Chapter 241

Ben thought with a groan. He’d woken up hours before the sun had risen to make his way to Anailia, prepared some more nails to use to earn his god some faith, and then went off to start hammering them into trees deep into the untamed lands as soon as Thera met up with him. He was excellent with a hammer so the task didn’t take him too long, with the most time-consuming bit being the moment it took to decide where to hammer it so he wouldn’t need to worry about some random passerby accidentally touching it by mistake.

At the very least though, he was getting to see that he was right. Since he took the job and got to work on it, the levels had been pouring in. Taming something was basically just a measure of how well something listened to you and followed your will after all, it was hard to say that with thousands of trees in the untamed lands doing exactly what he wanted that he wasn’t fulfilling the conditions of the job, and in a big way too. Anyone that decided to rely on plant magic or connect would have to patiently go to them one by one, slowly building up communication and trust. He was bypassing all of that.

It wasn’t to the extent that he would be able to complete the job before the crafting contest started, but there were other ways around that, ways he intended to put into practice immediately as Thera got them out of the woods and on their cart to a new destination, the gate closest to Alfheimr’s capital.

Much like Anailia, it was a nation built within a forest, but unlike the grand buildings he would see in the succubus homeland, the ones he saw there were far more modest, at least on the outskirts of the nation, with small, open homes that let the air pass through freely while letting neighbours wander easily.

They were there as a result of Ben needing some very specific qualifications met, and Pelenia had been able to help meet them. Falk had been right, it was important to use the connections you had, even if it meant being liberal with your phrasing.

Despite the new view though, Ben ignored it. He had been spending all the time he could on the small trip flipping through as many books on plants as he could, feeling it pay off by the time they reached their destination.

He pushed the level up from his mind, instead going to the front of the first house and cheerfully calling into an open window.

“Hello there! I’m Ben, I believe you got some notice that I’d be arriving, albeit short!”

At that the head of a young elven man popped out, giving him a smile.

“Why hello there,” The elf called back happily. “I’ve got to say, I thought the offer was a joke when I heard it, are you really sure about this?”

“I am. I don’t want to go into the details but I need to own a farm and I don’t have the time to run it. I’m looking to buy it in exchange for you taking care of it and continuing the day-to-day operations. I’ll be setting some stuff up in the animal pens to test if they improve the quality of the farmed products with how profits will be split defined in the contract, does that work with you?”

“I’ve got no complaints, but you do know there’s not much money in these sorts of animals, right?”

“Don’t worry, if things don’t improve then it’s my loss, you’ll still be paid for your work.”

The agreement was that Ben would buy both the farm and the livestock on it while hiring the farmer to keep tending to the animals. It worked out quite strongly in the elf’s favour too. Should the profits fall below what the current average was then Ben wouldn’t be making anything, he’d only make more if the profits grew.

This deal ended up pretty terribly for Ben, but it was a level of loss he was willing to accept to win in the end. He fully intended to never see any of his money again, he just needed access to some livestock and didn’t want to risk harming any that a farmer needed to depend on. Now if anything went wrong, the elf running things had plenty of funds to start again somewhere else.

With all of that out of the way, they were led back to the coops, each filled with small creatures called obbles.

“These might be the cutest things I’ve ever seen,” Thera said as soon as they got in, and Ben had no choice but to agree. They were basically just small fluffy ovals with legs, creatures that had been bred to produce eggs frequently with thick hair that could be shorn for clothing and other fabrics. Essentially a cross between a sheep and a chicken, but their meat was no good and thus they would live out their natural lifespans, a fact that heavily contributed to his choice as he went to them one by one, placing a necklace on each of their necks before setting up the small statues of his god.

“So these things are supposed to help with the quality of the produce?” The elf asked as he stared down at the cubic pendant hanging from each of the creature's necks.

“That’s what I want to test. I’ll need you to write a quarterly report to me about how the quality and quantity of everything changes, if it does at all, but it would be great news if it works out. Just make sure you don’t touch them without wearing the pendant I’m leaving with you.”

The necklaces had mental compulsions on them, the same as the nails, while the statues were designed to give off a small bit of warmth to make them appealing for the creatures to be near during the night. It was all designed to earn his god faith, but that didn’t mean what he’d said was wrong either. He was sure he’d heard that happier animals gave better produce back on earth, as well as the fact that religious people generally lived longer, happier lives. If he could see if giving some animals faith improved things for them in a noticeable way then that was a valuable bit of knowledge, but if not then all he’d lost was some money.

