It was a bright day in the growing town of Lenmos. Adventurers and Hunters were traveling through the town to head up the Grand Forest Path to get to midway point to Dunlap, which many had decided to simply call The Haven. The location was in the direct center of The Great Forest of Na’Eer where many monsters and plants could be found and harvested. Lenmos had rapidly grown over the last few months due to the high traffic, so they had multiple craftsmen, alchemists, and magic shops to support them and purchase the rare ingredients they would come back through with. Not far from the central plaza of the town was the home of Duke Hephaestus, who was busy at work in his office.

Duke Hephaestus, or Phaestus as he liked to be called, his true name was Eric Bison. Due to a mistake during an experiment, he accidently transferred himself and his two acre property to the current world he was in.

He met a goddess who gave him many blessings, but she made multiple mistakes of not being able to hold back. Because of the goddess’ mistakes, every item in his home was a divine object with powerful abilities. An example would be how he could put something that was near spoiling into the fridge, and a few hours later it would be in pristine condition. His home was put into a pocket dimension that was linked to his soul, and thus became his Haven, and one of his most powerful abilities. He could enter and exit the Haven instantaneously at will, as well as move items in or at as well.

During his time in the world he found out that a religion known as the Church of Light had been summoning and enslaving people from his world, and thus made it his goal to end their rein and abuse.

He met an initially androgynous person who had changed their form using a magic known as [Molding]. It turned out that the person was actually a mischievous demon-kin known as a dark elf, Micah. Micah traveled along through multiple kingdoms, being the support to Eric as he progressed his plans to end the church’s injustice.

In his pursuit, he befriended giants and many other people in Alta and the royal family of Dunlap. He saved their princess, ended the church’s plans in Dunlap, and introduced weapons to combat large monsters.

Utilizing crossbows and ballistae, they were able to battle back, disabling their dangerous abilities by using an extremely spicy seasoning known as Vulta powder which was like a demonic version of pepper spray. Eric led the efforts to construct The Grand Forest Path in his disguise as Hephaestus.

In exchange for all he had done, the royal family of Dunlap granted the title of Duke, a rank just below that of the royal family themselves, to him as well as the Grand Forest Path and the land where Lenmos grew. During their traveling together, Eric and Micah grew closer until they finally got married right after his noble appointment. They now lived in his home, doing everything he could to help the town grow and prosper.

Eric slumped down over his desk, “Ahhhhhh.” He sighed exhausted.

“Come now Eric, you have to finish.” Micah was sitting on the other side of the desk, checking over the paperwork.

“If I had known being a Duke would be this exhausting and nothing but paperwork, I would have never taken it.”

She patted his tired head as she read over a document.

“Okay, work for one more hour and then we can head to the Haven hot spring.” She said, picking up the next document.

“Hmm, alright.” He sat back up and read over another document.

“I thought the Queen of Dunlap said that we would be able to continue our travels, but we have been stuck here for almost three months. Three months!”

Let’s see, a request to build a… now they want a brothel…

“Micah, what do you think of this one? I really don’t know how I feel about something like this, not that I would use it, no one could compare to you.”

She looked over the document and blushed once she understood what he was saying.

“Well, I see no reason not to. You can put extra requirements if you wanted.”

“I can do that?” She laughed at him, reminding him that he was a noble, owner of the land, and a Duke, the highest rank of noble one could be below royalty.

“Hmm, then.”

He penned that he required it to be a clean, well maintained establishment that was forbidden from using slaves or unwilling people. They would have to pay their workers a fair wage and make sure that they have a doctor do regular checkups each week.

“Wow, these are some nice requirements.” Micah looked over the document.

“I think it would be best to avoid abuse of people and an outbreak of STDs.”

“STDs?”

He gave her a brief explanation of the subject.

“O-oh, this is a rather embarrassing subject. Was medicine in your world really advanced?”

“Yes, but I guess using potions to cure diseases are also a thing here too. Medicine was not the only thing advanced there. Many people used mechanical carriages like the one I do. People could even fly or travel long distances in far shorter amount of time.”

