Darkness.
Silence.
And finally... cold.
It was like sinking slowly into an endless, frozen ocean. No air. No time. No self. Until a gentle voice called to him —not with sound, but with presence.
"So this is the end you chose, child?"
He couldn't see. Only feel. It was as if his mind floated between thoughts and echoes.
"So many days... locked away, lying down, eyes hollow. No tears. No pleas. Just... the end."
"I died...?"
The question echoed, but he didn't know if he had spoken or merely thought it. Everything was confused. But then, he remembered. The stifling room, the windows always closed, the emptiness in his chest, the food that no longer went down, the messages he never replied to...
Yes. He had given up.
A light shone. First faint, then intense. Like a sunrise behind his eyes.
And then, she appeared.
A woman walked through the void as if treading on the firmest ground in the world. Hair golden like ripe wheat, skin like marble bathed in sunlight, and eyes as green and vibrant as the first bud of spring. Her dress looked woven from vines, leaves, and flowers. With each step she took, the void bloomed.
"Child, you are a flawed soul. There is no honor or purpose in the way you lived and departed. But even so, I chose you."
"I am Beltharia, Goddess of Fertility and Harvest. And to you, I will grant a new chance."
Still confused, the child wondered:
"Why me? What do you want from me?" he asked, his voice finally taking shape.
"Because you wasted the life given to you by the Heavenly Father. All souls who die without achieving anything in life must be 're-educated.'"
"What do you mean?"
"You will be reincarnated into a harsher world and serve as a pawn to entertain the gods."
"A pawn? Not a hero or anything like that... a pawn?"
"Understand that these are the rules. Fate favors those who strive. To reincarnate as a hero, you should have lived a life of salvation, facing injustice for the good of others."
"I see... so I exist only... to entertain you?"
"The gods get bored, after all," she said with a smile. Beautiful... but empty.
"Each deity has chosen a reincarnated human to entertain us. Conflicts, progress, discoveries... we want to see how far you all will go in this new opportunity."
"And you, child, will be my wager. I have faith that you will accomplish great feats in my name in this new life."
Beltharia approached, kneeling before his spirit like a mother before her lost child.
"You wasted your first life, child. Perhaps this is your chance to learn the value of living. Or perhaps, your punishment."
"But now, at least, you will have purpose. Serve me well and flourish. Serve me poorly... and rot."
He hesitated. But after everything...
"If I didn't have the strength to live for myself... maybe I can live for something else."
The goddess smiled. And the world shone.
♦♦♦
The cry did not come.
The child opened his eyes slowly. Wrapped in coarse cloth, he smelled the scent of burned herbs. Above him, a sweaty woman with exhausted eyes and a distant look—his new mother.
He understood. This was rebirth, and upon hearing the female voice, he knew what to do.
"Something's wrong, madam, he's not crying," said a maid.
"WaaaAAAAHHH!" he screamed, thinking how much he didn't want to do it.
The room was large and well-kept, but in the distance, he observed: curtains worn like dish rags, cold stone walls, and faded tapestries with crests of a glory long gone. It was the mansion of the Grimwald family, a fallen barony that had once been an influential county in times of war.
But now? Just a forgotten piece on the kingdom's border.
His name was now Arthur, the youngest son of Baron Thelric Grimwald, an absent man who lived in the border fort repelling invasions from neighboring baronies. His mother, Eleonora, was a strong but cold woman who managed the fiefdom with her own hands, while the servants were few and the fields nearly barren.
His siblings, Edric and Serena, aged 12 and 9, spent their days working in the fields, hands dirty with soil, doing what they could to ease the barony's troubles.
Arthur, being too young, received the only gift the barony could still offer: time.
♦♦♦
In the early years, he pretended to be just a normal baby. He observed, listened, learned the language and traditions, the rules of the world.
At 3 years old, he began spending his days in the library. The few maids in the mansion saw it as a blessing since they could focus on house management. At 4, he learned to read. At 5, he wrote better than many adult nobles. This ease was largely thanks to his memories from his previous life. Despite living a reclusive life, he was curious and had read about all kinds of subjects, even learning multiple languages. Learning one more was a breeze.
Hidden among the moldy library shelves, he read about agriculture, medicinal herbs, social structure, war... and magic. He compared what existed in his world, trying to understand this world's progress and memorizing the best.
"In this world, mana flows through the body like a second blood."
Everyone had some kind of affinity. Serena and Edric had an aptitude for fire. They could become mages or elemental warriors. But Arthur... nothing.
He understood that the gods did not intervene in a person's status in this world. Being born here was pure roulette. One could be born a peasant with the stats of a legendary hero, or a king weaker than a commoner. But his stats... No physical strength. No elemental magic. His only talent was a form of non-elemental magic, generally used to reinforce the body or apply simple enchantments to objects. Additionally, it could be used to improve soil. Understanding this, Arthur thought maybe his stats had a bit of influence from the god who chose him, seeing his aptitude as a farmer.
However, despite the utility of his magic in support battles or farming, it still required mana crystals for advanced effects—items expensive and far from his reality.
