The Duke's Son :Re-Chapter 193

Chapter 193
“One more step.”
Slash!
“One more step!”
Slash!
On the fourth day of training, the number of straw bales on Jae-Hyeok’s back had increased to nine. It weighed several tons. With every step, his bones creaked and his muscles screamed. However, his heart was at peace. No matter how great the physical weight and pain, it was trivial compared to his duties as the Kang family’s heir.
In any case, I won’t die.
Over the course of four days, Jae-Hyeok had reached his limits several times, even losing consciousness. But every time, he recovered well. And every time, there were traces of someone having looked after him.
It’s true. The farmers are a little crazy, but... they aren’t bad people.
Reinhardt's farmers were clearly crazy.
From an outsider’s perspective, the farmers were a group of psychopathic criminals who kidnapped passersby and forced them into field work. But from a different perspective, the farmers were only following Reinhardt’s tradition and culture. Jae-Hyeok decided that going forward, he should work hard to understand and respect the farmers’ ways.
That’s the first step to adapting to this world.
Slash, slash, slash!
The speed of Jae-Hyeok’s sickle was quite good. He crouched low, advanced with the farmer’s step, and skillfully cut the rice stalks. Of course, his skills were still clumsy compared to the native farmers. The rice he cut wasn’t uniform in length and damaged at the ends, meaning it would sell for a lower price.
Even so, the amount of rice Jae-Hyeok harvested was no less than that of the other farmers, meaning his scything speed had become similar. Now, he had adapted to the pace and posture for harvesting rice, having gained greater strength and control over his body.
With some room to relax, Jae-Hyeok continued to work while observing his surroundings.
“How dare some farmer block my way?”
A long path split the fields. At the far end, blue warp portals occasionally appeared as all sorts of otherworlders arrived from their homeworlds—only to be kidnapped by Reinhardt’s farmers the moment they breathed Reinhardt’s air.
“Do you think I’m a joke?
Eek!
”
Those who resisted were turned to ash, not even granted the mercy of a corpse.
They’re all S-class or above players.
From Jae-Hyeok’s perspective, the otherworlders who visited Reinhardt were all very talented. At least, in terms of pure physical ability, most of them were better than Jae-Hyeok. Nevertheless, they were all made equal in front of the farmers. Not even the stronger ones could break through the farmers’ encirclement.
That place must be amazing.
Jae-Hyeok hefted a tenth straw bale on his back while staring at the horizon, where the vast blue wall stretched endlessly. It was so large that it looked like the face of a distant mountain range.
Could this really be a man-made structure?
No matter how many times Jae-Hyeok saw it, it was so preposterous that it didn’t seem real.
It could probably be seen from space.
What kind of culture could create something like this? How many years did it take them to build the city?
Jae-Hyeok’s curiosity grew deeper by the day. He was more and more eager to cross the wall.
Slash, slash, slash!
That eagerness fueled Jae-Hyeok’s efforts in the fields, and his rice-scything technique improved little by little.
A farmer commented, “Heheh, good kid. Your posture is flawless.”
“My upper body is still leaning a lot.”
“That’s only because you are carrying bales soaked with mana. Isn’t that right, Kyoreh?”
“He should be able to handle that much weight,” Kyoreh replied.
Kyoreh didn’t enjoy meaningless torture. He fully grasped every outsider’s capabilities and gave them a level of hardship that they could overcome. That was what it meant to train.
When will he realize that all toes need to meet the ground at the same time? No, no. That kid’s brilliant. He must’ve already realized it, but is struggling to execute.
Toes had different lengths, so some error was inevitable.
Kid, remember the essence of a farmer’s step.
The essence lies there.
As Kyoreh and the farmers were watching Jae-Hyeok, the Thunder Emperor also couldn’t take his eyes off Jae-Hyeok.
He’s incredible just based on his guts.
The Thunder Emperor carried twenty straw bales. As a National Treasure, he was easily ahead of Jae-Hyeok in some aspects; his harvesting skills had also improved every day and were already comparable to those of the native farmers. However—
“
Gasp... gasp...
”
While the other farmers were still working leisurely, the Thunder Emperor’s endurance reached its limit by the end of the morning. And every time that happened, he struggled to suppress his reflexive reliance on mana. Today, however, the Thunder Emperor had no intention of pushing himself until he collapsed.
