Monarch of Solitude: Daily Quest System

Chapter 197 - Hungry Cat God

The first thing Rino did after that water fight was to set up the drainage system and link it to the dwarves' sewer tunnels. He wasn't taking any other chances in case the genesis fairies wanted a new rematch.

Rino spent his time helping out a little around his territory for the next few days while making his new riverbank cottage cosier. He took the time to order some furniture and interior decorations from Noir Province. As a kind, his accommodations were often too humble for his status. It was unbecoming. He could almost hear his dead butler's voice nagging at him to act his status.

Ubel did a great job sculpting Noir according to what Rino wanted. The statue was small, but the level of detail that the wraith king put into creating it spoke volumes about his effort into this piece of art.

After confirming that this was exactly what he wanted, Rino gave Ubel the green light to continue the sculpture baking. As the kiln masters took utmost care when firing the statue, Ubel visited the sawmill and asked for everyone's help to gather the materials he needed. In the end, the wraith king still thought that a shrine was grander when it came to gods. It was unacceptable to leave the statue out in the open to be bullied by rain even though they had no sun.

Oak galls were collected, bone ashes were gathered, glass bottles were prepared, and paintbrushes made from the hair of mountain goats were delivered from the luxurious ranch. Everyone was excited to see the first sculpture of god and offered it things that they farmed.

Fronzo panicked when the granary overflowed, so Rino sent the courier bunnies and Acht's team to bring back some of the spuds. Town Zera's farmers seemed to be fired up when they heard that the villagers of Noir Province were getting ready to make a mass offering. Zerg's village farmed twice their daily output in the rice field. The killer rabbits stopped munching on their soybeans and took their harvesting seriously. Zes was dismayed when Rino told him cheese and butter or even milk would not be accepted as offerings just yet.

The mood was competitive even as the genesis fairies had to help clean up the mess they made after failing their sneak attack on Rino. The lich was most nervous about this offering session. He wanted to make more offering stations to put one in every region if the first cat god statue succeeded. Remote offering that fed GF credits to his system was one of the most brilliant moves the gods came up with. Rino liked how they thought, and it was mutually beneficial. He only hoped they were ready because his subordinates were very enthusiastic about feeding the hungry cat god.

From up above, Ace avoided the reflecting pond like plague and sent Stephanie over to monitor it instead. He refused to watch how they fawned over his incarnate and likened it to gods even if that wasn't very far off the mark. It was too embarrassing!

"We need a bigger storage," Phil commented off-handedly when Ark passed by the reflecting pond.

Ace, who was hiding in his office, failed to hear that, but Stephanie felt her eyes bulging when Phil said that.

"Are you serious? We cannot afford it!"

Ark said nothing as his sister fumed about spending unnecessary divinity on bigger storage when the one they had was currently in a miserable state. With the discount stunt he pulled, Ace might have saved them from falling out of good graces with the other god clients. However, the number of offerings that came after that event trickled in so slowly that they could not receive any big or recurring orders. Without a steady offering income, it wasn't wise to expand the storage.

Phil did not explain much. He simply used the administrator's authority to remove Stephanie from the picture.

Ark and Phil stared at each other for a long time, and the team leader sighed. He knew that he could not afford to offend Phil, but the retired god was really not giving him the time of day.

"Take a loan if you don't want to spend. We need bigger storage, or you'll be sleeping in the milky way once they finish the side quest. I'm not going to reject any offerings they send. In fact, Ace and I have been wondering if we should open up the offering to more variety of produce. They have complex food recipes now."

The ultimatum that Phil gave made Ark wonder where Ace and Phil got their confidence from. According to past history, Rino would never work without merits. Why would he suddenly become such a pious child and make huge offerings?

Phil did not feel like explaining to Ark. He went off to busy himself with the next phase that Rino was soon entering. With his new administrator rights, the god of landscaping discussed the sequence of events to unfold with Ace. Rino was very close to completing his town building project. They should work on preparing him for the harsher environments and, eventually, the dystopian ending.

