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"Ah, the new farmer! Welcome! I'm Lewis, the mayor of Pelican Town."
A man with a kind face approached me and started speaking. He must have said more after that, but I was too distracted by my new home to pay attention. Was it an amazing house? Well, yes—just not in a good way.
There was no kitchen. Nobody told me about that. This was less of a house and more like... a storage shed.
"It's a good home. Very humble."
"Well, I suppose you could call it that, but I think 'shabby' is the more accurate word."
After some back-and-forth, the mayor subtly warned the carpenter to watch their words. Not that I felt like arguing—it was the truth, after all.
"Um..."
I mumbled, breaking the silence. Both of them turned their gazes toward me.
"So... This is my grandfather's house? This one here, without a kitchen, just one big room?"
"Ah, strictly speaking, this is actually a storage shed. If you take the path up back there, you'll find the old cabin where your grandfather actually lived. But when we heard you were coming, I went to check on its condition... and, well, it was beyond saving. The roof had caved in, and the kitchen was completely unusable since gas and electricity hadn’t been working for a long time."
The townspeople had gathered unwanted furniture to make this shed somewhat livable. Thanks to their kindness, I at least had a built-in TV and bed. After receiving a brief introduction to the town, the two of them left.
Once they were gone, I noticed something on the dining table.
"Seeds...? These are parsnips."
I remembered parsnips. When I was little, I used to sit on my grandfather’s lap while he told me about them. A spring crop with a short growing time—perfect for a beginner farmer. He said that he himself had started with parsnips when he first took up farming.
Beside the seeds was a note from the mayor, wishing me luck.
Well, I'm here now, so I might as well give it a shot. Turning the impossible into reality—that's what an engineeri is supposed to do.
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I tilled the soil, planted the seeds, and watered them. It didn’t seem like much, yet I was already exhausted. Too much time spent without physical labor, I suppose.
After planting everything, I stretched my arms and stood up. Ugh, my back... How had so much time passed already?
The mayor had advised me to go around town and introduce myself to the residents. The idea alone gave me flashbacks to my freshman year of college. Back then, I had forced myself to socialize to ensure a smooth university life, only to end up collapsing in exhaustion every night. And after all that effort... did I actually make any close friends?
Let’s not go there. I had enough to deal with already.
Instead of meeting people, I decided to clear some trees and break a few rocks. Before I knew it, my hands were numb, and I was completely drained. The sun was only beginning to set, but if I moved even a little more, my body was going to give out.
Dragging myself inside—yes, inside the house. It might technically be a storage shed, but if there's a roof over my head, it's a home—I collapsed onto the bed.
As I lay there, I reflected on my first day. Arriving in an unfamiliar place at dawn, moving into a glorified shed, planting crops, clearing the land...
Just as I was about to drift off, my eyes snapped open.
Oh, right—!!
"When I was chopping trees earlier, I found some tree seeds! I can make an energy bar out of them! All I need are acorns, maple seeds, and pinecones!"
The sheer brilliance of the idea made me say it out loud.
"And if I add fir tree and birch seeds, I could even make cookies!"
A grin spread across my face. At least I wouldn’t starve.
This time, sleep came easily—not because I was exhausted, but because I was finally at peace.
"Starting a farm in a storage shed... Maybe there's some charm in that. Plenty of great entrepreneurs started out in a garage, after all..."
And with that, my first night came to a close.