Chapter 13: A Farmer
Under a bright blue sky, where not a single cloud marred the expanse, a weak-looking young boy worked diligently in a field, clutching a spade in his hands.
Despite his frail appearance, there was nothing weak about the strength he exerted while plowing the earth.
His movements were swift and powerful, putting even the most robust adult men to shame.
He worked with a fervor that was almost unsettling, driven by an unseen force that propelled him forward.
Yet, he was not alone in his labor. An elderly couple accompanied him, their bodies bent and withered like ancient trees.
Whether it was their advanced age or the lack of proper nourishment, their frailty was evident in every move they made.
Nonetheless, they toiled alongside the young boy, their determination matching his own.
When Evel found himself here, he initially thought he had reincarnated. But reality was far from kind.
He had not been reborn, reincarnated, or transmigrated. Instead, it seemed he was inhabiting this young man's body.
He couldn't control the boy's actions or communicate with him; it was as if he was watching a prerecorded play from the young man's perspective.
Yet, everything felt incredibly real. He could feel every motion the boy made and even sense his thoughts.
The young man whose body Evel currently occupied was named Harold.
Harold's background was neither ordinary nor exceptional; he was an exiled member of the Botori clan. His past was riddled with tragedy.
Born into a harsh world without any bloodline talent, his own parents abandoned him in this small village when he was just five years old.
Alone and terrified, Harold called for his parents incessantly, but they never returned. The villagers paid him no mind, treating him like a stray dog left to fend for itself.
He was on the brink of death, lying in the middle of the village, when an elderly couple took him in, despite looking like beggars themselves.
From that moment on, Harold had lived with these kind-hearted individuals. Life was anything but easy.
Despite working from dawn till dusk, he only got to eat once every two days. Sometimes, hunger gnawed at him so fiercely that he resorted to eating grass. Yet, he couldn't blame the old couple for this.
They were victims of their circumstances, often eating even less than Harold and giving him most of their meager food supply.
The field where they worked was not their own; they were merely laborers. Harold's life was a relentless cycle of toil and hunger, but he bore it with a quiet resilience.
As Evel experienced Harold's life, he couldn't help but feel a profound sense of empathy for the boy. Every muscle ache, every pang of hunger, every fleeting moment of hope and despair—Evel felt it all.
Despite the hardships, Harold never lost his spirit.
He worked tirelessly, not out of obligation, but out of gratitude and love for the couple who had saved him.
Their bond was his anchor, giving him the strength to endure the seemingly insurmountable challenges they faced.
The old man's name was Hary, and the old woman's name was Binera. Harold was not the name his first parents gave him; this name was given to him by the couple when they adopted him. His previous name was long abandoned and forgotten.
While they were working, Hary suddenly stopped and looked at his wife and son, his heart aching with pain.
It was his responsibility to make them happy and offer a comfortable life, but here he was, his child instead of playing and studying at this age was working in a field without any food going into his belly for almost three days.
"For a little longer, you should persevere for a little longer. We are almost finished. After finishing this, I will personally go to the landlord's house and beg for food," Hary thought in his heart.
After some time, when the sun had already set and dusk appeared, they finished their work.
"Huii... Today's work was not that difficult," Harold let out a long breath while wiping the sweat from his skull-like face.
Binera looked at Harold, love and sadness in her eyes. She knew Harold was only lying about that to make them not worry so much about him.
In reality, he was very hungry and exhausted, but what could she even do? She was helpless.
Harold's stomach was growling with hunger like crazy, as if he would pass out the next moment because of extreme hunger. But he suppressed it as always; he had become so proficient in that skill.
"Hey Binera and Harold, let's go," Hary collected all the farming equipment as he had to return these or else he would be severely punished. Binera nodded and headed towards Hary, but Harold didn't go and shook his head. "You guys go, I will come later."
"Ok, don't be late," Hary and Binera were not surprised as this was his daily routine. He always came home later than them.
"Today we will eat food, make sure to return faster," Hary was about to say it when he stopped. He was not sure himself if the landlord would offer food or not, so he didn't want to give false hope to his son.
Harold stood there for a while, and when the couple completely vanished from his sight, he headed towards the forest. "I am so hungry that I swear I will eat all the leaves and grass of this forest."
The leaves and grass were not the best food available in the forest, but villagers were prohibited from hunting in the forest as it was the territory of the 'Botori Clan.' If someone disobeyed the rules, their whole family would be hunted down or slaughtered by Botori clan members. So no one in the village dared to hunt in this forest.
Another reason was that he was not in the condition to hunt; he would only waste his time and energy doing that.
He plucked some leaves from the trees that he knew were not poisonous and stuffed them into his mouth. Then, he began to chew them slowly, the green liquid flowing from the leaves reaching his taste buds.
The taste was sometimes bitter and sometimes sweet; actually, it wasn't that bad. After chewing them for a while, he swallowed, the taste of leaves still in his mouth, his tongue completely green.
These leaves had helped him survive until now, or else he would have already been in a grave long ago because of hunger.
While he was doing so, he noticed a strong smell of blood. He was startled and slowly approached the smell after some hesitation.
But what he saw next made him breathless. There was a fierce-looking wolf, its mouth and whole face bloody, enjoying its hunt with great pleasure.
...
The village was not that far from the field where Harold's family was working. After some time, almost about half an hour, the old couple reached their house.
The house was very small and broken; it didn't even look like someone lived there. It seemed like the house had gone through more than five earthquakes.
There were cracks everywhere, making it seem like the house would fall down at any second, but it was still standing like a miracle.
"Honey, you wait here. I will go and return these equipment," Hary said as he headed away without even resting for a while.
"I will give them a surprise," he thought in his head as a bright smile appeared on his corpse-like face.