home to a variety of people with
supernatural powers. Take Peter for example, the
elderly man who's always got a bonfire going in Port
Rosalia. He's my pen pal and once was famous as a
firestarter but these days, it seems all he's using
that power for is roasting yams..."
April 03 -- "The monster Argoth has 100 eyes... But he doesn't
have 50 noses, so if you make him cry, his nose runs
50 times more than that of a person. As you can
imagine, it requires a huge volume of tissues to wipe
it. They say this is the reason why several
environmental groups started a campaign to eliminate
Argoth."
April 04 -- "I once went to explore the abandoned hospital in
Adlehyde at night. I explored it from top to bottom,
but didn't see a single ghost appear. Just as I was
leaving in disappointment, the flame on my lantern
flickered and then flew out the top! According to my
calculations, the lantern's oil should have run out
two hours before I left the hospital. Just what was
it that had lit my lantern...?"
April 05 -- "Amongst the female saints of Filgaia, there once was
once who was particularly lustful. She became famous
when a baker traveled across the world to go see
her... And that led other men to wonder if perhaps
the other saints were lustful, too. ...This must be
the reason why Mom told me to never let my guard down
around men."
April 06 -- "There once lived a man who could converse with
pigeons. During the water, he served in a carrier
pigeon division, but it pained him greatly to see
pigeons used in the humans' war. One day, unable to
stand it any longer, he released the pigeons in his
charge...but he was executed for this act of treason.
And so the red ring you see around a white pigeon's
eyes is a sign of mourning for that man."
April 07 -- "Ahh, the legend of the wandering Drifter... For the
crime of wounding the Guardian of Death, he was
damned to wander throughout Filgaia for eternity.
And his only road to salvation? For a woman to pledge
her eternal love to him. But after wandering for so
long that he had even forgotten his own name, he
knows full well the torture of eternity. Because of
that, whenever a girl who would pledge her eternal
love would appear, he left her...for her own sake of
course."
April 08 -- "What's the difference between occult spirits and the
things we call monsters? Monsters are born from
parents, but spirits and ghosts aren't. So when you
put a bunch of dirty clothes and flour into a
container, you'd best be careful since the mice that
appear are...supernatural spirits."
April 09 -- "The house I lived in as a child had a large wooden
pillar. On that pillar were marks that looked like
eyes and indentations that looked like a nose and
mouth. We named the face on the pillar 'Marilyn.' We
parted ways with Marilyn one winter morning when a
deep masculine voice shouted, 'Come out now!'
Startled, my whole family dashed outside, assuming
the voice came from the military police. In the next
instant, an out-of-control tank crashed into the
house from the opposite side. Our house collapsed
along with Marilyn, who had warned us for the first
and last time..."
April 10 -- "The other day, I played with an origami boat I had
made, in that stream over there. The sight of the
paper boat drifting through the clear stream was
soothing, so I made three more which I also sent down
the river. I was getting ready to go home as the sun
was setting when a boat with seven beautiful men and
women drifted by before my eyes. It was a strange
sight to behold. Especially since that boat was way
too big for how shallow the river was..."
April 11 -- "The other day, my sister and I baked some cookies,
and ate them together. The next day, I was stunned!
For though I didn't eat a pound of cookies, my weight
had gone up by MORE than a pound...?! It defied the
law of conservation of mass! Am I a living perpetual
motion machine...? Before long, if I eat 1 ounce of
cookies, they might turn into 10 pounds of fat.
...Help me, Drifters!"
April 12 -- "A boy by the name of Jack invited his friend to go
mushroom picking one day. They found mountains of
rare and delicious mushrooms and were overjoyed.
However, when they opened their lunch pail to eat the
apple pie they'd brought along, the pie had completely
disappeared. The two conversed for a while, and the
next day, they brought back another apple pie and left
it there without taking any more mushrooms."
April 13 -- "Ms. L, one of the women in the village, told me of a
strange event that occurred when she went to brush her
teeth in the washroom. She started to brush her teeth
just like normal, but gagged at the horrible taste in
her mouth. The smell of the soap she always washed her
face with, filled the washroom... Ms. L thought she
had mistakenly put soap on her toothbrush instead of
toothpaste, but in her left hand was the tube of
toothpaste that she had just used."
April 14 -- "As a Drifter opened the door to a ruined castle, a
man with the same face as his was also opening the
door from the other side... The stunned Drifter
hurriedly tried to close the door but his doppleganger
pushed back with incredible strength. Realizing he was
about to lose the struggle, the Drifter launched a
surprise attack and bit his opponent on the nose. His
opponent shrunk back from the attack and the Drifter
was able to close the door, but... For some time after
that, the Drifter was troubled by tooth marks that
mysteriously appeared on his nose and would not go
away."
April 15 -- "One of my friends makes fortune cookies for the local
restaurants, so I asked her to make a batch for my
friends. As a joke, I made a few dozen messages to put
inside, with spooky fortunes like 'You will die
tonight!' and 'I'm watching you.' But after I got the
cookies back from my friend, the messages inside said
'Expect great fortune soon' and 'Patience is a
virtue.' I wonder what happened to the messages I
wrote."
April 16 -- "There are a lot of stories about the heroes from both
sides of the great war, and many were fueled by
propaganda. They say the hero named Blackwell could
feel the composition of the atmosphere with his skin
and accurately predict the weather. And by causing
his weapon to resonate with his thoughts, he could
cook eggs with his sword. Did the military want to
advertise both his startling abilities and his many
skills as a hero...?"
April 17 -- "One morning, I was blowing on a large glass bottle
to make sounds. As I puffed away, I saw a bird fly
off from the forest. Ignoring it and continuing, I
saw the sky suddenly grow cloudy. In the next instant,
a large earthquake shook the ground. 'No way,' I
thought to myself. But the next Sunday when I played
the bottle again, a bird flew off once more. I grew
fearful and stopped there. If I'd continued playing
that bottle, what would have become of Filgaia?"
April 18 -- "In the sewers are alligators that were flushed down
toilets when they became too large to be kept as pets.
Those fake designer bags that suspicious-looking
people sell in back alleys are made from those
alligators...and smell funny."
April 19 -- "The sands of the Arena at Guara Bobelo are stained
with the blood and resentment of fallen Drifters and
monsters. Because of that, they say sand from the
Arena makes excellent curse material. You use it by
flinging the sand, as hard as you can, at the one you
hate. You can curse your opponent and also enjoy
feeling like a sand-chucking ghost, so these sands
offer double the fun."
April 20 -- "Do you know the story of the cursed red shoes that
make the wearer dance until death? I wonder what
would happen if you put them on an undead girl. Would
she dance her way back to life?"
April 21 -- "There once was a great and magnificent cherry blossom
tree. An old man who lived in Buckeye loved that tree
and went to see the blossoms every year. But one cold,
harsh year, he caught a severe cold and was still in
bed when spring came. The old man said, 'That tree is
waiting for me,' and tried his best, but he still
didn't recover. Just as the people around him were
beginning to think that he had no hope of recovering...
The window shutters flew open and a spring breeze
sent a torrent of cherry blossoms onto the old man's
bed. The old man was overjoyed. Perhaps that incident
strengthened his heart, for they say he quickly made a
full recovery."
April 22 -- "The seas, the mountains, and towns all have their own
resident spirits. You might think this means Filgaia
would be packed with spirits, but... Once a year, the
spirits hold a rumble to weed out the losers, so the
same number of spirits is always maintained. But
lately, due to rampant land development, they're
having a hard time finding a place to hold the
tournament..."
April 23 -- "Even if you run out of water in the desert, you
mustn't kill your camel. Without a means of
transportation, your chances of survival will drop.
Rather than offing your camel, you'd have better luck
extracting the booze from your beer-bellied merchant."
April 24 -- "Ghosts and zombies aren't rare in Filgaia. But on
the demons' home planet, Terra, ghosts and zombies
are the stuff of legend. Maybe the ghosts talk about
Filgaia like 'Hey, I hear that ghosts appear on that
planet!' and treat it like a haunted spot..."
April 25 -- "When I was young, I once dug up in the desert a
communication device used during the great war. I
excitedly pushed the power but, and--'Captain!
Captain! I don't know my current position! I'm
enveloped by something soft in the middle of a
weird mist!' That plea for help was quickly followed
by a crushing sound. A cold chill ran down my spine,
and I pressed the switch again...but no voice came
forth."
April 26 -- "I ordered a product with the catchy name of 'Satan
Bear' from a mail-order catalog. But what I received
was an adorable huggable teddy bear with a fluffy
white beard. It seems I misread the ad, which actually
said 'Santa Bear.' Oh, well..."
April 27 -- "A noble once owned a magic pocket watch. It had the
power to turn back time for everything except herself.
After she wound up becoming a Drifter, she used the
pocket watch to elegantly bypass all sorts of dungeon
traps. But turning back time for everything but
herself meant that time for her did not go back...She
used the watch too much and grew older than any of
her companions. She set out on a journey to do
something about it...but that's another story."
April 28 -- "They say that if you whistle at night, a thief will
come for you. In other places, they claim that a snake
will come instead. Wanting to find out which was
correct, I whistled 'All Alone in the World' at night.
A snake-man thief promptly slithered out of my
kitchen. I guess it's best to listen to advice and not
question them too closely..."
April 29 -- "Yesterday, I received an anonymous letter, and when
I opened it, I read the following... 'You will
continue to tell tales for 365 days. You will never
be allowed to rest in peace and will wander Filgaia
forever. Ha ha ha...what fun!' ...The letter
contained even more crazy things like that. What do
you think it means?"
April 30 -- "They say that money is the worst monster of all. I
heard a tale of a haunted mint, where the vengeful
spirit of an old miser was contained in coins produced
there. The more of these coins someone had, the
nastier and stingier they became. The country's
richest citizens became truly unpleasant people. I
wonder if that story is true? You have to admit
there's some truth to it."
May 01 -- "My family heirloom is a knife and fork, passed down
from a girl wh used the power of a witch to marry a
prince. Anyone who uses that knife and fork--even a
barbarian--can eat with perfect table manners. What's
that? Now you'll be suspicious of anyone who has perfect
table manners? It's easy to tell who's being assisted by
the Magical Gold-Plated Dinner Set. ...Just serve a dish
that requires chopsticks to eat."
May 02 -- "A cameraman once told me about taking photos of ghosts.
Each time he took a picture of a ghost, his camera vest
(that thing with lots of pockets) would get ever so
slightly heavier. Using that as a basis for his
calculations, he deduced that one ghost weights 21
ounces."
