Chapter 36
Awakened by the bellow of a beast resounding in the middle of the night, Zeros and the others, who got up and picked up their weapons in concert, gathered in front of the bridge.
Given that the construction site was located in the middle of nowhere, they all had brought combat equipment. However, as they weren’t expecting to fight against human opponents, they were mostly wearing leather armor, which was easy to move in.
What they saw once they reached the bridge, was a gigantic beast roaring on the opposite shore of the river. Its upper body looked like a person’s, but its lower half was that of some sort of canine animal.
Legs similar to the ones of insects appeared to be growing from all over its back, and while it had crocodile-like protrusions covering its head, it didn’t have any eyes–– No, it had eyes, however, they were placed on its abdomen where a person’s face was emerging from.
Moreover, Zeros had the feeling of having seen it before.
“Is it the same kinda monster that appeared today? It looks totally different, though.”
“It likely is, but… Couldn’t it have eaten its own kind? Given its current appearance, it looks like it absorbed their abilities as well, and… Well, if you think about it, with its extreme hunger, there shouldn’t have been any other monsters around here anymore other than them, don’t you think?”
“It ate the others!? And, it absorbed their abilities, too? Then, when a magician is eaten… ”
“Yes, it might be able to use magic. We can’t let our guard down against it.”
He predicts that sort of clichéd development. Normally, it would have been highly unlikely for it to happen in reality, nevertheless, he was actually not wrong in this case.
The size of the monster he previously defeated some time ago and the one he burned to ashes during the day was about the same. There were still some differences between the two, but they were around one size bigger than a human, whereas the monster he was facing this time was almost two times larger all in all.
It runs at an unbelievable speed before easily leaping 10 meters high into the air. It seemed like its bones were being crushed under its own weight, but even that was being regenerated at a tremendous speed.
“So it won’t take its time to get here, huh? That speed… is definitely quite the threat.”
“But that’s only if the ground is solid, right? We’ll show ya something good just like before.”
Using the combination of the quicksands created by 【Gaia Control】 and the ground hardening of the 【Rock Forming】 spell.
The four-legged monster ran towards the unfinished bridge and jumped high into the air, crossing over the cliff in an instant.
“Now!! 【Gaia Control】”
““““【Gaia Control】””””
The dwarves cast the spell in unison.
““““ 【Rock Forming】””””
The trap seemed to have worked… However…
―――Bugii, buuchiinn!!
Utilizing its whole body as a spring, it manages to break free from the hardened ground using the recoil, but at the cost of all of its four legs which were torn apart. However, it immediately starts regenerating, and from the place where its limbs were previously severed, it grows legs and wings covered in insect-like shells.
It was as if it were instantly adapting to its new circumstances.
“W-What the hell!?”
Naguri was taken aback by its staggering speed of regeneration.
Furthermore, countless snake-like creatures sprout from its abdomen. Moving like whips, they assault the nearby dwarves, blowing a few of them away.
Fortunately, they managed to block the attack with their iron shields, though they were rendered useless with that single blow.
“Tch. Everyone, please step back!”
Zeros draws the swords hanging at his waist and cuts off the snakes wriggling like tentacles growing from the beast’s body. However, immediately after, new snakes endlessly spring forth from the cut wounds.
“Won’t let you! 【Fire Lance】”
““““【Fire Ball】””””
In perfect synchrony, the dwarves’ magic attacks hit the monster, engulfing it in flames.
“Promine– W-What!?”
The monster remained calm even while being wrapped in fire. Looking closely, a transparent barrier was deployed, protecting it from the magic onslaught.
Only the heat could pass to the inside of the barrier, causing the monster’s black bristle to set afire and giving off a nauseating smell.
“Shit! Was there a magician in that village!? Damn it!!”
That silly little theory had become reality.
There was an old magician at the village that was attacked, and he fought to defend it–– but in the end, he fell prey to the beasts. As the magic formulas stored in the old magician’s brain were assimilated by it, the monster obtained the ability to use magic.
“Go through! 〖Railgun〗”
Gathering and condensing the surrounding dirt and rocks to create high-penetration bullets which are then repeatedly fired towards the monster, naturally, while avoiding the dwarves.
A magic barrier is a magic that simply guards its user within a predetermined area, in other words, it’s just like a physical shield.
