It didn’t take that long for people to stop acting like I was some sort of monster. For the most part at least. There were still a few children that snuck around the area to try and get a look at the wild man. Honestly it was kind of cute.

I always had a soft spot for kids so I mostly pretended not to notice them. There was one in particular, a large and rowdy boy who proclaimed he would take down the Beast-Man to all his friends.

I was impressed by the pitfall he made but a good hunter knows better than to sit around watching his own traps. Sneaking up behind him was easier than it should have been.

Picking him up by his ankle and carrying him back to the village had been hilarious. Maybe I scared him a bit too much but even his mother was giggling as I handed him over to her.

“Thank you for entertaining the kids Hen Ri. Is master Long finished with the kitchen supplies I ordered?” Mrs. Wang asked as she held her child in almost the same upside down manner I had carried him over. The look of betrayal on his face was unmistakable.

Mrs. Wang was the first villager besides Zhou and the old man to try actually talking to me like a person. She gave me absolute Mama Bear vibes, and the kids seemed to love her. She was obviously a good person.

“Not quite.” I responded.

“Should be in the next few days, would you like it delivered?” I was still trying to put to work some of those modern American sales techniques I picked up working retail. Which I was terrible at.

“Perhaps you should purchase a full set of clothes before wandering from housewife to housewife, eh?” she rebuked me with a light but hearty laugh. I was still having trouble getting clothes since the seamstress was absolutely convinced I was a monster. So for now I was just wandering around in the rough pants I had been given by Zhou.

Thankfully one of the hunters gave me a pair of sandals. There wasn’t any explanation for that one but I appreciated him for it.

“Well then I’ll be off, make sure Hu doesn’t try hunting beast men alone again!” I waved with a smile as I went back to the forge, while Mrs. Wang laughed loudly.

When I arrived I got a strange feeling. It was the same one I got the other day when the old man was messing up the crude steel he was working with. It caused my eye to twitch almost uncontrollably.

The hammer strikes seemed to go on too long and the heat which should have been palpable didn’t hit me.

Deep breath in, slowly out. I slipped behind the old man. It was probably for the best If I were to keep these thoughts inside. If nothing else I needed to know what this place considered “Proper” forging. I pushed out the uncomfortable feeling and watched everything he was doing. The metal was moving, albeit much more slowly than I thought it should.

His movements were fast and precise, and now that I was paying attention, I noticed that while the fire didn’t seem hot enough to me, it hadn’t fluctuated in the slightest since I started watching.

When he was done, Long Fa looked back at me.

“Food ready?” he had an almost accusatory glare. He was right, I was too distracted watching him work and I forgot to make us dinner.

I smiled in the most disarming way I could muster as I slipped back into the house dodging the hammers and tongs the old man kept throwing at me.

Things kept this way for some time. I would watch the old man work and try to memorize what I could.

I never imagined I would make Iron from scratch yet here I was. Learning to “bloom the iron” as he called it. Sometimes the old man even had me make a few household items.

He forced me to do everything exactly the way he said even if it made my eyes twitch but that was a small price to pay when learning from an actual master.

“Smoother motions, you’re gonna rip your own arm off at this rate.” Long Fa sat back some distance with a jar of wine in hand while telling me what to do.

I refocused and tried to do what he said.

“Wrong.” he said between gulps. I sighed. At least he stopped throwing his sandals at my face.

The old man had been watching my morning routine lately for some reason. After coffee I would start doing yoga. He kept looking at me strangely even when I transitioned to doing pushups and sit-ups.

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“What martial art do you use?” He seemed to finally come to a decision.

“Uh, boxing and wrestling?” I wasn’t sure how to answer that honestly. I had been doing martial arts since I was a kid. I had taken every class I could find, from capoeira to krav maga. There was even a point in school that all of my classmates referred to me as “Karate Kid”. Which was part of the reason I no longer admitted to knowing Karate.

“There are as many forms of boxing as there are schools to teach it, what is your school called?” Long Fa seemed perturbed by my answer.

“A fight’s a fight.” I shrugged out the answer. I know it isn’t what he was looking for but I didn’t consider my training that specific. I can throw a punch and I can twist an arm. People really don’t need to do more than that in the modern world.

The old man was contemplating my answer for a few days. He was seemingly lost in thought.

