âI see you finished your picks. I know youâll miss some of the Abilities but it is for the best. Now, Matriarch, we need to talk about your Domains,â Loki said. âI still canât believe these idiots left major domains unclaimed. Get your [Wisp of Creation] and focus on what Iâm going to tell you. In this world, each deity can only have three Domains. Youâve seen how they shuffled Bundeusâ Domains around after he fell from godhood. What I suggest you do, is to grab the Crafts domain Wyxnos left behind, and swap the other minor you have for Protection. Youâll be the Goddess of Wisdom, Crafts, and Protection. Three major ones with no visible drawback,â he sighed, a bit envious.
âWhat about the species in my domains? Will they lose something?â I asked.
âItâs about you versus those uncouth usurpers,â he declared with a bit of flair and disdain. âBut no, these species wonât lose their racial sponsorship even if they arenât listed in your Domains. Unless another deity challenges you but you arenât exclusive like Wyxnos was with the gnomes. With this, youâll quickly become one of the major deities in this world. Every creature will grant you Faith just because they need shelter. Every craftsman will grant you Faith just because they made something. Itâs minor but adds up. Let the idiots play theme park and renaissance fair as much as they want. You should get stronger and get ready for whatâs coming.â
I stared at him. âWhatâs coming? Aside from the dragon bitch, and I donât think you meant her.â
Loki grinned, âNo spoilers. I bet a lot on you. Iâd rather not see my investment turn into a loss. Now, change your Domains, with haste!â
âWait. Why not Freedom instead of Crafts? Isnât Freedom stronger than Crafts?â
Loki actually paused to think, âNo. Not in this world. Peopleâs lives are so full of shit they donât have the time to dream of a life of Freedom like you guys did back on Earth. Crafts is still stronger, as almost every person makes something for themselves.â
Thatâs how I became the Goddess of Wisdom, Crafts, and Protection. I couldnât grab the Domains unless I already had something related to that in my churchâs Ethos. But all my priests created clothing and other articles out of silk, the scavenger gnomes and some dwarves in Windemere worshiped me, granting the Crafts Domain. As for Protection, that one was easy. Everyone knew how I thought about Windemere, my church always gave shelter to people running away from the powerful. The cherry on the cake was how the gnomes saw me after I dealt with the titan golem meteor.
After Loki let me go, I appeared on Sky Island as expected. I recalled Nenandil from the Refuge since I had a convenient tree right next to me. The System sent a global message regarding the Proficiency changes and Wyxnosâ betrayal. My church and priests also received a message regarding the change in Domains, and it was like lighting up a powder-keg.
I understood then just a few of Lokiâs schemes. Two messages side-by-side, one telling a god betrayed the world and fell from grace, and another saying another deity rose in the station. Correlation does not imply causality, but Iâd be damned if people insisted on kicking the dead dog. The world connected the wrong dots and believed I was the one who chased Wyxnos away. That had profound implications. A few gnomes around the world hated me for that, but most say that if I gained the Crafts Domain, it meant I was Wyxnosâ spiritual successor. They quickly sought to learn about me and in a few years, I had a majority of the gnome species worshiping me.
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Two fairies sat next to the rusty fig at the floating island, staring at Windemereâs sky.
I had a lot to unpack and a lot to think about. Loki planted several seeds of doubt in my mind, damned he may be. He was right. How did a bunch of humans become deities and take over this world? Who was helping Wyxnos? Part of me wanted to go after him and shake the answers out of him but I didnât think Loki advised caution for anything. I had no idea what Wyxnos was capable of, and he stole something from the System Core.
Too many questions, too little information. It might come back to bite me in the ass but I had to leave that behind. My goal needed to be to prepare for the Matriarch. Grind some levels and reach the cap again. I already knew what I should get. {The Four Leaf Clover} was just too good. Turn a misfortune around once a day? Sign me in.
âWe should go back to the Scorched Continent and hunt stuff there until we reach the cap,â Nenandil suggested. âAnd you donât have a high-level rare Core to consume this time, do you? We can find one there since itâs the continent with the biggest monster population.â
When half the continent was a no-manâs-land almost literally crawling with demons and monsters, with people too afraid to risk their lives hunting them, the whole place became a breeding ground for more demons and monsters. Most found their way in the mana-rich Labyrinth and kept multiplying there.
âLetâs say goodbye to the people here in Windemere, then weâll be on our way.â
I could open a fairy gate crossing 23,000 kilometers now, more than enough to reach the other continent in one jump. Nenandil was right. Scorched had the best hunting grounds. We took off and sought Mirina. The cloth golem servants told me she was at the palace. I spared a few minutes talking to them, to see if any wanted to either quit and move on to the afterlife or get reincarnated again. One of them wanted to have a physical body again. She claimed that the island was rather deserted now that I wasnât living here and throwing parties left and right. I let her pick her new species, the all-popular elf, and made a new customized body for her. Hereâs hoping she wonât have buyerâs remorse.
We decided to not take the teleport, instead of flying over the edge of the Force panels protecting the railings and guests alike and going down the scenic route for flying beings. Windemere had grown yet again in the last decade. A whole neighborhood appeared along the northeast road leading to Vugh Tarim and Rosebush. I feared the three settlements would become one huge metropolitan area in the future. They were already encroaching on the Lierin forest a baby Haru once sought shelter in. The forests, especially the ones inhabited by fairies needed to be protected. It was written in the countryâs constitution.
