In late March, the cold winds that swept through Hokkaido still carried a lingering chill.
Watanabe exhaled a cloud of white breath and couldn't help tucking his neck back into the warmth of his down jacket.
He was thin, his face darkened by years of working outdoors.
Before long, he poked his head out again, repeatedly glancing toward the intersection.
An Isuzu D-MAX pickup, still just recognizable as silver, approached from the far end of his field of vision, leaving two long tracks in the dirt.
The impatience vanished from his face, replaced by excitement mingled with an unreadable emotion.
He jogged over and shouted before the pickup had even come to a complete stop.
"Mr. Kitano!"
The door opened, and a young man who looked noticeably younger than him stepped out.
His skin was a lighter tan than Watanabe's, and his eyes shone beneath thick eyebrows as glossy and black as pencil lead.
"Let's go take a look."
The young man addressed as Mr. Kitano offered a brief greeting, then retrieved a hefty-looking bag from the cab.
"Her belly started swelling badly a few days ago. At first, I thought it was just ordinary bloat, but it swelled right back up after I gave her medicine..."
Leading the way, Watanabe began rambling, his eyebrows drawn tightly together.
"Has her feed intake been normal?"
Kitano nodded, seemingly acknowledging the man's words, or perhaps thinking something over. Only after a moment did he ask his question.
"I increased it a little after the weather warmed up, but it should still be within the normal range..."
Watanabe's voice grew uncertain.
"Let's take a look first."
Kitano spoke.
Watanabe nodded in relief.
They soon reached the Stables.
Unbothered by the smell hanging in the air, Kitano easily spotted the abnormality among the cattle.
Just as Watanabe had said, one dairy cow had a visibly swollen belly. When they arrived, she was panting heavily and trying to look back toward her abdomen.
"It is bloat."
Kitano took gloves from his bag and put them on, then walked around to the cow's left rear side and tapped the triangular hollow in her flank.
A clear, hollow sound came from her belly.
The cow let out an alarmed moo.
"Will you have to puncture it?"
Mr. Watanabe asked nervously.
"Not yet. Let's check the feed trough first."
Kitano shook his head.
Besides, when treating bloat in animals, releasing gas through a puncture was usually a lower priority than releasing it through the mouth.
Removing his gloves, Kitano walked to the other side of the Stables without worrying about the dirt, crouched down, and reached into the trough to sift through the feed.
"The proportion of concentrate is too high. How about feeding them more fresh green forage?"
He brushed off his hands and stood as he spoke.
As animals with multi-compartment stomachs, cattle were prone to swelling in their first stomach-the rumen-when fermentation of its contents produced large amounts of gas during rumination. Without effective treatment, a cow could even die from a ruptured rumen.
Ruminal bloat was often caused by eating too much concentrate or various compound feeds.
Perhaps it could even be considered a disease of affluence.
"So the feed is the problem?"
Copying Kitano, Watanabe scooped up a handful of feed and asked cautiously.
"Possibly, but it isn't the main cause."
If the feed were at fault, more than one cow should have been affected.
Kitano rummaged through his bag.
Soon, he took out a stethoscope and pressed it against the cow's abdomen, while his other hand repeatedly felt farther up, occasionally pausing to tap certain spots lightly.
"She probably swallowed something."
After a while, Kitano put away the stethoscope.
"We won't know exactly what until we take it out."
The tension in Watanabe's face eased a little, and he hurriedly asked, "What should we do, then?"
"I'm afraid she'll need surgery. Waiting any longer could put her in danger."
Kitano patted the cow's head again, trying to soothe her agitation.
"Then let's operate-"
Watanabe quickly nodded, then let out a long breath.
Together, they led the cow onto the concrete outside the Stables.
While Kitano lowered his head to prepare the anesthetic, Watanabe found a reasonably clean plastic sheet and spread it beneath the cow's feet.
If there was an upside to being a veterinarian, perhaps this was all that remained.
Most of the time, they were even less particular about their working conditions than military doctors.
The veterinary anesthetic soon took effect, and Kitano picked up the electric clippers and briskly shaved the surgical site.
Layers of winter hair fell away, gathering in untidy heaps at his feet.
After briefly disinfecting the skin with povidone-iodine, Kitano laid a sterile drape over the cow's abdomen.
With everything ready, he put on latex gloves.
The sharp scalpel descended precisely onto the left paralumbar fossa.
Watanabe couldn't help frowning.
Fine beads of sweat appeared on both men's foreheads.
Beneath the layers of hide lay the distended, misshapen rumen.
As Kitano cut it open, a powerful stench hit them.
[Horse Racing Tycoon System activated. Begin game?]
