I became a revered citizen of Nateaser.
Not that I moved, but Charlotte named her village after me, and while I appreciated the sentiment, it was embarrassing. To think she jumped on the idea coming from a slip of the tongue...
People gathered to plan for the near future a day after the conference. Humans and monsters wanted to set their stories straight and discuss their immediate strategies. They coordinated with Alexandra but excluded me this time. I was too busy working on my crossbow anyway.
The tsundere Princess and her blue-haired guard set out for Sanctuary but left their court wizard behind. It was a compromise to guarantee the safety of the Demon Lord, while he also acted as an ambassador.
"He's a surprisingly good chef," Hana noted jealously.
"I prefer your cooking," I claimed to improve their mood.
"Well, it won't hurt to have a magician here." They said. "He healed both the ogre and paladin from deadly injuries."
"Ugh, but we have your sister here now. She's more than enough for this village." I shrugged. Her ogre, goblin, and wolfman comrades also left. Fenna failed to convince her father to stay and had a tearful farewell.
"I'm glad they fired Omerta," Hana admitted. "I feel ashamed for how arrogant she became. I'm forever in your debt for saving her."
"Come on, I don't feel like that was my doing..." I noted, a little embarrassed, but my tail twirled regardless. "If anything, I did something awesome thanks to her. Now I want to learn magic."
"The situation is rather delicate..." They pondered, watching the rest of them leave. "Releasing the Princess is treason."
"Depending on how you look at it," I held my crossbow. "They uncovered their real target and can warn their leader about the informant."
"The question is if the Demon Lord will believe them or not..."
"Either way, your little sister became the ambassador of the New Order, and I have plans with her." I showed off my new invention. "Other than teaching me, she seemed eager to help me out."
"That crossbow thing?" Hana asked, looking at my contraption. "She talked about it. It makes sense to improve our weaponry and should have built a wall ages ago but kept delaying it."
"Who'd want to attack the village where a deity lives?" Alex suddenly appeared from thin air, and while it wasn't the first time, my heart could never get used to it. "I won't let anyone harm you in any way, I promised."
"We were already attacked, and you won't be here all the time," I noted, pulling through her jumpscare. "Not to mention, you let the most dangerous person stay in the village. He could even banish you."
"Lambert? Weeeeell... Yes, but he's a great chef." I couldn't believe her argument, but it's what I expected from her. "That reminds me, are my eyes betraying me, or was my belly always that round?"
"I, uh... Somehow I've always been hungry since I came to this world. Isn't that normal for a beastman?" I asked, blushing heavily. "I haven't eaten myself full even once and tried to be modest, I swear."
"Don't worry, haha, I can guess what causes it." Alex laughed, floating down to my level. "I always used tremendous amounts of mana, so I developed a method to deconstruct food directly into magicules. You can't use that technique anymore, but the appetite remained..."
"Can you teach me?" I asked, hoping to return her godly body to its original shape. "Maybe somehow reducing my appetite would work too."
"Well, it's not impossible, but it is time-consuming." She claimed, floating around me. "To learn the basic rules and formulas and ways to control your mana, even the best wizards practice for years."
"But, but... With Omerta's help, I was able to use magic the other day!" I yelled, explaining how I managed to fire a strong laser earlier.
"Hmm... Yes, that can work." She pondered. "If I unlock the potential with telepathy, you might access your mana momentarily, but I take it you don't remember any of the instructions she broadcasted into your brain?"
"No... No, I don't, but can't you just burn them into my mind?"
"There is a spell to erase memories, but I haven't heard of one that could implant them." The Goddess shook her head. "Still, now that you reminded me of this method... Help me resculpt my shell."
"Resculpting it?" She confused me. She was still in her plain, mannequin-looking body that could float and emit light, but seemed rather clunky. "You can't do that on your own?"
"I could in theory but whenever I try to cast the spell, the movement components fall apart." She complained, whatever that meant. "But if you have the mana, and we use the same method as Omerta did, it should work. Come with me to somewhere private, it won't take long."
She dragged me inside the chieftain's shack but this was bad, for my heart at least. The prospect of learning magic excited me, but now I found myself privately with the Goddess, and extremely close too. She was this featureless and strange mannequin at the moment, but I remembered how beautiful she used to be since I was in her body.
And I got to shape her a new one too.
