As my 223rd day in the new world was about to end, I got notified that the construction group had finished the “church”.
Quest Home Of The Goddess completed! Rewards, 10 Exp + 1 Research Point have been granted in the Empire System!
I then went to look at the new “church” and... it was just a wooden hut. But it was also what I was trying to make so... it made sense, I guess.
“So, Rae... about that one time blessing we talked about before...” I turned to her and asked her, and, though she didn’t seem very pleased by her church, she still turned to me.
“Now, what quest to give you...”
“Wait, you didn’t come up with it?”
“No? I assumed making the church would take up a few months, so I thought I’d have more time to ponder over it.” She then replied bluntly, and I just stood there bewildered and could only say a simple “Okay.” and then turned to look at the “church”.
...
“...So...?” I asked after a minute or so of silence.
“Sush! I am still thinking about what quest to give you.”
“...Aren’t you a literal goddess? Shouldn’t this take... you know, shorter?”
“Oh yeah? I’d like to see you come up with a quest on the spot! Then you’d understand that there is a lot of thinking to do on deciding on the balance between the effort put into a quest, and reward gotten from it!
“So, because my quests are so though out, I have to take some time to come up with them!” Rae said, seemingly offended that I’d assume that she was “slow”.
“...Rae, 4 of my 7 quests, not counting the divine one and the main quest, include 1000 people in their quest description. You are not fooling me by saying that they are though out. You are just not.” I said, putting my arms together and looking at her eyes.
And seeing that she was caught, Rae made a weird face but collected herself quickly.
“S-so what?! I have a lot of things to do, so I can cut corners in a few places!” She then defended herself.
“...Oh, sorry then, Rae. But, just to satiate my curiosity, can you tell me what other things you’ve been doing other than standing around? And watching me? For the last 7-8 months?
“Please, go ahed. I am very curious.” I then told her, standing my ground, as I wasn’t eating whatever she was trying to feed me.
It was not that big of a problem, as I could wait a few days to level up my empire, but I’d like it if my captor gave me the courtesy of at least caring about things a bit.
“T-that... I am a goddess! I don’t have to tell you anything!” She yelled out, and I clicked my tongue for a moment, lamenting that I couldn’t push her to give me a random quest in the spur of a moment or making up something random to justify her inaction.
It would’ve been funny to hear what she came up with.
Then we stood in silence for a few more minutes as she continued to think on a quest to give me.
“...Well then, I am just going to go back home and get some shut eye while you think about the quest.” I said to Rae and turned around, just for her to yell after me.
“Wait!” She said, and I turned around, surprised that she actually came up with an idea.
“Oho? You came up with something?” I asked her.
“Err...”
“... If you haven’t come up with an idea, why tell me to wait?” I asked, confused.
“J-just wait here for a moment, I swear I’ll come up with something!” She then said, and I couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
“...If you can’t come up with something, don’t force it. Or, if you really want to give me a divine quest, why don’t you just... tell me to do something to improve the village? It’d be good for both of us, yeah?” I said, trying to give her some ideas.
“But that’d be too easy for you...” ...This fucking... argh!
If you wish ill on someone, don’t tell it to their face! That’s like the first rule in conversing with other people!
How can a goddess fail at such a simple thing!
Though I was saddened by what my life had become, being stuck with a stupid kid with godlike power and all, it still could’ve been worse now, couldn’t it?
Like, she could’ve ordered me to name this village something like... Raepolis or Raetopia.
Then it’d suck for real.
“...Hmm... something to do with the village, huh?”
... Please tell me I didn’t just set up a flag.
“Hmm... Damian, did you name this village yet?”
“...That’s fucking it. I am going to sleep.” I said in a grumpy voice and just left and ignored Rae’s attempts at trying to get me to stop.
Though, I couldn’t ignore my fate for long, and had to actually talk with her, as she just wouldn’t shut up and let me go to sleep.
Then, I had the nightmarish experience of seeing the divine quest asking me to actually name the village, which would grow to be the capital city of my empire soon, to Raetopia.
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Though it was... I am not going to lie, it was not worth it. Not even a single bit as I could’ve tamed these critters without her one time blessing too.
“—Are you listening to me!” Rae then yelled at me as I sat on my “bed”, which was just a few pieces of hides and fur.
“Yeah, yeah. I am.”
“Then, what was I talking about?”
“You were explaining me how the blessing, Tame, would work.”
“And how does it work?”
“Just go to a herd, and the skill will detect all the members of the herd and tame them. But only tame them, not dominate their minds.
“So, if I don’t feed them or treat them badly, they will just up and leave.”
“Yes! Now, are you going to go ahead and tame the horses?”
“...Why are you calling them horses?”
“I am tired of calling them cat-horses, and you didn’t like any of my name suggestions, so I am just going to call them horses!”
“...Don’t act like Horkit is a good name for a species!”
“It is!”
“It is not!” I rebutted, as I didn’t want to live in a world where people rode Horki into battle, and farmer children ran alongside their Horkittens, and played with them.
That was just not a world I wanted to be a part of, so I guess Horses were... fine.
“Anyways, about taming the... horses, I guess.
“While I want to level up to level 3, I am not sure if I’ll be able to keep them from wandering away, and going back to their usual grazing grounds...”
“Oh, I can just change a few parts of the blessing and make it so that they won’t run off.”
“...Great then! Let’s set off... after I’ve had my breakfast that is.”
And set off after I had my breakfast we did, with my “exploration team” behind me, to help me herd the horses, we set off, and soon found the herd I’d been gotten close to for a while.
