It was finally spring. The sun actually did its job throughout the day and the air was even fresher than before. I felt great.

But that mostly had to do with the fact that today… ahem... Today! Was the last day I would ever have to hoe around in the field!

Of course, I could only assume that there would be another task that replaced this one, but that was inconsequential. Nothing could ever be as gruelling as this.

The first couple of weeks were terrible. I would have rather sat through 20 isekai with the same plot than tilling. It was unbearable to the point that my body retaliated. I felt sore all day and was really close to burning out. But just because that old conman put my grades at stake, I threw away my dignity and picked up a hoe.

I persevered throughout the days and became nothing more than his puppet. A robot to complete tasks that his old body was unable to.

That was no more.

From now on, I was an agricultural labourer now free from his shackles. A slave who escaped his master.

I was my own owner.

Well, almost.

I put the hoe that I lifted up in the air back onto the ground.

The dirt under my feet was soft and well aerated. The soil that seemed unruly was now free of any pests, there were worms distributed evenly and small specks of fertilizers were clearly visible.

This was now an ideal field for growing stuff on.

At the end of the day, I was rather proud of what I had accomplished. Or rather it was better knowing that I wasn't a replacement for Yuuno anymore. She was the one who did this tilling last year when she joined, but this year, due to my arrival, the older folk let her onto the main, bigger field.

Tsk.

Not a day went by without getting reminded of how inefficient I was compared to that absolute tank of a girl.

The hoe felt rather light in my hand as it hit the ground again.

I could now use the hoe without breaking my body. I never felt sore. Using body strengthening my body was more than sufficient to use this hoe without any problems. Taking that as a cue, as soon as I became to support the hoe in my hands, I stopped using body strengthening.

Muscle now built up at normal human rates, and my physical strength began to plateau.

I was going back on the right track towards a peaceful and weak life.

And despite what anyone said, I was efficient. Completely proven by the fact that the last round of hoeing ended while the sun was still up. I was capable of doing the entire field in one g- WAIT! I was being driven into slave mentality feeling rewarded for efficiency!

I threw the hoe on the ground.

That aside, I also switched the time I did the field to before I took a cold bath because

(1) I wasn't all that tired from school anymore.

(2) Instead of taking two different baths, a cold one after coming back from school and a warm one after tilling. I could get away with a mildly heated one, once a day.

The routine I had gotten used to was changing yet again.

These days would return next year.

"Baa-chan, I'm done!" I announced before plopping onto the soft ground.

"Good! Lock the hoe up with chains in the shed and come back in!" She shouted back. Cut me some slack! Today was the last day!

Ignoring her words, I caught my breath while sitting down and watching the bottom of the sun touch the top of the hills kilometres away.

Our tiny flat town was surrounded by tall hills and a barrier. It was a safe place.

After taking in that view, I went to the shed with my hoe and got ready to put it back.

I got ready but a part of me wasn't willing to part way. Not because I had a deeper connection to it now. But because it reminded me and tempted me to do something I hadn't done in the 7 long years I lived this new life.

An urge you would get after not doing something enjoyable for a long time. I was rebounding.

A hoe did resemble a scythe after all.

The scythe was the coolest weapon of them all. It was like the Grand Organ of weapons. You wielded it and felt hyped.

It was the weapon that I mastered.

As I started to remember my past, I was slowly giving in to the temptation.

'One time wouldn't be bad right?' I looked around my surroundings to make sure.

It wasn't like anyone was looking and even if someone was this would just be a random embarrassing encounter of a kid playing with a hoe.

Right outside the shed I held the hoe in my hand and rotated it… edge moved along my forearm before lining up with my wrist. I crouched down to the base position.

This was not a style I was taught or that I used. Usually, my magic would be enough to end the person in front of me. The only time I used a scythe was when I felt fancy. And today I felt fancy.

It was a man's duty to romanticise everyday objects into deadly weapons. A stick was a sword, and a boomerang was a gun. A rod was a spear and you had crossbows attached to either of your wrists.

And every real chad needed a weapon.

I grabbed the handle and pulled it diagonally downwards.

The tip of the hoe cut through the air with turbulent drag and got buried into the ground. A wind blew some fallen leaves away.

Using the bottom as an anchor, I propelled myself into the air and pulled the hoe out mid-air. The last move of the sequence was a vertical strike that cut the ground.

Pulled it off to absolute perfection. In my previous life, this move would have destroyed a mountain or two. But now, just feeling the satisfaction of air getting torn apart was good enough. The weight distribution on the hoe was rather good too. Maybe because I was used to it.

Anyhow, the scythe really was the best.

"Feeling nostalgic are we?" !!!

"AWAAAH!!!" I turned to a silver-haired girl with a smug look on her face. THIS LITTLE!

"If you wanna fight that much… you can always become strong." Her face was so unbelievably smug. AGHH! HOW EMBARRASSING!

I needed to get this over with or she wouldn't leave me alone for the rest of the month.

"NO! T-this was… I was- YEAH I WAS just messing around. I'll keep this in now." Smooth.

Before she could pester me anymore I headed into the shed and sealed the cursed hoe with shackles. Already being distressed, the stench of cowshit didn't bother me anymore.

She should be gone right? No one would voluntarily stay after I opened a door of cowshit odour on them.

But she wasn't she just stood there with her nose closed.

Forget it ever happened. Forget it ever happened. Forget it ever happened.

"Why are you still here?" I put on a nonchalant face, heading outside. Never show weakness.

"Oh, that? I want you to do induction again." NICE! She changed topics on her own. Let's just ride her wave.

"Again??? It's only been three days!"

For context, she started spending all day digesting all the energy she had gained over the induction thing we do, so she was now capable of absorbing more energy at smaller intervals. She was growing faster at an insane rate.

"Three days shmeee days. Just do it! I can handle it." Yuuno bragged. The fact of the matter was that she could handle it. Iy the rate she internalised the mana she should be capable of doing it once every day.

But I didn't let her. After all, I didn't want the blood of a kid on my hands. Not to mention the distraught faces my family would have.

Hence, I made her think three-day intervals were pushing it, making her assume that doing it daily was not even an option.

'I am somewhat of a conman if I say so myself.'

"Pch… let's do it then." I gave in. A smaller interval now and then was a small price to pay for her forgetting this incident.

"By the way about that hoe, you were swinging around... Quite the techni-"

"LALALALALALA!! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

With her teasing and my walking, we moved until reaching our destination.

A secluded room.

It was time. Time for The dark breath- of mana induction.

Her hair was tied up. She hadn't cut her hair in about three years now and it was growing. Like a waterfall from her skull.

I was watching over her today. She breathed in and started to enter her trance.

Today felt a little different.