The Earthmother, prior known as Toby to some, stared at tens and tens of candles that had been lit inside his cathedral. . ah, The Shrine of The Earthmother of course! How could he forget?

No, he could not, he had still nightmarish visions about birthing children, he had an especially nasty one about giving birth to Fulgwan, who had been already preaching while half-way out of his womb.

His fur tickled so much!

Toby shook his head to get the unpleasant thoughts out, but it just stirred his nearby sheeps to fall into yet another religious trance. Should he perhaps make the golems fall apart, feigning The Earthmother’s death? He began seriously considering that idea with all the crazies that had been attracted to him.

No, he should use the situation to his benefit. He knew that he was no goddess, but borrowing the influence of a goddess might not be a bad move. However, he was no god and should think about a system that would stabilize his power.

“If you want to serve me so much, then I will use you. Let’s do a sermon!“ Toby thought and walked to the middle of the shrine where he had made an elevated podium. Originally, he had intended to build a workshop here, but he would have no trouble to make it under the ground floor of the shrine instead. He positioned the golem that he was using as the focus for his consciousness with the help of his [Minions] ability and placed the other golems in a circle around him.

Well, there were just four.

Unsurprisingly, when he displayed the text on his body, everybody was too far to read it. Although he considered it a problem for a second, there were others that saw it as a golden opportunity.

“No, you won’t.“ An old man whispered angrily and sabotaged some youth that was jogging in his direction, using his cane to skillfully deliver him to the ground with a loud thud.

“What a devouted youth to pray so eagerly!“ The old man said and stepped over him without a hint of shame, but before he managed to get to Toby, the fastest of the wanna-be-prophets had already stood at the place the old man himself was aiming for.

“Hear the will of The Earthmother delivered through her soil!“ Fulgwan shouted and began to read what Toby had written on his torso with earth magic. Noticing the smirk he gave to the old man, Toby was no longer even sure that Fulgwan was a religious person, most of his venerable prophets were most likely a bunch of crooks, hastily sucking onto a big tit they had spotted. The Earthmother’s tit. His tit.

No he should have stopped with the comparisons.

“My Children!“ Fulgwan shouted in a seizure-like state, Toby thought that he should check if the astute furry creature was not in fact a foxkin.

“I have come in your hour of need, but our bond is not yet strong.“ Toby focused on the contents of his message, as it would play a pivotal role in strengthening his position

“Make yourselves comfortable and close to the earth, try to feel the peace that I bring.“ At this time, Toby noticed his first prophet candidate had suddenly a silly expression on his face. Yes, he was very close to earth indeed and happiness overflowed from him.

Wait, was he the only honest prophet that he had? What a pity.

“Imagine you are one with the world around you and let my soothing touch enter your mind. Some of you might not be lost like before any longer, but become enlightened by my presence.“ Fulgwan continued to relay The Earthmother’s message.

“Those of you who have succeeded should be able to enter another space full of wonder and serenity.“

What The Earthmother was trying to do, was to push them into their own inner world and turn them into mages. They would easily believe that their newfound power was the will of The Earthmother. It would strengthen Toby’s influence over the crowd, the crowd’s power and would enable him to do some experiments at the same time.

A perfect move.

“I can see it! I can see it!“ A fervent voice echoed through the cathedral .. The Shrine of The Earthmother. Many turned to look at the black-tailed catkin who had just shouted exitedly.

“What a coincidence.“ Toby grumbled under his breath.

“What do you see around you, my child, in your moment of enlightment?“ Fulgwan was clearly slightly derailed by the fact that Shingu was the one, he probably considered the whole spectacle to be just a big farce.

“There is . .light.“ Wide eyed, Shingu gave the most vague answer in existence.

“How does it feel, what is its color?“

“Green, wait, it is not a color but a sea of bright green leaves!“ Shingu breathed out, his face turning slightly red, as the attention of everyone was focused on him.

Toby suppressed an angry shout. Why was he the one stuck with a purara purplish magic girl power and this ordinary poor sod had green leaves?

PAH! So unfair!

“Concentrate on the brightness and shape a tree in the middle of where you are! Make it as big as you can.“ Toby gritted his nonexistent teeth and began his first experiment without anyone having a clue. Well, maybe Fulgwan was slightly suspicious.

“Yes, I shall do as you will Earthmother.“ Toby noticed that his faithful prophet strained his facial muscles to keep his serious face, while he watched his comrade turning into a complete puppet of The Earthmother.

It took some time before the expression of Shingu’s face finally stabilized at the standard face of a religious fanatic.

“The tree is complete, I feel life flowing into my veins!“ Shingu exclaimed, excited by the new feeling. Naturally, it was the same feeling that Toby felt when he had completed his notice board for the first time.

“Show us your gift.“ Toby asked through the mouth of his prophet who was now showing signs of diebelief. Shortly after, there was a collective sigh of numerous people, when they watched a wine sprout out of Shingu’s hand.

