57 – Welcome to the Wandering House

"Mmm…"

*Poke**poke*

"Eeh!?"

I wake suddenly. My memory is hazy and my head hurts? What the hell happened? I… can't remember anything. The last thing I remember is facing Leon but after that… it's blank. I wake up and see the ceiling of a house with a chandelier. But most importantly.

"Raw"

A white tiger cub was poking my boobs. I lift my upper body and grab the tiger cub.

"You're kind of cute, you know. Are you supposed to be my wake up call?"

I start looking around. I was laying down on the floor in the middle of a hallway. This house resembles a modern era house. I mean the chandelier had light bulbs, the floor had a fancy carpet and overall the design was modern. Most importantly though, I couldn't see any windows.

"You wouldn't happen to know where I am?"

The tiger opened his mouth.

"Of course. You're in the Wandering House."

"Eeh!? You can talk, little cub?"

"Don't be silly. Look over here, miss."

Now that my brain is starting to slowly function again, the voice didn't actually come from the tiger cub. I turned around. From a corner, a girl made her appearance.

Where should I start? First… is she an exhibitionist? The amount of skin she's showing is… dangerous. She's a small girl, probably barely reaching 140cm. She had long silver hair, a tiger tail, laid down tiger ears but at the same time a pair of large demon horns. She had expensive jewelry and despite looking like she was wearing a 2 piece swimsuit, it also gave off the impression that she was wearing a harem outfit.

Her azure eyes were charming to the point you could dive into them like a lake. Her face tattoo also made her resemble a feline. What can I say, this girl resembles a white tiger.

"Umm… hello there. Is this by any chance your home?"

"I guess it is."

The tiger cub leaped from my hands and headed towards the girl.

"Sorry if Kudo was bothering you."

"No. Not at all. He is kinda cute. Anyway, you said something about Wandering House? What is this place? How did I get here? Is this your place?"

"One question at a time. This place is mine, but at the same time, it isn't. As for how you got here… I don't know. I was in my room when I heard a thump. When I came out… I saw you, but I let you sleep. It's a shame you yourself don't know how you got here."

Her face is a mix of joy and sadness. Just what the hell happened? It's not like she's making that much sense either.

"Umm… well if it's not too much trouble, just show me the door and I'll be out of your hair."

"I can't do that. You can't leave."

"Huh? Listen, kid, I got places to be. If you are going to stand in my way then…"

She extended her hand forward signaling me to stop my sentence.

"You got it wrong. I'm not trying to stop you. Maybe I didn't word it correctly. It's not that I am not letting you go. The problem is… there is no such thing as an exit door."

"Huh?"

"It will be easier to understand if I show you around the house first."

Okay… well since I have no clue what's going on right, I decided to play along. She started showing me around. The hallway ended up with a dead end. But on that hallway there were two doors. Each door has a sign on them with the picture of a chibi figure.

One of them resembled this tiger girl and the other kinda looked like me. Although I don't spit fire from my mouth and don't look that aggressive.

"Up until now this hallway only had my room. These are sleeping quarters if you may. Ever since you appeared, the other door also appeared. It's safe to assume the house made you a room too."

The house? Err… it's not like the house is a living being. We continued our tour. From that corridor, you enter a large living room. A warm fireplace, 2 modern leather couches, a round table and a large bookcase. From the living room there was a door leading to the only bathroom. Tub, shower, regular toilet seat with running water.

The other opening led to a kitchen. There wasn't much in here. A fridge, a classic burner stove, a sink and a countertop.

"It took me quite a while to figure out how these weird magical appliances work. There is no issue with food. Each day, when you open this cold cabinet, it is always full of fresh food.

And that's pretty much everything. There's also a staircase that leads to an empty basement I use to work out in. This is the Wandering House. It provides everything needed to live in. Even the books in the bookcase change after a while.

So… do you understand my words now? Have you noticed it?"

"There are… no windows or a door leading outside…"

"Correct. You can't even tell if it's day or night. There is a grandfather clock there, I adjusted my metabolism and schedule after it."

"Umm… if there's no door can't we just smash a wall to get out?"

"Try it and see for yourself."

Another riddle. This girl seems really convinced that there is no way out, but if there's no door, you just got to make one. Well, I'm not as full strength, but…

"[Plasma Cannon]!"

An electric orb the size of a football emitted from my hand. This is similar to a fireball, except it's pure electricity. It collided with the wall creating an explosion. When the smoke cleared, the wall did have a giant hole in it but… on the other side… nothing. Pure white.

"What the…!?"

I extended my hand and try touching the white space, however electric white sparks repelled my hand. And for the first time, a game element mechanic appeared in my head. A red triangle with an exclamation mark with the following message: Warning! Cannot Step Out of Boundary.

An invisible wall mechanic like in games that prevents players from exploring beyond the areas the devs scripted?

"Do you understand now, miss? This Wandering House is a place where people wander. I tried forcing out many times myself, but the truth is, there is no way out. I know it's hard at first, but eventually you need to accept this if you want to stay sane."

"Stay sane? Wait, now that I think about it, who are you and just how long have you been here?"

“Ah, pardon my manners. It truly has been ages since I spoke with another living person. Even Kudo here is something I created from my mana and a hair strand just to keep me company and sane. I lost track of time, but I suppose I’ve been here for roughly… 200 years maybe?”“200 years!!?”

Does that make this girl a lolibaba?“Yes. As for who I am, allow me to properly introduce myself. I am, or to be more precise, I used to be the Maou. Lieselotte Dragulia. But my friends call me Lotte. Pleased to meet you."