Beastmen: She Tames the Land-Chapter 81: Making "cement"

Picking up two baskets, she went to the lake. She used one to take up small stones and sand from the shore, and another to fill it with water. She returned to the square with both baskets on either side of her shoulder.

She put them down, a little proud of herself. She remembered she wasn’t this strong when she came to this world. Now, her strength was growing. She only reminisced for a while before starting her work.

She started using a small amount, kneading the stone, sand, and mud together. It basically formed a mudball. It didn’t look like anything that could be called cement. It was almost a paste but not quite. She used different amounts of water along with the three other ingredients, trying to find the best combination.

When she found one that seemed close in consistency, she realized she didn’t have a mould. She ran to her house to get a bowl she hardly used, tracking mud as she ran. She didn’t even notice how muddy she was. She got what she needed and ran back, hoping it would work.

She put the mixture in the mould and waited.

While she was waiting, the pack members were coming back. Those who had been foraging, surveying, or just playing stopped when they saw her sitting there. They had never seen their priestess like this.

When Uri saw her sitting there, covered in mud, his indifferent expression cracked. He had felt her excitement and didn’t know the reason. Seeing her covered in mud made him wonder if she was excited to be playing in mud.

He didn’t want to assume, so he went to sit next to her.

"Sha’mīn, what are you doing?" he asked, trying to make his voice sound calm when all he wanted to do was laugh.

He saw Visha smile widely as she turned to him, gesturing at the pile of mud in the bowl.

"I’m trying to make cement. If it works, then we can use it on the pass."

He looked at the half-dried mud in the bowl. He didn’t discourage it. He was glad she was thinking about the pack. They had been talking about her world, and he knew how much better it was than their own. Seeing her working so hard for the pack, he felt sweet inside, but also helpless.

He felt she deserved more than he could give. But she was his mate, and he refused to lose her to anyone else. All he could do was work harder and support her.

"Sha’mīn, you are working too hard." He wiped mud off her face. "You are covered in mud. I will help you. Tell me what you need."

He saw the moment Visha realized how dirty she was. When he mentioned her being covered in mud, she looked down at herself, at her hands. She turned them over as if seeing them for the first time.

Her cheeks puffed up, and she blushed.

"Don’t help me, I need to do this." The determination in her eyes was clear. "As for being covered in mud. I might as well wait until I know it works to clean up."

Uri nodded, sitting beside her. He decided he would wait with her to see how he could help, if she needed it.

Uri came bounding in later, seeing Visha and Uri sitting together.

Xeno made no pretense, "Shasha, why do you look like a mud cub?"

Visha glared at him. He didn’t blink, sitting beside her. He knew she wasn’t really angry. He kissed her cheek, nuzzling her neck, before moving to Uri and doing the same.

"Why are you and Shasha sitting here? You left her looking like a muddy cub after a day of play."

His position was relaxed, sitting beside Visha, who continued to ignore him. But he could see the way she leaned toward him that she acknowledged his presence.

"Sha’mīn is making something. We are waiting for it to dry." Uri replied while pointing to the mud in the cup.

He looked at the mud, confused. He wondered to himself what Shasha could possibly be making with mud.

"If you wanted to play with mud, you should have called me. I would have played with you."

As soon as he said it, he felt Visha hit him.

"Who’s playing with mud?!" she yelled. "I’m making cement!"

He grabbed the soft hand that was still slapping him on the forearm.

"Ok, Shasha is making cement. Don’t hurt yourself. Didn’t you tell me I’m tough? Don’t hurt yourself on my tough arm." Xeno chuckled while playing with her muddy hand.

Another few more minutes of waiting, Visha decided it should be fine. She took up the stick she had found earlier and poked the solid mixture. She noted that it was hard, but nowhere near cement-level hard.

The disappointment she felt was evident to both Uri and Xeno. Xeno hugged Visha while Uri stroked her hair. They sat with her and waited until she was ready to speak.

"It’s not hard enough," Visha sighed, hanging her head.

"It’s okay. We can help you. Tell us what you did and we’ll see what happened," Xeno said.

Visha took a deep breath and sighed. "It’s supposed to be harder than stone. I used stone, sand, and wood ash. After it dries, it’s supposed to harden and become something more powerful than stone."

They listened as she explained. Then they thought for a moment.

"You said it’s supposed to get hard. Why didn’t you use binder-reed like last time?"

Visha’s head snapped up to look at Xeno. She heard the word binder-reed and felt like the stupidest person alive. She slapped herself across the forehead. She had been thinking about things like she would in her world, but she forgot this wasn’t the same place.

Even then, there must have been something to bind everything together for the cement in her world as well.

She jumped to her feet, kissing Xeno smack on the lips, then kissing Uri for good measure. She grinned like a little girl.

"You’re right! I forgot the binder-reed. I didn’t even think about it!"

She waved her hand, and a few reeds appeared in front of her.

"Let’s try this again," she said. "This time, you two can help me. I’ll give the instructions, and you two follow."

The trio quickly went about their business. Xeno dealt with getting the sap from the reed. Visha poured water, and Uri stirred. When the sand, stone, and wood ash mixture was done, they added a small amount of sap, then poured it into the bowl.

"Do we not need to boil it like last time?" Uri asked.

Vish shook her head, "No need. The reason we boiled it before was because the clay-moss wouldn’t bind well if it wasn’t dissolved. This time, there isn’t a contradiction, so we can make it without boiling anything."

The two men nodded.

Now, it was time for them to wait.

It was already past lunch, but no one had eaten. When the other pack members heard there might be a way to close the pass, they stopped to see what the leaders were doing. When they heard, they decided to watch from a distance. They also wanted to see what the priestess was doing.

Another hour passed in this manner. With people watching mud dry.

When it was finally time to test it, Visha had both Uri and Xeno try to break it.

They used the stick at first. Seeing it didn’t budge, they used their fists. The bowl was big enough for them to put their hand. When they struck it, neither Uri nor Xeno could make it move.

The phenomenon struck them as odd because they should have been able to break it based on how lightweight it felt.

Even Visha, seeing this, wondered if they weren’t using enough strength.

At this point, Visha decided to have everyone try it. She called the pack members over. Each of them tried at least once to break it, but it wouldn’t break.

Visha couldn’t help but wonder if she made cement or steel.

[First Discovery: Ash-reed cement.]

[15 EXP]

[First creation: cement block]

[20 EXP]

Visha’s eyes went wide, and she laughed.

"Well, looks like we made it," she declared.