The strike rings true and the straw is cut. A small burst of flame escapes, lasting only for a moment.

And then, most anticlimactically, the wheat falls to the ground.

"Good. Good. Now get back" Kenki's father leaves the scroll and quickly approaches to pick up the fallen straw. He runs over to where he left the basket and throws the wheat inside.

Naturally, Ken moves away from the field to avoid any random flame discharges while he waits.

"Phew, alright." The man places both arms on his hips." You doing well Kenny?

"Yes?"

"Good the first time is the hardest. Come if we're swift we can cut twenty or thirty more straws today. Just remember, don't get complacent."

"Yes papa."

And they do. Over the next fifteen minutes the duo of father and son manage to cut down a total of twenty-three wheat stalks. The only accident during the whole ordeal being Kenki missing one of his strikes.

Thankfully for the both of them it had been a wide miss. He had simply aimed again and gotten it right the second time down.

They had to cut the harvesting short because his father had begun shaking from exhaustion.

'The inscription in the scroll is very taxing on the body, if I was the one using it I'd probably lose the ability to move after a single use. Two if I'm stronger than I believe I am. I shouldn't test it, not that father is going to allow me to use the scroll, we've both seen Daiki end up powerless and lacking basic mobility one to move one too many times. Kind of like Megumin now that I think about it, conscious but... limp'

Kenki waddles silently behind his father, spear in hand. The man holding the basket filled with wheat in both hands, the scroll held under his armpit.

"Fuu…" He sets the basket down on the open grassy field.

"Ken, wait here and stay out of sight. I'm going to check if your mother has returned."

"Okay."

The man sneaks off, moving towards the house on his tip toes like some sort of a goofy cartoon character. The sight makes Kenki release an audible sigh.

Jesus… Dear Emperor. You know, my father has many great characteristics. He's tall, he's strong, he's honest, he's hardworking, he's friendly. If you had a problem in our village he'd literally be the first person to come running, bending over backwards and doing his best to help you out, expecting nothing in return.

But.

Being stealthy and inconspicuous… Those two things are what he's worst at. I better pray that my mother isn't home yet. The moment she lays her eyes on him she'll know that something is up. I'd rather we didn't get our ears yelled off our heads today.

"Psst"

Ken, snaps his head in the direction of a voice he heard.

"Kenki, is that you"

"I'm sorry, can you speak a little lower?"

"K…., I……yo..?"

"It was a joke Ren! Yes, it's me. Speak up."

I should also remember to stop using sarcasm on kids, the concept flies right over the heads.

A kid, roughly Kenki's age stands up from the grass and reveals himself.

"Have you been harvesting spiritual wheat?" Ren asks as he begins circles Kenki. He refers to the wheat with its more widely used and easier to pronounce name.

'Urgh, I better not risk it by telling Ren the truth, he has a bit of a problem keeping his mouth shut. Thankfully, he's still a kid. And kids are very weak to lies and gaslighting.'

"No." he replies bluntly.

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"Really, why are you dressed like that then."

"Big bro gave me the spear and cloak after we were done harvesting the wheat!" Ken twirls in place. "What do you think, cool right?"

"Suuper cool!" Ren bounces in place with his little hands balled into fists in front of his chest." Wait does that mean that your brother is naked now?"

Ken shakes his head " The reason I was with them in the first place was to bring his clothes along. He's probably off playing with the sheep right now or something."

"I see, I see." Ren nods his head all knowingly. "Right, anyways the others sent me to come and get you. Do you want to play hide and seek with us?"

"I do."

"Great, come on then!" Ren hops on, waving his arm for Kenki to follow.

"You go on ahead. I'll come join you guys after I'm done helping dad out."

Ren crosses his arms and puffs up his cheeks. "Pfu, okay. Just don't forget like last time okay?"

"Oh don't worry about that, you know that hide and seek is my favorite game."

"Just be quick alright?" Ren runs off into the grass after Kenki waves him away. He leaves just in time as barely ten seconds later his father comes back to usher him into the house, his mother and brother still having not returned.

He removes the cloak in short order upon entering his room, relieved to not have to wear the itchy thing a second longer.

Grabbing his disheveled long hair he moves it behind his ears.

"Where did I misplace that darned piece of yarn?" Still naked, he rummages around the room in an attempt to find the thing he uses to tie his brown hair. Eventually finding it hidden under a clump of regular wheat straw. He uses it to tie his hair into a ponytail.

'I don't care if it makes me look like a girl, I ain't touching my hair. None of you know the horror of being a balding middle aged man. The hair stays and I'm never going to cut it.' After tying it he lets it down, Letting the ends of his hair strike the middle of his exposed back.