Arthur looked at the stats he had through an old family artifact—the Appraisal Mirror.
Name: Arthur Grimwald Initial Class: Common Citizen Magic: Non-Elemental [Low Quality] Magical Aptitude: E Physical Strength: E Dexterity: E Intelligence: B Endurance: E Speed: E Potential: ??? Titles: Third of the Grimwald, ???
He stared at the mirror, unmoving.
"My stats are the lowest, except for intelligence... is it because of my past life's knowledge? Or because I started studying very early?"
Arthur wondered.
"In the end, I'm just a pawn. But maybe, if I train, I can improve them?"
There was no revolt in his words. Only a thread of determination, sprouting a forgotten seed.
♦♦♦
At 6 years old, Arthur already knew all the castle's books by heart. He had explored the limits of the village, observed the soil, flora, and rain cycles.
The barony's lands were dying. During his years of study, Arthur realized that the continuous exploitation of agriculture had nearly depleted the soil. But that wasn't the people's fault. No book in this world spoke about nutrient replenishment or crop rotation.
Hunger was growing. Peasants abandoned their homes. Some succumbed to despair; others became bandits. The baroness fought daily to gather resources to protect the border and feed the population in winter. The older siblings did everything they could to improve the lands and manage resources. Thanks to that effort, the barony persevered. The majority of subjects still managed at least two meals a day. But there was no margin to try new crops. A single failure could mean hundreds dying of hunger.
Arthur knew what needed to be done. The Goddess wanted fruits. He was her pawn. It was time to sow.
That morning, the sun blessed the still-weak crops. Arthur found his brother Edric preparing equipment for the fields.
"Brother, may I have a moment?"
"Speak, Arthur?" his brother replied, surprised by his younger sibling's approach.
"I noticed the crops are struggling in our lands. I read in a book that with mana stones, we could improve that. We have a few small ones in storage, don't we?"
"You can already read? What a clever little brother I have! I only started reading at eight."
"..." Arthur looked at him with disinterest, waiting for an answer.
"You're right, brother. With mana stones, we could improve the soil a lot. But we don't have mages with non-elemental affinity, so despite using the stones, our mana barely works."
"We're injecting mana into the fields daily, but it's only stopping everything from dying completely. As a result, only the stronger grains survive. But it's enough so no one starves."
Arthur observed closely and thought: elemental mana could also influence non-elemental effects.
"Can I help with that?" Arthur asked.
"Unless you have non-elemental mana, it wouldn't help much. I've read all the agricultural books in the library and none solve our problem."
"Rather than working with us in the field, I'd be happier if you studied to become a knight or advisor in the capital. I don't know how long our land will keep providing, but while we can, we'll help you find a new beginning, little brother."
At that moment, Arthur thought it was good to have brothers like that. Even if his family was distant due to the problems, they still cared for him and, if necessary, would guide him to a bright future at the cost of their own sacrifice.
He looked down and reflected. Wasn't it the same in his past life? He lived forgotten by his parents, who were out all day. Often, they didn't even come home. He had a decent allowance, but lived alone in a cold, silent house. But that was the past. Now he understood the circumstances and knew what he had to do.
"Actually, I recently turned six, and the maids took me to the Appraisal Mirror. They said it should have happened last year, but since father didn't return and mother didn't order anything, they waited."
At that moment, Edric realized he missed an important moment. In the Grimwald family, there was almost a ritual strictly followed.
On each descendant's fifth birthday, they faced the Appraisal Mirror to discover their stats and aptitudes. When children revealed their aptitudes, the family head would decide the descendant's study focus, followed by a celebration feast with the secondary family branches.
Edric realized everyone had forgotten, as it had been six years since their father stayed at the border and the barony was struggling to survive.
"I'm sorry we forgot, Arthur. I promise, when we recover the land and dad returns, I'll bug him daily to hold the ceremony."
"No need. I already found out my stats and, unfortunately, they're at the level of a common farmer. But I did discover I can use non-elemental magic."
At that moment, Edric was shocked. Everything they needed had finally appeared.
"That's why, brother Edric, could you provide me with some mana stones in exchange for my daily use of magic on the crops? They don't need to be charged, just spent stones with some remaining effect."
Edric nodded, excited by the great fortune the news brought.
♦♦♦
At night, he looked out the library tower window. The moon was full. The field, dark. But his eyes gleamed.
"If this land is dead, I'll give it life. I'll be the most efficient pawn of them all."
He grabbed a map of the region and marked the least cultivated areas with irrigation potential. He cataloged herbs and fast-growing plants from his past life that existed in this world—beans, turnips, creeping pumpkins, nitrogen-fixing grasses, and some native plants from nearby forests.
"I'll find these seeds. Replant these lands. Bring in the hungry. Train the desperate."
He closed the map and looked at the makeshift altar to the goddess Beltharia he had built in the mansion's basement.
The bitter memories of his past life made him grateful to the goddess for the chance to experience family again. Even under such adverse conditions, he was thankful.
"I was given a chance to live to the fullest... and I will master everything in my goddess's name. Let the other gods witness. Let the land bloom. And let the world acknowledge me."
The seed had been planted.