"Kyaah..."
A woman screamed, indicating she needed help now. Oh wait, there's something wrong with her. Please wait a minute, my feet... Oh, that my feet have stepped on hers.
"Sorry..."
"What are you doing? Are you doing this to me on purpose? You stepped on my foot because I trouble you here, right? Is it because I can't work properly here, huh?"
She is angry. The NPC woman is angry with me. Most likely, she issued a sentence that had been buried in her heart because she could only trouble the farmers.
"Sorry..."
Still, I can only apologize for stepping on her feet.
"Come on, Alice. He accidentally stepped on you. Because the mud here is too muddy, he can't see your feet."
A man, maybe his neighbor or his father or something, defended me because our ground was flooded and muddy.
That's true, but that's not why I stepped on her feet. I did step on her feet but not because the ground here is so muddy that I can't see her feet. I stepped on hers because she stepped on my foot first. I hate to be disturbed. That's why I stepped on her feet. But somehow, she screamed and spoke the words hidden in her heart for so long. It was as if she was working here as a nuisance.
She is an NPC who often helps farmers to grow rice. I'm here as a volunteer to take them. But the presence of this young woman has made this place a bit of a mess. She works poorly and is often distracted by something new, especially when the sun gets hotter.
This was an easy job and straightforward quest to carry out, but since she was here, it wasn't easy. I can't work fast because she keeps bothering me.
I hate to admit it, but she is an annoying bully. Also, I'm not too fond of this game because it has to maintain a good relationship with the NPCs to get another quest from them.
Wait a moment! If I have a good relationship with her, does she have a quest for me? Not necessarily she has that, right? So, I'd instead worsen the relationship with her. That way, I can get her out of here. Good idea.
"Why are you smiling like that? Are you not satisfied with stepping on my feet, huh!? You want to step on my feet again, huh!? I know I'm just here to annoy you. I know I'm just a nuisance to you. I know I'm…"
She continued to ramble on as I smiled slyly in front of her.
"Why do you keep smiling like that, huh!?"
"I'm just curious."
"Curious about what? You must wonder how much it hurts to step on my foot ten times!?"
"Not. I'm just curious, what if you-"
"I don't care. I'm done with this."
Before I could say anything to her, she just walked away and finished her job. The woman with long wavy brown hair dressed like a country woman left the farmers and me. We are confused by her departure because it is caused by her lack of clarity as a volunteer here.
"Oh my, am I the one who did something wrong here?"
I went back to work, planting three to five rice paddies. After that, the man who was defending me said something.
"Please forgive Alice, sir. She wanted to help, but her heart is compassionate and easily hurt."
"It is okay. It was my fault that I stepped on her feet and made her leave. This is my fault, so I must apologize to her and you."
"No, you're not wrong, sir. Alice is childish, but she is a good woman. If her heart and feelings were not sensitive, she would not express what she felt. She was born like a woman who is honest with her feelings. If someone hated it, and she realized it, she would tell that person with her honesty. She had tried to contain her feelings, but her mind and mouth were always going in different directions. Her mouth would always say it whenever she thought not to say it. She is just a woman trying to hold back her feelings."
"Isn't it great for her to always be honest with others?"
"Well, that's right, but what do other people think? Look at you, sir. You're guilty of that, aren't you?"
"Umm… you're right. I feel guilty for making her leave."
No, I don't feel guilty at all. It's good because I can work here without anyone bothering me.
"That's why many people don't like her honesty. For them, her honesty bothered them. If she said something that could make the other person feel guilty, it would make it feel guilty. In the end, that person will have to apologize to her if it's not done in front of many people."
"What if it was done in front of many people?"
"Like you, you feel bad for her and apologize to us instead."
"Oh, I see."
I understand this, and I don't care about that woman. All I have to do now is complete the quest to plant 20 grains of rice. I have to do that to get the quest done and take another quest here. But before that, I must establish a good relationship with some farmer NPCs here. That way, I'll get another quest that I can run later.
At least I've managed to work out my plans for today on this game. At least nothing burdens me to become a reliable farmer who can grow 20 grains of rice.
But, I feel the same feeling. It's like when I forced my team ace to change how he played. I feel guilty for making him like that: this feeling... almost the same as back then. I should apologize to her for making her like this.
