Harvest Day

The moment before Linsey said a final farewell to his beloved computer desk.

He had been up for sixty-one straight hours, muttering about the rhythm of the BOSS's next fast and slow attacks. He watched as the BOSS first swung a swift slash at him, then pressed block—

His game character died.

Linsey died too.

When he opened his eyes again, the memories belonging to a Game Player had awakened within Linsey, the reincarnated son of a farmer in another world.

"I... Linsey..."

"Earth..."

"Anville Village..."

Linsey's gaze was unfocused, and his head throbbed.

He clenched his fists, tightened them, then relaxed them, repeating the motion over and over.

The memories of two lifetimes churned together in his mind like a massive whirlpool, making everything around him feel like a distant past life.

Only after the whirlpool in his mind settled did he have time to realize his current situation.

Linsey was sitting in a square.

The air carried the dampness after rain and the scent of wheat from the fields.

This was Anville Village, an agricultural settlement under the City of Law, located on the Bromegrass Plain beneath the Forbidden Forest Mountain Range.

The Borderlands.

A majestic elk woven from wheat stalks stood here, five or six meters tall, imposing and magnificent.

Beneath the elk, Linsey and a group of children surrounded an elder.

The old man's voice was hoarse, but he told the story with vivid passion. It was an ancient legend from the City of Law—The Annals of the Young King Xingzheng.

"The old king lay dying, and the future Righteous Walker received the mark of the Thorned Law Sword. At that time, followers of rampant war were massacring innocents In the City. The young king's resolve was set. It was time to act..."

Linsey blinked.

The atmosphere before him clearly marked this as no ordinary day.

He carefully sorted through his memories, then his eyes widened as he realized the significance of his surroundings.

"Today is... the eve of Harvest Day!"

The world he lived in possessed extraordinary beings known as Awakened Ones.

Harvest Day celebrated the bounty of the harvest, but it was also a festival celebrating the awakening of new Awakened Ones!

Yet unlike crops, which were harvested every year, a new batch of Awakened Ones only emerged once every ten years.

"Ten years?!"

Things did not seem very optimistic.

With a soul that had lived two lives, Linsey naturally did not want to spend this life in mediocrity.

But if there really was only one chance every ten years to become an Awakened One...

Then did that not mean he had only one day left—tomorrow?

And if he missed it, he would have to wait another ten years for the next awakening!

"Is starting at thirteen the same as starting at twenty-three?"

Linsey frowned deeply.

Yet his current identity was merely that of a rural child.

He searched his memories carefully. This world apparently had none of the usual traditions of testing magical affinities or eligibility for awakening.

"Then... Awakened Ones, or rather, the means to become one, probably aren't something ordinary people can easily obtain."

Linsey continued recalling and organizing information that might be useful to him.

First.

In the border village of Anville Village, only two Awakened Ones lived permanently.

One was the Village Chief, responsible for managing village affairs. The other was Master Bai Lin, who tended the crops.

The former was widely respected, a guardian deity-like figure in Anville Village;

The latter specialized in agriculture. During the recent stretch of rainy weather, Master Bai Lin had used his miraculous skills to protect the Farmland across the entire plain by himself, ensuring the soon-to-be-harvested bromegrass neither sprouted nor rotted.

"Perhaps I can start with the Village Chief."

"If I remember correctly, the Village Chief likes children, and he's a gentle person..."

As Linsey sorted through his memories, he also considered the matter of the Awakened Ones.

At that moment, the elder telling stories beneath the elk paused for a rest, and the children sitting with Linsey began to play around.

"Did you hear? A mysterious person entered the village today. They say he's some incredible big shot!"

"I know! He's a Law Knight headed for the Royal Capital!"

"A Law Knight from the Royal Capital—just imagine how impressive it would be if we could become Law Knights too..."

"How could that be possible? Stop dreaming!"

The children's chatter interrupted Linsey's thoughts.

Because he had noticed a term—Law Knight.

Even in a place like Anville Village in the Borderlands, even among farmers whose lives were consumed by farmwork, even among their children...

They all knew at least a little.

In the City of Law that ruled this world, Law Knights were the king's guardians and enforcers of the law.

If evil men broke the law, they were beheaded; if evil dragons wrought chaos, they were slain! Whether in legends or reality,

these were the greatest of all Awakened Ones, figures like the heroes of myth.

And such a person was actually in their village right now!

Linsey could not help but entertain an idea.

Could he somehow get acquainted with this Law Knight and become a Law Knight himself?

An ordinary farmer's son might find that very difficult.

But with the knowledge he had brought from Earth in his mind, Linsey might not be entirely without hope! According to his memories,

although this world possessed supernatural powers like Awakened Ones,

its common folk's productivity remained far from the Industrial Revolution.

Then what if he offered up ideas like the steam engine, or a transmigrator's old standbys—soap, perfume, salt, sugar, and alcohol?

But what if revealing those technologies brought danger upon himself? Before anything had even taken shape, Linsey had already become conflicted over these wild thoughts.

But reality always arrived more suddenly than imagination.

Just as Linsey was agonizing over this, while the children beside him waited for the elder to resume his story,

the middle-aged woman responsible for preparing the festival food came over.

Looking at the children listening to stories before the elder, she put her hands on her hips and scolded them with a smile:

"You little brats, all you know how to do is mess around here all day!"

"There's a guest at the mill. Which one of you will take some food over?"

At those words, the children around her immediately scattered. Some ran off to play, while others ran off to eat.

Linsey had intended to slip away with them.

But he had sat still for too long while sorting through his memories, and his legs had gone numb. He failed to stand up.

"Linsey?"

"You're still the good one!"

"Come on, help Auntie deliver this."

"..."

"I actually..."

Linsey had wanted to resist.

But under her "kind" smiling gaze, the unpleasant chore of delivering food still fell upon him.

The mill stood north of the village.

Tonight was the eve of Harvest Day. The all-night celebration would continue until midnight, and Anville Village was exceptionally lively.

Wood-and-stone houses stood in neat rows throughout the village. Every household had an oil lamp hanging outside its door, lighting the village paths like clusters of starlight.

Looking closely, every home had also built small channels to drain wastewater, and every face was brimming with joyful smiles.

Linsey walked on.

Before long, he heard the rushing clatter of the Waterwheel, and the mill appeared before him.

"A guest? What kind of person puts a guest in a mill?"

Muttering to himself, Linsey pushed open the mill door, and then...

"Ah?"

Moonlight, soft as silk, intertwined with the blazing festival firelight from the village, while a blonde Girl sat leaning against the mill wall.

Hearing the door open, she turned a pair of lake-blue eyes toward him.

On her flawless white face, soft cherry-colored lips curved into a smile like the warm sun of early spring. Within her clear, limpid eyes seemed to rest the world's most sincere emotions, falling upon others like morning dew—cool and carrying an unwavering resolve.

"Hello!"

"What a surprise. Did you bring me dinner?"