There was no two-story house on the ranch, of course. Koichi Sasaki's home was nothing more than a simple wooden cabin.
"Looks like Miku cleaned up for me ahead of time."
After stepping inside, Koichi Sasaki looked around.
He had been away from home for over a year. For the place to still be this clean, someone must have tidied it up beforehand.
He shut the doors and windows and switched on the electric heater.
Beep, beep, beep-
Koichi had just put his things down when an email arrived from his old man.
"You've really got some nerve contacting me."
His mouth twitched, but he opened the email anyway.
He wanted to see what his old man had to say.
"A ranch owner from Hokkaido going abroad to earn money? That's certainly an interesting excuse. As for the rest of his explanation, I suppose it's within reason."
After reading the several hundred words of explanation, Koichi rubbed the bridge of his nose.
He hadn't expected his father to have actually gone abroad.
Simply put, their ranch had once owned racehorses, some of which had achieved excellent results on the central racing circuit, but it had gradually fallen into decline.
By his generation, the family no longer had a single racehorse.
To retain their place in central racing, his old man had sent him to the Horse Racing Academy and given him a racehorse as a graduation present.
Two years.
That did give him some room to maneuver.
If he couldn't repay the loan within two years, the bank would repossess both the ranch and the racehorse, and he would lose his system as well.
"I can understand his reasons, but the loan still has to be repaid. Looks like my only option now is to ask my uncle for help."
Koichi remembered that his uncle was a junior manager at a large ranch in Hokkaido.
He would first see whether he could find a suitable job there.
For each race they won, jockeys received five percent of the prize money, along with a riding allowance.
Five percent might not sound like much, but horse races offered enormous purses.
These days, famous jockeys earned annual salaries not far below those of internationally renowned football stars.
Unfortunately, he was still a newcomer. Even if he found a job, he would probably be assigned to the regional circuit to ride in races for debutants first.
"Let's do the draws first and see what good stuff I can get."
Koichi was looking forward to the ten free Lucky Draws the system had given him at the start.
They would be a major boost as he began his career.
Ding. Congratulations! You have received banana x1. Ding. Congratulations! You have received banana x2. Ding. Congratulations! You have received carrot x10.
His fists clenched!
They clenched tight!
Koichi had never imagined that his ten Lucky Draws would give him nothing but food.
Fortunately, the final draw yielded a specialized skill.
Congratulations! You have received the Calming skill. Description: Gradually soothes an agitated horse.
"This skill looks pretty useful."
After reading the description, Koichi breathed a sigh of relief.
At least it wasn't some useless skill.
Racehorses had unpredictable tempers-downright volatile, even-and often acted up before or during races. For a newcomer, this skill was nothing short of a godsend.
Only by getting along with the horses could he have a bright future.
As for the bananas, carrots, and apples he had drawn, he would leave them in the system inventory for now.
If he got hungry later, he could take some out for a bite.
Once he finished the draws, Koichi called his uncle.
After a brief conversation, they agreed to meet at the ranch the next day.
The ranch where his uncle worked happened to be recruiting jockeys.
That was exactly what Koichi Sasaki had hoped for.
Perfect!
With his system, he was sure he could find a promising racehorse. After a few races, he could enter the central circuit.
That evening.
"Young Master Koichi, what are we supposed to do now?"
Miku Kuchiki's father wore a bitter expression.
He had never imagined that the old ranch owner would buy a racehorse, much less spend two hundred million yen on one.
To people like them, that was an astronomical sum.
His family had worked at Hokkai Ranch for generations, so naturally, he didn't want to see the bank foreclose on it.
Now the entire ranch's hopes rested on its young owner.
"Uncle Kuchiki, I'll go see my uncle tomorrow. We still have two years. We'll be fine."
Koichi picked up a little food with his chopsticks and spoke calmly.
As long as he could become a jockey at the highest level of racing, paying off the two-hundred-million-yen loan would be no problem.
With the system, he felt even more confident.
"Father."
Miku Kuchiki gave her father and mother a pointed blink.
They shouldn't put any more pressure on Young Master Koichi right now.
If he buckled under the strain at a time like this, they would truly have no one left to rely on.
After that, everyone finished the welcome dinner in silence.
"Young master, are you all right?"
After dinner, Miku Kuchiki found the young ranch owner at the stables again.
For a nineteen-year-old, this was far too cruel a burden.
All she could do was take good care of Gold Ship. She could tell that Koichi was very fond of the young horse.
"I'm fine. Have a little faith in me."
Koichi smiled and ruffled the girl's hair.
It felt rather nice.
"Hehe."
Miku Kuchiki gave a silly little giggle.
For some reason, whenever the young master patted her head, she felt safe.
Neigh, neigh-
Seeing that Koichi wasn't giving him any more carrots, Gold Ship promptly voiced his protest.
You're going to break a little horse's heart like this.
Do you know that?!
The automatically replenishing carrot dispenser has stopped replenishing!
"All right, all right. This is the last one."
Koichi took another carrot out of the small bucket.
Gold Ship's father was the legendary king of prize-money scavenging, having racked up a billion yen in earnings. He hadn't won his first Grade 1 race until he was seven.
His grandfather was an even more famous champion sire in Japan. The country's celebrated racehorses of the modern era were all his offspring.
As for Gold Ship's birth, that had naturally come about because his hotheaded older brother had posted impressive results.
Racing fans had begun placing blind faith in this miraculous bloodline.
But given the current circumstances, two hundred million was far too high a price. Koichi felt that a few tens of millions would have been about right.
Unfortunately, getting a refund now was out of the question.
Yet Gold Ship was different from his siblings. Not only had he inherited the Gold Ship Family's volatile temper, he had a mischievous streak to boot.
His reputation as a troublemaker was well deserved.
In terms of ability, though, it was fair to call him a racehorse just shy of Hall of Fame caliber.
Unfortunately, Gold Ship was only a year old. He would have to wait until around next autumn at the earliest to race.
Before Gold Ship's debut, Koichi would have to find a horse that could earn him some money.
"Young master, would you like me to go with you tomorrow?"
"I'm not going to negotiate a business deal. I'm mainly going to the ranch to find a job, so you don't need to come along."
Seeing the worry in her eyes, Koichi answered with a smile.
He had already arranged a time with his uncle, and the ranch wasn't somewhere just anyone could wander into.
Having connections really did matter in situations like this.
(End of chapter)
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