“I seriously can’t believe you’re both going off to fight a herd of leviathans. Can’t you just, I don’t know, pretend to be ill or something?” Myriad said with a sigh, not even having the energy needed to keep his cubic form floating in the air, instead sitting on the ground as Ben leaned against him.
“I live with two life mages, that would never fly. Besides, if Falk can’t get out of it then there’s no way I could.”
“And I’m a life mage too,” Sachel said, being brought to Myriad’s realm as an equally important member of the faith at risk of dying. “But this could be a good chance to earn some recognition for you, we should do everything we can to make the most of it!”
While she was enthusiastic about it, Ben was not. He’d read through the booklet provided and it was more than enough to put him on edge. They were expecting around a dozen juvenile leviathans, each the size of a house and capable of untold destruction. Maybe the others would be able to do something, but he would basically just be going to get in the way and steal some of the experience. Frankly, the insistence he participate was nothing but a pain considering the risk, he could only hope he’d be able to hang to the back as everything happened to keep himself safe, maybe focus on maintaining the other’s weapons at most.
“Mmh, it’s just not worth the risk is the issue,” Myriad went on. “The prophecy came from the banshee but they can’t predict anything specific, just coming deaths. That already puts this at a bad sign. At the very least promise me you’ll both keep yourselves safe.”
“Promise.”
“Obviously, I’m not getting eaten by a sea dragon if I can help it.”
“The bigger concern is how it would cook you first, but as long as you keep yourselves safe that’s all that matters, though there’s another thing I need you both to be aware of. It didn’t make it into your booklet, but the town you’re heading to is home of one of the demigods so be on your best behaviour.”
Despite the fact that he said it as if addressing them both, Myriad and Ben both knew who he was specifically talking about, even if Sachel viewed him positively enough to not even consider that he might cause any problems.
Not like I intend to anyway. Honestly Myriad, just what do you think of your sweet apostle over here?
Despite hearing the thought the god didn’t answer, instead focusing on Sachel as she spoke up.
“Wait, why wouldn’t that have been in the briefing? That seems pretty important to know.”
“I can’t say for sure but you’ll all become aware when you get to town anyway so it doesn’t matter too much. Either way, I’d recommend avoiding them if you can, it would save a lot of hassle.”
“What?” Ben couldn’t help but question. “Demigod implies a fair bit of power, right? I think that’s exactly who I want to stick to.”
He knew next to nothing about beings like that on the world, but if the child of a god wasn’t even strong then what was the point? In a situation like this that seemed like the exact sort of person to rely on.
“Mmh, it’s complicated. While he should have a decent level of strength to him, the mortal children of gods can be difficult. It’s one of the reasons there's so few of them. While I can’t say anything for sure since I haven’t looked into him too much, keeping a distance is the easiest way to avoid issues. More importantly though, it’s to keep anyone from causing trouble,” He explained, again directing his tone to Ben.
“What the hell man, this is starting to feel like slander.”
“Just trying to make things clear. Anyway, that was the main thing for the day so try to rest on the way there and be safe.”
With that Sachel vanished, leaving Ben alone with his god.
“Something you wanted to keep private?”
“It’s more out of consideration to you. I just thought I’d let you know that another of the otherworlders was sent to be with him. It’s no one from your group, but in the event you want to chat with them just keep in mind what I said about being on good behaviour, though at the same time they’d caused plenty of problems of their own when they arrived so don’t force yourself if you’re not interested.”
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“I mean, hearing that actually makes me more interested. What did they do that was so bad?”
“It’s not so much what they did but what they are. A species called orions, she’s a member of a reptilian race.”
“Uh, so? There’s plenty of those around. Heck, my local butcher’s one.”
“True, but it gets a bit more complicated when you find out that only she and one other of her group of twenty were of reptilian descent. The life gods only focused on recreating their bodies when their souls were brought over, they never considered recreating their disguises as well.”
As his god spoke Ben found himself putting his head in his hands as he began to understand just what was being said. “Myriad if this is leading up to you telling me that earth was secretly ruled by an advanced group of lizard people I’m going to have a breakdown. Learning that the grey’s were real and would project themselves across universes just to fuck around was enough of a psychological blow thank you very much.”
“Not Earth, we didn’t hit the same planet twice, remember? However, the more human-like pleiadens had a rather similar reaction to learning that they were being ruled by a hidden advanced race. Let's just say it caused some chaos.”
“... You know what? Screw it, if it’s not another shocking reveal about my old world then that’s just a fun fact, I can deal with it. Either way, I won’t go out of the way but if a chance to talk comes up then maybe I’ll consider it. Thanks for the heads up.”
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After waking and making breakfast for them, Ben and Thera went to the shop to get the cart that he and Falk had spent the previous day modifying, adding both seats and seatbelts at Ben's insistence before taking it to the guild to pick up the rest, and with that they were off, rushing down the roads as Ceselee spoke in greater detail over what they’d be doing and what to expect.
It was mostly along the lines of what he’d read in the handout, as well as what Uzi had told them after being grouped up. While they would all be working together, the groups were more to act as smaller teams to look out for one another amongst the crowd if need be.
And what a crowd there’d be. Given the size of the herd and just what they would be facing, there’d be over a hundred adventurers participating from select guilds, with the idea being that the fight would be a good way for many of them to complete their current jobs and become stronger. With the threat of war at the doorstep, even if they weren’t part of a nation's army, adventurers would be expected to play their part like any other, mostly in suppressing anything that escaped the war zones and protecting civilians. They would need their strength and this was an opportunity to get it.
“But with all of that said, you’ll mostly be working amongst those from your own guild, so with that in mind we need to know what to expect from each other. I’m not saying you all need to bear your entire status to one another, but we’re talking about how we fight. To start with, as you all know, I’m Ceselee and I’m an improvised weapon user with a time augmentation.”
She looked at Falk next who shook his head in annoyance at having to deal with it but played along anyway. “Falk, earth and death magic user if it’s a fight.”
Hmm, I would have thought he’d have a weapon skill all things considered. Maybe he only said those two because they’re the only parts of his status he’s already revealed to me? Or maybe those are just his preferred ways of fighting.
From there, the three cyclops-bird people announced themselves as Omp, Domp, and Lomp, being club, sai, and shield users respectively, while at the same time each having access to both air and water magic. After that, each person stated their specialty until it came down to the last two.
“I’m Thera and I focus on earth and life magic,” She said cheerfully as she drove, leaving Ben for last.
“I’m Ben but you all can’t really count on me for anything during this. I’m a craftsman and enchanter, but I basically have no fighting skills so if you want your weapons maintained or enchantments added let me know and I’ll help out.”
“Wouldn’t it be better for everyone to simply seek your teacher instead since he’s here? Omp asked, not in a rude way, but making it clear he thought they might as well get the best option available.
It was Falk who answered, happy to shut that idea down. “I’m not spending time doing weapon maintenance when I’m here to fight too, and if you want enchantments then it’s the boy you should be going to, his are likely to be handier than mine.”
“Are you saying he’s a better enchanter than you?” Ceselee asked sharply, whipping to face Falk.
“From a pure technical standpoint, no, he’s doing well but he has a way to go to catch up to me. His strength comes down to the pure variety of enchantments he can make, it’s not something I can compete with.”
“Falk you handsome devil, you’re going to make me blush,” Ben said with a grin, feeling deeply touched to be spoken so highly of.
“Bah, don’t be a pain. I’m not so hardheaded that I can’t acknowledge your work.”
“Hmm, well in that case let me know when he’s better than you,” Ceselee said as she eyed him. “I wouldn’t mind a new weapon before his work gets too expensive.”