“Just for the record, I want to make it clear I hate every part of this,” Ben said as they made their way back to Stonewall, holding his seat in a death grip from the stress that only he was feeling.
Thera for her part was ecstatic. She’d thought it was a brilliant idea as soon as she’d had it, taking advantage of the improvements to her earth magic to use the cart in a completely different way, raising it into the air as soon as they left the city limits, not just letting them avoid any traffic but the nature of the road itself, not having to worry about any bumps or curves in it as she carried them in a straight line right back home, bringing the previous, already low travel time of two days down to less than one.
“Don’t be a baby about it Ben, I’ll bring us down in a couple minutes. As funny as it would be, I can’t exactly fly us through town.”
“Thank god.”
The journey back through the skies had been uneventful as they went, and by the time they could see their home in the distance Thera lowered them and brought down their speeds to a far more reasonable pace, letting Ben drop some of the tension the entire ride had brought.
“I honestly don’t see how this bothers you so much,” Thera told him with a nudge. “I’ve seen you do much more dangerous things.”
“Maybe, but I can’t shake my roots of coming from a world with proper road safety standards. Don’t want to either, if you want to fly more often I need to at least figure out some safety features, not to mention making something a bit more aerodynamic than the cart. It would probably cut down on the mana cost too. Actually, how would I go about all of that?”
He trailed off as he played with the idea in his many minds, feeling curious about it despite himself but tried to spare a few to soak in the feeling of being back in town after so long. What had meant to be a crafting competition had ended up being so much more, but it felt good to be home.
The streets seemed the same as usual at first, people going about their days as they always did, but it wasn’t long before he began to pick up on more changes. Empty shops that had been bustling in the past and houses for sale in what seemed like previously thriving neighbourhoods. It was subtle, but the change was there as people left when they learned of the beginning of the invasion.
It was a little surprising to him to see it affecting Stonewall. They were relatively safe there, all things considered. Not particularly close to any invasion point, he’d expected more people to be escaping to the town if anything, but the world was filled with people who felt like they had to fight or wanted to be closer to distant family with what was to come.
Still, no point worrying about it.
Since no nation took him in, he was just some guy in the end, his biggest role being the act of selling and making weapons, so he chose to ignore the thoughts so closely tied to the world's inevitable demise in favour of being home.
They first stopped at the shop, parking the cart there for Ben to figure out what to do with everything that filled it later. Aside from the many crates of books he’d bought from the various guilds of Allfaith, there was also the matter of all of the materials he’d come back with, both from the trial, as well as buying from Abrus. He wouldn’t be lacking any time soon and could afford to be a bit less thrifty with them now than in the past, but that would be for later. For the time being, they had people to see, people to let know he was alive and they started with the closest, walking into Falk’s shop as the day was ending and finding the yeti sweeping up, the broom falling from his hand as they both came through the door.
“What’s up Falk, hope you weren’t hoping to get out of training an apprentice,” Ben said in greeting, smile stretched across his face and not expecting his teacher to be over in a flash, having the both of them in a tight hug.
“Damnable boy, someone needs to start tying you to a fence post when nobody’s watching you to keep you out of trouble.”
“Well, Thera’s said she’s going to be doing that from now on. By the way, I’m dating your niece.”
“Ben!” She yelled at him, not expecting things to come out so bluntly, even if she hadn’t planned on hiding it from her aunt and uncle the same way she did for her parents.
Falk for his part was completely unfaced. “Well, colour me the opposite of shocked. What’s actually surprising is seeing you without a cloak,” He said, stepping away and looking at his niece before his eyes locked on her brace and widened in shock.
He gently took Thera’s hand, raising it up to give him a better look at the design of the enchantment as he poured over it, words coming out without any thought. “You awakened your enchanting. And this isn’t just the high form either.”
“Not just awakened, but got it to the first level. You’re looking at the holder of divine enchanting Falk,” Ben said proudly, happy to brag about his growth. “Actually, there’s a lot to catch you up on, but I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow, got other people to see before the day is up.”
“Wait, don’t tell me you stopped here first?”
“We had to drop the cart off.”
“Then off with you both. You have no idea how worried Sonya’s been. I know she has the day off today so just rush home.”
“Will do.”
They both wanted to see her anyway so that became their next stop as they ran off. Rushing through the town, Ben noticed a few looks from some of the people he passed, but made the choice to ignore whatever it was for the time being.
----------------------------------------
As they got home, they were going to rush into the building, only stopping to go around it as they heard noises coming from out back.
It was when they went to the yard instead that they found Sonya and the guild master Ceselee, all of their focus on each other as blows were exchanged.
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Ben was stunned to a stop and didn’t know if he should rush in to try and end whatever had caused this, but a quick look from Thera and the feel of her hand on his arm kept him from moving. He could see it in her eyes, she was excited.
It seemed they had arrived just at the tail end of it. Both were tired and sweating as Sonya threw a quick punch that Ceselee ducked to avoid, responding with an uppercut to the jaw that Sonya took, her healing magic activating in an instant to repair the damage from the hit but still knocking her off balance as the guild master took advantage of it, bringing her to the ground and holding her in place.
“You’re still a little rusty,” Ceselee said with a grin while pinning her.
“I’m not rusty, I’ve just had a very peaceful few decades. You’ve just gotten better.”
“True,” She said gleefully, starting to get off of Sonya and freezing as she noticed Ben and Thera watching from the side.
A series of looks flashed across her eyes. Surprise, happiness, and strangely enough suspicion and judgment as she finally moved, speaking up as she did. “Well well, looks like someone finally returned home.”
