The Legendary Janitor

Chapter 31: Efficiency

After half an hour or so of work Di Tou had managed to sweep every corner of the courtyard, but due to the fact that he was missing quite a few leaves when he was sweeping, and that leaves had continued to fall the courtyard didn't look significantly cleaner than before he started.

All in all, Di Tou did an okay job, after all he had had to sweep leaves a few times back in high school in the random chore allocation, so he was somewhat familiar with the action. Although Di Tou wasn't quite satisfied with what he had done, he had to stop.

This was because the bag was just short of reaching the rip, so Di Tou decided that was good enough for now and took a break to check on his progress.

Looking around left and right, and feeling a little bit awkward because he was in a somewhat-exposed courtyard, Di Tou kneeled to summon the scroll before sitting on one of the stone stools.

<-( )========================( )->

Strength – 2.55

Dexterity – 2.38002

Intelligence – 3.155 (+.2) (1)

Spirituality – 5.26

<-( )========================( )->

"9% efficiency in activity [sweeping leaves], minimal feedback obtained."

While Di Tou was a little bit disappointed in the fact that he only got 9% efficiency, he wasn't all that surprised considering how the scroll seemed rather strict, and even he could tell many points where he was deficienct.

Rather, what made Di Tou interested is that he remembered that this wasn't the first time he got minimal feedback. In fact, back when he was in a rush the last night, the one thing he had gotten minimal feedback on was making the bed.

If he remembered correctly that time it had also given him an upgrade in the status of intelligence, and in fact was added with another feedback in the intelligence category, despite that the amount of status he gained with the two combined was less than what he gained from sweeping leaves alone this time.

It seemed like there were more and less valuable actions that he could do in order to increase his status even without considering efficiency.

While he was thinking, Di Tou realized that some of the leaves had managed to make their way out of the bag, as even though they hadn't reached the top or the rip, the bag wasn't fully erect so the leaves were rather close to the top and had managed to be blown out.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts and dismissing the scroll, Di Tou took the broom and went over to the shed to put away the broom for now, while also grabbing some fishing twine that he remembered seeing earlier.

Using a somewhat rusty hedge trimmer, Di Tou managed to cut off a reasonable segment of string that he brought back over to the cloth bag. Taking a few moments to grab the bigger groups of leaves that had fallen nearby to directly throw back into the bag, Di Tou tied it off.

Thinking for a moment, Di Tou decided to leave the bag there for now, as he didn't have anywhere else to put it and headed out of the courtyard back to the front of the building where had left the bowl and rags.

Thinking back to the morning, Di Tou remembered there was a well maybe five minutes north and grabbing the bowl he set off.

Arriving at the well, Di Tou realized that… this well seemed rather dilapidated. He hadn't really noticed in the morning as he was just passing by, but now that he gave it a closer look it didn't look like it was getting regular usage.

This wasn't just looking at the stones or anything, but rather the handle that was used to lower the bucket was splintered, and some mold had begun to grow on the ends so it didn't seem like it was a recent event.

Sighing, Di Tou decided to make do for now, as he didn't come across any other wells that were particularly nearby in his walk this morning. The next closest one that he could remember was at least another 10-minute walk, which didn't sound all that far, but would mean a 30-minute walk back and forth, with 15 minutes of it being carrying a bowl of water.

Cranking the well to lower the bucket, Di Tou eventually heard the sound of the bucket hitting the water. This was a good sign, at least the well had not dried up. Where there was water there was hope!

Lowering the bucket, a bit more just to make sure that it was submerged and picked up some water – after all it would be rather tragic if only the bottom of the bucket touched the water and then it was raised.

Di Tou waited a moment or two before starting to crank the bucket back up. Maybe halfway through this process, Do Tou recoiled back "F*CK." Sitting in the middle of his hand was a big fat splinter from the handle.

Hissing, Di Tou removed the splinter, which was luckily rather big and therefore didn't need tweezers and rubbed his hand for a moment. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had had a splinter.

In fact, splinters and papercuts are gradually becoming less common, as more and more consumer products are made in a way that is more homogeneous and safe, as well as there just being less situations in which people need to be in contact with wood and paper compared to the past.

While he had pulled back, however, the bucket had dropped some ways back down the well. As there wasn't a very good counterweight on the well – at least not anymore – and the bucket filled with water was heavy enough that the well couldn't keep it in place on its own.

Hissing through the pain, Di Tou grabbed back onto the handle and continued bringing the bucket up. Without anymore mishaps Di Tou managed to bring the bucket all the way up only to realize…

There was a small crack on the side of the bucket…

It wasn't big enough to let the water leak out instantly but was big enough that Di Tou could see a stream of water trickling down constantly, which meant that at this point the bucket was only just over half full, although it might have been a bit fuller if Di Tou hadn't lost time on letting the bucket drop.

"Who the hell is in charge of public maintenance around here anyways? Son of a b*tch, if this isn't a sign of letting the common people suffer to line one's pockets, I don't know what is."

Mu Di Bai who is currently halfway across the world: *Ah'choo*

Emptying the remainder of the contents of the bucket into his bowl, Di Tou found that it was only maybe a quarter full. Sighing, Di Tou brought up another bucket of water that was maybe three quarters full this time and managed to sufficiently fill up his bowl.

After all, he didn't need it filled to the rim, that would make it rather impractical to bring back.

Lastly, before he brought the bowl that was now filled with water back, Di Tou suddenly remembered, "F*ck, I don't know if this water is good or not."

Hesitating for a second, Di Tou decided that at the very least the water shouldn't be poisonous, otherwise surely someone would have left a sign or boarded up the well instead of just leaving it to rot right...?

Giving the water a bit of a sniff, he noticed a slight rotten egg smell, but that couldn't be considered too out of the ordinary. Cupping his hands, Di Tou took a little bit of water out of his bowl before giving it a small little sip...