Caster watched as Sherman stood, a solemn look on his face. Despite having just been blasted with Griffin’s mighty fire and nearly half-dead, he shouted to his fellow villagers.

“Do any more of you dare to doubt? This IS the power of the Elder Gods!” He coughed, a bit of blood landing on his fist as he tried to cover his mouth.

“Father don’t push yourself. You need to see the Apothecary,” Phoebe grabbed his arm.

“The Elder God will not be disturbed once more while I still live.” Sherman gently brushed her hands away.

“We are not worthy!” Someone from the village called.

“Not worthy!” the others cried in agreement.

They don’t seem to get the whole ‘laying low’ concept.

“I know it's hard but, just think of me as a strong Minion, not a God. If word spreads that I’m here, it won't help us! Just call me Minionborn. Actually, it would be better if you just called me Caster, please!” Caster pleaded.

Even ‘Minionborn’ seemed like a bit much. Having any title at all was a dead giveaway. But ‘Caster’ could be the name or literal designation of any magician.

“I do not wish to misspeak, Minionborn, so please excuse my ignorance but…. are you a boy or a girl?”

Eh? I haven’t heard that question since Leaf Green. I guess it’s hard to tell with this body.

“Yes,” Caster nodded.

“The Minionborn – I mean, Caster is not only omniscient and omnipotent but omni-gendered!”

“Hail Caster, the omni-gendered!” The crowd chanted.

“Quit it with the hails already!” Caster groaned.

The crowd was a bit shocked, They murmured in agreement with each other to keep Caster’s request of ‘secrecy,’ no matter how odd it seemed to refer to a supreme being by its first name.

“It feels like heresy, however, we shall call you as you please. Caster, if you would like, I can show you our humble village.”

“Yes please.”

It would be good to know what I’m working with. Maybe there’s something about his village that those knights thought was valuable for attacking over.

“Very well. Everyone, begin filling this crater with the surrounding dirt. We don’t need a trip hazard so close to hour homes.”

The crowd nodded and scattered to their homes to retrieve shoveling tools.

“I’ll try to explain in brief. I’m sure you already understand the dire state of Perdita, so I’ll leave out the details and save you the suffering of listening to my ramblings.”

I have no idea what the state of Perdita is, but sure go on.

“It’s no trouble at all, I’m asking because I wish to hear the way how you and the villagers see it.” Caster stood straight, clasping his hands behind his back, like a dignified official inspecting the land. “No good leader could consider himself as such, without knowing who he leads."

I can barely lead myself to microwave chicken nuggets. What am I saying?!

“Ahh, of course. Such wisdom! I should have known better.” Sherman began leading him past the first rows of shacks that made up the village.

“As I said before, this village is located on the west-most portion of the Fields of Barodd Myr, right next to Buckley’s Woods. At least that’s what Barodd Myr was called before the Great War began. Of course, that was before I was ever born. Now they just call it the Badlands.”

I don’t remember Elenore talking about the ‘Badlands’ before.

“What year is it right now?” Caster asked.

“80th anniversary of the 5th age just passed. So we’re in 80 A.C.”

What year did Elenore say it was? I know she told me before, but I can’t remember. I’ll ask Yohg about it later.

“I first came upon this place as a younger man. Back when Elena was still with us. We found something of great value at this location on accident, something that every City-State would send tens of thousands of men to fight for if they knew about it.”

“That ‘thing’ is why those knights were attacking this place? It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot to attack over. I mean-” Caster's communications skills showed their ugly head once more.

“No, you are correct. This village is as coinless as we were defenseless. However, it is something that the rest of the Badlands would massacre us all for.”

Sherman stopped, then turned to face a very small shack near the center of the village.

Is this an outhouse?

Sherman grabbed the knob, and opened the door, revealing what was inside.

The structure was only waist-high, though for Caster the rim of the stone enclosure went up to his neck.

“This shack was the first building I made in this village. I’m not a great craftsman, but as long as it has four walls and a roof, it gets the job done.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“This is…” Caster trailed off, stepping forward and putting his hands onto the stone formation that made a cylinder.

A well? Caster looked down the never-ending hole. The rope that was attached to the overhanging wooden support beams led down into the darkness below.

“Freshwater is no easy thing to come by. Especially not in the landlocked Badlands. There are only a few locations in the Badlands that can access the water reservoir deep below. No one knows why, but for some reason, this whole place just seems cursed to die of dehydration. Not us though, and that’s what makes this place so special. We’ve kept it secret for as long we could, but I think another group might have caught wind of it somehow. That’s most likely why a City-State like the Blasted Hills would send a detachment to us. Even though it's small, if you hadn’t come, they would have killed us one-by-one until someone spilled the truth.”

“I see,” Caster nodded, stepping out of the well-closet before Sherman closed it.

“And there are other benefits to our location. Since we are on the edge of Buckley’s Wood, we have access to many more food sources than others within the badlands, and Jester’s Wood is not far to the north. We’re far too out of the way for any of the five major City-States to send their major forces if they ever found reason to. Our main issue is individuals like Lord Griffin.”

“Yeah, that guy seemed like a real pain.”

