Sacred Light. She tasted her own name like it was a particularly delicious treat. She liked it very much.
It felt... good to have a name. Perhaps, good is not the correct word. Satisfactory, maybe, but even that word would be unable to convey the abyss of emotions Sacred was feeling as of then.
Every time she heard it within a prayer, every time someone so much as whispered the words 'Sacred Light', she would hear it. It was... Delightful.
A sense of being something more than just 'a goddess'. No, she was the Sacred Light Goddess. This newfound sense of identity was incredibly helpful in uplifting her mood.
5 years had passed since she had branded her priests. They had graduated from her teachings two years ago, and then she sent them on several missions both across the town, which had graduated to being a proper village and also towards other human towns to spread her word and recruit worshippers.
It was actually pretty incredible. Entire towns just straight up threw themselves at her just for that small spark of hope, and she gladly gave it to them. Of course, it wasn't without a hitch here and there, either some elves being nosy or some humans refusing to believe in her. Both were solved with a little show of her power though, so it wasn't a big deal.
Now, Jade City had a total population of around 5000 people, far more than what she started with. Faith rolled in every day, and Sacred Light loved it.
She'd yet to absorb the faith, but she had already formed several ideas on how to use it both on herself and... other things. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough faith for it, so she needed to hold off for a couple more years before putting the plan to action.
Truth be told, Sacred Light was swamped with work. Between having to manage all the faith, she also had to manage the economy, settle the newcomers, comprehend the Laws, order her priests around, and also defend Jade City.
It was a lot of work, but Sacred wasn't a goddess for nothing. She could easily make incarnations of herself to help her manage everything.
And hot damn was it satisfying watching all of her work come together. Although still a bit rough around the edges, the economy was starting to pick up as farmers started harvesting the big crops, the miners found their veins, the various artisans finally had the resources to work, and the priests helped keep the population in good health.
She'd built a miniature church in the village, even just so the people could come together to pray every once in a while. Although that wasn't really the biggest reason for it, as in reality, it was more of a school for children to be educated and indoctrinated in. It also served as her priests' main residence, so that was nice.
Furthermore, the church also acted as a sort of town hall. In it, the council would work on various mundane issues that Sacred Light couldn't be bothered with. The best thing about it was that it was actually democratically elected every 2 years, meaning that the people in it truly did have the people's best interest in mind. Mostly. And if they didn't, Sacred Light wouldn't be happy, and god forbid making her angry.
Of course, it was a very, very early version of what Sacred Light hoped would eventually become a government capable of ruling over the entire continent. There were still a ton of issues in it that Sacred Light had to fix every day, but it was slowly coming together through sheer force of divine will.
And now, there was still one crucial piece missing. An army.
Jade City did have a couple of dozen hunters, but they obviously couldn't be considered an army. Hell, they couldn't even be seen as a militia. And that was troubling.
Sacred knew that she couldn't protect everyone forever. Eventually, they would have to graduate from being held by the hand by her all the time, otherwise, Sacred would never be free to do other things.
However, it had still been impossible to form a standing army with a small number of people. Even now, Sacred wasn't sure if it was a good idea to take the strong and capable youth away from the village, where they were most needed. Still, it was necessary to at least start training them seriously, as she knew the various elven kingdoms were starting to get wind of her village, and it was impossible for them to let such a place exist.
Of course, if her assumptions on elven culture and politics, it would take at least a bunch of decades before they properly decided to send an army here. Of course, if she was to do something drastic, they would come here much quicker.
Although, she wasn't worried at all about the mortal elves. She could exterminate hundreds of thousands of those with a single attack. No, what worried her was the semi-deity of the elves, the Life-Giving God Tree.
The stupid tree had existed for tens of thousands of years with constant worship from far too many elves. Although it was still a dumb tree that couldn't really move around and thus didn't worry her, she still wished to be cautious.
Of course, the moment she finished comprehending all 3 of her domains would be the day she would rip that tree out of the ground. She salivated at the mere thought of having an experimental subject on the level of a deity.
Still, that was a far-off goal. She'd only just reached 30% on her Light and Soul domains, and 10% on her Ruler one. Thinking that far ahead would only dishearten her.
As Sacred sat on her throne inside the large temple, contemplating all of these things while also focusing on comprehending the Laws, while also making sure that Jade City was running smoothly, her mind suddenly received a transmission.
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"Hm?" She hummed. She sent a strand of her thoughts to discover which of her priests had activated the talisman that she had given them, with express instructions to only use it if they really needed her personal intervention.
In her mind's eye, she saw a bird's eye view of a small, run-down settlement. Helen stood there in the center of the town, facing four robed figures. Behind her hid a dozen or so children, all of them trembling and absolutely reeking of fear and terror.
Sensing her Goddess' attention, Helen unconsciously relaxed just a fraction. Her sharp eyes focused on the four elves that were chatting as if she wasn't even worth their time.
"What a strange human she is. Look at those tattoos... They feel as though they were made with magic." One of them, a middle-aged elf with silver hair said while stroking his chin and looking at Helen as if she was an interesting puzzle.
"Gentlemen, since I was the one who found her first, it should be natural she belongs to me." The oldest one said, giving the middle-aged one a lazy glance.
"Hmph." The middle-aged elf snorted, refusing to add anything to that.
"Alright, enough chit-chat. Kill the brats and get the weird one, then we can report for a successful mission to His Majesty." The third elf, one with long, black hair and a feminine face said.
