World Keeper

Chapter 927: Housewarming

Tubrock made a new home for us in Dale’s place? Aurivy couldn’t help but think to herself, having been keeping an eye on the results of Dale’s training. She was the Goddess of Travel, so if anyone was going to need emergency transport, she would have to be ready. However, she was completely unfamiliar with the city-like structure that Tubrock had built. That guy’s getting better at hiding his projects… I’ll need to sneak into his workshop later to see what else he’s been up to.

A small smile formed on Aurivy’s lips, before Julia’s words pulled her back to reality. “Is everything going well?” The elf asked, taking the time to tend to her apple trees. During the fifteen years that they had spent in the Admin Room, her trees had been left alone, so there was an abundance of fruit to gather.

Julia had been taking her time these last few days to gather the fruits, process them, and arrange the golden juice. After spending so long, the divinity within the oldest fruits was even more pure. Just the raw value of the divine energy itself would be worth several black gold coins, not to mention the supporting effect of stimulating divinity.

“Hm? Oh! Dale just got his new home from Tubrock, and it turns out that there’s a place for the rest of us to live in it, too.” Aurivy answered, not feeling the need to hide anything from Julia. Even if Julia hadn’t been brought to the Admin Room, Aurivy would tell her practically everything.

Julia blinked, thinking about that. She pursed her lips lightly, looking at the orchard before her. “Would we be able to take these trees with us?”

Aurivy shook her head. “I could transport them with my divinity, but the soil in that world isn’t the same as Sanctum’s. At most, you’d be able to get lower-grade golden apples by tapping into the Keeper’s divinity. The various special properties within Sanctum can’t be so easily reproduced.”

Julia gave a small nod as she heard that. “In that case, would it be alright if we stayed here? If you want to go live in the place made by Tubrock, of course I underst--”

“Nuh uh!” Aurivy shook her head firmly. “We already have our home here. What’s a house made by Tubrock compared to a house made by you? A few extra modern gadgets? We’ll just buy them and install them ourselves. That place can just be our vacation home whenever we want to have a change of scenery.”

Julia smiled softly, reaching out to ruffle Aurivy’s hair. “Alright. We’ll stay here then. Have you gotten caught up in Fragments of Acidia, yet?”

Aurivy let out a deep groan. “All of the quest chains I was working on expired, so I’ve basically had to start over as far as social standing is concerned. It might be easier for the two of us to just move to a different empire.”

Udona let out a satisfied sigh as she walked back to her office, her eyes like upturned crescents. Unlike Aurivy, Udona was seriously considering the matter of moving to Olympus. It’ll be more convenient for Aznod to cook for everyone if we’re all gathered in one place. As for me, would it really matter whether I rule Deckan from the palace of Ashtanu or from a palace created for the Greater Pantheon?

Well, there will likely be some nobles that try to vie for a greater position, saying that the ruler of Deckan should live on Deckan. They won’t try to take over the planet, but will certainly want to get a bit more autonomy. I’ll just deal with those as they come.

Udona couldn’t help but giggle softly, bringing a hand up to her mouth. Tsubaki will even be able to learn up close from Aznod, so I’m sure that she’ll appreciate that. And I can bring the shadow servants Dana gave me to take care of our palace in Olympus.

At this point, Udona had already made up her mind. All that was left was to make the necessary arrangements. For instance, setting up a system to transfer any of her daily business to the new palace, or notifying all of the local lords. I’ll leave the palace behind as a symbol, but the gates will stay closed and guarded. Don’t want anyone getting any funny ideas.

After giving us a brief introduction of Olympus, Tubrock left to go back to the Admin Room. I asked Tsubaki to go and control the Citadel to begin moving over to the new divine world, where I planned to park it in the sky above Olympus. While she was getting that ready, I began exploring on my own.

“Keeper’s Palace.” I called out to the elevator, another flash teleporting me across the city. Once the elevator door opened, I thought for a moment. “Did Tubrock give you a name?”

“Of course, sir.” A voice spoke back to me from within the elevator. “All of the AI controlling the core functions of Olympus were given names by Tubrock. As for me, I am known as Hermes. My duty is to guide individuals through Olympus.”

Hermes, huh? “I see… would you mind telling me about the other AI as I walk?” I asked, turning and moving down the hall. Unsurprisingly, his voice was fully capable of following me.

“That would not be a problem at all. Let’s see… it is the duty of Poseidon to regulate the atmosphere, and Zeus is in charge of the city’s defensive facilities. Hades manages your treasury. If you require the city to enter flight mode, Apollo is equipped to act as the pilot.”

Tubrock… you really went wild with the Greek theme, didn’t you? Please don’t tell me that there’s an Aphrodite or anything like that…I shook my head to rid myself of those thoughts, turning and looking into the first room I saw after entering the elevator. Unsurprisingly, it was a study, though one with a great many books lining the walls. Out of curiosity, I entered the study and looked at the different books.