“Fly through the sky, OH! I remember you saying that you want to make a, oh, what was it, right! An airship!” Eric laughed at her excitement, sadly, he had not had any chance to try his hand at it.

“If I didn’t have all this paperwork, I might have been able to.”

“Steward! We need a reliable steward! Someone we can trust!”

“But who? It’s not like one is going to show up at our doorste-.”

“LORD PHAESTUS! YOU HERE?!” A shout came from outside.

“Huh? Y-you don’t think?” Eric asked as he looked at Micah, who was smiling over his panicked look.

“Let’s go see if you’re still lucky!” Micah said standing and pulling him out with her.

“Hello!” A stout dwarf stood on the porch of the lord’s house.

The door opened and a couple wearing mithril masks and fancy hooded waistcoats appeared. The man’s waistcoat was black with mithril accents. The woman’s was a deep crimson.

“Ah! Glad to see ya again Lord Phaestus.” The dwarf smiled at him.

“General Douglas? What brings you here?” Phaestus greeted the dwarf with a smile.

“Gahahahah, I am no longer a general. I, Viscount Douglas Ironwall have retired and come here in hopes to be hired by you.”

The shock was visible on Phaestus’ face while the masked woman, Aphrodite, or Dite for short, was quietly laughing behind him.

“But what about your family?! The Dunlap army?!” Phaestus asked in surprise.

“I turned those over to my sons. My wife is here with me, as well as some of my servants. My eldest has taken over as head of house Ironwall, and my third son has taken over as general of Dunlap. Trust me, both are in excellent hands. I just wanted to do something a bit easier, but also fun.” He said with a grin.

“Y-you’re not planning on overthrowing me and taking my territory are you?”

“Gahahahahah! I find that a strange question as something like this is typically handled via magic contract you know. When I spoke to the King and Queen about my retirement and me wanting something calmer and interesting, they recommended this, along with sending an air tight contract.” Douglas handed a sealed letter tube over to him.

“Read it over carefully. If you want to make any changes, let me know, oh, here is some magic ink, a gift from the royal family.” He handed an ink vial with a blue glowing ink.

“This is a lot to take in Gen-, Viscount Ironwall.”

“Please, just call me Douglas.” Douglas waved off the formalities.

“Very well, then just call me Phaestus then.”

“Perish the thought, Lord Phaestus.”

“Then only in unofficial capacities, okay?” Douglas laughed and agreed.

“Anyway, I dropped the stuff off. I will come by tomorrow with me wife and servants to see ya.”

“Thanks Douglas, I will look over the contract.”

They said their farewells and Phaestus closed the door. He slumped against the wall and slid down to the floor.

Dite started laughing out loud, “Hahahah, you truly have been blessed by the gods on luck.”

“Less of gods and more of a single goddess. Sigh. Now that I think about it, we haven’t seen them since the wedding.”

“Oh, Elder Oribaba said that they were going to give us some space to do, well, married couple things…” She trailed off, blushing a little.

Thank you Elder Oribaba, I will make you some great snacks in the future!

Phaestus had learned that the elder goddess had a severe weakness to sweets, so he would have to do some research on his computer that could at least view things from his original world.

Back in his office, Micah was reading over the contract.

“Wow, he was not kidding, this contract truly is air tight. To summarize, he and his family will be your assistants in growing and expanding your territory. Either of you can end the contract at any point in time, which if it is ended, they receive compensation for a single year of pay, you keep all of your property and they keep theirs. All you have to do is provide them a location to live and a regular wage.”

“This sounds almost too good to be true.” Eric was skeptical.

“But it is true, as I was the one who made up that contract.”

“Really, thanks… WAH!” Eric cried out when he realize that another person was right next to him.

She stood elegantly in her bright red kimono that had a golden trim. She had pale white skin and black hair that was pulled up in a fancy way, held in place by golden ornaments.

“Oh, your back. Welcome Senior Goddess.” Micah said with a warm smile.

“Thank you.” She replied.

Neither of them knew the name of the senior goddess, as she had kept it hidden all this time.

The several gods that the couple knew: Senior Goddess, name unknown, kind, elegant, intelligent, very reliable, like’s salty food.

