Based on signage seen elsewhere, that's the name of this location.

Two boys, one large and mean-looking with buck teeth, the other smaller and wearing a pointy hat, stand on a log bridge in front of a waterfall, while a third, with a bandana and an unlikely hairstyle, struggles both to keep up and to keep his balance. Music that wouldn't sound out of place in a cheesy cartoon plays (track 4 いつもいっしょ / "Always Together").

Ah, yes, the 『 mark instead of 「 for when player characters speak. I'll be keeping it, because why not.

The larger boy steps toward him.

Replacing boring names with more exotic ones or implausible names with more believable ones are common enough in localizations, but it's not often that perfectly ordinary names are replaced with other perfectly ordinary names. Choosing longer names makes the change even more puzzling, since they take up more of the limited space available in the text boxes on the screen, and in the script in the game data.

ふふん (huhun) is sort of a smug chuckle. We'll be seeing more of it and the related へへん (hehen) over the course of the game.

They turn to leave, but The Boy loses his balance again.

He falls off, as the other two make a token effort to look like they're trying to be helpful. The music fades out. They turn to each other, then hurry back the way they came, presumably toward the village.

Meanwhile, The Boy lands in a surprisingly shallow pond at the bottom of the waterfall. He seems none the worse for wear.

The music fades back in, and we now have control of him, but no menu access. As he continues on, a mysterious glow appears, accompanied by a voice.

Further on, thick growth blocks the way east.

Luckily, there's a convenient sword sticking out of a rock in the water nearby. That should do the trick. As he walks up and attempts to take it, though, the light and voice make a repeat appearance.

The Boy looks around in confusion.

But he grabs the sword anyway.

It comes loose suddenly, knocking him onto his butt. An even brighter light follows. When it fades, a ghostly knight stands before him.

The ghost vanishes in another pulse of light...

...but then an even brighter burst of energy comes, apparently from the sword itself!

...which is what he's reacting to at the end there.

Now holding the sword, he shakes his head a few times.

The HUD and menu are now active. The Boy wields the Rusted Holy Sword (sounds important!) and wears Leather Overalls, and his stats point toward being a physical fighter type. The status menu also mentions something called "Mana Energy", currently 0, but we'll get to that later.

Rusted or not, the sword cuts through the underbrush, opening a path to the next screen where a strange rabbit-like creature waits. The music fades out.

A more adventuresome tune starts up (track 6 少年は荒野をめざす / "The Boy Heads for the Wilds"), and we have our first taste of the action-based combat system. Fortunately, Rabbies (Rabites) are more playful than truly aggressive, tend to flee when hurt, and may also drop healing items in chests that The Boy opens by shaking them excessively before slamming them into the ground.

At this point, The Boy's attacks will inflict either 14 or 18 damage with a full attack gauge. Normally, you should wait for the attack gauge to recharge to 100% before attacking again, but since Rabbies only have 20 hit points, feel free to strike again early if the first hit did 18 damage.

Along the way, the following messages are likely to appear:

This allows The Boy to charge his attack up to use a level 1 skill for a +50% damage bonus, and also gives a small passive bonus to critical hit rate. Further levels enable more skills, each with its own animation, but they aren't available just yet. In the meantime, a few more kills should result in:

Gaining a level also fully restores health. It doesn't recover any magic points, though, not that it matters just yet.

It's possible to run out of health on the way to the village, though it's unlikely to happen. Even if it does, The Boy just reappears by the rock where the sword was, and is fully healed as the voice speaks again.

It's always nice when the game watches your back until you at least get a chance to save.

There's also a sign pointing back the way he came, found in a location that turns out to be not far from the village.

It's a bit late for that. Maybe if The Boy slinks into the village quietly, no one will notice?

This location has an entry in the game's List of Place Names used to note where saves are. In the English version, this list is one of numerous things to use all caps, something that I've never liked but that happens strangely often in SNES-era games.

Things seem peaceful enough in the village, with the music complementing the atmosphere (track 7 夏の空色 / "Color of the Summer Sky"). Let's try talking to some villagers and hope they haven't noticed anything.

