“Excuse me?” The nearest man asked incredulously. “What exactly do you mean you’re here to help defend the village?”
“It is as I said. I am here to help you all and–”
“How exactly do you plan to do such a thing?” One of the other men asked, his voice full of confusion, “I do not mean to debase you, madam, but you are not exactly the definition of trustworthy.”
“What?” The Wushi gasped. “How could you say such a thing? Why, I would never! I–”
“For one, madam, your outfit.”
She looked at the man in question and glared at him. He couldn’t help but sigh as he looked at her up and down.
“Madam, you are not exactly dressed for battle. No, you are outfitted in a way that would make you seem more like an innkeeper than a warrior. You do not have any weapons or armor, all you have are your fists and feet and your clothing. There is nothing that shows you being able to take down those monstrous foes.”
“Have we forgotten how I was able to disarm your comrade a little while ago?” The Wushi asked with a raised eyebrow. The man seemed to shake his head at that comment, before giving out another sigh.
“That is a different matter altogether, madam. You may be able to fight humans, but that does not mean proficiency in fighting back these vicious monsters.”
“Good sir, I must ask you to think for a little bit.” She put her hands on her hips and thinned her lips, “Do you believe that I could have gotten to this point by myself, without companions, without any weapons, and without any armor?”
“No, that should not be possible.”
“So, how exactly would you explain how I managed to get here?”
The man opened his mouth to respond, before closing it. He seemed to be at a loss as he put a finger to his chin and ran his head to try to find an explanation for his idiocy. Unfortunately, it did not seem like he was able to do so, as he ended up shrugging and giving her a sheepish look.
“Well, that, well…”
“I got here with my own hands. I killed those beasts with my bare fists and legs,” the Wushi spat, “ I was able to fight my way through the wild lands to get here and I will not endure these insults being levied upon my being. So, let us get to the point. What exactly does this village need to defend itself against the beings that roam these lands?”
The man seemed to fight himself to respond. His face went through a myriad of emotions as he tried to find something to say, before another man, one with a goatee and a cloth cap, stepped forward.
“For that miss, we need several things.” He pointed to the village and began to explain, “We need better buildings for shelters, as some are getting close to breaking down and becoming safety hazards. We need to finish the butchering area so that we can prepare the meals for tonight, we need to capture some animals so we can have food, and we need to have some people go and collect materials to build up more defenses.”
That was quite a lot of things they needed. The Wushi couldn’t help but blink at all those requests, before running them down one by one. Shelter, cooking, food, and last but not least, defenses.
There was one line that connected all of these needs together, one that she was more than capable of achieving: construction. They needed help in building up all of these structures in order to have a sense of safety within this area.
Something that was completely doable. Though, she did have some questions of her own.
“That’s all? You don’t need to get someone to find water?”
“Well, that…” The capped man lifted his hat and scratched the top of his head, “We do have some water saved up from our last village, but we have yet to find an endless source. At this rate, we might have to start another project to funnel water to this area.”
Wait. That didn’t make any sense. Why would they funnel water to this place considering the danger of this world? Sending people out to go and spend an immense amount of time constructing a water project would only lead to them being open targets for these yaoguai.
“Why would you want to stay here if there isn’t a good source of water? One would imagine that would be an important resource to live, no?”
The capped man looked embarrassed as he looked down, before putting his hat back on. “Well, yes. Normally we wouldn’t bother doing such a thing, but we have no choice. We have a good reliable source of petra here and we can’t just leave this place alone. We have to stay here and fortify the place so we can continue obtaining the resource, otherwise–”
“I’m sorry, petra?”
The capped man nodded. “Yes, petra. You don’t know what that is?”
The Wushi shook her head. “No, I haven’t even heard of such a thing before. What exactly is it?”
He took a deep breath, before proceeding onward with his explanation. “Petra is something similar to that of salt. It’s something we mix with water itself to create a fast-forming stone that’s used in building… well, almost everything. From home foundations to walls to even castles and towers. It’s sturdy, strong enough to withstand several blows from the giant beasts, and relatively easy to use. Thus, an important resource to maintain survival for everyone, and a perfect bargaining chip to use with other settlements.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“So, in other words, you don’t want to leave because you have found gold.” The Wushi spoke blandly, which left the capped man nodding his head.
To that, she couldn’t help but breathe out in annoyance. Great, good to see that greed still exists quite well even if there was nothing to profit off. Somehow, she wasn’t too surprised to see this, and yet, didn’t explain much.
If that was the case, then why would they leave their previous village? After all, finding riches alone usually wasn’t enough for people to upend their entire lives and venture into genuine danger. No, there typically had to be more to it to risk life and death.
So, the Wushi went ahead and asked.
“Well, we had no choice.” The capped man grimaced as he looked towards the distance. “Our last village got destroyed by a horde of beasts, after all.”