An emotionless mechanical voice suddenly rang in his ears.
Kitano's smooth movements abruptly paused.
"Is something wrong, Mr. Kitano?"
Watanabe asked, covering his nose.
"No, nothing."
Kitano responded as though nothing had happened while emptying the accumulated contents of the stomach.
The surgery in front of him mattered more than the inexplicable noise.
Forcing the distracting thoughts aside, Kitano soon immersed himself in the operation again.
The foreign object proved more stubborn than expected, so he simply set down the long forceps and reached in with his hand.
He pulled a wet, limp piece of fabric from the cow's stomach, its original shape barely recognizable. Pungent liquid kept dripping from its lower edge.
The digits "169" were faintly visible on the fabric.
"She... ate a feed sack?"
Watanabe's eyes immediately widened, and then he covered his face.
"Feed sacks... are best kept as far from the trough as possible."
That was all Kitano could say.
In many cases, livestock illnesses were linked to improper husbandry by their owners.
At least, that was true of the actual cases he had encountered so far.
Tossing the fabric aside, he picked up his suturing needle and thread.
Suturing cowhide took more effort than one might imagine. By the time the operation was over, it was already past one in the afternoon.
After giving instructions on the antibiotic dosage, Kitano began packing up.
"Thank you for your hard work!"
Behind the truck, Watanabe's bowed figure dwindled to a black speck. Only after a long while did he slowly straighten.
On the way back to the clinic, Kitano casually switched on the truck's stereo.
Old-fashioned enka music drifted out.
It belonged to the vehicle's previous owner, who had also been the clinic's former lead veterinarian.
After graduating from the Hokkaido University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine two years earlier, Kitano had joined his predecessor's veterinary clinic.
In Japan, being a veterinarian was hardly a particularly desirable job.
Perhaps that was precisely why his predecessor had so readily handed over the clinic and retired early the previous year.
Back at the clinic, Kitano parked but didn't hurry to get out.
"Phew-"
He slumped hard against the seat back and vigorously rubbed his temples.
[Horse Racing Tycoon System activated. Begin game?]
The voice that had suddenly appeared during the operation sounded again.
It repeated once every minute, with perfect precision.
He couldn't help letting out a scoff.
Kitano's reason for becoming a veterinarian was simple.
For most irrational choices, the single word "poverty" was reason enough.
The Kitano family had once been quite a formidable presence in certain industries.
But that had been a very long time ago.
When Kitano was thirteen, his father had chosen to wander off because of his debts.
His mother had died the following winter.
Through part-time work and scholarships, he had finally managed to finish high school.
An academic deviation score of 73 qualified Kitano to enter any national university, but the lure of low-interest loans from JA, the agricultural cooperative, and dedicated support from the Hokkaido University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine soon settled his choice.
A six-year undergraduate program, a national veterinary examination covering more than twenty subjects, and a veterinary license. After putting in no less effort than medical students of his year-
He had finally become a junior veterinarian earning no more than five million yen annually.
Farm visits cost thirteen thousand yen an hour, with a further discount for agricultural support services requested through JA.
For a graduate of a prestigious university, it was a true "3K" job: dirty, demanding, and dangerous.
But it was enough.
Open a pet hospital in Tokyo in ten years, then sit comfortably in his office while younger colleagues worked for him. That was the goal Kitano had set for the next stage of his life.
To that end, he saved toward his plan every day.
After all those years of scraping by on bean sprouts and nearly expired boxed lunches, the system had chosen now to appear.
His fists clenched instinctively.
Still, after a brief struggle, Kitano made his choice.
It wasn't particularly difficult.
[Begin game.]
He said it silently in his mind.
The next moment, a nearly transparent, glasslike panel suddenly appeared before his eyes.
[Abilities] [Assets] [Shop] [Quests]
Four prominent labels appeared in sequence.
The design was remarkably simple.
He tried closing the panel with his thoughts and quickly succeeded.
Kitano breathed a sigh of relief.
Although it didn't completely block his vision, having something constantly hovering in front of his eyes would still be bothersome.
Rubbing his temples again hard enough to hurt, he pushed open the truck door.
Whatever else happened, he had to finish the work at hand first.
He disinfected and processed the used surgical equipment, then completed and filed the visit record.
Only then did Kitano sit down to examine the system at leisure.
Despite his best efforts to look no different than usual, his heartbeat had unwittingly quickened considerably.
He attributed that to human instinct.
First came [Abilities].
This panel was equally simple.
[Kitano Yuk] [Horse-Sense Eye: C] [Pedigree Knowledge: E-] [Training: D+] [Health Management: B+] [Inspiration: E-] [Preferred Development Direction: None] [Title: None] [Available titles: 2]
C was the passing grade for someone working in the industry.
