127. Defeated and Awakened, as the Morning Sun Rises

 

* * *

 

When I reincarnated, I made a vow.

“This time, I’ll live a happy life!”

But you see.

For just me alone to be happy.

That’s not the happiness I seek.

What I want is…

To be happy together with my precious partner, Extra-sama!

And that could never be fulfilled in that village.

In that village, I couldn’t converse with Extra-sama.

I never want to return to a place like that again.

<E-Emiiiiii~~~~~~!!! U-Uwaaaaaaahhhh!!!>

Hey, Extra-sama, don’t cry so loudly in my head!

It’s noisy! So noisy!

<B-But, the fact that Emi cherishes me makes me so happyyyy~~~!!!>

Of course I do.

You’re the most important person to me.

That’s Extra-sama, after all.

Besides…

That Harvest God or whatever, brainwashing people to make them obedient is definitely not the act of a good entity.

I absolutely detest being under the rule of such a god.

Manipulating reincarnators’ memories seems to be a fairly standard practice, so perhaps gods don’t feel any guilt over it.

But the things Prough said also left me feeling skeptical.

I’ll point this out again – “Humans must be slaves to wheat”? What’s that about?

Isn’t the Harvest God supposed to be a deity that bestows blessings upon people?

Treating people as slaves to cultivate crops seems off, doesn’t it?

…Anyway.

My life belongs to me alone.

No matter how happy it seems, I absolutely refuse to live as someone’s mind-controlled puppet!

<Uwaaaaaahhhh!!! Emiiiii~~~~~~!!!>

Ah, come on!

Stop crying already, Extra-sama!

You’re so noisyyyy!!!

“Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!! You did it, Emiiiiiii!!!!”

Ah, there was another noisy one.

Prough, who I had punched away, came running back toward me.

Smoke rose from his face as the injury instantly healed before my eyes.

“Enough playing around noowwww!!! Take thiiisss!!!”

Screaming with bloodshot eyes as he charged, Prough raised the bread overhead to slash at me!

His movement speed was tremendous, instantly closing the gap.

The golden divine power leaking from his body was on an incomparable level to before.

He was utterly serious now.

His words of “enough playing around” carried a palpable intensity.

A strike from that state would be unpleasant to take directly.

<A-Aren’t you being too calm observing this, Emi!!?>

“Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!”

As the distance between us rapidly shrank, I focused my concentration.

The flow of time seemed to slow down.

Ah, Prough.

As one blessed by a god, your divine power is indeed overwhelming.

Even compared to my own sizable total mana capacity, the difference is stark.

It feels as though that abundant power is gushing forth endlessly, enhancing your body to an extraordinary degree.

That bizarre technique to summon breads is also quite fearsome.

…But you know.

There’s one crucial element you’re sorely lacking.

“……”

I quietly let my arms hang loose in a natural stance.

However, while maintaining that posture, I focus my awareness on my right fist.

Channeling magic power into it.

Amplifying its destructive force.

Enhancing its lethality.

Imagining and strengthening the ultimate fist that can shatter anything.

At your current speed, Prough, you could likely land a bread strike whether I dodged left or right.

If I tried retreating, you’d instantly catch up and attack.

In which case, that would be the end for me.

I’d lose consciousness and get brainwashed, reverting back to village life.

No, taking an unrestrained strike could even kill me.

Right is no good, left is no good, behind is no good.

Then what should I do?

I’ll…advance forward!!

Channeling power in an instant, 【Grasshopper】!

Launching straight ahead, parallel to the ground.

The one in my path of advance is, naturally…Prough charging this way.

“?!?”

Caught off guard by my unexpected move, Prough’s eyes widen in surprise.

Until now, I had only evaded or fled Prough’s attacks.

Which is why he likely never envisioned me going on the offensive.

That is precisely the element you lack, Prough.

Combat experience!

No matter how immense your divine power, no matter your inhuman physical might, your way of fighting is merely blindly flailing that strength around.

You’re not a true warrior – just an abnormally strong village boy in the end.

Lacking experience, you cannot properly respond to unforeseen situations.

…Like this one!!

“Hrrraaaaahh!!”

I punch Prough’s gut with full force!

Struck by a 【Magic Strike】 that could effortlessly pulverize even boulders, Prough vomits golden blood as his body folds like a broken twig, demolishing multiple trees as he’s blasted away!

“Guaaaaahhhh…!!”

Prough’s agonized scream rapidly fades into the distance until I can no longer hear it.

…Alright! I killed him!!

<No, he’s not dead. The opponent is a cheat existence – a favored reincarnator child. He won’t die from just that!>

Ah, I figured as much.

<He’ll likely get an influx of power from the god to awaken and return!? Wh-What should we do!?>

What else can we do?

There’s only one option, isn’t there?

<Eh?>

 

* * *

 

“…Where is…this…?”

When Prough came to, he found himself standing alone in pitch darkness.

Where is this place?

Just earlier, he had been fighting a runaway girl from the village in the forest.

And despite using the full power granted by the god, he had his gut punched hard, losing consciousness…

“So I…lost, huh…”

The instant he understood that, the feeling that welled up in Prough’s chest wasn’t frustration, anger, or sadness.

Only a sense of apology.

Despite using the power gifted by the Harvest God to the fullest, he had lost.

A result that brought shame to the Harvest God’s honor.

“Ah, aah…aaaaaahh…”

All strength left his body.

In the darkness, having lost the will to stand, Prough fell to his knees and hung his head as he groaned.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Harvest God, I apologize, I’m sorry, I apologize…”

It was then.