Elder Goddess, known name; Elder Oribaba, looks like a kindly grandmother, gives off a motherly feeling, highly intelligent, loves sweets, often calls junior goddess’ before her so that she can properly educate them.

Senior God, Lystmour, god in charge of the world they are in, doing everything he can to stop the curse of Tartarus without sacrificing the people of the world, rumored to like super spicy food.

Senior Goddess Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, she loves messing with people, deeply loves her husband the actual Hephaestus, Greek god of fire. The legend of her cheating with Ares was a prank on Zeus. Loves food with a crunchy texture.

Senior God, Hephaestus, Greek god of fire, deeply loves his wife Aphrodite, gave his Blessing of Fire to Eric to help him, said to love Aphrodite’s home cooking.

Finally, the junior goddess Luna, the bumbling goddess that did not have good control over her power. When she gave her blessings to Eric, she ended up making so many things into divine tools and objects.

The well of his Haven produced divine water that could cure any status ailment and promote healing. Many of his appliances and tools could do things to perfection and do things they normally could not.

Luna also made it so that he no longer ages, though he won’t find that out until years later, which he would also find out that Luna was tricked by Aphrodite into making it so Micah also never ages as well. Luna was often recalled before Elder Oribaba to be lectured or punished for her irresponsible actions. That very Luna was standing next to the senior goddess.

“H-hey, Eric, Micah, how are you doing it? I mean! How is your sex life? I MEAN!”

“LUNA STOP! YOU’RE GOING TO GET RECALLED AGAIN!” Eric yelled at her, to which she slapped her hands over her mouth.

“Y-you’ve been peeping?!” Micah’s face turned red.

“This was not entirely her fault. Aphrodite invited her to watch without telling her.” The senior goddess explained.

“Ah! See! I’m inno-.”

“But! That does not change the fact that you stayed there and watched.”

“Ngh.” Luna then dropped to the ground bowing before them.

“I’M SORRY!”

“No hot spring or my cooking for a year for you.” Eric said.

“AH! B-but I, I… I’m sorry…” She slumped down while still bowing.

“Maybe two weeks?” Micah offered, feeling a bit bad for Luna, which Eric agreed with a smile.

My wife sure is soft hearted.

“Anyway, ma’am, you said you were the one who wrote that up?” Eric asked the senior goddess. “I did. I spoke with the Queen to see if she had any ideas of someone capable who might be able to help you with administrative work. Luna noticed the trouble you were having and asked me if I could assist.” She explained with a smile.

Luna huh?

Eric looked to Micah who smiled and shrugged.

“Alright, your punishment is revoked Luna. Be sure to thank your senior properly.” Eric said with a warm smile.

“YAY! Thank you ******! Thank you so much! I love you!” She began to kiss the senior goddess on the cheek repeatedly, which she just smiled and giggled.

“So then Eric, I have noticed that you have started all kinds of projects in your township.” The senior goddess said, once Luna had calmed down and stood happily next to her.

Eric smiled widely.

“Yup. I brought a number of old acquaintances from Meerka. Fizzy the blacksmith and her husband Charlie. Then there is Wrinklebottom, the chatty gnome alchemist and his granddaughter who is his apprentice. I also asked Al if he could drag Wanda over as well… Last is Buulgi, the forest giant and carpenter, he brought his team of workers along. Fizzy and Buulgi have been a great help in the building process. Craftsmen were also sent here from Alta by some friends there too. This place is becoming a pretty good melting pot of all kinds of races. Some merfolk and beast-kin moved here recently.” Eric explained, showing a slight regret in his voice over Wanda.

“I saw. You plan on expanding, creating waterways for the merfolk correct?” Luna commented.

“That is right. A surveyor helped with planning out on redirecting the nearby river that heads out to the west of Lake Olad. Queen Delvirra is having some of her mountain giant brethren come here. They are apparently great at earth magic.” Eric spoke excitedly.

Micah smiled brightly as she loved seeing him get excited over his projects. They spent the rest of the night in the Haven hot spring.

The following morning Phaestus invited Douglas and his family into his home. Douglas’ wife was a bear beast-kin. She had broad shoulders, hips, and a very strong looking body. She also had a set of small round ears on the top of her head.