Apart from health management, his stats were downright dismal.
But for Kitano, who had a background as a veterinarian, even this assessment came as a pleasant surprise.
After all, he really did not know much about horse racing.
When he focused on each stat, an explanation of it popped up.
[Horse-Sense Eye] was the ability to judge a horse's physical capabilities and condition. The higher the value, the more accurate the information obtained.
Kitano did not think he had any knack for judging horses.
[Pedigree Knowledge] represented his understanding of Thoroughbred pedigrees and could provide some guidance when breeding horses.
For now, at least, that knowledge was of no use to him.
[Training] affected how well foals were broken in. Both a foal's temperament and its basic training before its debut were influenced by this stat.
Like [Pedigree Knowledge], it was a skill outside Kitano's area of expertise.
[Health Management] was the overall ability to manage a racehorse's weight, injuries, illnesses, and fatigue.
That more or less fell within his line of work.
[Inspiration] involved intuition related to racehorses. High inspiration often allowed a horse's potential to be discovered through a sudden flash of insight.
He could pretty much kiss any future of judging horses by intuition goodbye.
[Preferred Development Direction] represented experience in developing particular types of racehorses.
That, too, was an ability he had no use for yet.
Moving his gaze to the last line of the panel, Kitano opened [Titles].
[Available titles: 2] [Racing Novice] [Very slightly increases the chance of making industry contacts. Slightly decreases the chance of being invited to auctions and the race-day popularity of racehorses you own.]
Would anyone really equip a title that looked mostly detrimental no matter how you read it?
With that question in mind, he turned his attention to the second title.
[Racing Dynasty: Mejiro] [Slightly increases the chance of making industry contacts. Slightly increases the popularity of racehorses you own bearing the "Mejiro" prefix when competing overseas or in the Emperor's Prize.]
Kitano did not really feel any connection to this supposed racing dynasty.
There were indeed still some horse-racing-related items at home.
But that was about it.
Still, at least this title had no negative effects.
He chose to equip it.
Kitano then opened [Assets].
[Horses owned: 0] [Farms owned: None] [Clubs owned: None] [Total assets: -3.02 million yen]
The figures were painful to look at.
Especially the assets entry.
Remembering his unpaid student loans and the clinic transfer fee, he felt his heart give an involuntary twinge.
Next was [Shop].
[Detector: 20 Green Omamori] [Advisory Team Support: 50 Green Omamori/use] [Note: Each Green Omamori can be exchanged for 50,000 yen in cash, each Bronze Omamori for 200,000 yen, each Silver Amulet for 1 million yen, each Gold Omamori for 10 million yen, and each Rainbow Omamori for 100 million yen. During the fourth week of January each year, Lower-Tier Amulets can be exchanged for Upper-Tier Amulets.]
Aside from the explanation, only two entries were legible. Everything farther down was obscured by a mass of pixelation.
Quietly converting the prices into yen, Kitano could not help but click his tongue.
Finally, he opened [Tasks].
[Daily tasks] [Task one] [Watch a horse race in person: 0/1] [Reward: Green Omamori ×3] [Task two] [Browse horse-racing industry news: 0/30 minutes] [Reward: Green Omamori ×1] [Task three] [Practice your skills: 73/30 minutes (Completed)] [Reward: Green Omamori ×1]
Even for Kitano as he was now, these tasks were not particularly difficult.
And if he could reliably earn the five Green Omamori offered as rewards, that would amount to an annual income worth 90 million yen.
It looked far more promising than working as a veterinarian.
Besides, it seemed that making house calls also counted as practicing his skills.
That was good news.
After claiming his Green Omamori reward, Kitano tried exchanging it for cash.
The money did not materialize in his hand.
He was a little disappointed.
What an inconvenient setup.
Next came the regular tasks.
[Register as a horse owner with the JRA (Japan Racing Association) (Individual owner/Joint owner/Corporate owner): Incomplete] [Reward: Green Omamori ×1]
The very first task had already stumped him.
He was like a hero who had stepped into a trap and died in the starting village.
And the reward was far too stingy.
Still-
Kitano discovered that he actually had quite a few completed tasks.
[Make one industry contact: 32/1 (Completed)] [Reward: Green Omamori ×5] [Make five industry contacts: 32/5 (Completed)] [Reward: Green Omamori ×20] [Make ten industry contacts: 32/10 (Completed)] [Reward: Bronze Omamori ×5] [Make fifty industry contacts: 32/50] [Reward: Bronze Omamori ×20]
That probably counted as one of the perks of being a veterinarian... more or less.