Mrs. Wang arrived with her son in tow to pick up her new kitchen supplies. I had requested that the old man let me make them for her since she was by far the friendliest villager I had met. There was something about his expression that made me think maybe it was a bad idea yet he still allowed it.

“My goodness, I don’t think I've ever seen such a knife!” Her face was lit up with happiness while she inspected the blade I made for her. It wasn’t anything special, but I did try to make it as close to a professional chef knife as I could. That and the wood here had a gorgeous tint when polished. It made the handle look like it had been made from a redwood tree.

“Be careful though Ma’am, I made sure it was ready to use.” I passed her the pan and spoon that were also made for her as she inspected each.

“Wait, so was this made by you? Not old Long?” she eyed me for a moment before smirking.

“Looks like our village got lucky, the only traveler all year turns out to be a blacksmith!” She let out her friendly laughter as the boy, Hu, tried sneaking past to where the old man was working on something else.

There was no harm in a kid being curious. So I ignored him.

“I’m glad you think that ma’am-” I began.

“No no no, From now on I’m your auntie!” She announced loudly.

“Can’t have you thinking you aren’t welcome just because of that foolish Xue girl screaming every time she sees a stranger now can we?” She placed a rough hand on my shoulder.

“Now if you’ll excuse me Hen Ri, It seems my little Hu is causing problems for old Long.” her smile never faltered as she brandished her brand new metal spoon.

I could hear the smack even over the hammering of metal. I nodded sagely remembering my own mother’s fondness for wooden spoons.

_________________________________________________

No one in the village actually knew where Mrs. Wang was from. For everyone in the village she was simply “Auntie”. A lovely and jolly middle aged woman that was always happy to play with the village children. She was especially popular for the stories of far off lands she would tell them.

No one even knew her real name. She preferred it that way. Once she was back home she let her mask drop. The young man was certainly nice enough but he didn’t seem to realize what he had given her.

The spoon in her hand looked like it was forged with techniques that should have been reserved for the imperial capital. It was not something that should have been here.

Deep steel was something most people didn’t know existed, yet somehow this man had made her a set of cooking utensils out of the almost legendary material. She channeled what was left of her qi into the metal.

The reason deep steel wasn’t as famous as other materials was in part because of how difficult it was to work with, but mostly for the fact it wouldn’t accept qi even after forging. These utensils didn’t have that failing. She let out the lightest pulse of energy and it flowed along the metal like water through a river. It didn’t pool the way she was accustomed to for a spiritual weapon but she could clearly feel the pathways.

“I need to get that boy a gift…” She sighed. Not even her old sect could have afforded such material to be used for a cooking utensil.

“Honey!” The voice came from the entryway as her husband entered. Wang Tai was just as loud and friendly as his wife. He was the first hunter to see Henry fighting the thunder elk in the forest.

Wang Tai had felt bad for telling all the villagers that he was a monster so he had tried giving the man some gifts like a new pair of sandals to make up for it.

He had been happier to receive those sandals than they had thought possible. Wang Tai kissed his wife on the cheek as he ruffled Hu’s hair. Then the new knife the table caught his attention. He almost flinched, but kept himself still.

“Hey buddy, why don’t you go play with Scraps outside?” He said with a smile on his face. Hu nodded and took the dog outside to play with him.

“What the fuck is that?” There was sudden fear in his voice once the child was gone.

“I bought it…” She knew what her husband was thinking. They had run here ten years ago when she had gotten pregnant. There were few people in this world that could get their hands on workable deep steel and what little there was would always end up in the weapons of some elder or another.

One of those few people was her brother.

“Wha-” His voice cracked as he tried to process the information. Wang Tai was a mortal man through and through, but had grown up with the gangs in the imperial city. He had seen most anything the black markets had to offer and only once, had he seen a weapon made of deep steel.

“H-how?” The fear was causing him to shake now.

“It seems that Hen Ri was very thankful for the sandals.” She said it as calmly as she could.

“Remember to get him and old Long some good meat next time you go out.” Perhaps it was best to push it to the back of her mind. He was obviously not involved with the Snow Peak Sect. He seemed to be an honestly thankful man.

Her husband nodded dumbly while staring at the spiritual grade cooking spoon in front of him.

She put away the artifacts she had received and poured out wine for her husband. Then started to chug from the jar for herself.