くわばら (kuwabara) is literally a mulberry field, of all things, but here it's just something you mutter to ward off misfortune.

Maybe things aren't all that calm and peaceful after all, and it looks like The Boy is already in trouble. At least he's not the only bit of gossip.

The man bears some resemblance to the ghost seen by the sword, but he's not feeling talkative.

Ah, well. Might as well go see what the elder wants, as if it weren't obvious. Bob and Ness have already arrived.

The Boy shakes his head in denial, but of course that doesn't do any good.

Bob starts beating up on him, demonstrating that he doesn't just look like a bully.

The Boy backs away.

Near the pub, the screen suddenly starts shaking.

Bob runs around like an idiot until a hole opens in the ground that they both fall into as the music fades out. The knight comes out of the pub in time to see it happen...

...but The Boy finds himself facing a large mantis-like monster while Bob cowers in a corner. Dramatic boss music starts (track 19 危機 / "Crisis").

The Boy seems more confused than anything. Maybe he needs a little guidance.

There we go. The Mantis Ant has more varied and dangerous attacks than Rabbies, unsurprisingly. However, the game is still feeling generous about game overs, since running out of health just results in automatic (and unlimited) revivals.

And so, the battle cannot be lost. To help it go more smoothly, though, kill a few extra Rabbies for another level and enough money to buy (and equip) a Bandana beforehand. The extra defense and evasion make a significant difference. The monster also seems to use fewer nasty attacks if you stay fairly close to it.

Victory inevitably follows, with a nice explosion, a fanfare, and free healing (again, like gaining a level, this affects health only).

Weapon Orbs are a fabrication in the English version, but they do honestly make more sense out of certain scenes. When it's simply slaying a monster, or even opening a treasure chest, the weapon could plausibly absorb the energy directly, but when an NPC gives one to the party? It's difficult to explain exactly how they're doing that without invoking something like an Orb that would be able to contain the power in a portable form independent of the weapon itself.

Triumphant music (track 20 嵐の孤児 / "Orphan of the Storm") plays as he gets them out. Bob continues to be useless...

...and runs off, leaving The Boy and the knight to share a dumbfounded moment before conversation resumes.

Says who? Since when is age a critical factor for legendary magic swords?

A probable reference to the rusalka, a water nymph in Slavic mythology, which fits with her placement in the Water Temple and would also explain how she could have lived long enough to have watched over these lands for centuries. The extra 'u' in "Luka" comes from Japanese phonetics not liking multiple consonant sounds in a row, and stays because "Lka" doesn't work well as a name.

As all that sinks in, Ness approaches.

A probable reference to the Gemma Knights in other Mana games. Either way, it's a soft 'g' and is pronounced like "Jema", so that spelling makes sense, too. On a side note, this may be a bit of a nitpick, but keep in mind that, properly translated, he said he'll wait at the temple, not specifically inside.

Jema leaves. Ness stays, but remains uninteresting except for that weird hat.

The shop is closed, and most of the villagers are gone, so there's little to do but go see the elder. Ah, here's where everyone went.

An old woman gets in his face, and the music fades.

With each shout, The Boy falls back as though struck. Sorrowful music begins playing (track 39 君を忘れない / "I Won't Forget You"), a more downbeat remix of "Angel's Fear" heard on the title screen.

The chest downstairs contains 50 Rukh. There's also a girl there who has no idea what's going on.

By the time The Boy returns upstairs, everyone but the elder has left.

The music fades as he continues.

A different sad tune (track 17 夜の魂 / "Soul of the Night") starts playing.

On a side note, you can skip this conversation, which will also skip changing the music. Whichever tune is playing when you leave the village will remain the background music here for the rest of the game, assuming you stop by at all. There's no real reason to.

That money will buy some supplies, but the merchant isn't very nice about it.

The rest of the villagers aren't any friendlier. Maybe it's too bad the Mantis Ant didn't eat them. Ingrates.

Bah. Maybe Gemma will be more helpful.