May 03 -- "One day, 'Faith' suddenly died. 'Delusion,' who had
always used 'Faith' as a cloak to hide behind, didn't
know what to do. Bewildered, 'Delusion' tried to get
close to 'Righteousness,' but was kicked away and his
miserable corpse was exposed to all."
May 04 -- "If you don't want any nightmares, draw a picture of a
girl wth long black hair and place it under your pillow.
The girl has the power to control dreams. She eats
people's memories and turns them into nightmares that
she has herself. It doesn't sound like she gets anything
out of it, and she sounds like a weirdo for wanting to
have nightmares. There's a lot that doesn't make sense
about it, but there's a load of data proving that it
really works, so who am I to question it, eh?"
May 05 -- "A long time ago, there was a monster made of stone who
lived in the seas of Filgaia. Known as Leviathan, it was
a fearsome creature with giant jaws that could swallow
anything, and skin that not even harpoons could pierce.
With greed rivaling that of a human senator, it ruled
the seas, but... One day, a misfit swordsman, an ARM
wielding boy, and a gluttonous witch appearead and
exterminated Leviathan. We can now cross the sea without
worry, and we owe it all to those three."
May 06 -- "When walking alone at night, sometimes you hear
footsteps from behind you. If those footsteps stop when
you stop, 90% of the time it's a supernatural spirit.
When that happens, stay calm, don't run, and try out
the latest difficult dance steps. Ghosts and spirits
are old-fashioned and despise the latest trends, so
they should be unable to mimic your steps and wind up
tripping and falling."
May 07 -- "In the great war, telepath mages--those with the
ability to send their thoughts to others--became
extinct. Their entire tribe was conscripted, and they
despaired the fact that their power was contributing
to the meaningless loss of countless lives. One day,
all of them began to trasmit a cry for peace to the
world. Naturally, the military ordered them to stop
their thoughts, but they ignored the order and continued
to scream for peace. They were then eliminated..."
May 08 -- "They say that something called a baumkuchen tree exists
in the south. If you cut one down slice up the trunk,
they can be eaten as a truly supreme delicacy. But it
takes a baumkuchen tree 20 years to become edible...
Because of that, the common people figured out how to
make something like baumkuchen out of flour and eggs."
May 09 -- "A female Drifter was walking through a field of pampas
grass when she noticed something strange and stopped.
Blown by the wind, the grass seemed to be saying 'Turn
back, turn back!' but she continued walking forward
anyway. As a result, she spent a pleasant day with the
king and queen of the pampas, who lived in the center
of the field. The pampas that had tried to block the
human's approach out of needless concern were mowed
down as punishment."
May 10 -- "They say there are always at least three strangers in
Filgaia who are exact duplicates of you. Since I was
little, I've had dreams of a girl with the same face
as me. She lives in a merchant town near the sea, where
the main crop is grain. The dreams were so real that I
believe she exists, but... I also feel a vague unease
that perhaps she's the real one, and I'm just part of
her dream."
May 11 -- "I've heard that glasses are cursed items. Why? Well,
when you put on your specs, people who get excited by
glasses draw near...and may even engage in nefarious
deeds. But you can always remove your glasses whenever
you please. So I think it would be more appropriate to
say glasses are a status ailment, rather than a cursed
item."
May 12 -- "A loser once boasted to his friend that he could make
spaghetti come out his nose, but later regretted saying
it. The next time his friend visited, he demanded a
demonstration. But the loser claimed that a negative
aura coming from his cat prevented him from working his
noodle-nosed magic. That night the cat, angered at being
blamed for everything, stuffed spaghetti in the loser's
nose. But this ended up improving his sinuses, and his
grades improved, and he stopped being a loser."
May 13 -- "Have you heard of the female spirit called Kasshima?
She's a terrible, vengeful ghost who was once defeated
by a blond female Drifter long ago, but even now
continues to wander Filgaia. If Kasshima takes an
unfortunate liking to you, chant the following
incantation: 'Kasshima, the lord of fear-- Known by
Drifters far and near-- Once a terror, but stopped
cold-- By fists of steel and hair of gold.' When you
say this, Kasshima will remember the female Drifter and
run away in panic."
May 14 -- "A woman who liked scary stuff walked around a ruined
castle where ghosts were rumored to appear, but nothing
happened. Disappointed, she went home, but when she got
there her cat that normally greeted her in the doorway,
stood in the corner of the room with its hackles raised
and hissed at her. Bewildered, she reached out her hand,
but the cat leapt out the door and never came back. For
the three years since then, she hasn't seen the cat."
May 15 -- "'Dusk' and 'Dead of Night' are rivals. Dusk relies on
surprises...like having someone you thought was human,
be supernatural. Dead of Night competes with sheer
volume and brute force. If you were to personify them as
humans, Dusk would probably the studious, glasses-wearing
type with a hidden dark side. Dead of Night would be the
big, burly jock type."
May 16 -- "They say if you place two mirrors so that they're
facing each other, a void will appear. Using this, you
can make even a cramped one-bedroom studio like mine
look big. It does cause a few problems though, like
demons appearing at two in the morning and the third
mirror from the left showing your death mask...
May 17 -- "A boy out sledding one day was moved by the sight of
the snowy mountain spread beneath the blue sky and said
it resembled a beautiful striped cloth. In that instant,
the snowy mountain and the blue sky folded up, and a
giant face appeared from behind them. The boy collapsed
to the ground in shock."
May 18 -- "There once was a rock as flat as a cutting board.
Everyone in the area treated the rock as if it were a
holy place. But a group of children on a field trip
from the city decided to use the rock as a chopping
board to cut up ingredients for curry. For some reason,
as their task progressed, the temperature around them
began to rise. Finally, the rock rose up and swallowed
the children and the ingredients in one huge gulp. What
everyone had thought was a rock was actually a giant
turtle."
May 19 -- "People say a supernatural being known as the Turbo
Granny frequently appears on the highway beyond Port
Rosalia. Her true identity was a Drifter who had
obtained an item called 'Rad Blades.' She became
delirious with the sensation of speed they generated,
and crashed into a wall at high speed and died, but...
Even now, she remains obsessed with speed and cruises
down the highway on the Rad Blades as an undead being."
May 20 -- "I don't recommend flying in a four-seater aircraft with
only three passengers because a ghost will sit in the
fourth seat. Not only is it disturbing, but because it's
a ghost, there's no chance of it chipping in for the
fare.
May 21 -- "I heard that it's not a good idea to put posters and
pictures on all four walls of a room because a ghost
will appear in the middle. If that's true, it's like a
summoning circle that anyone can master. In the name of
occult research, I decided to investigate the
relationship between the types of pictures on the walls
and the ghosts that appear. But I don't have the ability
to see ghosts, so all my efforts were for nothing..."
May 22 -- "There's an area of the sea where the seaweed grows wide
and thick, and tangles up the ships' propellers,
rendering them immobile. When the fisherman J. Watt
stumbled into that area, he had a strange experience.
He decided to abandon his tangled and immobile ship and
escape in a small dinghy. Small waves appeared around
the boat, and Watt's dinghy began to sway. When he
looked over the side of his ship, he was stunned. Thick
muscular-looking seaweed was pulling the dinghy deeper
into that mysterious region of the sea."
May 23 -- "I put a letter in a bottle and set it adrift in the
river near the outskirts of the village. But the next
day, when I crossed the bridge, the same bottle I set
adrift came floating back. I grabbed it, and the
contents were definitely the same as what I had set
adrift the day before. How is that possible?!"
May 24 -- "The path from the graveyard is said to be one which
spirits tread. The various supernatural events that
have occurred at Gordon's house attest to that claim.
So, there's been talk of moving my house to ward and
block the flow to Gordon's house, but... I don't
understand why I'm the one that has to do this."
May 25 -- "Before the great war, there was a fatal disease that
was caused by moth scales. The moth had a skull mark on
their backs and were unaffected by insecticide, thus
proving troublesome for even the military to deal with.
...That immunity was only to be expected, however. The
'moths' were not insects, but in fact a bizarre type of
mushroom that grew on tree bark and drifted on the wind,
spreading spores."
May 26 -- "I heard this story from a war widow. Three years after
she received notice that her husband had died, when her
life had finally gone back to normal, a white dove
appeared at her window. Wondering what it was, she
opened the widow, and the dove stuck out its foot. Tied
to it was the final letter from her husband, who had
died on a distant battlefield."
May 27 -- "There once was a young man who received a letter from
his future self. It instructed him to bet his entire
fortune on an unpopular horse on a certain day. Not
quite convinced, he bought a ticket for half his entire
fortune. ...The horse won by a nose, and the man won a
fortune...But he lamented that if only he'd bet his
entire fortune, he would have won even more. As a
result, he got an ulcer and died before he could enjoy
his wealth."
May 28 -- "'If you don't go to sleep early, the ninjas will come
for you.' My mother used to always say that to me. But
I would always stay up late, hoping to catch a glimpse
of the masked warriors and their cool weapons... Only
later did I learn that ninjas were thieves and assassins
who stole away people in the night. Mom never told me
that part."
May 29 -- "There once was a man made of wood, but he had an
upbeat personality so he got along well with others in
his village. But one day, he overheard the missionary
saying, '...we can't allow the wood man to do this.'
The wood man was enraged and killed the missionary,
but... The missionary was actually a kind person who
was saying they couldn't assign the trash-burning
duties to the wood man."
May 30 -- "Greater beasts may appear threatening, but they're
actually tamable...with quite a bit of effort. ...At
least, that's what the reknowned zoologist, Zekksfyunf,
claimed in his latest lecture. But during the
intermission, the greater beast with whom he shared the
stage, went into a rage and swallowed him whole.
There's a happy ending, though. Zekksfyunf managed to
emerge unscathed a few hours later, with only his suit
worse for the wear."
May 31 -- "Long ago, in Guara Bobelo, there was a strange fellow
named Vilen who lived together with a supernatural
spirit. These two lived happily together, but the
insurmountable differences between their races drove
them apart. For one day, Vilen grumbled to the spirit
that his head hurt, so the spirit cut off Vilen's head
to help."
June 01 -- "Every year on this day, I air out the waves of energy
that get trapped in my house. If you don't do that the
waves, with no place to go to, will seep into household
objects. Waves that wind up like that forget how to
sing Funiculi-Funicula, and end up dripping poison on
people."
June 02 -- "When you dream about frogs, it's a sign that your
deep subconscious desires change. This comes from the
'frog in the well' theory. The 'id' is the well of
emotional energy within people's hearts. When the well
dries up, the frog which resides in there, dies too.
From that, the phrase 'frog in the well' has come to
represent the human soul--And dreaming of frogs is an
SOS from your deep subconscious, which is dying of
thirst."