With that out of the way for the day they went back to allfaith, happy to walk around the town and see whatever entertainment was available. They took a tour that sounded interesting and listened to a presentation on interfaith relations before going to simply wander the city some more, looking for anything that would catch their eyes and finding it in the form of a large market.

Ben knew from Falk that there was a good one in the city, he simply hadn’t gotten to see it in person yet, but now that he was he felt like his teacher had undersold it. At least a couple hundred stalls from across the world, each selling products he would never be able to get his hands on in stonewall, he immediately wanted to explore each one and Thera easily agreed, happily letting him drag her to any that caught his eye as she pulled back in return for whatever she thought looked interesting.

His bag, which had been empty after using all of the nails earlier, was quickly filling as they both picked up anything they thought could be useful or interesting. Thera made sure to get a few books that had made their way to some of the stalls, as well as some souvenirs for Sonya, while Ben’s interest drifted far heavier to cooking supplies, letting his nose lead him to ingredients he’d never get his hands on in any of the usual places he bought from.

One stall especially caught his eye. Filled with spices he hadn’t seen before but pulled at memories of his homeworld he walked up and bought small samples of each, giving them a taste one by one as the shopkeeper carefully explained where they were from and how they were usually used, ending with Ben's eyes lighting up as he carefully mixed a few together to give another taste before buying each in bulk.

His excitement made it easy to ignore that the last time he’d had mexican food was shortly before being crushed to death. After all, regardless of the timing, it was delicious while being one of many flavours he simply hadn’t been able to recreate from earth. Whenever he had a craving he could do nothing but wait it out, but now for this at least that was about to change.

“Oh Thera, I’m going to make you something so freaking good with this later, just you watch.”

“Your food’s always good, but I’ll look forward to it,” She told him brightly, thoroughly enjoying the market's atmosphere.

“Correct answer, but this is going to be extra good, I can’t wait,” He couldn’t contain his joy as he looked at the market with new eyes, eager to find anything that might help match some of the flavours of his homeland.

As the day grew late they decided to make their way back to the embassy they were staying at. Not only was the spatial bag full, but so were their arms, each loaded with bags from their purchases as Ben had to admit to himself that they may have gone overboard. There was no reason they couldn’t have just gone again another day, but if he saw something and wanted it then he couldn’t resist.

It was as they were wandering some far emptier streets, almost back, that he was called out to in a way he wasn't thrilled with.

“Hey, Apostle of Myriad, stop for a moment, I want a word!”

As a few eyes around turned to look, curious about the apostle of a god they hadn’t heard of, Ben heaved a sigh. He didn’t like advertising his status as an apostle for the work it could bring, but there was one person in town that knew who he was other than the people he’d come with and as he saw the large starfish person waving him down he couldn’t help but dread whatever he was about to have to deal with.

“Alright just keep it down. The names Ben, use that instead of outing me to anyone that might be listening. Anyway, what do you want, mister…”

“Xizle, and I want you to take this seriously,” The other apostle said firmly. “I’m going out every day doing my best to win new believers for my goddess. I know that as the ones who proposed the challenge that we have an unreasonable advantage, but I still don’t want to win against someone who’s not even trying.”

“Hey now, I’m trying plenty in my own way.”

“Really? I haven’t seen you preaching to anyone these last two days, instead you’re acting more like a tourist. I’ve already gotten five new believers for my goddess, have you even begun to try to gain your god any faith?”

While Xizle wanted to win for his god, he didn’t want to do so unfairly. He knew that proposing such a challenge when they already had people willing to convert wasn’t reasonable and he’d hoped the other apostle would put up a good fight to turn it into a true challenge, but as things were, it felt like he could stop trying and already win. If the other side wasn’t going to make an attempt, then what was the point of agreeing to begin with?

Ben though, knew the work he’d been doing, even if the other apostle didn’t, so he brushed the man's feelings on the matter to the side. “Look, you may be right that I’m not doing the best I can, but that doesn’t matter because I’m still going to win. There’s only a couple days left so watch and see.”

The other apostle didn’t believe him, but that wasn’t Ben's problem as he walked away with Thera. In fact, it left him all the more confident. The other side had only gained five believers, there was still time for things to change, but he was feeling all the better for it.