“I thought you said petra would be able to defend against such attacks?”
“These were different.” The capped man closed his eyes and shuddered. “True, there were the typical monsters. Roughly human, ranging in size, and mindless beasts that rushed forward without a single bit of thought. But this time, there were ones that were much stronger.”
“Stronger? How so?”
“Some of them had some kind of black chitin armor…” He started, “Some had muscles so thick that they were almost like tree trunks. Some of them were taller than any of the walls we built. There were ones that looked nearly human, but something about them was just wrong.”
“... Hm.” The Wushi nodded at each of those words, before looking him in the eyes. “So, did these beasts follow you to this area?”
“No! I mean, I could swear they didn’t get the chance to do so…”
“So you’re not even sure about that.” The capped man then shook his head, which made her sigh and shake her head.
“Right, then time is of the essence then. Right now, we need to focus on defenses and making sure we have supplies. Go and have your men start foraging for materials to make more reliable weapons and equipment and everything. I’ll get started on the construction efforts and making sure everything is built, though I will need someone to inform me on how everything is meant to look.”
“Pardon?” He raised his eyebrows at her request. “You mean to tell me that you plan to build everything?”
“Yes, so get going! We don’t have time, we don’t know if that horde has been following you and your group! So, chop chop, we cannot afford to burn daylight now!”
Any words that the man had to counter her claims went up in smoke at her point. He grimaced, before turning to his men.
“Ruben,” he said as he pointed to the man with an eyepatch, “Go and make sure Manfred gets a place to rest.”
“And Kanden,” he jabbed a finger at a man with a feather in his helmet, “Go and assist the madam. The rest of us will go and collect materials. Understand?”
“But sir! What if the horde comes?”
“Then the madam can defend the village.” The capped man said, before looking back at the Wushi. “You can do that, right?”
She looked at him for a while, before bursting out in laughter. “Can I do it? Of course! Something like that wouldn’t even be a challenge, a simple task for a skilled warrior like me!”
“Sir, can we even–”
“You have your orders, Kanden. Get to it.”
With that, the capped man went out with his men towards the nearest forest. The named Ruben looked back at the retreating group, before picking up Manfred and heading back to the village with the Wushi and Kanden.
The four of them went in peace. Ruben was too busy grunting and groaning as he dragged the unconscious fellow back, while Kanden did not seem eager to discuss anything with her. They went on for a while, before arriving within and splitting up.
That left her and Kanden alone. He turned towards the Wushi with clear distrust in his face, before pointing at a nearby building.
“That house needs to be renovated.” He started, not showing any kind of regard or respect for her, “We’ll need to take down one of the walls and redo it. That means we’ll need to gather some petra and water to set up the side, demolish it and–”
The Wushi closed her eyes and took in several deep breaths to help bring her anger down. She wasn’t going to lash out at that man for not showing any face, that was something the arrogant and overblown fools did. No, she was far better than that.
So, she would simply show the man the error of his ways.
“Is that all?” She asked as she stepped towards this so-called house, grimacing at the way the entire building seemed soulless and lacking any kind of balance, “Or did you merely try to say fixing a wall is a whole day’s effort?”
“It is a two day effort.” Kanden raised his eyes at her remark, before shaking his head. “Of course I didn’t expect you to understand. Though that’s–”
“So would it be okay if I tore this all down and built a new home?” The Wushi interrupted him again, resulting in Kanden stuttering and stammering. Then, he closed his eyes, before glaring at her with such intensity that she could believe he was attempting to unleash a vile curse upon her.
“You know what? Sure, why not, as long as you can do it within an hour!”
And at that, she laughed. No way, an hour? What was the limit?
What a joke. She didn’t even need a minute.
And with that, she unleashed her ki and let her will shape the world.
She watched with glee as Kanden’s jaw dropped open in utter shock as the building in front of her broke down into dust and ash. She savored the moment he staggered back and fell onto his butt as the earth came up and began to form itself into a beautiful house.
The walls rose and dried in an instant, becoming similar to the strength of stone brick. The building was no longer a boring box with a single entrance. Now, it had all the characteristics of the homes that inhabited Zhongguo. A raised foundation with a tiled roof to provide safety from the outside elements. Some window openings were formed with the door entrance wide open, and with the interior having a nice heating block ready for use to help combat the cold.
She turned towards the stunned man with a smirk. She stared at him staggering back, before she stepped forward.
“Do not worry. You do not need to apologize for your disrespectful nature and your crude remarks, for you were too uneducated of my powers. However, I will demand you get off the ground and start assisting me, as we have much more to do.”
“I– That… That, how?”
“It does not matter, does it? What is important is that a house has been built and set up for an inhabitant.” She smiled down at him, making him gape and sweat profusely.
“Now, let us go. Tell me how many more homes need to be built and explain how the butchering area is meant to look. We don’t have all day.”