June 03 -- "If you ignore tools for long periods of time, with
nothing to do they become a resentful spirit. Cursed
swords that bring misfortune to their wielders are an
example of this type of spirit. They're often given
modern names like 'Doom Bringer,' but they're actually
relatives of the mischievous spirits that live in
umbrellas."
June 04 -- "There's a stink beetle that spreads to new places by
hiding in the clothes and goods of the traveling
salesmen who crisscross Filgaia. Perhaps because
people left them alone (because to the stink when you
crush them), their numbers have increased year-by-year.
Once a year, these insects come flying into villages
and devour the outer bricks of houses. The whole
village them reeks like crazy. When I was little, that
kind of stuff didn't happen."
June 05 -- "I heard this story from Caroline. One day, she was
hoeing as usual when a white string appeared from the
ground. Wondering what it was, she pulled it...and was
suddenly yanked towards the ground. Staring curiously,
she saw a loose thread from her pants leg leading into
the ground, and coming back out as a thick rope from a
foot away."
June 06 -- "I once fished up a Drifter. He was standing beneath
my house and looking up in wonder at the bags, so I
tried jiggling one. When I did so, the Drifter acted
as if possessed and jumped up and down, trying to grab
the bag. It was cute, like playing with a cat, but
considering the origin of the bag, he probably was
possessed for real. Spirits, protect us..."
June 07 -- "There once was a man who approached a beautiful girl
with impure thoughts in his heart. That night in his
dreams, the man was visited by the ghosts of the
girl's parents. 'Come near our daughter, and we will
kill you' they said. The man was startled, but thought
it was just his own conscience giving him a hard time,
so he asked the girl about her parents. She replied
that her parents were free-spirited individuals. The
man was relieved and continued his ill-founded
pursuits, but... The ghosts of her parents showed up
and killed him anyway. Apparently, 'free-spirited'
was referring to ghouls who are independant (but
murderous nonetheless)."
June 08 -- "An old fairy carrying a chisel emerged from the earth
and went to the house of a girl who had complained of
a toothache. The fairy swung his chisel, popped out
the girl's aching tooth, and tossed it onto the roof.
People were unhappy with his violent method, but since
then, the girl has minded her oral hygiene and never
had another cavity again."
June 09 -- "A girl who ate lots of pineapples followed by lots of
candy found that her tongue was hurting. Looking at it
closely in the mirror, she realized her tongue was
covered with bumps. Looking even more closely at the
bumps, she saw the message, 'Tonight at midnight,
someone will die.'"
June 10 -- "There once was a girl who obtained a hair-growth
tonic. She figured that it could turn ordinary felt
into pelts. But what grew instead was human hair...
The girl swore up a storm. Human hair isn't very
suitable for making coats."
June 11 -- "In the mountains, one can find abandoned houses
standing in unlikely places... These are known as
'mayohiga' and are houses connected to other worlds.
Some Drifters call my house a mayohiga, but I'm not
sure why... I don't know of any other Filgaias beside
this one."
June 12 -- "Eastern-style stock and Western-style stock are
different. The one from the east is thick, while the
western one is light. Because the breath of hope was
blown into Filgaia by the west wind, this is a light
and simple world...right?"
June 13 -- "The other day, I saw a human soul at the graveyard,
so I said, 'Hi, human soul! Nice weather today, isn't
it?" But it barked angrily at me, 'I'm a dog soul!
Woof!' That was a little depressing."
June 14 -- "The feeling of someone looking at you through a gap
is common. Long ago, a wise person one said, 'If you
gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes back at you.'
But I think it might have been better if he's said,
'When you look through a gap, the gap looks back at
you, too.'
June 15 -- "Fat cats are cute, whereas humans are healthier
without fat. Based on that idea, a certain demon built
a device at the Demon's Lab to transfer human fat to
cats."
June 16 -- "Sometimes you'll find a fingernail in a book you've
bought. That's a sign that the book, which had been
sitting on the shelf for so long, had quietly begun
sharpening its nails in rebellion against the world
that wouldn't acknowledge it. You can tell it's true
because if you boil and eat the dirt you dig out from
that nail, you'll develop a sour personality."
June 17 -- "You'll find many aircraft at the decommissioned
airport beyond Port Rosalia. But their resentment over
humans never making full use of their capabilities
made them rather dangerous. A boy who was counting
the aircraft by jumping from one maching to the next,
was bitten on his leg. You look like a rambunctious
boy so whatever you do, don't even think of trying to
count the aircraft that way."
June 18 -- "A long time ago, there was a small bakery right next
to a pond which was home to many ducks. When the
bakery's windows were opened to cool the bread, the
ducks would waddle their way inside the bakery,
devouring the bread and causing a general mess. The
baker, a rather clever fellow, placed several large
strips of adhesive near the windows. The next day, the
ducks were hopelessly stuck and could not escape. The
bakery became famous for its delicious duck pot pie,
and for its all-purpose 'duck tape.'"
June 19 -- "If you shake a soda bottle before opening it, the
carbon dioxide inside will make it gush out. The range
it gushes is proportional to the number of times you
shake it. A project once existed to use this to launch
a soda bottle beyond the reaches of outer space, but
it ended in failure at the experimental stage. The
platform attached to the shake soda bottle fell all
the way down to Filgaia's mantle."
June 20 -- "Sometimes you'll see people with eyebrows as thick as
hijiki seaweed. It turns out that a certain percentage
of them are people who evolved from seaweed. In order
to find out whether they're hijiki people or not,
observe them at night. If they're hijiki people,
they'll surely be doing a slow, waving dance in honor
of their undersea ancestors."
June 21 -- "A girl bought a prism at a stationery store but got
suspicious at how light the box felt, so she opened it
as soon as she stepped out of the shop. When she did
so, a rainbow with a pair of legs leapt out and ran
away as fast as it could."
June 22 -- "During the great war, in the dead of night, a
mysterious female voice would emerge from the
standard-issue tranceivers... Eventually, the soldiers
complained about it so the commanding officer checked
it out at once, but found nothing wrong with the
transceivers. Uncertain what to do, the officer
fabricated a story that mental waves from telepath
mages were causing interference, and he announced it
at the morning assembly, but... That instant, a voice
echoed from the transceiver saying, 'I am the guardian
of communications!' and everyone fell over in shock."
June 23 -- "Many different types of ships were constructed during
the war. Since there were as many types of ships as
there are flowers in Filgaia, they used flower names
as their class designations. For example, the
Alstroemeria-class warship was named after a flower
from the amaryllis family. Incidentally, despite
having the flower-language meaning of 'endurance,'
this class of ship was known to catch fire very
easily."
June 24 -- "Although it isn't located near the poles, for some
reason, you can see auroras at Neve d'Argento. For
that reason, it's become popular for wealthy schools
to take field trips to Neve d'Argento...but I tell
you, they've got it all wrong. To truly draw out the
flavor of Neve d'Argento you should use catchy phrases
like: 'Find the legendary Filgaian Wolf!' 'Unearth
Tsuchinoko!' ...Or something along those lines."
June 25 -- "When playing tag, sometimes you'll hear voices other
than those of your friends. But be warned! You mustn't
do what the voices tell you to do, or else they'll
lead you to another world. Incidentally, they have a
wide selection of worlds they'll lead you to, like the
Dragon Dimension or the demon planet of Hyades."
June 26 -- "If you tell 100 scary stories, a single supernatural
creature will appear. So, if you tell 366 stories,
3.66 creatures will appear. The cross section of that
0.66th is frightening, but I've gotten used to it."
June 27 -- "The food I fear most is crab... As a child, I mistook
a horseshoe crab for a normal crab and devoured it,
which game me a terrible stomachache... When I see
crabs of any sort, I remember the experience and my
stomach does cartwheels."
June 28 -- "A man in black told me the secret why the High Council
is called the Cabal. The initials of Clifford,
Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale spell
'CABAL.' But, I'm worried... Is it all right for a mere
village girl like myself to have that knowledge? Help
me, Drifters!"
June 29 -- "Two boys once tried to make crop circles in a grain
field one summer night. Working by the light of a small
lantern, they found the task to be harder than they
expected, and had a difficult time. As they were
finishing up, they spotted a small light from beyond
the waves of grain. They stood up and looked over, and
there they saw two boys who looked exactly like them,
making crop circles! ...Because of that incident, my
grandfather theorizes that crop circles are the work
of gremlins."
June 30 -- "In the days before home movies, a wealthy gentleman
hired a fast-working sketch artist to 'record' his
nightly indiscretions. Upon seeing the finished
drawings the next morning, the gentleman told the
artist, 'These picture are a bit sketchy.' 'Then I'll
ink and shade them next time,' said the artist. 'And
could you add a filter here?' asked the gentleman."
July 01 -- "When you're in a bathroom, you'll sometimes hear a
strange voice trying to sell you a red cape. If that
happens, you should swallow five sheets of toilet
paper to exorcise the vengeful spirit. I know it isn't
terribly pleasant, but if you don't do it, he'll follow
you around endlessly, making rude toilet noises that
only you can hear."
July 02 -- "Sardines are the common man's friend, whereas caviar
is the friend of the rich. Even after the human war
ends, the fight betwixt the two will go on forever.
It's almost as if they've got a grudge match going on."
July 03 -- "A girl who rescued a drowning fairly received beauty
and a long life of perennial youth in return. But time
passed, and after 200 years her beauty was no longer
in fashion. No matter what she ate, she never grew
fat--but the new age was one of gluttony where fat was
a sign of beauty."
July 04 -- "There once was a woman who made amazing cream puffs.
Everyone wanted to know her recipe, but she kept it a
secret until death. After she died, her will decreed
that her recipe be revealed to all... The people of
the village were shocked and never able to eat cream
puffs again."
July 05 -- "Did you know that people who die at sea turn into
seaweed? They drift out at sea, wishing to be reunited
with their families in one form or another. Some end
up fulfilling their wish and appear at the dinner
table as tasty sushi wrappers."
July 06 -- "The phrase 'the north wind and the sun' refers to
'people who are cold' versus 'those who are warm in
personality.' But the north wind is an atmospheric
current created by the sun... So I think 'the north
wind and the sun' should refer to 'people who help
others' versus 'those who ride on the shoulders of
others to get ahead.'
July 07 -- "Today, in the Far East, they celebrate something called
the Tanabata Festival. People make colorful paper
garlands to hand up inside their houses to celebrate the
love of two star-crossed lovers. The gardlands symbolize
a means to cross the raging river which separates the
two. They aren't by any means a chain to tie them down
and prevent them from seeing one another."
