A Guide to Kingdom Building

"Wake up…Oi…Wake up!" Adaloun heard a familiar voice. It sounded like someone he had spoken with for many times now, but somehow it was a bit different. It was a little high-pitched and cheerful voice.

"Oi..wake up, you!" Adaloun felt a finger poking his face. "Oi…Adaloun…" Her voice sounded playful.

He didn't want to open his eyes. He was tired to the point of exhaustion. Adaloun had completely outdone himself again. Pushing the boundaries of the newly acquired ability he got from Oyue.

He wanted a simple ability that doesn't require as much intervention from deities as possible. But he was given more than what he asked for. It wasn't as strong as his previous abilities over the lifetimes he had, but it was still too potent for his liking. He didn't want that. He didn't like the idea of owing another goddess a favor for giving him powers beyond anyone in that world. That had caused a lot of problem in the past, he doubted if it wouldn't cost anything now.

He could feel his arm being lifted by warm, small soft hands. He felt a breath of warm air touching his skin, and then…

"Ouch!" He opened his eyes as the teeth sank deep into his skin. "W-what are you doing?!" He pulled the young girl away from his arm.

"Waking you up! Hmp!" She crossed her arms and pouted.

Adaloun checked the bitten area and found no blood. The bite did not even penetrate his skin but there was a warm and pulsating red bite mark on his arm. He looked around to see where he was. It was a familiar place.

"W-why am I here?" He said as he stared at the campfire. The same campfire that they usually hangout with his comrades. "W-who are you?"

He stared at the kid. She looked awfully similar to that pestering goddess who annoyed him. She had puppy dog eyes, a short-cropped silver hair and a dress that resembled the starlit night sky.

"Hey! It's me!" She blinked her eyes. "Oyue! Teehee!" She cracked a smile from ear to ear while standing proud putting both hands on her hips.

Adaloun was confused. He knelt down and messed the girl's hair. "Oyue? Pfftt…nice try kid! Who are you, truly?" He smiled.

The young girl frowned and took his hand from her head. She twisted it, before throwing him away from the campfire. The poor Adaloun tumbled and rolled on the dry dusty ground. He landed on one of the tents, entangled by the cloth and leather of the shelter.

His eyes widened in disbelief. Could it be that the girl was telling the truth? Is she the one she claimed she is? She was strong, too strong for a child, obviously. Adaloun couldn't wrap his head around what just happened.

"You're dumb too, aren't you?" The girl picked her nose and flicked some dirt from it.

"Y-you are not Oyue!" Adaloun pointed at her. "I could see it from a mile away!"

"Mile?" She scratched her head before she realized what it was, "Oh! You mean that unit of measurement from the other worlds! You should bring that here! Their unit of measurement here is… soooo…crappy!"

Adaloun rubbed his eyes. He still couldn't believe what he's seeing.

"So, you're Oyue…don't come close! Stay there!" He stood up and gestured her not to come any further, without looking afraid. He didn't want to look bad and weak in front of a kid who just flung him away like it was nothing.

The unfazed girl didn't heed his request and still approached him. "Hey…you stay there! I warn you! I have powers too!" He activated his newfound ability.

His body was filled with glowing patterns of lines and swirls. He warned the kid once again. "I maybe weak, but I could put up a fight!" His eyes glowed as the power spread all over his body. Adaloun assumed his fighting stance which he thought was ridiculous. Fighting a young child was just the lowest of the low, and in all of his reincarnations, he never entertained such idea. But then again, there he was right now, raising a fist against a young girl.

The child furrowed her eyebrows and pouted. "You're an idiot, Adlaw-on!"

Her eyes glowed brighter than his and the young girl started to float into the air. His eyes widened and his mouth ajar. She raised her hand and snapped her fingers. Just like that, Adaloun's power disappeared. 

He felt his power sealed away from him. The glowing patterns flickered and faded completely from his body. The enormous power spreading all over his body halted all of the sudden. His body wasn't able to handle the strain of the sudden power concealment.

Adaloun dropped in all fours on the ground, panting and sweating heavily. He looked at the child hovering above him, eyes glowing and smirking smugly at him.

