The world inside the goddess domain was filled with calm. All of the troubles of the outside world were unable to reach me when secluded inside my literal own little world. There was no sun to shine in this self contained castle yet the light created by my domain simulated something that was almost the same and might actually be depending how you defined it.

For the last day or so I had been in here studying my memories with the help of Miya as a second pair of eyes was greatly helpful. Sub-chan wasn't either able or willing to assist me in going through my memories. The subject of our search was in regards to steam power and engines which was what the iron I had collected was for.

At the moment I was in my body playing with the iron on the floor of my room like a child would play with clay, my massive hands easily able to manipulate large amounts of it with the help of fire magic. Miya was meanwhile communicating with me with more specifics while looking directly at my memories herself.

Miya was currently looking at playback memory on the workings of pistons.

"Yes that's how it looks to me too Jenna."

I had just finished forming a metallic arm and had placed it on a gear, having to shrink down to human size in order to attach it precisely. Even though I could see my memories too it was helpful to have someone directly looking at it on the inside to describe it.

"Thanks Miya." I said stepping back from the piece. "I think I'll turn it on now."

Miya moved inside the goddess zone to watch the monitor that displayed what I was seeing.

"Ok. Just be careful please!"

I sighed. "I will."

It wasn't like a little steam or fire would actually hurt me but it was nice of her to be worried at all. The worst that could happen is the boiler exploding, but as a goddess I didn't have to worry about that either. Learning how to make a proper boiler was something that humans had to learn through many such accidents and deaths.

The boiler I had created was probably six feet tall and four across. Not the biggest in the world but enough for my current experiments. There were lots of valves for steam release and pipes attached to it that led to the chamber the current arm mechanism was on. Underneath was the fire that heated the water up which I could reignite with magic whenever I needed more steam.

With my left hand I let out a burst of flame beneath the boiler to start ramping up the temperature, the thermostat on the side giving me a display of the pressure and heat inside. As the pressure began to climb little spurts of steam started leaking out the overflow valves which kept an explosion from going off.

Miya suddenly interrupted.

"Sorry to interrupt but Sub-chan is sending you up something."

A notification appeared in the corner of my eye. It was a small collection of prayers that were coming in, the subject of which were a bit concerning. They were wishes for the death of the king. Now this itself wasn't too surprising as I'd been getting such prayers here and there since I'd announced myself to the kingdom. However these were asking that the next person who attempted to assassinate the king would succeed.

Someone had tried to assassinate the king? Recently? I went down into the goddess zone and joined Miya and Sub-chan. Of course my double was still sitting behind the desk not really interested in what was going on while Miya was standing by the map of the kingdom.

"What's going on here?" I asked as I went over to the map.

Miya was already watching the indicators on the map where the prayers were coming from. They were all in the capital city Norlov which made sense as that's where the king was. The map was already moving to the city and soon displayed it in greater detail to the two of us.

"Someone tried to kill the king?" Miya asked confused. She then turned to me. "Is that bad or good? It's good right since you'd be a better ruler?"

I shook my head and sighed softly.

"Not really. Ruling an entire kingdom would really be a pain in the ass. Besides people need a leader they can see and feel is like them. That's why I didn't take over and displace the king when I first showed up."

Miya smiled and turned back to the map. "I still think you'd do better. Oh look!"

She pointed to a new prayer that had just popped up. Of course I'd been made aware of it before she'd seen it but I didn't point it out to her. It was coming from someone who was begging me to come and save them from being killed. Asking me what they did wrong.

With the zoom and enhance feature the map took me to the central square of the city where a gallows had either been recently erected or had been there already. There was a crowd of people gathered around it as there was a public execution taking place. Even the king and his wife were there on a tall observation booth. Lots of city guard were standing around too.

The prayer was coming from the man currently being led up to the hanging noose by a pair of guards. He was dressed like a well off peasant and his short birch hair was pretty messed up. Obviously he had been through a bit of beating from being caught. Had I heard a prayer from him recently? Maybe he'd been knocked out after being caught and they took him straight here.

I turned to Miya and she gave me a confused and concerned look.

"I'm gunna take this."

After telling her that she seemed to relax some. I then went back up into my body and opened a portal to the location. My body was already human sized so I didn't need to shrink and showing up goddess size was a bad idea with such a large crowd. With a frown of concentration I whisked myself away and to the capital.

As I arrived I made sure to appear on the platform of the gallows, my dainty legs appearing first and floating to the surface as the rest of me slipped through the portal until my entire body had manifested. The magic circle dissolved away as I touched ground and stood up straight.

Everyone in the crowed let out a collective gasp of surprise as they saw me appear with some of them having to ask who I was. Not everyone had seen me yet but once everyone knew who I was the question became why I was here. Many thought I was here to kill the king myself, others thought I was here to watch the execution myself. Such is the nature of mortals to guess the thoughts of their gods.

None were more surprised than the king Alphonse. He stood up in his observation booth and shouted angrily down to where I stood.

"What the hell? What are you doing here?"

Of course by now the prisoner had been made aware of my presence due to the commotion. The bag on his head had just recently been removed and he had kept his head down in despair. But after looking up and seeing me he suddenly was filled with joy.

