The God business is exactly that. Business. I gave Bit two temples, He gave me a Dungeon Core. I gave Wyxnos one temple, he gave me a gnome tribe. Now I'm before the Minotaur [King], negotiating a cultural exchange.

One could call him a barbarian King. He held the throne not by birthright but by his own prowess and the respect of his people. I could read the emotions and the surprise stamped on his courtiers' faces. Setting my title was the right choice.

"I am elated to stand before you mighty [King]," I replied with a soft expression and firm eye contact. "Today I come as a friend, a potential ally. First, I have a gift for Your Majesty. Though I am afraid there's not enough room here."

He huffed a chuckle. With a bovine snout, that was expected, the same way my speech in werecat had some hisses now and then. "And what might be this gift?"

"Twenty thousand claw-fiend corpses I've killed in the north, where they swarm," I delivered triumphantly.

Shock and awe always worked. The court was now murmuring.

"Consider your gift accepted. We'll go to the courtyard later," he replied full of mirth. "What business brings you here, mighty were-kin [Matriarch]?"

"I am opening a branch of the church of Bit in Windemere. The [Urchin Protector] offered me, mighty minotaur priests."

He nodded. His eyes told me he already knew of the exchange.

"O mighty, [Matriarch], slayer of Demon Lords!. Our warriors could use your blessings as well. Let my people erect a mighty temple for the beast-folk Goddess here! Grant us your blessings in battle!"

The [Matriarch] still had no priests. I had no idea how to do it because since I was a mortal and Pandora didn't have free will and full consciousness, I needed to work by proxy. But it kept me from being swept up in the Gods' political struggles up there. I was in a very comfortable spot where I had some of the benefits of Divinity but none of the responsibilities. That made my status akin to a demigod like Leviathan and Kraken, but every choice had its drawbacks.

But he was being too sweet for a minotaur. If I had to guess, he was in a precarious political situation, and showing to be on my side could help solidify his position. That would explain why his chamberlain was so harsh right off the bat. I had no problem getting him to owe me a favor or two.

We negotiated for a while and I made sure to seize the court mood and make the King look good. Not for free, of course.

We settled on the terms of our cultural exchange. The King would allow the priests of Bit and a few minotaur monster hunters to go to Windemere with me, and I would send some werewolf warriors and my own priests (when I figure out how to make them) to help fight the demons. Treaty sealed, the court moved to the courtyard where I dumped twenty thousand demon bodies. I'd farmed them for their Cores already but only one in fifty had a usable Core. It was concerning to see that these foot soldiers of the demon invasion army were considered dangerous around here.

"I hope this gift is comparable to the might of the Minotaur [King], I jested in a feigned humbleness. The chamberlain nodded when I glanced at him.

"I gladly accept this token of our friendship! Let it be known!" He boasted, "This day the [Matriarch] stands side-by-side with Bit, the Keeper of Monsters! A mighty temple to the Lady of the beast-folk shall be erected in a place of prominence. Slayer of Demon Lords! Reaper of the demon spawn!"

I could tell a heavy burden was lifted from his shoulders. A day later, I took the priests back to Windemere.

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The deep gnomes would take a bit longer to get ready to move. I planted an evergreen in the central square of the Dungeon city, right in view of the castle gates. This way, even if invaders broke my security features and teleported down, the guards would take them. Regarding these features, it was simple. Once I had priests and could create faith-locked Perks, like Yznera's {Messenger Bird}, they could bless soul-bound tokens that delvers could use to teleport back. People without a token would need a priest to make one for them, and it wouldn't work under coercion. To teleport down, they needed a priest to open the way even if they had a token. Also not under coercion. Finally, people teleporting to and from would receive a glowing effect for some time. No stealth after teleporting.

The Dungeon Core already had a soul and was very cooperative. Bit improved his Dungeon craft in these few decades, proof the sea urchin wasn't slacking on the job. It was installed underneath the roots of the evergreen, in a sealed room only those with {Tree Stride} could access. From there, I created mini-dungeons, similar to the haunted houses in amusement parks. They had a rating from one to twenty, and the monsters spawning inside had an average level ten times the rating. Simple.

Visitors to the Dungeon city would all feed the Core with a tithe of their MP and SP. The spawned monsters too generated power for the Dungeon, in a feedback loop. It was obviously engineered and I could recognize some of the glyphs in the clear crystal orb as the same used in Faith magic spell diagrams. I was curious about the relationship but had no leads so far.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Dungeon issues aside, I tried to figure out how to ordain priests. From what I heard, it was much like a knighting ceremony. It had to be conducted by an avatar of the deity or another priest. When Marisol was ordained, Wisteria did it for her. But I wasn't either deity or priest. Let's ask my only God friend. I held Pandora in my hands and focused.

Okay. Maybe it is something instinctive. Can Pandora pour divinity on me? I tried, concentrated, meditated, sent mental images, nothing worked. Back to zero. Focusing on the {Surrogate Divinity}, nothing. I was at a dead end. Bit confessed he couldn't help more than that.

