章 112: Chapter 78: Working villagers and me wondering where to work

After listening to Seika complain about the Utopia president, we ate lunch together and had some idle chit-chat before I went home. Of course, nothing of a sexy nature developed. Besides...there was just too much going on!

I've only been living as a NEET until six months ago, and I can't accept this rapid development so easily! The fact that the "Village of Fate" was so far removed from reality seemed to be a blessing in disguise, and I was able to handle things more calmly than I expected, but first of all, I don't know how to deal with the romance element.

"Being forced to make a decision by a beautiful childhood friend is quite a game-changer!"

I've played a few love simulation games, but when it comes to real life, the story is too different. My mind can't keep up! I want them to show me the choices and let me choose from them like in a game! I guess my experience in love games doesn't apply to real life at all! After a brief moment of confusion, I took a few deep breaths and laid down on the futon.

"Haaaaaaah. I've put off making a decision again, but...can't help you with this one."

I followed up with myself, not that I had any listeners. I've been blessed, haven't I? My family and childhood friends are so kind to me. When I was a recluse, I only found them annoying.

Anybody who tried to take me out of this room was an enemy. The only place I could feel safe was in the small space of my room. That's how I've been living my life....If you are a recluse, your mental field of vision may become narrower. There are many things that can be seen by just expanding a little.

"I'm curious about that company that tried to recruit Seika. I'm also worried about my sister."

I heard that he was keen on recruiting Seika, but it sounded as if he was more in love with her than her ability as a member of society. I remember that when Seika was approached by a guy a long time ago, she complained to me in a similar manner.

If Seika were to leave the company and run a café with me, I feel like every day would be full of life and I would have the best days of my life. If we could use the tribute food from the village as ingredients for our dishes, it would be very popular. The profit margin would be unbelievable since there would be no need to pay for the purchase. When I fantasize about such a future, my dreams expand endlessly.

"...is not the same thing. I've got other things to do right now."

I slapped myself across the cheek to get myself together, then stood up and sat down in the chair in front of the computer to look at the screen, as usual. Most of the dark elves were inside the given building, and some of them seemed to be taking a walk nearby.

"Speaking of which, has Sudhir become one of the villagers yet?"

Using the mouse, I clicked on the Bible symbol in the upper right corner of the screen, which represented the fate points. Then the names and descriptions of the villagers were also displayed. This is one of the features I noticed about two months ago, where I can check the list of villagers.

"Sudhir, Sudhir is...Oh, there she is."

It seems that she has indeed become a villager of the "Village of Fate." I think she is about the same age as...Murus. She is an elf, so she must be old. She is the daughter of the village chief and is good with a bow and a dagger. The only other thing I can think of is that she's an only child, and there's nothing else worth mentioning.

"That means...."

As I moved the mouse wheel, the village gradually became smaller and smaller, as if my body was floating in the sky. A full view of the Forbidden Forest is now visible, and several areas that were previously obscured by black paint have been revealed.

"I knew I could see the extent of what Sudhir had seen."

The north side of the forest, which is considered dangerous, was also partially visible. This was quite gratifying. It was too far away to see clearly, so I zoomed in on the map. I could barely see the northern part of the east side, but now I could see a lot of it....? Isn't this a village? I could see what looked like the roofs of dozens of buildings, so I moved a little closer.

"There are about forty to fifty wooden huts. There's also a field and a log fence that surrounds the property, just like my village. And that's a dark elf moving around."

I'm pretty sure this is Sudhir's village. Judging from the size of the village, it has a population of about a hundred? From the looks of it, all the villagers are Dark Elves, and there are no humans or beastmen mixed in with the residents. They don't seem particularly savage, and just appear to be working as normal.

There is no difference in what they are doing with our village. They are just trying to live the same way. I can't hear their voices unless I'm near a Bible, so I can't tell what they're saying, but even if I could, it would probably be just an everyday conversation. It was such a peaceful village scene.

"Somehow, I feel bad for doubting you."

I muttered, and Destiny, who had somehow climbed up on the PC desk, nodded his head in agreement. I took a closer look at the village just to be sure, but I still couldn't find anything suspicious or people acting strangely. Compared to our village, the wooden houses were more solidly built. Maybe it's the difference in the age of the village. The log fence is similar to our own...but it's pretty beat up. There are traces of repairs all over the place.

"Isn't the population too small for the number of houses?"

The sky was clear and it was a perfect day to work, but there were only a dozen or so people working in the fields. And all of them are skinnier than our villagers. Elves are skinny by nature, but there are people everywhere with prominent cheekbones. A more careful observation of the village revealed that it was in danger of being destroyed, not just peaceful.

A close-up of the dark elves showed that all of them were lacking in energy, the door to what looked like a granary was open, and a peek inside revealed that there was very little food left. There is a cemetery on the north side of the village, lined with crude grave markers carved out of logs. Most of the grave markers are brand new, having been installed only recently.