"Great goddess! You've come to save me! Oh thank you for showing mercy to your servant!"

I looked him over and then turned to the men standing by the guards on the platform.

"What's going on here?"

One of the men was dressed in more official looking attire and was obviously the judge here to pass out the punishment. He stepped forward and began nervously stammering at me.

"W-Well g-goddess he st-stand-"

With a sigh I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"Just spit it out! Don't blabber at me."

It was Alphonse who stood up and responded instead. He angrily shouted while pointing his finger at the man with the noose around his neck.

"This man tried to poison me only hours ago! He was caught in the act and confessed himself! His execution was arranged immediately for his crimes against the crown and the kingdom!"

The man looked at me pleadingly, his eyes full of both sorrow and hope. It was clear he was quite dedicated to me and loved me dearly. It was almost off putting how devoted he was and I wasn't sure why he would be. His voice was trembling in awe of me more than fear of his impending death.

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"My goddess. I did it for you! The king is your enemy and I wanted to help you by removing him!"

My arms remained crossed but slid down from my chest to my stomach. As I looked the man over the crowd remained silent, waiting on baited breath for my response. Even the king was quiet as if he was worried I'd kill him myself any moment. This man before me was hopelessly devoted to me, the kind of religious fervor that caused people to commit atrocities. In my old life I remembered groups doing the same in the name of their gods.

The father I knew however was one of love and I wished to be follow by his example. There were times that evil people had to be excised from the world of course, but attempting to do so without asking me first? This man was a loose cannon and deserved to be punished for his attempted murder. But as he did it with such genuine good intentions it'd be wrong of me to abandon him entirely.

"Whats your name?" I finally asked.

The man gulped and looked at my frowning face with great fear in his heart. He probably was trying to figure out what I was going to do with him. He was standing here close to death with everyone watching him intently.

"M-My name is Vance goddess..."

"What are you going to do goddess?" Miya asked me with concern in her voice.

"Give me a moment" I thought back to her.

My accelerated mind allowed me to do a lot of thinking in the span of a few seconds. For the people around me those few seconds felt like an eternity as they awaited on baited breath for my response. This was really going to be a moment I showed my true colors. What kind of goddess I actually was.

Finally I glanced up at Alphonse and then back at the man Vance before me. My expression remained serious.

"The road to hell is paved in good intentions. Your love for me has caused you to commit a wrong I didn't ask of you. How do you think that makes me feel Vance?"

Vance gulped and averted his eyes, looking down at the trapdoor beneath him as despair started to flow into his heart.

"I'm sorry goddess. I thought its what you wanted."

I sighed and dropped my arms to my side.

"I don't need your help to take care of my enemies. I can't save you from your punishment either." I then looked up to where the king was sitting. "What say you? Do you forgive him and spare him?"

Alphonse of course was furious and shook his fist.

"He deserves to hang! How dare you interrupt justice being served!"

After shaking my head I looked over to the executioner by the release lever and gave him a nod. I then turned to face the crowd and closed my eyes, turning my back on Vance.

He hunched his body limp as the despair overtook him. Tears flowed down his face.

"Please forgive me goddess..."

The man at the lever pulled it with a wooden chunk and the platform dropped out from below the hanged man. In the instant he dropped however the rope suddenly snapped. In fact a thin slice of air and whipped out faster than the eye could follow and cut the rope, my left index finger suddenly extended as I finished flicking the air.

Vance landed and crumpled into a heap the five or so feet below the platform, his arms and legs tied up still but otherwise unharmed. The landing did knock the wind out of him though and he lay there in shock unsure how to process what just happened.

I turned around and put my right hand on my hip as I kept my left lifted up at my chest. The crowd around me was suddenly thrown into confusion as no one knew what was going on with the guards trying to keep them calm. None were as surprised as the executioner and the judge though.

Alphonse shouted angrily from his stand.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Ignoring everyone I walked to the now open trapdoor and looked down at the man below. He looked back up at me with awe and confusion in his eyes, neither terror nor joy on his face.

"My father Elohim is the one who created the soul and is the only one who can truly save it. He is the one you need to beg forgiveness to. All I can do is grant you forgiveness in this life. You will still face punishment for your crime and I hope you'll think twice before attempting murder again. Your love for me is better suited improving the lives of others instead of taking them."

He began weeping in both relief and joy. This was a second chance and he seemed to understand his mistake. Love is a powerful thing, the most powerful emotion in fact. It leads people to do both great and terrible things. After his punishment is finished I'd have to put him to good use in a positive way. Speaking of his punishment.

I walked to the edge of the platform and looked up to where the king was standing. The shock of what had happened now settled in his became irate again. I silenced him with a vine that sprung up and tied his mouth shut leaving him to mumble.

"I've altered this man's judgment. Instead of execution he'll be imprisoned for three years. His attempt of regicide did ultimately fail and his intentions were for good as he imagined."

This brought the crowd to settle down and made Alphonse calm down enough to at least listen. He was seething with rage still of course as I continued.

