**Chapter 24: A Quiet Deal**
It was a lazy afternoon when Kitano, ready to close his vet clinic early, got a call from Kimura.
"Hey, Kitano, any chance you could swing by my ranch this Sunday?" Kimura's voice carried a hint of excitement.
After a brief pause, he lowered his tone, almost like he was sharing a secret. "I've got some foals with really unique backgrounds. Thought you might want to check them out."
"Unique foals, huh? Count me in," Kitano replied, curiosity piqued.
After hanging up, Kitano's mind wandered to a conversation with Ogawa Masaru a few days earlier. Kimura's call sounded like what Ogawa had described as a "private sale."
Private sales, Kitano recalled, came in two flavors. The first was when a horse owner spotted a foal with star potential—maybe a future champion—and worked out a deal with the ranch before it hit the auction block. These deals often came with a hefty price tag, banking on the foal's promise.
The second type was quieter, more cautious. If a ranch wasn't confident about a foal's lineage or health, or worried it might not sell well at auction, they'd reach out to trusted buyers. It was a way to offload the foal early, avoid losses, or protect the ranch's reputation from an unsold horse. From Kimura's tone, Kitano had a hunch this was one of those.
Still, he decided to go. The Hokkaido Select Sale was coming up from the 22nd to the 24th, and this could be a good chance to practice sizing up horses before the big event. A warm-up, of sorts.
Kitano pulled up the system panel on his phone, tapping into the [Assets] section.
[Horses Owned: 1]
[Ranches Owned: 0]
[Clubs Owned: 0]
[Total Assets: 1.09 million yen]
Seeing his account back in the black after so long felt good, but this amount wouldn't even buy a decent racehorse, let alone something like his prized Mejiro Pegasus. He needed more cash.
Time to trade in some Omamori, he thought. For now, just the green ones.
Over the past four months, he'd saved up a stash of green Omamori by completing daily tasks, but now more than half were gone in a flash. He also grabbed three [Detectors] from the system's shop, leaving him with fewer than 50 Omamori. It stung, but it was necessary.
The rest of the week got hectic. House calls spiked—cows and horses down with seasonal bugs or, worse, cases of animals munching on poisonous weeds. Every year, Hokkaido's ranchers fought a losing battle against those stubborn plants. They'd pull weeds by hand, spray chemicals, plow fields, and dig irrigation ditches, but the weeds always crept back in unnoticed corners.
Kitano spent his days inducing vomiting, flushing stomachs, and setting up IV drips. Before he knew it, Sunday arrived.
His phone alarm buzzed at 7:31 AM. Groaning, he reached from under the covers to silence it. After lingering in bed for another half-minute, Kitano dragged himself up. Even on his day off, sleeping in wasn't his style. A steady routine, he believed, was better for the body than a few extra hours of shut-eye. Plus, he had plans that afternoon.
After washing up, he made breakfast: fried egg toast and hot milk, a nice change from last night's leftovers. He ate while watching a show on his phone, an episode of [All Creatures Great and Small]. At over forty minutes, it took him two or three mornings to finish one episode. He wasn't one to rush through it like a pelican gulping down fish—he savored the series at its own pace.
After washing dishes, Kitano settled on the sofa with a veterinary journal. Two hours slipped away like they'd been snatched by some sneaky monster.
[Ability Training in Progress: 116 / 30 minutes (Completed)]
He stretched, collected the mission reward from the system, and changed into casual clothes. Deciding to skip the car, he strolled through quiet streets to the convenience store, about fifteen minutes away. Besides picking up groceries, he checked his bankbook, carefully counting the zeros to make sure everything added up. Satisfied, he headed home with two heavy plastic bags.
Sorting groceries into the fridge took longer than it should have—Kitano wasn't exactly a natural at organizing, despite handling chemicals all the time. By lunchtime, he was done and changed into something more formal for the ranch visit.
Driving down Yushun Roman Street, he took in the view: the sparkling sea on one side, endless green fields on the other. Forty minutes later, he pulled up to Newborn Ranch. Unlike most ranches in Ryusa County with their big signboards, Newborn had a carved stone marker at the entrance and a row of decorative stones lining the irrigation ditch.
"Welcome, Mr. Kitano!" Kimura called out, striding over with a few employees, all smiles.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Kimura," Kitano said, shaking his hand briefly.
"It's getting hot out here," Kimura said. "Let's head inside first."
Kimura gave Kitano a tour of the ranch, proudly sharing his methods for running the place. Kitano listened closely, asking questions now and then. To most people, this stuff might seem dull, but Kitano found it fascinating.
"You've really opened my eyes, Mr. Kimura," he said sincerely.
As one of Japan's few owner-breeders—folks who both owned and raised racehorses—Kimura knew the industry inside and out. Kitano might know horses as animals, but when it came to the broader world of horse racing, he still had plenty to learn.
"Haha, it's nothing!" Kimura laughed, clapping Kitano's shoulder. "Anytime you've got questions, just ask. Now, come on—let me show you the pride of our ranch."
He led Kitano to the pasture, pointing out a Kurige mare with a striking white blaze. "This is Lady Myochu, Mr. Yoshida Katsuri's favorite. Ours too, of course."
Then, with a grin, he gestured to another Kurige horse in a nearby field. "That's her first foal. See how the blaze is almost identical?"
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