"Yeah, yeah." The middle-aged elf raised his hand and lazily pointed it at Helen, whose eyes went wide as she hastily cast a barrier spell.
A boom went off as a spear of lightning shot out of the elf's hand and smashed into the barrier. Helen grit her teeth as she poured more power into it, eventually letting both spells cancel themselves out.
"Oh? A mage?" The last elf, an actually pretty average one, commented. "That's rare amongst lowly humans." His lips turned a bit perverted. "Hope you gentlemen won't mind if I have her for a bit after this, yes?"
Helen's eyes turned dark. She'd been assigned to this recently discovered town to gather followers, gain some wealth, and if possible, some intelligence on the elves nearby. However, upon her arrival, she found that the town had been massacred and that only these children had somehow survived.
She'd rounded them up and fed them while also casting some spells to heal them. As she found out, these four elves had actually come sometime earlier and killed everyone before leaving. She'd been in the middle of giving the kids an emotional speech about new chances in Jade City when the elves had returned for some reason, and that led to where they were now.
"You truly are arrogant, you disgusting tree-shitters." She spat out. The elves glanced at her lazily.
"Look at the little bitch yipping. She needs a good whipping to get herself in order." The average elf laughed. He was quite enjoying toying with the little human bitch.
"You..." Helen was like a volcano at this point, just about ready to explode. However, she still wasn't ready to face these powerful Royal Mages, the cream of the top of the elven mages.
Seeing all of this, Sacred Light's eyes closed for a second. When they reopened, forget volcanoes, they were like supernovas.
"YOU VERMIN DARE COVET WHAT'S MINE!?!" Her earth-shaking voice roared out, the skies turning dark. The ground in Jade City trembled, and every one of her followers could feel her absolute wrath, causing them to turn deathly pale.
Her body vanished from her throne, flying at impossible speeds. The earth shook and cracked wherever she passed until she reached where Helen was, stopping mid-air.
The four elven mages were still ignoring Helen when her full power was suddenly unleashed, causing the ground to shatter and the skies to darken.
The elves swiveled around to stare up at her with wide eyes and gaping mouths. Sacred looked at them with fury burning her veins.
"Filthy scum, your souls will never find rest for the next hundred thousand years, with only the worst kind of pain as your companion" Sacred roared as her domain pushed the four pathetic elves to the ground, face first.
With a wave of her hand, the four large lances of light appeared in the sky, their presence alone causing huge winds. With but a thought, those lances impaled the four elves who could do nothing but stare in horror as the lances buried themselves in their bodies, causing them to turn into nothingness.
Their screams were pleasing enough for Sacred, who still wasn't used to feeling such intense anger. She extended her arms and collected their souls, who would be used in the absolutely most painful and horrifying experiments, and then finally turned to Helen, her demeanor changing from a world-ending monstrous goddess to the calm and, if not loving, at least caring goddess that she usually was.
"M-my Lord..." Helen was still wide-eyed as she immediately kneeled, tears coming out of her eyes. It was obvious even to the emotionally-stunted goddess that Helen was having a slight relapse of her relatively short time as a slave, and that this experience had shaken her.
"Helen. Rise." Sacred ordered, and Helen obeyed, lifting her head to stare at her savior, her goddess, and the person she looked up to the most.
"Helen. I am very, very proud of you." Sacred said, casually walking towards Helen and stopping in front of her, delicately caressing her head.
"B-but... I didn't do anything! I was worthless!" Helen stuttered, cheeks flaming in shame. Sacred shook her head and walked past Helen to the group of children, who were still paralyzed from both fear, awe, and a slew of other emotions.
Sacred took the hand of one of the children, and asked: "May I pick you up, child?"
The little girl, no older than six years, was still looking at her with wide eyes. Her mind obviously still a bit in shock, but she nodded slightly nonetheless.
Carefully picking up the child and holding her up to her non-existent chest, she turned back to Helen. "You put yourself in danger just for these beautiful children. I may not be the most appropriate person to say this, as I know I am not a good person, for that is not what I am. But you, Helen, are indeed that good person everyone needs in their lives."
"Your courage allowed for these children to remain safe, whereas you could have just run away. Don't shame yourself for your weakness, instead, use that courage of yours to make yourself stronger, so that the next time you encounter such a situation, you will be able to protect those you wish to keep safe."
Helen looked to be on the verge of tears as she bowed again, even deeper this time. The children were all looking at her with sheer awe now, and one was even trying to reach out to her wings, which Sacred allowed with no small amount of humor.
"I must go now, my children. The elves have been getting increasingly on my nerves, and this is the last straw. It is time for us to take more drastic actions." Sacred said, her eyes locking onto those of Helen, who could only quickly nod.
"Take the children back to Jade City and make sure they're cared for. After that, go to the church, for it is time for me to make an announcement." Having said all that needed to be said, Sacred put down the child who'd been clutching at her golden clothes, feeling their softness. She patted the child's head and then vanished.
Helen watched the spot of where her lord had been but a moment ago. Her words rang in her head.
Clenching her fists, she looked at the poor children who reminded her so, so painfully much of just who she had been, and could have continued to be. 'I promise, my lord. I will become stronger, strong enough to protect these children and so many more.'
But first, she had underwear to clean, because obviously the children had been frightened enough to poop themselves. Helen rolled her eyes inwardly at the mood-killer.