Soulless

Chapter 13 - "Hard Work"

"Get up - It's time for work!" A sudden wisened voice broke through the slumbering haze clouding Kai's mind.

"Huh...?" He mumbled incoherently, rubbing some of the sleep out of his eyes as he tried to focus on the figure standing at the side of his bed.

"Come on boy - it's time you proved yourself useful." Grandma Eri said, meeting his sleepy gaze with her own crooked one.

Sitting up, Kai stretched with a yawn.

"Follow me when you've clothed," She said, leaving the room. "And remember to bring the hoe!"

Looking to his side, he saw the mentioned hoe leaning against the wall his bed was pressed up against.

"Exactly what work is she putting me to...?" Kai muttered tiredly to himself.

Doing as the capricious granny said, Kai put on the clothes given to him the previous day and took the hoe, following Grandma Eri who left out the side door of her house.

Steeping outside, he took in a deep breath as he walked out into the morning air of the settlement that was already bustling with activity. Kai couldn't help but smile as the various smells, humid air, and the atmosphere was somehow comforting. Lifting his spirits.

"Ah - there you are; I don't have all day, come - come." Grandma Eri said, beginning to leave with a gait all too agile for her old figure.

Shaking his head mirthfully, Kai just jogged after her.

The various sights of the settlement captured Kai's attention as he walked right behind Grandma Eri. Although he wasn't getting hateful stares anymore, now having just turned into gazes of both curiosity and apprehension, Kai didn't mind them. He enjoyed the complete change in scenery as he had known nothing more than the modern life and the concrete jungles of crowded cities that his old world provided.

This was quite a nice change of pace.

Leaving the walled fortifications of the settlement, Kai was led the wide array of large and open fields just outside. Some were filled with water, others were populated with plants that surprisingly enough reminded him of ricefields; or at least what he had seen from pictures.

Looking around, Kai saw that these fields were only walled-in by some fickle wooden fences, but since it was day, there shouldn't be any danger here. Or at least as far as Kai knew.

He could even already see a couple dozen people tending to fields.

"This is where you'll prove your worth to the tribe for now," Grandma Eri said. "So don't be slacking off!"

Giving her an awkward smile, Kai nodded.

When the goddess talked about cultivating, I definitely wasn't expecting this kind of cultivation... Kai mused to himself internally as he shook his head amusingly.

Standing there besides Grandma Eri with a hoe in his hand, they watched as a young man ran up to them.

"Elder Eri!" He exclaimed, bowing respectfully once he caught his breath. "Good morning; is this the one you spoke about?"

Looking at Kai, the elderly woman simply said. "He is."

"So, you're that new guy?" The man said, extending a hand to Kai. "Name's Jeb."

A bit stunned at first, Kai wasn't sure if he wanted him to shake his hand or something else, considering that he shouldn't be expecting such earthen customs.

Not wanting to leave the friendly man hanging though, Kai just went for it.

But luckily enough, the man moved his hand forward and clasped Kai's forearm before he could grasp his hand. As he initially guessed, handshaking wasn't a custom here.

Instead, it seemed for those of position and power, it was either bowing or saluting with a hand to the chest, and for informal situations, it was a handclasp to the forearm, just below the elbow.

"Kai - nice to meet you," Kai said. "I suppose you're the one who'll be supervising me?"

"Indeed I am." He said chipperly, letting go of Kai's arm. "But I'm sorry to say that I won't take it easy on you; I'll have you worked to the bone."

"I expect nothing less," Kai said genuinely, never having been one to shy away from hard work.

"Well, I'll leave you two boys, to your work." Grandma Eri said, beginning to take her leave, but before the old woman could make it far, she heard Kai calling out from behind her. "Thank you Grandma Eri - for giving me this chance!"

"Ah - child, what did I say about being so formal." She said admonishingly but had a clear glint of appreciation in her eyes. "Just don't make me regret it!"

As she disappeared into the settlement, Jeb turned to Kai.

"Let's get going, rookie," Jeb said challengingly, causing Kai to smile with mirth.

 

***

 

Plumping down exhaustedly by the edge of the newly plowed soil, Jeb panted profusely.

"Gah! I thought finally having a helper would mean less work - not more!" Jeb groaned teasingly at the sweaty and dirtied Kai who awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

For half the day, they had been tending to various fields which was pretty easy as they just needed to follow the directions of the head-farmer; however, Kai and Jeb had been set to grunt work promptly after finishing their initial duties, which meant manually plowing the soil and making it ready for the spreading of seeds.

