SC1 1.2 – New Family
Across our hunting ground we had to check 36 snares and today we had good harvest. In total we caught four hares and three pheasants. While we walked back to the village, I took a glance at Yunno and Yui. The two were walking in front of me, carrying one wild chicken each.
While they had big smiles in their face the two were happily chanting, ““Chicken, chicken, chicken…. Delicious chicken…””
I could only heave a deep sigh as Yunno and Yui carried the wild chicken as if it was the most precious treasure in this world, even though they knew they wouldn’t enjoy it.
‘What a naïve kids,’ I muttered as I strengthen my resolve to look after them.
Then, we finally arrived at the edge of the woods and I decided to hunt some wild games. Other than to collect capitals for my plan, I also had to check the extent of my current skill.
“Yunno, Yui, let’s rest a bit here.”
I gently said, but in an instant Yunno and Yui gave me a look full of concern.
“Big Bro Sanno, does your body still hurt from the fall?” Yunno asked me worriedly.
“No, I just need to take a pee.”
I made a random excuse in reflex, but somehow it worked. Yunno nodded her head while relieve was clearly visible in Yui’s expression. Wasting no time, I went into behind a thick bush.
After taking a deep breath, I deployed Essence Pulse to track movement and presence up to radius 50 meters from my position. In an instant I located 14 hares, 4 pheasants, and 2 wild chickens. This was my first hunt, so I didn’t too picky and carried out a quick harvest.
Most of my prey didn’t have time to react as invisible force suddenly snapped their neck. I then stored them in my spatial storage. Only two hares escaped my ambush, but it was a clear mark that I was super weak currently.
When I was a Level 99 warrior, not even a group of Demonic Tiger could escape my Shadow Hand. But now, two ordinary hare evaded it just by relying on their spontaneous reaction.
Well, no one knew how strong I’m in my previous life. So, I should not brag about it or ashamed with my current level. With a content heart I returned to Yunno and Yui.
“Let’s go.”
I calmly said to Yunno and Yui, and they cheerfully nodded. Around twenty minutes later, we exited the woods and two middle-aged men had already waiting for us. They were Tanno and Danno, the first and second son of Tadaoka Household. Tanno had nothing, while Danno had a wild chicken hanging in his shoulder.
As we arrived before them Yunno cheerfully said, “Uncle Tanno, Uncle Danno, we have good harvest today.”
“I can see that,” Tanno flatly replied as he took over our harvest. “Take the kids home and don’t forget to find worm, frog, and bug in our field.”
“Okay,” I obediently replied like how the Unfortunate Sanno usually would.
Tanno and Danno then left to sell the harvest to a butcher in Rokube Town. I looked at them as I fell into contemplation. Previously, even from a dozen meters, as wind blew to my direction, I faintly smell the scent of hare from Tanno and Danno even though they didn’t carry any. It seemed they hide some of their harvest and who knew how long they had did it.
“Big Bro Sanno, is something wrong?” Yunno asked me as worry started to appear in her eyes.
After a smile I replied, “Nope, let’s go home.”
“Mhm.”
Yunno then hold Yui’s hand as we walked back to the village. Around a kilometer from the village’s gate, we arrived in Tadaoka’s rice field. It was around 600 square meters. It was indeed not big, but actually more than enough to properly feed the whole household, if only we didn’t sell the rice and sent the money to Manno.
We then went to hunt bug, frog, and worm in the rice field. As I saw how Yunno and Yui cheerfully carried the hunt and sometimes even laughing breathlessly, I immediately let a deep sigh. Tadaoka Household truly put too much work on these two. Moreover, Yunno and Yui were actually the rightful owner of the rice field.
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Sendai Village was the only village in the foot of Mount Haruna. It was around 5 km north of Rokube Town and had 36 household with total population around 700 adults. As one of the oldest household in Sendai, Tadaoka Household had it house near the village hall.
Around thirty minutes before sun fully down in the west, we entered the gate of Tadaoka’s household. Then, we went straight to the side yard. It was not as big as front yard and had bamboo fence to keep the hens from ranging too far. As soon as the hens saw Yunno and Yui, they immediately gathered around them. Without delay, Yunno and Yui happily fed the hens with bug, worm, and frog.
In total Tadaoka Household had 30 hens. Yunno and Yui didn’t only take care of them properly, but also sincerely loved them and even give each hen a name. And maybe, it was the reason why the hens happily lay egg almost every day.
However, pretty similar to our rice field or wild game we got every day. We also had to sell the chicken eggs and sent the money to Manno. As usual, Yunno and Yui never enjoyed the result of their hard work.
“Bonnie-01, don’t run you naughty chicken.” Yunno called to a dark brown hen as she tried to catch it. “It’s almost sun set. You have to enter your cage or weasel will kidnap you and eat you.”
With Yui’s help, Yunno finally managed to put Bonnie One into the cage. After that, they tried to catch Bonnie-01 to Bonnie-30. The two had big smile as they chased the hen around. Every time they caught one of the hens, they would gently rub it before putting it into their cage.
One thing that drew my attention was that all the hens were highly identical. Their feather were either reddish brown or creamy brown. So, it was very hard to distinguish one hen from the other. Even the Unfortunate Sanno who helped Yunno and Yui took care of them couldn’t tell the difference between each hen.
Yet, Yunno and Yui could differentiate them with ease. It meant they had an extremely good attention to the detail. Moreover, from how they named the hens it seemed they knew how to count, while based on the Unfortunate Sanno’s memory no one had taught them math.