July 08 -- "An unlucky green-haired demon died from eating some
bad fugu (blowfish). He was then buried by his
comrades. His friend, an Elw who liked gardening, saw
the hair sticking out of the ground and mistook it for
weeds. He ended up yanking the demon right out of the
ground. Well, you can imagine how stunned and
frightened the Elw was. Demons are invaders from
another planet, while Elw are a hairy and indigenous
people. But the moral of the story is that both of
them have seemingly human characteristics so you
mustn't discriminate against either of them."
July 09 -- "There's an old wives' tale regarding the boiling and
eating of dirt under someone or something's fingernails
or claws. Because the dirt under the fingernails
contains the DNA of the person, eating it allows you to
absorb that person's DNA. Because of that, during the
war, dirt from the nails of heroes was harvested and
given to normal people as a type of genetic
modification."
July 10 -- "A retired scientist who likd to dabble in farming,
happened to see a rabbit hit its head against a tree
stump and pass out. A year later, he saw another
similar-looking rabbit hit its head on the same stump
and pass out as well. Intrigued, the scientist examined
the rabbit. He discovered that the rabbit had an
inherent suicidal gene. ...Scientists are amazing,
aren't they? If it were me, the most I could do would
be to wait around until the next year, wondering if
the rabbit would come again."
July 11 -- "Once upon a time, in a remote village, the summer was
so cold that no rice could be harvested. For this
reason, the village elder decided it was necessary to
regain th earth guardian's favor by sacrificing a
beautiful young maiden beneath the light of the full
moon. Carrying a rice ball wrapped in bamboo paper,
the maiden was buried deep within the earth. That's
where the term 'belle of the earth elemental'
originated from."
July 12 -- "This is a tale I once heard from a sailor. Sometimes,
when the sea is stormy, a line of ghosts walking in a
row appears. It's fine to look at them, but... You
mustn't gaze at the ones that separate from the line
and disappear into the waves. If the separated ghosts
notice you looking at them, they tend to become
attached to you."
July 13 -- "One day, my mother said, 'The woman next door broke.'
Of course my young mind imagined all sorts of things
upon hearing that, but in actuality... The woman next
door was an artificial person who was created to
protect some ruins. So she remembered her job and
returned to her duties."
July 14 -- "Sometimes when I'm washing my hair, my dead maternal
grandmother, will appear to help me. I'm already 13,
but maybe using a shampoo cap to wash my hair makes
her feel like I need the help..."
July 15 -- "There's a monster called the Sorry Girl. She attacks
people on the road at night, saying, 'I'm sorry, I'm
sorry,' as she devours them. The only way to drive her
off is to tell her she's not a girl but an old woman...
Of course that takes a lot of courage to do, so
somewhere today, yet another person is becoming a
victim."
July 16 -- "When a daughter was born to the money lender named
Stevens in Buckeye, an old clock passe down for
generations in the family, stopped. But when she died
at the age of 17, the clock suddenly started moving
again. Because it chimes 17 times each hour, on the
hour, it was rumored by the townsfolk that the clock
had consumed the girl's soul."
July 17 -- "They say Filgaia consists of multiple overlapping
dimensions, much like a mille-feuille cake. Because
the dimensions occasionally overlap one another,
information from other worlds enters in the form of
a creeping chaos or badges and picture books. So even
now, a visitor from another dimension may be right
beside you..."
July 18 -- "Did you know that a hawk named Sean was the first to
come up with the concept of an 'auction'? But because
humans are more wicked than most hawks, they stole the
concept from him, and the first item ever sold was a
roasted bird. It's a tale most fowl..."
July 19 -- "This is a story I heard from the woman who runs the
hospital in Adlehyde... When a person near death
paints a picture, they will invariably include a white
butterfly on the canvas. Adults, chilidren, villains,
and saints--they all display this phenomenon. They say
butterflies are symbols of the soul, and this story
seems to affirm it."
July 20 -- "Today is Ocean Day, so I'll tell a scary story about
the sea. There's a tongue twister that goes, 'She
sells seashells by the seashore.' It's tough to say.
But the shells themselves are more dangerous. If you
buy one from the girl on the shore and hold it to your
ear, your hearing will never be the same again. Stick
to the souvenir shops."
July 21 -- "I found a glass cutter, my grandfather's broken
glasses, and a cider bottle, so I put them together
and made bottle glasses. When I put them on, the world
seen from the bottom of the bottle--in other words, a
small, cutoff world--filled my view. It's fun, but the
limited visibility is an issue."
July 22 -- "During the war, a mysterious and incurable illness
broke out inside the Global Union's territory. The
investigation revealed that the enemy was mixing
parasites resembling sugar into goods which they then
exported. They took action at once and incinerated the
parasites, but... The whereabouts of the man who made
the parasites and his research remain unknown to this
day."
July 23 -- "When I was young, I spent a whole summer collecting
cicadas for my cage. Even now, you can hear the sound
of cicadas from that cage when summer comes around.
But there's nothing inside it besides a few cicada
husks. There sure are some strange phenomena in this
world..."
July 24 -- "There is something my grandfather used to tell us.
Items that are over 100 years old have spirits
dwelling inside them. For example, our old clock,
abacus, knives and forks. They all like sweet stuff so
once a month before going to bed, we give them
chocolate or candies as an offering."
July 25 -- "This is a tale that's been passed amongst miners. One
day, Miner A was digging as usual when he came across
one particular area which resonated differently from
the others. Curious, he carefully dug around that
area and found a large old stone statue. He took it
home and after washing the dirt from it, he found that
it looked exactly like himself. Before the eyes of the
startled miner, the statue grinned, thanked him for
the bath, and returned once more to the mountain."
July 26 -- "Here on Filgaia, it's fairly common for corpses to
move around. If you bury a corpse standing up instead
of in a prone position, it can become a jiangshi... So
you'd best be careful when burying people."
July 27 -- "This is a story I heard from a crewman on a ship...
Around midnight, when he was patrolling the ship, he
heard mewing coming from the deck. He thought a
seagull or something had gotten caught on the deck.
He held up his lamp to see, but the only thing topside
was the salty sea breeze. Wondering about it, he
returned to his rounds and once again heard the mewing
sound. When he raised his lamp again, he fell over in
shock. Inside of his lamp, the head of a cat stared at
him, mewing."
July 28 -- "This is the story of a Drifter who found a long and
forgotten ruin... In order to stop other Drifters from
learning of the ruin, he spread a rumor that anyone
who entered that area would be cursed by a woman's
ghost... But to Drifters, that sort of rumor has the
opposite effect. Everyone raced to the area. ...But
the only Drifter who returned was the Drifter who had
first found the ruin. And they say he shut every
single door and window in his house and remained
inside until the day he died."
July 29 -- "This is a story about the area near Blue Amity
Beach... There once was a mayor who had a white cat.
One night, after finishing dinner, the mayor was
listening to his favorite record when the cat suddenly
got up from the couch. The cat approached the mayor
and, in a gruff voice, said, 'I thought this would
happen.' It then went outside and didn't come back.
The very next day, a tidal wave swallowed up the town."
July 30 -- "This is a story from about 40 years ago... There once
was a flutist who was invited to attend a village
festival. The flutist was very skilled and the festival
was a success. But the next day, after the villagers'
excitement had died down, they made up excuses not to
pay the flutist. The flutist grew angry and yelled,
'I'll take all the children from the village!' He then
disappeared. It wasn't until three seasons later that
the villagers realized the import of his words, for
children were no longer being born in the village."
July 31 -- "This is a story I heard from the creeping--ah, I
mean, from His Excellency. Imprints from His
Excellency's footprints are scattered throughout
various places around Filgaia. So, for your own sake,
it's best not to play the child's game where you place
your own feet in footprints which you find. For if
your shoe matches the footprints perfectly, you'll be
kidnapped by their flying saucer and subjected to
weird biological experiments."
August 01 -- "Every year in August, the sea to the northeast of
Buckeye turns red as blood. And it's not the work
of plankton. When a study was done on the seawater,
they could find no logical explanation for why the
sea would turn red. The exact reason still remains
unknown to this day... Perhaps it really is that the
blood and tears of the victims of war that's staining
the sea..."
August 02 -- "Late at night, a Drifter was walking along Port
Rosalia's wharf when he was startled to see the sun
starting to rise from the sea. He hurriedly checked
his watch, but the hands showed two in the morning.
But then he realized it was the anniversary of the
end of the war. And what he had thought was the sun
was actually a mass of shining faces, made up of
those who died in the war..."
August 03 -- "The other day, I had a dream in which the Guardians
of earth, water, fire, and wind appeared to me. They
all asked why people no longer believed in them. I
asked them if they wouldn't get mad if I answered
honestly, and they nodded, so I said... 'You all
have lousy personalities. That's why people no longer
have faith in you.' Well, they broke their promise,
flew into a rage and sentenced me to exile."
August 04 -- "If a person with strong psychic ability looks down
a waterfall that's rumored to have ghosts, they can
see someone who's not really there. Is it because
that person is a dreamer...? Nope, there's strong
evidence to prove otherwise. Although the legend
never specifides the gender of the ghost, everyone
who sees it claims to have seen a man."
August 05 -- "I heard this from Caroline the other day... While
working outdoors, she dug up a brand-new furry
slipper from the ground. She'd been wanting a pair
and searched for the other one, but she couldn't
find it anywhere. Boy...there sure are some strange
things in this world..."
August 06 -- "Star-shaped shrimp chips were originally created by
a grateful entrepreneur who had eaten a Guardian
that tasted like shrimp. But that charming story got
corrupted and people started thinking that eating
shrimp-flavored Guardians will bring luck to their
enterprises. Because of that, the shrimp-flavored
Guardians are now extinct. They were eaten up by all
the ambitious people throughout Filgaia."
August 07 -- "They say a blue dragon lives in the Autumn River.
Apparently, blue dragons only live in pure streams,
so they use that as testimony to the clarity of the
water."
August 08 -- "They say placing a teabag on your eyes will help
refresh them, so a few days ago I tried it out.
Holding the teabag with my right hand and massaging
my eyes with my left, I entered a pleasant, restful
state, but... I noticed something odd. My left
eye--the one without the teabag--also felt damp and
cool. I snapped open my eyes and saw a black
cat-like creature streaking towards the door."
August 09 -- "There once was an old man who walked every day,
near the entrance to the Sea of Trees. One day, a
lump on a plant happened to catch his eye. He knocked
it down with his cane and opened it. Inside was a
Calucion statue the size of his pinky. The old man
gratefully took it home, but it ended up being
something like a praying mantis egg, so he wound up
regretting it the following spring..."