But it quickly became clear that Kai hadn't the faintest clue of how to properly plow a field, and it wasn't before having messed up half the entire soil of one such field before he and Jeb were promptly ordered to re-do it all.

"You've really never tended to a ragorn field?" Jeb asked unbelievingly. To him, this was something that each person of the tribe had tried at least once in their childhoods before, warrior, craftsman, or farmer; all had.

Ragorn was the crop that Kai had mistaken for rice originally, but upon closer inspection, that comparison wasn't all that far off; only if you considered that each grain on the stalks was the size of mini potatoes.

"Never." Kai said simply, taking a seat beside the exhausted Jeb.

"Haah... you work like a beast, but you have no finesse; I mean, you're not even breathing hard after all that. And I've been working the fields since I was a child..."

"I'm used to hard labor," Kai explained simply, not lying as his physique and fitness were practically as perfect as they could get for modern standards and his weight.

Having worked endless shifts of manual hard labor in various off-the-books jobs, a vigorous training regiment that allowed for practically no downtime, and a determination to become the strongest fighter had all accumulated into Kai's impressive physique.

The only thing Kai could regret about his work though was - what was it all good for in the end? The body he had spent painstakingly forging for himself to become the strongest was practically nothing in the face of a bullet or the cold hard steel of a knife.

Sighing, Kai took a waterskin given to him by Grandma Eri and offered it to the still panting Jeb.

"Thanks, mate." Jeb said, generously accepting the waterskin and gulping down heaps of water before handing it back; half-empty.

Taking a swig himself, Kai got to his feet.

"Is there anything else we have to take care of?" He asked. "I have to get back before dusk - granny's orders."

"Nope, we're all done for today," Jeb answered. "You better hurry home, Elder Eri is not someone to disobey."

Nodding, Kai turned to leave but stopped right before he did. Turning back to Jeb, Kai asked. "Hey... why is it that Grandma Eri seems so fervent about me addressing her as 'Grandma Eri' while nobody other than the chief and me do? Practically everybody else calls her Elder."

"Yeah, she's a bit curious when regarding that," Jeb said amusedly. "It's only those who've she have taken in who's allowed to call her Grandma Eri, and for everybody else, they're only allowed to refer to her as Elder Eri.

"Huh," Kai said simply, thinking over this odd trait of the elderly woman that had decided to house and feed him.

"Thanks, Jeb; have a good evening now."

"No problem, see you tomorrow," Jeb waved from his perch on the ground, "Remember, at first light." 

"Will do."

 

***

 

Walking through streets, deciding to take a different path back to Grandma Eri's house to explore more of the small settlement of the almost more than a thousand inhabitants, Kai leisurely walked with his hoe slung over and behind his shoulders.

Taking in the various sights of people going about their day, Kai curiously perked up when he heard noises that were all too familiar to him.

The sounds of fighting.

Walking towards where it came from, Kai crested a large barrack-looking hut with various equipment hung, and what he saw surprised Kai.

In a large and open studded field of grassless dirt and mud that spanned a little less than a football field, were a little less than a hundred men and women doing various training exercises, drills, and even sparing. Most were engaged in mock duels with weapons, others were actually doing hand-to-hand combat, but that was where Kai cringed inwardly.

Although these people showed obvious experience in having fought other humans from their rough lives in the swamps, they lacked any and all skill or technique.

To someone like Kai who came from an advanced society where martial arts and street fighting had been long since perfected, it seemed that these warriors simply using their brawn without any techniques at all. It was basically just bar wrestling with only the use of your own body strength.

However, this was where Kai once again became confused. Watching one of the fights closely, he noticed that many of these people were putting out physical power way beyond that what their build would otherwise suggest that they could.

Curious, Kai used his [Interface] to inspect the training warriors. And sure enough, most of them had the Skin Hardening affix to their names!

Now Kai was sure that it had something to do with cultivation and becoming physically stronger, but then the question came; how did he begin cultivating?

Watching the scenes of odd battles and curious physiques, Kai suddenly noticed that off by the side, resting and drinking some water, was the very same figure of the woman who had captured him. Elyn.

He wanted to go over there and say hi, but he all of a sudden noticed that the sun was quickly beginning to disappear, meaning that he was in a hurry to get back home.

"Ah - shit!" Kai cursed, picking up speed as he sped through the streets.

He was not going to see what kind of wrath that capricious granny could bring down on him if he was late.