~ Chapter 105: The new Ils Village ~

[Illsyore's point of view]

The following day, I woke up feeling refreshed and brimming with energy. The little jog I had through the cold night did wonders for me. Unlike me, Ayuseya let the sweet embrace of sleep last longer. She was also a bit sluggish because of the cold, but the others had no problem getting up and preparing for the new day.

I had no intention of spending another night here, in Ils Village, so the plan was to depart today and reach Kantor by the time it got dark. However, I was aware of the fact that these villagers weren't going to receive any help from the government. They were left out here to die. No merchant was going to bother traveling all the way up here in the mountains just to sell them a few items for a few coins. It wasn't worth it.

Knowing this, I looked around their little settlement and noted what they were missing. I wanted to help them on the long run, not just drop them some food and then be on my way.

The first I noticed was the fact that their small well was not working anymore. Then there was the matter of tools. Everything they had on them right now was broken and patched up to the point where it would not last for much longer. They did not have a blacksmith who could reforge the broken tools either.

In other words, the situation was dire. If we left without helping in any way or manner, they would either be forced to leave the village and seek shelter in another settlement in order to survive or stand here and die off one by one.

When I presented the situation to my wives, they told me the following things:

“Nya~! If you want to help them, mate of mine, then let me know! I will prepare a good meal to fill their tummies and make sure not to bother you!” Tamara said with a toothy smile while her tail swayed left to right.

“The more I think about what is to become of them, the more I wish to help them, but we do not know much about these folks. They could be wolves in sheep clothing, pretending to be vulnerable when in fact only the circumstances make it seem so.” Shanteya said.

“Normally, this is the job of the Lord of the land, but all proof points out to the fact that he doesn't care about these villagers. They would certainly die if left alone, but I do not believe we can make this village independent of the rest of the country either. If we help them, then they must also be willing to try and reconnect the village to the world somehow... someway, otherwise, I fear the Lord could easily claim the village has rebelled against the crown and subjugate them afterwards.” said Ayuseya with a pondering look in her eyes.

“I don't care what you do with them. They are humans and citizens of Paramanium Empire. It's highly unlikely that we will ever cross paths again. I say we play the 'ignore' card and leave them to their fate.” Nanya said in a cold tone of voice.

“This is neither a village aimed by bandits nor one oppressed by an unjust ruler. The circumstances make it a very hard to reach settlement, therefore, what's happening here doesn't violate the laws of the gods. However, I do feel bad about them... They don't look like bad people.” said Zoreya.

Now, Tamara was fine with whatever I picked. Shanteya was a bit wary of them because they were humans, and this was the Paramanium Empire. So far, it didn't leave us with the best impression when it came to equality among species. Nanya appeared to be completely against the idea of offering them a helping hand, while Zoreya looked at it from the point of view of an Apostle. Leaving them be could also be seen as fate at play, but I had the power to do something. The question was whether or not I wanted to do it...

In the end it all comes down to my own will... I thought.

I was tempted towards listening to Nanya and simply let them be, let fate decide what it wanted, but as I began to think of my Magic Academy, I realized something...

This village was out here in the middle of nowhere, alone, isolated, lacking the resources required in order to be able to sustain itself. In a way, it had the conditions I was going to be facing when I would come to build my Academy.

In other words, I could use this village to test out a rudimentary version of the system I had developed and see how these simple humans reacted to them. The question was if they were going to be easy to learn to use or not and if they were efficient.

Well, this was the excuse I gave myself, but underneath this laid another reason...

“Sigh... Illsy, just do it if you want to.” said Nanya as she placed her hand on my shoulder.

“Huh?” I replied like a confused fool.

“Illsy, even though you asked us if it was alright to save it or not, you wouldn't have bothered in the first place to check what it was missing if you had the intention of letting it waste away. It's clear that you want to help it somehow. You probably already have a plan, right? So, just go ahead and do it. If we can help with anything, just let us know. We'll offer you a helping hand anytime!” the demoness showed me a smirk.

“You don't think it would be wrong to use my Dungeon powers to do so?” I asked.

“Why would it? We are all Over Supremes. If we wanted, we could have taken over this country by force. The only reason we aren't doing it is because we don't want to.” she said with a shrug.

This reminded me of the talk I had with Ayuseya. She also could take over Teslov whenever she desired, but she had no such intentions. Last night, she renounced her Pleyades name, so if she REALLY wanted to do that, she could have used her name, start a rebellion, and that would have been it. Actually, if she went there and placed herself as the acting ruler, then no one would have been able to oppose her. I also don't doubt the fact that she would have probably thought of far better plans than the ones I just mentioned.

