Volume 2 - CH 132

A few days have passed since then.

The people in the village have already recognized me, Alena and Reizen are getting to know each other better, and the rice harvest season is now underway.

Now, in the Zenki-vilage, it was time for the rice harvest.

This is the only time of the year when most of the Oni in the village take a day off from work to devote themselves to harvesting the rice.

The fields in Zenki-vilage are vast, after all.

In fact, the fields in the Zenki-vilage are so vast that they are probably larger than the castle town itself.

It would take all the people in the village to work on a field of this size to finish in no time.

And then there is a lot of work to be done.

Rice must be harvested by hand, and then hung on rice trees to dry in the sun.

That work alone requires a considerable amount of manpower.

Then, the rice must be threshed and hulled.

And today is the first day of harvesting.

Since this morning, people from the village, full of motivation were walking toward the field they were assigned with a sickle in one hand.

But all of them were male Oni.

The female Oni on the other hand, had to start work from noon.

It was like a state of war as they had to cook lunch for all the people in the village.

The smell of cooked rice filled the village from the morning.

They are going to have a harvest festival tomorrow, so they are very busy with preparations for that as well.

Yet they must be grateful to the god of abundant harvest.

And the festival is to express that gratitude.

It may be a bit of work, but all the Oni are happily engaged in the preparations.

Reizen seems to be looking forward to the festival and has gone to help prepare for tomorrow’s event.

He said something about how he was going to play the drums for me tomorrow. ……

I’m looking forward to it.

Me and Alena are here to watch the rice harvesting.

I thought I could help them a little, but they firmly refused, saying that as their guests and the sacred White Snake-sama, they can’t let me help them.

Even so, it was itchy to just sit back and watch and do nothing.

So I decided to serve them water that I had produced with my infinite water manipulation.

Though the harvest season is relatively mild, the harvest work is hard.

If they don’t get the water out of the plants, it will be a problem.

I was almost rejected, but I used my position as the “white snake-sama” to force my way through.

Sometimes, that title is kinda handy

Well, I wish they would be a little more open-minded and accepting in this kind of way, but …… it seems to take a lot more time.

“Alright! Everybody’s here! Then let’s begin!”

“”Let’s go!””

At the command of one Oni, everyone began to move.

With a sickle in one hand, they entered the field.

The field was already well drained and the Oni did not have to sink their feet deep into the field.

The Oni lined up side by side and began to work at once.

They grab the rice crop by the hand and swing the scythe near the root.

The scythe is cutting the rice so smoothly that one wonders if they are really cutting it.

The sharpness is wonderful.

You can tell that it has been well cared for.

It is not limited to knives, but the better the tool is, the more efficient the work will inevitably be.

In fact, the blades are even more delicate to prevent the use of unnecessary force.

This also depends on the care of the blade, but if you take care of it, you will naturally grow fond of it.

Whether it is a blade or a tool, you want to take good care of it.

Is it only me?

The Oni were harvesting the rice at a very fast pace, and the Oni who came in from the middle of the field went into the field carrying the stuff to make the rice plants that had been left on the pathway.

They set up the rice barrows where the rice had already been harvested and began tying up the bundles of discarded strands of rice.

“Ouren, what’s that?”

“That … You mean Inagi?” (Rice racks)

“Inagi?”

“Rice has to be dried in the sun once after harvesting. That’s what those rice racks are used for.”

“Hee …”

Alena responded with an attitude of either interest or disinterest …… as she sipped her water.

Maybe that’s not what Alena wanted to know, but unfortunately I can’t read her mind.

It may be that I myself don’t understand the mind of a child in the first place. ……

“Ouren-samal”

Someone called out to me from behind.

I turned around and found Raiki, dressed in his usual green clothes, walking alone toward me.

“Oh, Raiki. Are you sure you’re okay to come here?”

“Yea. Tenda will take care of it today.”

“Heh~. So Tenda began to work with Raiki, too?”