“Hmm, your home is quite sparse.” She looked around.

“Ella, it is just the two of them. I am sure their personal room is much better equipped.” Douglas commented to his wife.

Phaestus led them into his office. “Please, have a seat.”

“Thank ye.” Douglas and his wife sat down while their servants stood near the back.

“Now, before we get to this contract, I believe that it would be best for me to tell you the truth about myself. That will require an additional contract, a non-disclosure contract.” Micah handed out the contract to each of them.

“The contract is simple. Anything you learn into my own or any one my companion’s identities is to remain a secret. The same goes for any of our abilities, skills, or powers.”

“Oh, of course, this is no issue at all. I have dealt with things like this even in Dunlap. I had to sign one to keep national secrets that I know of. Everyone, if you have not issue with it, go ahead and sign it.” Douglas and everyone else signed the contract and invoked them.

“Now, what is the big secret?”

“One moment. Permit me to see through the veil of lies, [Truth Seeker]. Now, please answer this question, do you have any connection, work for, knowingly or unknowingly for the Church of Light or anyone linked to them?” Phaestus asked them all.

They were a bit confused but all of them answered no.

Not a single liar.

Phaestus and Dite looked at one another and removed their masks.

Douglas and the others had a serious look on their faces. Eric had gotten through telling them the truth about himself, the power of his Haven, his language abilities, a little bit about the gods, the Mark of Domination, the truth of the church and the Heroes, and his personal mission to end the Church of Light.

“I am and am not surprised that that is the truth of the Church of Light. To think that their god is false.” Douglas commented.

“So you are from another world Lord Eric?” Ella asked.

“Yes. Though I did not come here like the others as I said. My goal is to end the church and save the enslaved people of my home world.”

“Lord Eric!” Ella stood and slammed her hands on his desk surprising him.

“Douglas and I would be more than happy to assist you in your noble cause! How can we help?” She excited asked, huffing.

I swear I saw steam come out her nose…

“Mostly, I have been stuck here, unable to continue doing what I need to. The church still has power among various people of power. Nobles in Meerka and Merluka. I don’t know about Obai, Moona, or the status of the elven nation Aleterra.”

“I can tell you about Merluka and Obai. I have family there that I write to often.” Ella said.

“I can help you with all of the town stuff. Once we sign the service contract, we can get to helping you on that.” Eric agreed and brought out the contract which they signed. They spent the rest of the day getting Douglas’ family moved into the estate.

“Is anyone home?” A burly female dwarf with a fiery orange hair that was in a long braid called out.

A butler answered the door, “Yes, how may I help you?”

“Oh, Lord Phaestus finally got himself some help. Is he available? I needed to ask him some stuff on one of the projects he has me working on. Let him know Fizzy is here.”

“Ah yes, he mentioned to welcome you. Please, this way Miss Fizzy.” He led her into the now furnished home.

“Wow, it looks a lot better now. Whose idea was this? Was it Mi-, Lady Dite?”

“Hohoho, no, this was Lady Ella’s idea.”

“L-Lady Ella? Is he already two-timing?!” She asked in shock, causing the butler to laugh lightly.

“No, I assure you, the only woman in Master Hephaestus’ life is Lady Aphrodite. Lady Ella is the wife of Lord Hephaestus’ new assistant, Lord Douglas Ironwall.”

Fizzy stopped again. “You mean, THAT Douglas Ironwall, the General of Dunlap?”

“One in the same. Please, wait in here. I will notify Master Hephaestus of your arrival.” The butler left her in the waiting room.

Eric and Micah appeared in the room shortly after.

“WAH!” Fizzy tripped and fell in surprise.

“Oh! Sorry Fizzy, are you alright?” Micah helped the dwarf up.

“What? How’d you do that? Was that a spell?”

“Nope, testing some things out with my Haven. Sorry about surprising you Fizzy. Allen said you wanted to speak to me?” He asked, taking a seat and offering her to take one too.