August 10 -- "There once was a hot spring renown for its ability
to heal all those who bathed in its waters. The
people called it a healing spring. Both health and
strength was recovered, even in those who didn't
eat, so it was a great bargain and drew huge crowds.
But people overused it, and the water grew dirty and
diluted with human grime and eventually lost all its
healing powers. So, the authorities took over the
protection and management of the healing spring...
In other words, they started charging admission."
August 11 -- "One summer night, in a cave by the shore, the
famous Drifter Alan Smithee obtained an ARM. Rumor
had it that its weilder would die. Against the wishes
of his companions, he began using the ARM, but its
curse did not pass him by... After earning a fortune
with the ARM, he died peacefully at age 90, surrounded
by his many grandchildren. The rumor that the wielder
would die was indeed true..."
August 12 -- "A little over 10 years ago, an unidentified flying
object crashed inside the Congressional Knights'
territory. In the cockpit was an unidentified
creature with a face like a monkey, charred black
and dead. Dr. Roswell issued an investigative report
noting that poisonous spiders had later appeared in
great numbers at the crash site, causing much
debate."
August 13 -- "One theory is that the super-item called the Migrant
Seal is a remnant from an advanced civilization, and
that it changes the flow of life force. It seems this
theory was born from the fact that there are badges
that connect to Filgaias in other dimensions, but...
The unexpected truth is that it's actually chaos--Oh!
I'm sorry. I'm not allowed to say any more. I didn't
mean to get you so interested..."
August 14 -- "Giant buildings always give me the creeps...
Thoughts and emotions reside in them because of the
large cost and effort required to build them. The
bigger the building, the more walls and windows
there are...and thus, the higher the chance of
seeing something on the building that looks like a
face... Well, that isn't the reason."
August 15 -- "They say fate is woven by three female deities, or
written on the backs of leaves. Of course the two
versions of fate are different. And there are a
number of other versions as well, so if you're
having trouble in your current life, don't stick to
that one fate. Go look for a different one that
works to your advantage."
August 16 -- "There once was a cursed telephone that would
receive calls from the spirit world at exactly two
in the morning. But the hero of the Global Union was
happy to receive those calls, because he'd save the
cost of a call to get the current time. ...Maybe
people with a few screws loose are the only ones
capable of fulfilling the position of 'hero.'"
August 17 -- "Have you heard of an item called the Migrant Seal?
Just putting it on makes you instantly stronger, so
they were mass-producing during the war. They say it
works by emitting electromagnetic waves that jack
into your nervous system and optimize your motor
abilities. Supposedly, there was a new scientist who
abused this system to create a brainwashing badge
that takes over the nervous system."
August 18 -- "There are 88 guardians in a grain of rice. So when
attacked by an evil spirit, you should speak the
names of those guardians. But usually, people are
panicking at times like that and can't remember any
more than the first three, so the spirit devours
them. I'd imagine the only one who can calmly recall
all the names at times like that are professional
exorcists."
August 19 -- "There once was a Drifter who loved canned peaches...
He formed a party with his close companions, and they
enjoyed their travels through the wilderness together.
One day, they were attacked by a giant evil spirit.
The wisest member of the party said, 'I've heard that
peaches have the power to drive away evil spirits.'
He tried to use the Drifter's peaches as an item,
but... The Drifter who loved peaches wolfed them down
like it was an eating contest. Naturally, he even
used his Accelerator to do this. The evil spirit,
seeing the greed and desire of the living, lost his
will to attack and tottered off."
August 20 -- "There's something odd I've been wondering about...
The land of Filgaia is filled with the ghosts of
monsters...but why aren't there ghosts of human
beings in towns and villages? Are monsters more
attached to this temporal world than people are? I
wouldn't generally think so, but...hmm..."
August 21 -- "When you hear 'cat snacks,' you naturally don't
think they're referring to tuna-flavored cat meat,
right? But when you hear the phrase 'human snacks,'
you get the scary image of cannibal hors d'oeuvres,
right? Maybe the next tie you feed your kitty, you
should take a look at the ingredients..."
August 22 -- "In a place far from civilization, a Drifter had
rented a room at an empty inn. When he went to take
a shower, he screamed...for a rain of bright red
blood came pouring out of the shower head. He ran
out of the room and angrily interrogated the
innkeeper. The innkeeper told him that it wasn't
blood, but rather leftovers; they had used the holes
in the shower head to puree tomatoes. But the
innkeeper died during the Drifter's violent
questioning, and her lingering spirit makes blood
pour from the shower."
August 23 -- "A tanuki (badger) once caught me off-guard and
asked me what my greatest fear was. I knew the
tanuki would probably summon whatever I said... So
I lied. Instead of saying 'spiders' or 'alligators,'
I told the tanuki I was terrified of cherry
cheesecake. The tanuki grinned and vanished, and I
figured that was the end of it. But when I went
home, I found my house stuffed to the beams with
cherry cheesecake. I tried eating my way in, but I
barely got past the foyer. I later called some
friends to help me... They managed to devour a good
portion of it, but then we got full and the
cheesecake started to go bad in the hot sun. That's
when the kitsune (foxes) showed up. Uh...it's best
if I end the story here."
August 24 -- "There once was a Drifter who thought all Drifters
ought to have guitars, so he bought one even though
he couldn't play it. But once he got the guitar, he
stopped getting jobs, his ears rang, his girlfriend
dumped him, and all sorts of rotten things happened
to him. Wondering what was going on, the Drifter
carefully examined the sound hole the next time he
was tuning the guitar... Inside, he saw paper wards
with mysterious enchantments taped all over the
inside. Terrified, he tossed the guitar into the
nearest ruins and went home. In this manner, the
cursed, monster-summoning tool known as the 'Old
Guitar' was born."
August 25 -- "When I was a little girl, my grandmother told me I
mustn't go to the swamp in the mountains. But I
didn't like being told what to do, so I snuck away
and went to the swamp anyway. Above the gloomy swamp,
winged cats flew around, meowing happily. They were
so cute, I chased after them...and almost sank into
the bottomless swamp."
August 26 -- "In the mysterious book 'The Night of the Villainous
Gisu,' it's written that superweapons called golems
were used in an ancient war. By the way, gisu are
saltwater fish of the Elopidae family. This book had
seven authors, and they must have loved fishing."
August 27 -- "You mustn't throw pebbles off a mountain, because
the pebbles wind up moving boulders and will cause a
landslide. A boy whose father often told him this
important fact got lost in the mountains. He was so
scared of knocking off pebbles, he didn't move an
inch. He became a ghost--a "mountain wrecker" that
sets off avalanches to crush naughty children who
throw pebbles off mountains. ...But I don't think
the mountain wrecker's real motive is causing
avalanches. I bet his real aim is to cause children
to stand perfectly still out of fear, and thus
create new companions for himself."
August 28 -- "The proud race of bloodsuckers, the great race of
the night, the Crimson Nobles! There's a theory that
the Crimson Nobles never appear in Filgaia because a
large, nocturnal, striped mosquito was named after
them."
August 29 -- "During the great war, there was a ferris wheel with
beautiful lights in the Congressional Knights'
territory. But one day, the people who lived around
the ferris wheel started dying in droves. The Global
Union had taken control of the ferris wheel lighting
and used it to subliminally control the nearby
residents."
August 30 -- "There once was a master craftsman who swore he would
create the most comfortable sofa in the world. After
50 years of trials and error, the master finally
succeeded in creating a sofa that satisfied him. He
sat down to test it out himself for the very first
time, and... He never stood up again. The sofa felt
so comfortable, the very notion of standing had been
erased from his brain."
August 31 -- "Have you ever heard the phrase 'like building a
cathedral in a hurricane'? Well, it's been done.
Halfway through the construction of one of the
greatest cathedrals the world had ever seen, a
terrible hurricane hit. The church prayed for the
cathedral to remain safe--but the raging winds and
twisting tornadoes actually managed to fully assemble
the building. The people thought it was a miracle.
But on closer inspection, two of the central support
beams were missing... To make a long story short, the
whole thing collapsed a few days later."
September 01 -- "Have you heard the phrase 'eye of the hurricane'?
It's what's left behind at the end of the rainbow
after a typhoon has passed. They say typhoon eyes
are high in DHA and make you smarter if you eat
them."
September 02 -- "Sometimes, when you're inside a cave, you'll feel
a drop of water drip onto the back of your neck.
When that happens, you should leave that area as
quickly as possible without looking back. Why?
Because it's likely that a cave-dwelling floating
head is drooling over your delicious-looking
neck..."
September 03 -- "The monsters Humpty and Dumpty live inside eggs.
There's two of them, so if you don't break the egg
and exterminate them, they'll keep reproducing via
the Humpty Dumpty Equation. If you take the egg
with you and wait until it feels like there's a
lot of them in there... The best thing to do is
boil it and eat it."
September 04 -- "Sometimes people ask me, 'Have we met before?'
But I assume that I'm being mistaken for Ramengard
or Somengard, or someone. Or could it be that
we've met in a previous life...? It's really
bothering me."
September 05 -- "They say when you gaze upon the lights of Guara
Bobelo from a distance, you suddenly feel like
taking part in the Arena. Is it the power of the
demon king that sleeps beneath the Arena? Is it
subliminal messages in the flickering lights? No
one knows for sure, but if you go to Guara Bobelo,
it's best to keep your wits about you."
September 06 -- "After Guardian worship waned, people quickly
switched to Saint worship. Is it because women
are more attractive than beasts...? I often get
weak in the knees looking at the mouths of wolves
and cats myself..."
September 07 -- "Did you know that there really is a disease where
you become a werecat? Those infected live
normally...for the most part. But on moonlit
nights, they exhibit symptoms of turning into a
cat. You can make high-quality shamisens with
their fur so... It's said that during the war,
there was a cruel practice of infecting young
people who dreamed of having cat ears...then
skinning them."
September 08 -- "In the snowy mountains, one can find cute
snow-princesses. When spring comes, they melt
into the river and help new sprouts grow. So if
you come across snowmen in the mountains and don't
know who made them, don't be surprised or try
adding eyes to them."
September 09 -- "This took place when I went to a museum with my
mother. While gazing in amazement at a giant
elephant trapped in ice, I told him I'd heard
another ice age would be coming soon... Then the
elephant vanished. He must have been a smart
elephant who'd been testing out cryogenics."
September 10 -- "They say if you keep telling ghost stories like
this, ghosts will gather in the area. If that
makes you nervous, try listening carefully in the
interval between stories. If you can hear sneezing
in places where no one is, that's a sign that a
ghost has reacted to being talked about and is
hunting for the source of the rumors."
