The midday sun had barely moved at all by the time I had made it back to the village of Yuvoghen. After all the walking speed of someone my size must be at least one hundred miles per hour if not more. To me the distance between Doovlin and Yuvoghen was just a walk of a couple hours, and since I had already been halfway there going the rest of the distance was trivial.

When I finally walked up to the edge of the village there was already a crowd gathered to greet me. The footsteps of the approaching goddess were impossible to miss, leading to these new converts to be very interested in what she was up to. It feels so bizarre calling them converts as if I was anything special as a goddess. That's how it was though so that's how its going to be. Helping them in a major way would be the best first step to cement that dedication to their new deity. It was nice though to be back here and finally be dressed in actual clothing with shoes on my feet. Certainly made me more presentable.

Looking around the village it was obvious that they too had lackluster defenses, probably relying heavily on the mage family for their defense needs. To their credit there was a simple wooden wall around parts of the village and a couple wooden guard towers. Probably the best improvements to start out with would be a moat and more wooden walls. I'll start there but run it past them first.

I came to a stop just a few steps away from the crowd and put my hands to my sides in the most neutral posture feasible.

"Hello my little worshipers." I said looking down at them. "How has it been since I've left?"

One of the men in the crowd steps forward, poorly dressed as almost of all of them were, and clears his throat before shouting up at me.

"Oh great goddess Jenna! We're thankful you returned to our village!"

I raised my left hand and waved it. "No need to shout. I can hear you just fine with normal talking."

He looked surprised and turned around to check the rest of the villager's reactions. They were surprised too of course and an older woman spoke up this time in a normal speaking voice.

"Is that true goddess?"

"Yes it is." I replied letting out a small sigh.

The man spoke up again. "W-Well what can we do for you today oh goddess?"

As his reply I simply walked around the village halfway to where the east side faced the forest that led off into the plains. Then after stopping I turned with a quick twist on my heels to face the crowd and village again.

"Today your goddess is going to do something for you actually. I've noticed your little wooden wall and have decided to make you a moat as well to go around the village and aid in its defense."

There were murmurs as they all spoke to each other and questioned if I was serious about this. They just couldn't believe the little girl towering over them was going to do something so drastic out of kindness, seemingly not factoring my previous behavior into the equation.

"Shouldn't we ask the mages?" Someone called out.

After crossing my arms over my chest I let out a short huff. "I don't happen to care what they think about this. As a goddess I sort of outrank them see? I can do pretty much whatever I want around here. Does anyone dislike that?"

There was a cheer from the gathered villagers and fists pumped into the air. No one had any complaints for me and were on my side for whatever renovations their goddess wanted to do. This was both expected and disappointing. They would of course side with whoever offered to overthrow their previous rulers, though as it often went they did so oblivious to the dangers of a untested new ruler.

I took my arms off my chest and raised my hands to settle them down.

"Well I'll go about digging that moat then guys. You just go about your day and don't mind me ok?"

Various villagers voiced their validation and the crowd for the most part dispersed. There was a few people that wanted to stand around and watch what the goddess was going to do and I had no reason to send them away. So began my task.

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It hadn't taken more then twenty minutes for me to figure out a decent digging method. At first I had just crouched down and tried digging into the earth with my bare hands which was definitely a silly idea. There weren't any shovels my size and I mean what was I supposed to do? Make one? Nah didn't seem like something I wanted to do at the moment.

What ended up being my solution was to find a large boulder as close to my fist in size as possible and using magic to morph it into a little hand scoop. This was what the humans did before tools were invented of course. After that I would just treat the whole thing like gardening, setting down on the ground and using my little hand trowel to dig a trench.

It didn't have to be very deep at all. Just digging it to the depth of my fingers was already much taller than the height of a fully grown man and was more than enough for a good medieval moat. Filling it water wasn't on my to do list but most moats weren't filled with water from what I remember anyway. Also no alligators. Or sharks.

Why not just use earth magic and do the whole thing and more in less than a few seconds one might ask? Well I have an answer for that. Using magic uses mana, and if grabbing a rock and digging with my hands can be done in less than an hour and save me mana then I'm going to just do that. Besides it gave me time to chat a little bit with some of the villagers.

The few that did approach me just wanted to ask the expected stuff: What does a goddess do when she's not around humans? How am I so big? Do I know how to do X miracle? For the most part I just rolled with it and answered the best I could without giving too much away. The moat digging went by pretty quickly with this. One of the villagers though brought up the issue of them crossing and prompted me to send some men to start building a bridge.

While sitting on the ground on my butt and digging out this trench I noticed something very interesting. The villagers weren't the only ones watching me. It should have been more expected but there was a member of the mage family watching me from behind or between buildings. They were trying to stay hidden but didn't run and hide if I looked at them or anything. It was the son with the simpler staff and of course his dark brown cloak.

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It was getting pretty tiring to have someone starting at me and thinking they could get away with it. Using my right hand I waved away the couple villagers talking to me to dismiss them and turned my torso to face the mage.

"Hey wizard man. You just gunna stand there staring or what? That's rude you know."

The young man jumped in surprise when I looked at him and addressed him directly. He pointed to himself in half shock and confusion.

"Yes you. Why don't you come over here?"

Using my little rock shovel I waved him over.

He didn't really have a choice to refuse me as he was dealing with a literal goddess here. With clear reluctance and a hint of fear the mage walked over to where I was sitting. He was sure to keep quite a distance, at least three hundred feet.

"You can come closer." I said trying to not sound intimidating. "Let's not pretend you can get away."

After thinking about it for only a moment he realized it was true and walked up to about a hundred feet away from where I was sitting.

"Much better. Sent to spy on me were you boy?"

