Chapter 142: The Gacha Pool Came Alive

The bamboo curtain was lifted open.

Immediately after, Uesugi Toru saw a little girl with bangs carrying a wooden tray walk into the room.

"Adult, excuse me."

The girl said with her head slightly lowered, first kneeling respectfully, then slowly shifting herself beside Uesugi Toru on both legs, and steadily placing the wooden tray on the small desk.

Uesugi Toru glanced at her lower body, which was almost not covered by cloth, and wondered if she wasn't cold wearing this little in this weather.

Based on his previous observations, he deduced that the current time point was probably late autumn, and winter was almost here.

So the weather was naturally late autumn weather, with temperatures staying around ten degrees Celsius; even someone like Shiraishi, who could survive ten days or half a month if thrown into the deep mountains and old forests, would need to wear warm clothes.

While Uesugi Toru was thinking, the yellowish tea had already been poured out of the ceramic teapot and moved before his eyes by the girl's comparatively fair and tender palm.

Hot white mist rose.

Uesugi Toru's nose tip twitched.

It smelled similar to barley tea, but felt somewhat different.

The girl moved the two half-full cups of tea respectively before Uesugi Toru and Shiraishi, then took back the wooden tray and lowered her head somewhat timidly, saying,

"Two Adults, please enjoy your tea."

"Oh, thank you."

Uesugi Toru subconsciously said thanks, and with a mindset of trying it out, directly picked up the tea and drank it all in one gulp right before Shiraishi, who was about to reach out his hand and say wait a moment.

Hmm... how to put it, this tea felt a bit sour and astringent, not like tea, but more like pot-scrubbing water.

Although saying this was rude, this was Uesugi Toru's genuine feeling.

He smacked his lips once, feeling that drinking this was not as good as drinking plain water.

However, upon seeing the girl beside him tightly hugging the wooden tray, her body still slightly trembling at the edge, Uesugi Toru smiled and said gently to her,

"It tastes good, and what is your name?"

"Re, reply to Toru-sama! This girl's name is Aina."

Aina was actually because she had been too nervous just now, forgetting the name of this Toru-sama her father had told her about, so she had kept her head down, afraid that not being able to say the name would cause trouble.

And only just now did she finally manage to remember this "Toru" character.

Phew, fortunately.

Aina patted her chest in her heart, then raised her head and glimpsed Uesugi Toru's smiling face through the gap in her bangs.

He was really handsome.

Aina was stunned; she had never seen such a handsome person in her life.

This Toru-sama was far more handsome than those passing noble officials of the past, practically comparable to the dolls sold in the shops of Sunpu Castle.

"Aina... hmm, I remember."

Uesugi Toru nodded, thinking in his heart that the ancient saying about humble names being easy to raise was actually true.

He originally thought Shiraishi's name was already simple enough, but he didn't expect there were also names made from local materials, where countless characters could follow an "A" character.

At this moment, Shiraishi stood on tiptoe and leaned over, secretly saying, "Boss, you really dare to drink this tea given by farmers directly."

Uesugi Toru turned his head to meet Shiraishi's gaze, meaning "What else?"

Shiraishi rolled his eyes and said in an extremely low voice, "Of course you should make them drink it first! Even with food, you have to let them eat a couple of bites first!"

"If you often walk by the river, how can your shoes not get wet? When outside, you must be more careful; otherwise, if they put poison or sleeping drugs in it, Boss, you wouldn't even know how you died!"

Shiraishi made a horn shape with both hands to prevent sound from leaking, passing on his experience of drifting alone outside to Uesugi Toru.

The reasoning, seemed to be something like that.

Unfortunately, it wasn't of much use to Uesugi Toru.

Not to mention whether these poor and remote places could even get enough poison to kill him.

Even if they managed to get some and kill him within a few seconds, it wouldn't matter.

He had Revival Coins!

Moreover, because of the existence of the History Key, Uesugi Toru didn't need to run maps after dying now.

If anyone really dared to do this and succeeded, the next second they would see the lively Uesugi Toru reappear, and then he would chop them all down with a clack clack clack.

"I understand." Uesugi Toru nodded noncommittally.