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We reached the palace and were ushered to a waiting room by a valet. Mirina was stuck in a Senate session and it would take the whole day. I talked to Nenandil for a while but hereâs some valuable life advice: Never allow powerful fairies to grow bored on your watch.
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I hid Nenandil in my soul and phased out, crossing barriers, wards, walls, and whatever else was in the path to the Senate amphitheater, Roman style. I got to test some of the Proficiency changes and found them wanting. Truly, I could perform more actions than before using only the basic proficiency but it lacked focus. I felt their effect was diminished by around thirty to forty percent. But it was lowered across the board so the opposition was weaker too. Maybe some old enchantments and wards retained the effects of the former values, I had to test that.
As I crossed the last wall and set of wards, I recognized Marloweâs signature. I hope he charged well for that work because it was one of the best wards I had to bypass in a long time. The Senate was on fire, figuratively. A heated debate was underway, and they were discussing amendments to a new draft. I located Mirina at the left side of the tribune, sitting on a vantage point as a guest of honor. While the Queen had limited powers, she was still required to preside over some of the Senate sessions. I copied many things from the British system of government. We didnât have a President but a Prime Minister, for example.
She wore a formal dress that was tailored to match the Tabard.
Nenandil came out on her own, still invisible, and we flew around reading papers and seeing the senators making bored faces as the debate continued. They were discussing a land grant bill, who would make way for yet another expansion of the city. Boring as hell. I landed on Mirinaâs shoulder with a giggle, and Nenandil landed on the other one. The [Queen] gave no outward signal of our presence.
âI can see you just fine,â Mirina whispered. âWhat do you think youâre doing?â
I replied with {Silent Voice}.
Mirina replied in the same channel now that I initiated the talk.
Mirina sighed slightly.
I scanned the room, pushing the desire to do some mischief aside.
I let a single kitsune tail pop out of my butt, the Illusion one. Then I projected the video feed from Mirinaâs point of view at the bottom of Sky Island, replacing the usual sky illusion.
I shared with Mirina.
The boring argument went on. The point of contention was how they would split the pie. About twenty minutes later, someone entered the Senate amphitheater and whispered in someoneâs ear. That senator stood up and glowered at Mirina. The [Queen] waved at him.
She sighed mentally.
âYour Majesty, are you broadcasting our private session to the entire country?â He basically accused although it was phrased as a question.
âNot at all,â Mirina replied, bored and annoyed. âWhy do you think Iâm doing it?â
âPeople are seeing us from your floating island!â He exclaimed, indignant.
âOne, the island is not mine. It belongs to the Matriarch. Two, whatâs the problem with that?â
âThis is a private session! Whoever is doing that is committing a crime.â
âThe Tabard disagrees,â she replied with a sigh. âI hope you already figured out who youâre accusing of committing a crime.â
The senator took a step back. I laughed, letting my crystal peals echo in the amphitheater. I changed my shape to a pixie-sized Haru, with my tails floating behind me. Then Nenandil and I canceled our invisibility. I shifted the illusion POV to above the chairmanâs table to display both us and the senators.
âSince when does the Senate has private sessions?â I asked.
âWith all due respect, your Holiness, you have no right to be here,â the senator challenged. âWe changed the law to better serve the interests of Windemere citizens.â
âRemember youâre a public servant, Senator. Iâll tell you. Iâm against this secrecy. Public proceedings should be public. Not just read the boring transcript after the fact. But youâre right. I shouldnât be here. But let me tell you, I too donât think you should be here. You donât have Windemereâs interest at the top of your mind. Youâre walking a narrow line between that and serving your own business interests. Thatâs a slippery slope.
âSince Iâm not welcome here, Nenandil and I will take our leave. Do come home earlier today, my dear Mirina. But as you exert your rights, remember others can do that too. Iâm going to suggest to my flock of worshippers you shouldnât be re-elected if you are going to keep doing secret sessions. Maybe the next legislature will turn that one around and allow public broadcasts of Senate sessions. Maybe even trigger a vote of no confidence on you.â
We had provisions in place that allowed a member of Congress to be re-elected once but if they ended their second term or werenât reconducted to office, they needed to sit on the bench for twenty years before they could run again. Since they were elected last year, the vote of no confidence was a death sentence.
Only then I canceled the broadcast spell. I summoned the Torii gate just for show and walked through with Nenandil.
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Night of the same day.
We were playing around in the sky island with a few fairies from the enclave next to Vugh Tarim when Mirina teleported in. She looked tired but the grin on her face was indelible. I shifted into full-size Haru and hugged her.
âWhat happened?â I asked.
âThe Senate repealed the law for secret sessions. They also voted a [Druid] subsidy fund to entice more people to take on the Class, so we can grow more timber. I also suggested they should respect the Constitutional provisions protecting the virgin fairy forests.â
The sylphs and pixies and dryads started to cheer and celebrate the small win. But the damage to the current Senate membersâ reputation was already done. The people demanded the broadcast remained, and I had to change the enchantments in Sky Island to allow that. Now every Senate session was shown live on the Great TV in the Sky.
We spent a month with Mirina, Helger, and Ridellâs family before we departed for the Scorched Continent.