The spell Zeros fired was 〖Railgun〗, a super-electromagnetic cannon*. The only way to defend against it was to deploy a conical barrier pointed towards it to deflect the shot. However, it was impossible for the monster to parry his attack, as its magic barrier’s formula didn’t possess the sufficient thickness to withstand it.
(*T.N: first in katakana then in kanji/-> 超電磁砲)
Though, despite its grandiose name, the 〖Railgun〗 spell had the downside of having low firepower given that it prioritized having a faster casting speed. A high-level player could make up for it, but due to its high penetrative power, and depending on how it’s used, they may end up dragging their own allies into the spell.
—
The magic barrier disappears completely as it was pierced through, leaving several enormous holes in the monster’s body. But, even those wounds were regenerated at an incredible speed and were closed up in the blink of an eye.
“That regenerative ability… This one is far stronger than the other two I fought before…”
Even so, with the barrier protecting the monster now gone, the dwarves devote themselves to firing magic against it.
“Gueeaaaaaaaahhhh!!”
Naguri sharply thrusts the hammer he is wielding, crushing the monster’s head. With a swing from below, its jaw is shattered and flesh is scattered about.
However, this monster’s face was located in its abdomen.
Taking advantage of the momentum of his previous attack, Naguri spins around and drives his iron hammer straight into its face.
At that moment, Zeros rushes towards the monster, unleashing slashing attacks one after the other with both of his swords and managing to sever its insect-like legs, which rolled off on the ground.
As the monster judges that it is in a disadvantageous position, it deploys a magic circle from the center of its body.
“This is…!? Damn it! Naguri-san, fall back!”
“Hm? Ou!”
The moment he took distance from it, countless rock thorns sprouted from the ground around the monster, attacking Zeros and the dwarves.
“That was close… Ranged magic!?”
“It seems that the magician that was eaten was quite an excellent one. It’s going to be a pain having him as an opponent.”
Once again, the monster breaks into a run, charging towards the dwarves. They hide behind the construction materials on the bridge, trying to accumulate damage on the monster’s body with surprise attacks using both weapons and magic.
However, it was useless in front of its powerful regenerative ability. Moreover, due to their barrage of fireballs, the surroundings had caught fire.
“I dunno if it’s because of that regeneration ability that it’s beatin’ our asses here, but this thing is really a pain to deal with!”
“It would be ideal if we could restrain it somehow, right? It’s incredibly fast, and besides, it doesn’t seem like it’s feeling any pain.”
“Isn’t it fine to cut it into minced meat?”
“I would probably turn this place into a big crater if I do that. Still, I will try to take it down when I see an opening.”
As there were a lot of people around, Zeros was trying to snipe the monster with small-scale spells, but as things were, the situation was gradually getting worse and worse.
Its regenerative ability seems to be working at full power at the moment, however, its physical capabilities weren’t as high. Sometimes, it looked like the monster’s movements became duller while it was regenerating.
Both self-healing and physical exercise require having a supply of nutrients inside the body. As such, if one of these processes is prioritized, the other will naturally fall behind.
It was a good discovery, but due to the sheer size of its body, it didn’t seem like it would make any difference.
Nevertheless, the dwarves recklessly attack it without giving the monster any chance to counterattack. Some are even trying to tie it up with ropes.
“Could it be that it’s using a regeneration and a strengthening ability at the same time? Then, it will stop moving soon as it runs out of nutrients, perfec–… No, that’s too naive.”
He tried to think using his common sense, but it didn’t seem likely that this otherworld’s common sense would agree with his own on this one.
He shakes his head to get rid of those naive thoughts.
It may look at first glance that the two abilities were pulling each other down, however, there’s a high chance that the monster will use up all of its remaining strength at once if its body runs out of nutrients. If that were to happen, the monster would be able to move as fast as him –albeit for an instant– and devour the dwarves.
“Now it’s the moment to defeat it… Its movements have somehow…”
The monster relentlessly starts pursuing after the dwarves. To prevent it from doing so, Zeros casts a spell to restrain its movements as much as possible.
“Uoohhhh!!”
Bawling* chops off one of the monster’s legs wit his ax.
(*T.N: the dwarf from before whose name sounded like bowling)
―――Gyaahhh!!