Then striding in, I used the one-time blessing and...
Quest Nurture Over Nature II completed! Rewards, 20 Exp + 1 Research Point have been granted in the Empire System!
Empire Level has risen up to 3!
10 Research Points have been granted for the level up, and more researches are available in the research tree!
Seeing that my empire level had gone up finally, I opened my empire system and noticed that my exp cap had increased to 350 from 200.
Which... sucked. But the researches I’d gain would surely be worth it!
So, with a swing of my finger I touched on the Research tab and...
Level 3 Researches
Sapience – Gives you the option to grant sapience to every current, and future Homunculi. – Costs 5 Research Points
Magical Language – Grants knowledge of 2 magical languages that can be used to cast spells and inscribe runes and enchantments. Doesn’t come with a manual. – Costs 1 Research Point
Basic Military Tactics – An information packet about basic military tactics. – Costs 2 Research Points
Paper Making – An information packet about how to make paper. – Costs 3 Research Points
Basic Sanitation – An information packet about how to keep your streets clean and sanitised. – Costs 2 Research Points
Basic Economics – An information packet about basic economics and includes how to set up a currency system. – Costs 2 Research Point
Basic Road Construction – An information packet about how to make basic roads. – Costs 1 Research Point
Basic Ship Construction – An information packet on how to construct small sea-fearing vessels that can be used to navigate rivers and shallow seas. – Costs 2 Research Points
Carriage Construction - ...Do you really need an explanation? – Costs 1 Research Point
It was... small. Smaller than it had been in level 2.
But I didn’t let that bother me and went through all the researches I had access to right now, and... all 9 of them were useful.
I mean, some were of course better than others. I mean, what use did ship construction have—wait, its actually quite useful as, I can just row supplies down and up the river.
The river near the... I am not saying the village’s name, but the river near the capitol was not big.
But it the small number of supplies that I could load onto “ships” on the river would be great!
And Rae actually told me a few months ago that the river the capitol was on was actually a tributary of a much, much larger river that extended for hundreds of kilometres! So, ships were definitely going to be useful.
But, for now, the most important thing was sapience, and Magical Language... and paper.
And I was going to research sapience... tomorrow morning!
Why not now? Because I wanted to be there and see the lights turning on!
It was a selfish wish, but it was probably the correct one nonetheless as gaining sapience, mid-way through a hunt would be... not so great I’d assume.
Then I guided the much, much more friendly herd towards the capitol with the help of the others, and as the next day rolled around, I called everyone to the village “centre”, which was just an empty plot of land inside the walls, and opened my research tab and—
“Wait.” I said, and quickly turned to Rae.
“How intelligent will they be when they become sapient?”
“...I mean... if we go by the standards of earth, with its 8 billion people, all of their IQ will be around 90-100 as that is what is normal for humans. But why ask?”
“I didn’t mean IQ! Like... will I have to teach them sex ed and such? Or will they know it by themselves? Because I am not having that conversation with 100 adults.
“I am just not.”
“...I’ll just... download it into their brains.”
“...While you are doing that, can you give them all knowledge on how to make a modern society from zero?”
“...What? No?”
“Well, I tried.” I said, and turned to look at all the Homunculi who were lined up in front of me, and Rae did the same, and I just assumed that she had finished downloading information into the brains of the others and clicked the research and watched as 2 new researches appeared.
Emperor Skill Grant Title – Allows you to grant titles and fiefs to individuals that’ve caught your eye. The titles range from basic noble titles, like Mayor and Knight, to more advanced ones, such as Duke and grand duke, and, if you are feeling spicy, king and queen. The titles have requirements that need to be met to be granted, but also provide boons upon those who have them.
Titles can be passed down to only 1 blood related heir, if there are no blood related heirs, the title will not be passed down to anyone. – Costs 3 Research Points
Emperor Skill Grant Knowledge – Allows you to grant knowledge to Homunculi at the cost of Mana Stones, and organic matter. The cost of the skill increases with the amount, type, and the level of knowledge you want to grant. – Costs 5 Research Points
But I ignored them for now and watched as everyone gained sapience and... nothing happened.
Nothing really changed about how they acted, and people just stood there looking at me.
And that continued for a few minutes until someone raised their hand and started talking.
“Erm... your majesty, can we... start our day now?” Asked one of the lumberjacks and, while I was really happy that they were “sapient” now or whatever, I found their reaction... or lack there of to it... weird.
“Umm... do none of you have any questions about your newfound sapience?” I asked to no one in particular, and everyone broke out to talking, and I could not understand anything.
“Hey hey hey! One at a time, please!” I then yelled out to no one in particular again, and everyone went quiet again, until a woman stepped forward, cleaned her throat and started talking.
“Ahem... Your majesty, we are all grateful for your care towards us, but the Goddess has blessed us with knowledge of what is going on. So, we—or at least I personally just feel like I’ve always had sapience but have just... never used it.” She said, and then went back to where she was standing and I just... looked at everyone.
“So... no one has any questions for me?” I just asked, not really hoping to get any actual questions.
“Oh, me!” Yelled out a farmer from the back, and I told him to ask away.
“Who will be taking care of the animals you brought your majesty? And can I pet the kittens?”
“Well... I’ll be taking care of them for now, until next spring that is. And yes, you can come and pet them when you are free. Just don’t be too rough with them.” I told him, and he just went back to his place, and after a few moments I dismissed them, and everyone left to go get started on their day... well, everyone other than Jonathan who actually came to me to give me a bro fist before going away.