Shiraishi curled his lips, hummed once, and sat back in his original position. Only after seeing that Uesugi Toru hadn't shown a single negative sign for several minutes did he pick up the tea bowl and gulp it down.

Even after finishing one cup it wasn't enough; he picked up the teapot and filled two or three more cups, drinking them down like a cow, then sighed with satisfaction, "Genmai Tea, the flavor is not bad."

At the same time, Aina, sitting beside Uesugi Toru, saw that the two had no intention of communicating, then timidly said,

"Toru-sama, let me knead your shoulders for you."

Although her voice was timid, she didn't even finish speaking before moving her body behind Uesugi Toru and gently kneading with her hands, giving him no chance to refuse.

Outside the curtain, the crackling sound of burning firewood rose, with footsteps constantly passing by; it seemed Tanaka Ryo and his wife were cooking.

Uesugi Toru just spaced out for a while, but suddenly felt something was wrong behind him—why was the touch soft and soft? Wasn't it supposed to be kneading shoulders and pounding backs?

He turned his head and met the gaze of Aina, who was biting her lip with a blushing face, almost pressing her whole body against him.

The latter immediately pulled her body back a little, covered half her face with her hand, and stammered, "That... Toru-sama, just now was an accident..."

Uesugi Toru fell silent.

He originally thought Warring States village girls would be very simple and honest, but he didn't expect that just after meeting, she would completely not hide her intentions and press herself against him!

But Aina didn't look very old either; even if she had that thought, she wouldn't make such a bold move, right... Shiraishi was still in the room.

Uesugi Toru asked, "Aina, how old are you this year?"

"Reply to Adult, this girl is already eleven this year." Hearing Uesugi Toru's question, Aina immediately put down both hands and answered respectfully with a face red all over.

Eleven?

If there had been tea in his mouth, Uesugi Toru felt he would have already spat it out with a puff.

An eleven-year-old village girl used this method to seduce me on our very first meeting.

Is that possible? Is that reasonable?

So Uesugi Toru tapped the wooden table with his finger and said softly, "Aina, could you call your father in for a moment? I have something to discuss with him."

"Uh..."

The girl was slightly stunned, but immediately stood up and bowed to Uesugi Toru: "My lord, please wait a moment."

Aina ran outside with a thudding sound and caught Tanaka Ryo, who was holding a fish about the length of a forearm and had just made preliminary preparations to put it in the pot.

"Father, Lord Toru invites you inside."

Tanaka Ryo watched his daughter, whom he had specifically instructed to send inside, being driven out, and upon hearing these words, he could barely hold onto the fish in his hand.

Fortunately, Aina was quick-eyed and quick-handed, diving to the ground to catch the fish so it didn't touch the dust.

"Father..."

But Tanaka Ryo no longer cared about his daughter or the fish; he swayed as he walked to the bamboo curtain, thinking that girls like Aina were the favorites of big figures!

Because he had personally seen many samurai play with girls of this age.

Though it couldn't achieve the effect of a decisive blow, his own Aina wasn't bad-looking and wasn't that thin; as a meeting gift, she should still be qualified.

But why now...

As soon as Tanaka Ryo walked in, he hurriedly knelt down in fear: "Lord Toru! It is I—"

Seeing his appearance, Uesugi Toru immediately confirmed his guess in his heart.

It was indeed the instigation of this father, Tanaka Ryo.

Making his eleven-year-old daughter do such a thing—unbelievable.

He waved his hand slightly displeased and said coldly: "Since you know you were wrong, don't kneel anymore; stand up and talk to me."

Tanaka Ryo dared not hesitate, quickly stood up, and once again silently thought in his heart that this Onmyoji was different from the big figures he had met before.

Uesugi Toru said coldly: "If you have anything to say, any thoughts, just say it directly. Lay out what you want and what you are willing to pay on the table. I don't like beating around the bush. Understand?"

"Understand! Understand!" Tanaka Ryo nodded immediately, the wrinkles on his face bunching together.

Seeing that he hadn't been driven away immediately, Tanaka Ryo tentatively asked: "Then Lord Toru, may I ask if you can stay at my humble home for a few days?"