***
"Ah… finally…"
I checked the Main Menu, opened the Quest Menu, and saw my first quest has completed. Twenty paddies I planted in the mud signify that I have finished this work. I'll get the reward from this quest in the Adventurer's Guild, so I'll pick that up later.
"Then now…"
Time feels so fast here; an hour here is like 10 minutes in the real world. It's already late in the afternoon, which means it's already 10's pm in the real world. There's still time before 11 pm. And now, I know what I must do in less than an hour: apologize to the young woman named Alice and find another quest here.
The man said Alice lived not far around here, 100 meters from this rice field. She lived right where the sun was setting, and her house was also right facing the setting sun. So, I walked towards the west.
"Oh..."
I saw one house there. The house wasn't too big or small. It was an ordinary house similar to the other villagers' houses here. But according to what the man said, the house was facing west.
One step, two steps, three steps... I walked forty miles to get there. The system automatically cleaned the leather armor, pant, shoe, accessories, and other things I'm currently wearing. It happened after I got out of that rice field so I wouldn't come there with dirty clothes. She doesn't have to be afraid that I will pollute her house. She doesn't have to be afraid that I will get her clothes dirty. The game system has cleaned all the clothes I'm wearing.
The game system will clean all your clothes when you are outside your work zone, your fights... or any other zone, so you don't have to be afraid to wash your clothes. After all, you play this game not to wash your clothes.
I managed to stand in front of this house. I knocked on the door to tell her to open it or to ask her permission to enter. After waiting for three minutes, after waiting with all the patience I had, seeing that the door wouldn't open, I forced myself to open it. This is very rude but what can you do? Also, I apologize, so it's better to misbehave with her instead of just having one wrong with her. This is not a problem.
But somehow, when the door opened, I felt something strange in this house. For some reason, my character had goosebumps and felt the uncomfortable cold air. It feels like you're entering a haunted house or a meat cooler in the kitchen of a restaurant.
"Excuse me… Is anyone there?"
I entered with doubts. There is a feeling of getting out of this house, but there is also a feeling of curiosity about this house. Somehow, I'm curious about an NPC's house inside here.
I kept walking and thought I was already in the living room. Even if it's dark inside this house, I can still estimate my current position. Even so, the atmosphere here feels very astonishing. It felt like there was a threat all around me. I felt like I was in the danger zone because of my curiosity; somehow, I didn't feel afraid of it.
"The woman named Alice, were you there?"
I've come too deep in this house. I assumed I was in the kitchen now.
"The woman named Alice? So... I want to apologize for the incident in the rice fields. Sorry for stepping on your feet earlier. If you don't step on my feet, mine won't step on your feet. I'm sorry... and, can you come out now? Don't be a spoiled woman! The woman named Alice? An NPC? Alice is an NPC; come out! Oh, come on, come out now!"
As I called out her name, I kept looking for her.
When I opened the door, which was probably the bedroom door, I saw Alice. I finally managed to find her.
"The woman named Alice, is that you?"
That's Alice, and I'm one hundred percent sure she's Alice. She had long wavy brown hair and was dressed like a villager, so I was pretty sure Alice was standing there. But somehow, my character feels like saying the one over there isn't Alice.
And sure enough, the feeling for my character is correct; the one there is not Alice. She was indeed Alice, but not Alice who had been in the fields earlier. Her body was indeed Alice, but her eyes... her red-black eyes showed it wasn't Alice.
"Who are you?"
Moments after I asked her, she jumped at me and prepared to claw at me with her long nails.
I took the closest thing I could reach and managed to get hold of the round doorknob I was forced to break. I threw it at her, but...
"Oh no, I forgot, my aim is terrible."
It didn't hit her, it just passed through, and I had to turn around and run to avoid her.
As I continued to run to get away from her, a notification appeared as a message on my character's screen. The message said, "You got a new Quest. Defeat the angry demon Lord Alice, and don't get killed. This quest will end if you defeat her!" As I read the message, I muttered, "This isn't the time to get a new quest. This is not what I wanted, idiot! Actually, what game is this, huh!? Why did this game turn into a horror game, huh!?"
I ran non-stop while the crazy woman kept chasing me. Ultimately, I screamed like a woman, a scream I didn't like.
"Kyaaah..."