500th Time Reborn, A World Only Known By Women: The Karma System

Gaara kept running for a moment, and I sighed as she slowed down. At least everything else for here was in order, thanks to the other goddesses with the help of Eliza for me. She and Tallia had really been doing a lot of work lately.

I had already been talking to Giantessa about seeing if some Amazons would be willing to come work as cooks in the mess hall. I thought that it might be better to have people the women knew for now. Tallia was also working with Eliza to get some meat and other food shipped. That was the same for the monster girls, but Tallia had said that food was starting to get harder to get.

I watched as Gaara stopped but stood at attention. I had to deal with the problem of food after, but this woman was in front of me now.

"So, how do you want to keep doing this? Do you want to keep running every day?" I asked and then sighed. "I am sure that a person like you doesn't really mind this, but I will not make things easier if you keep on acting out like this."

Gaara stood silently for a moment and then looked up at me with hard eyes. "You think that you can come in and just change the way everything has been for as long as everyone can remember. Why do you think that we are going to accept that?"

"I don't, but if you accept, it is not valid. Change is a boulder, and if you try to get in its way, you will be crushed and left behind. I am not just telling you to change and leaving you at that; I am here to show you how to change," I said, waving my hands around, and then sighed, rubbing a hand over my face. "I don't like having to bully you all around, but you aren't listening."

"I will try your way," Gaara said, and I nodded.

"Good. Now, go grab a weapon that you like from the sharp ones," I said, pointing over to the wall. "There should be something in there that you'll enjoy."

It took Gaara almost ten minutes before she came back with an extendable spear that felt lighter than it actually was. She handed it to me, and I saw that it wasn't even fully extended, and it was nearly six feet tall. Considering that Gaara was over 8 feet tall, this weapon would be good for her, so I created the same spear, but smaller for my size in my hand, pulling the metal up from the ground. My small form made it seem less intimidating to the woman standing next to me.

"First, what do you think of this weapon? Do you understand how the mechanism to extend it works?" I asked, and Gaara looked at the spear as if it were an alien object. After looking into the weapon, she shook her head no.

"No clue... You know that I have never used one of these weapons before, right? And yes, I'm aware of that, but..." Gaara trailed off and then shrugged. "Why do you care anyway? You're trying to get us to serve you or whatever it is that you need."

"No, I don't need you to serve me. I am trying to teach you how to lead your people better and set an example to the others that are set in their way. I am going to teach you all to become fierce warriors and then take you on an exploratory mission to an island," I explained, but Gaara frowned at me.

"Why explore? Are we not going to take the island?!" Gaara demanded, and I sighed.

"That is a possibility, but only if it is uninhabited. While it is true that there are 12 main races, there could be more out on the islands that we don't know about. If they are living there peacefully, you are not going to go and disturb that. This is why I am here to teach you," I explained, but Gaara tossed her spear down in front of her in frustration.

Before she could vent, the spear hit the ground and released, doubling its length. It kicked back into Gaara's toe, and the woman screamed out in pain as she hit the ground with a thud.

"My toe!" Gaara screamed, and I sighed.

"You know, I could heal you right now, but I want you to remember this pain like hitting your thumb with a hammer. This pain is the result of you treating your weapon poorly without learning about it. This thing has to become part of your body, and you need to treat it with respect. You have no great magic to kill monstrous foes, but I can teach you minor ones that will make you stronger and more resilient to things like slashing and piercing attacks. You will need to learn to use armor as well," I explained calmly as the massive woman's screams quieted down to choked sobs she tried to hold back.

This was cruel, but some people only learn things the hard way. If I was not here, she would have to get someone to cast it and then stay off it for a while. This was the result of standing in front of change, not moving with it, and gaining the things that you pick up along the way.

Looking down at Gaara, I waited until she calmed herself enough to talk to me.

"So what is it that you want from us?" Gaara asked softly, wiping tears away.

"Listen, learn, and ask questions if you don't know something. Pretty basic stuff. You were hurt because you didn't understand the weapon that you were using. You treated it poorly, so it returned the favor. I'm going to help you overcome that, but I'm not just going to hand you a sword and expect you to fight battles by yourself," I told the Amazonian warrior, and then I healed her toe.