“Guh!”
The monster howled in pain and slammed its arm against Bawling, sending him flying until he crashed directly into some building materials.
“Bawling-san!?”
“Uncle!”
The monster advances forward in order to eat the immobilized Bawling.
“Won’t let you! 〖Fireball〗!”
““““〖Fireball〗””””
When a flurry of attacks came from the dwarves, the monster was forced to retreat, unable to approach, but…
―――Fuwaah!
It spread its wings and soared into the air.
As he confirmed that the monster has gone towards a place with no obstructions, Zeros takes advantage of the opportunity and immediately fires his magic, though, as the dwarves were still nearby, he couldn’t use a too big of a spell.
“〖Tornado〗”
The wind element ranged magic, 〖Tornado〗. This spell not only creates a tornado to trap the opponent inside but also sends a concentrated barrage of vacuum blades towards them.
Much like how the Kamaitachi* attacks its victims, the monster was thoroughly shredded apart, turning into minced meat. And yet, that wasn’t the end of it.
(*T.N: a yokai that rides dust devils and inflicts painless, sharp wounds with its claws. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamaitachi)
“〖Prominence Flame〗!”
With the addition of the incineration magic 〖Prominence Flame〗, the tornado became a firewhirl. Two spells were used to turn the monster into cinders.
Scorched by the ultrhigh heat from the half-plasmized flame vortex, it is soon reduced to carbonized remains. And so, as it couldn’t regenerate anymore, its shriveled body parts shattered pitifully as they hit the ground.
“Uncle! Are you alright!?”
“Are you fine, Bawling-san!?”
“Ugh… It hurts… I would’ve died If I hadn’t blocked it with my ax…”
He seemed to had avoided a fatal wound by guarding against the monster’s attack with his ax at the last moment, and only bruises could be seen on his body. He would have instantly died if he were human, but dwarves were a rather sturdy race.
“Don’t worry ’bout it, alright? Yer already too old for this kinda thing, after all.”
“Say that again! I still ain’t gonna lose to young people.”
“Wait, ‘uncle’? Are you related?”
“Hm? Didn’t I tell you? He’s my pop’s younger brother.”
“I can’t distinguish the age of dwarves, you know? They all kind of look the same to me…”
There was no way for a human to know that.
According to his story, Naguri’s family has been in the construction business for generations, and currently, his father is the president of Hanba Constructions. However, he also liked to work on-the-field and was always moving from site to site.
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In that sense, it was hard to tell who actually was managing the company.
“Ya did kinda trash the place, didn’t ya? Well, as long as the bridge is fine we can manage somehow.”
“The construction materials will burn if you don’t extinguish the fire, you know? It’s mostly all stone, so it shouldn’t be much of a hassle.”
(*T.N: I don’t know why this dialogue feels kinda choppy and hard to follow, I legit had to re-read multiple times because I thought I missed a part of the conversation.)
The dwarves soon started a bucket relay line to put out the fire. They seemed like masters in every situation, as their response was super quick.
When Zeros approached the remains of the monster, he used his appraisal skill on it but only the word ‘charcoal’ was returned. Even so, after carefully examining every part of its body, there was only one thing he could properly appraise. It was… a dull, black stone.
【EVIL GOD STONE】
It was originally part of the Evil God’s body, but it has petrified after being separated from the main body for such a long time.
If poured mana into it, it bestows great power to the user, but at the same time, it turns them into a monster.
Once transformed, it’s impossible to return to the user’s previous appearance and leaving them with uncontrollable hunger.
Additionally, after turning into a monster, the sense of reason is lost and the user becomes a mindless beast driven by the instinct to hunt down prey.
“So this was the cause, huh…? Although it looks like a simple stone…”
The Evil God was the last boss in the game and the one that made him come to this world. Zeros and Iris, amongst others, were sacrificed by the Four Deities’ plan to have the players eliminate the Evil God sealed in the cyberspace based on this otherworld.
(*T.N: I don’t know if in the previous chapters it was said how many people were sent into this isekai, but at least in here it was only implied that these two weren’t the only ones to be transported.)
Said plan was, for the most part, successful, though the Evil God managed to release a curse into the game’s network, and the people who were struck by it were reincarnated into this world.
