The houses didn’t take long to be formed. After all, with her willpower and the mystic powers bestowed upon her, such a thing was as simple as walking up and down some stairs.
Though, such a thing did not come without a cost. She was feeling exhausted and starved, desperate for some rice and meat to eat. She couldn’t help but groan as she wasn’t even allowed to take the time to rest at this time, seeing as how there was still much to do. She had to create walls to provide even more safety to these parts. Not to mention, she was busy still trying to finish this darn butchering spot.
Something that would’ve been done by now had it not been for the butcher being unable to decide how exactly things should go.
“No no no, the problem still exists.” The portly man said as he pointed towards the thin stone posts, “Like I said, those aren’t going to be suitably powerful enough to hold the beast bodies.”
“What are you talking about?” The Wushi asked, exasperated and fed up with this man’s incessant whining, “That isn’t your typical dirt, that is pure stone solidified! Why do you think those pillars aren’t going to be enough to hold whatever beast that we will store on top? That is more than enough, they’re sturdier than you think!”
“Are they as sturdy as petra?” The butcher raised his eyebrow at her remarks. She scowled as she didn’t respond, as she didn’t even know what the hell petra was and how it worked.
Yes, she was told about it. Yes, she had seen it at work from a distance.
However, that did not mean she could replicate this material when she hadn’t even touched it nor seen it be formed in action. That being said, she doubted that this material was as grand as it was being pushed by everyone around her.
“It’ll be just as good! No, perhaps even better than petra!”
“Are you sure about that?” He folded his arms and looked at her with suspicion. “Are you willing to put that to the test?”
“What?” She glared. “You don’t trust my word?”
“My good lady, it is not that I do not trust your word, but more so that I need to ensure that everything is built according to spec,” he elaborated, “This is something absolutely necessary. Without the butchering and cooking area, we cannot have food. And since this place is meant to provide sustenance to the entire village, I need to ensure everything is set up as necessary.”
“Why?” The Wushi grumbled. “I could make a kitchen in every house and make your job no longer necessary.”
“If that were the case, then there would be no need for a communal butcher spot,” he shook his head, “However, this is a necessity because of the fact that the creatures all rot immediately upon death. With that being the case, one must be excessively careful when processing the beast. Too careless and one might cut a vital vein and cause blood loss. Too careful and the beast could die from shock or pain.
“This task is one that requires an expert’s touch, as one single mistake could potentially kill the beast. After all, skinning, cooking, and serving the beast without causing it to die in the process is a difficult task that not everyone is capable of. Perhaps if we had some kind of method to prevent the beast from rotting after death, this would not be necessary and people could go out and hunt. But alas, this is the way things must be if we are to have things be in order.”
The Wushi absorbed all of that information, grimacing as she did so. She was aware that meat was to be the main source of meals, that much was for certain. However, one thing still irked her.
“You mean to tell me there are no plants or vegetables that are edible? No grains, no fruits, nothing?”
“We have not found anything like that.” The butcher shook his head. “Besides, we have no reason to try to spend the necessary man hours to discover something like that.”
“Is it not important to have variety in life? To have a balanced meal of meat and vegetables to ensure that one does not get bored of the same dish everyday?” She asked incredulously, “Surely one has tried to go out and search for some kind of seasoning or side dish to accompany the main meal, or to have something more portable to eat on the go instead of having to stick around in one place and suffer.”
“We have yet to find something like that,” he sighed, “Though I do wish to have something like that.”
“Perhaps you should have people experiment. After all, I can deal with all the construction, so the other focus should be on finding something else that is edible.”
“Maybe.” The butcher looked a bit hopeful at that. “Maybe.”
Then, he shook his head. “But that is neither here nor there. What I think is important is if you can truly confirm if the earth you created is as strong as petra.”
“I had thought we moved on from this incessant questioning.”
“We have not.”
“Pity.” The Wushi sighed as she proceeded to rap a finger against the stone posts she had made. “Look, if you do not trust me, then go ahead and try to break these pillars yourself.”
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The butcher merely grunted, before picking up one of his tools and getting close to the stone support. He twirled the hammer in his hand, before slamming it head on right into the base of the rod.
True to her word, there was no damage. No cracks, no dents, nothing.
“Hrm.” He lifted an eyebrow at that, before going ahead and picking at the post with the back of the hammer. “It’s close, but not nearly enough.”
“What on earth is that supposed to mean?”
“It means it’ll be good enough.” The butcher sighed as he put away his hammer, before turning to the Wushi. “Apologies. I just need to make sure that this would be truly strong enough to sustain the weight of the beast.”