“Yes, he was always good at that kind of thing.”

Raiki sat down next to me with a “heave-ho” in his voice.

Then Alena took out a new glass and handed it to Raiki.

“Oh, thank you. Alena-chan”

“You’re welcome”

Picture-wise, it’s a happy, smiling scene between a grandkid and her grandpa.

However, Alena has no horns.

Raiki quickly drank the water Alena handed him and took a sip.

He must have been tired after walking all the way here by himself.

I didn’t think he had to force himself to come this far, but I guess he would like to see this kind of work done.

“Come to think of it, doesn’t Raiki ever try to retire or something?”

“I think so. I’m old now, and if I’ve finished …… teaching Tenda everything I know, I’d like to.”

“You say you’re old, but how old are you?”

“How old am I? I’m 422 years old this year.”

“You remember …… well, don’t you?”

“It’s part of my cultivation.”

Just how old is this old man again?

I had thought that Oni had a long life span, but I had not expected it to be this long.

He could have lived to be 400 years old if nothing had happened to him.

It’s very different from humans.

Then the question comes to my mind, …… how long will I live?

I don’t really care how long I live, but I don’t want to be immortal.

Ultimately, what I will become is a dragon.

Even if I’m not immortal, I will be able to live for a considerably long period of time.

There was a contradiction in that I wanted to see the dragons in this world just for reference, but I didn’t really want to …… meet them.

I’m not sure I’d risk it all to see them.

However, I am prepared to confront it if it becomes hostile, of course.

Killing a living thing is a matter of principle.

“Raiki-Ojisan (uncle). What kind of things are we going to do at the festival tomorrow?”

“Hmm? Well……, you’ll have to wait and see it tomorrow won’t you?”

“Eeh- but I’m curious!”

“Alena is the first human being to see a festival in Zenki-village, you know. This time is more spectacular than ever.”

Raiki spoke in the tone of a naughty boy.

He seemed to be having a lot of fun, and although Alena was a little upset at being kept in the dark, she seemed not to really dislike it, smiling and laughing.

I think it’s quite amazing that Alena could make friends with the lord in just a few days, but I guess that’s just because she’s a child.

I’m glad that Raiki adores children.

When I looked at the field, I found that one-fifth of the crop had been harvested.

That’s fast.

The more people there are in the field, the quicker it will be done.

Still, this field is huge.

There was only one field that was being harvested at the moment.

There are still four more fields that this group has been entrusted with.

I feel like I’m going to lose my mind when I think that I have to mow all of them.

If it were me, my heart would break at first. Yes.

It was noon, and the female Oni brought lunch, which we all ate together.

It seems that Shimu and Princess were among them, and they cooked a magnificent meal and brought it here.

Is it Osechi? (New year style dish, google it for more detail)

In the afternoon, female demons also joined in the reaping, so the work efficiency went up dramatically.

Although we were still limited to watching, it was interesting to see the rice gradually disappear.

However, Alena seemed to be bored and fell asleep on Raiki’s lap halfway through the work.

While we were watching this scene with a smile, there was a Oni who came running towards us.

“Raiki-sama!”

“Shhh–!”

Raiki put his index finger in front of his mouth against the oni that had come to him, concerned about Alena, who was sleeping.

The oni immediately shut his voice and crouched down in front of us.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, actually, …… we can’t catch fish in the river anymore. ……”

“What? I thought you said there was a good catch until yesterday.”

“Yes, that’s right, but …… today, the fish suddenly disappeared. This is the first time this has happened and we are having trouble catching enough fish for the festival. ……”

“Hmm. ……?”

It seems that the river where they are fishing is no longer catching fish.

It is a bit surprising that there is a river nearby that can catch enough fish to enrich this village, but this is a different world.

Let’s just think it that way.

But as I was listening to the story, I remembered a fish in my memory.

The one that had been blocking me from evolving in the first river I was in.

There was a guy like that. ……

“… Is it Bedlock?”