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Night Guide

Village in the Shade Glowing Mice Guide

When you find a Glowing Mouse during nighttime exploration in Village in the Shade, give it Cheese and follow it. The mouse will eventually hide in a hole, and that is when you use your Hoe to uncover a Mouse Ancient Coin.

The coin is part of a repeatable well-offering side activity, not a random collectible. Current released-game guides report that offering 30 Mouse Ancient Coins at the mysterious well on the eastern mountain road gives the special Sewer Rat reward and ties into a trophy condition.

There is also a hard time limit: Glowing Mice disappear at 5:00 AM, so this is one of those mechanics where starting too late can look like failure even when you understood the event correctly.

Last verified: August 10, 2026. Reward and trophy names are shown with cautious working translations until official English localization confirms the final in-game wording.

Glowing Mouse status

Glowing Mice

Verified in released game

Appearance

Nighttime

Required Item

Cheese

Required Tool

Hoe

Reward

Mouse Ancient Coin

Main Well Goal

30 coins

5:00 AM Despawn

Verified

Activity Type

Nighttime side activity

Quick Answer

What Do You Do With the Glowing Mice?

This mechanic is short once you know the sequence, which is why the page works best as an exact-answer guide rather than a broad system overview.

The full sequence

  • Find a Glowing Mouse at night.
  • Give it Cheese.
  • Follow the mouse closely.
  • Wait for it to disappear into a hole.
  • Use your Hoe on the ground there.
  • Collect a Mouse Ancient Coin.
  • Take the coin to the mysterious well east of the village.
  • Offer 30 coins to receive the main reward.

Glowing Mice at a glance

When do they appear?

At night

What do they want?

Cheese

Do you attack them?

No

Should you follow them?

Yes

What tool do you need afterward?

Hoe

What do you receive?

Mouse Ancient Coin

What are the coins for?

Offerings at the mysterious well

How many coins for the main reward?

30

Do they disappear?

Yes, at 5:00 AM

Night Search

Where and When to Look for Glowing Mice

Treat them as a nighttime secret, not as a daytime farming or hunting target.

  • Prepare Cheese before going out at night.
  • Carry a Hoe so you can dig as soon as the mouse hides.
  • Explore Kagatsu after dark and watch for a clearly glowing mouse.
  • Do not start too close to 5:00 AM because the mouse despawns then.

A complete fixed spawn map is not documented well enough yet to promise exact every-time tiles. The safest advice is still to search during nighttime exploration, notice where successful encounters happen and avoid claiming a full permanent spawn chart before it is properly mapped.

Cheese

How to Prepare Cheese Before the Chase

The mouse event often fails for players because their real missing requirement is livestock progression, not the mouse itself.

  • Unlock Goat access through livestock progression.
  • Buy a Goat from Chinana after it becomes available.
  • Collect Goat Milk.
  • Process Goat Milk in the Milk Processor.
  • Wait until the next day and collect Cheese.

Current released-game testing says Cheese quality does not matter for the interaction, so there is no need to spend your best piece. Save higher-value Cheese for other uses if you want.

Follow and Dig

What Happens After You Feed the Mouse

This is the step many players miss: feeding the mouse starts the event, but it does not finish it.

What to do next

After receiving Cheese, the mouse runs away on purpose. Follow it until it disappears into a hole, note the exact ground spot, then use your Hoe there to dig up the Mouse Ancient Coin.

Do not waste arrows or hunting traps trying to catch it. The event is feed, follow, dig and collect coin, not attack and capture.

Best timing rules

  • Start the night with Cheese already in your inventory.
  • Do not detour after feeding the mouse.
  • Stay close enough that you do not lose it in the dark.
  • Dig immediately once it disappears into the ground.
  • If morning is very close, come back the next night instead.

Well Reward

What Is the Mouse Ancient Coin For?

The coin is used at the mysterious well on the mountain road east of Kagatsu Village.

This turns the mechanic from a one-off curiosity into a repeatable collection route. Current guides report that the well accepts up to 30 Mouse Ancient Coins and gives the special Sewer Rat reward after the full offering count is reached.

“Sewer Rat” is still best presented as a working English translation rather than a fully confirmed final localization term.

Well progression at a glance

Coin use

Offer at the mysterious well

Well area

Mountain road east of Kagatsu Village

Coins for main reward

30 Mouse Ancient Coins

Reward name

Sewer Rat (working translation)

Related trophy

Repayment / Returning the Favor (working translation)

Troubleshooting

Why the Glowing Mouse Event Seems Not to Work

Most failures come from missing one mechanical step rather than from a broken event.

I fed the mouse and got nothing

The event is not finished yet. You must follow the mouse, watch where it hides, then dig with a Hoe.

I tried traps or arrows

That is the wrong interaction. Glowing Mice are not handled like normal hunting targets.

The mouse vanished before I finished

Current released-game testing says Glowing Mice disappear at 5:00 AM, so you likely started too late.

I cannot do the event because I have no Cheese

Your missing requirement is probably goat and milk-processing progression, not the mouse itself.

I found coins but do not know what they do

Take Mouse Ancient Coins to the mysterious well on the mountain road east of the village.

I want the completion reward

The documented requirement is 30 Mouse Ancient Coins offered at the well, not one single mouse encounter.

FAQ

Glowing Mouse Questions

These are the short answers players usually need after their first incomplete encounter.

Give the mouse Cheese, follow it, wait for it to hide in a hole, then dig that spot with a Hoe to get a Mouse Ancient Coin.

Current released-game guides place them in nighttime exploration rather than daytime village life, but a complete fixed spawn map is still not documented well enough to claim exact every-time tiles.

Yes. They are treated as a nighttime event or nighttime secret rather than a daytime farm activity.

Cheese.

No. Current testing says Cheese quality does not matter for starting the Glowing Mouse event, so lower-quality Cheese is fine.

A Hoe, because you dig the spot where the mouse disappears.

It is offered at the mysterious well on the eastern mountain road, turning the mouse event into a repeatable collection activity.

Current guides report 30 coins for the main reward at the well.

Current Japanese guides report the reward as Sewer Rat, but that should still be treated as a working English translation until official localization confirms the exact item name.

5:00 AM.

Verification

What Is Solid and What Still Needs Caution?

The core interaction is already clear enough to publish confidently.

The stable pieces are: nighttime appearance, Cheese as the required item, following the mouse, digging with a Hoe, receiving Mouse Ancient Coins, the eastern well destination, the 30-coin reward threshold and the 5:00 AM despawn.

The parts that still deserve conservative wording are full spawn mapping, final official English item names and exact route descriptions for the well before a verified English map is fully documented.

Sources checked

  • Released-game Japanese Glowing Mouse guides
  • Gamecap nighttime exploration guide material
  • Kakinblog trophy and reward notes
  • Cross-checked released-game mouse coin and well reports

Next Steps

Carry Cheese Before You Start Night Exploration

That one small preparation step turns the Glowing Mouse event from a surprise miss into a repeatable coin route you can actually complete.

Written by: Village in the Shade Guide Editorial Team

Last updated: August 27, 2026

Sources: Official publisher and storefront pages, released-game research and linked source notes.