Meanwhile, Rino decided to join in the hype of preparing for the offering ceremony. The cat god statue was currently in painting, and as the leader, he needed to create a legend that could entertain his subordinates.

Kragami and others who worked closely with him knew that sometimes he spaced out on them because he was checking his system. Rino also had knowledge that did not originate from this world, and his wisdom was uncanny. The lich sometimes skipped explaining difficult concepts and called it a revelation as the chosen one, and while some people believed him, Rino knew there were still lingering doubts.

Noir's statue was also familiar to many in Spudville who had seen the black cat. Some even talked with him before and played with him. Hence, Rino could not spin a tale too far from the truth. If anything, he might create something called an urban legend in memory of Noir's teacher, whom he met in a different dimension.

Yes, that's what he would do. He would borrow Noir's appearance and Noir's teacher as the god's identity and perhaps origin.

Not all gods were born gods. Back in Rino's world, some gods could be created. This stone statue could be one of it, and although Noir's master had passed on, as long as he honoured her in memory using the collective thoughts of his subordinates, she might be able to find her way back as a fragment of her past soul and reborn into a myth-level god.

Of course, that kind of thing would take a very long time, and Rino had no idea if he would still be around to see the birth of a myth god he created. Liches were immortal, but they were not invincible. Anything could happen, and Rino could always disappear like he was meant to in the previous world.

With the next few days flying by, Rino found himself giving a speech he absolutely did not prepare for in front of the farmhouse with Noir's statue behind him in a tasteful shrine.

"With one lucky paw beckoning luck and prosperity overlooking the fields, I call this the hungry cat god modelled after my beloved Noir! Remember to feed this cat god like you would feed Noir. He is and will always be welcomed as one of us. Naturally, your faithfulness will not go unrewarded. As more cat god statues are introduced throughout my empire, the village with the most contributions by the time T.A.R.O. Festival comes again and will be given very rare and delicious food items as a reward."

Everyone who heard of butter and cheese drooled when Rino mentioned rare and delicious food items. Initially, they thought that roasted purple potato and taro beer was the best thing that ever happened. However, after Rino gave Kragami a block of cheese and a box of butter, everyone unanimously agreed that dairy products were the best. However, the necromancer reassured them that Rino was still working on something even better. He just needed more time to figure out how to make grindstones work, and it was going to take a while.

Unsure of why he was met with hundreds of expectant eyes at the mention of edible rewards, Rino wondered if someone was using his name to pre-sell hype for this offering event. It must have been very good marketing because the responses he received made his head ache.

"Pipe down! Practice manners when presenting your offering to the hungry cat god," Rino lectured and demonstrated how to make a proper offering with a made-up procedure. 

Honestly, all he had to do was activate the spell circle that the tutorial taught him to draw and offering would go through. Noir's statue wasn't actually needed because they were placing it in front of Noir's statue on the collection step that was big enough to hold a crate.

Rino took one potato and placed it on the offering step. It looked a little ridiculous to offer just one potato, even if that spud was huge. The offering platform was simply too big, but Rino ignored it. This was only for the sake of demonstration.

Raising both hands and crossing one palm over the back of his other bony hand, Rino raised it to his forehead and bowed lightly.

"I humbly offer my daily thanks to the gods of this world."

With just this line that Rino set as a passcode of sorts to activate the spell, the potato glowed white and disappeared mysteriously, entering godly realms.

Then, Rino turned around and looked at his subordinates, who were extremely impressed.

"Be polite, no jumping queue and wait for your turn. Understood?"

Eager to begin, the crowd reorganised themselves, jostling when someone tried to jump ahead, and Rino turned a blind eye to the subtle elbows as everyone got in line. Erika was on standby as Rino left and counted the offerings made to the hungry cat god who - true to his name - accepted offerings without rejecting any.

Rino watched at the side for a while as the gods accepted the offerings. Likewise, his GF credits rose steadily. It didn't take long before the first sound was rejected but really, who could blame the cat god? That spud had fourteen eyes on it! On the bright side, it made a good potato seed.

As the offering ceremony continued, the queue never shortened, so Rino left.. It was time to decide how to use his GF credits smartly.