“He has been enlightened as many of you will be!“ Toby stated with triumph, he would have laughed if he could, what a bunch of naive simpletons.

“The Earthmother have blessed him!“

“It is a miracle!“

Many shouts kept glorifying Toby and he thought for the first time that being The Earthmother might actually be more adventageous than becoming a guild master. Toby quickly disbanded the sermon, he needed to perform a few tests on Shingu first. He could not turn many people into mages only to find out later that he had screwed up. However, his every move was quite visible now, he would need someone to act on his behalf.

Someone smart and reliable who stood to gain by not spoiling the show.

“Follow me Fulgwan, we need to talk.“ Toby displayed in a way only the catkin standing next to him could read it. He could see a wide smile appearing on his face

Well, sometimes working with smart crooks was more effective than with naive honest people. Toby scratched the words off his surface and led his prophet to the side, while giving a brief glance to the man that was still sprawled on the ground with a silly grin on his face.

* * * *

Fulgwan watched his spectral tiger, gazing through its life-like transparent body. He shook his head in disbelief when he remembered the contents of his yesterday’s conversation.

The Earthmother was actually some guy with just basic knowledge about magic. What a joke.

Still, it was not in his interest to spoil the fun. Although they would probably have to tell the old man that kept sniffing around tirelessly, if they did not want to get rid of him. Even though the guy behind The Earthmother was a cheater, his magic had to be something powerful, Fulgwan did not believe that he had any chance against him just with his tiger. Of course, the spectral tiger was the manifestation he had created in his inner world, he had created it with his native mana and was able to summon it at will. They decided to call those kind of spiritual objects created from one’s native mana and tied to souls fetishes, he had a spectral tiger, Shingu had some kind of a tree, he had no clue what the guy behind The Earthmother had, maybe a golem? Fulgwan doubted it.

“He is keeping secrets, that is for sure.“ Fulgwan thought about all the experiments they had done. They were at the point where they had to hold people back from finding their fetish and becoming mages, occultists or mystics, it was hard to find a common term as many communities would surely find their own approach to magic and the whole terminology was evolving and changing at rapid pace, as the whole systém of magic was being reborn anew.

Suddenly a series of loud thuds attracted his attention and he turned to read a message engraved on one of The Earthmother’s golems.

GO TEST THE NEW BATCH

“Right.“ Fulgwan nodded and began to move out of the shrine. Under the pretense of scouting and hunting for food, they kept creating teams of newly enlightened mages to test out their abilities in action.

Suddenly there was a ruckus from the inside, but before Fulgwan could see what it was about, the golem in front of him gestured at him to leave. He could not oppose the goddess, so he just smiled and continued to move in the direction of the group that was waiting for him in the distance.

* * * *

“Incredible! She has awoken completely on her own!“

“How is it possible? Is she someone special?“

“Annoying.“ Toby growled with his incomprehensible voice. People awakening powers on their own had certainly not been his agenda, but what to do now? Should he get rid of her or what?

It took him just a second to find the one behind the disturbance.

Wide eyed, a young girl sat on the stone floor in a daze, swarmed by a surprised mob of believers that had already a few people whispering about the coming of a new saint among them. Toby was startled by the age of the kid, because she was in fact just that, a kid. Maybe it was due to rich imagination of children that the younger people were more successful in awakening their powers.

Before he could act, the old man from before with long, gray hair stepped closer to him and made an inconspicuous gesture of his finger sliding across his neck while giving him a long, questioning look.

Holy Molly! Toby was not the head of a secret service, what was the old man thinking?

He had considered getting rid of the girl only for just a second. The morality behind such an act could be debated, but most importantly, it would have hurt his interests to act that way. The crux of his control over the people was his identity of The Earthmother. He had a natural advantage, because it was hard to reveal that he was an impostor while he had no body of flesh and could control multiple earth golems, the only way he might discredit himself would be to act in a cruel way that was a complete antithesis to the supposed nature of The Earthmother.

Like secretly executing people.

Being a dungeon, his sheeps would not be able to see through his act even if he chose a more chaotic approach as long as he was not completely reckless. He displayed a line of text that was immediately relayed to the others by the old man.

“The Earthmother is pleased to welcome another enlightened among us, but she warns about the dangers of seeking enlightenment without guidance.“ The old man said with a smug on his face, making Toby just a little bit angry.

“Do not get too cocky old man.“ Toby thought and walked past him, closing the distance with the newly enlightened girl and displayed a message for her directly, to a great displeasure of the now needless mediator.

“Go join Fulgwan and his group, they will help you with your new abilities.“

“Yes, Earthmother.“ She lowered her head and ran away a second after she had read the message. Toby turned halfway and uplifted one corner of what could be perceived as a mouth of his adamantite elemental form and watched as the eyes of the old man bulged.

No, he should rather not do something like this next time as people might catch a glimpse of him, but the face of the old fart was priceless.