“Indeed. As you can tell from his Title, he is one of the rare Lord-Tier challengers in Perdita. As a Lord, I believe the skill he maxed to achieve such proficiency in fire was Faith, believe it or not. He’s used his flames to kill thousands if not tens of thousands across these lands. Over the years he’s risen as one of the most likely contenders to rule the Badlands, yet even he is not what many would consider in the top five strongest challengers in this region. That was before you arrived to save us from such brutality.”

Not even top five huh? Jeez. Hopefully, the rest of them try to fight me with beam struggles.

Sherman stopped again, this time a few paces in front of one of the village’s larger shacks,

“This is the Apothecary’s office. He can mix many sorts of potions and talismans to prevent deaths. He’s saved the lives of every villager several times. Though, please, do not enter his healing shack. You will find his behavior especially repulsive. He was the only villager that did not pray for us when we were summoning you to save us.”

“Repulsive? Is he some kind of sicko?”

“Yes,” Phoebe spoke up. Caster nearly jumped; he’d completely forgotten the girl was still following behind her father.

“His name is Christian, and he is the worst kind of degenerate. He is an apostate who rejects the sanctity of the Elder Gods.” Despite the twinkling in her eyes, Phoebe’s expression betrayed them with a furious grimace.

Only now did Caster realize that she wasn’t looking anywhere again, only blankly she stared ahead of her.

Do her eyes not have a color? No… they’re every color? No! She doesn’t have eyes!

Caster realized, shocking him out of his short trance. Below Phoebe’s bowl of short blond hair was ‘eyes’ that gently reflected all that saw. The colors were contorted, and glowed in contrast, like two puddles of glistening oil.

I can’t decide if she’s terrifying or cute.

“Hey there, Mr. God,” the group turned as the voice of a young man came from around the dirt street between the houses.

“Ahh, this is Abel. He’s the village’s child. I’ve tried my best to keep him from danger, but at this point, he’s gotten into so many fights he’s even stronger than me in combat! He’s brighter than he seems, so don’t let his talking fool you. He’ll be your personal guard before we can find a more suitable man for the job.”

“More suitable? I’m the best fighter in the village!” Abel defended himself.

The kid looks like he’s 16 at most. Do I need a bodyguard? Then again, I don’t want to accidentally laser this entire village to the ground if I’m in trouble. Might as well have someone around that can use a sword.

“I already said you were the best we had Abel, but master Caster will need the best security possible once he raises our humble home into the greatest city-state in all of Perdita!” Sherman patted Abel’s shoulder.

“Oh, how could I forget! This young lady is Phoebe, my daughter. Spitting image of her mother, rest her soul. Phoebe’s always had a remarkable ability to detect and work through spiritual methods. Her Faith Abilities are incredibly high and varied. Since you are the embodiment of an Elder God, I have no doubt that she will be best suited to assist you with your mission.”

Phoebe’s chin tilted up, and her face turned to face Caster. Her eyes lit up with a violent aura of all kinds of colors. Both eyes overflowed with the lights, like tiny rainbow-tinted bonfires.

“Is there… anyway we can start building up defenses for the city? I don’t want anyone getting hurt if they do find out about the well and my being here. I think we’ll need a wall and some people that can fight. Abel looks tough but… I don’t think it would hurt to have at least a few dozen people that can fight.”

“Hear that Phoebe? Mr. God says I’m tough.” Abel folded his arms and nodded toward Phoebe. She completely ignored the boy.

“There is a creature in Buckley’s Wood I’ve heard travelers speak of. It’s said the thing is a unique Wood Elf that has survived the last several ages. It has a vast amount of time and experience invested in many areas of Skilling, especially crafting, smithing, farming, hunting, fishing, and warding. All of these would be incredibly useful for our village. I can mark on your map where I’ve heard their location is.”

“Yes, please do. In fact, I’m going there myself right now to find them. If Griffin or the Blasted Hills knights come back, we’ll need more than just my attacks to make sure everyone is safe.”

“Very well, I will let the others know.”

“You stay here just in case anything comes back; just in case the people here will need you.” Caster told Sherman.

“Understood. Please, allow Phoebe and Abel to accompany you. They are the closest two individuals this village has to fighters. A few of us is a tragedy, but to put a being as yourself in danger would be the highest heresy I can imagine.”

“Ok, I’ll take them with me.” Caster looked at his map. In the middle of Buckley’s Wood was a new red dot.

That must be where this ‘Wood Elf’ is hiding.

“Come on Abel, we need to gather supplies and prepare to head into the heart of the Wood. We’ll be ready in a few minutes, Caster, the Minionborn.” Phoebe said with a bow, then she along with Abel quickly walked away from Sherman and Caster.

“Sherman, does this village have a name?”

“Well… no. It’s not common to give smaller settlements like ours a name. It’s usually only towns or City-States that have that honor. We just call it… our home village.”

“Well, I say we should name it! Got any ideas?”

“Hmm… I can’t think of any title more fitting than Casterville.”

“Haha! Casterville,” Caster chuckled. “Casterville it is.”

Quest "Start a Village" Completed! Reward: Level Up x2! Choose A Stat To Increase!

Vitality, Attunement, Strength, Dexterity, Arcane, Faith, [Occult], Luck

You know what... I should probably put some levels into health since I have literally none it in at all.

[Vitality] Confirmed! x2!, Attunement, Strength, Dexterity, Arcane, Faith, Occult, Luck

Woah, that quadrupled my health! Maybe the next time someone tries to Vitality check me I'll actually pass.