“What?” Sonya yelled, turning to see them and rushing over as she took them in her arms and hugged them tightly. “Thera, Ben, it’s so good to have you both back. Oh gods I missed you both so much and Falk told me Ben had died but then we heard you escaped but you both didn’t come back and- wait, did your eyes change colour Ben?”
“Oh, so this is Thera,” Ceselee said happily, the bits of suspicion and judgment gone from her face, leaving her to beam at their return. “Sorry, I didn’t recognise you without your cloak. Managed to get your passive effects under control?”
“Mostly, but being touched could still be dangerous,” She explained through the crushing grip of her aunt's hug. “I’ll make sure to wear sleeves around town though so don’t worry.”
“It’s fine. If it sounds good with you I’ll make an official announcement at the guild tomorrow to make things clear with everyone, though you should both stop by today. I know Onk was especially worried when they’d heard the word that your apostle over there had died and you hadn’t come back to town yet. Also heard that you awakened a skill Ben, gotta get you listed as a second-ranked adventurer asap.”
“It’s crafting! It’s no good for being an adventurer! Why do you need to do this to me? And just as importantly, why do you know I’m an apostle?”
“Ha, when word got out you died, Sachel held a memorial for you at your church in town, and rules are rules, even if they were set up without any expectation that a person without combat skills might end up succeeding as an adventurer.”
He mentally swore revenge against the oracle of his faith for not mentioning the fact that she’d outed him when they’d seen each other as he also dealt with the knowledge that he wasn’t getting out of having his rank go up. By that point, he was almost certain that Ceselee was forcing the matter for her own amusement more than due to the flaws of any rules.
“Well, I should head back and start setting up the paperwork so stop by in a bit,” The guild master told them, still laughing as she left. For just a moment, it looked like Thera was going to give her a heads-up about her own skills, but Ben took her hand and shook her head. If Ceselee was going to take such delight in raising his rank then he’d take delight in giving her some unexpected work, especially since according to the rules he was aware of, they wouldn’t be becoming rank two adventurers, but rank one.
With that done, Sonya ushered them into the house, pulling out snacks and drinks to enjoy as they all caught up about exactly what happened. Both of them left the details light on his time in the trial, seeing no point in worrying her about what was already done to focus more on what happened after.
Through all of that, Ben didn’t give the reveal the same way he had with Falk. Since Thera hadn’t seemed thrilled with how he’d spilled the beans he decided to leave it to her this time, and she knew it. Each time a point came up where it would have been natural she started to say something, only to end up beating around the bush, until finally she looked to him in defeat as he said it casually.
“And by the way, me and Thera are dating now.”
“Really,” Sonya started, her eyes lighting up at the words. “Oh that’s wonderful! I always thought it would happen sooner or later. I absolutely need to know how your mom reacted to the news!”
“Um, she doesn’t know yet,” Thera admitted. “I’ll tell her eventually, so could you keep it from her for the time being?”
As Sonya’s smile took on the same playful look Pelenia’s did any time she found herself with something amusing, it was easier than ever for Ben to see that they were in fact sisters.
“Of course, in that case I can’t wait to find out how she’ll react knowing that I got to know long before her. Oh, this is just going to eat her up! But anyway, I guess this means I get my spare room back then?”
It took a second for either of them to know what she was implying as she looked at them with laughing eyes, but when it snapped in place for Thera her face flushed a deep gold.
“Aunty! It’s way too soon to be thinking about something like that!”
“Really? But don’t you both share a tent when you hunt anyway? And it sounds like you’ve been in close quarters ever since Ben got out of the trial.”
“That was just necessity! This is different!”
I mean, I wouldn’t be against it, but I’m not going to force the issue. Hell, where I’m from moving in together is considered a pretty big step.
Choosing to ignore his god, Ben instead changed the topic to spare Thera’s embarrassment. “But ignoring all that, why were you and Ceselee fighting? Since when do you fight?”
It completely clashed with his normal view of Sonya as a peaceful and dedicated life mage who was ever focused on her role as one of the town’s main healers, but when he asked, both of the women with him looked at him in confusion.
“Ben, you knew my aunt used to work as an adventurer with mom and uncle.”
“Yeah, I thought as their party healer or something!”
“Huh, I guess it doesn’t actually come up much since it’s been so long since I’ve actually done anything with it, but both me and Pelenia acted as a team of fighters before Falk joined us. Since we both had an aptitude for life magic it was just a way to let us fight longer originally, but when I retired I decided to put it to use helping others.”
“...Alright, honestly would never have guessed that but cool. So what has you getting back into the groove of it?”
She’d show no signs of training regularly in all of the time they'd lived together, but the answer should have been obvious.
“The invasion’s coming. If I’m going to fight then I need to get back into it.”
It hadn’t even occurred to him that Sonya might actively fight in it, though Thera wasn't surprised.
“Do you know what invasion point you’re going to go to?”
“Falk’s going to be going to defend craftsman’s tower so I’ll be joining him. Have you given it any thought?”
Of course not, I should be working some safe distance away to maintain any weapons if anything. Hell, wouldn’t Sonya be better off working as a healer than anything? Why go anywhere close to where the main battles will-
“I’ve told you before aunty, I’m going wherever you go. With two awakened magics I should be a lot of help too so I won't be holding you or uncle back, don’t worry.”
He tried to keep any expression from his face as he heard Thera say that. A small part of him had been aware that she might want to do something, and with her skills and power it couldn’t be denied that she could make a difference, but he’d never let himself consciously acknowledge it until she said it. The girl he loved intended to actually fight in the main force, and he had no idea how to handle that.