Apophis could not recall when the last time was she had felt so fond of someone. She never had anyone or anything she cherished, just things she owned.
But Aiden was quickly changing who she used to be and it was all because he acted so adorably toward her.
She was connected to him in the way a goddess was connected to her followers. And she could sense his intentions and his desire to help her. That was why she did not stop him when Aiden came to grab the relic from her.
Besides, it was not as if she had a lot of use for that relic anyway.
It belonged to another bastard who had a hand in overthrowing her and the reason she had kept the relic close to her was to make sure it did not affect Aiden with that foreign god’s energy.
Not that Aiden would ever betray her.
But the thought of another god having left their scent on what was hers made Apophis angry beyond measure.
"Aiden is mine and he will remain mine. There is no force that can take him away from me. But if they try...I guess I should teach them a lesson sooner or later."
Teaching a lesson was just the easy way of saying that Apophis would be eating them alive.
There was no way she was going to allow anyone to lay their eyes on her treasure once she acquired enough power.
Until then, these poor and pathetic people would be allowed to look at Aiden a little longer.
...
Aiden brought the relic back with him to the altar where he quickly exchanged it for the discount.
The services and materials he needed were still expensive, but he could barely afford them if he sold everything he had.
But he knew it would be well worth the investment, so he quickly did it anyway. The system blinked a few times to tell him that his investment had been noticed and it would start the construction soon.
"What are you planning now?"
Goddess Apophis asked as she slithered outside and up his body. She likely had sensed the change in magic and her guard was up.
Aiden had never had a snake wrap around him, but having his goddess nearby was reassuring.
As for her question? He had an answer instantly prepared for her.
"I was thinking of renovating your temple based on some ideas from my time. May I have your permission to call for help and make changes?"
Now that his goddess was paying attention, Aiden proceeded to ask her for her opinion. But he already knew that his goddess wouldn’t mind.
"Do as you like. I will leave the temple in your hands. How long will this task take? Winter will be here soon."
Winter had been about to hit when Aiden got yanked here by his goddess. And it seemed that it was the same case here as well.
Snakes were cold-blooded creatures that entered brumation during the cold months and he felt curious whether his goddess was going to do the same.
"Will you be sleeping during the cold months?"
If so, then Aiden had a lot to do before his goddess needed to go to sleep. He would also prioritize her sleeping quarters and have them be made soundproof and as secure as he could.
Moreover, he would need to have a constant source of water and food for her—
"Your eyes tell me that you are thinking a hundred thoughts per second. If you are worried about me, then there is no need to be. This won’t be my first sleep. Besides, I will have more than enough power to be aware of my surroundings this time."
Goddess Apophis promised to reassure Aiden but he felt even more worried for her and vowed to make her life much easier from here on.
The system also decided to ping at the right time to show that it had found the right workers for him.
[New workers have been found that fulfill your given conditions. Would you like to make contact? Please type your message and it will be delivered.]
Aiden decided to let that message remain on the screen. Meanwhile, he helped his goddess back inside and waited around until she went to sleep before coming back out.
"Let’s see. I need to put in a request for a job, right? It should not be a problem."
[Your message will be delivered. You will get a response within 5 minutes. Please wait on standby.]
Aiden waited for only one minute before he got a reply.
/Hey! I heard you have an interesting job for us. We will take it. Can we come over tomorrow?/
There was no point in waiting. Aiden confirmed the contract and the next thing on his list of tasks was to warn the villagers not to come up to the temple for the time being.
But since donations were needed, he decided to set up a donation box in the old temple grounds.
[You have placed a donation box in the old temple.]
[There is no one here to dispute the ownership of the temple.]
[A temporary temple has been acquired.]
The news of this happening spread across the town quickly and people began to come over to him to ask him what happened.
"Sir Priest, is there something wrong with your temple? Why are you shifting here?"
The villagers started to panic and Aiden quickly reassured them that it was not the case.
"We are not shifting. We are just looking to renovate our temple now, which will require us to shut the main doors. As such, we would like to set up our donation booth here. I will personally come here once every day to take your offerings back."
If anyone else had said this, the villagers likely would have thought of them as greedy. But because it was Sir Aiden, the one who had saved them, they nodded to show that they understood.
Moreover, they were even willing to help out with whatever he needed.
It was nice to see his goddess getting this much recognition. But at the same time, it was not enough. Aiden needed to make her name heard far and wide, and making the temple better was his first task toward doing so.