After the failure of my first bombing attack I started probing the capital’s defense shield.

The shield protected from any outside attacks, no unsanctioned objects can get inside the shield without a special magic charm. Right now I have no way to get past the shield.

While the king’s attack was not well-planned, he still made some back-up plans to avoid my wrath. This shield was in case I return before they crush Elina. I decided to continue ground and aerial assault until the king’s forces will be pushed inside his shield. Meanwhile, I will continue searching a way to bypass the magic they used.

The ground warfare soon ended in a stalemate. We have no forces to spare for sortie outside the fortress, the enemy has no way to openly move around or fight. The bombers blow up anything that dares moving in the open. That is why for now the only way to win is to get more allies. Of course, the fact that I have the right to call myself a goddess lets me use the religion as my support. I summoned some nobles from the nearby areas to declare my new status. The continent’s church also decided to attend.

My old friend, the count, let me use his palace for my needs. He is one of my greatest assets in the kingdom and so I will continue using him as much as I can.

My announcement and the count’s help soon allowed me to hold a large meeting. The count’s throne room was filled with people. There were rich traders, local nobles, military officers, and clergy. I was sitting on the throne, with my tails as a cushion.

The room was becoming noisy so I decided to begin my speech. I raised my hand to attract everyone’s attention. Unsurprisingly, I was ignored. While the correct way to resolve this would be just to shout at them, I decided to just close my eyes and ignore them because it is unworthy of a goddess to be babysitting the mortals.

[They are just so noisy. Shut up.]

Suddenly, everyone stopped talking. When I opened my eyes to check what is going on, I myself was astonished. The people were trying to talk but not a single word left their mouths, as if somebody turned the sound off.

“You may talk.” Let’s see if this works.

“W-what was that?!” A noble shouted and I decided to keep testing.

[Kneel.]

He fell to the floor, right on his knees.

I somewhat understood what happened. The goddess let me use some of her powers to prove my divinity. With this it will be easy for me to make them recognize me as a goddess.

“I see that you are ready to listen.” I decided to keep cosplaying the goddess.

“Listen, mortals. I am Fuji, the goddess from the east. I came here from the land where the cherry blooms and the gods walk among the mortals. I am here to represent the will of the Celestial realm. Those who are willing to worship me, you are free to do so. Those who are going to worship their gods, never will I forbid that. Those who are here to oppose me, be wary of my wrath.” I told them the guidelines of my policy.

After that I held a banquet for all of the guests. There were people who approached me to ask for boons. There were people who asked me about what I will do afterwards. And most importantly, there were people who started discussing business.

“So you are the self-proclaimed goddess. I am the high priest of the Church of Light. As long as you don’t interfere we will have no need to be enemies.” One of such people was a member of the continent’s dominant religions.

“I am not self-proclaimed.”

“Yet you are not divine yourself.” He parried my words immediately.

“I am a vicar of the true goddess. If you think that makes me lower, you might as well try telling it to her directly.” This is not a secret that I am a deputy-goddess.

“We have no desire to fight you, though we shall never acknowledge you. We oppose war, the phenomenon which follows you like your own tail. You are the very incarnation of war and death, a demon. I only want to hope that you are not the same as your kin.” The priest was looking at me with an obvious dislike but he was not acting rash or trying to scare me away.

“You came here not to just tell me that. Go on.”

“Why don’t you show some of your good will and sign the armistice with the king. He also showed desire to stop this madness called war.” He suggested something that can be useful for my endeavors. The break for me to gather the resources and prepare for the coming storm.

“You may all come to my land to discuss it. I hereby declare that none of the delegates will be hurt as long as they don’t try harming me or my people.”

“Then we have no other options but to put our trust in your words. Farewell, vicar of a god.” The priest walked away.

I continued with searching for allies and establishing connections.