He cleared his throat and stammered a bit before getting his words out clearly. His voice after that was very firm as he was putting on an air of confidence and I doubt it was all an act which was impressive to say the very least.

"T-To call it spying is uncouth. We Nimelly's regularly visit the village to keep an eye on the goings ons within it.

"So you spy on the villagers too then?"

He scoffed clearly on the defense. "We do not spy!"

This was getting to be more confrontational then I wanted it to be. I'd have to change the direction of the conversation.

"What was your name again?"

This seemed to work as he puffed up his chest and held himself in a more dignified manner.

"My name is Urthir. Heir of the Nimelly family."

I had arranged myself to be sitting with one leg out and knee lifted into the air. This let me rest my arm on my thigh and lean into my leg to rest, the stone shovel dangling from my hand.

"Well its nice to meet you officially Mr Urthir. Did you need anything from the goddess?"

He was quite taken aback by this response from me as he clearly saw me as an enemy. You could see the suspicion in his face as he looked up at me and then to the various villagers in the immediate area. Looking back up at me he struggled to keep up his confidence as he replied.

"Firstly I'd like to know what you're doing."

Deciding to be a bit cheeky I look to the stone in my hand and then down at the moat. After that I look back at him with an innocent face.

"Digging a moat? What does it look like?"

With a sigh he walked a bit closer to me and parallel to me in order to get a better view of the moat. My response had caught him off guard which was the intent.

"I can see you're digging a moat goddess. What I'm asking is why you're using a stone instead of just using magic to do it."

"What are you? Operational health and safety?" I asked in mock exasperation. "Can't a girl have a little fun in the dirt?"

He looked up at me with confusion and seemed to think for a bit. Then to my surprise a knowing smile came out on his face.

"You're not associated with the earth element then."

What was he talking about standing there with such a smug look on his face? Associated with the earth element? The elemental nature of magic shouldn't be a limiting factor on who can use it much less for a goddess. I can remember that specialties exist but a world that people are born with only aptitude in certain elements is stupid! There could be worlds out there though according to my limited memories though.

Time to react with my own confidence to throw him off again.

"You so sure about that?" I asked with a smirk.

Urthir's own confidence didn't fade as he walked in a small semi-circle using his staff as a walking stick of sorts.

"Well considering what you announced yourself as the other day one of your elemental associations is light, and as its rare for even goddesses to be be aligned with more than a couple elements, that one left for you is unknown."

He looked at the stone in my hand and smiled again as if he had figured out some kind of mystery that gave him an advantage over me. That pissed me off to no end and as my smile turned into a frown he held up his hands.

"Now goddess there's no reason to be angry. Its just a simple fact that if you were of the earth element you would have absolutely no reason to be digging around in the dirt with a rock. Its still silly to imagine a goddess digging a moat for a village of humans in the first place but yet here you are!"

What kind of punk did this guy think he was? He was really getting me riled up and he shouldn't be. I'll show him what earth magic looks like! Though if he thinks I cant do earth magic I shouldn't show him that. A goddess being limited to only two or maybe three elements? That's clearly false because I can use any element I want! But if he and hopefully his whole family don't know this then that's definitely an advantage for me. There aren't any other goddesses around to test this theory on but at least this limit doesn't apply to me.

I let out a long sigh.

"So what? You want me to show off my magic or something so you can find out what my other element is? Why don't you show off your own magic first little human."

Urthir had lowered his arms and put one of his hands on his side while holding his staff in the other hand.

"That would be a waste of mana and I have no reason to show off to you."

"Oh. So you think I should just waste my own mana then showing off to you?"

"Waste mana?" He said appalled. "You have an infinite amount!"

"Is that how you think it works..."

Realizing I had said that last part made me shut my mouth instantly. My bad habit of thinking out loud might have just bit me in the ass. The last thing I needed was to give him any ideas about how things really worked. It was better for him to remain ignorant of any limits I may or may not have.

Thankfully he seemed to not catch that last part as he was still offended by what he perceived as me flaunting my power. He was a bit pissed off actually.

"There's that arrogance goddesses are known for! You mock us humans while sitting there daring to say you have these villagers best interests at heart!"

He seemed to be ranting and I wasn't going to interrupt him if it distracted him.

"You goddesses are all the same truly! Self centered and abusive to your cores! I only wish that I was stronger so I could protect this village from your influence."

I lowered my knee and pulled my legs into a cross-legged sitting position, carefully turning myself to face him and properly loom over him.

"You don't seem like the type to speak that way to a goddess without some method of escape. Got a teleporting spell up your sleeve or something?"

The color in Urthir's face started to drain away as he realized the situation he had put himself into and he probably assumed I would hold a grudge like all goddesses supposedly did. He obviously did have teleportation as an escape but he wasn't using it yet for some reason, though he was quickly backing away from me.

"What kind of family are you mages?" I asked him in the most even tone I could muster. "Do you really think I don't know what people pray about you? You and your family?"

This seemed to be the final trigger for his flight or fight. He spun around and starting running away from me into the village and to their credit none of the villagers made any attempts to stop him. It was almost a full panicked sprint but his staff and heavy cloak kept him from going full speed.

There wasn't any reason to chase after him even if I wanted to. He would just teleport away. So instead I stayed sitting down and put both my hands in my lap, just watching him run away with his tail between his legs.

After he was gone the villagers cheered and many of them came over to bow and thank me for chasing him away. Their worship was appreciated but I didn't want them to see the mages as an enemy. If everything went according to my preferred outcome we would all be able to live together in peace, though realistically that's not always a possibility.

So with the heir of the Nimelly family fleeing back to his tower there was little to worry about at least at the moment. So for now I'll go back to my moat digging and wall building and let mages be mages.