I felt a large pang of guilt and wanted to smooth things over this time, and explain myself better. It was really just the enormous crowd and the unjustified blame. I needed to fix this, so they didn’t end up like Donna.

I collected my thoughts before speaking. “Call me Lady Astrid, I understand things are tense and everyone is worried about the food shortage. As for who accused me, we shall talk. No one else should do anything to her in the meantime.” It was definitely likely that someone would be mad that she offended their goddess or pissed off something powerful.

“Would you like to show us?” Firth said gently to me, trying to calm the situation down. I am sure the rude women before would think about her mistakes and try to make some sort of apology later. 

If I pushed them to the food room, I knew they would forget what had just happened. I didn’t want too many people at once, so I wanted to keep the first visit minimal.

“Only the leaders other than the rude one should follow me.” I said, turning away, feeling a wave of relief that I could escape the crowd of people. Firth and the other got up as I exited the room. I could still hear murmurs in the back, but that wasn’t unexpected. With a wave of my hand, the doors to the library faded away.

I led them down to my room. They quietly followed like a worried child that was about to be scolded after talking back to their mother in public. I suspected they still thought I was the goddess, but I wish they would treat me a little more normally. Highthorn seems to be warming up to me, which is great because I need someone to help me with this new world. I think he will remain pretty loyal since I saved his and his family’s life. The head pats earlier were pretty good. I will have to get more of them later. 

The door to my room came up, and I said, “This is my experimental food growth room.” The looks on their faces were confused, but no one spoke up. Walking down inside and down the stairs caused the people behind me to whisper in confusion. They knew there hadn’t been stairs there before, so I suspected they would be really surprised to see the vertical farm. We stopped in front of the metal door.

“I present to you my auto growth mushroom farm!” I said excitedly as I pushed open the door, unveiling the rows upon rows of mushrooms. Turning around, I looked at their reactions.

The leader’s mouth went agape as they peered inside. Hope filled their eyes as they looked around. The confusion was obvious.

“Where did these come from? Are they edible?” Firth questioned in astonishment.

“So I split the farm into three different areas. The green mushrooms are vegetable based, they will provide you with most of your general nutrition. The brown mushrooms emulate beef and must be cooked. They are high in protein and fill you up pretty quickly. Just at a little salt and seasoning and it will be a much safer source of meat than calamity beasts. So no need to send people out. There are also medicinal mushrooms towards the back. They vary in usage, so I left a little placard on what each of them do.” I spewed out like a farmer giving a pitch to a local lord. I also handed Firth the booklet I made with instructions and recipes. He took it without opening, still looking astonished at the room.

Firth seemed bewitched as he made his way over to the green mushrooms. He plucked one off and observed it from all angles before sniffing it slightly. He gave a nod of approval and popped it into his mouth. As he chewed it he had a smile grew on his face. He swallowed it before exclaiming, “This tastes just like fresh vegetables the upper management get!” The other leaders hurried past me to sample the green mushrooms as well.

 A smile grew on a young female leader. “My name is Natra. May I ask how they grow?” she’s asked, inspecting one of her own, popping it into her mouth, reacting the same as Firth.

In quick succession, all the leaders tried them out. They were overjoyed and giving each other excited looks.

“Passively, sort of like how the gems you use for magic work. They pull little bits of mana from you to grow as you sit on the bench. So I suggest getting a book and reading here. You can also direct mana into them.”

“This could work. We won’t have to go hunt. This is actually great. Thank you, Lady Astrid,” Natra replied, then slammed her mouth shut. She looked shocked for a moment before speaking, “We wronged you, Goddess. Please accept our apology.”

“Things were tense and that other leader riled most of you up. Do not worry, you're welcome. You had it right the first time with Lady Astrid. Since I made this, there is no need to risk lives. That means there is more time for reading and writing.” I replied, trying to not focus on the books too much.

The leaders started looking at one another before Firth spoke up, “I am sorry, Goddess Astrid, but we have only a few books. You may have them. They are our treasures. We would be honored if you would take them.”

He seemed to be the most comfortable speaking to me. That may have been because he was one of the older folk here. I worried may try to overdo things and no one will be any sort of normal around me. Maybe I can calm things down. “Please call me Lady Astrid, I do not need to take your books. I can accept a copy or newly written books.” I wondered how long I would have to keep reminding them not to call me a goddess.

“We only have a few sheets of paper for letters to the kingdom. We apologize, Lady Astrid.”

“hmmm, okay then. That can be solved,” I said, waving my hand. Stacks of paper appeared on to the ground. Everyone looked shocked but really all I was doing was but I was just casting spells out of “Enym’s Book Makers Magica”. If I wanted them to make books though they would need some other materials, then just paper. So I conjured up lots of green yarn and a few hole punchers. Then I made a copy of a book making manual from the library and sit it on top of the yarn. “This should do. Everything you need to write is here.”

The leaders looked astonished again at the supplies. Looking through the entranceway, I noticed it had become crowded by people on their knees. It seemed they were just too curious. My anxiety didn’t flare up when they were in this position. Though I would prefer for all of them to be reading.

“What books would you like us to write about Lady Astrid?” Firth said gawking at the supplies.

“Cultural and historical books are outstanding. Also, technical knowledge about anything you know. Oh, information about the current creatures and plants. Feel free to use the paper for accounting also, but I want to read them. That kind of information is great for learning economics here. Story books are great as well. Just use it and I will make more supplies. Oh, I really want a book on life here as well as one on the animal curse.”

“We can get on that right away. Is there anything else you need, Lady Astrid?”

