Pats are Dangerous

Work finished! Logging into the game!

"I'm back… huh?"

I was inside Penpen's Home, but looking at Tria, her equipment had changed. She'd been barefoot until last night, but now she was wearing equipment called "Turtle Leather Sandals".

Her clothes had also been replaced with clean ones, and she even had "Tortoiseshell Breastplate" added as torso equipment. It was like a single hexagonal panel from a turtle shell made into a breastplate.

The name made it sound like it might slow you down, but her movement speed had actually increased slightly. Footwear beats barefoot, naturally.

"Oh, Tria-chan's spirit, welcome back from work."

"Ah, Penpen. Could this possibly be…"

"Yup, I made it from the turtle materials you gave me! Tria-chan being barefoot was just too pitiful!! I asked her to help me put them on and she equipped them!!"

So she'd done something about the too-basic starting outfit.

She'd even made proper clothes by processing grass into fabric — almost no defense, but still proper clothes. The dress is cute. She's got good taste…

Until just now, she had been pretty ragged, yeah. Still in the "just been sacrificed" state.

"Thank you. For payment… I don't have money, so how about one or two more turtles?"

"Huh? Oh, I just gave them to you on my own, so you don't need to pay. But if you're offering, can I take them? They seem like pretty good materials!"

"Then take these spare parts that are taking up space in my inventory."

Trade complete. I handed over the Baby Turtle parts from my earlier hunts.

You want the organs too? Sure, sure. Take them. Use them as fertilizer for the field or whatever.

"Hyaa! Much appreciated! Much appreciated!! My crafting skill level is shooting up! I'll grill the meat too and raise my cooking skill — hyahaa!!"

"Production skill leveling. So that's a thing too…!"

I might be a little jealous. Maybe I should pick up a crafting skill too… No, half-heartedly dabbling in it would just make me a jack of all trades. Better to team up with Penpen instead — I'll gather materials, she'll handle production.

"Ah. Speaking of which, Tria-san. I totally forgot, but can we do friend registration?"

"Oh. Right, there's a feature like that."

"Yeah, I was so shocked to meet another player for the first time yesterday that I completely forgot, but it exists…!"

We registered as friends.

I should give my coworker my friend code tomorrow too. Man, I totally forgot. Gotta make sure to write it down.

After registering, I could now see Penpen's login status from the friends list.

Right now it was bright green, indicating she was logged in. According to the help, yellow meant away and gray meant logged out.

"Looking forward to working with you!"

"Yeah, likewise."

Her attitude had become more casual compared to yesterday. Felt like we'd gotten a bit closer.

Oh. Speaking of getting closer, that reminded me.

"By the way, Penpen."

"We're friends now so drop the formality — just Penpen is fine! Can I call you Tria-chan or Tria-shi too?"

"Oh, sure. Then, Penpen. Do you know you can pet the characters?"

"What's that? I don't know! Tell me please!"

I taught Penpen that you could give headpats by tapping or mousing over during auto-mode.

"Good info! Let me try it right away! Penpen, going to auto-mode and… hwa. O-oh, um, hi, yes."

Bow — Penpen lowered her head with a fidgety expression.

Apparently, that was their auto-mode character… like Tria on my end. I'll call her Penpen-chan.

"Hyah!?"

Twitch! Penpen-chan suddenly widened her eyes and her body jumped. Her large chest bounced with a boing.

Whoa.

Huh.

Wait, whoa, wha—

"Nngh… A-ah, S-Spirit-samaaaa…! Ah, ah♪"

Whoa.

Oh, so that's what the heart marks mean? Ah, ah.

That happens? I mean, she's still clothed, but. Aahh!

W-wait, Tria, you shouldn't watch!! Ah, but there's no motion to cover her eyes, so I can't — she has to watch!

Wow, that's intense… Woooow. Wow. Wowee…

"Hyau… a-ah, ah… aaah♪… ngh… mmh♪"

…

… Phew.

Just when she'd collapsed as if exhausted, Penpen-chan suddenly shot back up.

"I'm back! My body feels all warm and my status is 'Good'! As in 'good condition'! I see, this is some great tech you taught me!"

"Y-yeah."

Apparently Penpen had switched back in. What happened just before didn't seem to matter? Right?

Th-the Penpen-chan who had been in an indecent state while still fully clothed never existed…!

"Um, if you overdo it, there's a chance the affection will actually drop, so moderation is best."

"Oops, like pestering a cat until it hates you. Roger that! … Hm? She wants it every day? That's what she says, so it should be fine!"

"Y-yeah. B-but you probably shouldn't do it in front of people."

"You think? Maybe? … Huh, oh. She says not to worry about it."

"No, worry about it! Please! If you're going to pet, do it at Home! Got it!?"

"U-understood."

That could have changed the game's genre and rating — what a terrifying headpat system…!

Also, just how vigorously did she pet her…? Ah, come to think of it, she was using voxel display mode.

She probably couldn't gauge the intensity… No, there's also the possibility that voxel display has no limiter, visually speaking…

"S-Spirit-sama. T-Tria would also like headpats… please."

… Later! And I won't do it that intensely!

Also if I did this to Tria it'd be a crime, you know!! No wait, it's a game so it's legal, but it's a game so it's legal but still!!