Tria had fled from the Great Turtle, and as she picked her way through the mountains and deep into the forest, she seemed to have stumbled upon a strange location.
“Spirit-sama, what on earth is this place…?”
“Whoa… It doesn’t look like a human settlement, does it? It definitely looks like a house, though.”
Upon closer inspection, I saw a clearing in the woods—or rather, a private residence.
It was a charming little cottage that looked like something out of medieval Europe, with a garden enclosed by a fence. The yard was expansive and appeared to be a vegetable patch, complete with a slightly comical-looking scarecrow. It looked exactly like a sandbox game.
To put it more whimsically, it was a “house in the woods.” I wondered if a witch lived there.
The place was blatantly suspicious and entirely out of place. There was a fence, and I considered just hopping over it, but when I tried to reach out, my hand hit something with a dull thud, as if an invisible wall were blocking the way.
…Well, it was a fence, after all. I suppose it made sense that I couldn’t just jump it. Since the gate was right there, I decided to head around to the front.
If someone was home, maybe I could ask for directions.
“Excuse me—!”
I called out, but there was no response.
At worst, would I just have to walk in whatever direction the gate pointed? There was no obvious path, just the forest stretching out in every direction.
“Excuse me—?”
“Ah, coming!”
I didn’t give up, and after my second call, someone answered.
With a click, the door opened and a cute girl stepped out. She was a freckled girl with simple brown braids, wearing a straw hat and denim overalls that screamed “farmer.” Also, her bust was so large I wondered if she was a Cow Beastman.
And floating behind her head was a yellow Halo.
“Oh, wait… are you a player?!”
“You too?!”
It seemed she was another Kite a Lise player. Ah, was she using Voice Input for chat as well?
“Ah, I only just started my Home, so it’s not much yet, but isn’t it cute-ssu? If you don’t mind, I’d love to see your Home too-ssu!”
“Home?”
I tilted my head. What was a “Home”? A house? I mean, looking at it, it was clearly a house, but…
“Sorry, I don’t think I have one of those yet.”
“Eh? Kite a Lise is a sandbox slow-life game, right-ssu? Isn’t that the very first part of the Tutorial? You haven’t finished it yet-ssu?”
“…My Tutorial was probably a bit different.”
“Eeeeh??”
The farmer girl tilted her head in confusion.
“With this Voxel aesthetic, it’s definitely a sandbox slow-life game-ssu.”
“Voxel? Wait, isn’t this a beautiful 3D Action game?”
“Hahaha. Well, it’s about as beautiful as a pixel remaster-ssu.”
Hmm? I felt like we were talking past each other. Or rather, were our displays different?
I wondered if I could toggle the display mode and went digging through the config menu—oh, there it was. Switch Display.
“Whoa. You’re right. Once I messed with the config, everything turned Voxel. That’s incredible.”
“Eh? Whoa, whoa. Does that mean mine can turn into beautiful 3D too-ssu? Let’s see… Ohhh, wait a second. What is with these boobs? Was Pen-chan a Cow Beastman or something?”
“Pen-chan?”
“Ah, that’s my character name. I’m Penpen-ssu.”
“I see. I’m Tria. Nice to meet you.”
Penpen. That was the kind of name that made me think she liked penguins. For the time being, I switched my display back to the 3D mode I was used to.
“Um, if you’d like, would you want to come inside? I’m a bit embarrassed because the interior isn’t finished at all-ssu.”
“Don’t mind if I do.”
I accepted Penpen’s invitation and stepped inside her Home.
…Yeah, her game genre was totally different from mine. Well, she was clearly a Production Class, so I suppose it made sense.
Production classes looked nice, though. A slow life surrounded by nature like this might be pleasant.
“Ah, as a token of our meeting, would you like some Young Turtle carcasses?”
“Young Turtles-ssu?”
“I’ve hunted a bunch of them. You can use them for materials or just eat the meat.”
“Oh, monster materials-ssu! I haven’t managed to get any Young Turtles or meat yet! If you’re offering, I’d be happy to take them!”
I could tell from the chat that she was genuinely delighted. As I thought, a housewarming gift is essential when visiting someone’s place.
＊ ＊ ＊
“I see. So Tria-san’s scenario was ‘Sacrifice for the Great Turtle’.”
“And Penpen-san’s is ‘Massive Debt’?”
After exchanging some information, I learned that Penpen was playing something like a ranching game—which was "slow life" in name only—in order to pay off her debts.
Apparently, she’d been threatened by some scary people but managed to get a grace period. Though, if she couldn’t pay it back, she was told she’d have to pay with her body.
…Well, with a body like that, I’m sure she could settle the debt that way, yeah.
It seemed that after her Tutorial told her to “Establish a safe base,” she spent almost all of her SP to purchase a “Home,” which led to her current situation.
“A debt despite it being a slow life… That’s rough.”
“Eh? Starting with debt repayment is a pretty standard trope for slow-life games, you know-ssu? Haven't you ever seen that animal series where you develop an island?”
“…Now that you mention it, I guess that’s true.”
The raccoon dog forces a loan on you, so you have to work. A slow life is only a dream unless you have the money for it…!
“Still, why would you choose a scenario like that?”
“Well, wouldn't it feel great if you could just easily pay off your debt, at least in a game-ssu?”
“Ah, right.”
I got the sense that her reality might be a bit different, but I decided to let it slide.
“The debt collector was actually very kind. He said things like, ‘I’ll wait as long as I can. As long as you pay the money back, there’s no problem. I’ll buy your goods, so feel free to sell me anything. Oh, and I’ll waive the decimal points on the debt for you, so do your best.’ Even though I had multiple debts, he consolidated them for me and told me I didn’t have to pay interest.”
“I see. A very game-like debt collector indeed.”
“Right?! I wish reality were like this. If there’s a discount on the loose change, it usually gets rounded up, not down! Hmph!”
Penpen made a disgruntled motion. I was impressed that the game even modeled that.
So, apparently, she had been sent to the forest by the debt collector immediately after the game started. He told her to work here.
He was supposed to come check on her once a week. It was only the second day, so he hadn’t visited yet.
“Wait, does that mean there’s a human settlement near here?”
“Yeah. I haven’t gone there once since I arrived, though. I’ve just been picking up seeds and stuff in the forest.”
“Alright! Now I can finally register as an adventurer!”
“Ohhh. Adventurer Registration? You can do that too? I wonder if that would help me pay off my debt…”
Penpen put a finger to her lip and let out a thoughtful “Hmm.”
It would be reassuring if she decided to come along. After all, I was just a lost soul in the mountains…!