"I will provide the best meals, and my wife and Aina will attend to both of you with utmost care!"

—If Uesugi Toru left Hasu Village the next day, he would have no time to report to the Imagawa Clan, and naturally no chance to receive the possibly extremely rich reward.

Hearing these words, Uesugi Toru blinked; the idea of staying in Hasu Village was exactly what he wanted.

That was perfect.

Uesugi Toru held his teacup and shook it, saying indifferently: "If you stay, then you and the villagers of Hasu Village must do one thing for me."

Tanaka Ryo held his breath, lowered his bottom line in his heart to an extremely low limit; he knew things were indeed not that simple.

Uesugi Toru continued: "Because I am somewhat interested in the various daimyo of this Tenka, so please, when you travel outside, spread word of today's events to outsiders."

After hearing these unexpected words, Tanaka Ryo was first stunned, then a hint of relief appeared in his eyes—he had originally thought this Onmyoji Toru was immovable.

Unexpectedly, he just didn't go for "lust," but was very interested in "fame" and "power."

Now it was easy to handle.

Tanaka Ryo, truly a man who becomes shrewd with age, immediately understood Uesugi Toru's implication—let the retainers of famous daimyo under heaven come to visit him.

This was exactly what he wanted!

Even if this Onmyoji Toru's fame spread, could the speed of other daimyo's visitors possibly be faster than the Imagawa Clan, who were right here in Sunpu Castle?

So, Tanaka Ryo showed a smile without a hint of falseness: "I respectfully obey your lordship's will."

Tanaka Ryo: "My lord, the food will be ready soon; in a moment I will have my wife and that child Aina bring it over..."

"Food can be eaten, but don't think about the extra things."

After speaking, Uesugi Toru waved his hand, letting Tanaka Ryo bow and retreat.

Sitting to the side, Shiraishi, who was almost finished eating the brown rice in the teapot, asked: "Boss, do we really have to stay in this village for a while?"

He suggested: "Sunpu Castle is only about half an hour's journey from here; with your strength, Boss, getting a minor official position at the Imagawa Clan would be easy."

The Imagawa clan ruled Suruga, Totomi Province, and Mikawa, three major regions, and its lord Imagawa Yoshimoto was even more diligent in governing, with good internal administration, and commerce and agriculture flourishing.

Now, the Imagawa clan's "kokudaka" had already reached one million koku, or even one and a half million koku!

As of now, Imagawa Yoshimoto was undoubtedly one of the most powerful daimyo in all of Eastern Japan, and it was not an exaggeration to call him a "Great Daimyo."

For example, even Oda Nobunaga, who later became the Tenka-bito, now had at most a few hundred thousand koku, completely incomparable to the Imagawa clan.

The so-called "kokudaka," simply put, is the "annual rice production" (other crops are also converted into rice and counted together), and is the standard for measuring how many soldiers a daimyo can conscript.

The larger the kokudaka figure, the more tax revenue can be collected, and the stronger the military strength of a daimyo and his family is proven to be.

Shiraishi finished popularizing the above knowledge about "the Imagawa clan's strength and kokudaka" to Uesugi Toru in even more abbreviated language—he had already tacitly assumed this boss was a "country bumpkin" who knew nothing.

Then Shiraishi looked expectantly at Uesugi Toru.

If Uesugi Toru joined the Imagawa Clan, he could at least get some "xx head" clinking, and then his own follower subordinate could have full meals every day and enjoy blessings!

"Hehe..."

Shiraishi fantasized and giggled foolishly, then saw Uesugi Toru shake his head: "I don't plan to join the Imagawa Clan."

He said: "If I must say, I am actually more interested in Oda Nobunaga."

"Ah?"

Shiraishi's movement suddenly froze, he opened his mouth and crawled in front of him in disbelief: "Boss... your head isn't broken, is it? How did you become a big fool too?"

Uesugi Toru couldn't be bothered to say more to him—the wisdom of a transmigrator from the future and the vision were bugs that locals could never catch up to no matter what.