“It’s fine.” The Wushi waved off his apology, before groaning and falling down onto her butt, “Just ensure that the food will be cooked well and that I’ll have first dibs. Right now, I’m starving.”
“Well, that depends on what the catch is today, but I’ll go ahead and get the fire started. The hunters should be back within a bit.”
With that, the butcher proceeded to leave, most likely heading off to grab tinder and firewood to start the fires early. The Wushi herself simply groaned as she rotated her shoulders, before falling flat onto her back.
She looked up at the sky, staring at the strange clouds that floated in the sky. She still couldn’t quite get how on earth every single last one of them seemed to take on a red and black color. It didn’t help the fact that each of them seemed unnaturally smooth, with most of them having none of the clumps that she could associate with clouds back in the mortal world.
No, these seemed like they were drawn by children who didn’t know how to draw in the first place. Everything about them was wrong, with the sun itself being a major proof of that as well.
There was no brightness or heat coming off. No, all of it seemed almost dull, nearly dimmed to a certain degree that there was no danger from staring. The Wushi couldn’t help but fathom why on earth the underworld would have such a sight as this, though perhaps that was the point.
A means to constantly torture and prick at the tortured ones for accumulating all that bad karma in their lives. That no matter how much they tried or attempted to delude themselves, they would never be able to escape the fact that they were not in the mortal world.
Though, she still couldn’t quite understand one thing:
Why was she in the underworld?
She closed her eyes and thought back to that moment she was sent here. The day she learned of those invading her hometown. The panic and horror that filled her body upon realizing what those Mongolians would do to her people. The regret of having to go against her master’s protests and rushing out the temple and down the mountain in order to fight back against the incoming horde.
The Wushi couldn’t help but purse her lips. Yes, that might be it. The reason for her being in this underworld and forced to help these people confront their bad karma and move on to the reincarnation cycle was all as a means to redeem herself from her actions. Perhaps if she listened to her master, she would still be in the mortal world, training her body and mind to become a Wushi worthy of the school.
But that was in the past. This was now and she knew her mission. After all, the man that seemed almost similar to her master had begged for assistance.
All this Wushi had to do was help the people of this land and take down the monster that had taken over the heavenly tower. That was her task and she wasn’t going to deny that she was genuinely excited to do such a thing.
She sighed and started to close her eyes, letting her body fade into a rest. She did have to recover her spirit and–
“What is this?”
She groaned as she opened her eyes and sat up, before turning towards the group that had decided to interrupt her moment of rest. The people she had sent out had all returned, a lot of them carrying different objects of varying size and shapes. However, they all seemed utterly shocked and amazed at the new buildings she had spent a lot of energy building.
“What do you mean?” She smirked as she savored the looks of awe and amazement on the groups’ faces, “They are the homes that I have constructed as I had promised. The butcher spot is all ready and the walls will go up after I finish eating and taking a nap.”
“This is incredible.” The capped man gasped as he stepped towards one of the homes. He put a hand against the wall, before jolting back in surprise.
“Wha– It’s warm? How?”
“It’s simple.” The Wushi smiled, “A heater built in that requires some wood to get started. However, get the fire going, and the house will be warm enough to get through the cold night. Which, by the way, you should get started building some doors and covers for the window.”
“This is going to be our home?” One of the men gasped as he stood and marveled at the sight of one of the homes, “This… I’ve never seen architecture like this! Why, this is something that I imagined nobles living in! Nothing like this for the peasants of some time ago! I, this…”
“Now, as much as I enjoy listening to all of your applause and praise,” the Wushi yawned, “I do believe it is more important to get food into all of our stomachs, now?”
“Rig-Right!” The capped man nodded, before whistling. Immediately, two of the men stepped up, both of them dragging behind them two monsters who had been tied and restrained.
“Alright men! Let’s go ahead and do inventory while Porio goes ahead and gets all the food ready!”
“I’m already on it.” Said man came forward, wielding a giant knife and a blood-stained apron as he snatched one of the monsters by the legs and began to drag it away, “I’ll go and prepare this beast. Has anyone found a water source yet?”
“Not yet, I’m afraid.” The capped man shook his head, “We haven’t found any as of yet, but I’ll have to ask the miss for that later. Let us let her rest and recover, we’ll handle it from here.”
“You do that!” The Wushi nodded, before going back and lying down. She sighed in relief as she got herself comfortable, before looking at the rest of the group going and getting themselves busy.
Ah, there was no better feeling than watching a large group go hard at work while one could go ahead and rest. Truly, the only way this could be better was if she had a cup of sake and some juicy fruit by her side.
She couldn’t help but purse her lips at that thought. She really hoped these people had some alcohol of some sort. Otherwise… Well, she’d have to do something about that.
Something drastic.