That kid must be more tired than I am. Hurry, hurry and pass out! I won’t take a break until you’re not awake to see it.
Fall, fall, fall...
Amid the Thunder Emperor’s mental chanting, Jae-Hyeok—who was dragging his trembling legs step by step—suddenly stumbled. The Thunder Emperor’s eyes brightened, only to dim when Jae-Hyeok caught himself.
God damnit!
Jae-Hyeok had seemed like he would collapse several times already, but each time he returned to work after a moment of teetering.
This guy is definitely Chinese.
The Thunder Emperor became certain of his newest speculation.
He must be a secret weapon cultivated by the Communist Party.
The Communist Party put its own interests ahead of human rights. To that end, talented boys and girls were recruited from all over the continent to be brainwashed and trained from a young age. Red Tiger, Black Dragon, and so on—that was how China’s elite player army divisions were born. It seemed to the Thunder Emperor that Jae-Hyeok was one such elite player. Only that could explain his cockroach-like resilience.
The Thunder Emperor sighed.
Those damn Communist Party bastards destroyed his personality. A boy with his whole life ahead of him was turned into an unfeeling machine, and for what?
They might be rivals, but the Thunder Emperor didn’t harbor any hostility. After all, most hostility stemmed from envy or jealousy; so how could he, the Thunder Emperor, have any reason to dislike the boy?
Rather, I should thank you, random Asian kid. Without you to compete with, I might not have tried so hard to learn farm work. Now I’ll be over the wall even sooner than I expected. Ah,
I wonder w
hat type of adventure awaits?
The Thunder Emperor’s enthusiasm was burning as he gazed at the blue wall on the horizon. Unimaginable civilizations, transcendent people, and astonishing quests and treasures—no matter what he imagined, he was sure that what was beyond those walls would be even greater.
It’s just a shame the Farming Skill might overwrite my Skill window and change my Profession to a farmer...
The Thunder Emperor shook his head. At this point, it was too late to turn back.
From the start, it was impossible to cross the wall without the farmers’ permission. Having worked closely with the farmers for the past four days, he’d clearly analyzed their strength and abilities.
Thousands of farmers are at least S-class powerhouses, and the leading farmers like Kyoreh are at a level where even I’m not confident in defeating them...
Just then, Kyoreh approached the Thunder Emperor.
“Put down the straw.”
“Hmph, you’ve been staring at the boy all day, but now you are finally paying attention to me.”
The Thunder Emperor set down the twenty bales of straw, and the soil sank under the weight, forming a significant slope.
Kyoreh ordered, “Pick it up.”
“What? If it was going to be like this anyway, why did you tell me to put it down? Do you think you’re training a dog? Dammit! My skills are already the same as those of other farmers!”
“That’s only true when it comes to harvesting. Let’s move locations.”
The Thunder Emperor’s anger immediately disappeared. It seemed like he’d finally reached the next step.
***
Kyoreh and the Thunder Emperor arrived at the outskirts of a fully harvested section of farmland, where large plastic tarps were laid out.
Slap!
Boom!
Slap!
Boom!
Hundreds of farmers were swinging large flails.
“This is the process of threshing.”
Freshly harvested rice stalks were piled up here and there on the plastic-covered ground. And every time the farmers swung their flails, individual rice grains spilled from the stalks.
As expected, after harvesting comes threshing.
The Thunder Emperor nodded happily. “Okay. I will follow the rhythm this time.”
In four days, he’d already advanced to the next step in the farmer’s training. Meanwhile, that Asian kid still hadn’t mastered harvesting. Having preserved his pride, the Thunder Emperor was naturally pleased.
I won. I’ll definitely be crossing the wall first, any day now
The Thunder Emperor was thrilled and started swinging his flail passionately.
......
His passion didn’t last long.
“This is the process of threshing.”
Ten minutes later, Kyoreh led the Asian kid over. What's more, the kid arrived without a single straw bale on his back. He arrived at the site burdenless, unlike the Thunder Emperor, who was carrying twenty bales.
The kid picked up a flail and swung it with ease.
“What the hell is this? It is clear discrimination!” the Thunder Emperor shouted.
