Empress' Evolution

The Army and the Shadow Troops were the most well-known groups inside Lilith's Village. Many of the young daemons dream of joining either of these two, but another group was often overlooked because they take care of the menial tasks, the Workers.

The Workers were the Unsung Heroes of the Village. Comprised primarily of women, the Workers work day in and day out, settling the matters of the Village from food, to clothing, to houses and even agriculture; these were their jobs given to them.

Amongst these daemons, the most prominent of the Workers and the appointed leader would come in the name of Muska, the Contriving Pixie.

Being one of the most intelligent daemons, he's the daemon that keeps the Workers in check together with Luna. He oversees many of the menial matters of the Village and even receives the privilege of joining the Bi-Weekly Assembly inside the Village Temple.

As its name implied, the Bi-Weekly Assembly happens every two weeks. In this meeting, the various Race Representatives and Group Leaders would present the matters they were facing to the Priestess and receive guidance.

[Chief] from the Army — Ogre Representative.

[Eve] from the Shadow Troops.

[Muska] from the Workers — Pixie Representative.

[Aero] the Viridian-Winged — Harpy Representative.

[Dagal] the Red-Scale, — Dracas Representative.

[Boulder] the Brute — Brick Bear Representative.

[Hammer and Anvil] the Master of the Forge — Dwarf Representative.

[Seris] the Silver-Clawed — Persian Representative.

[Giathe] the Village Elder — Werewolf Representative.

The majority of these daemons were hailed as the greats of their Race. Their levels were in the three-digit range, and their skills were incomparable to the other. While some were good at fighting, others were great at being scouts and building something from nothing but soil.

There was also Luna, one of the followers acknowledged by both the Priestess and the Goddess. The Followers were the beacons of the Village; they were a ray of hope who transcended themselves and stand amongst the top.

Their very existence meant that there was no such thing as limitations.

Sylva was once only a Sacrifice, Dhampy a lowly undead, and Luna came from a desolated force. These three came from different origins, other than their genders; nothing about them was the same other than their beginnings were one of the lowest daemons.

They were a reminder that one was always watching them; it could be the Goddess or the Priestess.

Amongst these great beings, there was Muska, a LVL 89 Contriving Pixie, whose planning skills were subpar compared to the Priestess and strength that's below a young Ogress. He was not someone special with extraordinary abilities, and when compared to the rest of the ones seated inside the Temple, he was nothing but a flea in their eyes.

But despite all that, Muska decided to pull through and stay inside the Temple instead of cowering, "Priestess, I would like the request the Army to give assist us in procuring [Burning Soil] and [Fire Mana Core] from the Scorching Forest. The Searing Star Fruit wilts with the abundant moisture in this Valley. We would need to use Rare-Tier Fire Mana Cores at least at alternating days to ensure its life and the concentration of its essence."

"I see then it would be best to quickly remedy the situation. Go to luck and get ten Fire Mana Cores from him to be of temporary use. Then we need some of the Army to escort you, but when you leave, be careful not to delve any deeper as there are Hunters still surveying the area." Lilith explained.

Chief lazily raised his hand, "I'm not doing anything. I can escort them without a problem."

Lilith sighed at Chief's words, "I told you, just because we're not fighting does not mean you have nothing to do. Go and protect the Village. That's your mission."

"I am a warrior. My reason for being is to fight!"

"I thought you also need to preserve your lineage? Why not find a wife and protect her with the Village?"

"BAH! You do not get it at all. With you around, I no longer have to do that; now, I need to venture out and secure a powerful wife that will bring forth a worthy offspring!" Chief announced with great pride.

"Hah! I pity that wife who will have to take care of such a muscle-headed husband." Seris scoffed.

"What did you just say, cat? You're just angry because I don't see you as a woman!" Chief argued back.

"HUH!? Who the hell would want to be seen by you with those lecherous eyes!? You're the kind of guy who asked the Priestess to be your spouse!" Seris growled and readied her claws.

"That's a matter of or our people, you uncultured cat!"

"Huh!? What did you just call me?"

"CAT!!"

"Cretin!"

"PET!"

"STUPID, IDIOT!"

"Who you calling IDIOT!?"

BOOM!

The two representative's argument exploded into fight. Their hands interlocked as they began pushing each other for dominance.

[Note from the Goddess: Interesting—] the Goddess who was watching from her realm could not help but let Lilith know about her feeling about the situation.

'Shut you, Letza, go back to your job.'

Lilith watched them fight, and the others inside the room couldn't really give a damn as they just disregarded this as a typical day. Fights often happen; though they had been drastically lessened thanks to the Priestess' intervention, they remain unavoidable.

Lilith looked at them and then at Boulder, "Can you separate them from one another? We're getting nowhere with this meeting if we don't stop them."

"Yes, Priestess." Boulder knew what his job was.