"Right." dressing up in his rough wool clothes and wooden Samurai Jack-esque sandals he runs out of the room.

He exits the room "Dad! I'm leaving to go to play with the others."

"Be home by the time the sun dims."

"Okay!"

Leaving the property is a bit difficult. It is by no means a small farm, surrounded on all sides by grain, fruits and vegetables. The only way out being a cobbled path so thin that two adults wouldn't be able to stand side by side. That is unless you'd like to tread through all the tall grass.

Overall, while not rich, his family is decently wealthy. A concern that Ken had had when he reincarnated was the looming threat of famine and starvation. Despite his concerns, not a day has gone by where there hasn't been food on the table. Even in the case of a famine, his family has enough to survive for a year, given that they ration the food they have in storage.

'Healthcare could use some tweaking though…' Ken shakes his head as he's reminded of the empty beds in the kid room.

Running down the packed dirt road, Kenki makes his way to an abandoned farm. Going by the stories relayed to him by his parents the place is haunted and should never be approached as the last owners of the place had died 'deaths most horrific'. When he had further inquired about the subject they had just pulled out the 'we'll tell you when you're older' card.

Of course, those stories did nothing to dissuade either him or his friends from converting the place into a base. Going as far as to temporarily steal some equipment so that they could make it more livable.

Finding the hidden entrance to the property, he makes his way down a path through the grass, just mildly overgrown when compared to the rest of the land. A result of the childrens' efforts.

Speaking of children, Ken runs right into one of his friends. He appears to be hiding behind a boulder right next to the path.

"Hi Mumu."

"Ken! Quick, Get over here and hide, you're going to give away my hiding spot '' Kenki does as he's asked, crouching next to the black haired kid.

"Who's 'it'?" Ken whispers to his friend

"Ginta"

'Is that so?' A head sticks out to examine the surroundings "He usually examines the outside first before moving into the hous- Yeol!

"Hey, don't pull on my hair!" Ken smacks away Mumu's hands.

"But it looked so pullable…" an infuriating grin meets him in return "and you were about to give us away"

"Huuh?! You wanna go-"

Suddenly both of them still as they hear the pitter-patter of steps. The steps are quick, as if someone is running.

"Freeze!" A voice calls out, one Ken recognizes as belonging to Ginta, the hunter for this round of hide and seek. The steps stop.

"Boo - you were camping for me weren't you?" Now a second voice makes itself known, this one belonging to the Ren.

"No, you're just super loud"

"Loud? I'm running on grass, I'm not loud!" Ken could picture how Ren put his arms up in protest.

"Well that's too bad. Come on, you go to the prison!"

'Okay…" a disheartened and unmotivated voice escapes Ren after a while.

The prison in this case refers to the cellar of the house.

Both Ken and Mumu remain deathly silent… right until Ken punches him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" Mumu yelps.

'I cant let him get away with this so easily, children are vicious. If they want to bully me over my long hair they better get ready to face the consequences that follow.'

"Next time tug on my shirt stupid"

"Yeah, yeah." He's waved off "I don't get why you're so adamant on keeping the hair. Just let uncle Yulon cut your hair. It's his job you know."

Crossing his arms, Ken gives him the stink-eye.

"Anyways." Mumu avoids meeting Ken's gaze. "Ginta wanted me to ask you to help him out"

"Help him out?"

"Yeah, he had this great idea." Mumu flashes Ken an infectious smile "He wanted to make a maze."

"A maze?"

"Yes in the tall grass, we already know all the good spots for hide and seek so it's no fun anymore. What he wants to do is to make a maze so we can play hide and seek there."

Ken groans "That's going to be a lot of work. And I'm not stealing my father's sickles again. I nearly got caught last time."

"That's fine, Ginta's mother and father are leaving for Themten to do work, they're leaving him along with all his brothers and sisters here. They won't be back for two weeks at least."

"So?"

"So he wants you to come and pick the lock to his family's shed. Also he said that he'll do most of the work himself."

Kenki gives Mumu a weird look

"He wants me to pick the lock? And that he'll do the work himself? Does he have any idea how long it would take to cut out a good maze?"

Mumu shrugs.

"So, will you help him out? You're the only one of us that knows how to pick locks, and he's too scared to steal the key from his brother."

Ken rubs his temples

"What about the spiritual wheat? Ginta's mum and dad should still have some left to harvest, can they even leave before they finish?"

Mumu shrugs again.

Ken frowns, obviously not thinking that it's a good and feasible idea. "I'll think about it"