In the aftermath of the demon attack, the village became as busy as an expanding nest of worker ants. Villagers walked quickly and with purpose, either helping to build up the defenses of the village, training to be defenders, or supporting the efforts of their fellow villagers however they could. Even the children scurried to and fro, helping with errands and small tasks.

Elders Mu and Jing had, through the consensus of the villagers in a rare townhall meeting, become the joint Heads of the village, with Madam Shu as an advisor and tie-breaker for decisions made if needed.

The three of them, along with Gao Luan, had been having a talk with Brother Mender, who had told them the story of how Trip and Wukong had come to his monastery and freed them from under the yoke of the Black Wind Demon. White Dragon was also in attendance, but as was his habit, he was quiet and kept himself out of the discussion most of the time.

“This may be rather late in coming, but thank you for your help in defeating the demon commander. If not for you, we would all have been doomed for sure.” said Elder Jing while giving a deep bow to Brother Mender, who started waving his hands in a flustered manner.

“Please, please, it was more of a lucky coincidence. It’s all thanks to Master White Dragon. Without the tools and machines he taught us to make, we would never have made it here in time, much less have been able to defeat that demon. In truth, I came here looking for help-”

“If I may interrupt, Brother Mender, I think it is crucial that you give credit to yourself and your fellow monks. All I did was leave you with certain pieces of knowledge. The formulas, designs, blueprints and such. You and your monks did all the real work of turning all of that into reality. Recognize that, and be confident that you will be able to build upon it, and expand upon the foundation of technology you already have.”

“Thank you, Master White Dragon. I hope it’s alright to continue to rely on your guidance in the future.” said Brother Mender, giving a slight bow towards White Dragon.

“You said you came here looking for our help?” said Madam Shu.

“Well, it wasn’t your help, specifically, at first. I wasn’t really sure who I’d find, but… it’s like this. Our previous few Abbots, they believed in keeping the monastery isolated from the world. We had our attached villages for resources and support, which kept our little community self-sufficient through the years. Until the demons found us, took over the attached villages and mines, declaring that we would be weaponsmiths for the Crimson Army from then on. Our previous Abbot gave in, believing that it was the only path to survival. I… was very much in opposition towards that viewpoint.”

Brother Mender gave a tiny sigh, then continued.

“Those of us from the monastery, we have… something we say very often, as a greeting, a reminder, a wish. We say, “May the light of Technology never wane”. Our previous few Abbots believed that the way to ensure that was through placing walls around it, like placing a candle in a lantern to protect it from the wind. But we forgot that it’s not a real flame. It’s a belief, a mindset that needs to be maintained every single day. It needs to spread, or it will wither and die away. We weren’t protecting it, we were smothering it.

The first time I realised that we had been stagnant for too long, was when the demons gave us blueprints to build pistols. We knew how to make gunpowder, but it had never occurred to us to go beyond crossbows. The previous Abbot took great pride in our developing the double-barrelled pistol, but the truth is, we were merely slapping on a tiny expansion upon something that had been given to us, and not even with any great measure of innovation. That realisation of stagnation struck me even harder when I learned of Sister Trip’s revolver. In all our years of trying to develop a better pistol, why had we never thought of that? Somehow, we had become too set in our ways of thinking. We need fresh ideas, from people who have a thirst for knowledge and technology, who aren’t limited by narrow thinking.

So, knowing full well how dangerous the wilds could be, I focused the resources of the monastery on building transportation and weapons. We had just completed the base of the… metal wagon, when White Dragon arrived with news of your village, and we rushed here with all haste.”

“Why the haste? There’s no way you could have known we were under attack.” said Elder Mu.

“That’s true. Our haste was for another reason entirely, which I believe to be very similar to yours. Both our communities provided something to the Crimson Army, and now, we’ve stopped providing it. It might take some time, but eventually, they’ll send someone to find out what happened. We need to be able to protect ourselves by then, or the best case would be that things would just go back to how they were before. Most likely, things will be worse. Much, much worse.” Brother Mender’s brow furrowed in worry, his frown obvious even behind his beard.

Elder Mu and the rest had also been worrying about this, but on their own. This was the first time it had been stated so directly out in the open, and they found themselves speechless. They had no solutions beyond doing the best they could, with what they had.

“That brings me back to the request for help I mentioned, which comes with an offer. We at the monastery would be happy to share our technology, knowledge and learning with anyone who would cooperate with us. We have tools and knowledge that could make your farming more efficient, doing more while requiring less manpower. We have weapons and technologies that could improve your defenses by tenfold, or even a hundredfold. We have classes that your children, or even adults, could join, where they could learn things like how to make those tools and weapons for themselves. We have ore and metals from our attached villages and mines that we would be happy to trade for other resources like food, seeds, wood, raw materials.” Brother Mender’s tone was earnest and sincere, his hands spread open before him.

Elder Jing grinned. “Looks like this would be mutually beneficial for both our communities. I don’t see any reason to say no… what do you think, Elder Mu?”

“Sounds good.” nodded Elder Mu, stroking his beard. “What’s the catch?”

“Aha... that brings me back to the help I mentioned. You see, I had an idea. I’m very certain that there are a lot more communities out there that are being isolated and used by the demons. But what if they are liberated from the demons, like yours and mine? I’m sure that they, and us, would benefit from cooperating with one another. Above all, I want to spread the knowledge of technology to others. Not just how to make and use things, but the ability to discover new knowledge, to think up new things and ideas… but before all that, we need to form a very special group of people, of volunteers. They would need to be trained, with our knowledge of technology and your knowledge of how to survive in the wilds-”

“Er, we aren’t exactly that good at surviving the wilds…” said Elder Jing.

“I’m sure it’s a lot more than those of us in the monastery have.” said Brother Mender.

“Father and I have gone camping in the wilds before with a few others, when we were hunting down wild demons. We’d be happy to share whatever knowledge we have.” said Gao Cai.

“It’s more than just the knowledge. What I’m asking is that you be willing to train those volunteers directly, and be willing to send those volunteers from your village to our monastery for training in other areas. And not just the volunteers, but also your children, any craftspeople, anyone who wants to learn.”

“Even the children have to travel? I have to object to that. The wilds are much too dangerous for children!” said Gao Luan.

“I have a plan for that. We’ll be building more metal wagons, bigger and better ones that can transport more people. I plan to add armour and more mounted weapons to them. We’d be able to defend the people inside without ever leaving the safety of the wagon.”

“... it looks like you’ve given this a lot of thought. Very well, we’re with you.” nodded Elder Mu.

“If we can free others like us from the ever-present threat of the demons, if we can stop demons simply deciding they can wipe out a village any time they want, or treat villages like their backup larder… I’m all for it!” said Elder Jing, his fists clenched so hard that they were shaking.

-- Chapter 48, End --