Maybe it was a problem with the subject. Maybe anointing someone as a Priest needed to slot the Class on a free Path. Time to pay Vanagon a visit.

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I popped into the Palace in my private suite and called the maid assigned to keep the room clean.

"Your Grace?" The young wolf-kin girl timidly approached.

"Salia, be at ease," I put my best 'be not afraid' smile. "I need to schedule a meeting with Vanagon, would you go and make an appointment for me, please?"

She nodded profusely. As all young Kin, she had poor tail control. It showed she was excited but submissive toward me. At once she turned around and fled the room. Five minutes later, she returned with Vanagon. I stared at the cloth-man.

"Is Windemere so easy to manage that the Kingdom Steward is free to come and see some random visitor on a whim?

He chuckled, "When the founder and patron goddess of the nation beckons, only fools don't heed, my Lady."

Salia was looking between the door and me. I nodded and flicked my ears toward the door. She went and closed the door behind her, leaving us alone.

"Straight to business then," I clapped my hands once. "I intend to add two new districts to Windemere. One is small, brand new, and unknown, the other is big and long due to a full renovation. But before that..."

He straightened his back. I continued, "As you know, I brought some minotaurs from the Scorched Continent. They'll spread the faith of Bit around here, I want you to support them and make the minotaurs feel welcome here in Windemere. They'll also set a chapter of the Monster Hunter guilds they have over there. The members will also be Adventurers, so I don't expect too much resistance from the Adventurer's Guild but they might feel threatened. If they do, tell them to bring the issue before me."

He frowned before smiling, "I'm sure that will make them feel less threatened."

"Good," I glossed over the issue. "Now, the districts. I already talked about that with Mirina. We are converting the underground cavern we discovered into a Dungeon town. I'll arrange safe transportation between there and the surface keyed to the minotaur priests and the ones I'll convert to the [Matriarch]'s faith. The idea is to offer better training facilities with small pseudo-Dungeons controlled by a Dungeon Core Bit gave me, and grant access to the depths of the Dungeon to experienced delvers."

He nodded a bit and scratched his chin, "Direct access to these depths may attract some Adventurers too strong for us to handle."

I pondered for a moment then got an epiphany, "I'll key the transport enchantment to the subordinate Tabards."

"That may work, given that nobody found a way to fool the Tabard so far," He emphasized the 'so far'. But if the dragons didn't, I wasn't too afraid.

"So far," I echoed and gained another nod. "Anyway, I expect the people of Windemere to grow in levels by using the easy Dungeons I'm going to set. I want access to be as open as possible."

"That's fair. What about the other district?"

I opened a map of the region. I'll expand the wall west, claim the former Saegalla region and go along the north margin of the river until I reach and make us a port on the Uroko gulf."

He ran a finger over the map where the new wall would be and commented, "You'll clip some land from both Leondirac and Sadian if you do that."

"I'll visit Sadian soon. Maybe send them a message before I do, but they sent an army to our doorstep. I'm going to make them regret doing that and get that land as compensation. Leondirac owes me a great sum, I'll do the same to them."

"I'm very happy you wish to revive my old Kingdom, Your Grace."

"Do you want independence?"

"And become a buffer state shielding Windemere? I'd rather be part of the same nation. But they won't take it silently. Sadian will retaliate by raising taxes on the trade through the gulf."

"That's why I'm carving a channel through Ekar, from here to here. It will connect the outer sea to the Uroko gulf and bypass Sadian. I'm also making some big bridges over the channel, so Ekar has ways to move people and goods across. I also talked to Euric about it and they'll be more than glad to wound Sadian's golden goose. I'll enchant the bridges to resist damage and wear."

"Sadian will fight back."

"Let them. I hope they make a fuss. I do need some buildings for my revitalization projects. Their noble district would work just fine. Not like their owners will need the mansions once they're dead."

"Well, it's not like they'll send another army up here anytime soon," Vanagon ruefully nodded.

"Finally, something easy to do. Please run a recruitment campaign, the first batch of priests for the church of the [Matriarch]. I need people devoted to the faith with a free Path choice. I actually need that to happen as soon as possible."

He chuckled, "I'll send some criers around town. Expect your Kin to answer in droves. You'll need to send envoys to other nations."

"Good!" I grinned back.

"One last thing, Your Grace. During the month you spent underground, some rather vocal people from Lonid came, almost demanding to see the [Queen]. Disenfranchised nobles with the wrong idea, delusions even, about Lonid's relationship with Windemere."

"Did you give them to Kazuyran?"

"They are noisy and haughty but I don't think they did anything to deserve that. In fact, we can let them be. I was just letting you know."

"How so?"

"We aren't hosting them so they're basically tourists. I don't see a problem in letting them keep spending money in our fair kingdom. I'll schedule the priesthood ceremony in five days, how's that for you?"

"Fine. I'm going to the depths again, to finish training. We'll see each other in five days."

Vanagon went out with a spring in his step. I knew the old King missed his kingdom and he was happy with the revitalization of Saegalla. I brought the expedition back from their vacation and resumed our training.