Indeed, we were at a point where all that mattered was if we wanted to do it or not. Given the situation, it was also highly likely that this would be one of the easiest decisions I would have to make. Ayuseya warned me before that my project would not be liked by majority of nobility and royalty. When they would voice out their complaint, I would have to make a choice and declare firmly where I stood.

“Hm, I was being a wimp again, wasn't I?” I asked with a forced smile.

“Not at all, just undecided.” Nanya shook her head.

“You aren't afraid to act, Illsy. You are just uncertain of what choice would be best for all of us. But you know, sometimes you really can't tell which one is which unless you act.” said Zoreya.

“I guess you are right.” I let out a sigh.

“So, what will you do?” asked Shanteya with a soft smile on her lips.

“I will fix up this place and then head off to Kantor. I'll offer them a helping hand, but the rest will be up to them.” I replied.

“Indeed, it that is. You should help if you want to, but there is no point in feeling guilty if you don't want to.” said Zoreya.

“Nya~ Or find excuses upon excuses as to why you need to do something you should do simply because you want to.” Tamara added.

Thanks to this small talk I had with my wives, all doubt regarding what I wanted to do simply flew away. I was over-thinking as usual, and this brought me to a point where I had no idea how to act because I was afraid of doing something wrong or end up feeling guilty after something bad happened when I had the power to prevent this didn't do it.

I asked Tamara to make a good meal for everyone in the village, and I explained in short that I wanted to use my magic to help them out. They accepted gratefully and did not object to my desire to fix up this place. Thus, I began.

The first thing I did was expand my Dungeon Territory until it contained the entire village. Then, I found a place next to the well and sat down crossed legged. I closed my eyes and flew out of my body.

From the sky, I had a better view of the whole area, and I could carefully plan out my strategy. There were a few homes which had a caved in rooftop, but which from the ground level, it could not be seen. The well was also in a disastrous state. They would have to dig rather deep in order to find the smallest drop of water, and without someone capable of using Earth Magic, it was going to be rather difficult, especially since they did not have the required tools for the job.

The first thing I fixed was the well. I dug a deep hole of 2 meters in diameter, I changed the walls with solid rock and reinforced them with magic. At the bottom, I dug several holes at a 20 degrees angle from the surface, which led in different directions. This way, the bottom of the well became a gathering place for all the water that poured into the side holes. It worked, and in no time at all, there was enough water there for everyone in the village.

Flying out of the well, I removed the top of it and replaced it with a construction of my own design. I covered it with a lid that made sure no one or anything accidentally fell inside. Nobody liked to have a fly in their soup let alone a dead body in the well.

The bucket connected to a rope passed through a pulley that was once used by the villagers was discarded and replaced with a chain roller turned by a big wheel. Next to it, I also made a water hand pump, but that was only because I was curious to see if I built it properly. First try was a mess and didn't do much because I forgot to cover it and made the piston too heavy. After I remodeled it a few times, I was finally able to do it and saved the blueprint before I forgot it. Now, the villages had two separate ways of collecting water.

I finished by making a small building around it, which offered the well extra protection. Then I moved on to their houses, which I repaired and restored them to their best condition. I had a feeling they were not going to mind if I made a few extra changes, so I added a few streetlamps, which were just a metal pole with a light crystal at the top. A magic thread connected it to the Magic Collector Crystal at the bottom, which the villagers had to charge on their own. This way, they wouldn't have to worry about night's looming darkness.

Feeling a bit generous, I added Heat Crystals and Light Crystal inside their homes as well. The Magic Collector Crystal was going to be near the entrance, and I marked the path of the Magic Thread with a copper so that they were not going to end up breaking it by accident. Once I was done with this, I added switches for all the crystals in the house, so that they would not stay turned ON all the time. I then went and did the same thing for the streetlights as well because I forgot to do so when I built them.

Lastly, I made several tools for them which they could use to restart their life in this village. They had everything from shovels to pickaxes and pliers.

All of this lasted for a few hours, and it was already past 3 PM when I was finished. After I returned to my body, I went and checked out the streetlights to see if they worked. The ON/Off switch was just a small lever next to the Collector Crystal.

“This should do it!” I said quite proud of myself while looking at the entire village from a good height.

There was nothing else that I wanted to change in particular. All the buildings have been renovated and enchanted with magic to last even in front of monster attacks. The well now functioned and had a very low chance of drying up again. It wasn't impossible just improbable to happen any time too soon. The village now had a lighting system similar to a modern day's village, and I made sure to add it to every house in this village as well.