"Did you suffer extensive damage in the last attack?"

It is more likely that they are trapped to the point where they have no choice but to fight.

"The players exist as gods in this village too, right?"

If there are players, it is possible to contact each other on the forums, but it is forbidden by the rules to tell the details of your village. It is also forbidden to tell the exact location of your village. It's safe to say that you're in country 00, but it's forbidden to say that you live in the Forbidden Forest. It may be that exchanging opinions in the Bible like this is also a gray area.

"With a village this big, you must be a senior player, right? Or maybe, unlike me, you started from the beginning with a certain amount of population and village built up?"

Well, I wonder what kind of condition the other players were in when they started the game. I started the game with five villagers and no materials, but are other players the same? I'm curious about....I'll have to ask on the forums.

"How did the game start, everyone? That's about right. If it's a banned word, it just won't show up."

I tried to start a thread, but it's showing up fine.

1: I started with five villagers who escaped from a ruined village, but is everyone the same?

After writing that much, I left my seat. I went downstairs to get a snack and a drink, thinking that no one would be coming soon. When I got to my seat, there were already a few posts.

2: Slippery slope.

3: I started with eight people, a family with three kids and two hunters.

4: I envy you eight people. This one started with three people, an old man and two young sisters.

5: What's with that lineup? How can you build a village with that? How are you going to do the heavy lifting?

6: I guess starting is different for everyone. This one started with ten people, two families and an ex-soldier.

7: The old man was a great swordsman. The two sisters were his apprentices. They were not good at building or farming, but they were good at fighting monsters, so we attacked their base and took it.

8: Wow, wild and wonderful!

9: Aren't you the only one playing a different game?

It's pretty interesting just reading about other people's early play. Looking at it this way, I see that my five players were well balanced. It's hard to believe that the three players are playing the same game as me. After watching for a while, I saw a post that caught my attention.

34: Does everyone start out with a small group? I was in a village of my own from the beginning, okay?

35: Seriously, elaborate!

36: It's not fair to start with a village!

37: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

38: You guys need to calm down. If I had to say, it wasn't because I was...good at what I did on a daily basis.

39: Tell me where the village is. I'm going to raid it, yeah, yeah, yeah!

40: I know how you feel, but no way.

41: It's forbidden to tell the location of your village or to fight with players on the Lord God's side.

I know I'm getting off track, but do some players start with a village? I'd like to hear more about that, so I've got to get back on topic.

48: So when you started the village, what was the population and the state of the village?

49: Hmm, I think the population was about thirty people. It was a depopulated village where villagers were leaving one after another due to food shortage. It was full of skinny old people and children, there were only about ten people, who seemed to be able to work properly, the plague was spreading, and it was a terrible situation.

50: Oh, oh...that, sorry.

51: It's so hard mode!

52: I'm not even a little bit jealous!

53: You recovered from that, you're amazing!

I guess you never know until you ask for details. I thought my village was pretty tough, but maybe it was worse than others. The hard mode player ruined the flow of the story. I'm interested in the rest of the story, so I guess I'll stick to listening.

54: It's not that I recovered; it's that I cut them off. The first thing they did was to get rid of the villagers with the plague. There was no cure, and if it spread any further, it would destroy the village.

55: ...

56: That's a bit...

57: Demons, demons are here!

58: I had no choice! I thought it was just a game at the time. I regretted it so much later that I still feel so guilty that I feel like throwing up just remembering it!

59: Oh, in the beginning, I thought it was a game, so I gave pretty ruthless orders and stuff too. To make it easier to see the map, I told them to take a walk around the area even though there might be monsters wandering around.

60: Only those who have no remorse for their actions against the villagers should throw stones at 58.

61: ...It's a beautiful day.

62: Hmm, my shoulder doesn't feel good, so I'll stop.

63: Um, it's safe to say that we did something like bandits to get money and food, right? I didn't kill anyone.

64: Out.

65: Out.

65: Out, scum, scum.

66: Awful! I didn't give the order. The villagers did it on their own! I scolded them with the oracle afterwards!

Everyone has a different starting point, so the way they progress is totally different from mine. And they can tolerate pretty outrageous behavior as play? Well, my villagers would never do that. In fact, at first, they probably thought it was just a game and could make decisions like cutting them off with a light heart. But now, most of them treat the villagers with great care, like a real family.

Some people write in a light-hearted way, but if they are kind-hearted people, it's not surprising that some of them regret their past choices to death, like 58. I'm so glad I didn't make a reckless decision thinking it was a...game. I agree wholeheartedly. From there, each player began to talk about their hardships, so I'd watch while Destiny and I fought over a snack.

I turned away from the PC for a moment and looked up at the ceiling. I'm worried about my village, my sister and Seika's problems. As well as where I'm going to get a job. When I was a recluse, all I had to do was run away. I didn't even try to face my problems.

"I guess that's part of growing up."