"Ultimately this falls as my responsibility. He did this crime in my name so I've corrected his thinking. I know you'll not be happy with my decision but the best I can do for you is promise to keep a better eye on my followers. We'll probably never see eye to eye and you'll probably always see me as your enemy. I'm not happy to do this but in exchange for this man's good treatment doing imprisonment I'll offer the crowd a boon. As long as the crown treats my worshipers with respect I'll give my blessing to the royal family."

The vine around Alphonse's mouth fell away and he sputtered down at me in bafflement more than anger now.

"The G-Goddess should have always offered protection to the crown! Why should this man be allowed to live? How soon before another one of your insane followers comes to kill me? You should kill him yourself if you're so inclined to admit his crime is serious! He doesn't deserve a second chance!"

I let out another sigh and tapped my left foot a few times, my hands both now on my hips as I shook my head. He was right in many ways, I was giving this man special treatment because he worshiped me. However making a positive example with him would be better in the long run I think. My intentions with the king were never made crystal clear and having someone who tried to kill the king and be spared be the one going around telling people to take the non-violent approach would be even more effective than me just saying it.

"I understand how you feel Alphonse." I replied, surprising even the king in using his real name. "However I'm a loving goddess and decided he does get a second chance. I could punish you for your many crimes but I'm not. Do you really feel yourself without sin Alphonse?"

This made the king gulp and take a step back. Some beads of sweat were forming on his forehead and he seemed to suddenly be very nervous.

"There you have it" I said with a nod and a sly smile. "You clearly understand that attempts on your life don't have to be linked to me at all. There are plenty of people out there willing to take a shot at you. Accept my judgment in this matter and take heart that should you follow through on my offer my blessing with in fact protect you from your enemies."

I raised both my arms in an exaggerated shrug.

"The protection of a goddess! What more could a king want?"

Alphonse swallowed his pride and adjusted himself to stand up taller. He understood the trap he was put into but had no choice but to accept my offer. This was checkmate for him and would address the mistreatment of my worshipers that's been going on for so long. The persecution would end he would gain some manner of protection against the many attempts on his life that would happen in the future. Even he wasn't too stupid to figure out that this was the first of many assassination attempts to come and it wasn't the first he'd experienced either.

"Very well." He said trying to save face. "I accept your offer Goddess Jenna. Guards see to it this man is imprisoned and treated well."

There was a round of applause from the crowd gathered around us. It seemed they approved of my merciful approach and liked the idea of the king and the goddess getting along. In their eyes this was a bright new age for their kingdom.

The guards who had escorted Vance up to the platform now went down underneath it to collect him. He was sobbing and thanking both me and my father for his salvation, for him getting a second chance. He was pledging his undying loyalty and love to me and that he'd only do what I asked of him in the future.

As he was being escorted away I let out of a small sigh of relief myself. This had been a complicated political situation and I hadn't been sure I'd be able to handle it. Thankfully I had made it through and my own nerves were standing to calm down. I walked down the stairs of the platform and out of sight of the crowd. The guards seem to be looking at me with a mixture of reactions. Some appear to like what I did but others clearly disapproved.

Such mixed approval ratings were part of being a leader and affect me just as it would any human like their king for example. I'm not going to worry too much about it. What this situation established was my mercy, good or at least passable relations with their government, and the fact I didn't condone violence as a means to an end. Also critically it settled once and for all that I didn't want people acting in my name without consulting me first and meant I condone or reject people's actions from here out with much more believably.

Once I opened a portal back to my castle I gave the guards a solemn nod, continuing with my decision to ignore the crowd. When I landed in my castle I sighed deeply and grew back to my goddess size and slumped against the wall. The exhaustion from my nerves being on end for so long finally getting to me.

"Are you sure that was the best decision?" Miya asked inside me. "I know your a goddess but... Are you ok?"

Miya questioning my decisions was normally something I wouldn't tolerate from a human but she was a special case. At this point she was basically my secondary conscious and I didn't actually mind that. She brought a perspective that I've lost touch with now that I'm so powerful: the human perspective.

I let out another deep sigh and tried to relax my shaky limbs. That whole ordeal was much more stressful than I expected it to be.

"Yeah... I'm fine. I've never been good with crowds or politics... There really wasn't another choice for me there. If I didn't do anything I'd be abandoning my worshipers but if I let him off completely I'd be showing I approve of evil acts. I'm just thankful I could come up with something reasonable on the spot and people accepted it." I ran my left hand through my hair. "Ugh! This is why I hate dealing with people!"

Miya's voice had a gentle smile to it and seemed to be trying to comfort me.

"I think you did a good job Jenna. I'm happy we have such a kind and good goddess. This can't be easy for you I understand. I can't imagine having to deal with all this myself."

Her reassurance while nice ultimately was only a reminder of the weight of responsibility on my shoulders. People wanted me to be prefect, expected me to be perfect. Even though I was a goddess I was still a person, I remembered being just a person. Even the gods of the pantheons I remember committed mistakes and atrocities as any human would. I'm not perfect. The only perfect one is the creator of all the universe and the dimensions between. Truly my father is the only one I can ask for strength from and I pray myself that he does give it.