Canyon Toilets – Emergency Tribal Meeting on Utilization and Hygiene

It's been quite a while since we settled on the Kalend Plateau. So much has changed in that time. The tents that protected us during our nomadic days have retired, and now it's the era of sturdy wooden houses.

The first few days, we were just digging up the ground nonstop, so it looked like we wouldn't even have a single house up before winter ended, let alone a village. But that was just the view of an amateur. Once the basic civil engineering—drainage ditches, roads, retaining walls—was done, putting up buildings was a piece of cake.

The village design was entirely handled by the Deer Elder. Like she had a completed blueprint in her head, she wandered the plateau all day, measuring positions, gauging elevations, and directing the work.

"Ah, it might be better to raise this spot a bit more."

Rumble rumble rumble.

With a gesture from the Deer Elder, an earthen wall rose up, and a hill vanished. At this point, it wasn't so much building the village to fit the plateau as reshaping the plateau to fit the village.

"It's amazing no matter how many times I see it…."

What Serian had just done would take five other druids with their staffs ten minutes of chaos to even approximate. The gap between the elders and the regular tribesfolk was only widening in my mind day by day. After experiencing it firsthand, I finally understood with my body why everyone followed the elders without question.

"Ursa. You busy right now?"

The Deer Elder, who was overseeing the site, called out to me.

"No, I'm good, Serian unnie."

"Perfect. Sorry to ask, but could you grab some lime from the canyon? We're short-handed."

"Sure, I'll bring the kids."

"Thanks, sweetie~."

I called my little siblings and headed to the canyon, leaving the Deer Elder to return to the site.

What's this about a canyon all of a sudden? And why the polite speech to the Deer Elder? One look at the scenery in front of me explains it.

To the north of where the village is taking shape ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on the plateau, there's a small canyon about 15 feet wide (roughly 4 meters). Of course, it wasn't there originally.

A week ago, while Serian was dowsing for underground water veins, she said this spot felt good and slammed her staff into the ground. Then she split the earth apart. The scar from that is the artificial canyon I'm staring at now.

After that incident, I started using polite speech with Serian. After watching her trigger an earthquake that shook the entire mountain range and casually mutter, "Eh, this spot's no good," like it was nothing, I just couldn't bring myself to use casual speech anymore. When I switched to polite, she took the chance to insist I call her unnie too…. It just happened. She scared me. For real.

Anyway, Serian sent me here for lime. The water vein she'd found by creating the canyon was actually a deep stream under the mountain, and just as she was about to close the ground back up, a horse beastkin with us spotted a lime cave midway down the canyon. So it stayed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠open.

There were sturdy stakes driven into the edge. You tied a rope to a stake, rappelled down, and mined the lime. That was the setup.

"Anyone down there–?"

I shouted toward the bottom.

"Who is it–? Oh! Ursa–! Lower the bucket–! Lime's piling up down here–!"

"Got it–!"

I dropped the bucket tied to another stake. Soon, it came back up filled with limestone chunks. We repeated this a few times until we'd hauled it all up, then headed back to the village with my siblings.

"Deer Elder, we got the rocks!"

Peak ran ahead first. Being from the deer tribe probably made him revere Serian a ton.

"Thanks, Peak. Good work, everyone. Now go play."

"Yay~!"

The kids scattered like they'd been waiting for it. But I stayed put.

Serian tilted her head. "Not going, Ursa? No more work today, so you can play too."

I shook my head. In front of me were the lime, a water bucket, gravel, and sand.

"Just watching."

Serian grinned and slung an arm around my shoulders. "Knew you'd be into this. Ah~ This is usually druid-only stuff… but since it's you, Ursa, I'll show you special?"

"Thanks, unnie."

"No biggie between us. Come along~."

We headed to the workshop. The floor was paved with stones, and inside, a kiln blazed away. This place would become the forge later.

The moment I heard we were mining lime, it hit me like a brick. Finally, I'm gonna see it. The GOAT of building materials.

"Alright, now we're making a material called concrete. Watch closely."

Concrete. The ultimate building material rivaling stone and wood. The king of construction from ancient times to the modern era. Not pure modern tech, but getting to see something used in civilized society like this? It was enough to nearly bring tears to my eyes.

I must've been pretty starved for it.

"First, we make lime powder."

She smashed the limestone with a hammer. Dust flew up, so I covered my face with cloth.

"Next, we mix these in."

Serian brought over a bright clay-colored powder and a black one.

"What's that?"

"Black's iron powder, yellow's clay."

The clay must've been dug from the river ahead of time. She mixed the three ingredients thoroughly with water, adjusting the ratios herself.

"Now we fire it."

Into the kiln went the mixture. We waited. Soon, pebble-like lumps came out.

"Looks good. These are called clinkers. Cool 'em, grind to powder, mix with gypsum, and you've got cement."

"And the gravel and sand?"

"We'll mix those later. Cement plus sand makes mortar; add gravel, and it's concrete."

…I'm really seeing concrete in this barbaric society. Tears of emotion welled up.

"Aw, kiddo. That moving?"

Serian probably misinterpreted my tears. But no way am I entering construction! I've seen what I wanted, time to bail.

"Oh, Serian unnie, when are you closing the canyon?"

"Hm… Probably keeping it open for the lime cave."

"I see…."

"Something wrong?"

"No, nothing. Just… having that open pit right there feels kinda scary… hehe."

Imagine a 4-meter-wide canyon split right next to the village. No wandering at night. Even daytime's risky. One slip, and you're gone. Since it appeared, I'd avoided the north entirely unless absolutely necessary.

"Can't you just keep the cave open and seal the rest?"

"You'll get it when you learn druidism. It's not just splitting the ground—it's tearing the earth's grain. Can't be helped."

Tearing the earth's grain. Sounds cool. She said it casually, but it's no simple feat. I recalled the deer beastkin slapping their foreheads and cheering, "Amazing!"

"Yeah, keeping the whole thing open just for one cave does feel off… Any other way to use it?"

Serian crossed her arms, pondering.

"Ah! Come to think of it, I had one idea pop up right when I first saw the canyon split."

"Ooh, what?"

"It's super deep, right? So put a bridge across, drill holes in it, and use it as a toilet. Haha, saying it out loud sounds totally ridiculous—"

"That's it!"

"…Huh?"

"Toilet placement and maintenance has been a headache. Just dump everything down the canyon like you said?"

Serian took my joke seriously. What the hell?

"Unnie, calm down. It was a joke. Don't do it."

"No, Ursa. The more I think, the better it sounds?"

No, please. It's a terrible idea. Despite my desperate pleas, the hyped-up Serian bolted out and called an emergency tribal meeting.

The agenda: 「Canyon Utilization and Village Hygiene Solutions」. Short version: Canyon Toilet Operation. Proposer: Ursa.

"Why am I the proposer!!"

"Aw, you came up with it, sweetie. This unnie isn't some villain stealing her little sis's credit."

I don't want credit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like this. Steal it, please. Or just cancel the meeting.

"Then, we begin the 1st Kalend Plateau Village Tribal Meeting."

Sharp Wind Lark handled proceedings.

"No need to sniff around for smells. I'm for it."

"Sounds fun. But keep it away from the lime mine."

Positive reactions poured in. No one's mentioning the risks?

"Looks good to me too. Just be careful, and it's super convenient."

Even Bear Elder, who I trusted, raised his hand in favor. This won't do. I have to step up and stop it. Can't risk falling just to take a piss. Since my slip-up caused this mess, as a civilized person, I gotta take responsibility and make it never happened.

Let's do this! Time to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠show 'em the eloquence that aced my city apartment interview!