Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 176

Chapter 176: Construction

Lysette and Mirae made their way through a leisurely stroll through the woods just to the northeast of Ciricu proper.  The air was still thick and vibrant with the scent of the recent deluge.  And as the droplets of water on the leaves all around refracted the sun’s warm rays into a glittering spectrum of greens and golds, a sense of calm and serenity came over Lysette, one she had only rarely felt in the months since her rebirth.

She smiled, looking up as a bevy of fluffy white clouds briefly occluded the afternoon sun, and gripped Mirae’s hand a bit tighter, letting her fingers dissolve and wrap around their hand like a glove.  Mirae turned to her with an expression equal parts amused and bemused, and when Lysette saw the look upon her love’s face, she remained stoic.  For all of two seconds, before a grin broke out upon her face, followed by Mirae’s Reciprocating in kind.

The two shared a kiss deep in the woods, long and passionate, Mirae’s arms fully wrapped around Lysette as she allowed herself to submit to Mirae’s guidance.  The people of Ciricu were never distant from her mind, nor was her quest for vengeance, nor whatever fate Zarielle would have in store for her after everything that had transpired in recent weeks.  But in those moments, alone with Mirae, in nature, they were as distant as they ever could be.

Lysette relished those moments, those brief reprieves from a tireless task of trying to balance the myriad obligations upon her.  Of course, many of those obligations were of her own choosing.  She had chosen to accept Mirae as her lover and disciple and companion of her own volition.  And she had chosen to aid the Cultivation of her followers— something she was doing in the back of her expansive deific mind even as she walked through the woods— again of her own free will.

Others were put upon her by forces beyond her ability to decline.  Zarielle was likely plotting something nefarious after Lysette’s bouts of disobedience, revealing her divinity and working to undermine the current pantheon.  And that concern was dwarfed still by Asterion’s plans to unmake the world completely and reshape it in his own image.  Though these were of paramount importance, Lysette’s only way to combat them was to bolster her own divinity and the strength of her allies.  And that meant focusing on smaller-scale, more immediate concerns that she could directly control.

“So, love,” Mirae said.  “Do you have any ideas?”

“I’d like to start with an artificial river going over the north side of Ciricu,” Lysette responded.

“An artificial river?”

“A canal, I suppose.  It will serve multiple objectives.  First, it gives us a line of defense against Terean forces from the north.  Second, it clearly demarcates the territory we are claiming as being under our protection.  Third, access to the global ocean can only be good for the longer-term prospects of our commercial prospects.  And finally— this is the most intangible benefit— it will be the first act as demigods of directly molding Aimarion to suit our needs and the needs of those who live under our protection.”

“That all makes sense, love.  And yet, I can scarcely fathom the amount of time and energy it’ll take in order to effect that sort of change to Aimarion.  Let alone, as I’m sure Saffron would chastise us, any unforeseen side effects that may serve to our detriment.”

“Good point.  I don’t want to abandon my Ambitions just because of the potential for negative after-effects.  But I think getting some more advice from the townsfolk would do us some good as well.”

“I’m glad to hear it.  Lead the way?”

Lysette nodded, and together they turned back toward the town, taking a brief moment to hover over the trees and get a view of Ciricu from this vantage.  A population of about fifteen hundred spread out over some three hundred houses, storefronts, and a handful of community buildings.  Most notably among the latter was the large hall where Lysette and Mirae had met with the council of elders the previous day.

To both the southeast and southwest were various communal farmsteads in which the majority of the town’s foodstuffs were grown.  The environment was well-suited for agriculture; wheat and maize both grew well in the temperate and rainy climate.  There were also a number of other less cultivated vegetable and fruit crops which natively grew in the area, providing supplemental foodstuffs.  Finally, the village tended to a herd of about eight hundred heads of sheep and cattle to provide meat and dairy products.

It seemed that Ciricu was at least mostly self-sufficient in terms of local food production, perhaps needing trade only for more variety of foodstuffs, as well as supplemental resources in times of disease or blight.  Still, she wanted to confirm this with the town’s administrative experts and secure their advice and feedback before undertaking her plans.

After a short walk back into town— one made longer by a pair of impromptu flights around the village at the behest of a handful of tots playing outside— the two made their way to the home of Lyon, the village’s expert and chief administrator in matters of trade, commerce, and industry.

The house itself was no different than most of the others.  Cozy and homely, about twenty-five feet square on the outside, formed of a combination of wooden planks, fired mud bricks, and a foundation made mostly of stone and hardened earth.

Lysette knocked on the door, which was followed by something that sounded strangely like a crashing sound and then the thump of something hitting the ground.  That, in turn, was followed by a low groan, and as the two realized what had happened, they turned to one another with an embarrassed look on their faces.

The door opened a moment later, revealing the lanky, bookish-looking man wincing as he clutched and rubbed his left elbow with his right hand.  He looked at Mirae, then over to Lysette, and then immediately stepped back and leapt to full attention with preternatural speed.

“My apologies for making you wait, Lady Lyse.”

“It’s fine, Lyon.  And just Lyse is fine; I’m not much of a fan of titles and pomp.”  Lysette reached out her aura and used her regenerative abilities to soothe Lyon’s wound.

“Oh, um…  If you say so, Miss Lyse.”

