At six in the morning, Shiki opened his eyes and checked his phone.
Ever since he downloaded that stardew valley app, his phone’s battery had remained full and never dropped; the charging cable in his small bag had become useless.
“Ughhh~~ So good!” He hadn’t slept this comfortably in a long time.
Shiki let out a strange, non-human cry, stretched, walked out of the cabin, and first went to check the Shipping Bin.
Opening the bin, yesterday’s cold Black Bass had turned into 100 warm coins.
They seemed to be made of some kind of metal.
Although he had studied Logistics Management in university and didn’t know much about finance, he still understood the concept of a general equivalent; these 100 bucks were equal to the value of these coins.
“A beautiful day starts with watering.
Reminiscing about the first day of [645].” Without using his energy points, Shiki held the watering can and watered the land bit by bit.
Early-game energy was too precious, so he planned to do this relatively easy work himself, saving his energy for when he had to hoe the ground or chop trees later.
After finishing this patch, Shiki tilled another acre.
Counting the work of clearing the ground, chopping trees, and removing stones, his energy for today hit rock bottom again.
“Am I some kind of phone that charges for 4 hours and only works for 1?” Looking at the time displayed on his phone, it wasn’t even eight o’clock and he had already used up today’s energy.
Currently, he had nothing except for a few leeks and Wild Horseradishes he had picked up on the road yesterday.
He had finished the Choco-sharks in his bag last night when he was hungry, and they hadn’t restored any energy.
“This won’t do.
If this continues, I’ll starve to death before the first batch of crops even grows.
This has to be a bug!” The entire town was empty, so Shiki didn’t even have the option to mooch a meal.
Don’t expect him to do any wilderness survival either; he couldn’t even light a fire…
oh, wait, he could do that.
He still had a lighter in his pocket, given to him by an old lady while waiting for the bus, with an advertisement for an Andrology Hospital printed on it.
When he had nothing to do, he could bite on the lighter for fun.
“It’s decided.
I’ll go to the Wizards Tower.
If there’s anyone anywhere, that’s where the probability is highest.” Recalling the scroll he got from the Community Center yesterday, one of the unlock conditions marked with a question mark was to take the scroll to the Wizards Tower.
Shiki set off with his backpack.
If he didn’t find food, he would starve to death in two days.
He wondered if respawning in bed after dying would reset his hunger.
At two in the afternoon, when Shiki finally reached the bottom of the Wizards Tower after hacking his way through the brush, he was about to faint from hunger.
Along the way, he had used up his last bit of energy points, and the rest of the journey relied entirely on his own physical strength.
He was starving.
“Finally made it!” Standing beneath the Wizards Tower, which looked much like a chimney, Shiki pushed open the door and walked inside.
The interior decoration had absolutely nothing to do with the game; there was a soft large sofa and a carpet spread on the floor, making it look no different from a normal home.
Where were the cauldron and the Junimo Hut purchasing terminal?
“Is anyone here?” Following Shiki’s voice, a Gap opened, and an elegant girl with long blonde hair stepped out of the Gap holding a parasol, looking at Shiki with a smile.
“Hello, I am…” “Yukari-mama!” Silence.
The smile on Yakumo Yukari’s face froze.
In Gensokyo, who wouldn’t call her Lady Yukari, Youkai Sage, or even ‘Old Hag’?
This little fellow she was meeting for the first time calling her ‘Yukari-mama’ right off the bat really stumped her.
Should she respond or not?
If she did, she’d be admitting she was old; if she didn’t, the conversation couldn’t continue.
“Uh…
sorry, habit.
Here’s the scroll.
Got anything to eat?
I’m starving.” Shiki awkwardly handed over the scroll.
It was all the fault of those silly netizens who called her ‘Yukari-mama’ every day; he had just followed the trend.
“Food?
Didn’t you read the contents of the scroll?” Yakumo Yukari took the scroll and breathed a sigh of relief; at least they could move on with the conversation.
But hadn’t she told Chen to write the reason on the scroll?
A food crisis!
A food crisis!
We’re in a food crisis and you’re still asking me for food?
“I looked at it, but I couldn’t understand it.
So, is there food?” Shiki stood in the room, not knowing what to do.
She hadn’t invited him to sit down, and standing there was a bit awkward.
After Yakumo Yukari opened the scroll, her brow also furrowed.
What on earth was drawn on here?
Never mind Shiki, even she couldn’t understand it.
“Sit down first.
I’ll be right back.” With that, Yakumo Yukari opened a Gap and disappeared, leaving Shiki sitting alone in the room.
“Chen!
Look at what you wrote!” In Gensokyo, at the Lost Home, Yakumo Yukari appeared beside Ran.
She reached into Yakumo Ran’s fluffy tails, rummaged around, and pulled out the sleeping cat.
“Meow?
Chen wrote the letter exactly as Lady Yukari instructed.” Chen, in her black cat form, blinked her big eyes with an innocent look.
She had written the letter word for word before letting that human take it; there was nothing wrong with that.
“Lady Yukari, please don’t bully Chen.
Let me see the letter.” Ran, who was working, snatched the dangling Chen and held her in her arms.
After taking the scroll and opening it, she also fell silent.
Her mind began rapidly comparing Chen’s scribbles to various characters, piecing together the general content of the letter.
“There’s no problem, Lady Yukari.
Chen indeed wrote it according to what you said.” Yakumo Ran opened her golden eyes and started lying through her teeth.
If this letter were taken out, probably only she and the Terakoya teacher, Kamishirasawa Keine, could understand it.
The former because Ran had a super-powered brain, and the latter because Kamishirasawa Keine taught a bunch of little ones and was used to such handwriting.
“You!
Ran, it’s not right for you to spoil your shikigami like this!” “Lady Yukari, Chen is my shikigami.
I am her master.” “Ran, you’ll regret this!” After the familiar routine was over, Yakumo Yukari waved her hand, indicating she didn’t want to dwell on the issue, and instead asked about something else.
“Ran, is there any food left at home?” “It’s the same as always; only some berries and a small amount of meat.” Yakumo Ran rubbed Chen’s head, her tone somewhat worried.
A massive food crisis had appeared in Gensokyo.
For some reason, Human Village had been sent away by the Dragon God, and now there was no food supply for the youkai.
They had been eating wild berries for a long time.
“Give me some berries, and take a little jerky too.” “Understood.” Without asking what Yakumo Yukari was going to do, Ran quickly found a basket, packed the berries and jerky, and handed it to Yakumo Yukari.
As Yakumo Yukari’s shikigami, she would obey unconditionally in anything other than matters regarding Chen.
Even if the items in the basket were the last bit of jerky their household had left.
Returning to the Wizards Tower, Yakumo Yukari placed the basket in front of Shiki, casting a somewhat reluctant glance at the jerky inside.
“Eat.
We’ll talk after you’re done.” “Just this?” Shiki looked at the fruit and the rock-hard jerky in the basket and voiced his doubt.