“Anything else I could add?” I thought and then it struck me “A wall! I have to build a huuuge wall!” I said with a smirk.

The village itself had no means of protections against monster attacks. Whatever wood wall they had built before, it was gone now. Using granite stone and cement, I designed a wall that was three meters high and one meter thick. Instead of building it tight around the village, I made sure the villagers had enough space to grow a few vegetable gardens, raise some domestic animals, and build new houses if the population increased. Once the design part was over, I went over the details, such as ladders to reach to the top of the wall, small wooden towers for lookouts, and two gates at opposite entrances in the village. I also added a small enchant for safe measure. Only then did I pour my Magic Energy into my construction class spell and cast it.

“I think I'm done now.” I said with a nod.

After flying back down to my body, I got up from the ground, dusted off my clothes and then made my way back to the camp sight. There, I found the villagers looking back at their village with opened mouths liked washed up fish on the shore. Nanya was rubbing her forehead with two fingers like she had a headache. Tamara was giggling to herself. Ayuseya shook her head. Shanteya let out a sigh, and Zoreya was eating fried corn on a stick.

“What?” I asked knitting my brow.

“O-Our v-village... what... how?” one of the villagers asked while pointing at it.

“Nihihi! Illsy couldn't abstain himself! He just had to build something!” Tamara said.

“Erm, yes. I rebuilt the whole village, repaired the well, their homes, I added an illumination system, and I also built them a wall for protection against monsters. That's not much, you know?” I said as I counted the things I did on my fingers.

“Not much he says!” Nanya face-palmed herself.

“What?” I asked confused.

“H-How? I heard not of any such spells that can rebuild a whole village in less than a day, nay just a few hours?” one of the grandma villagers said as she walked up to the stone wall and knocked on it. “This be... this be enchanted?” she asked surprised.

“Yeah... I add an enchant that prevents monsters from coming too close to it. I don't know how long it will last though. You can recharge it if you pour your Magic Energy in it though.” I shrugged like it was nothing.

“An enchant he says!” Nanya raised her hands to the sky.

“Illsy will be Illsy.” said Ayuseya with a sigh.

“Seriously now, what did I do wrong? I DID ask permission first to rebuilt it, right?” I retorted as I looked back at them.

“Not exactly, you said 'repair'. What you did is called rebuilding from scratch, improving, and adding new things to it. Besides, you also said you would do it with your magic, which in their Common Sense means simple Earth Magic or Construction Magic, which I would like to point out that it's not an easy task to accomplish even for a team of Godlikes for the simple fact that they ALL require building materials first. What you did was basically use a multitude of such spells and in a record time no less, while having all of your materials just pop out of thin air.” Ayuseya explained me in a calm tone of voice.

“Basically, what she just said.” Nanya pointed at the dragoness.

“Well... erm... oops?” I showed them a wry smile.

Maybe I exaggerated a little bit with the wall? I wondered.

“M-M-Mister I-I-Il-Illsyore, h-h-how c-c-can w-w-we e-e-ever t-t-thank y-y-you f-f-for t-t-this g-g-gift?” the stuttering old man asked as he approached me.

There were tears in his eyes.

Looking back at the villagers, I could hear some of them wondering out loud if it was really alright for them to live in such a luxurious place, while a child was asking his mother if they were left without a home now.

I found the way they looked at things rather weird. It was almost as though I had literally stolen their village not just transformed it into something better. I found their worries to be weird, and I was not the only one. Ayuseya and Shanteya were also knitting their brows when they heard the villagers, especially since they were here when the villagers agreed with me 'repairing' their homes. Maybe they were misunderstanding something?

Walking up to the villagers who were wondering where they were going to sleep tonight, I asked them “Why do you need to worry about something like that? Even if I upgraded it a little...”

“A little he says...” Nanya scoffed.

“Ahem! Even if I upgraded it a little, it does not mean that I'm kicking you out or that it's mine now. This village is still your home, just a little bit better than before.” I said and showed them an honest smile.

“What is the price?” a man in the back asked.

“Huh? Price?” I tilted my head to the side in confusion.

“It can't be free...” the woman next to him commented.

“It is free.” I said.

“A village can't be rebuilt just like that... it can't be real.” another woman said.

“Maybe it will vanish just like that man's coins...” said a young man around twenty years old.

“Wait? What man? What coins? What happened?” I asked knitting my brow.

“Indeed, your reaction to this change, although understandable for the most part, it doesn't explain why you would think we would charge you for this, especially since Illsy offered out of the goodness of his perverted heart to help you.” asked Ayuseya.