While Boulder was busy stopping the fight between the two representatives, Lilith just chose to ignore them as per usual, "Muska, we'll provide the escorts and ask some of the previous Army daemons to do the foraging. Though they are not capable of fighting in the frontlines any longer, they'll be thrilled to at least return to it even if it is in this way. Oh yeah, Chief, how many can you send?"

"20!" Chief answered while avoiding Seris' claws before throwing a counterpunch.

"There you have it. Oh yeah, postpone the venturing for tomorrow. I will visit the Garden later tonight after the Village dinner and raise the nature attribute of the surrounding area."

"Thank you for the help Priestess, I will guide you later."

"Is there anything else the Workers need, Muska?"

"Um, I heard something from the others about Claw Marks. Granny Giathe went and checked about the matter earlier today."

"It was Werewolf Claw Markings, Priestess." Giathe confirmed, "From the looks of it, they have not detected us. I would advise the Priestess to attend on the matter as soon as possible before anyone gets hurt."

"I will move later tonight when Dhampy returns with the food. I leave the food to the Workers. Oh yeah, Chief, remember not to gorge the food; we need to conserve them until we secure the necessary amount of Meat Crystals."

Lilith and the rest continued the meeting after calming the two representatives. The meeting was more about the distribution of tasks and how they should explore this brand-new region.

The meeting ended when the moon already shining and the Workers handing out dinner.

Muska and everyone else inside the Temple all ate with everyone else. The Workers who already ate and had nothing to do that night decided to either turn in early or spend time with their friends and companions.

That night, Muska flew across the night sky with Lilith and Luna.

They landed on a hill protected by ten Army members and five Shadow Troop personnel. This place was known as the Garden, where most of the Village's agriculture happens. They plant medicinal herbs and foods here to lessen the risk of dying when foraging.

A two thousand square meter plot of land where two-thirds was used as proper planting and the rest for experiments.

At the moment, three trees were being grown outside of their natural habitat. Of these three, two were already stable enough that it only needed to be monitored for the next couple of months to be moved, while the other was the Searing Star Tree that's still being undergoing a frequent change in its environment.

Lilith looked at the tall tree with a dark maroon trunk. She floated up in the air and then grabbed one of its star-shaped fruits and then cracked it open before taking a bite, "Its fiery attribute is indeed lacking, and its taste is… relatively sour rather than sweet."

Muska watched Lilith glow with evergreen radiance as she filled the Garden with her mana. For Lilith, filling this place with mana was an easy thing to do, but seeing her do such a thing made Muska feel useless.

He was given the task of adequately growing these crops, and he had nothing to show for it. Even the successes from the Garden came from the Priestess' direct instructions.

When Lilith ended the process, her MP was brought down to 50%, though a lot more had been used than she would prefer, she didn't mind as mana could be easily regained, "With this, you can continue without fear of it wilting for the next two days —Hmmm? Is something the matter? You look worn."

Muska suddenly bowed to the Priestess, his body trembling, "I apologize, Priestess, even though you trusted me with such an important task of creating more food for the village, I still fail you."

Muska saw Lilith raise a hand; he flinched as he remembered the Pixie Lord doing the same before slapping him on the face, but the only thing he got was Lilith floating in the air as she patted his head like he was some child.

Muska was surprised, and Luna just smiled softly at this sight.

"Don't worry about such an irrelevant thing. Starting a crop outside a natural environment is tough; I'm already impressed you managed to keep it alive this long. You even managed to see through the needed ingredient for its growth; you do this while assisting Luna in keeping the Workers in check with Luna. I am honestly impressed. Keep up the good work, and stop thinking such useless things like so. Oh yeah, you should rest sometimes. I heard that you haven't taken a day off; sometimes, resting yields more productivity. The Workers do your tasks without fail to keep the Village functioning; maybe I should give you guys a break as well… I will design one when we stabilize the situation."

Muska felt touched that the Priestess showed so much attention to someone insignificant like him. He bit his lips and even felt teary-eyed before bowing even deeper than before, "I-I will not let you down, Priestess!" he shouted.

Lilith raised her brows, thinking how she just got disregarded, and just sighed, "Whatever makes you happy, I guess— [Solar Healing]— just make sure not to push yourself too hard." Lilith said in fear of him dying from being overworked.

"YES!" he shouted, this time with even more fervor.

Lilith just let him be and had Luna connect her mind to Dhampy with Lunar Link. While Lilith contacted Dhampy, Luna moved to the side and showed Muska the picture she took when their Priestess patted his head.

Their eyes met with each other, and without the need for words, they both understood that this gift would be deeply appreciated.

When Lilith called Luna so they could leave, Muska already received the picture, and it was said that for an hour after the Priestess left the Garden, the Contriving Pixie would go around showing his newfound treasure to the others.