There was a firm knock at the door, followed by someone quickly swinging it open.

“You know there’s no reason to knock on the door if you’re just going to open it yourself,” I said to Chin as he strolled in with a box of supplies.

“You don’t open it fast enough,” the man stated.

“You don’t give me time to open it. You just knock and walk right in,” I replied.

Chin shrugged as he walked towards the back of the kitchen. I ordered groceries from the village every month or so. I didn’t need to eat, but I liked to eat and though I could grow my own crops and animals, there was something more human and real about buying food from other people.

I got up and went out to help Chin unload the cart. The cart was large, and the wheels were as tall as a man. But with a cart like this, it needed to be. Chin had driven this thing for nearly a hundred miles, and that was quite the journey on a pair of wooden wheels. So the wheels had to be strong and sturdy enough to last the distance.

At the head of the cart was a giant camel-like beast that was slowly chewing on its cud. It had long jack rabbit ears and fat floppy feet like a bunny. But it also walked like a camel, having a long neck and humped backs, and stood at around ten feet tall, about as tall as Gauntlet.

It was called a sand runner, and there were about seven to ten of them throughout the whole village. They were huge beasts, imported from another desert in the Bloody Fist Sect. These things didn’t exist out in the Desert Strip but they were still well adapted enough to cross it if needed, and at top speed, they could propel to something like a hundred and twenty miles per hour and would be able to clear the Great Desert Strip in a week at the latest.

The village had bought them from some wandering merchant who had specifically brought the beasts here for no other reason than profit. They were originally two starving little beasts, one male and one female, who the villagers eventually bred into giant cart horses for emergency journeys across the desert.

And for delivering my supplies.

“Have the merchants come in yet?” I asked as I took several boxes off the back and into the kitchen.

“No, but Renk says it’ll only be three days or so until they start flooding in,” Chin said as he walked in carrying a box of his own.

“You negotiated the prices yet?”

“Aye, three third-rank stones and one live first-stage stone for every ten bugs we feed.”

I let out a low whistle.

That was a decent chunk of change. Everyone used spirit stones as trade resources within the cultivation world, and mortals were no different. Dead spirit stones still had a nice sheen to them and were incredibly hard to break, so most cultivators used that as a currency instead of things like gold or silver. And those stones had eventually dropped down to the world's mortals as well.

“That’s a pretty good deal,” I replied as I brought in the last batch of food into the house.

“Kong’s rainy season is making everyone put in extra work all around the village,” Chin said with a shrug.

“Are those girls being helpful?” I asked.

Chin nodded.

“I never knew cultivators could be so helpful.”

“I was helpful,” I replied.

“Not as much as they are,” he answered.

Wow. Earning praise from Chin was a rare thing.

“But they’re quiet,” he added. “They don’t talk casually, at all and they focus entirely on the job itself. They don’t eat or sleep, or even smile unless they’re in front of a person. It’s… not natural.”

“They sound like smaller versions of you,” I replied.

Chin frowned and took a bite out of the fruit he had taken from one of the baskets.

“I don’t know what these people have been through Bill, but I don’t think we can fix it.”

“Oh give it some time,” I replied with a light wave.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“I’m serious Bill. Those girls work like machines. They’re kind enough when you talk to them, but when they’re working, it’s like they’re not even human.”

“Now you know how I feel talking to you,” I mumbled.

Chin glared at me, clearly desiring a more thought-through answer.

“Okay, okay,” I replied, taking a bunch of white grapes out of the box and throwing one into my mouth.

“What if people didn’t need to eat anymore? Imagine one day, you woke up and you and every other person you know no longer need food to live. They don’t get hungry or tired and they live like normal, but they don’t need an ounce of food or water for the rest of their natural lives. What would you do then?”

Chin took a moment to think about the question, his old hands rubbing his face for a moment.

“Something else I guess.”

“And that something else would take you some time to find, wouldn’t it?”

