Poor magical girls, work for me!

Chapter 21: 'Fengrang Shou'

Forty years ago, a small, rough-hewn Yue Temple was built to pray for a good harvest and abundant rain.

Below the mountain, there are still endless rice paddies.

During the spring planting season, a famous local witch was invited by the villagers, and she led them up the stone steps in the morning mist.

People's wishes were simple back then; they just wanted good weather and abundant harvests...

They just wanted to harvest more food.

In front of Yue Temple.

The shaman washed her hands, dipped a pine branch she had picked that morning in water, and sprinkled it on the newly placed stone bull statue.

The stone ox is only half a person tall. It is a stone statue carved by farmers with chisels. Although it is simple, its lines are unadorned and it exudes the honesty of the land.

The shrine maiden offered three handfuls of new rice, three clean pebbles, and three bunches of first ears of grain before her, chanting prayers and performing a hymn and dance.

The priestess used that magical power to pray to the mountain spirits, the earth spirits, and all the gods who had blessed the harvest in the past, asking them to spare a wisp of their spirit to dwell in this stone body.

The ceremony lasted all day.

As the last rays of the setting sun brushed past the top of the torii gate, the old priest placed a wooden plaque inscribed with the three characters "Fengrang Shou" (meaning "Protector of Abundance") before the stone ox and knelt in deep worship.

"Please guard this mountain and these fields, listen to the sound of ripening grains, and watch over the healthy hooves of the oxen. From now on, you will be the 'Guardian of Abundance'."

The placement of a name is like burying a seed full of life into a stone.

Day after day, year after year, the mantra "May the harvest be abundant" is whispered by farmers before planting, clasped in prayer by women in front of cattle pens, and earnestly repeated by children pointing at stone statues.

But... forgetting is like the dampness of the rainy season, slow and pervasive.

The younger generation has moved to the cities, and the roar of machinery in the fields has replaced the panting of oxen.

Fewer and fewer people came to the mountain to worship, and the offerings changed from fresh rice to cheap snacks bought from stores, and eventually even the snacks stopped.

The red paint on the torii gate peeled off in large patches after a typhoon night, and no one repaired it.

The name "Fengrang Shou" is gradually fading into the memories of only a few elderly people.

The stone statue became "that stone ox on the mountainside," then "that thing in the old ancestral hall," and finally, no one remembered that there was such a Yue Temple, and no one remembered the name "Fengrang Shou."

"Fengrang Shou" also thought that he would gradually fade away with the passage of time...

But as time went by, intruders still came.

The first group to break in were a group of high school boys.

They discovered this "good place" far from the highway and unattended.

The empty beer can slammed onto the stone ox's back with a thud, and the brownish-yellow liquid meandered down the stone's texture.

"Look, there's a name!"

"Feng...Rang...Shou? What kind of weird name is that...?"

Snapped!

A wooden plaque bearing the three characters "Fengrang Shou" (meaning "Protector of Abundant Harvest") leans diagonally along the edge of the stone steps, half-suspended in the air.

"I could stomp it to pieces!"

The others started laughing!

With a crisp cracking sound, the wooden board snapped in two.

Seeds of malevolence seeped into the stone ox's body...

The student didn't even look, but kicked the piece of wood into the overgrown weeds, where it was instantly swallowed up.

"What kind of god is that? It doesn't move at all. I stopped believing in that a long time ago."

A boy with spiky hair, a cigarette dangling from his lips, leaned close to the hollow eye carving on the stone ox.

He raised his hand and pressed the cigarette butt, now reduced to just a cigarette butt, against the stone ox's forehead.

Sizzling and smoking...

More and more people started to learn, some even lighting one up and taking a deep drag, just to stub out the cigarette.

Amidst the laughter, more and more cigarette butts were stubbed out.

"Sizzle—"

Blackened marks are etched on the forehead of the "Fengrang Shou" that once received ears of rice.

A sense of hostility began to sprout...

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Yue Temple became a "secret base" for a group of teenagers to skip classes, hold parties, and try smoking and drinking.

They had a contest to see who could hang an empty can on a cow's horn without it falling, and who could draw the most obscene patterns on a stone with a marker.

The stone dog statue on the right had its head smashed by one of the boys who was in a bad mood, using an iron pipe he had picked up.

The stone slab that once held offerings of new rice is now filled with rainwater, cigarette ash, and crumbs from snacks.

As resentment accumulated, "Fengrang Shou" also developed its own thoughts. It felt that it was born to work hard and endure hardship, but why was it being treated this way? What did it do wrong?

Maybe I was wrong...

It's wrong...

This idea started to take root more and more deeply in my mind...

until……

Several office workers in suits, but walking with a stagger, were carrying plastic bags from a convenience store, filled with cheap shochu and sake.

They seemed to be lost, or perhaps they were deliberately seeking out a secluded corner, fueled by alcohol.

"What...what kind of place is this? Is there a dilapidated mountain shrine here?"

A man wearing a tie and a wrinkled shirt kicked away an empty can on the ground and looked at it with bleary, drunken eyes.

"Whatever, this is perfect! Quiet! Damn, it's so noisy at the company, and it's so noisy at home..."

Another bald man plopped down on the sewage-filled stone steps, unscrewed the bottle, and gulped down a mouthful of liquor.

The strong smell of alcohol quickly filled the air, mixed with the smell of sweat, frustration, and long-suppressed resentment.

Their venting was a heavy, simmering resentment and bitterness, steeped in the mire of life.

"I served that old bastard for fifteen years! Fifteen years! And he just wants to be 'optimized' like that!"

The bald man angrily smashed the bottle against the only remaining stone dog statue on the left.

"To hell with loyalty! To hell with dedication!"

"Clang!"

The bottle shattered, and a crack appeared in the stone dog's leg. Still not satisfied, the man staggered over and kicked it repeatedly with his leather shoe.

"What are you looking at! You stone dog, you look down on me too, huh?!"

The others were also provoked and began to roar and curse at the silent forest, the dilapidated torii gate, and the ever-silent "stone ox".

"Mortgage! Car loan! Kids' tutoring fees! I feel like a donkey pulling a millstone! I don't even dare to bray loudly!"

My wife complains every day... saying I'm useless... I fucking want to be useful too!

"They're all bastards! This world is a mess!"

They poured out all the pent-up frustrations of their lives—the frustrations they couldn't vent to their superiors, clients, or family—here.

Insults, wailing, and illogical outbursts were accompanied by more alcohol, vomit, and stones picked up at random—throwing them at the stone ox and the broken ancestral hall.

And "Fengrang Shou" finally understood.

Since suffering exists... its purpose is to help people find liberation!

relief!

boom!

A palpable sense of resentment spread from the Yue Temple.

call……

Black mist swirled around...

"Fengrang Shou" has a physical form!

It has truly appeared in this world!

Liberate them! Help them find liberation!

The enormous black shadow tore the complaining office worker to shreds.

It transformed from a guardian of wind and rain, symbolizing a bountiful harvest, into a malevolent monster.

The sight of human blood gave it an unprecedented thrill, and the resentment born from the pain of death seeped into its skin.