Each book contained a different technique or style that I had practiced in the past, or those that I had shown an interest in. There were also history books, as well as copies of the more popular books written by Lifre. “Go on.” I encouraged Hermes after I noticed he fell silent.

“Yes, my apologies. Athena is in charge of managing the library. Demeter and Artemis share the task of managing food supplies, with Demeter providing for grown products from the greenhouses and Artemis connecting with the Boundless Caravan to acquire any animal products.”

That certainly got my attention. “Artemis can connect to the Boundless Caravan?” I asked in surprise, glancing back towards the door of the study.

“That’s right, sir. Tubrock established a Boundless Caravan shrine in the management section of the facility, and Artemis has been accepted as a priestess of both Leowynn and Ryone, granting her access. Finally, there is Hephaestus, who is in charge of maintaining the Void Core that powers the city.”

I gave a small nod at that. So there is no Aphrodite, or Hestia, or even an Ares. It looks like he didn’t go out of his way to fill out the Greek pantheon, and just named the AI as their roles fit the theme. Still, I’m surprised Hermes wouldn’t be the one in charge of trade. Maybe he only wanted each AI to have one specialized job, in order to prevent over-reliance on any particular entity? None of them possess a job that couldn’t be managed with a single skilled worker.

“So, Tubrock set up void power for the city?” I asked after listening to the final statement from Hermes.

“That’s right. In order to properly power a city of this scale, a large Void Core was implemented. As long as it is properly maintained, the Void Core should be sufficient to provide energy for Olympus until the distant future.”

I nodded my head again, putting away the book I was looking at and leaving the study. There was still far more to see. If Zeus was the name of the AI in charge of defense, it was reasonable to assume that the city’s defensive facilities primarily relied on energy weapons, similar to the ‘thunderbolt’.

As I was moving down the hall, Hermes suddenly spoke up again. “Sir, there are guests waiting for you in the living area.”

“Guests?” I blinked in surprise, turning to move back to the elevator. “Take me there.”

After I said that, there was another flash of light, and the elevator opened out to a rather large seating area. There were several couches and chairs gathered around a few tables, each with its own spherical terminal set into the table, the equivalent of a television.

Sitting in the couches were a few familiar faces. First, the Terra twins were happily chatting with one another. Secondly, I could see Alena, who had ascended to receive her full divine status. Despite this, she maintained her identity as Alena as opposed to taking Irena’s name.

Finally, two elves sat on another couch, clearly Ryone and Leowynn, together with the very recognisable Scarlet. “You all got here rather fast.” I said with a small chuckle, stepping inside.

“Hey, it’s him!” One of the Terra’s called out, looking over. “The big girl said we should stop by. We’re not here long, though. We’ve got our own place, so she just wanted us to pay a visit. Something she called… housewarming? Yeah, that was it!”

The other Terra nodded her head. “That’s right. If you need our help in the future, be sure to call us, sir. We’ve been practicing with our prophecy, so we should be able to help guide you if you encounter a problem.”

After I gave a nod towards them, the next to speak was Alena. “As for myself… Lady Irena asked me to come and live here. It is rare for her to make such a request, but I owe far too much to deny it, especially when it would be such a good thing for me as well. I hope that my presence will not be a problem for you.”

“Of course not, Alena.” I shook my head. “Are you still able to carry out your work from here?”

Alena gave a simple nod. “I am currently an Archbishop of Irena’s church, managing a military branch of the church specialized in dealing with spiritual threats. I can easily take care of the new Wraiths from this location.”

With a nod, I turned to look at the final group, Scarlet being the first to speak. “You only recently invited me to live with you, dad. Now that you have a new home, I have to come along as well, right?” She asked with a sweet smile. “As soon as you started creating this world, I made my preparations. Any incidents with Bloodhaven will be immediately forwarded to the city’s system… ah, sorry, to Hermes.”

“Can’t count us out, either.” Ryone grinned, leaning over against Leowynn. “We don’t manage any big companies or anything, so it’s completely fine for the two of us to stay here. Besides, Tubrock set up such an interesting magic workshop for me in my palace here, so I’m looking forward to seriously starting up my research again. I should be able to crack the nature of fifth tier magic long before Gerard reaches it.”

Somehow… I didn’t doubt that. She had been studying magic longer than anyone else in the world. If anyone could find the intricacies of the fifth tier, it would be Ryone.

“Do you know if anyone else is coming?” I asked, looking around. There were quite a few more already than I expected, but somehow, that just made me happy. This place was simply too large, after all. Even with this many, it would be easy to go days without seeing anyone if we didn’t go to the common areas.

“Udona’s starting to get ready, so I expect she’ll bring her new hubby here.” Ryone smirked playfully. “As for the rest… Tubrock set up a grand forge in his own palace, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he spends some time here. I haven’t heard anything from Accalia, Ashley, or Keliope, either. The last ones… not sure about Aurivy, but I think that Bihena will probably make her way here. This city is the kind of thing she likes, after all, and her incarnation hasn’t been up to much lately.”

THIS CHAPTER UPLOAD FIRST AT NOVELBIN.COM