"Now, do you believe?" Her voice sounded as if there were multiple persons inside of her small body. She hovered closer to him, eyes glowing intimidating the poor human. "Adlaw-on, I…" she coughed.

"Cough…cough…" She gestured at him asking him for a moment to compose herself and adjusted her voice. "Darn it! I hate it when that happens!"

He couldn't believe what he's seeing in front of him. The little child proved herself to be the same goddess he had in contact after all this time. He stood up and dusted himself.

"Oyue, huh?" He tried not to fret at the sight of a floating girl with halos forming on her back. "I remember you were older?"

Oyue looked at him bummed by his statement. She lowered herself to meet Adaloun eye to eye. The pressure from her aura made it difficult for Adaloun to breath, but he didn't want her to see that. He clenched his fists hard for him to avoid from bowing down from the pressure by pursing his mouth and breathing rapidly in a subtle way.

"You're dumb, jeez! A jerk too!" She sighed. "This is what happens when I overuse my powers."

"Overuse?" He scratched his head. "How would a goddess overuse her powers?! You have an unlimited source! You're a deity!" He pointed out.

Oyue sighed once again, "I may be a deity, Adlaw-on but I do not have the full extent of my powers ever since I descended to the mortal plane." She slowly landed herself on the ground and suppressed her unbelievable aura.

Adaloun was finally able to breathe normally once again, "How did you overexert that power?"

The small moon goddess sat on the ground. Her face rested on her hand as her eyebrows wrinkled at the bridge of her nose. She tried to enumerate to him what caused her to exert so much of her powers.

"Well, firstly, I gave you abilities that primarily came from my essence. Secondly, a few more people called for me and asked for my services." She raised out her fingers counting two. "Thirdly, the visuals you had seen during our trip to your memory lane is also one. Lastly, I need to help you all escape! So I have to find away to get all of you out of there! So—

Adalaoun didn't let the moon goddess finish what she was about to say. "Wait, I got the other three reasons. So...what do you mean by escape? I recalled seeing a glimpse of the beastman rise and carry the faerfolks. Wait—"

"Well, I was trying to help them out of that sticky situation as those other pesky humans came and took you away along with the Prestonheim guy." Oyue embarrassedly explained. "If I hadn't possessed him earlier, they wouldn't be in Arenfall right now."

Adaloun couldn't with her explanation, "W-what do you mean by that?" He asked.

Oyue scratched her head in annoyance. But remained calm as she tried her best to choose the simplest words for the thick-skulled mortal to understand what she meant.

"Well," She pouted her lips and tapped her cheek with her finger. "You're a human! So, you won't be able to understand what they would go through in this world."

He was left speechless after what she said. Out of all the worlds he'd been to, this was the first time he heard of it. Throughout his lifetimes, and countless people he has been with, it was the first time he heard of this statement.

"What do you mean by that? Being…human?!" His eyebrows furrowed as he tried comprehending on it. "Is there any difference with how others are being treated here?"

Adaloun never had a clue about it. Surely, there were other races in worlds he's been to before. He was once part of those other races as well during his previous incarnations, but he was never treated differently. The races he's been born to were either revered or greatly honored by the world he's in.

And there were slaves on those worlds as well! He got to save all of them regardless of which incarnation he was, he always had been a champion for freedom. But that was just it, a champion.

He never spoke with the slaves nor mingled with them. He never asked the other races how the world was treating them. He was just focused on saving the world. A world where he thought needed saving but never the people.

"I had to do what I had to do to save my children, Adaloun." Oyue said. "Even if it means I may have to break one of them to save the many."

Adaloun felt his anger surging. The goddess finally showed her real colors. That move Oyue did could've killed his friend. He had seen that a few times when the gods of his previous lifetimes would enter a mortal body.

"You're the same as the rest of them!" He punched the ground in anger and frustration. "You tricked me to believe that you were a—"

Oyue interrupted him. Her aura turned the jovial child into a brooding adult. "I never lied to you, Adaloun. You know that. You're just too scared to face the reality of this."

She placed her hand on his shoulder, "This is a world cruel enough that you don't need demonlords and other magical overlords to see the brutality. This is how a real world looks like, Adaloun. They should've prepared you for this!"