The village bustled even without the usual troublemakers.

Instead of the regular passengers, the children from the beastfolk settlement, Omerta's Iron Centaur Express brought over two dozen volunteers to kick things off. Fenna made a big return too, the fox girl inspected the recently finished buildings with a serious face.

"Lambert, where is everyone?" She asked me soon enough, even though the main square was already busy with the usual training. I had to assume by everyone she meant the magicians who left to conquer the dungeon, and this reminded me just how long she's been away.

"Your magic stone stirred things up, so now they are hunting for dungeon cores." I summed up, and her eyes widened. Her fluffy orange tail dropped and even the fox ears settled down as she pondered, so I attempted to cheer her up. "I mean they were excited to learn such things even existed and every witch and shaman in Nateaser wanted one."

"I didn't think it would cause trouble." She shook her head, and I desperately wrecked my brain to undo the damage my careless words caused to her. I had to remind myself she wasn't as young as she looked, but nobody could walk past a sad face like that. The right thing just crossed my mind.

"Nati finally learned to cast magic thanks to your gift, and they even made wizard staffs for themselves," I claimed with a cheerful voice, which got her attention. "The Black Cat made her staff from a cherry seed in a fraction of the time it took the witches to do so."

"Oh, that is good to hear. So it's not all just trouble then." The corners of her mouth finally raised a bit, but her mood suddenly changed. "So what have I missed? The village barely changed, and I have been away for quite a while now. Things break down the moment I'm gone?"

This was much more like her, and I felt better, even if she didn't notice that I had returned. Or maybe she didn't remember I got kidnapped in the first place? I didn't want to bring that up anyway, so I remained silent and followed her on her inspection.

"The inn and the first apartment are done at least, but what other projects happened in the last two weeks?" She asked like she owned the place, and I did my best to showcase the progress in the village.

"As you can see the new golems work tirelessly on two more apartments, each easily capable of housing fifty people, but the population is nearly three hundred now, so there is a lot more to do." I started, but she didn't seem impressed.

"Only three hundred? So things did slow down after that attack." She noted, that even though the village grew six times its size in less than two months. "Do the lizardmen cause issues to you?"

"I haven't seen a single one, but I'm not allowed to leave the settlement," I admitted, nodding towards the hunters on the main square. "They managed to hunt down or chase away quite a few of them though, and news from the nearby tribes seemed reassuring too."

"Good, my beastfolk finished reinforcing the walls around our settlement too, so the volunteers could return to help with the work in Nateaser, but we'll use that orc witch's Centaur Express and return home every day." She reported as we walked around the embassy.

"That one behind the bathhouse is the new smithy and next to it will be a bakery. Gomel returned home to grab some extra tools and plans to build a large foundry, while the captured knights agreed to bake us bread and teach the locals how to make them." I pointed at the newest construction projects. "I oversaw the harvest of the rice paddy and we traded for some grain, so a temporary silo was erected until the warehouse and marketplace finished. And there are new stables behind the inn too."

"Oh, there is more than what meets the eye after all." Fenna nodded, finally satisfied. "So when will the conference begin?"

"Conference?" I asked confused, but a moment later the Goddess of Luck materialized in front of us with all her plain white glory.

"Fenna, good to see you're back." She greeted the fox girl without delay and nodded towards me as well. "Did I miss anything? Is everyone here now? If so, we might as well start."

"S-start what?" I had a bad feeling and noticed that the village chieftain, the two captains of the Demon Lord, and even some merchants and neighboring tribe leaders gathered in front of the embassy.

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"The Second Nateaser Conference of course," Fenna noted as if it was obvious. "Why did you think I came here with haste?"

Surely enough, everyone entered the meeting room, with me in tow, and once the initial chatter died down, the Goddess officially opened the event. She floated over a large oval table as usual, with the representatives of the area seated around her. I was the only human in attendance, but they dragged me around regardless.

"So it seems the humans want war and they chased away our envoys after the previous conference," Alexandra stated and nodded towards the captains on the left side of the table. "What are your Demon Lord's plans?"

"He assembled an army to fight the lizardfolk after my reports reached him, and from the answers I also learned that Dioneras finally returned, earning himself a promotion." Gorgon, the horned beastman stood to explain the situation. "He is not yet aware of your presence, but I'd rather not keep this a secret for too long, otherwise it might be considered treason. Dioneras didn't inform him either."