“Yes, I wish to discuss making some improvements to this refugee.”

Everyone gasped and began whispering. The leaders looked at one another, giving a knowing nod. Firth spoke up, “I believe I speak for all of us when I say that you can do as you please. Anything from the goddess of knowledge would be cherished.”

There were sounds of approval echoing the hallway. 

That was rather easy. I guess letting them think I am a goddess has its benefits. Besides, it would be way too much work to get them to not believe me. The easiest way to do this would be to use magic on a grand scale to analyze the region and to then implement my changes. To be safe, though, I should probably ask them all to leave. I opened up and said, “Well, if that is the case, then I need everyone in the refugee to exit temporarily while I do the changes for safety reasons.”

The leaders got up as a group and began giving the people instructions to head outside and to pass the message along. I stayed inside of the mushroom farm since it was already finished. Which made it the safest place for me to be. I gave my guard a break and sent him into the library. “Highthorn, take a break for a bit. I will come get you when I am finished. Ask one of the bear guards to take you to the children’s books section. Your family is likely there now.”

“Thank you, Lady Astrid,” he replied, walking inside of the library doors.

As soon as he left, I sat down and went to focus mode where I could detect the area easier. First, I watched all the residents leave the refuge by watching their mana sources trickle out of the refuge. As soon as they were clear, I began stage two, where I analyzed the layout of the facility.

It was set up pretty well, there many rooms with an interesting aquifer system on top of the hill. There were several meeting areas and the main farm. I even found their armory. It seemed they had a few mines as well. They had plenty of escape paths which were great to see. After I had identified all the restrooms, I created a sewage system to connect all of them together. I ran piping through the entire refuge, connecting all the restrooms like a puzzle leading to a pit underground near the hill. I can turn that into an automatic fertilizer maker later.

The mythical city series came to mind, so I grabbed “Mythical City Enchantments” out of my memobrary and flipped through it looking for a water system. I found what I need in the form of creating a giant water reservoir that could be refilled with a mana absorption point. I created a small separate room next to the farm with a metal rod as a collection point that led down into the reservoir. The inscriptions were on the bottom, so no one could mess them up.

Hygiene is important, so I hooked up a running water system like the books suggested. I felt my mana draining too much, so I opened up the supply of the other mana source I had. It was dangerous to leave it open though, so as soon as I finished, I would close it up.

What also needed attention was the structural stability. I transformed the walls from compacted earth to stone bricks packed with a clay mixture between them that would prevent most bugs. Next I moved stone that was further down in the ground to the outer walls of the hill to hopefully stop any large calamity beasts. I may need to change my method once I study some of the monsters. I added an alarm spell to the outside of the facility, to alert me if something was trying to crack the shell I had just made.

The last feature I added was a small room next to the water refill room. It had an emergency sign on the door and a red stone in the center of the room. This would allow them to alert me if they needed my presence, like anytime they get a book written for me and the library.

That was all I wanted to do for now without at least getting some feedback. I did one more check over that whole refuge and made sure everything was safe. After I left my focus mode, I got up, stretching out my legs. I opened the library and called in for Highthorn to come back. The entire process had taken several hours, and I was getting a little tired. I couldn’t wait to make more upgrades, but doing the same thing for so long was tedious.

“Thank you for the time with my family,” Highthorn said, seeming happy to have had a break. I wondered if he had gotten them before or not. Work conditions seemed like they could be harsh to people here. I wondered how those domes held up to multiple monster attacks. Speaking of, I really needed to find out how they worked so that I could build one here, so that people didn’t have to stay inside holes like a mole rat.

Outside of the refugee there was an enormous crowd of people all waiting right by the doors. They waited with bated breath for me to speak. I mustered up the courage and spoke, “Hello, Firth. The changes are done. I added reinforcement to the inner and outer walls for structural purposes. I also added a sewage system for the toilets as well as sinks. Can we meet in the meeting hall after your people try things out?”

“Yes, Lady Astrid.” he replied, with the other leaders nodding in agreement. I could see the enormous crowd of people all looking at me with reverence. 

I quickly left the crowd before my anxiety kicked in. I hadn’t realized how many people there were till they were all out here at once. There were nearly a thousand of them. It was like a herd coming in behind me. I sped up to get to the meeting room as fast as possible to get away from the crowd.

After about an hour, the leaders trickled in with smiles on their faces. Thankfully, there was no crowd behind them.

“It's unbelievable. Thank you, Lady Astrid, thank you so much.” Firth said with his hands clasped together as the other leaders nodded in agreement. “How can we repay you.?”

“Same as before. More books!” I replied, excited at the thought.

“We will begin on that immediately. We can’t thank you enough. You are truly divine!”

There was so much to untangle with the being a “goddess” thing. I still really didn’t want the pressure, but it seemed like it was going to make getting books very easy. So I decided to couch the issue for another day.

“I also put two rooms next to the mushroom farm. The first will drain your mana to refill the water reservoir, so be careful to not pass out. The second is an emergency contact room with a red stone in the center. Touch it and I will come as quickly as I can. Use it in case of an emergency or when you get a few books written.” Getting more books was always a good reason to contact me.

“Understood,” Natra replied.

There was a ruckus as someone could be heard screaming down the hallway. They couldn’t be made out easily, but as they got closer, I could hear them yell, “Calamity beasts! There is a horde of Calamity beasts on the way!” 

Quinn_Voidheart

Let me know what you think of the new synopsis if you get a chance. I am trying to convert more front page viewers to reads. Trying to figure how much to talk about without spoiling is tough. Any thing else I should add?