Seeing that he no longer spoke, Shiraishi gritted his teeth and could only run to the side to continue chewing brown rice fiercely.

What else could he do!

He would have to follow Boss Toru for the rest of his life; even if the boss's brain was broken and he wanted to run over ten thousand and eight thousand mountains to become a retainer of Oda Nobunaga, he could only follow along! Otherwise he would violate the previous bet and promise!

Not long after, Aina entered together with a woman slightly taller than her, placing the unexpectedly abundant dishes onto this small wooden table.

Two large bowls of glistening white rice—the kind cooked with refined rice.

One grass carp, which Uesugi Toru considered fairly ordinary, but which Shiraishi, having lived a lifetime, had almost never seen, and which was thicker than his arm.

Besides that, there were two bowls of brown miso soup, two bowls of stewed white radish so soft it had turned to mush, topped with kombu, and finally two bowls of sticky natto.

—This was dinner Tanaka Ryo had carefully prepared for a long time.

Because Hasu Village was located not far from Sunpu Castle, occasionally some samurai or nobles would pass through this small village famous for fishing.

And Tanaka Ryo prepared refined rice and so much kombu for these important figures who might pass by, and whom he might befriend.

Although this caused many extra expenses on ordinary days, making this village chief's life rather tight.

But his past life as an ashigaru told Tanaka Ryo that missed opportunities would not come again!

Now, he had seized this one-step-to-heaven opportunity!

As for this grass carp, it was indeed an unexpected joy today; Tanaka Ryo had seen few fish this large in his entire life.

"This..."

Shiraishi, who had originally been chewing brown rice to fill his stomach, suddenly felt the brown rice in his mouth was no longer fragrant.

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey."

He hurriedly spat the brown rice to one side, looking shockedly at this absurdly lavish "Manchu-Han Imperial Feast," his throat bobbing with difficulty.

Aina and the woman finished arranging the food and tableware, then said: "Sir, please enjoy your meal."

"Big, Big Brother, can I eat this?"

Shiraishi said this, but his pair of small hands had already been dishonestly trembling as they lifted the bowl and chopsticks.

Uesugi Toru's expression showed little fluctuation; he nodded: "Eat what's made, just don't waste it."

Lifting the bowl of rice, Uesugi Toru ate with the radish, kombu, and fish—while he hardly touched the miso and natto.

After seeing Aina and her mother leave, Uesugi Toru directly pushed the bowl of natto to Shiraishi: "You can eat this too."

The miso was tolerable, but natto, this sticky, strangely smelling food, Uesugi Toru really couldn't get used to.

Shiraishi exclaimed in surprise, not expecting such a pleasant surprise.

He used chopsticks to grab a handful of natto and stuffed it into his mouth, unable to help letting out a sticky sound of gratitude,

"Big Brother, I practically love you to death!"

Uesugi Toru suppressed the impulse to cough from being smoked, calmly nodding: "Don't talk, eat."

Within a few minutes, the two had cleared the entire feast.

Uesugi Toru felt the kombu and radish had no taste, and the miso flavor was also rather strange.

Although the fish looked carefully made, perhaps limited by technique, Uesugi Toru could instead sense a strong earthy fishy smell when eating it.

In short, the taste of this meal was really mediocre, not even as good as the Tenshin Fried Rice in a convenience store.

But Uesugi Toru still finished it all without leaving a single bit, then sincerely thanked Aina and her mother as they came in to collect the bowls and chopsticks.

Because even if Uesugi Toru didn't understand this era much, he knew this meal was made by Tanaka Ryo nearly scraping together his entire family fortune.

This could be seen from Shiraishi beside him, who ate with tears of happiness, constantly saying delicious, delicious.

After the meal, Shiraishi lay on the ground with a round belly, making hazy sounds: "Big Brother... if I could eat meals like this a few more times, even if you let me go to die in the future, I wouldn't hesitate... charging into battle and such, leave it to me, Shiraishi!"

Aina, having washed the bowls and chopsticks, then knelt beside Uesugi Toru, lowering her head slightly, blushing, not knowing what she was thinking.