—
Suddenly, the stone begins to suspiciously shine.
“This is…”
As if reacting to something, the ‘Evil God Stone’ was emitting a red hue.
(If this stone is part of the Evil God’s body, then that means that I have something on me that it’s reacting to. Do I really have such a thing?)
He casually opens his inventory and checks the things he currently possesses. There were suspicious items, such as the Evil God’s carapace and claws, and he was bewildered at the fact that they looked different from what he remembered.
(…The hell is this…?)
He confirms the appearance of a similar-looking thing to those items on his inventory before retrieving it.
【EVIL GOD SOUL】
Details are unknown…
The Evil God’s stone glowing in a reddish shimmer.
It was reacting to the 【EVIL GOD SOUL】
(It’s only a soul, but… It’s really the Evil God’s soul, isn’t it…? How…?)
It was unknown why the stone reacted to the soul instead of the other parts of the Evil God, still, he could understand that he was in the possession of a troublesome item.
“Well, I’m sure I can use it for something, right? Let’s keep it then.”
Normally, one would have chosen to seal it, but he was careless.
After returning both items to his inventory, Zeros joined the others to help with the site’s reconstruction.
He chose to give priority to the immediate problem he had at hand.
Three days later, a group of knights was advancing down the highway. Their purpose was to inspect the construction of the road.
Two knights were at the front of the group while 5 others were at the rear. Advancing on the center was the carriage of the feudal lord, DelSasis.
Dressed up in a suit, he was organizing some documents and preparing for his next task. He was probably the busiest man in the country.
In addition to his work as a feudal lord, he also keeps track of the financial situation of the businesses he runs, as well as taking care of his two wives and countless mistresses. One could say he was a skilled man in many ways.
The construction of the highway was a request from the country, and when it’s completed, the area would be managed by Count Jacbuckham. However, he wasn’t happy about that fact.
Broadly speaking, the Count had little support from his people. The cause was the imposition of heavy taxes and his own autocratic attitude towards them. But above all else, he was rumored to be the very same image of the kind of villain that would take a woman who had already given her hand in marriage, under the guise of being his ‘droit du seigneur.’*
(*T.N: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_du_seigneur also known as first-night’s tax.)
At the same time, he was an important contributor to the Weissler faction, being one of their main financial supporters.
He wanted to crush him somehow, but so far he hadn’t thought of any definitive plans.
“DelSasis-sama, we will be arriving shortly.”
“Fumu. Right on time.”
Looking at his pocket watch, knowing that he would be arriving at the exact time, DelSasis was pleased with the punctuality of his men, as usual.
“I don’t see any of the people from Hanba Constructions around…”
“It seems that they’re building a bridge farther down the road at the behest of the country.”
“Come again? Hold on, that’s odd. The country shouldn’t have had any plans to build anything else besides the highway.”
“It’s odd, isn’t it? I heard from Naguri-dono that it was a request from the country however…”
Public-works projects coming from the country would be entrusted to the feudal lord governing over the concerning region, who would then commission craftsmen to do the construction work itself. However, the request this time didn’t entail the construction of a bridge.
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The construction of the highway aside, the bridge was supposed to be built after the budget was estimated, but it was unclear why it had already started.
DelSasis comes up with different hypotheses, the most likely being…
“He pushed forward his own opinion without consulting with anyone, huh? What an idiotic thing to do.”
There was a reason why he arrived at that conclusion. If a nobleman wanted to have such a thing made at their own discretion, they would have had to report to the country– the King– in advance.
Because the construction of the highway was a national project, if a bridge was suddenly decided to be built, it would bring about unnecessary confusion afterward; after hiring craftsmen and buying materials, and going to the site, only to find out that the bridge was already completed would be a waste of resources.
Similarly, the Duke of Solisthea, who governed the neighboring territory, had to be briefed on the situation.
However, neither of them were informed beforehand.
It was publicly known that Count Jacbuckham personally detested DelSasis, but blatantly ignoring his responsibilities as a feudal lord in this way may lead to having his whole family sentenced to death.
That would be a joy for DelSasis, as one of those bothersome nobles would be gone, but seeing that the Count’s younger brother seemed to be a better fit for the position of the feudal lord, he would like to somehow avoid his demise.
“It would be better not to say anything to His Majesty.”
