Harem-Powered Kingdom Building: Empire of Carnal Sin-Chapter 50: Chess

More than an hour had passed since Hiro's show of power against the Hill Giant. The settlement, which had been chaotic with the frenzy of survival, had now settled down as people busied themselves once more with their tasks.

In the Desolate Lands, afternoons already looked like evenings. And as for the evenings themselves? The already scarce rays of light receded almost completely, leaving only minuscule amounts of ambient light for the lifeforms.

In addition to the lack of light, the air was also chilly, carrying the scent of lingering blood and damp earth with it.

Fortunately, humans had the ability to utilize fire. Be it the chilly air, the lack of light, or the stench of dead monsters, fire could solve all these problems.

The cleanup was well underway. Men worked tirelessly, dragging the corpses of the slain monsters toward a pit outside the settlement. It was better to burn them before their rotten stench could taint the air.

A few of the dead monsters could serve a different purpose, however.

Their meat could become food, their sinew could become twine, and their skin could become leather. Whatever was possible to salvage with the currently primitive technology of Hiro's settlement was being salvaged.

Even right now, a group of men with combat classes kneeled over the remains of the dire wolves, their hands expertly skinning the beasts, stripping away the fur that would be used for clothing and bedding.

Their meat, enriched with scant quantities of mana, was carved from their bones and passed on to the women handling the cooking.

Light from a nearby fire reflected off the blades of the knives in the hands of these women, who gathered around a few makeshift tables to prepare the meat. The knives and some of the other utensils had been brought along by the refugees when they sought shelter.

The minds of many of Hiro's citizens were strangely at ease. Even though many of them were experiencing their first evening in the Desolate Lands, the despair and pessimism from earlier in the afternoon had diminished to a certain extent.

There were multiple reasons why this happened.

First of all, a completed barracks now stood several meters away from Hiro's makeshift room. It was just a crude wooden structure, but to the settlers, the knowledge that they would sleep with a roof over their heads that night was certainly assuaging.

In addition to this, talks of their Baron's strength were also commonplace. It was mostly just the people with combat classes who had witnessed Hiro's act of snapping the Hill Giant to death, but by this point, the information had spread to everybody.

In hindsight, those who had been present during the afternoon realized just how foolish they had been in their thoughts of challenging Hiro. Fortunately, they had not followed in the footsteps of the ruffians.

While Hiro's show of strength did give them confidence, it wasn't the main reason why a lot of people had calmed down.

Amidst the quiet murmur of voices, there was another name that was passed from lips to ears just as frequently as Hiro's.

"Starius."

The settlers spoke of him in hushed tones. Every citizen who arrived before Starius had clearly felt the divinity that emanated from his usage of the Moonlight Domain.

"He was sent here by Goddess Selune herself."

"He said that he received a Hero's Quest! To help Lord Hiro build this Realm!"

"Does this mean that the Goddess is watching over us?"

The common man had a limited understanding of Heroes. And as for the Deities? All kinds of speculations, rumors, and misunderstandings were prevalent.

Humans were not deterred from thinking and assuming whatever brought the most comfort to their minds.

To these people, Starius' mere presence, combined with Hiro's seemingly overwhelming strength, was a reason to hope for a future that did not reek of death.

Many people from Selune's divine domain knew tidbits about the Grand Mage's expedition, but the Goddess would not send one of Her Chosen to Hiro's Realm just to die, right?

One would surely hope so...

Speaking of Hiro, he was currently standing in front of a large boulder in the woods while conversing with Carnalia.

"Hihi, Selune sure cares about you, Hiro. To think that she would send someone so important to aid you..."

"Important? I don't know. He looked quite weak from what I saw."

"Strength isn't everything, you know? A Hero is a Hero. His low level probably has to do with him ascending only recently."

Carnalia's words did not sound very convincing to Hiro. If the Desolate Lands were terrifying enough that even a Level 200 Grand Mage could not make it out alive, how much help would Starius actually be to him?

'At least he is good for morale, I guess... And it's also good to know that Selune still thinks about me.'

Even without him directly communicating it, Carnalia could guess what Hiro was thinking.

"It is quite possible that Selune does not know everything, or even know much, about the Desolate Lands," she said.

"Oh?" It was a piece of information that definitely surprised Hiro. He also did not understand the powers and limitations of Deities.

"Deities cannot directly interfere in mortal worlds. Forget interfering, most of the time, they cannot even see what is happening within their own Divine Domain."

"What? That sounds quite limiting. So, they have little to no control over their own territory?"

"That isn't quite true either. They exert control through people they have Chosen. At the lowest level, there are people with clerical classes like Priests. At the other end of the spectrum, there are powerful Heroes. If the mortal worlds are chessboards, then these people are the pieces the Deities influence to bring the myriad worlds to their heels."

Hiro stood still as he took a moment to really contemplate Carnalia's words.

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"Deities aren't as straightforward and simple as you think. This applies even to Selune. Tread carefully, Hiro," she warned him in her sultry voice before ending their conversation. That was the most she could tell him while still being limited by the Rules.

After a few seconds, Hiro merely decided to not overthink things with the limited information he had. Still, he kept Carnalia's warning in mind.

Then, the large boulder in front of him was cut extremely cleanly by an invisible force. After a total of six cuts, a large piece of stone in the shape of a cuboid floated in front of Hiro while the pieces that were cut off fell to the ground with loud thuds.

A light smile played on Hiro's lips as he admired his 'craft.' Regardless of why Starius was sent here, Hiro fully intended to 'exploit' his presence.

With such thoughts, Hiro started making his way back to the settlement.