Seeing Uesugi Toru glance at her, Aina said: "The weather is getting colder recently; I'm afraid Sir Toru, having just arrived here, won't be used to sleeping, so I want to warm your body."

This time it probably wasn't Tanaka Ryo's suggestion.

So.

Uesugi Toru raised an eyebrow; seeing me once and craving my body, those who didn't know would think I was some succubus.

But he hadn't thought that in this Warring States era where everyone was short like winter melons, this height and muscles combined with his face had such killing power.

Uesugi Toru shook his head: "No need, Aina, go back; if I have needs, I'll call for you."

Aina somewhat disappointedly hummed: "Then Sir Toru, if you need anything, please feel free to order this little girl."

After seeing Aina completely leave, Shiraishi, lying beside, muttered: "To be honest, Big Brother, I was just about to run next door to sleep."

He looked at Uesugi Toru with a strange expression: "This girl looks pretty good and seems very well-behaved; how is it that even like this she throws herself at you, Big Brother, and you still don't want her..."

He drew out a long tone, his gaze becoming meaningful.

"Mind your own business." Uesugi Toru flicked a tiny bolt of lightning with his fingertip onto Shiraishi's belly, making him jump and roll several times in shock.

Shiraishi made muffled sounds: "Ouch, Big Brother, what are you suddenly doing? I thought I was about to kick the bucket..."

Uesugi Toru thought he really wasn't very used to this era; how could anyone lay a hand on an eleven-year-old child.

He looked outside and found the sky was already nearly evening.

That was just right to test the time flow between here and the modern world—the incident at Kisaragi Station couldn't happen again.

So Uesugi Toru said: "I'm going out for a bit and will be back soon; Shiraishi, help me keep track of the approximate time."

Shiraishi, who had been lying on the ground, "sat up" with a start, staring with wide eyes: "Big Brother, what are you going to do?! You're not going to secretly leave me behind, are you..."

He furrowed his little brow and said: "Then Big Brother! After you finish eating, I'll eat the leftovers later!"

Uesugi Toru said speechlessly: "At most a few hours; don't think nonsense, I won't let you eat leftovers."

"Alright, Shiraishi, from now on you keep time for me."

He looked back seriously at Shiraishi, then lifted the bamboo curtain, put on his shoes, and vanished outside Tanaka Ryo's house in a flash.

Shiraishi ran out of the room right after him, only to discover in astonishment that he couldn't find Uesugi Toru's figure anywhere, not even a trace of aura.

He opened his mouth slightly and murmured,

"How, how on earth is this done?"

In Genjitsu, in the pavilion of the Okehazama Scenic Area.

Uesugi Toru opened his eyes and found that the sky here had not changed much.

It had been drizzling when he left, and it was still drizzling now; the scenic area store not far away was still open, just as deserted as ever.

"It seems the time flow difference between the two sides is still very large."

Uesugi Toru took out his mobile phone to check the time; he planned to sit here for ten minutes before going back.

Since the time flow difference was large, if he sat too long in Genjitsu, some unexpected situations might occur on the other side.

It was a pity that if the time difference had not been so large, Uesugi Toru had wanted to finish advancing the Four-Tailed Fox in Genjitsu before returning.

Now it seemed he would need to wait several more days—though these few days in the Warring States Period should be very leisurely anyway.

During the wait, Uesugi Toru opened the Two-Star Card Pool, which still held many good things hidden away, and discovered that the black-haired loli in the card pool was now awake.

Moreover, she was just as bored as he was, using her toes to fiddle with the treasure pile before her.

Uesugi Toru gazed at the card pool background, which was also drizzling, and suddenly had a whim.

Perhaps the black-haired loli would only wake up when it was also raining in the external world—the initial opening of the card pool did not count.

This idea was uncertain, but afterward he could open the card pool page several times on both sunny and rainy days.

Just as Uesugi Toru was thinking this, the black-haired loli sitting on the throne assembled from bones and scarlet pupils seemed to suddenly sense something, and glanced at him faintly.

Then she raised her snow-white toes and waved them sharply.

Slap.

A crystal-clear bead fell out from the treasure pile.

【——Purchase "Five Thunder Orb"?】

End of Chapter