“Hey!” I squinted my eyes at the draconian.

“You see miss, several years ago, a man came to our village. He posed as a wealthy traveling merchant and bought anything we had at ridiculously high prices. We thought we would make a fortune with him, so we sold as much as we could... our best tools, our swords, daggers, knives, someone sold even the furniture in his house. We were left with bags of gold coins, more than we had seen in our entire lives!” he gestured just how big the pile of gold was.

“That doesn't sound right... What happened next?” I asked.

“Two days after the man left with our goods... every single coin in the village turned to stone.” he looked down, clenching his fist and jaw.

“You had no more money left?” I asked surprised.

They shook their head.

“He even convinced us to exchange the little money we had for his fake coins... to balance it out, he said.” a woman said and then spat on the ground.

“We had no goods to trade in the town. We had no tools to make new goods. We had no money to buy new tools... Then the tax collector came... we were forced to have some of us willingly sell themselves into slavery so the rest of us could have a chance, but things did not get better. Then the traders stopped coming here because they heard we had no money left...” another man continued the explanation.

“I see... And everything because someone tricked you with fake coins.” I nodded.

Thinking about it, I did have a way to avoid this situation from repeating itself.

Closing my eyes, I slipped inside my Inner Mind for a few seconds. I took a small iron disc, I embedded a small Magic Energy Collector Crystal on one side, then I enchanted the disc with [Dispel Illusion] spell. I connected the enchant to the crystal, so that the latter could act like a battery.

I opened my eyes and summoned the disc in my right palm.

“Here.” I told the young man as I gave it to him.

“What's this?” he asked while looking at it a bit confused.

“[Illusion]” I chanted and activated the spell which created a copy of myself next to me.

“W-What?” the villager backed off surprised.

“Pour your Magic Energy into the Crystal and bring it close to this clone of mine.” I said with a smile.

The man gulped and nodded. When he did what I asked of him, the illusion of my clone began to show a distortion effect and not long after that vanished completely.

“What?” the man looked at the disc in his hand then at the place where my clone stood. He waved his hand through the air, but there was nothing else left there. “It's... gone?” he asked.

“Yes. That disc is something I just made. It creates a small dispelling field around it that counteracts any illusion spell. As you have seen yourself, it works. You can use it to check any item or coins in the future.” I told them with a smile.

“W-Why would you do this for us?” he asked confused.

I shrugged “Because I can, and I also wanted to.” I replied.

“F-F-For f-f-free?” the stuttering old man asked.

“Yes.” I nodded.

“You really don't want anything?” a woman asked.

“You can always worship me as your new god.” I smirked.

They began to talk among themselves.

“I was joking! Joking! If Melkuth hears I made you worship me, he'll kill me!” I complained.

“Melkuth? The God of War?” one of them asked surprised.

“Yeah, the lady in full-plate armor over there is his Apostle and also my wife. Actually, Melkuth was the one who gave me the name Deus!” I laughed and rubbed the back of my head.

“Pardon?” one of them said, but it was clear that their common sense was starting to shatter like a cheap glass smashed by a rock.

“Just forget I said that.” I looked away.

“So you really don't want anything in return?” the man who was holding the dispelling disk asked.

“Yes. Just move on with your lives, but if I were to say anything specific, then you could do me the favor and try to avoid at all costs to sell yourselves into slavery in the future. Oh, and don't discriminate against slaves and other species. I mean don't start and believe in the idiotic and illogical idea that humans are high and might and should rule over everyone else. If you can do this, then I'm good.” I said with a smile and a thumbs up.

“Yes... yes, we can do that.” the man nodded and smiled.

“Good! Then while you go and check your new homes, I'll go and pack! Oh, and every device in your new homes is powered by one of these crystals similar to the one on the disk. Charge it with your Magic Energy and use the switches next to it to activate or deactivate everything there. I'll let you explore and test things out! It should be relatively safe...” I said with a smile as I patted his shoulder.

“Erm... alright.” he nodded a bit confused.

As they moved towards their new homes and looked around their rebuilt village, I walked back to my wives and started to pack our things. I absorbed the building I spawned and told the slaves to get inside the back cars of the MCV.

I got behind the wheel and took out the map.

“We're here, in Ils, so... we need to reach this place... Kantor. It should be a six-hour drive, I think. We're not forgetting anything behind, right?” I asked my wives.

“Common sense?” Nanya asked.

“We lost that the moment we got in bed together.” I smirked.

“Speaking of which...” she said, but before she finished, Zoreya interrupted her.

