Revealed, True Nature

<This is...... Divine Aura!!>

Omake-sama shouts, warning me.

<Please be careful, Emi! This boy, without a doubt, is no mere brainwashed villager! Nine times out of ten, he's connected to the Harvest God!>

A single bead of cold sweat rolls down my forehead as I square my fists and take a combat stance.

The golden magic power released from Prough-kun, prickling at my skin, presses down on me with merciless 【Intimidation】.

The amount is enormous, and in an instant, it envelops the surroundings...... and my body.

It assails me, trying to force my spirit, my thoughts, into submission.

......Don't underestimate me.

This much, next to that black lizard, is a total breeze.

I'll kill you.

I release my own killing intent, refusing to be outdone.

With a mishi mishi creak, the golden magic power and my murky black magic power collide.

I struggle desperately against the golden magic power trying to swallow me whole.

“......I'm surprised. This is power I've genuinely borrowed from Harvest God-sama, you know? How can you endure it? This is getting us nowhere.”

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Prough-kun stopped releasing his golden magic power.

“Emi, just who are you? I don't sense that you're an apostle of some god, or someone with a blessing...... so what is that power?”

For now, I give him an answer.

“I'm, just a traveler.”

“A mere traveler can't be that strong, right?”

“I'm strong because I train.”

“......So you've no intention, of answering honestly.”

No, I'm answering honestly here!

I've got no answer to give beyond that, you know!?

And besides......

“You, what are you?”

“Hm?”

“A god's power, borrowed, what's that?”

Quit asking only me questions, geez.

“A, ahhh! Sorry! It wouldn't be fair if I didn't talk about myself too, would it!”

Saying so, Prough puffs out his chest proudly and spreads both arms wide.

The golden magic power he had retracted begins to overflow once again.

“Then, let me introduce myself properly, Emi! My name is Prough! Entrusted with a divine command by Harvest God Muwidgi-sama, born with his blessing, the chosen divine child!”

With an ecstatic expression on his face, Prough makes this loud declaration!

The overflowing golden magic power starts tangling around me again, and it's annoying.

I blow it away with killing intent.

Don't touch a lady so familiarly.

I'll kill you, punk.

<......This is a problem. So this boy, has a blessing.>

Which means, without a doubt, he's a reincarnator, right, Omake-sama?

<His age doesn't seem that different from yours either, so, without a doubt, he must be one of your former classmates.>

“You see, Emi, I'm a being sent to this land by Harvest God-sama to preach the correct way of living to the humans who dwell in this world!”

“Correct, way of living?”

“That's right! Hey, Emi. Do you know the reason why humans are born into this world?”

“............”

What's with this guy.

Suddenly getting all chatty on me.

Philosophical talk like that, I'm bad at it, so I hate it.

I'll kill you.

<Isn't the way you're directing that murderous intent a bit unreasonable?>

“You don't know? Maybe that question was a little too hard for a silly little dummy? Sorry, okay?”

What's with this guy.

I'll kill you.

<Alright, let's kill him. ......No, wait, we mustn't. A reincarnator with a blessing is not an opponent you can fight and beat. They have a god backing them up!>

“Do you want to know? You want to know, don't you, Emi? Why, humans, must go on living. What the purpose of life, is! I'll teach you...... because teaching that and guiding people is, above all, my mission!”

Prough continues to speak happily, making large, theatrical movements.

A wide-open corner of the forest...... now it's his one-man stage.

The moonlight pouring down is a spotlight just for him.

“The purpose for which people live! The true reason we were born into this world! The mission laid on all mankind...... it is!!”

Twirling around once and spreading both arms wide...... Prough proclaims it loudly!

“It is...... TO GROW WHEAT!!!”

........................

Huh?

“Now listen, Emi? All people, myself included, are slaves to wheat, and to carpet every last surface of this world with wheat and create a golden sea, that is the very mission laid on mankind!”

W, what the heck is this guy saying......!?

“Therefore, Harvest God-sama sent me down to the earth! To rightly guide ignorant, benighted mankind and turn everything in this world into its proper form...... a wheat field!”

Prough continues to speak, almost shouting.

From the ground that keeps bathing in the golden magic power overflowing from him...... the Harvest God's Divine Aura, grass shoots up vigorously, grows to waist height all at once, and turns golden.

That, is wheat.

A wheat field is spreading out, centered around Prough's feet......!

“Since the day I was born into this land, I've always acted to fulfill that mission! To start, I guided the villagers' minds the right way and got rid of anyone in the way! I made the ritual for receiving Harvest God-sama's grace take root as the village's culture! And I've kept on expanding the village...... the wheat fields!”

<I see, it's all starting to make sense......! In other words, Grounoddka Village is a device the Harvest God built using this reincarnator, for expanding the wheat fields!>

What are you talking about......!?

No, what are you going on about too, Omake-sama......!?

“Thanks to the efforts of me and the villagers, the wheat fields expanded smoothly...... but at a certain point, limits to that momentum began to show...... a certain problem that even a god's power couldn't solve struck this village. Infuriatingly enough.”

Prough's expression, which had been so happy while talking, twists in pain.

A grinding of teeth, giriri, echoes through the night forest.

<Something that cannot be solved even with the power of a god!? W, what on earth could have happened......!?>

You're really playing along, Omake-sama.

Maybe it's just a labor shortage?

“That problem was, namely, a labor shortage......!!”

Crap, I got it right.

“No matter how much I strengthened the villagers with the bread bestowed by Harvest God-sama, each of them has only one body...... managing the expanded wheat fields took everything they had, and there wasn't the labor to add any more farmland. Even taking in adventurers who strayed into the village, their numbers only went so far. I agonized...... at this rate, I could not fulfill Harvest God-sama's will! I could not bring about a world drenched in wheat......!”

<So the one who washed ashore right then was Emi, is that it......!>

“The one who washed ashore right then was you, Emi......!”

<Crap, I got it right.>

Why are you right!?

What is going on!?

“Watching you work in the fields, I was amazed......! That vast power dwelling in your body, unthinkable for a human! I was sure that with that power, we could make the wheat fields much, much bigger! With that...... superhuman labor force of yours!!”

<How dreadful...... this guy was looking at Emi, as labor......!?>

That in itself is a pretty common way to see things, isn't it?

“The results you produced working in the village were all so excellent they went beyond my expectations. Clearing land, spreading fertilizer, watering, weeding...... with you alone, the wheat fields spread more than 10 times faster than before! It's wonderful. I was convinced. That you must surely be a wheat warrior sent into this world by Harvest God-sama.”

Don't be so sure.

What the hell is a wheat warrior.

“So, see, Emi. I don't know why you went and woke up, but...... it's a problem for me if you leave this village.”

“!!”

The atmosphere surrounding Prough, who had been talking so happily, turns cold......!

In spite of myself, I brace myself again and get into a fighting stance too!

“I don't want that...... I don't want you to leave. I believe that our meeting was destiny.”

Prough slowly thrust his arm into his pochette, and from it...... he pulled out bread!

Bathed in moonlight...... no, glowing faintly on its own, the baguette-shaped bread is visibly hard.

If Prough, strengthened by a god's power as he is now, hits me with that, even I'll be in danger.

Both fists raised in front of me, a deep breath.

Focus. Focus, damn it.

......The smell of delicious, fragrant bread gets in the way, and I can't focus......!

“Come on, Emi! Together with us, let's dream once more! Let's create an endless golden horizon with our own hands! ......All for the sake of wheat!!”

Saying so, Prough raised the bread overhead...... and came at me!!

“First, how about I make you behave a little!!”