A plan is being made in his head to get rid of anyone who gets in his way.
After a short amount of time passed, and while his brain cells were operating at full power, the carriage reached the construction site of the bridge.
As DelSasis descends from the carriage, he sees an unusual spectacle taking place there. The dwarven craftsmen were doing the ‘Thriller’ dance on top of the completed bridge.
(*T.N: Yes, the original word was censored but this is my best guest after searching in google for 15 minutes. I mean, it’s not as cringe as the last chapter at least. 完成した橋の上で、【ス○ラー】をダンシングするドワーフ職人達の姿だったのだ。)
In the center, there was a magician he was familiar with, dancing particularly hard, cool, and sexily.
(*T.N: ok nevermind)
The unperturbed dance had become its own art form.
It was also a strange sight that the dwarves, who were supposed to have beer-barrel-shaped bodies, looked so cool while dancing.
Micheal Jackson was truly great.
The feudal lord’s retinue wasn’t able to close their gaping mouths for a while.
The middle-aged magician had apparently been inspired by the dwarves and had now become an entertainer.
The people that had been doing construction work were uselessly glowing that day.
(*T.N: sounds a bit weird. 工事をしていた者達はその日、無駄に輝いていた。)
“The bridge’s construction wasn’t included!? What the hell d’you mean!?”
They had been performing a joyful dance to celebrate the completion of the bridge and their own safety, but they were now confused after hearing DelSasis’ story.
The dwarves had built the bridge at the request of the country, but it turned out that the construction of a bridge was still something the kingdom was discussing. They were very surprised to hear that.
“Again, the only work requested by the country was the construction of the highway, building a bridge was not included. Did you really receive a request application with His Majesty’s seal on it?”
“Yeah, a request from the King is a very honorable thing for us craftsmen. ‘Course I got the request application.”
“If you have it here, would you mind showing it to me? It wouldn’t strange for them to come to me and ask to inspect it.”
“Ou…… I should also ask all the other craftsmen, right?”
The dwarves’ and other craftsmen’s construction companies take pride in their work. In particular, the jobs from people in power, such as nobles and royalty, were often difficult, so it was an honor for them to undertake such large projects to the extent of considering the contracts and other documents to be akin to medals.
Nevertheless, for the dwarves, it was an old custom to leave said documents close at hand to boast to their friends when drinking together. But before that, however, those documents were considered to be so important that they had to be kept in the management office.
The dwarves seemed to have a different perception of them from other people.
And so, they brought back the request applications stamped with the royal seal. They were in the possession of several of the construction companies present there.
It seems like they were going to have a drink in front of the documents later.
DelSasis carefully examines them with sharp eyes, trying not to miss any detail.
“…It’s a forged document. The quality of the paper is bad and the royal seal looks weird.”
“So, yer sayin’ we were workin’ for free?”
(*T.N: probably not the most accurate translation, but the term used meant something like being tricked into doing any sort of job under the promise of compensation upon completion, but then finding out that the employer doesn’t have any intentions of paying. It’s just that I couldn’t find a better way to word it that would fit the character.)
“That’s not the case. You’ve built a bridge as beautiful as this, leave the rest to me.”
“Aight, then please do. My livelihood depends on this job.”
(So working wasn’t just your hobby, huh? I guess he also worries about his livelihood, isn’t it?)
Zeros thinks of such rude things inside his mind. Just because it was both their job and pastime, it didn’t mean that they didn’t have to worry about their livelihood.
They liked making money just as much as working.
“Do you know which of the Count’s retainers brought this in?”
“It was one of those bastards from that fucking Count’s place on the opposite shore of the river. Should I go beat’em up right now?”
“Stop that, please. I’ll take care of it, but it’s going to take some time…”
“I’m countin’ on ya then… Seeing ya makin’ face like that, I don’t think I wanna take revenge on him anymore…”
“That really helps. I have to quickly go back now to arrange for an inquest…… You can leave this place now.”
DelSasis, who had just arrived, was about to head back for the city of Santhor. A capable man doesn’t waste time unnecessarily.
“Yer as busy as ever, huh? Take it easy. Go take more mistresses or something.”
“I have to head out again immediately after returning home. I’ll get the paperwork done in the carriage, but I hope she doesn’t get angry.”
