Demonic Pornstar System

Chapter 1101: New Building of Worship

Taigi narrowed her eyes at him for a moment before she broke into the biggest of smiles and sat beside him on a bench, with Yunohana joining him on his other side and Aria settling across the table. As the family took their places among their hosts, the cooks began uncovering the pots.

A cook set a platter of sliced roast before him, with flatbread wrapped in cloth beside it. Dark juices glistened over the meat, carrying the scent of garlic beneath the smoke.

Taigi watched him take his first mouthful.

The browned edge gave way beneath his teeth, yielding tender meat with a sharp sweetness that made him pause before reaching for the bread. He wanted another bite of that first.

"Oh, that’s good."

Her smile returned in full.

"There’s fruit in the glaze, my lord. From the trees near the river."

"Could you pass that bowl? I think the bread should meet it."

Taigi passed him the sauce. Once he had dipped a torn piece of flatbread into it, he held it toward Yunohana, who leaned close to accept the bite.

"Mm..."

Her eyes closed briefly as she tasted it. He enjoyed that look enough to tear off another piece for her before she had finished swallowing.

Across the table, Aria held out her hand.

"Pay your dues, Kai."

"Yes, Ma’am."

He passed her the bread and sauce, happy to watch her try it while Taigi finally began filling her own plate.

Conversation grew around them as the villagers settled into their meal. A cook brought Alexandra a bowl to taste and sat beside her to discuss the recipe. Calypso leaned toward the offered bowl, eager to assist with anything that needed eating.

Farther along the table, Bastet broke a piece from her bread and offered it to Alice, who accepted while watching her brother receive another serving of meat.

"Big Brother, could you save some room? You haven’t tried what’s down here yet."

"I am in danger, aren’t I?"

"The good kind of danger for once, Master," Bastet assured him, passing the next dish toward his end of the table.

He agreed wholeheartedly. By the time he had tried the roasted roots and a spoonful of thick bean stew, he was considering how best to encourage Taigi and her people to invite him more often.

Between mouthfuls, his attention caught on a structure beyond the tables.

A wooden roof rose above a platform at the clearing’s edge, its supporting posts carved with climbing plants. Flowers and polished stones covered a shelf beneath the eaves. Behind it, a woven cloth concealed a tall shape, secured at the top with cords.

One of the cooks approached the shelf with a dish of roast and fruit. She arranged it among the flowers before pressing her palms together, her head lowered toward whatever stood beneath the cloth.

Kaiden watched her for a moment, then accepted the piece of fish Yunohana offered him.

His attention soon returned to the platform. There was a peculiar unease about it, enough to make him sit a little straighter on the bench. He couldn’t explain why a covered object should make him feel self-conscious, but he wanted to know what was under that cloth.

"Taigi?"

"My lord?"

"That’s an unusual place of worship." He indicated the platform with his free hand. "I don’t remember seeing anything like it in your old village. What is it?"

She followed his gaze, then set down her cup.

"Our new shrine. The woodworkers made it for us."

"Who is it dedicated to?"

"Perhaps we should show you, my lord."

Taigi rose from the bench and turned toward the villagers seated beside the platform.

"Would you unveil it for our lord?"

They were on their feet at once. A man climbed onto the platform to unfasten the cords, while a woman took hold of the cloth below him. As he released the last tie, she drew the covering away, gathering the folds into her arms.

Kaiden’s own face looked down at him from beneath the roof.

The likeness was unmistakable. They had caught the fall of his hair over his forehead, the shape of his nose, even the curve at the corner of his mouth. He stared at the familiar features, his fork forgotten between his fingers.

The figure stood taller than anyone at the feast. One carved hand extended over a miniature forest at its feet, while the other rested against its chest. Beneath that outstretched palm, the cook’s offering waited among the flowers.

"That’s... me."

"Yes, my lord."

Taigi watched his face with open pleasure. Beyond her, the woodworkers stood beside their creation, waiting anxiously for his response.

He could only look between them and the statue. They had carved him with extraordinary care, dressed him in a flowing mantle, and placed him above the forest he had given them.

Then the woman who had brought the food pressed her palms together again. Her lips moved beneath her bowed head, and other women approached the platform to stand beside her.