It led me to one thing. They had an extremely good soul mark. Not to mention, the Unfortunate Sanno had a rare Black Dragon soul mark while Yunno managed to become a calamity after she took demonic path.
Well, it seemed my intention to ensure their wellbeing would be fun. I had to check their soul mark tonight.
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After moving enough water from the well to the bathroom, I asked Yunno and Yui to take a bath while I washed their clothes and my own as clean as possible. After that I also took a bath. Then, we wait for dinner in the main hall with other member of Tadaoka Household.
In all, the Unfortunate Sanno had four older brothers, a deceased older sister, and one younger sister. All his older siblings had been married and had a child or two. As their wife was busy preparing dinner in the kitchen, his older brothers were waiting while showing their paternal love to their children.
As for me, I just calmly waited in silence with Yunno and Yui. Both I and the Unfortunate Sanno didn’t know how to show familial affection when we were in the middle of crowd. So, I only sat in silence with Yunno and Yui like how the Unfortunate Sanno usually did.
As Yunno and Yui watched their uncles pampering their children, I didn’t see jealousy in their eyes, but it was clearly visible that they had deep longing for parental love. And so I decided, I should learn how to pampering the two like a normal parent should.
Then, one by one, my sister-in-law came out of kitchen while carrying pots or trays. They swiftly put it into table before taking their seat next to their husband and children.
The last one who leaved the kitchen was white-haired old woman with deep wrinkles around her sour face. She was Kazuyori, the mother of Unfortunate Sanno, the person who controlled flow of money in Tadaoka Household, and the biggest source of misery for Yunno and Yui.
“Let’s eat,” Tadaoka Banno, the head of family calmly said after Kazuyori sat in her seat.
Wasting no time, each wife took the food from closest pot or tray for their husband and children. As usual, today dinner was super thin porridge and steamed vegetable seasoned only with salt. Common sense would dictate it was not a proper dinner for a household that had rice field, 30 hens, and skilled hunter with good daily harvest. However, it was the reality.
As the other member of the family received their food or started to enjoy it, I, Yunno, and Yui calmly waited. It was my job to take the food for Yunno and Yui. However, they didn’t carry Tadaoka’s name. Therefore, based on family tradition they could only took the leftover from true family member, even though they were one of biggest contributor for the family
It’s truly a shitty tradition. Not to mention, it was not even leftover from proper dinner. But for now I could do nothing about it. Then, as I took whatever the other had left for Yunno and Yui, Kazuyori’s sharp voice suddenly was heard.
“Yunno, Yui, be grateful for whatever leftover you get.”
“Yes, grandmother.”
Yunno obediently replied while Yui nodded her little head repeatedly. It was clearly visible that they were scared of Kazuyori and very grateful for the food and roof they received. Even so, it didn’t make Kazuyori held back her harsh words.
“Your damnable mother married an unworthy man even if I have prohibited it. I should have sent you to your paternal family after their death. You two are their responsible, not Tadaoka Household.”
What a vicious woman, and I had to call her mother in this life. My brother-in-law was an orphan, so Yunno and Yui didn’t have parental family. And the last time Kazuyori wanted to send them to their paternal family was a lie. At that time, she actually wanted to sell Yunno and Yui as junior maid to a rich household in Rokube.
Fortunately, the Unfortunate Sanno managed to prevent it by going berserk and made a huge ruckus. After that, he was in charge to look after Yunno and Yui while the two would follow him faithfully.
However, based on the Unfortunate Sanno’s memory, selling her own granddaughter she didn’t fond of was not the limit of Kazuyori’s viciousness. She had done something worse to their parent.
Even though he was an orphan, my brother-in-law was a smart and hardworking man. He made a living by selling my older sister home-made steamed roll. However, even if he was just a small peddler, he was quite success. By using his saving from the first five years of his hard work, he managed to buy a 600 square meters rice field, and changed Tadaoka Household way of life from worker of manual labor and hunter into a farmer family with proper rice field.
But then, Kazuyori showed her viciousness after my brother-in-law was killed by bandits who robbed him on his way home. Only a day after his husband funeral, Kazuyori forced my older sister to hand over the legal ownership of the rice field. She also forcefully took the money that my brother-in-law had painstakingly saved for Yunno and Yui.
After that, my older sister still had to replace my brother-in-law as the biggest bread winner, by both making and selling the steamed roll. Kazuyori didn’t give a damn that she had put unbearable heavy toll in my older sister weak body. She unreasonably believed that Manno would graduate that year and she had to support him at all cost, even if it would kill one of her own daughters in the process.
In the end, the accumulation of physical toll had killed my older sister while Manno failed to graduate. And now, Kazuyori tried to exploit Yunno and Yui as much as she could. As I let a silent sigh, I used Shadow Hand to tap Kazuyori’s nape. In an instant, she lost her conscious.
Bam!!
Kazuyori’s face accurately landed on her plate and splattered her half-eaten porridge to all direction, while everyone were dumbfounded as they tried to perceive what had happened to her.
“Wife? What had happened to you?”
Old Banno was the first to react and put Kazuyori’s messy face out of the plate. Then, he carried her to their bedroom. My eldest sister-in-law and my younger sister closely followed him, while the rest of the family continued their dinner and exchanged some whispers.
Well, that was my tap of love for my new but unwanted mother.
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