Prough, continuing his groans, felt as though a gentle breeze caressed his cheek.

“…!?”

Startled, he raised his face.

The darkness was now gone, and he found himself standing in a breathtaking golden wheat field that stretched endlessly.

<<<Awaken, Prough, my child.>>>

A strange voice echoed within Prough’s mind.

“Th-This voice is…the Harvest God!?”

<<<Grow the wheat. Grow the wheat.>>>

The nostalgic voice of the Harvest God that Prough had heard before being born in Grounoddka Village…rather than chastising his failure, it simply bestowed divine guidance upon him.

“Grow the wheat,” it said.

“However, despite being granted the Harvest God’s power, I lost. I have tarnished the Harvest God’s name. I no longer have the right to call myself a divine child, only death can serve as my apology…”

<<<Grow the wheat.>>>

As Prough grew disheartened, even suggesting atoning through suicide, the Harvest God’s voice did not accept that.

“You…tell me to live on?”

<<<Grow the wheat.>>>

“You…forgive me…?”

<<<Grow the wheat.>>>

“You allow me…to live once more for the Harvest God’s sake…!?”

<<<Grow the wheat.>>>

Large teardrops fell from Prough’s eyes.

(Thank you…thank you!!)

The Harvest God did not abandon the failed Prough.

Unchanged from before, it bestowed divine guidance upon him.

Urging him to live, to fulfill his mission.

Prough sensed the warm intent behind the mechanically repeated divine guidance, strengthening his faith further.

He must grow the wheat.

Wiping away his tears and gazing straight at the horizon of spreading wheat fields, no trace of weakness remained on Prough’s face.

“I humbly accept this divine guidance. Until my dying breath, I shall devote myself to fulfilling the mission bestowed upon me by the Harvest God!!”

The instant Prough declared those words, the surrounding wheat fields began glowing in unison!

“Wh-What is this!?”

Orbs of light emerged from every single wheat stalk, one after another…entering Prough’s body!

“Uoooohhhh…!!”

Each time, he could feel the power surging through his body increasing!

His cells, one by one! His entire body!!

Being reforged stronger and stronger by the power of wheat…!!

“Hahahahah…hahahahahahahahah!!!”

Prough laughed.

How delightful!

This divine power coursing through his whole being!

A sense of omnipotence! Omnipotence!

With this power, with this power…!!

 

* * *

 

“Hahah, hahah…huh?!?”

When he came to, Prough found himself no longer in the glowing wheat field, but lying in the dark forest.

“A…dream…?”

He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

His hazy mind gradually awakening.

“No…not a dream…!?”

And he became aware.

Of the power surging within his body, incomparable to before!

That he had become a more fitting existence as the Harvest God’s divine child!

That he had awakened as the Wheat’s Guardian Warrior!!

“…Haah!”

As a test, he channeled power into his right palm toward a massive tree trunk growing nearby.

Just by willing it, the tree was blasted away with a thunderous boom, wheat sprouting from the disturbed earth!

“Such…such power! Truly…the power of a god…!!”

Prough laughed.

“With this power…!!”

He could expand the wheat fields further!

Fulfill the Harvest God’s desire!!

“Ah, aahh…aaaaaahh!!”

Prough hugged his trembling shoulders, overwhelmed with joy.

…However.

“Before that, there’s something I must do first…!”

The expression on Prough’s raised face was twisted grotesquely.

A wide, strained grin.

Eyes shining brilliantly.

“That girl who made a fool of me…who brought shame to the Harvest God’s honor…I must crush her utterly.”

Earlier, he had thought to awaken her to wheat’s magnificence once more and bring her back to the village…but no more.

The peculiar attachment he felt toward her for some inexplicable, nostalgic reason.

That special emotion he sensed from the moment he first laid eyes on her, beyond merely viewing her as labor.

Such feelings had completely vanished now that he obtained this new power.

He would utterly crush her, literally.

Smash her into a pulpy mess, again and again, to be used as fertilizer for the fields.

Surely, good wheat would grow from that.

Prough dashed off.

Hurrying back to where he had fought Emi earlier.

“…Huh?”

However, Prough’s objective could not be fulfilled.

For a simple reason.

Because Emi had…

Already fled while he was unconscious.

“……”

Prough simply stared blankly at the clearing in the forest – drenched in blood, trees snapped, crevices with wheat sprouting here and there.

…There was now no way for him to discern Emi’s whereabouts.

Prough had not been gifted such tracking abilities from the Harvest God.

Looking up, the faint moonlight that had illuminated the ground was now sinking below the horizon, the flowing clouds tinged orange by the rising sun’s glow.

Night had passed, and a new morning arrived once more.

Another peaceful day as a village boy was beginning again.

“…For now.”

He should return to the village.

Grow the wheat.

Turning on his heel, Prough set off back toward the village.

With each step, the murderous intent and beastly emotions that had naturally welled up during his fight with Emi faded away, seemingly absorbed elsewhere.

Until only the divine guidance remained within him.

Grow the wheat.

Bathed in the morning sunlight, sensing the beginning of another blissful day, Prough smiled faintly to himself.

His attachment had vanished, his emotions stripped away, returning him to an innocent village boy once more.

(Alright! Time to work hard in the fields again today!)

Step by step, he proceeded through the forest with a cheerful, bouncing gait.

“…Myogon, Myogoshugomyonshugoh…Myogon, Myogoshugomyonshugoh…”

Somewhere in the distance, the Myogomyogoshugo began its calls.

 

—

 

TL Note: Grow the wheat.