“Yer mistress’ place again… Yer gonna get stabbed in the back one of these days, y’know?”
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“This is how I choose to live my life. Women are not to be made to cry, after all.”
After stating this boldly and with a straight face, he quickly gets into his carriage and urges the driver to start moving.
This capable man wasted no time.
“…That person, does he even take breaks?”
“Dunno. He’s a busy person, right?… in many ways…”
The smoke from Zeros’ cigarette is blown away by the wind.
After seeing off DelSasis ‘carriage, they began to make preparations to return back home. Today’s work was safely completed, and from tomorrow onwards, they will be tackling their new HOT site.
The battle for Hanba Constructions was not over yet.
Incidentally, they were apparently going to take care of the villagers who had fled. It could seem as these craftsmen were compassionate and kind to their fellow man, but they might have simply wanted new workers and people in charge of the meals…
The outskirts of the city of Santhor, home to Hanba Constructions, is often referred to as the industrial district.
Many workshops are located side by side on the streets, and each of them is specialized in its own field, however, there are some cases when for example two blacksmith shops are next to each other causing sparks to fly between the two.
In one such area was the office and workshop of Hanba Constructions, where several carriages had returned.
Many craftsmen could be seen descending from them and proceeding to head to a nearby tavern for a meal.
“Zeros-san. Wanna have a meal together, at my uncle’s house?”
“Is that fine, Bawling-san?”
“Yeah, I don’t mind. I don’t hate it when it’s lively.”
Zeros was ushered by the two and led to a simple brick house.
When he entered, he could see various kinds of tools hanging on the walls, giving an appearance closely resembling that of a factory rather than a craftsman’s home.
“I’m not entirely sure what your occupation is anymore, Bawling-san.”
“My uncle does anything, y’know? From blacksmithing to all sorts of handiworks.”
“Now wait for a bit. I’ll make a lil’ something to eat.”
“Why not Mekkara Beans again? I really fancy that thing, y’know?”
“That’s the essence of us, dwarves. No matter how many times we eat it, we don’t get tired of it.”
Bawling goes towards the kitchen to prepare the food. But…
“Shit! I knew they were gonna get moldy. I was gonna make our precious Mekkara Beans and everything.”
He looked inside the pot and cursed. It was filled with soybeans simmered in water and what seemed to be mold growing on top of them.
Though, Zeros wanted to ask if he really planned to eat beans prepared before the construction work started.
“Mold?”
“Yeah. It’s some sorta fungus that grows on wheat and soybeans. It grows fast as hell, too.”
“If you don’t preserve them properly, it’s gonna grow right away on ’em. Just meat is fine, uncle.”
Naguri immediately started drinking some warm ale, while Zeros, who was looking for koji, casually looked inside the pot…
【Koji Mold】
It begins to reproduce en masse when the humidity in the air surpasses 40%.
It’s a resilient bacterium that grows the best in grains such as wheat, rice, and soybeans.
It’s stronger than the lactic acid bacteria and the acetic acid bacteria.
A mutant bacterium that can only grow in places with a high concentration of mana.
It has an incredible life force that can drive away mold.
The appraisal was triggered.
“I found iiiiiitt!!”
“What the fuck!?”
“What’s the matter, anchan!?”
This world’s koji mold was super strong. Thanks to the nature of the earth, it seemed to be more resilient than black mold and other bacteria, and also seems to be able to preserve things better.
Excited about making yeast starter, this middle-aged old man was unable to put his mind at ease.
At this moment, he truly wanted to hurry back home.
“Now I can finally start making sake.”
“With this mold?”
“I find it kinda hard to believe, but if you’re makin’ alcohol then let me try some, alright, anchan?”
Zeros was feeling a bit under the weather by the fact that he was dragged to the construction site before he could look for koji, but now that he arrived here, he suddenly feels motivated.
But he was forgetting one thing… the fact that the rice hasn’t completely grown yet.
Now back in the city of Santhor, Zeros, Naguri, and Bawling started a drinking party to celebrate the completion of the bridge and the discovery of koji.
—
When Zeros returned home the next morning, he was astonished at the sight of his fields being covered with weeds. It wasn’t only the koji bacterium that was resilient.
From that day on, he spent several days with a sickle in his hand, mowing the fields.