Chapter 3
"Good morning, Uncle..."
"Mm, good morning, Akito..."
Akito had already gotten up early to gather at the village entrance. After greeting Haruno and her father, he began to check whether the goods and grain were secured properly, pulling here and tapping there.
After a short while, once the checks were completed, the two bid farewell to Haruno and her mother and set off.
They were delivering goods with an ox cart, with the two walking one in front of the other. Haruno's father led the way by holding the ox, while Akito followed behind to ensure the cargo was tied securely.
Along the way, Haruno's father would explain various things about different places they passed and share interesting stories about his work delivering goods with Akito's father.
Of course, he also recounted the terrifying stories he had heard from the small town...
"Legend has it that after the sun sets, demons come out to eat people. There are also demon hunters who slay these evil demons to protect people..."
Haruno's father even boasted that he had seen a demon, but Akito didn't believe it, thinking that if he had really seen a demon, he wouldn't be standing here bragging about it.
"Uncle, didn't you say that demon eat people? How did you survive then?" Akito asked.
"Hahaha, can't you tell I'm just bragging? I haven't seen any Demons in my life. The last person who told me this story said the same thing. I'm just relaying the story. Besides, stories aren't necessarily true. In my 25 years of life, I've never seen a Demon. I reckon it's all made up to warn kids not to sneak out at night to play..."
Indeed, in many underdeveloped small villages in this world, information is not easily accessible. Even if someone did see a Demon, if they weren't part of the Demon-hunting team, they wouldn't have the chance to spread the news.
After about three hours, the two finally arrived at a small town. To be honest, this was Akito's first time experiencing the appearance of a small town during Japan's Taisho era (1912-1926). In his past life, it was said to be a relatively stable period in Japan.
Looking at the bustling town, Akito recalled his studious past life.
His gaze unconsciously darkened.
He wondered how his parents were doing now and what they would think when they found out he was missing...
Seeing the sadness in Akito's eyes as he stood there dazed, Haruno's father thought perhaps Akito was missing his parents, so he said, "Akito, let's go, we'll deliver the grain to the merchant and then I'll take you to eat something delicious."
Soon, Haruno's father took Akito to the merchant to settle the grain payment.
Then, the two strolled through the lively streets, with Haruno's father constantly talking to Akito about various things he thought Akito had never seen before, as in his memory, Akito had never left the village for the town.
However, Akito just wanted to hurry back home and make up for the number of sword draws he had missed today, hoping to activate the system as soon as possible to deal with the potential dangers that might arise at any moment.
Although Akito was familiar with most things, there were still some small items that were quite novel, being specialties of the small island nation.
By this time, the small island nation had already begun to have firearms, and some prosperous areas had started to see concrete high-rise buildings.
After buying some daily necessities and snacks for Haruno, the two finally took the ox cart back to the village.
During this season, the sun set relatively late. By the time they returned home, the sun had not yet set, and the crimson evening glow reflected on Akito's face.
Feeling the gentle breeze brushing against his face, Akito sensed that something about his body seemed a little different.
Yet, he didn't pay much attention to it, thinking perhaps he was just a bit nostalgic for his past life...
After all, it was a other world...
After tidying up, Akito began to practice drawing his sword with the remaining light.
Before long, days passed, and six months went by. During this time, aside from cooking and practicing sword drawing, as well as delivering goods once a week, there weren't many changes.
Every day, a pair of small eyes would watch him. At first, it might have felt a bit uncomfortable, but over the past six months, it had become Akito's daily companion.
Akito would occasionally go to Haruno's house for a meal; after all, having someone cook allowed him to save time to practice drawing his sword, which was quite enjoyable.
Over these six months, Akito would practice until he was exhausted, but thanks to the system, his body would recover vigorously the next day, and he was able to draw his sword faster and more skillfully each day.
As a result, the number of sword draws displayed on the system panel had reached as high as 700,000.
Now the number of sword draws per day is almost reaching 10,000, which shows how fast the drawing speed is.
Perhaps the saying "with a goal in mind, the sword is naturally sharp" is just this kind of reasoning.
Moreover, after half a year, Akito seems to have discovered something different about this body; it seems to be growing quickly. From a height of about 1.45 meters before, he has now grown to around 1.6 meters, which is quite alarming. In just half a year, this height increase is indeed significant.
After all, the average height of the people in the small island nation is generally low. Haruno family hasn't changed much; they eat and drink as usual, and life is quite comfortable.
"It's almost there. At the current speed, the number of sword draws will soon reach 1 million, and then the system can be activated."
"Also, why do I have a vague feeling of palpitations, as if something bad is about to happen..."
Akito, practicing sword drawing with his bare upper body, furrowed his brows and looked into the distance.
"That direction... makes me feel uneasy..."
The wooden sword in his hand stopped, and Haruno, with a puzzled expression, asked, "Brother, why did you stop? Did something happen?"
Akito shook his head and didn't say much. After all, this was just something he felt in his heart; perhaps he was just overthinking since coming to this world.
But soon, Akito's unease was validated...
"Hey... have you heard? It seems a man-eating Demon has appeared in the neighboring village. Several people have gone missing, and it's said they were dragged to the mountain and eaten. When found, there were only some minced meat and rotten limbs left, completely devoured..."
"Now that village is in a state of panic; no one dares to go out, and they tightly shut their doors at night... sigh, I just hope the officials can kill that damned Demon so that no one else has to die..."
"Yeah, we need to kill the Demon quickly. Otherwise, if it gets tired of the neighboring village, it might come to our village, which would be terrible..."
"Enough talk. Recently, we must keep our doors and windows tightly shut at night and also place some self-defense weapons by the bed. Better safe than sorry..."
"Right, right, right..."
Early in the morning, some of the elderly in the village would gather to gossip when they had free time.
Akito listened to the back-and-forth conversation of these elders, his brows furrowing tightly as he felt a tightening in his heart. The vague sense of unease was indeed coming from the direction of the neighbouring village where the incident occurred...
"No wonder I have to face the man-eating demons of this world so soon..."
"And my sixth sense in this body is so strong..."
Akito murmured quietly, but soon ran back home to practice sword drawing, also placing a chopping knife and an axe by his bedside. Although Akito understood that if it really was a monster, the sword and axe would be useless; only the Nichirin blades in the hands of the Demon Slayer Corps could kill demons.
Since he was here, he might as well settle down. Thinking this way, Akito began a day of sword drawing practice.
Before long, a week passed uneventfully, but on the eighth day, the bad news finally reached Akito's village.