Chin nodded, a very slow and deliberating nod.

“Well, it’s the same with the girls. They’re figuring things out right now. Settling down and letting themselves run free, they might look uptight, but they’re talking to the villagers, eating with them, and even laughing on a few occasions. They just need time.”

“You’ve been watching them?” Chin asked.

“Like a hawk,” I replied. “They’re better off with the village than they are with me.”

“Maybe if you acted more respectfully-”

“It doesn’t matter how respectful I act Chin. They think of me as a god, someone who is inherently better than them and demanding of respect. Even if I made them act a certain way around me, it would be under the pretense of worship and fear.”

“And what can we do for them?” Chin asked.

“Nothing. In their mind, you’re all just some ants who seem to be somewhat important to me. They only work hard because I asked them to. If not for me, they wouldn’t give you mortals the time of day.”

Chin’s frown deepened.

“Then why-”

“Because, I need them to stop thinking of you like that, to see you as equals instead of lessers. And hopefully, by working and living with your people, they can start to blur that distinction of mortal and cultivator.”

Chin’s ever-present frown took on a question form.

“You want them to see us as equals?” Chin asked.

I nodded.

“Why?”

“If they can bridge the gap between a mortal and a cultivator, then maybe, they can eventually bridge the gap between an immortal and a cultivator.”

Chin’s frown lightened, and then he shrugged.

“I suppose,” he sighed, plopping himself down on my chair.

It was at that time that Wriendler chose to squirm its whole body, shifting itself like a snake moving through the grass. Chin jumped up off the couch and backed up against the wall, his left hand stretched out for defense and his right hand ready to throw his half-eaten apple.

“What is that?” He yelled.

I frowned, walking up to the sword and lifting it to eye level. I inspected it closely. It squirmed again in my hands.

“Bill!” Chin yelled, having replaced his apple with an empty crate. “What is that?”

I stayed silent. Party in thought and partly in horror. I kept looking at the blade, studying its aura and inner qi.

“It’s my sword,” I said lightly.

“Your swords alive?”

“My sword is pregnant.”

“What?”

“My sword. Is pregnant,” I repeated.

Chin looked to me, then to the blade, and then back to me. And then he walked up right next to me and stared, inspectingly.

“How far?” He asked.

“What?”

“How far along is she?”

He put his hand up against the flat of the blade, slowly moving his fingers from the crossguard to the tip, before flipping the blade over and doing the same to the other side.

“I don’t know much about sword husbandry but if it’s anything like a snake-”

“Chin,” I interrupted. “This isn’t a farm animal. It’s a magical creature far beyond your understanding.”

“So you don’t want feed and supplies for the sword cubs?”

“Sword cubs?” I questioned.

Chin shrugged.

“Swordlings. Little swords. Knives, whatever they’re called.”

I stared at the man for a moment.

“You really are a farmer,” I mumbled.

Chin shrugged as he inspected Wriendler’s hilt for bumps, before finally moving on to the edges.

“You’re not going to find a bump, and the sword isn’t going to need medical care,” I said as I took the blade out of his hands.

Chin reluctantly let me take it from him. I sometimes forget how hard he was on this whole farming business. It was like the man couldn’t not farm no matter what was in front of him.

I turned my gaze back to the sword. Dam. I was hoping to avoid this, but I need to get some answers before I can truly settle down.

“I’m going to leave for a while Chin. Won’t be long, only a day or two for you guys, but I’ll be back soon enough. Can you keep an eye on the girls while I’m gone?”

“Will they behave without you here telling them what to do?”

“They’ll behave,” I replied.

Chin nodded and walked out of the house indifferently.

I made my way through the house and down a set of stairs.

“Gauntlet. I need you to keep an eye on things while I’m gone. Keep the girls and villagers safe. The array will keep the beasts in line, but you need to keep an eye on that gate. Wriendler’s giving birth again, and I think it’s going to be a big one this time.”