September 11 -- "My older sister was good at art in school. The
female lizard figure she made out of paper drew
all the male lizards from the garden. But my
sister had prepared for this and made the tail as
a detachable piece, so the male lizards only got
that piece. It's said they went to sleep that
night hugging the tail my sister made."
September 12 -- "We sometimes hear reports of monsters coming up
through toilet drains and stealing people's
underwear while they're defenseless. That's why a
lot of people throughout Filgaia crouch over the
toilet, so that they can dash away and save their
undergarments if need be."
September 13 -- "Filgaia's aviation industry was set into motion
by Jezzo, the man who invented the automated
weaving machine. He also invented the automated
inscribing machine, but that didn't lead to the
creation of any industry. Jezzo developed the
weaving machine using the inscribing technology,
so I think it'd make a good research theme,
but..."
September 14 -- "On hot days, road mirages appear. No matter how
far you chase them, you can never catch these
phantom puddles. But that's how it should be. If
you did catch up with a road mirage... You'd be
sucked inside, trapped forever inside the mirage
and forced to wander the world."
September 15 -- "When reading scary stories, the first victim is
usually someone overweight who goes looking for
food. Every time I read that, I let out a
bittersweet sigh... We have emergency food stored
in our bodies! Why couldn't we endure the
situation with that?"
September 16 -- "Autumn is typhoon season. Because this house is
up in a tree, the sound of the wind is very loud
during typhoons. So I got an idea and made eight
holes of different sizes in the wall beside my
bed. Since then, I've come to like typhoons. The
wind that blows in through the holes plays a
melody like a flute."
September 17 -- "Long ago there existed a pair of red 'Rad
Blades,' an item cursed to make the wearer unable
to stop until they run into something. The color
comes from the bloody noses of their wearers
running into walls, so they're a little sticky if
you touch them."
September 18 -- "There once lived a man who was incredibly
hard-headed. He was so hard-headed, he was often
compared to diamonds, and he himself viewed
diamonds as his rivals. After the years passed and
he lost the hair on his head, he had his head
brilliant-cut (58 facets) and then his shine, too,
exceeded that of diamonds."
September 19 -- "I used to love popping bubble wrap. But the other
day, when I was popping bubble wrap on the village
outskirts, a translucent gel jumped out from a
bubble and ran away into the grass. What I'd
broken wasn't a bubble, but a seal of some sort..."
September 20 -- "Why is the sky blue? It's because the sky's face
turned blue at the sight of Filgaia's terrible
future. ...There once was a famous scholar who
pushed this theory, but... Where's the sky's face?
If it's entire body is blue, then the sky either
had demon blood, or was anemic."
September 21 -- "They say the Guardian of Love, and the Guardian
of the Moon take the form of beautiful human
females. But they're still beasts...If you're
charmed by their appearance and treat them
carelessly, you'll be devoured, so be careful."
September 22 -- "It happened on a trip into the mountains...
Hearing the echo of a brook and feeling thirsty,
the Drifter headed in the direction of the sound.
Then, he suddenly realized he'd forgotten something
back at the inn. When he turned back, the sound of
the brook unexpectedly stopped. Curious, he turned
around and saw a large gray monkey with a red sack
on its neck glaring at him."
September 23 -- "Sugar water only tastes good because of the
carbonation. So if you just took the carbonation
and got rid of the impure sugar water, wouldn't
it taste even better...? 'Go ahead, have as much
carbonation as you like!' That's what I said the
other day when chaos came to attack me. Just as I
planned, he collapsed from carbon dioxide
poisoning. ...I was nice and warned him it might
be hazardous to his health, but..."
September 24 -- "I once made a corn husk doll. As I finished up by
combing the fuzzy part on the end and drawing a
mouth... The doll's mouth moved me and told me its
hair should be smoother."
September 25 -- "In a farming village called Claiborne, there was
a small shack that no one ever used. It was in a
good spot for storing tools, but everyone avoided
using it. For dozens of years, the villagers
wondered why everyone ignored it. There weren't
any bad omens associated with it... Then, for some
reason, that shack became famous as a place where
people from far away would come to end their
lives."
September 26 -- "A practice known as hara uranai (nose-fortune
telling) once existed in ancient Filgaia. It was
performed by examining mucus blown from the nose
and was good at predicting health, but... They
say few people wanted to become nose fortune
tellers, and the practice died out..."
September 27 -- "'This sore mouth just isn't going away,' said a
man to himself, so he looked at it in the mirror
and was startled by what he saw. What he had
thought was a mouth sore was actually a face. But
it turned out to be a really nice guy, and the
man became famous as a ventriloquist."
September 28 -- "There once was a monster whose true form could
be seen if you looked through boiled,
semi-translucent harusame noodles. People fought
tooth and nail to buy up the harusame, but... A
mean udon seller, jealous of the harusame shop's
success, spread a rumor that the monster was
fabricated by the harusame shop. The people went,
'Oh, well, never mind, then,' and stopped buying
harusame. And, unable to detect the monster, they
were eaten."
September 29 -- "On a dark and stormy night, a Drifter found
himself forced to seek refuge in a spooky old
house. However, there was a witch living in the
basement, and she chased the Drifter all over the
house, asking him... 'Do you know what I can do
with my ruby-red lips and green fingertips?'
Eventually, she cornered him in the attic. Again,
she asked if he knew what she could do with her
'ruby-red lips and green fingertips.' The Drifter
who was terrified beyond all belief screamed 'No,
I don't know!' The old witch brought her green
fingertips to her ruby-red lips... ...and went
'B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b.' Then both of them went
downstairs and shared a pot of coffee."
September 30 -- "Today is the day our late ancestors appear before
us. You may hear sounds in strange places, and the
cookies you hid in the cupboard may disappear. So
anyone who's hiding anything needs to be careful.
My mother had her hidden money stash discovered by
her mother-in-law."
October 01 -- "In the distant past, there used to be a facility in
Filgaia called the Telepath Tower. If you jacked
into that facility, you could send your words to the
entire world. Hmm...Even if it had to be in a
late-night time slot, I wish I could broadcast my
thoughts to the world."
October 02 -- "Long ago in Buckeye, there once was a yellow canary
that would sing beautiful melodies. But one day, the
canary suddenly stopped singing. Its worried owner
had the Arena's rogue doctor examine the bird to
restore its singing voice. The operation was a
success, but...the canary recovered its singing
voice and turned into a black, wriggling creature."
October 03 -- "A son devoted to his parents once heard that a
gob's ear hair restored vitality, so he served it
every night to his father at dinner. Two weeks after
he first served that dish, the son noticed that his
father's ear hair had grown thick and long, like a
patch of seaweed. The son was confused, but the
father tried to remove the ear hair, pulling it with
all his strength. The hair came out with a popping
sound, but for some reason, in that instant his
father's eyes lost their light."
October 04 -- "As everyone knows, it's really easy to summon a
ghost with the right materials. Just boil some
calcium in water and a spirit will pop out. This
can be dangerous because the resulting ghost may
be vengeful. The first time I tried it, I got a
king concert pianist... But the second (and last)
time, I managed to summon my old algebra teacher.
I guess it was worse because I hadn't even realized
she had died."
October 05 -- "This is something that became clear from looking at
Filgaian statistics... The first name Tony is good
at breaking seals, and the last name Maxwell is good
at giving birth to devilish children. So, the
greatest name in this world would be Tony Maxwell."
October 06 -- "'A bath filled with red peppers will be warm and
also good for your diet.' ...Yet another baseless
theory that gripped the public mind for a time.
This theory was spread by a man-eating monster that
loved spicy marinades, so there were several
incidents of people disappearing from their baths."
October 07 -- "Sometimes, what is thought to be a supernatural
phenomenon is actually the work of plasma. It was
from this truth that magic studies began. So, in
this Filgaia of ours, learning magic means mastering
the use of plasma. If you excel at magic, you can
float your cup over your desk, shoot powerful beams
from your hands, become popular with the opposite
sex, win the lottery-- Anyway, you get a lot of
benefits."
October 08 -- "Inside hot chocolate are pixies that make people
kind and forgiving. Because it also makes them
forgive themselves, they let themselves drink hot
chocolate even if it exceeds their targeted daily
calorie intake. Those pixies may actually have been
evil..."
October 09 -- "It's said there are various types of nandina wood.
More specifically, there are three: Curldina wood is
a troublemaker, and it's difficult to use it to make
much of anything. Larrdina wood has a sociable
personality and is good for business. Modina wood is
tough to work with, but stands tall and strong. If
you're thinking of writing a comic book or
something, using anthropomorphized versions of these
woods would make for a sure-fire hit."
October 10 -- "During the war, there was a staff member at Buckeye
Station in charge of punching tickets. He was a
monster who lived inside the ticket processing
machine, and determined the fare from the flavor of
the ticket inserted into his mouth. But these days,
they don't have the money to pay him, so he's not
employed anymore.
October 11 -- "There's a rumor that a monster called 'Kudan'
appears before and after wars. We haven't seen Kudan
lately. There shouldn't be any war for a while..."
October 12 -- "There's a creature called Nue with the head of a
monkey, the body of a tanuki, the tail of a snake,
the legs of a tiger, and the voice of a white
thrush. It isn't a supernatural spirit, but a
man-made chimera created during the war by combining
various skins and an artificial voice. If you see
Nue, you will know the depths of human sin."
October 13 -- "There once was a man whose friend insulted him by
saying, 'You single-celled organism!' The man was
startled and asked, 'How did you know, you
multi-celled organism?' and squished out into an
amoeba shape. The multi-celled organism was shocked
by his friend's true form and lost both his
consciousness...and his friend."
October 14 -- "When I sleep, my freckles leave my cheeks and begin
to dance around my face like mandragoras. It's a
cursed dance to increase their number, and my cheeks
fill with dots."
October 15 -- "You sometimes see powerlines arrangedin a circle...
The other day, I saw a bird fly through that circle
and disappear. Was the bird sucked into the spirit
world, or perhaps another dimension?"
October 16 -- "There once was a bright student at the academy who
stuffed Breath Mints in his nose when he studied. It
was because when he breathed like that, his eyes
became clearer, but... An inferior student who
learned that trick became a playboy with refreshing
breath who later made anti-halitosis medicine in his
old age."
October 17 -- "Supposedly, in the distant past, there was a
beautiful, sparkling blue jewel called the Crystal
Tear. But if you had this jewel, bad things happened
to you. When the princess of one country had it, her
kingdom was attacked by monsters and reduced to
ruin... A demon who carried it around as an energy
source was beaten to a pulp by two female
Drifters... So if you find the Crystal Tear, you
should find a way to get rid of it at once."
October 18 -- "Apparently, today is Secret Radio Transmission Day.
