Linley opened his eyes and saw that it was still bright outside. He had only taken a quick nap.
Pandora was already awake and was grooming herself by the pool, while several devotees were busy preparing offerings for Linley. They had carved many statues of Dionysus from scraps of wood, ready to offer them to Linley.
Linley needed to personally bless these statues before they were distributed to the devotees as amulets, necklaces, or idols. Typically, in addition to the statues, devotees would also offer money or valuable items as a fee for the blessing. This was an important source of income for the temple. However, the residents of Dionysus Island were generally poor, so Linley waived these fees and provided blessings for free.
The devotees did their best, bringing fish they had caught, shells they had collected, and some miscellaneous items that even Linley couldn't identify, as additional offerings for the blessings. Linley casually picked up a statue, gently stroked it a few times, and completed the blessing. The devotees quickly bowed to him, and Linley nodded in acknowledgment before picking up a piece of fish to eat.
Technically, Linley didn't need to eat; as long as he had his devotees' faith, he wouldn't feel hunger. But he still found the sensation of eating to be more enjoyable. The fish was fresh and juicy, tastier than sashimi.
Next, he ate a bunch of grapes. Pandora looked up, saw him, and wagged her tail as she crawled over, cautiously asking, "Lord, you're awake. Uh, I got drunk yesterday. I didn't say anything embarrassing, did I?"
"You said you wanted to be my devotee," Linley replied.
Hearing this, Pandora breathed a sigh of relief and quickly nodded, saying, "Yes, yes, I want to be your devotee."
"Then you need to drink more. Being my devotee means you can't have such a low alcohol tolerance." Linley handed Pandora a wine jug.
Pandora took a small sip, and her skin immediately turned red. She looked at the wine jug and found that there was only half a bottle left. She said, "But we hardly have any wine left now."
"We'll have more wine soon," Linley said.
He called over Odysseus and instructed him to take people down to pick grapes and dig up some grapevines to cut and plant. These Dionysian grapes could adapt to various environments, and since the rocky mountains on the island could grow grass, they could certainly grow grapes as well.
"Will they grow on rocks?" Odysseus asked hesitantly.
"How dare you question him!" Pandora scolded. "This is the truth told to you by Dionysus himself, and you dare not believe it!"
"Sorry," Odysseus quickly apologized. "I mean, those weeds can grow in any crack, but grapevines won't stay fixed even if we cut and plant them."
Indeed, the roots of weeds are very developed and can grasp the cracks in the rocks, gradually decomposing into soil. The roots of Dionysian grapes are also very developed, but when cut and planted, the grapevines have no roots and cannot stay fixed in the cracks.
"Dig out the sand from below and plant the grapevines in the sand," Linley said.
"Plant them in the sand? Will that work?" Odysseus asked.
"How dare you!" Pandora said.
"Sorry, sorry," Odysseus lowered his head. "I will carry out your divine command right away!"
Odysseus called upon the priests to dive underwater to pick grapevines. Linley said, "Let's help out too. We're much more efficient than they are, one of us can do the work of ten."
Pandora suggested to the god of wine, "You can help, but you don't need to do it yourself. As our deity, you should focus on more important matters. Working alongside the believers might make them respect you less and affect their faith."
"No," Linley shook his head, "Faith isn't just about mystery. We're short on manpower, so we should use every bit of help we have instead of keeping our distance just to stay mysterious."
Even with only a few hundred people here, Linley believed that leaders working with the soldiers wouldn't weaken faith but would actually strengthen the team's fighting spirit. Even in a massive stronghold, staying frugal and simple could make their combat effectiveness surpass their opponents'.
"You're nothing like my father," Pandora said, puzzled.
Linley smiled, "Of course, your father is the king of Atlantis."
Atlantis was a vast merfolk kingdom with many people and deep traditions. As the ruler, Pandora's father was naturally tough and corrupt. Pandora was no different; although she was beautiful, she was used to using underhanded methods to gain faith and control her followers.
Pandora then asked, "Are we doing something wrong?"
"Of course not. We just have better methods," Linley replied.
Pandora and her father's methods were Machiavellian, using tricks like deception, intimidation, and even beatings to control their followers, stopping at nothing to maintain power. During Caesar's conquest of Gaul, he often used deception and force to control local tribes. He'd make alliances through diplomacy and then attack once they trusted him.
Similarly, during the Second Punic War, Hannibal led his army across the Alps and launched a surprise attack on Rome. He used diplomatic means to ally with some Italian city-states, then suddenly attacked them once they trusted him, conquering them. He also used massacres of prisoners and destruction of cities to intimidate other city-states and maintain his rule.
These methods seemed effective, but they achieved results by consuming authority and credibility. If the target was one's own believers, it might work a few times, but if used too often, the believers would eventually see through such tricks.
Linley dived into the water, picked grapevines with the believers, cut down the grapevines, transported them to the shore, and then dug up the sand at the bottom of the pond, piling it on the shore. Picking grapevines and cutting grapevines were relatively easy, but digging sand was heavy labor. The pond was already very deep, and the believers couldn't exert force underwater, so Linley had to dig the sand, load it into wooden boxes, and then the believers on the shore pulled it up with ropes. Everyone was exhausted and out of breath.
Despite this, it was all worthwhile. Linley gained a large amount of faith power, and his strength attribute even increased by a point.