Chapter 37: Ch 37: Mercy of the Goddess

"What are you going to do with Selene’s corpse?"

Lord Rain asked in a detached voice. He looked down at Selene’s dead face with pity, but there was no emotion of guilt on his face.

It was a testament to how little he felt about this situation, which made Aiden shake his head to clear his head. After all, it was not his place to judge the others when he was only concerned about his goddess as well.

"For now, we need to get rid of this body. We will give it a proper farewell by burning it and performing all the rites for her rebirth. She might have tried to kill us, but she was loyal to her god till the end. She deserves this much at least."

This was what Aiden felt personally. But he had also made this decision strategically.

He was painting his goddess and her rule as a ’peaceful’ and ’forgiving’ environment. So such acts of mercy were necessary.

It was a way to show the others that she was willing to strike anyone down if they threatened her people, but if they admitted to their mistake and wanted to repent, then she was forgiving enough.

Of course, his goddess was no such thing, but there was no harm in having the people live under such a delusion.

"Goddess Apophis is so merciful."

"This makes me feel a little more reassured to worship her. I feel like she won’t abandon me even if I make a mistake."

His plan was already working, and people were beginning to whisper what he wanted them to.

[Goddess Apophis’s reputation has increased among her worshippers. They will feel less likely to leave her side.]

The notification felt worth giving up his personal revenge against Selene for.

Lord Rain decided it was the best opportunity to earn some points as well, so he bowed to Aiden as the goddess warped around him.

"Please allow me to see to Selene’s death ceremony. I promise I will do a good job."

Aiden nodded, giving control over to Lord Rain for now. Finally, it was time for him and his goddess to head home and rest.

...

"Finally, this is done. We can head home now."

Aiden let out a sigh, but he had a feeling he was forgetting something. And it had something to do with travelling.

"Are you not going to install that instant travelling device here as well? It will make things more convenient for us."

Goddess Apophis asked, and Aiden suddenly realized what he was forgetting about.

He wanted to connect this temple to the temple in his village that Lumi was managing for an easier time travelling between them.

Since the reach of his goddess was going to increase, having an easier way to move around would be appreciated. Especially if there was a lot of stuff that needed to be transferred from one place to another.

Moreover, he wanted to upgrade the other temples of his goddess to modern standards as well to show off her expertise and the ease she was going to bring under her rule.

"You are right. I should get to it."

Due to the aftermath of the feast, Aiden had gotten more than enough offerings to upgrade the portal technology, and he quickly increased the range of that mechanism.

[Portal Technology has been updated. Now you can make up to 3 portals and connect them in any way you want.]

[Radius of the portal technology has been increased as well. You can now do up to 10 km of travel space.]

Luckily, this village fell under that 10 km radius, so it was easy for Aiden to construct another portal. He quickly explained to Lord Rain how it worked, which left Lord Rain in awe.

Then, in a serious voice, he turned toward Aiden and placed a hand on his shoulder before asking him a question.

"Hey kid, are you even human? Or are you another hidden god? Just what the heck are you, and what is this technology?"

Aiden let out a laugh before he forced Lord Rain to drop his hand from his shoulder.

"I am just a follower of my goddess, doing my best to spread her name all around the world. Please do not mind what I am capable of. It is all because of my goddess’s will."

Aiden’s smile reached his eyes, but he could tell that Lord Rain was not satisfied. He wanted to ask more, but then his goddess decided this was enough.

She slithered up to his neck and wrapped herself around it possessively. And her presence made Lord Rain hold his tongue.

"Don’t ask questions like that to my Aiden. Just think of him as an extension of my divine will. You are not to question him or what he can do. Do you understand?"

Goddess Apophis stressed these words with possessiveness backing them. It made Lord Rain look at Aiden regretfully. But when asked by his goddess, he could only give one answer.

"I understand. I will not ask Aiden any personal questions. However, I still have one thing I need to ask."

Aiden could tell that his goddess was getting irritated at the fact that she was not allowed to head home. She looked sleepy, and Aiden felt sorry for her.

She should have been sleeping, but instead, she was forced to spend her time outside like this. Next time, he vowed to come out alone so that she could rest...of course, only if she allowed him to.

cough

"I do not mean to get a little far ahead of myself, but I think your followers need an order to follow. It would have been overlooked before because you were still unknown, but now that you have nearly 1000 people following you, it would be for the best to have official positions in place for better organization. It will become easier to spread your faith around that way."

Lord Rain had a point.

After the feast, the number of followers of Goddess Apophis had increased to 983, and it was still growing. It wouldn’t be long before the number reached 1000+. And as much as Aiden wanted to control this himself, he was only one person.

He would start needing help soon.