Perhaps that's why my wisdom teeth have been
throbbing since morning..."
October 19 -- "When eating something tasty, you can really enjoy
the flavor, but only for a limited time before it
goes down your throat. And it's sad to see the meal
disappear as you eat it. A knight who lamented this
obtained a tablecloth from which the food did not
disappear, no matter how much he ate. Since then,
the knight did no work and merely continued eating.
People say he had fallen into an eternal hell."
October 20 -- "Today is Silver Day! Silver drives away the dead.
One-gella coins are made of silver, so when you run
into a ghost, you can throw them. That coin has a
variety of uses, but when putting money in a coffin
so the deceased can pay the fare to cross the river
Styx, you shouldn't use one. The deceased won't be
able to hold it and will be unable to pay."
October 21 -- "There's a political party that has an occultish
reason for declaring that war is bad. They say the
war was caused by aliens who want Filgaia for
themselves. ...That they're planning on taking over
the planet once mankind has reduced its population
by fighting amongst itself. ...It sounds silly, but
when you consider the number of aliens on Filgaia,
perhaps it's not unthinkable..."
October 22 -- "Baseball players have the ability to assemble bats
into a tall spiral. One day, the strongest team in
Filgaia began piling up bats... The tower grew so
tall, it pierced the clouds and reached the heavens.
Angered by this insolent act, the guardian of the
heavens struck down the tower of bats with
lightning."
October 23 -- "The proper way to use breath mints is to put them
in your nose. The stimulating smell will clear your
head immediately. But doing it too much isn't good
for you. If the stimulus is too strong, your brain
will melt. Ordinary Drifters are fine just biting
the leaf."
October 24 -- "Giants, cannons, and fried eggs...Now and in the
past, children love these three things. I'm no
exception, I'd like to have my very own giant, too.
But giants only eat the white film that rises when
you heat milk. So only the rich can keep giants as
pets... So, I decided to try to get a job heating
milk at a rich person's mansion."
October 25 -- "There is an item called a plush goat. You might
think it symbolizes a scapegoat, but its actual
purpose is different. When you carry it, when an
enemy attack would hit you in a fatal spot, somehow
the plush doll is there and blocks the attack. This
plush doll was developed base on the way the good
luck charm your mother gives you before you go off
to war blocks the enemy bullets."
October 26 -- "Long autumn nights are perfect for reading scary
books by the window. But the other day, while in the
middle of reading, I felt something was wrong and
glanced at the floor... What I'd thought was the
shadow of the floor stand was actually the horns of
a female jackalope. I was scared half to death, but
it turned out it liked scary stories and had taken
an interest in my book, coming every night to read
over my shoulder."
October 27 -- "The other day, at a used bookstore, I found a book
of ghost stories I'd lost when I was little, and I
bought it with great joy. It was just as wonderful
as I'd remembered, and I turned the pages excitedly,
but... When I saw the last page, I was shocked.
Written on it were the words of admiration I'd
written in the book when I was a little girl."
October 28 -- "There was a traveling monk who had an item called
the Wonder Gourd. Items of any size could be placed
inside it, and nothing would come out until the
monk ordered it. He was the envy of Drifters
everywhere. Time passed, and the monk aged and fell
sick. When he thought he was finally done for, he
entered the gourd himself. He must have considered
funerals bothersome and hated useless formalities."
October 29 -- "I had a dream in which my teeth fell out.
Apparently, that isn't a good omen. To drive away
evil spirits, I soaked a baby tooth in carbonated
water until it dissolved."
October 30 -- "Demons are always planning out sneaky ways to take
you down. When you drop your guard, that's when
they'll make their move. So we ordinary people must
never let our guard down, but... Trained demon
summoners deliberately let down their guard a little
and invite them in."
October 31 -- "Today is Halloween. And Halloween means
jack-o'-lanterns. Those cute pumpkin lanterns are
carried by the ghost of Jack, unable to rest in
peace, in order to light the dark spirit world. The
lantern itself isn't a ghost; it's just carried by
one. You mustn't allow yourself to be drawn in by
the charming lantern like prey to a lantern fish."
November 01 -- "Dr. Roswell, a famous authority on the Telepath
Tower, said this in an interview with Mu & Lemuria
Magazine: 'The forces of chaos come from unexpected
places.' The next day, a Telepath Tower was
standing above the bed where the doctor slept in,
and the doctor had vanished..."
November 02 -- "It's a common theme for something good to come
bobbing by from upstream while you're doing the
laundry in the river. I tried doing laundry in the
river on the village outskirts, but the only things
that floated by were talisman dolls and kappa and
things like that. Is it because I'm not virtuous,
or because Halim's River is cursed...? I think I'll
spend today pondering that one."
November 03 -- "Fixed windows always turn up in locked-room
murders. Fixed windows, just like elementary school
student master detectives, are cursed items that
cause murders to occur around them."
November 04 -- "I heard this story from Pick. When Pick went into
the forest to acquire building materials, a white
hand beckons from Halim's Grove. Wondering who it
was, he approached, and on the ground at the very
spot where the hand had beckoned from sat an old
doll."
November 05 -- "They say a blue fox appears on stormy nights in
Port Rosalia. Those who see the blue fox must make
a white flag and place it on their door. By doing
so, the fox will like them, and they will be
blessed their whole lives. The blue fox is a
servant of the wind spirit, so they like flags
because they show which way the wind blows."
November 06 -- "Every prestigious school has the standard
three-piece set of a statue that walks at night, a
self-playing piano, and a portrait of the principal
whose eyes move. Because of that, there are
salesmen who try to sell the three-piece set to
schools that want to increase their standing."
November 07 -- "On foggy nights in Buckeye, you can sometimes hear
a faint train whistle in the distance. The people
who live there say that the rusty, sleeping trains
blow their whistles when dreaming of the olden
days."
November 08 -- "Drifters who've been to Verklarung tell of a giant
fan that never stops, even though the power isn't
running. And at night, children's ghosts can be
seen gathering around the fan, laughing spookily as
they're blown about by the currents. Sometimes a
mother, not realizing she's dead, comes out to stop
them, saying it's dangerous. That makes the scene
all the more sad..."
November 09 -- "Ghosts like water, but dislike salt. When ghosts
draw near, precision equipment goes crazy. ...From
the above, we can deduce that ghosts' bodies are
largely made of water. During the winter and other
times when you want a humidifier, having a ghost
nearby is convenient."
November 10 -- "Until a little while ago, a naughty magazine was
sitting in Halim's forest. When I started to open
it, Caroline warned me, 'Adult magazines will bite
you.' ...The idea of an adult mag attacking people
is nonsense and completely impossible, right...?"
November 11 -- "A long time ago, a man who lived in the east
possessed a rare item called a konshu. It's a
miraculous item with the power to instantly recall
old memories when you rub it, but... It holds
embarrassing memories as well, so they say it's
difficult to use."
November 12 -- "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of
them all? When a Drifter found a talking magic
mirror in a ruin, he jokingly asked it that. But
the 'beautiful' thing that the mirror showed was
sludge-colored and slimy, and the Drifter went
insane when he saw it. It seems a great ancient
race made the mirror...It wasn't a product of
Filgaia."
November 13 -- "There were once spirits of death called 'reapers'
in Filgaia. But they lost a contest with Ge Ratmos,
the guardian of death, to see who could kill the
most people in an instant, and they left Filgaia.
...I think it might have been better if the losers
had been the ones to say here in Filgaia..."
November 14 -- "This is a ghost story a fisherman in Port Rosalia
told me. One autumn evening, a man he'd never seen
before was wandering the streets with a large
bug-catching net. Thinking him suspicious, the
fisherman quietly followed him and saw him shake
his net at the window of a house. When he did so,
the evening sun that shone in the windowpane
disappeared, and the inside of the net began to
glow red... After collecting exactly ten evening
sunsets, the man disappeared into the dark night."
November 15 -- "Long ago, in a town called Adlehyde, there lived
an elderly architect named Tom. One year, during
New Year's celebrations, Tom got a stick rice cake
stuck in his throat and almost choked to death. But
he used his architectural skils and opened vents in
the cake, turning it into a windmill and saving his
life. After that, he became famous not as a candy
sculptor, but as a sticky rice cake sculptor."
November 16 -- "I found two holes in a cliff on the outskirts of
the village. When I put my finger in one, a snake
came out of the other. I yelled in surprise, but
the snake seemed surprised, too, and shrieked in a
cute voice and slithered away."
November 17 -- "I once bought a magic flute from a peddler.
Supposedly, if you play it well, a squirrel will
appear and spin a hamster wheel. But there's no
hamster wheel at my house, so I haven't actually
tried it yet. I'd feel sorry for the squirrel if
he mistakenly tried to move the windmill or the
waterwheel."
November 18 -- "A Drifter was exploring a forest. As night was
falling and he was beginning to feel tired, he
found a small hut. He decided to spend the night
in the hut and went inside, finding a simple bed
in the middle. He lay down on the bed and felt
like something was wrong, but he couldn't overcome
his fatigue and fell asleep. The next morning, he
discovered a flower vase with a fresh wildflower
next to his bed. Surprised, he stood up, and a
white cloth fell from his face. In a panic, he ran
away from the hut."
November 19 -- "After you sneeze, you must say the word
'gesundheit' to ward off evil. If you don't, the
next time you sneeze, your consciousness will fade
for a moment and you'll see the eyes of the Ancient
Ones which must not bee seen. The Ancient Ones have
a sneeze fetish, so the instant someone sneezes,
they'll always turn to look."
November 20 -- "They say there's a jet-black treasure chest
somewhere in the world. It's a cursed chest that
never opens. Judging from the fact that, even if
you heat it up in a frying pan, it won't open its
mouth...that treasure chest may already be dead."
November 21 -- "When picking up a rabbit, you need to make sure
you securely support it from below. If you pick it
up by the ears, the wrath of the rabbit will cause
a teacher to pick you up by your ears the next day
at school as punishment."
November 22 -- "'Entering society means becoming a cog in the
machine...' Monroe used to always say that. One
day, he felt into the smelting furnace at the cog
factory and became a gear. When that gear was sent
off to a customer, I attached a pamphlet
summarizing Monroe's life."
November 23 -- "One day, when I went to the library, the librarian
said, 'Today is a special holiday.' When I asked
her why, she smiled, saying there was a book with
all the world's events written in it. Amazed, I
snuck into the library and watched to see what was
happening. But inside the library, it was
completely quiet. There was not even a murmur from
the office, much less sounds of excitement. The
next day, the library was burned down by someone
and both the books and the librarian were
incinerated. What happened that day?"
