Lily let out a long sigh, wiping her forehead as she stood within a dark cave, holding a bucket under one arm. It had taken her longer than expected to find an orichalcum mine that wasn’t being actively watched. However, now that she had found one, she had been able to mine the orichalcum that she needed to meet Scarlet’s requirements.

Granted, she was aware now that Scarlet was not simply giving her ‘blessing’. For her purposes, though, there was not much difference in what Lily had to do. Reaching into one of her pockets, she pulled out a token of Aurivy, idly thumbing it in one hand while closing her eyes. I have met your requirements, Goddess of Ki. She sent the message silently, hoping for some form of acknowledgement or instructions.

Scarlet’s response did come roughly a minute later, just as Lily was starting to believe it wouldn’t. Mhm. I’ve sent the blood and instructions to James. It seemed as if Scarlet was not going to ask her to do any other form of task before she was able to have her divinity forged, so Lily gave a thankful smile, flipping the token of Aurivy into the air.

“Temple of Aurivy, Ashtanu!” She called out, catching the coin and clenching her fist with enough force to shatter it. Golden mist erupted from her hand, wrapping around her body and causing her to vanish from within the lonely mine.

As Lily arrived within the designated temple, she quickly deposited the orichalcum that she had mined into her storage device, not wanting to waste the opportunity now that she had gotten everything. She was naturally greeted by a priest, but offered him a childlike smile to let him believe that she was just another traveling halfling on her journey.

Upon leaving the temple, she saw a golden pillar of light rising into the sky, seeming to come from a local restaurant. She raised an eyebrow, wondering why anyone had chosen to ascend in such a place, before shaking her head. Thankfully, she had memorized the directions from the temple to the researcher’s facility.

Moving through the streets, Lily was surprised to see quite a number of people loitering around the entrance of the facility. She tucked her shoulders in, controlling her expression to look as intimidated by the group as possible. Thanks to her Disguise domain, she was able to hide the signature of her divinity, preventing her from easily being discoverable.

“Heh, they’ve even got kids running errands for them now?” One of the men standing at the entrance said with a sneer, but nobody tried to stop her. Although they were clearly waiting with bad intentions, there seemed to be some tacit understanding not to stop people coming in or out.

Lily’s shoulders shook slightly at those words, but she pushed open the door to enter the facility. Once inside, her body seemed to relax and straighten, and she made her way towards the reception area. There, she found a kitsune woman with nine tails sitting behind the counter. When Lily approached, the woman blinked, looking down at her. “Are you here for--oh! You must be Lily, right? Scarlet told us you’d be coming.”

Lily blinked at that, but nodded her head. “Ah, that’s right.” She had expected to be underestimated due to her appearance again, but it seemed like that wasn’t the case here.

“In that case, let’s get you taken care of.” The kitsune woman tapped on her console, causing a ‘Will Return Shortly’ sign to hover over the desk before standing up. She rolled her shoulders, turning to guide Lily down the hall. “I wasn’t expecting you to get here so soon, so I apologize. We only just received word you’d be coming.”

Lily gave a small nod of her head. “If I can ask, what’s with all those people outside?”

The woman rolled her eyes in annoyance. “All gods that got rejected by Scarlet. They think that if they stand out there and complain, people will see that we are trying to ‘control the power of gods in the world’. The only reason that they don’t get violent is because this is still Ashtanu. Trying to run wild and attack people in the city ruled by the Goddess of Life is just asking to be taken out. So, they just stand there and look menacing. I mean, that seems kind of petty if you ask me, but we’ve already tried asking them to leave.”

Lily’s eyes went wide, having not expected all of them to be gods. She was suddenly thankful that she had concealed her divinity and not attempted to probe any of them, as that would have revealed her situation to more people than she wanted. “I see… is there anything that I need to know about the process ahead of time?”

The kitsune woman shook her head at that. “Not really. We’ll check the orichalcum you brought to make sure that it’s pure enough. Then, once the machine is set up and you’ve inserted a spark of divinity, you just sit and wait for it to finish. Oh, if you have other plans for the day, you can take care of those and we’ll call you when it’s done.”

Lily thought about it for a moment, but shook her head. She had pretty much cleared her plans for the day to take care of this, so it was fine as long as they were able to get it finished all at once. “Then, when should I give the payment?” She tilted her head curiously, knowing that this wasn’t free. After all, she was only providing one of the materials, so it was natural that she’d need to pay for the rest.

“You can pay once we’re finished.” The kitsune woman said with a smile. “Anyone that has earned the trust of Scarlet is someone that we believe won’t leave without paying.”

“Ah, right…” Lily nodded, not used to being openly trusted by people who had seen through her disguise.

“Really, those guys…” Udona muttered to herself, looking at the screen of her terminal and seeing over a dozen gods ‘peacefully protesting’ outside of the Divine Forge facility. “Maybe I should scare them off? No, that would just make a bad public image…”

A black-haired kitsune woman emerged from a nearby shadow. “If you like, we could take care of them quietly.” She said with a calm smile, though there was an almost ferocious glint in her eyes.

Udona let out a deep groan when she heard that. “I guess some of Tsubaki did rub off on you, Janaerra. We’ll do nothing of the sort. Is that all that you came here to say?”

“Of course not, Your Highness.” She answered with a deep bow. “A new applicant has appeared, requesting permission to work as a member of the palace’s staff.”

Udona blinked in confusion, looking over at Janaerra. “A staff application?” This sort of matter wasn’t uncommon, and there were actually dozens, sometimes hundreds of people that applied to work at Udona’s palace every day. “Why did you mention this one? The standing orders are to politely turn away applicants, right?”

