The embassy was complete.

"It has two stories, three meeting rooms, a kitchen, and a dining room. Plus the living quarters." Fenna boasted as if it was built by herself. Well, her beastkin came to volunteer after all. It had solid foundations, the main walls erected from bricks, but they used plenty of wood too. "I'm honored to become your first neighbor."

"I've never seen a building raised this fast, not even back in my world," I admitted, noting the people here didn't use cranes or modern technologies either. Well, they had something much, much better. Magic.

"No other race can beat us when it comes to craftsmanship." Fenna grinned, her fluffy fox ears proudly twitching. While technically I was a beastkin too, her cute features and masterfully crafted robes never ceased to amaze me. She had a few freckles sprinkled across her nose and looked closer to sixteen than sixty. "The furniture will have to come later though, we have so much more to build."

She was the first to move in, living in her fancy tent earlier. Her volunteers erected a separate settlement inside the village itself, and they still didn't have proper housing, but she got us the nicest rooms.

"I'll give you that and humbly thank you for contributing to our village." Charlotte bowed her head ceremoniously. While they didn’t consecrate the building officially, she sure acted formal lately and moved in right next door to me and Fenna, on the same corridor of the first floor. The furniture was indeed missing, but it was incomparable with the old shack. For one, this had a proper wooden floor, and I requested a bed too, no more sleeping on the ground or a few stalks of straw for me.

"The Goddess Alexandra can also take a room when she returns." Fenna swished her orange tail. I sure missed her, even hearing her name made my heart skip a beat. "Lambert and Omerta will have their rooms side by side in the other wing."

"So we have two more for guests..." Charlotte took notes as we explored this fine new establishment. "And I guess the meeting rooms could also house a few people in case of emergencies."

"I hoped we could destroy the old shacks and rebuild them properly too..." The fox girl claimed, looking out the window. I agreed, the new building stood out like a sore thumb.

"We already face a housing crisis and a worker shortage." The chieftain protested. "It would seem irresponsible to demolish old shacks while more than half of the people live in tents. I was shocked to see how many immigrants arrived in the few days since the conference."

"My volunteers didn't complain about their tents. I'll have to request more of them from the village though. If this goes on..." Fenna shrugged as we concluded the inspection. Next to the village's twelve shacks, the beastfolk erected thirty tents last week. "I knew it was the right choice to stay here, this village might become a regional trading hub soon."

"I wouldn't have guessed that the balls will be so popular..." I felt proud of myself. And it wasn't just merchants, from the original fifty orcs, the population grew to almost two hundred by now. Beastkin volunteers, goblin refugees, more orcs, a couple of kobolds, and a halfling too. I wondered how many sentient species even existed in this world...

"We'll have to limit the export on those, and keep the profit to fuel the rapid expansion." Charlotte was very strict about this. "We won't be selling crossbows anytime soon either. Need more people on hunting instead..."

"Except for us, right?" Fenna claimed, bowing her head. "You said tribes with mutual protection pacts will get a limited amount."

"We got our quota, but to be fair, it's all thanks to Omerta's magic," I noted, blushing a little. "I wanted to ensure they are easy to produce, efficient and reliable... But our methods are not there yet."

"The finalized version was impressive. Something so simple and so devastating." Charlotte squeezed my shoulder, and my tail swished on its own. "The smithy will be rebuilt with six more bloomeries and an extra furnace. The blacksmith also hired a few helpers, but I want to keep the know-how within this tribe at all costs."

"We'll need to import ore and charcoal..." Fenna calculated as we walked to inspect the walls. "Wonder if the meat exports will be enough..."

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"Hunters work overtime, but they meet the demand..." The chieftain pondered. "There's no shortage of wild animals at least."

"Once they learn how to use crossbows properly, they'll hunt a lot more," I claimed, yearning for their praise. "With lower risk of injuries, we'll be able to recruit less experienced and weaker hunters too..."

"Nateaser has a serious worker shortage though," Charlotte interjected, instead of the praise I hoped for. "Most of the freshly arrived people got building tasks assigned to them. They prioritize their housing, and who knows how many more will arrive soon?"

"Excuse me, Boss, did you say charcoal and lacking workers?" I heard a weak voice as we walked towards the gate. It came from a kobold that recently arrived. He looked like a goblin with short, pointy ears, but their skin was pale peach, similar to mine, instead of green. "I'm Sarka, and I’d be happy to help you with your charcoal problem."