November 24 -- "When a girl saw her friend taking a photograph,
she sneakily extended her hand from the shadows to
try to make a 'ghost photo.' Her friend later came
to talk to her about the ghost in the photo.
Giggling, the girl looked at the photo and then
fell over in shock. Countless white, translucent
hands were outstretched toward the girl's hand that
was coming out of the shadows."
November 25 -- "My grandfather was good friends with the persimmon
tree growing in the garden. The persimmon tree
responded to my grandfather's love and bore sweet
persimmons every year, but... After my grandfather
died, it produced nothing but sour persimmons. It
must not have wanted to let anyone besides my
grandfather eat its sweet fruit."
November 26 -- "Lactic acid bacteria drinks come in a variety of
containers, such as large bottles, small bottles,
and paper cartons. They say each container has a
single lactic acid bacteria the size of the
container squeezed into it. It's a little weird,
but just think of it like eating an egg. After all,
a chicken egg is one cell, too."
November 27 -- "Inside seashells are objects that emit sounds of
the sea. The object is beautiful, like a pearl, but
it's very fragile, so getting it out of the shell
without breaking it is extremely difficult. The
only ones who can do it are twin girls born on the
night of a full moon in winter... When they sing to
the shell, the pearl-like object resonates, and
they can lead it out of the shell using that minute
movement."
November 28 -- "There are many races in Filgaia. One of them is
the demons. They're visitors from another planet,
with mechanical bodies and even more variation than
human beings, but just like ants, only their queen
is capable of reproduction. Because of that, if you
put borax in their territory, their entire colony
will be wiped out."
November 29 -- "The dinosaur statue on the Mim'krilu Skyway has
a secret. If you press the top, liquid soap comes
out of it. Considering this, the theory that the
Mim'krilu Skyway was built by a race of giants has
a certain degree of plausibility."
November 30 -- "This is a legend that's been passed down in the
Buckeye region. Etemenanki was built by an Elw who,
long ago, raised Ragu O Ragla in the abyss. And
the Elw who raised Ragu O Ragla is his chambermaid,
O-Ragla..."
December 01 -- "In the famous snowy mountain range of Neve
d'Argento, there once was an UMA named Bigfoot. But
fluffy Bigfoot fur was very good for making warm
clothes, and they were hunted to extinction. It's
said that this matter spurred the creation of the
UMA Protection Act."
December 02 -- "There once was a brave hero who had a magic key
that would fit anything. But the key even opened
the human heart, and soon, the hero grew disgusted
with human vice. He defected to the monsters' side,
but the heart of their kind was twisted as well.
The hero fell into despair and no longer cared
about anything. He began to play with the demon
king's heart like a set of puzzle rings."
December 03 -- "The monster called doppelganger copies the genetic
information of its opponent and uses the exact same
techniques and moves. During the war, a group that
wanted to clone heroes tried to employ
doppelgangers, but... The only thing they succeeded
in doing was making copies of their own group."
December 04 -- "One of the superhuman abilities people may have is
x-ray vision. A little while ago, an apron that
blocks x-ray vision went on sale. It wasn't just a
fad. That product captured the hearts of girls and
still sells like crazy. It's said that the product
developer, who was precognitive, used the profits
from that product to assemble others with
superhuman abilities and created his own personal
military force."
December 05 -- "A great mystery novel writer still had the heart
of a boy and believed in the existence of pixies.
But they say no pixies ever appeared before him.
That's because he never had detectives and pixies
together in any of his novels. The pixies took
that as evidence that the writer viewed pixies as
lacking realism."
December 06 -- "Have you ever seen a fracture in space-time...? I
have. From the fracture, I saw another me who was
wearing red clothes. If you see a space-time
fracture, I'm sure you'll see another you with
different-colored clothes, too."
December 07 -- "When I was young, I learned that the guardian of
time looks like a cat. And when the flow of
space-time warps, that's when the guardian is drunk
on catnip. That's a contradictory story that I have
a hard time accepting. That would mean it doesn't
just 'look' like a cat; it really IS a cat."
December 08 -- "When you stay at an inn, check to see whether
there are guardian wards behind the picture frames.
If there are, that means the place is being managed
by an owner who still has devout faith in Calucion.
You can rest easy at that inn."
December 09 -- "The Dragon Fossil Mine is built from a variety of
different woods, giving it an almost athletic
atmosphere. Filgaia's original ball game, Dragon's
Ball, was born there. Amidst the jungle gym-like
wooden structure, two teams throw balls at each
other. If you skillfully knock down an opponent,
you'll hear 'Nice shot!' from your teammates as
they cheer you on."
December 10 -- "Long ago, there lived a saintly man who would give
presents to children on this day. He lived in a
place called Ear Plateau and was said to listen
carefully with his own ears to the wishes of the
world's children. But the Ear Plateau was also the
area that produced nitroglycerin and was occupied
by the Congressional Knights during the war. No one
knows what happened to the man after that."
December 11 -- "'Sent letter seven people. Else you am cry total.
Huahuahuahuahua...' I received a letter that said
that. The writing style sounds like gobs... I bet
this is a gob plot to make humans waste their
time."
December 12 -- "A man with lots of hair and who wore gold thread
that looked like dishwashing sponges stood out from
the other townspeople. He was cocking his head as
he looked at a map, so being the nice person I am,
I went over to help him find his way. When I did
so, he said with a serious face, 'You mustn't go
near Port Rosalia for a while.' Later, when I
described him to Archibald, it turned out the man
was someone important in the Congressional
Knights..."
December 13 -- "Behind the cottage where Helga lives is a
graveyard for Halim's initial settlers. And on that
wall is a bright red handpring that won't go away,
even if it's scrubbed. When I was little, my mother
told me it commemorates the time a sumo wrestler
visited on a performance tour, but...is that true?"
December 14 -- "On cold winter mornings, icicles sometimes hang
from the front of the house. On this day a year
ago, I absent-mindedly broke an icicle and put it
in my mouth. When I did so, a beautiful melody like
a music box struck my ears from the inside of my
mouth. I tried breaking off another icicle and
licking it in the same way, and a different melody
ran in my ears."
December 15 -- "I picked up a pretty fallen red leaf and used it
as a bookmark. The leaf's color steadily faded, and
three days later, it had become mere fiber. I had
stuck it in a collection of Alhazard's poems. Did
it have its energy drained...? It's a real
mystery."
December 16 -- "They say in a different Filgaia, there was no sea
at all. But the people were still able to eat fried
shrimp. As a nod to t fact that it tastes the same,
the star guardian bred shrimp so that they could
live in the dunes."
December 17 -- "There once was a magician who could pull anything
out of his bag. They secret was his boyish heart,
stored in the deepest part of the bag... In other
words, a moldy piece of bread from the school
cafeteria."
December 18 -- "There exists a female ghost called Malice. She
utters bits and pieces of resentful sentences.
They may sound meaningless, but if you encounter
her many times, you'll start to understand as you
listen. And when you finally succeed in learning
the whole meaning... You can become a ghost like
her."
December 19 -- "Long ago, two moons hung in Filgaia's sky, the New
Moon and the Old Moon. But a drunken bard scooped
up and drank the New Moon that was floating in the
water, so now Filgaia just has the one Old Moon."
December 20 -- "Have you ever heard of Viking-style burials? The
corpse is loaded onto a raft and launched into the
ocean. I've always wondered where they wind up,
though. I think it'd be a bit unpleasant to find a
corpse wash up when you were out fishing."
December 21 -- "For a time, there was a rumor that there was a
dimension beyond the Cerulean Tunnel in which
people-faced fish lived. And they dislike us,
calling us people-faced monkeys. ...It's kind of
depressing, being looked down upon by people-faced
fish."
December 22 -- "Dragon breath smells like sulfur, but dragoon
breath smells like machine oil. So when you want
to make soft-boiled eggs, make sure you choose the
dragon with the sulfurous breath."
December 23 -- "One day, while he was fishing in Port Rosalia,
Riber fished up a cool-looking leather boot (the
right foot). Riber was annoyed, but it was such a
cool-looking boot that he put it in his house and
used it as a flower vase. Time passed, and he
changed his fishing spot to the waterway near
Quartly. A short time after that... He fished up a
cool-looking leather boot (the left foot).
Pondering the strange coincidence, when he returned
to Port Rosalia, he put the boots together and
placed them together in a shoebox. When he did so,
the boots knocked their heels together as if
saluting, and then walked out the door."
December 24 -- "In this Filgaia of ours, one can sometimes find
game ROMs scattered about. But if you intend to use
those ROMs, you must be careful. Those ROMs are
cursed to trap the player in the game screen... If
you're careless, you'll run away from the problems
facing you, and do nothing but play games. Enough
of this! Go play outside."
December 25 -- "This happened when I was three years old, walking
along a mountain path with my mother. Ahead of the
path, a winged person floating in midair looked
down at me and smiled. 'That means you're blessed
by the tengu,' my mother said. Couldn't she at
least have said angel...?"
December 26 -- "Antiques sometimes have ghosts haunting them. My
grandfather's teacup had a ghost, too. It liked
delicious tea and would get made if you poured
cheap tea into it. My mother, the one who bought
the tea leaves, said we didn't have to pretend
there was a ghost...but actually, there really was
one. Because when I drank juice out of it, a bowl
fell from the kitchen cupboard."
December 27 -- "Supposedly, there's a kingdom of talking animals
beyond the sea. There, humans are despised as nasty
creatures. When they tell their children, If you
aren't good, the flayers will come for you,' they
mean that humans will come capture and skin them.
...I'd love to go there once and say to a kitten or
puppy, 'I'm a flayer!'"
December 28 -- "I ate chocolate, so I got a nosebleed. I ate ice
cream, so I got a headache. When I saw myself in
the mirror, bleeding from my nose and moaning in
pain, it was truly a scary sight."
December 29 -- "There's a supernatural monster known as a
nopperabou. It's a face with no eyes or nose
attached to a human body. They court each other by
offering their faces as pillows to the opposite
sex. Apparently, it feels better than even the
softest pillow."
December 30 -- "The Saint of Port Rosalia was good friends with
the guardian of the sea, so after she died, she
came to watch over the sea. I often have guardians
standing at my bedside, but I've never become very
friendly with them. I'd like the Saints to teach me
the secret of becoming friends with them."
December 31 -- "Sometimes when you're on the toilet, you can feel
someone watching you. It'll usually go away if you
punch with your fist, but doing that over and over
is a pain, so I'll tell you what to do if you don't
like being watched. If, on the toilet today, you
say 'the cuckoo entered the priesthood,' the being
behind the gaze won't appear again for a whole
year."
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