Lysette took a deep breath.  She still didn’t like the ‘Miss’ Lyse, but it seemed as informal of a title as most of the townsfolk were willing to give.  Except, of course, for the kids, who seemed to actually listen and call her just ‘Lyse’ as she preferred.

“By the way, did you just heal me?  My arm doesn’t hurt at all anymore!”

“I did.  And I apologize for stopping by unannounced. I came seeking some advice.”

“Oh, um…  Please forgive me for the mess.  I wasn’t expecting company.  I haven’t cleaned the place in a month and there are books everywhere and–”

Lysette stepped inside as Lyon continued to stammer about.  His house wasn’t nearly as bereft of cleanliness as he had made it out to be, although there were certainly no small number of books strewn about.  There was also a single dirty bowl containing some sort of soup, likely from lunch, and a half-eaten piece of bread near the open book on the desk in the sitting area.

Lyon guided the two over to a small couch, and after Lysette took a moment to stealthily wipe it down with some shadowy dustrags, Mirae sat down upon it.  Lysette followed a moment later, dissolving a portion of her hips to ensure sufficient space for both to sit in relative comfort.

“So, Miss Lyse, what is it that I can assist you with today?”

“I wanted to get your advice about a project I want to start on for the village.  Specifically, I want to start construction on a new waterway through Cirucu.  Not one like the small streams just outside of town, but something much bigger, one which will flow from Ciricu all the way to the ocean.”

Lyon’s eyes went wide.  “Well, let it never be said that our guardian thinks small.  I can see why such a thing would be beneficial to our town.  Especially if your waterway was wide and deep enough to allow our town to have a fully functional inland port.  It would be the commercial bonanza of a lifetime.

“But, I must implore you that many people who live here have grown accustomed to quiet life here in the countryside.  Although your intentions may be good— and I agree they are— just remember that your actions will not be seen positively by all.”

Lysette nodded.  “I know.  That’s been a struggle for me as well, trying to figure out how to best use this strength in service of ordinary people, rather than my own selfish ends.”

Mirae interjected.  “So, if the plan of a massive inland port is too much, too soon, what about a small stream that flows through town?  There’s enough snowpack on the Spire Mountains to facilitate that, and, based on the forests around down, probably enough snow and rain to ensure that the stream would flow for most of the year.”

Lyon furrowed his brows and turned around to one of his bookshelves, eyes darting about wildly as he looked for something.  Lysette briefly considered offering help, but instead was content to wait and observe as he pored through a rather-plain looking, loosely-bound book.

He set it down, started flipping pages with abandon, and stopped about halfway through the text.  Once he had found whatever he was looking for, he grabbed a sheet of paper and started jotting various things down.  His pen moved with alarming alacrity, stopping only to occasionally draw more ink as he continued writing for the better part of ten minutes.  When he finally did turn back around, his expression was equal parts excitement and exasperation.

“I just threw some back-of-the-envelope calculations together based on some data that Terea has gathered about the local climate over the last two hundred years, and I think Mirae’s proposal will actually work out.  At least in theory.  The problem is that we hardly have the resources to spare the manpower needed to undertake such an exhaustive project.”

“Please, don’t concern yourself with that,” Lysette said.  “I won’t be able to do this overnight, but Mirae and I will be working on this project ourselves over the coming months.”

“Can you do that?  I thought you were going to be training Theo and teaching him Cultivation.”

“I can do both.  In fact, I’m helping Theo with his Cultivation even while we’re talking with one another.”

“Wait…  Do goddesses have some sort of ability to be in two places at once?”

“Not innately.  We do, however, have the ability to truly multitask, not just divide our attention and try to split our focus.”

“Well, rub that in my face, why don’t you?” Lyon said.  “Kidding, kidding.  Still, it would be pretty nice to have that ability for myself.  So many books to read, so much information to glean, so many incredible ideas I could further.”

Lysette lowered her head.  “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?  Don’t be sorry.  I don’t think the town as a whole is ready for the bigger plans you were talking about earlier, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t do a lot of good.  And even this project has the potential to help us in a huge way.  Just thinking about how many animal-hours of labor we spend having them crank the flour mills instead of tending to the fields.  We replace that with some water mills and all of the sudden, we can start moving beyond just a subsistence lifestyle and really improve Ciricu for posterity.”

“Are you going to be okay with that?” Mirae asked.

“We will have to make these changes small and incrementally rather than all at once.  Give everyone the chance to buy in and raise their concerns, taking their feedback into consideration as we move forward.  But I agree with you; I think there are some real possibilities here, and I very much want to make this town as good as I can for the kids and the children who will come after them.  I will get to work right away on devising some plans for this project.”

“Then, we’ll leave you to it?” Lysette asked.

“Oh, of course!  Please…  Um, you don’t mind showing yourself out, do you?”

“No, we’re fine.  Also, we’ll probably be heading back to Domaria tonight, so it might be a couple days before we get back in earnest.”

“Of course, of course.  The town wasn’t built in a day.  And we’ll need to respect that it won’t be improved tomorrow either.”

Lysette smiled as she and Mirae left Lyon’s house.  The sun was descending down the western horizon, and as the sunlight glistened against the snow-capped peaks of the Spire Mountains to the south, she was filled with warmth.  Warmth at the prospect of using her power to improve lives, rather than taking them.”

Chapter 175: https://www.patreon.com/posts/109914084

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/table-of-101896170

Chapter 177: https://www.patreon.com/posts/109914091