Janaerra nodded her head. “That’s true, but this one is most unusual. It’s not often that a divine being applies to join the staff in such a position.”

Udona simply raised her brow at that. “What position is he aiming for? Bodyguard? Don’t tell me he’s trying to apply to be a royal consort…” The last person that tried to do that was still on the run, though Udona kept tabs on him to make sure he didn’t try anything else.

“He wants to be a chef, Your Highness.” Janaerra answered. “Additionally, I had Phisher confirm his domain. Although he seems to be a newly ascended god, he possesses the domain of Cooking. Given these facts, I thought it best to bring it to your attention.”

“A cooking god?” Udona blinked, suddenly interested. She rose from her desk, her tail swaying gently behind her. “Take me to meet this man.”

Udona’s domains led her to be more of a cultural deity. Although her domain of life focused primarily on maintaining one’s health, she had a secondary focus of the joys one could find in life. Among these joys, good food was rated quite highly. The chef brought over by Dana’s shadows was by no means bad at his job, but she wouldn’t say no to an upgrade.

Janaerra nodded her head, turning to lead Udona out of her office and down a number of corridors. “Given the circumstances, I asked him to wait in the kitchen, while Despir monitors him to prevent any suspicious activities.”

“Probably a good choice.” Udona agreed, not wanting to leave a stranger unattended in the palace. It was unlikely that Despir would be able to fight against a god, but at the very least he’d be able to tell whether one was up to no good.

When the two of them arrived at the kitchen, they saw a kitsune male with golden hair, standing with his arms behind his back. He seemed to be wearing the typical white jacket of a chef which Udona had introduced to the world after watching maybe one too many programs from Dale’s old world. He gave a low bow, greeting the pair. “Lady Udona, it’s a pleasure to meet you in person.”

Udona arched a curious brow at his motion, able to tell that there was a bit of stiffness in his movements. “You don’t have to be nervous. This is just a standard test to see if you are fit for employment or not.”

“You’re mistaken, Your Highness.” The man said, shaking his head slightly. “I am not nervous from being in your presence. My main self has already departed for Spica, where I plan to cultivate my second domain. I apologize that I am not here with my primary body, but the time differences made such a thing not plausible.”

Udona blinked curiously at his words. It was clear that he was still trying to improve himself even after just ascending, though to not meet a member of the Greater Pantheon with your true body seemed unusual. Especially when you are applying to work for them. “Alright… I’ll hear you out. Why is it that you wish to work for me?”

The kitsune man smiled broadly at her question. “I believe that you, as well as the other members of the Greater Pantheon who take an active role within the world, could use some assistance, or at the very least some relief. Not only are you handling the affairs of your nation, but also the prayers of countless individuals. I have done my research, so I know that your typical god will at most recruit one hundred priests. Any more than that will cause too high a strain.”

“However, each of you of the Greater Pantheon possess millions of priests, scattered over numerous worlds. I could not imagine the mental strain of handling both that and the affairs of an empire the size of Deckan at the same time. Thus, I have made it my duty as a chef to provide whatever relief I could.”

Udona gave a slow nod, able to sense the faith flowing from his words. Faith from a god was always easier to sense than that of a mortal, so she knew that he was being honest. She actually shifted on her feet slightly, not used to such honest concern from someone. “...Well then, show me what you can do.”

The kitsune gave another bow, standing and facing the kitchen counters. He took a deep breath, mobilizing his divinity as a dozen cards shot out from his body at once, each landing on the counter to form a different ingredient, ranging from loaves of bread to slabs of meat. With a flick of his wrists, utensils appeared above each ingredient, starting to prepare them for cooking. “As the God of Cooking, I can wield various powers to a lesser degree, all in the names of preparing the perfect dish.”

Udona nodded, licking her lips slightly as she watched the scene unfold before her. She could sense a trace of divinity in every ingredient, even the small bowls of salt and vinegar waiting at the side. “What are you making, then?”

“A dish you introduced to the world many years ago.” He answered calmly, even as a fire lit itself under the meat to cook it. “The name has evolved over time, but I believe you called it a Filling Cheesesteak?”

“...Close enough.” She knew that the name of a philly cheesesteak changed over a century ago, and it was now called the Deckan Steakburger. She watched as the slab of meat was cut into thin and even slices, the bread cut open and toasted. Just the aroma of the food was enough to make her gulp in anticipation.

To her surprise, it was not merely fire and the control of tools that the new god seemed to wield. The cooking process was unnaturally fast, the thin-sliced meat cooked to perfection in seconds as opposed to the long minutes normally spent. In fact, the entire dish took less than a minute to prepare, at which point there were three ‘Deckan Steakburgers’ arranged on a tray in front of Udona.

“Three?” Udona asked curiously, a smile tugging at her lips. However, the chef simply nodded his head.

“If you are satisfied with my cooking, you can store what remains for later, or share it among your friends. I assure you, the divinity within the food will prevent it from losing any quality for up to a month, even if left in the open air.’

Udona gave a slow nod of her head, picking up the centermost sandwich and biting into it. When she did so, her eyes went wide in shock, a gasp leaving her closed mouth while her tail stood straight behind her. The chef simply watched calmly as Udona sat frozen. A moment later, she began devouring the sandwich like a woman possessed, her tail beginning to rapidly sway back and forth.

Only once she was done with her sandwich did she grab a napkin, trying to wipe away the bits of cheese on the corner of her mouth as if it would wipe away the display she had just put on. “You’re hired.” She said, a small blush touching her cheeks from the embarrassment of being seen acting like that.