Charlotte's eyes lit up, and she immediately pulled the small creature to the side. I wanted to join in too, but Fenna grabbed my arm to pull me along. She grinned mischievously. We reached the gate, inspecting the recent changes on the outside.

Lambert established a rice paddy right next to the ditches. They served a dual purpose, further increasing our defensive perimeter, and with his magic, he ensured multiple harvests in a year. Though it seemed odd that he planted in the fall, Omerta praised his proficiency. He utilized goblin refugees in the cultivation, and the orc children took quite a liking to him, helping in his work as we arrived.

I wasn't his fan but admitted, he was an excellent chef. He and Hana kept one-upping each other while they fed the tribe, always busy as the population practically quadrupled in a few days...

"Will this much be enough?" Charlotte pondered. I didn't even notice when she caught up to us. "Lambert's an expert in agriculture, but I don't want to depend on one magician. He might leave or get exhausted..."

"There are also the golems," Fenna noted. I wanted to ask about the charcoal burner but the moment passed already. Some plans started to take shape in my head. "To make ten golems a day is incredible."

Alex got cursed to make even more... The first ten sped up the work around the embassy, but then the blacksmith requested one too, and three more were assigned to transportation. Six to woodcutting, and Tooth, the homunculus looked for a place to establish a stone mine.

According to Lambert, human mages never constructed more than five a day, or they'd risk running out of mana. He made one himself, but it looked crude in comparison. It sounded odd how a wizard specialized in agriculture, and he didn't know any offensive magic other than that banishment he used on me...

"Can Lambert be trusted?" I asked, unable to forgive him. Not even his meals could make me forget. "I often catch him staring at me."

"He's not the only one, you are just popular." Charlotte shrugged it off. "Gitaut preferred to stay away from the village too, but ever since I told him about you, he's all over the place. I kept you a secret for a week."

"I don't understand why people think I'm the Goddess." I rolled my eyes. Indeed, I never had to face this issue in my previous life. Being a gray, everyday teenager with only a few friends and nothing special about me had its benefits. Now that I was in the godly body of a deity, things got way more complicated. "Even after Alex showed up, he still followed me, and I never went to that Magic Academy."

"But you wanted to." Charlotte grinned for the first time in ages. She was way too formal lately. Well, she always was. "Once things calm down, I'm sure the Goddess, Omerta, and Lambert will find the time to teach you. And maybe your way is with Gitaut and the spirits after all."

"I'm fine with the first two..." I quickly stated. "Both Lambert and Gitaut freak me out... And I want to learn proper magic, not begging the spirits for help. Also not interested in agriculture..."

"Hahah, the basics are the same for everything." Charlotte laughed, patting my back. "Omerta and Lambert learned the same thing for the first few years, even if their circumstances differed. Controlling the mana is where the trick is at, once you got that down, you can learn about the nature of the things for what you want to perform your magic."

"Alex said something like that too, but then she talked about the difference between golems and gargoyles, and I still haven't learned anything..." I shook my head. "It all flew over me."

"Even I can tell that golems are an advanced form of magic." She nodded as we walked past the rice paddies. "But they sure are useful... I hate that we use them to build a paved road though..."

"We need them, lady Charlotte," Fenna exclaimed. Indeed, after finishing the embassy and Tooth found stone, the golems were sent to build a road next. "The number of merchants coming here will only increase. We need to deal with the high volume of traffic."

"I know, it's just a shame. It's not my hidden little tribe anymore." The chieftain complained. "And the golems assigned to build the roads at night keep breaking down too. When my master made one, it lasted a decade without issue. We lost two on the first night and three today..."

"Maybe Alex is bad at making them?" I shrugged, thinking about her shell. It was rather basic too, before I reshaped it. "There is also something wrong with the homunculus..."

"I don't think her magic would be the issue," Charlotte said shaking her head. "Maybe they are overworked to the point of falling apart."

"They build and mine day and night, even after everyone else went to sleep." Fenna nodded, fully devoted to the Goddess. "Tooth seems to be working fine too, but it's a bit eerie how much he reminds me of my father... I feel like the naming didn't happen by accident either..."