The young girl didn’t calm down no matter how many times the Wushi hummed. Rather, what happened was that the girl tired herself out sobbing onto her shoulder and simply fainted. Most likely out of exhaustion from the run and the fight that she had to get away from.
Not that she could blame her. After all, the denizens of these lands were not ones that were meant for the average person to deal with. Someone as weak as her would not be able to retain their sanity facing such unspeakable horrors.
With that in her mind, the Wushi went ahead and picked up the young girl. She went ahead and headed back to the village, ignoring the abrupt pains that sparked up from time to time. She couldn’t help but wince though.
Despite every single last bit of training and practicing, she had yet to find a way to ignore such sensations. Though, she didn’t have to endure for long, as she found herself in the village within a few minutes.
Though, by that point, her legs felt wobbly and her shoulders were shaking from the lingering pain that pulsed through her back. With a groan, she set the snoozing maiden down, before taking a few steps and falling right down onto the grass.
At least, she would have, were it not for the fact that she was caught by the capped man from earlier.
“I got you.” He said as he hefted her over his shoulder, “Don’t worry, you’re alright.”
“Hrm?” The Wushi muttered as she blinked her eyes, before turning towards the man that helped her, “Eh? Oh, thank you.”
“Wow. You must really be tired for you to not spout some type of arrogant remark.” The man shook his head, “Come on, let’s get you to a bed to have some rest. We’re going to need you to make those walls and help with the defenses, after all.”
“Mmm.” She grumbled before the two of them started moving forward, walking towards one of the homes. They got a few steps in, before the Wushi hesitated.
She turned back towards the girl she had laid down on the ground, her lips beginning to thin as she looked back. The man seemed to recognize this, but he didn’t seem to be worried at all.
“Don’t worry. I’ll have one of my men make sure she’s well taken care of. You won’t have to worry about her at all.”
The Wushi looked down at the ground, digesting all this. These people, the same ones who weren’t able to brew any kind of alcohol, were going to look over that frail and weak girl?
She didn’t know how to feel. On one hand, they were more than capable of committing to some defense, as they were able to capture a few of the regular beasts with their dinky wooden spears and their wits. On the other, they hadn’t necessarily proven that they were truly all that capable of living on their own.
Not only that, but the girl was her responsibility in a way. True, she had just met the young child, but there was something there that made her feel the urge to protect such a being. Perhaps it was due to the fact that she had already declared an oath to make sure everyone here would be safe. Perhaps it was because she had come in and rescued the girl with her bare hands and she simply wanted to see things too.
She shook her head.
No, this was all the thoughts of someone who wasn’t thinking clearly. It wasn’t as if these people weren’t trustworthy, on the contrary, she did have a good bit of faith in them. Even if they weren’t that competent, they still had some strength to them.
She could trust them to this extent.
“Make sure to get some food ready. With the way she was earlier, she’ll probably be hungry and thirsty.”
“Don’t worry. We have experience with these kinds of situations,” The capped man said as they entered one of the homes, before he went ahead and laid her out on a bed made of the same black wood and what appeared to be a large cushion with a blanket that seemed to be made of several vines knitted together.
“Take some rest, you deserve at least that much.”
And with that, the capped man tipped his hat, before going ahead and leaving the building. She was left all alone on that bed, staring at the ceiling as she felt the exhaustion start overriding her body and making her nearly fall asleep.
This would be the time where her master would lecture her about the virtues of patience and ensuring one kept their awareness up at all times. To be alert despite their surroundings and to have everything secured around them in the off chance a bandit came in and started some havoc.
But right now? She couldn't be bothered. She was too exhausted at this time to bother staying alert, too weak to try to set up traps all across the building to ensure her absolute safety.
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No, the only thing she wanted to do right at this moment was to take a long rest. She didn’t even want to bother changing out of her clothes to feel more comfortable, she was just that tired.
And so, she allowed her drowsiness to overcome her. She drifted off into a deep sleep, finally taking the chance to recover all of the lost energy she had spent fighting all those beasts.
Peace. For that brief moment of time where the sun dipped below the horizon, she was allowed to rest freely.
Then, she was woken up by the smell of cooking meat. She blinked and groaned as she staggered back up to a sitting position, before looking out of the open window to take a look outside.