Kyoreh waved his hand impatiently.
“Alright. Drop the straw bales.”
Thump!
The Thunder Emperor, tense with anger, slammed down the straw bales, causing the land to sink once more.
Kyoreh ordered, “Pick it up.”
“You crazy guy!”
The Thunder Emperor’s patience was limited. Finally, he exploded in fury and charged at Kyoreh with the intent to kill.
“Oh, this could be a decent match.”
“How interesting.”
“Kyoreh will win.”
Seeing the commotion, the farmers decided to move up their snack break. They savored their rainbow potatoes as the two men fought.
Why are they suddenly fighting?
From the start, Jae-Hyeok had been silently focused on threshing, careful not to miss a single grain of rice.
Ten minutes ago, Kyoreh had also ordered Jae-Hyeok to put down the straw bales, and Jae-Hyeok had done so carefully, unlike the Thunder Emperor, who’d dropped the bales recklessly both times. One considered the soil, while the other didn’t. Naturally, the gap between Jae-Hyeok and the Thunder Emperor widened greatly. At this point, Kyoreh already recognized Jae-Hyeok as a farmer.
***
“Dammit! I must’ve been crazy to waste my time in a place like this? I’m done with it!”
The Thunder Emperor, frustrated by Jae-Hyeok’s unfairly accelerating progress, decided to escape. In the dead of night, when the farmers were asleep, he secretly ran in the direction of the wall. Surprisingly, it was Jae-Hyeok who stood in his way.
“Isn’t it a waste to give up now?”
“How dare you say that? Tell me honestly. What did you bribe Kyoreh with that he favors you so blatantly?”
“That... ”
Jae-Hyeok was about to explain when a new warp gate opened at the end of the main road. An overwhelming surge of mana, unlike anything he’d seen before, erupted like a storm and whipped up the calm fields.
“Reinhardt. It has been a while.”
A handsome blond-haired man stepped out of the warp gate. His eyes fell on Jae-Hyeok and the Thunder Emperor, who were as stiff as stone statues.
“Are you two the new farmer candidates?”
Who are you calling a farmer!?
The Thunder Emperor wanted to refute, but he couldn’t open his mouth in the face of the blond man’s overwhelming pressure. An instinct to survive drove the Thunder Emperor to assume a fighting stance. He converted his mana to lightning and wrapped it around his body like armor.
“Ugh... ”
Meanwhile, Jae-Hyeok turned pale, crushed between the pressure of two powerhouses. His instinct screamed for him to run. But...
This is a field; one minute—no, even a second is enough. The farmers will definitely arrive before I’m killed.
Jae-Hyeok was filled with this firm belief and leaned forward, gripping the hilt of the sword hanging from his waist.
“Hoh, there is trust in your eyes. But that stance... ”
A strange light flickered in the handsome blond-haired man’s eyes.
“I’ll personally test both of you.”
Then a miraculous phenomenon occurred.
The ambient mana churned, separating into several streams in response to the man’s will. One stream burst into flames; another stream, cerulean in color, flowed and danced like a dragon; another directly condensed into ice; and another condensed into earth.
Each one was a magic spell.
The man was multicasting so many spells. It was a feat that not even a National Treasure could achieve, and it was done effortlessly without any chanting.
A monster... This guy’s realm is far beyond mine. I can’t even imagine it.
While Jae-Hyeok was having such thoughts, the Thunder Emperor gulped nervously.
Just then, Kyoreh shouted, “Boland! Please refrain from playing pranks on the newcomers!”
“Ah, Kyoreh. You sure came out fast.”
The blond-haired man smiled awkwardly, like a thief caught in the act, and dispelled his magic. However, a few of the spells had already been released and struck the Thunder Emperor.
“Cough!”
“Ah, sorry about that. I’m Boland, the Minister of Agriculture. I heard there were some promising new recruits in Reinhardt, so I rushed over for a look. I hope my prank wasn’t offensive.”
“D-damn... ”
The Thunder Emperor’s eyes reddened as he resisted the grand spell. His knees trembled, and he was forced to the ground.
I, a candidate for the title of Earth’s strongest, am actually so insignificant in this world?
The Thunder Emperor had the sudden urge to cry.