Kaiden lowered his fork onto his plate.

"Taigi... Are they praying to me?"

She sat beside him again, her expression softening at the question.

"Of course, my lord."

"Of course?"

"You gave us new lives in a new world. Although I haven’t had time to study other religions at length, wouldn’t you agree that what you’ve given us is more than what most religious figures have given their followers?"

He tried to find an answer, looking past her toward the trees surrounding the settlement.

That forest existed because he had chosen to place it here. He could expand the world beyond it, raise mountains, fill new valleys with life. The people gathered around him drew their strength from the core he commanded, their bodies growing through their bond with his domain.

Even death could return them to their families here. Taigi had died and come home to her people, her body restored by the core at the heart of his world. She knew exactly what its power had given her.

"We give thanks for our home," she said. "For our children growing strong, for being able to work and know that we will have enough to eat. When we pray for our families to be safe, whose protection are we to ask for but yours?"

Kaiden stared at her, shaken by how naturally the question followed everything she had said.

He had been thinking about dinner and how happily his girls were eating with him. His hosts had been feeding the being whose world sustained them. They could touch his hand, speak to him, watch him eat the food they had grown under his protection.

He was the god of this world, sharing a table with his worshippers.

The realization left him profoundly unsettled. He had known they loved him, had felt it in Taigi’s speech and the pleasure they took in feeding him. Now a woman was praying before his likeness while he sat close enough to hear her voice.

"It’s beautiful," Aria murmured.

He looked across the table at her. His lover was admiring the shrine with wholehearted approval, her cheek resting against her hand.

"They’ve put so much care into it, Kai."

Beside Alice, Bastet nodded to Taigi.

"Master deserves a place of honor in his own world. You’ve done wonderfully."

"Of course they should worship Big Brother!" Alice declared, peering past the felinid to admire the shrine. "Who else would they pray to?"

Calypso had turned on her bench to see the shrine properly. Her tail curled against her ankle as she studied the figure with fond satisfaction.

"Darling deserves every bit of it~"

Kaiden looked from one approving face to the next, finding them entirely comfortable with his newly discovered place in the villagers’ faith.

"My lord?"

Taigi’s voice drew his attention back to her.

"Does this make you uncomfortable?"

’Yes. It makes me uncomfortable as fuck, Taigi.’

The answer was immediate. He could feel people watching him from the neighboring tables, waiting to hear what he thought of the shrine. Beyond them, the women praying beneath his statue looked utterly at peace.

One lifted her head and caught him looking. Her face brightened at once, and she bowed to him with her hands still pressed together.

He couldn’t bring himself to spoil that happiness.

They had gathered what his forests could give them and spent their day making a meal they hoped would please him. His enjoyment of it had made Taigi glow with pride. Around the clearing, people kept stealing glances at him, delighted simply to have him eating among them.

The shrine belonged to that same affection. He could see how much care had gone into every carved leaf, every flower laid beneath his wooden likeness. Refusing it would hurt them, and the thought made him miserable.

Kaiden took Taigi’s hand beneath the table.

"I’m glad you’re happy here, and I’m grateful for everything you’ve prepared for us."

He glanced toward the shrine, trying to find a reasonable way to finish.

"I just hope you won’t get too carried away with it."

Taigi grinned at him.

"We would never, my lord."

At the shrine, the woman who had bowed to him lowered herself to her knees. She placed her hands on the platform, bent forward, and pressed her forehead to the wood beneath his statue.

Her prayer carried across the space between them.

"May our lord’s grace shelter our children. May his world prosper."

Kaiden watched her remain prostrate before his likeness, then looked at the smiling commander beside him.

’Aren’t you people already well past getting carried away?’

Across from Yunohana, Nyx had been watching his face through the entire exchange. Luna leaned against her, grinning so hard that her cheeks must have hurt.

"You could help," he murmured to them.

"With what, Kai?" Nyx asked sweetly. "Wait, should I join them? God Kaiden knows I don’t mind getting on my knees for him, but this would be quite the new experience..."

"Khm! Slut! Khm!" Luna pressed her face into the space mage’s shoulder, her muffled laughter reaching him across the table. Nyx wrapped an arm around her, enjoying his predicament far too much to pretend she intended to do anything about it.