“Illsy, I think it would be best if we left them a place of prayer. I thought about it, and I did not see a temple or shrine. Can you restore the one you absorbed a moment ago?” the High Apostle asked.

Nanya was glaring at her.

“Erm... sure.” I nodded and closed my eyes.

Once I flew out of my body, I spawned a small temple dedicated to no specific god. I had no idea who they worshiped here.

“There! All good?” I asked her after I got back.

“Yes. Thank you.” she nodded and kissed my cheek.

“Alright! Let's move!” I said as I started the engine and drove to the West Gate of the village.

There, several villagers were waiting for us, including the stuttering old man. I stopped the car and rolled down the window.

“We'll be going now. Take care, and I wish you good luck!” I said with a smile.

“W-W-We c-c-can n-n-never t-t-thank y-y-you e-e-enough f-f-for t-t-this.” he said with tears in his eyes and then they all bowed their heads.

“No problem! Ah, before I go, here you go!” I said and then took out around a tone of various food ingredients and placed them right next to them. “Some food and seeds that will survive in this weather. Good luck!” I said with a smile.

After rolling the window back up, I drove the car away from the village.

“There goes their common sense.” said Nanya shaking his head.

“You did good, my love.” said Shanteya with a soft smile on her lips.

“I too agree with this.” said Ayuseya with a nod.

“And they never even found out I was a Dungeon!” I said with a smirk.

“True.” Nanya said.

“Nya? But I told the old man that you are one, that's why you can do all that weird magic stuff.” Tamara said.

I nearly drove us into a tree when she said that.

“You did what?! When?!” I asked surprised.

“Nya... last night, I think? He asked if you were human. I just said you were a Dungeon loved by the Gods!” she giggled.

“Sigh... Let's hope he didn't give it too much thought.” I said with a wry smile.

“This trouble-making nekatar!” Nanya grumbled as she poked her cheek.

“Nya?” Tamara looked back at us with a clueless expression of her face.

“Hehe!” Ayuseya just let out a small giggle.

Well, since Ils had nothing to do with us anymore, we continued to drive towards Kantor. I wondered on the way what sort of adventures would await us there, especially since it was renowned as a city where Slave Dealers gathered from all the corners of Paramanium to put their wares on display.

[Three days after Illsyore left Ils Village. Third Point of View]

Thanks to the help the passing by Dungeon Lord offered them, the villager of Ils Village quickly managed to rebuild their little life. The food they were offered before he left was more than enough to last them through the winter, especially if they rationed it carefully with the hunt they procured from the forest. Meanwhile, they planted the seeds and used their new tools to produce various wares they could sell in the city.

Right now, they found themselves at a new starting point where they had everything they could possibly need and more in order to pay their taxes and avoid becoming slaves. More than anything, they felt as though all of those late-night prayers had finally been answered.

For these simple folks it was like the gods themselves descended from the High Heavens and offered them a helping hand.

Now, they were all gather at the shrine at the edge of the village. It was simple, with only a statue of wood on the altar, but what was strange was the fact that it was a representation of their very savior, Illsyore.

“Tonight, we offer the first of our many prayers to come to our god, Illsyore, for saving us, for guiding us, for giving us hope!” said the young man who received the dispelling disk from him.

The item in question had now became the treasure of the village, but maybe the strangest thing of them all were this young man's words. Spoken with such piety and belief it could make even the High Priest of another god jealous.

“We offer our prayers and thank thee, our god, Illsyore!” they all spoke in a choir.

“Oh, Dungeon Lord blessed by the gods! Oh, Dungeon Lord friend of us mortals! Oh, Dungeon Lord, Illsyore, our god! To thee we offer our prayers for thy wish is for our words to reach thee and your blessings to fall upon us all.” they all spoke at the same time.

In the sanctity of the night, under the moons above in the sky, this village reborn had now found a new god... one with which they all agreed with worshiping. After all, in their eyes, Illsyore could not be just a simple Dungeon, he had to be a god as well... Who else would be so kind with them? And besides, there were so many things that pointed to this fact, that in their belief one had to be blind not to see them: a temple dedicated to no specific god; the greatest help offered in their time of need; the fact that Melkuth himself gave a name to Illsyore; and most importantly, the fact that this Dungeon was married to an Apostle of that same god.

In the eyes of the villagers, Illsyore had the power of a god, the relationships of one, and the kind heart of one as well... Yet, it still took them three days to get over the shock of having been in the presence of a 'god' as well as accept the fact that he was indeed a Dungeon Lord...

From high above in the skies, Melkuth watched the scene of prayers and had only one thing to say.

“I sense the Divine in their prayers...”