Chapter 54

"...And this is your room, I'll be just down the hall if you need anything but for now I'll show you around," Thera said after bringing him where he would be staying.The room he entered was far larger than it needed to be, but when he considered the size of the building they were in that was supposedly for her family and the occasional political event he shouldn't have been too taken aback. They'd had to go up a couple flights of stairs and the room was more the size of a small apartment, but the bed looked incredibly comfy so he wasn't going to complain. That and large windows that looked out into the city, he was sure it would be a comfortable stay, at least once he got his mind in order.

He kicked off his shoes and walked over to the bed, then immediately flopped into it. "Thanks for showing me Thera, I'll see you tomorrow."

He laid there, preparing to sink into his thoughts, but he didn't hear the sound of footsteps leaving and raised his head to see her still standing there.

"Something on your mind?" He asked, ignoring the siren song of the bed.

"That's what I want to know. Are you doing okay?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

She didn't say a word, just quietly stared at him and waited. He could see she wasn't planning on giving up, so he did.

"Fine, I'm... I don't know, jealous I guess? Self-pitying maybe? Just generally unhappy to learn that on top of everything else all the other summoned are getting, they're getting access to some actual mental help while I'm stuck sorting myself out. It's dumb and petty and I'll get over it," It wasn’t something he liked saying out loud. It made him feel silly and small, but those were the feelings he was currently trying to deal with. Meeting Karly again just brought to mind how much better off everyone from his class was than him. It wasn’t how he wanted to feel, but he couldn’t escape it either.

Thera looked like she didn’t know what to say. Asking what was wrong was easy enough, but actually helping was a whole other issue, though she wanted to try anyway. “Is that something you want? To work as a countries summoned hero I mean? I know you’re hiding that you’re the one who made these braces, but if you reveal yourself as the creator to the world I'm sure a lot of nations that ignored you before will be fighting over who would get you. Heck, my mom would probably be the first to make you an offer. I wouldn't be surprised if she does anyway.”

It hurt to say, Thera didn’t really want Ben leaving Stonewall when he was her only friend and adventuring companion there, but if it would make him happier, not to mention help him deal with living in this world, how could she stop him?

Much to her relief though he shook his head. “No. Honestly if this had come up in my first couple months I’d been here maybe I would have, but I have a life now. I like learning from Falk and working with you. I like Stonewall too, it’s a nice place to live. All of which makes how I’m feeling even dumber. You don’t need to worry about me Thera, I’ll feel better once I get some sleep.”

“Alright, If you’re sure…”

“I am,” He said, giving her his most confident smile. “Anyway come grab me and show me around town a bit tomorrow okay? I need to see as much as I can while I’m here.”

“Okay, I’ll find you when you’re done, goodnight Ben.”

“Night Thera.”

As she walked out of his room and closed his door, Ben continued to lay down, staring at the ceiling and trying to push away his thoughts for the night.

As he opened his eyes and found himself in Myriad's divine realm, he couldn’t help but notice his god looking slightly more radiant than usual.

“What’s up Myriad? You’re looking… Brighter I guess?”

“Ho ho, some good fortune has finally come my way Ben! Sachel has finally accepted me as her god! Not to mention that she’s been giving me some prayers here and there ever since you told her about me, now I finally have a second believer!”

Ever since he’d first told her about his god, Ben had met up with her a couple more times to talk him up and sing his praise, and it looked like it had just paid off. It was genuinely exciting stuff, though his first instinct was to point out that only two believers still probably put him at the least amount of any other god, barring forbidden ones of course, but he resisted to not ruin Myriad's mood. Though just by having the thought go through his head his god was able to hear it and noticeably shrank.

Trying to quickly rebuild some of the positivity that was just lost, Ben cheered him on. “That's fantastic! Man who would have guessed you would get another this soon?” Ben certainly thought it would never actually happen, so this was quite the win.

Myriad seemed to shake in exasperation, showing more emotion than what Ben would have expected from a sentient floating cube at least. “You could stand to put a bit more effort in, you know. Now you only need to find me four more believers.”

It took a minute for Ben to figure out what his god was talking about. “Right, the quest! Yeah I guess I just need a few more, huh?”

“You forgot about it,” Myriad said, deadpan and staring into him.

“It just slipped my mind is all. Can you blame me? I thought it was impossible.”

“You could at least be a little more invested. I’ll be raising your job level by six if you can do this for me.”

“That honestly doesn't feel like much for the amount of effort it will take.”

“That's more than a level per person! Plus you’re already pretty high into your craftsman job, if you can get this done before you complete it you could be saving a bunch of time!”

“Well that's true. I should probably expect it for the one following this at the earliest though, I’m pretty sure I’ll be done this one in a couple months.”

“That's a whole other issue. Aren’t you feeling burnt out at all?”

“Hmm? No, why?”

“You’ve been working too hard. Your level will rise with the amount of effort you put in but yours has been going up surprisingly fast.”

“I don’t know what to tell you Myriad, I’m having fun. Why wouldn’t I work hard on something I enjoy?”

His god let out a long sigh. “Easy to say, but not something many can truly put into practice. Okay if you say it’s nothing then it's fine. In that case what about your more emotional issues?”

“It’s nothing, just a little jealousy like I told Thera. I’ll deal with it.”

If Myriad had a body he’d be rubbing his head. The event of Ben's summoning nearly a year ago still weighed on the boy, but he didn’t know how he could help. He had no experience leading hominid types, let alone humans. He didn’t want his apostle to work himself to death to avoid confronting his feelings, but as far as he could see the boy genuinely loved what he did, instead of just using it as a coping mechanism.

So he put the matter on hold. “Fine. Just remember you can come to me for advice. Part of my role is guiding my followers after all.”