Silas hadn’t been awake long before he heard a pen scratching against paper.

 

He turned his head to the side to see yellow eyes watching him with Soifon on his chest. Then, as the sun peaked in through the window, lighting up the room, he saw the purple-haired Yoruichi slowly drawing them. To say he was surprised was like saying water was wet. She smiled at him when she looked up before turning her work around to show Soifon and him sleeping together.

 

So far, he hadn’t really put much thought into how Soifon found her way into his bed and couldn’t remember much after reaching the first stage.

 

“Thou art adorable. I plan to place this drawing beside my desk. Let everyone who enters see my dear little bee made a friend.” Yoruichi said.

 

“Methinks she has a good friend in thou as well,” Silas said and smiled. “Was she always a heavy sleeper?”

 

“Tis her recovering from the wound. Fortunately, thy lands art spiritually plentiful and safe enough to let her guard down. She seems comfortable leaning on thee.” Yoruichi said.

 

He thought about it and nodded. If Soifon needed a friend, he would be available.

 

After sprinting to the first stage, it was time to take a step back and shore up his defenses. Even while he had Soifon in his arms snoring away, there were plans to complete. The chickens needed to be looked after, he needed to clear the inner stone walls of the cave and enlist a new formation, and he needed to test his limits in the first stage. Of course, there was also entertaining the Shinigami while he was at it.

 

“Mistress, have thou ever used reiatsu to plow a field?” Silas asked.

 

The dark-skinned woman smirked. “I can’t say that I have. Though I don’t see why thou would use thy hands when thy horse would happily do the deed. What art thy plans moving forward?” Yoruichi said.

 

Silas looked out the window to see the green shoots sticking up around his property. Cows grazed and moved about in clicks, not as a single herd, while the pigs glared furiously at the former slaves. It was an uprising waiting to happen.

 

Then there was the matter of his cultivation. His need to cultivate would require larger lands and greater spiritual power. He would need to create a Lazarus pit with no secret cultivation lands to find or easy ways into other dimensions. Not the DC version but a pit filled with an alchemic potion to bathe corpses for refinement. Then he would need to carve formations into their flesh for control, to give them a rudimentary intelligence, and transform the malignant spirit energy their undead bodies would naturally produce.

 

Silas had agreed to be betrothed to Mary, John’s daughter. He would have to make more appearances in town to keep up with public perceptions. A show or two of piety probably wouldn’t hurt, and the list went on and on. After all that, maybe he could get to the fun stuff, like upgrading his staff into something battle-worthy or developing loose formations into armaments, in a sense that meant forming formations into spells with aura alone. While it was normally something he wouldn’t do unless he was in the third stage, there was a workaround. But that had to wait because there was too much to do.

 

“I plan to finish building my manor, fencing in my lands, and perhaps moving the bounts and my servants a ways away from my homestead. While I don’t mind the company, this is where I plan to work.” Silas said.

 

Old habits died hard, and he was hardly a people person. But, on the other hand, Yoruichi seemed to understand.

 

“Tis difficult to find alone time when there art people in thy care. Methinks while thy time with my little bee was short, thou art her friend. So, thou art my friend too. Thy lands must benefit Soul Society, or our government will destroy thee. Therefore, I will declare this place a base in the living world for squad 2.” Yoruichi said.

 

 “Mayhap there is a precedent for such an installation?” Silas asked.

 

“There was no time to research this. Be glad I am a reasonable captain and a noble. Don’t try to run, or a kill order may be sent by my government. For the moment, thou have benefited us and deserve a reward.” Yoruichi said.

 

It would not be impossible to set his defenses against Shinigami. The bounts on his land were a problem, but she didn’t know he knew that. Yoruichi hadn’t brought it up, so he let sleeping dogs lie. To her, he only knew they were spiritually more powerful than him and possibly dangerous.

 

He felt Soifon stirring and knew she would wake up soon. Silas felt her soft, firm butt press against him in their warm bed. Maybe he would invest in a better bed before the next time he saw her. Some of the wolf pelts could be sewn together for a fabulous bedspread. Silken pillows from the east might not impress her, but she might appreciate them. He might also steal some silkworms to raise in his lands. Spirit silk would be welcome, but he didn’t know how to turn it into what he wanted.

 

An idea struck him then he could get some spiders in the spring and see if one becomes a spirit beast. He might as well start training to tame spirit beasts or find someone with the talent. In this new world, he would have to be a jack of all trades and train many specialists. Going into spirit beast training would stretch himself thin, and his other specialties would suffer. So, he needed people who could become specialists.

 

Bounts were out; they weren’t cultivators, and he wouldn’t trust the wizards and witches, not even his soon-to-be wife, with all his secrets. He needed men he could trust, and soon. Spirit beasts were both incredibly useful and dangerous. Dotty was lucky; the others probably weren’t as loyal as her.