“Aye. I’ve been workin’ with Wanda on your idea of utilizing runes and magic stones to generate various effects. Though I have to admit, it is not very cost effective to make a bathtub with cold and hot water functions. You could easily learn a water spell and the spell for heating and just do it yourself.”

Sigh… If only the stones were elemental based.

“Have you heard anything about the project of adding elements to the stones themselves?”

“Not possible Imma afraid. I feel a bit bad for Wanda, she was so excited of the idea. Though I figure she will keep tryin’.”

“Just ask Al to keep her health in check so she doesn’t collapse again.” Eric requested.

“Bahahah, don’cha worry, Al is a good boy. Also I will be there to bop her in her head if needed.” She smiled widely.

Eric discussed some additional ideas with Fizzy before she left and the two of them returned to the Haven.

“Oh, you’re back. I must admit Lord Eric, this hot spring is truly amazing.”

“Mmm, I am sure the Queen would be jealous.” Douglas and Ella were relaxing in the water while wearing bathing robes.

“I’m glad you enjoy it, but once I head out, it will be inaccessible.”

“How’s the bathtub plan progressing?” Ella asked.

“Just heard from Fizzy, it isn’t cost effective to do it that way. I gave some more ideas of things they can try to make hot water more easily available.”

If they can get a water heater working at a reasonable pricing, it will help out this world a lot it we raise overall self-cleanliness. What was that saying, cleanliness is next to godliness?

“Thanks your help on the documents this morning Douglas, I don’t think Micah and I have ever gotten through them that fast.” Eric climbing into the water after changing.

“Gahahahah, you’re just not used to doing it. That and Ella is great at organizing the documents.”

“That she is.”

“Believe it or not, she was an advisor to the king of Merluka. Boy, he was mad when I filched her, but what can I say, we were madly in love!” Douglas declared which led to him getting smacked.

“This fool, acting like he stole me away. You should have seen this love struck fool, he was bowing, begging, and pleading that I accept his love.”

“W-what did you do?” Micah asked, curious to hear of another person’s love.

“I made a deal with him and the King of Merluka. I said ‘If you can find me and propose your love for me for one hundred days straight without missing a single day, I will accept your proposal!’ The king thought for sure that he would never succeed. But by the one hundredth day, the King had to concede.” Ella laughed.

“Wow, he succeeded in completing one hundred days.”

“C-come on Ella, not before Master Eric.” Douglas said sadly.

“Wow, my image of Douglas the Ogre Slayer is completely ruined…” Micah said sadly.

Ogre Slayer? Ogres exist?

“You remember what I told you of the demon-kin nation? Ogres are demon-kin. Not all of them were slaughtered, some escaped. Ogres are hardy people that fled to the North West to get away from the humans and became a bandit group. They were hidden in the mountain range between Dunlap and Alta. A lot of innocent people died because of them, but Douglas was said to have faced down their leader, a half-giant, half-ogre, and slayed him in single combat.” Micah explained.

“Ah, that was a deadly battle. In all honesty, I got a lucky hit. Ran between his legs and struck a major vein in it in a blind swing. He rapidly bled out making him weaker. All I did was out last him.” Douglas remembered apprehensively.

“I would say luck makes a large part of a battle Douglas. You deserve your honor if that is all that has you concerned.” Eric commented.

“Heheh, thank ye Lord Eric. Coming from you that means a lot.” Douglas wryly smiled as his loving wife hugged him.

“So, we discussed all the plans for the next month last night. Is there anything else I should know of before you head out?” Douglas asked Eric.

“No, handling the building plans, taxes, and land development is finally caught up. The next big development is digging out the land once the mountain giants arrive. Leave the research and development to Fizzy and her crew. I left plenty of ideas and examples with them to keep them busy for some time. I hope that by the time I come back, I will see a lot done.”

Douglas and Eric conversed over future plans for the town of Lenmos while Ella and Micah just enjoyed the water of the hot spring.

“Alright, don’t worry about a thing Master Phaestus, I assure you, we will not fail you.” Douglas stated.

Douglas, Ella, the servants, Fizzy, and the others were present to see them off.

“Lord Phaestus, do you think you could teach me the teleport spell again? I feel like I almost have it.” Wanda pleaded, trying to hang off of him with her massive chest, but Dite was fending her off.

