Chapter 117

They finished their hunt for the day and Wedrow put away everything Ben had dismantled into his storage while he threw together a meal for everyone. He’d been absolutely crushed on the first day when he’d discovered he’d made the terrible mistake of forgetting his ‘kiss the cook’ apron and chef's hat but moved on the best he could since he was the only cook of the group. Thankfully Wedrow and Steph had packed away some pans and ingredients, and with all of the meat they’d gathered they were able to enjoy a simple but tasty meal.It was after this when everyone had about an hour before the girls would rest that they all would sit and talk or work on their skills that Ben was able to get a moment alone with Thera.

“Hey, how was the hunting today?” He asked casually, trying not to display any of his concerns on his face.

It seemed to work, and she responded with a voice filled with enthusiasm. “Fantastic! The first day was a little rocky but now I don’t think I’ve ever worked so well as part of a team before,” Even if she still wasn’t sure how to interact with his friends, she’d found them to be more than accommodating of her, making a strategy that would compensate for her own lack of abilities and accepting her suggestion to let her use her charm to lure out monsters since they were all equipped to deal with it. Outside of working with Ben, she doubted she’d ever had a better experience than this during her time moving from party to party at the guild. Back when she first started she never would have imagined such a thing could feel so satisfying.

“I’m glad to hear it, do you think that’s something you’d want to do more often?”

“I mean, yeah if your friends come by again I’d love to fight with them more. Doesn’t sound like it will be very often though, Steph said her schedule is pretty busy and they only forced the issue because of… Well, you know.”

“So you’re talking more with Steph?” He asked with a smile, happy to see Thera getting along with someone else.

“Well, we are on watch together and she seems to want to chat. I just don’t want to be rude,” She told him awkwardly, though continued in a quieter voice. “She does seem nice though.”

“I’m glad, but I was really more talking about when we’re back in Stonewall.”

“Hmm? Sure, I guess if we could find a party member or two we could give it a try. Of course, I’m not a fan of most of them and the ones that are left would need to be okay partying with us despite my rumors and the fact that you’re not really a fighter,” It sounded like she was teasing him on the last part, but she’d just cut to the heart of the matter.

“That's actually kind of the point. Your earth magic’s gone up and I know you want to hunt in a bit more of a proper way than how I do it, do you think you’d rather find a real party? At your current skill level I’m sure you won’t have any issues.”

He didn’t expect his gut to twist so much just by bringing it up, but she was going to have to find a real group to adventure with eventually anyway, it would be better to do it now that she had the skill than to put it off for much longer. Unfortunately, her reaction showed she hated hearing it as much as he hated saying it.

“What? Are you not happy having me to hunt with?”

The mood had shifted and her voice wound up tinged with both anger and sadness so he rushed to explain himself.

“It’s not that, I just can’t do anything like Steph or Will can. I can’t fight and I can’t help you fight, all I can do is manage your equipment and make traps. I know we still work well together now, but as your magic keeps improving I won’t be able to keep up. Wouldn’t it be better to start finding a team you could work with sooner than later?”

“If I get better then you’ll just have to too,” She fumed. “Besides, I wouldn’t be able to tolerate anyone in town by myself so if you don’t like it just deal with me until I can prove to my uncle that I can hunt by myself. Now if that’s all I need to get some sleep.”

With that she stormed off, leaving Ben to himself.

“Well, that could have gone better.”

After his watch with Will came to an end Ben tried to talk to Thera a bit, but she wasn’t in the mood and he got the impression she hadn’t actually gotten any rest. Guilt and a desire to fix things held off his own sleep for a while, but eventually he succumbed and found himself in Myriad's realm.

“What’s up Myriad, managed to see any demons around for us?” He asked his god while sounding clearly depressed.

“None yet, but is that really what you want to talk about?”

“Of course it is, I didn’t ask for nothing,” It was after the first night that Ben asked his god if he could keep an eye out for them, which Myriad agreed to. Killing demons was an important role after all, with the invasion soon they couldn’t worry about the enemy forces already on the world.

“Well I’ll let you know if I do, but for now why not talk to me about what happened earlier, I am meant to help guide you and share wisdom after all.”

Ben sighed. “I just don’t want her to be mad at me. You think she needs to find a real party too, right?”

“Is that what you want?”

“What does that matter?”

“Well since Thera pretty clearly doesn’t want to then I think the only reason would be if that’s what you want.”

“Alright, no I don’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that she would be able to get more combat experience in a real party than with me. She can definitely take on stronger beasts than I can and if she's stuck hunting the way I do I’ll just be holding her back.”

“Alright, but so what?”

“What do you mean so what? I don’t want to be holding her back and she wants to rise up the ranks as an adventurer, the solution seems obvious.”

“Ben, people's priorities can change. She wanted to earn approval by having a high rank, now maybe approval isn’t as important as having a friend to be with. Besides, wasn’t it at the end of the trial you both had that touching moment about being a team? That meant a lot to her.”

Ben fell silent as he thought about what his god said. They had said they were a team, that they would solve their problems together and fight together if they needed to. Of course he meant it, but did that mean Thera would rather work with him, stuck fighting smaller and weaker monsters than what it looked like she could currently handle? He didn’t want to stop working with her either, so if that was the case what was the issue?

“Huh, damn it,” He muttered quietly. “I get what you’re saying, I really messed up. What do you think I should do?”

“Well, when a member of my race wanted to apologize we would tear out our venom sacks to symbolize vulnerability.”

“An option that doesn’t leave me maimed please?”

“They would grow back.”

“Not many of my parts do.”

“Picky but fine, just go and be sincere about it. Nothing good will come from not just saying what you mean.”

He looked up to his god and gave a brief prayer of thanks. “You’re right, I won’t be a baby about it and apologize when I wake up, thanks Myriad.”

“Of course, it’s what I’m here for. Although if you did want to show some gratitude you could go out and get me some believers.” His god said suggestively, pulling a laugh from Ben.

“Well, we’ll see. No word on if I completed the quest yet?”

“As things stand, I’d say you’ll have it completed in a day or two. Some people's faith has grown stronger and others have taken the plunge to converting, there's only a couple who haven’t received your letters yet but it should push you over the edge when they do.”

“Sweet, and then I can finally get something a bit better than job levels, right?”

“Different doesn’t mean better, but yes I’m sure some of your next rewards will be to your liking, that is, if you are able to complete them.”

“That is always the catch, isn’t it? Still, I haven’t done too bad so far, I’m sure I can make whatever it is work out.”

“Without completely twisting my intent like with the church, right?”

As Ben looked away Myriad felt his worries only increase, only made worse as events began to change around Ben's sleeping body.

“Infinite hells! Wake up and run!” His god yelled at him, and before Ben could ask what was going on he was up and conscious, hearing the pandemonium erupt around him.