 

…

 

Soifon wanted to ride, and Silas couldn't say no, no matter how busy. Yoruichi wanted to go, too and was confident in her ability to control the spiritually aware horses. Kisuke seemed to see it as an experiment. They were technically spirits, but the horses were spiritually aware, so it should work.

 

When Silas opened the door, he expected to see horses in their stalls ready to be ridden, and a few saddles hung on the walls for safekeeping. Maybe his favorite boots would be on one of the nearby workbenches with the spurs lying on them.

 

He saw Cletus with his dick halfway buried in a mare brought by the bounts. While it had almost no spiritual awareness, that didn’t change what his religious servant was doing.

 

Eugene walked in behind them, changed into his riding clothes, and froze. “Tis my mount, but it seems someone is riding her.”

 

“Tis no time to joke,” Soifon said. “A servant has violated the property of the land’s master,” Soifon said.

 

Silas thought the situation was hilarious. Cletus, his most religious servant, was balls deep in the beautiful palomino mare Eugene brought with them and seemed on the verge of tears.

 

“Tis Eugene’s horse, methinks though I had planned to purchase it or ask permission to breed it this season. She is a fine beast, and Cletus thinks so as well.” Silas said.

 

“What will be done with me?” Cletus asked, still inside the mare.

 

It seemed if he was to die, then he wouldn’t stop.

 

“Mayhap I will have thou build a shack for such carnal pursuits out of my sight,” Silas said.

 

Eugene chuckled at that. “Tis a superstition among some cultures to mate with donkeys and horses to increase one’s length. I have seen many tonics and pills of mercury that were said to do the same. Even after they art revealed as false. Some still buy them on the off chance they succeed.”

 

“He’s going to need them after I cut it off,” Soifon said.

 

Yoruichi grabbed Soifon’s shoulder before the girl could meet out her own justice.

 

“I have shamed myself before the lord and deserve to be put to death with the animal I slept with,” Cletus said.

 

“My Charlotte wasn’t at fault in this,” Eugene said in outrage.

 

It was getting funnier by the second, and Cletus still had his dick inside the mare. Silas would have thought the man would try to make himself seem more presentable, but no. Maybe he planned to take the mare hostage.

 

Silas had come from a world with intelligent animals called spirit beasts that were often as smart or smarter than the average human. Cultivators formed relationships and had lots of sex with them. Sometimes they were the centers of vast orgies to cultivate sexual power. Silas, a nerdy formations specialist, wasn’t invited to those parties and, for propriety's sake, would not have wanted to go. But, of course, Charlotte was a normal horse who had only spent a night on the farm.

 

“Why did thou do it?” Silas asked.

 

“I wanted to lay with one who wouldn’t judge me,” Cletus said.

 

Yoruichi froze for a second, then burst out laughing, followed by Kisuke. Silas rubbed at his temples. “If it makes thou feel better, thy member tis larger than my own.”

 

“No wonder he sought comfort with the horses; his tool is too large for a woman to find comfortable,” Soifon said.

 

She was clearly angry that their ride was ruined. That’s when Dotty poked her head in from behind them and saw what Cletus was doing. The old nag used her bulk to push everyone aside and squeeze her way through. Her hair bristled, and she trotted forward as menacing as a mare could ears back with over 1000 pounds of equine fury.

 

He sighed and grabbed her halter to keep the mighty mare from stomping a hole in Cletus’s chest. Dotty grumbled as Silas led her away from her intended target before things could escalate further.

 

“Cletus, from now on, the only animals thou lay with art the ones thou have bought. If a spirit beast agrees, I will consider that a consenting coupling, but it must take place out of sight. If I see thou doing this outside the designated locations, I will whip thee with a lash for every hand of the animal. That one is fifteen, a good specimen with a fine blue roan coat. I would hate to give thou 15 lashes because thy pecker got thou in trouble.” Silas said.

 

He was proud of himself. Silas hadn’t outlawed the practice, which was useful with so few women around. Men got into fights when there were few women around, and after the Shinigami left, there would be two women on the farm, one of them Eugene’s wife. The other lady, a brown-haired slender oriental girl with chocolate brown eyes, was about to have more attention than she bargained for. Maybe they should get a few sheep for the time-honored Irish tradition; who was he kidding? It was honored in every land that had sheep. The woolly legs of mutton had so many uses.

 

“Well, since Charlotte isn’t getting ridden, we could take the wagon out instead. There art some deer near the Northern edge of the lake, and we need the protein.” Silas said.

 

After they hooked up Dotty and filled up the wagon, they made their way towards their destination, where the deer had been visible. When they arrived, the deer remained in place unmoving, and the closer they drove towards the beast, the less alive it appeared. An arrow struck him in the chest, stopping at the muscle.

 

White hot pain lanced through his body before rage swept through him.

 

Silas hadn’t sensed them; their spiritual energy was small compared to the wildlife around his homestead. Nevertheless, seven braves, four with bows drawn and three with lances, had ambushed them

 

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