Chapter 2
The next morning, Akito woke up early and made himself a simple breakfast.
However, he quickly discovered a serious problem: the rice jar in his home had been raided by thieves.
Yes, in this era, rural life is plagued by pests, and in just one night, Akito found that the rice jar had been ruined by mice.
"Damn it, these cursed mice, not only did they steal my rice, but they even left their droppings on top of it. This is just disgusting..."
Looking at the soft, black droppings in the rice jar, Akito silently vowed to catch the damned mice, but there were no cats in the house, or rather, there were hardly any cats in the entire village...
"Sigh, why is my life so hard? It's either pretending to be cool after crossing over or pretending to be cool while crossing over, and here I am, bending over to feed a measure of rice..."
"I'm really suffering..."
"System, tell me honestly, are you here to punish me...?" Akito lamented helplessly.
Although he looked at the black droppings in the rice jar, Akito still endured it, scooping out the contaminated rice, and then casually cooked a pot of porridge and picked some greens. Breakfast was quickly prepared.
"The first thing to do is to catch that damned mouse, and the second thing is to solve my current living situation."
The first task seemed trivial to Akito, but the second was of utmost importance. After all, he had no source of income at the moment and was barely getting by on his parents' meager savings, which would likely run out soon.
Looking at the pitiful amount of money in his hand and the food at home, Akito thought maybe he could ask his neighbors for help...
While Akito was practicing his sword-drawing technique and thinking about how to approach the neighbors, he didn't notice that Haruno was dazedly holding her cheeks behind him, occasionally shyly turning her flushed face away, lost in her thoughts.
After a while,
"Oh no, I forgot what father asked me to do..."
"Akito, Akito..."
Hearing her voice, Akito stopped his movements and turned to say, "What is it, Haruno?"
"It's like this, Akito, father asked me to come and get you to our house. He has something to discuss with you." Haruno said shyly, patting her blushing cheeks.
"Um? Did Uncle say what it was about?"
"I don't know. Come on, Akito, let's go quickly, or my father will get impatient and spank me..." After saying that, Haruno hurriedly pulled Akito toward her house.
Soon, they arrived at the entrance of Haruno's home.
When Haruno's parents saw the two arrive, they quickly pulled Akito inside and sat cross-legged on the floor following the original owner's memories.
Haruno's parents had the typical rural appearance, with weathered wrinkles on their faces, but surprisingly, Haruno's mother looked very young, clearly a housewife who hadn't done farm work.
It was also evident that Haruno's father doted on Haruno's mother very much.
"Akito, due to the unfortunate incident with your parents, and since your family currently has no source of income, we thought about it and found you a job that can barely supplement your living. What do you think?..."
Upon hearing this, Akito felt relieved; the second goal was about to be accomplished. He quickly asked, "Uncle, thank you so much. Ever since my father and mother passed away, it has been you and Auntie taking care of me, and I have always been very grateful to you. Now you even helped me find a job; I don't know how to repay you..."
Akito put on a show of tearing up, performing a unique gesture of gratitude.
Though it was an act, he truly felt thankful for this family's kindness and thought that once he became strong in the future, he would definitely take good care of Haruno's family.
"Good child, good child, no need to be like this. Let me tell you about this job..."
Before long, Akito understood what the job entailed. It turned out that he would be accompanying Haruno's father to the town to deliver food for the villagers to sell to merchants, and his pay would be a small portion of the earnings.
This job was previously done by predecessor's father alongside Haruno's father. Now that Akito's father had passed away, Haruno's father discussed it with the villagers and decided to let Akito take over the job.
Moreover, it was also told to Akito that only one day of round trip is needed each week.
Upon hearing this, Akito was simply overjoyed; with this arrangement, the time for practicing the sword-drawing technique and work would be perfect.
Immediately, Akito agreed, and tomorrow would be the first delivery of the week, allowing Akito to go back and prepare well before setting off.
After thanking Haruno's family, Akito thought for a moment and turned back to ask Haruno's father how he kept the rice jar safe from rats.
Haruno's father didn't hold back and directly went to Akito's house to make a few mouse traps, even telling Akito a few strange delicacies...
Akito: "..."
In one day's time, although a bit was spent at Haruno's house, the remaining time was all used for practicing the sword-drawing technique. Moreover, Akito found that his speed in drawing the sword was increasing; in just one and a half days, he had gained over three thousand sword-drawing points, which was a few hundred more than the previous two days.
Lying on his bed, Akito looked at the number on his system panel, which had already surpassed eight, and secretly thought, "Aiming for a small goal will help achieve even bigger goal..."