In a dozen heads at once with all of their minds pulled into his own, Ben spoke to the small group after they understood what had happened to them, beginning the task that was explaining the situation of their new homes, the jobs he’d prepared for them and where they’d be living in particular, with one among them far more taken aback than the rest.

“Pardon? I think you might have misspoke,” A woman named Tartel said, primarily a centaur in form whose thoroughly mixed heritage on one of her parent’s sides had left her horse-like lower half covered in a rainbow of scales, with hair that matched.

“I didn’t. You were in charge of your original village, weren’t you? Well, congratulations because now you’re the acting mayor of this new town. A few others are being assigned to help you as well, mostly people with other governing experience from their own villages, but you were chosen as the head, so make sure you work hard.”

“This is just a bit much to hear on such short notice. Why me?”

The answer to that was that when he’d been exploring their memories, Ben had been most impressed with her level of effort, both before and after abandoning her old town, as well as because that more than anyone else he’d seen, she had the greatest commitment to being just and fair, not letting her own personal biases cloud what needed to be done.

He said none of that though, instead just shrugged. “I’m just an apostle, but from what I understand, the gods have been impressed with your efforts. They believe in you, so make sure you do a good job of living up to that belief, alright?”

“Yes, of course!”

Invoking the gods had done its job, and even if it wasn’t entirely truthful, it wasn’t like it was entirely a lie either. After all, he was going to be a god, and he picked her specifically because he believed she’d be able to manage it, wasn’t that basically the same? The statement had lent both encouragement as well as just enough pressure for what was likely to be a busy start and a bit of a learning curve as she and the people under her would go from managing a group where they could probably name every member to instead looking after what would be an ever-growing community and with that, he released her and sent her off to meet with those who’d be acting as her council and aids as he continued through the rest of the crowd, talking to and organizing people before they began leading them to their new city, the group seeing it grow in the distance with various mixtures of surprise on their faces as it came into view.

With their final arrival meaning walking up ramps and stairs to get to the main platform, leaving only the need for a tour, leading the massive group to their new homes and showing them where their businesses would be, handing out keys along the way so everyone could access where they needed to while also making sure to provide a bit of paperwork explaining some details he didn’t want to have to go over one-on-one with everyone too, such as how to use the tram, their plumbing, as well as a more detailed map of town for wherever they needed to go.

Even then, it was still a task of hours, the crowd’s large size being no easy thing to manage but eventually, he was able to let them go to explore their new homes or make themselves comfortable on their own, bringing himself to the still unfinished gate and laid the needed enchantments on it to connect it to the wider network, bringing that new settlement to the rest of the world.

Alright, let’s call this stupid quest done then. What do you think? Pretty good, right?

<More than good. With how fast the two of you got all of that done, I wouldn’t be surprised if the guild tries to get you on every quest like this in the future.>

Ugh, pass. Building defensive walls at least is something they can get even unawakened earth mages to do. I guess I would deal with some of the other work again; it just needs to be more spread out than this. That was entire days of my life, gone.

<It wasn’t that bad.>

Says you. Anyway, I’m sure you guys are probably itching to get some other people to move into some of the spare housing we’ve already got set up, but you can hold off for at least a week, right? I think our new mayor here and everyone else needs at least a bit of time to set up.

<We’ll be giving them what we can, but with the new gate finished, we’ll also be sending some help out as well. In an hour or two, a few with experience when it comes to city management will arrive to give some guidance, as well as a couple to run the guilds you built and the communal church. Actually, speaking of, a few voices did have some comments on the different statue quality it held.>

Then tell them to send out better statues of themselves like they have to for every other communal church, Ben shrugged. It’s not my job to make the rest of them look good. Hell, my job is only to make you in particular look good. The fact a couple others get to benefit is solely because I like them. If it’s that big of a problem, tell them that they just need to work on making a better impression on me.

<I think I’ll actually just keep it to the fact that you’re focusing on your priorities as my apostle and leave it at that.>

Suit yourself. Anyway, with it all done, what do you think?

<You did good work here; you should be proud.>

Mmh, well, I got a bit of growth out of it at least. And a title too. Me and Thera both got city builder.

<Considering that you built all of this in a day, I’d say it’s well deserved. With builder in the name too, I’d bet you’ll be seeing some bonuses to your crafting. Probably material manipulation as well.>

Ugh, and that’s great, but I’m not currently trying to awaken either. Those are future concerns for sometime when the world isn’t ending. I need different bonuses right now.

<Stop being so focused about getting your awakening right now and just feel good about what you’ve gotten done for a minute. You helped a lot of people with this, and it led to an unexpected reward. Isn’t that reason enough to be proud?>

Yeah, yeah, it is, you’re right, Ben admitted. I’ll give myself exactly one minute to feel good about it before going back to focusing on what I need to be focusing on.

<I may have been the one to say it, but one minute isn’t actually much. Feel good for at least a little longer.>

Nah, that’s only for you. For me, a minute is basically an eternity, and I’ll enjoy it for all it’s worth, while me and Thera head home.

After all, their task was done, and they had more than a bit waiting for them, so with the new gate ready, the two of them went through, off back to Stonewall.

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