I blushed as she grabbed my arm, but she did not waste time to start the telepathic broadcast. Our foreheads touched, and I felt the heat emanating from her avatar into me.
All kinds of incomprehensible formulas and instructions flooded my mind, then something resembling basic sculpting. I expected anatomy or magical cloning secrets, but apparently, I just had to mold her shell as if it were made of clay. It wasn't an actual living organism, just a lifeless shape for her spirit to inhabit.
My heart beat so fast from peeking into her mind, that I couldn't concentrate properly. Once I started, my fingers moved as if I had become a Renaissance sculptor. No wonder her oversimplified shell could not do it, this required very peculiar movements, and I kept my eyes shut to see her telepathic images without getting distracted as her body changed shape.
It was a meticulous process, she projected a template into my head, and I traced it in my mind. The closest thing I could compare it to was playing with a VR headset, but the template was me.
It felt way more intimate and erotic than I liked to admit, and I kept at it until every nook and cranny became the perfect copy of my body. Or hers, depending on how I looked at it. Once I finished, we certainly shared the same shape.
When I opened my eyes, it remained right in front of me. It gave me the impression of the perfect 3D model version of us but without any skin or texture applied to it. She was still completely white but no longer featureless. She became stunning again.
"You did it!" She yelled, and her mouth moved. Her eyes too, and her face mimicked real expressions. Her emotions no longer appeared in my mind. "This is amazing, now I can walk instead of floating around. And my fingers... Let me try this spell real fast."
She twirled them, and a second later a magic bolt emerged. It flew directly at the door and blasted it open. A loud shriek came from the other side, and Fenna, the beastfolk village leader stood there, shocked.
"I... I'm s-sorry, I wasn't trying to eavesdrop or anything." She stuttered an unprompted apology. "I just wanted to hand over the gifts I brought you yesterday... As a sign of my goodwill."
"For me?" I asked, surprised. She held a large bag full of clothes. "Oh, these are amazing, just what I wanted, only had this way too short tunic to wear and... Wow, underwear too, thank you, thank you!"
I couldn't hold back my excitement and jumped into the fox-girl's neck, realizing it a moment later. I quickly let go, hoping I didn't cause some sort of diplomatic incident, but the quality of the clothes was amazing. The orcs couldn't produce something like this. They did not show too much skin either. I got a similar robe she wore and a few different sets, including proper underwear, so my back wouldn't kill me.
"What do you mean, too short?" The Goddess sounded a little upset. "Why would I hide them if I was born with thighs like that?"
"Goddess Alexandra, your body..." Fenna finally noticed, looking at her in amazement. "It's much more majestic now. If I knew you returned, I brought more clothes for you or anything you desire."
"Hmm... Clothes... Yes, I might have to borrow some of these after all. I guess there are parts on this shell I'd rather not show to everyone..." She pondered loudly. I'd hate to disappoint, but I wasn't sculpting her naked. That doesn't mean I haven't run my fingers all over her curves, at least in my mind. I seriously needed to calm down after that.
"I'll send my deputy for another set." Fenna bowed her head. "We'll recruit volunteer craftsmen from our village to build my embassy here..."
"Your embassy?" I asked confused. "So you will stay here?"
"Yes, um... My deputy was rather upset with this decision, but it only makes sense. Nateaser will be a diplomatic center." She explained. I felt like she just wanted to be closer to the fire, called ball production.
"Could they build a bathhouse?" I got excited for a different reason though. This village could use the beastmen's expertise, especially now that it wore my name against my will. Their tribe looked more impressive than this one, and I already rubbed my hands in anticipation. "And maybe a sauna too..."
"Ooh, a sauna would be nice," Alexandra noted, sampling my brand-new clothes. "I don't think this world had any so far."
"Sauna?" Fenna seemed puzzled. I had so many new ideas I couldn't wait to introduce to this world. "And is that thing the crossbow?"
"Right, this is the prototype!" I yelled, picking up my new pride and joy. I almost forgot about it after all the magic and sculpting. "It is a powerful bow, you can draw it in advance and keep it ready to fire."
"I can't wait to see it in action." The fox-girl cheered, bowing her head over and over. "Trading for weapons is almost impossible. While our goal is to keep the peace, it would be wise to improve our weaponry."
She sounded like Hana and was probably right.
"I just don't have bolts to fire yet," I admitted. "I thought about casting them as a single piece so they will deliver quite a punch."