“Not a chance Wanda. You keep trying steal my beloved husband away from me and I will have none of it.”

Al came up behind her and bopped her on the head with a stick.

“Ouch! Al, that was mean!”

“Please do not harass our employer. Would you want to be driven away for sexual harassment? Not to mention you are harassing a Duke, which could get you executed.” Al said, his ears pointed back and the fur on his tail was bristling. His expression was flat as always, but it was obvious that he was quite angry with her, which got her to back down.

“Heheh, thank you Al. I will be sure to bring you back a nice souvenir.”

“Thank you very much your lordship.” Al bowed, his ears and tail flipping happily.

Phaestus and Dite said their farewells and he teleported them to Meerka.

“Whoa!” The gate guard got startled by the appearance of two masked, robed people.

“Who are you? What is your business?” He demanded while pointing his spear.

“Calm yourself, Duke Hephaestus stands before you.” Dite announced.

“D-Duke Hephaestus!? Um, I mean no disrespect, but do you have proof of such? Lately I have had a few people trying to impersonate the Duke of Dunlap.” The guard was a bit nervous, thinking that it this time it might be the real thing.

“Of course.” Phaestus pulled the medallion he received from the royal family of Dunlap and showed the guard, along with the paperwork.

“Oh, my, by the gods! You truly are him!” The guard got excited and saluted Phaestus.

“Milord, it is truly an honor to meet the Apex Slayer! Please, this way, no need for you to wait in line with the rest.” The guard led them all the way up to the gate. The people in line watched in awe, whispering amongst themselves.

“It is true! You cannot make out his face. It seems to always be shifting.”

“The one who killed the queen basilisk, I can feel the power radiating off of him.”

“Who is the beautiful woman with him?”

“That is Lady Aphrodite, his wife! Some say her beauty is blinding, and that is why she wears the mask!"

“Then why does he wear one?”

“I don’t know. Maybe to match her?”

“I really wanted to see his silver Chariot…” Phaestus heard a young boy at the end and a kind smile came to his face.

“Boy, how would you like to ride in it? Along with your father there?”

The boy’s face lit up. “Father! Could we! Please!”

“Uh, but the cart…”

“No issue.” Phaestus stored it away. “I will return it at the gate.”

The father was stunned at first but accepted. Phaestus summoned his silver Chariot and they climbed in along with the guard. It was a short ride, but the smile on the boy’s face was worth it. They stopped at the gate and Phaestus swapped out his Chariot with the father’s cart.

“Thank you so much milord!” The boy was so excited that he hugged Phaestus.

The father was about yell at the boy in a panic until he saw the warm smile on Phaestus’ face. Phaestus patted the boy’s head, which was when he realized what he did.

“I-I’m sorry milord!” He bowed.

“It is fine. So long as my coin purse is still on me.” He said with a teasing smile.

“I-I would never think of doing such a thing milord! I am a good boy!”

The father chuckled and hugged his boy from behind. “The Duke knows you are a good boy, which is why he fulfilled your wish.”

“Oh, you tricked me!” The boy said with a wide grin.

“Milord. My name is Mickael, and this is my John. I own and run a shop in the noble district called Manny’s Jewel Crafters, please stop by if you get a chance, or you are welcome to join us on our way there.”

Phaestus thought for a moment, but before he could agree, the guard captain came running up.

“I heard that Duke Hephaestus was here! Is it true?!” He asked in a panic.

“I am Duke Hephaestus. What is wrong guardsmen?”

“Milord! Do you have your Chariot!? A group of slavers of Goun left the city an hour ago and were heading to the border. I heard your Chariot is faster than a hundred horses, please, we cannot let them get away with the people they enslaved against their will!”

“Understood.” He summoned his Chariot.

“Is there anyone who would recognize them that can ride along?”

“I saw them myself, so I can spot them.” The captain turned to get some more guards but Phaestus stopped him.

“There will be no need for more people. Dite and I will be more than enough to stop them. Get in.” Phaestus and Dite climbed in.

The guard captain had two guards who were immediately available to get in as well.