The sun was no longer out and the dreary sky had all been replaced by a pitch darkness that seemed to run on endlessly throughout the entire world. There were no clouds that littered the sky, no moon to illuminate the darkness, nothing but the white tower that shone in the far distance.
She couldn’t help but stare at the sight. That giant, looming structure that seemed to tower into the skies and brought the dim light throughout the lands, one that seemed to ingrain itself into her being despite being so far away.
That was supposed to be the heavenly tower? That monstrous sight?
How a simple building could give off such a vile aura was one that was far beyond her understanding. The amount of evil was truly sombering, making her realize something.
This wasn’t a task she could do by herself.
She had thought she would be capable of taking on this task delivered to her by that old man without being burdened like she was now. After all, she was asked to simply defeat the cruel tyrant who plunged this world into madness and restore the balance. To return the underworld to one where all things were to go and travel to the next life, to suffer through the bad karma they had accumulated over their lives before entering the reincarnation cycle.
Now, she wasn’t so sure if she could save this corrupted afterlife with her own two hands. That fight with the special yaoguai had humbled her to an extent, the way she had struggled to defeat such a foe. While she may not have needed to use her heavenly abilities to take down the demon, she still felt shame that she could not deal with such a monster with her own strength and spirit.
This could not go on. If she were to depart, she would have to go through fight after fight of increasing difficulty to reach that tower. If she were to travel, she would find so many more souls that needed help and assistance from the corruption that reigned in this land.
She grimaced. She needed to find help. She needed supporters, people who could watch her back and assist her throughout her journey. Whether that be by setting up camp, providing meals, or even helping keep an eye out to avoid ambushes.
The best way to continue onwards right here and now was to have allies. Trustworthy companions.
The problem was that none of the people she had met fit that standard. Everyone so far weren’t all that reliable as of yet, not to mention all the other problems.
Food. Water. Shelter.
The fact there was no other way to get a meal besides having someone skilled at cooking the beast without killing them was certainly a difficult task, something that she had to admit she was not even capable of. So far, there didn’t seem to be any other methods of food storage, which would create issues down the line with safety.
Campfires would have to be created every time she needed to eat, which would easily alert the yaoguai to her location. She’d need to get these villagers to start looking into alternative food sources immediately, otherwise she really might have to look into bringing a larger group with her at all times. Hopefully the crew from earlier found something, though at this point she might have to go scavenging on her own.
The water issue didn’t seem like it could be a huge issue, rivers and lakes seemed quite plentiful in the area. Shelter was something she could deal with, as she could always use caves as well as create some lean-ins using some spare wood and leaves. Though, that part depended on the way the plant life worked here, something she herself wasn’t all too familiar with either.
So, in the end, she needed at least four different members of her group to continue onwards. A cook, a scout, and two back-ups to undergo the journey. Something that’d be difficult to do.
After all, none of the villagers seemed up to the task. The butcher that cooked the meal earlier was a disgrace to all cooks. Most people here, while they were more than capable of holding off the beasts in a group, weren’t trained enough to fight off the hordes or any of those special yaoguai. Besides, their equipment wasn’t much to speak of, which definitely would be too weak to continue onwards.
Which left the only other option available: teaching them.
She mused on that. Yes, that was an option she could take. After all, she had some experience training some children before, back when she was in the mortal world. Her master would always berate her and force her to provide some lessons to the young ones, making sure each of those brats were focused on training. She had to deliver life lessons to those that felt like they had trodden off the martial path and ensure that they would have good morals and conscience going through life.
All experiences that helped her grow as a person and provide a pathway to become a master herself.
That led to the final problem: teaching the villagers. All of them seemed as though they were rather satisfied with their current skills, which meant she would most likely have some pushback when it came to teaching them. However, that could be resolved quite easily by some convincing and demonstrations to show that they all still had much to learn.
Perhaps she could appeal to their need for survival to push her agenda. Yes, that could work, push on their heart strings a bit to make them see the wonders of her school and hopefully become disciples that will bring others into the righteous path.
She smiled at that thought. Yes, that sounded good.
And so, with that in her mind, she headed down to the cooking area to go talk to the capped man to discuss the possibilities of teaching all the villagers to fight. Not to mention she was feeling quite famished at this time.
She really hoped these villagers found something else to eat.