"I will be honest with you, I don't trust Alpha at the moment, but if you could guarantee that he respects our neutrality, I wouldn't mind if he learned about me." The Goddess nodded, staring at me next. A cold shiver ran down my spine even before she continued. "Lambert, what about the Elder and the Inquisitorias?"

I should have known, this was the reason they dragged me along.

"T-the Inquisitorias... Is no more." I stood up and bowed my head. I was their only source of information who returned from Sanctuary after all, being the Elder's captive for a while, and conversing with the captured knights in Nateaser, I got a relatively clear picture of the events that went down in Nordhaben. "The Elder sent the Princess, the Captain of the Guard, and me away on that fated mission on purpose. While we were away, she schemed with the King and took over the entire Church."

"That could be a problem." Alexandra pondered, surprising me. "If the Inquisitorias ceased to exist, who will enforce the pact?"

"You're asking that of all people?" Charlotte the village chieftain laughed, slamming the table in front of her. "Until now they seemed to be your greatest enemies since you are a breach in that pact."

"I can't argue with that, but the pact was made to prevent deities from fighting amongst themselves on this continent. Who would I fight, if I'm alone here?" The Goddess made a good point. "Not to mention, if she took down the Inquisitorias herself, that can only mean she wants other gods to return. Lambert, could you tell me what her plans are?"

"I um, I was her captive, not her advisor, you know." I protested, but it was more out of stage fright than lacking answers. "The only thing I learned is that she used undead and my power to cultivate vast areas of lands to feed the people of Sanctuary and that she has some control over a few lizardmen tribes, but not over the entire race as a whole."

"The only thing, he says. You should have told us sooner." The horned beastmen grumbled, then whispered something to the goblin captain next to him. He requested the right to talk again. "I can't guarantee an answer from the Demon Lord, but we have no reason to be hostile towards the Neutral League. He gathered an army to fight off the lizard invaders, thinking the entire race was under the influence of the Elder. I'll have to alert him, that this isn't the case."

"She's a necromancer that manipulates other races into being her pawns, but then she spends most of her time growing grains, and even kidnaps you to aid in her plans." The Goddess pondered again, staring a hole into my chest. "How bad is the situation in Sanctuary?"

"Y-you mean... What situation exactly?" I asked cluelessly.

"Are the people starving?" Alexandra must have seen a bigger picture, but the cogwheels in my brain turned slowly.

"They are, as far as I'm aware, but I wasn't in the city for nearly two months. All I heard was coming from the Elder or her right-hand man, and they wouldn’t fill me in." I claimed, but thinking about it for a while longer, I remembered something. "There was a food shortage in the slums and trade ceased outside the country. She also said that the nobles did not cultivate their lands, and she needed my magic. But I was confused, since she isn't any kind of charitable person, and was always hated both within the Church and the people."

"And instead of giving work to the refugees, she used reanimated corpses on those fields." The Goddess repeated, and her eyes lit up. "She wants to perform a miracle. Or at least make it look like one to win over the masses. It all makes sense now, that's why she removed the Princess, and the only person that can banish a deity. She even disbanded the whole Inquisitorias and took over the Church. She wants to become a saint."

"We need to burn down those fields if it's not too late yet," Gorgon jumped up, slamming the table with both fists. Alexandra waved him off though, surprising me once more after her deduction.

"Hundreds of thousands might starve during the winter if we do that, it would be too high of a price to pay." The Goddess shook her head. "She's a smart woman, using such underhanded tactics, but simultaneously she does good to the humans. Let her become a saint then."

"At least let me warn the Demon Lord. She led us by our noses longer than I'd like to admit." Gorgon almost begged our deity at this point, and she finally nodded. The captain ran off to write a message.

"This doesn't look good, but I'd rather be the anvil between two hammers, than responsible for the starvation," Alexandra claimed as the beastman left the conference. "As for the future, Nati and the other witches will soon return stronger, so we'll be more than a match for a saint. And even if the Demon Lord learned about me, he doesn't know about Gitaut.

"The witches serve Alpha." The goblin captain noted. "And so do I."