When a few of his minds returned to normal speed, the area was silent. With the exception of both Thera and Sonya, no one had been expecting things to end quite so quickly, especially not when a not insignificant number had bet against him. He was pretty sure there was the sound of money changing hands but that was it until he spoke up.
“Ahem, look, I tried to not kill him but that’s going to change if nobody starts treating the guy.”
“Ah, right, it looks like it’s Ben’s win so Sonya if you don’t mind?” Ceselee asked as her longtime friend started making her way over, admittedly slower than a healer should, and poured out her mana to treat him.
As it was happening, the crowd around started to murmur, wondering just what had happened. Nobody had noticed that Ben had just materialized a weapon, he’d kept it small for that reason and they were all too curious about what it even was that had caused such instant damage.
He personally didn’t care too much what anyone thought. As anticlimactic as it was, he’d done what he’d been asked to do and he started walking over to Thera who seemed to have enjoyed the show, until he was stopped by the call from behind him.
“Wait!” The man yelled, healed enough to get up. “I can’t accept this. Winning with some strange item, that’s not your strength!”
“Wow, it’s a shame nobody outlined any rules saying how I had to fight before this started,” He mocked. “But as things stand, I won so you both owe money and need to get the hell out of my town.”
“Again! No strange tools this time, fight me like a real man!”
Jesus, how badly do I have to hurt this guy?
“If I fight you again and win then we’re adding another day's pay, and even if I lose you still need to pay up the first.”
“Fine. I won’t lose a proper fight!”
There was a fire in his eyes that wasn’t there before now that he’d tasted any level of defeat and it seemed like things would only become more of a pain if he turned him down so Ben gave in. With the gods watching, there was no way he was getting out of paying his bill in the end and he fully planned on using them to get the guy kicked out of town if it came to it.
“Fine. Sorry Sonya but can you bring the sore loser back to full health so he can’t use it as an excuse when I win again?”
She gave a firm nod, not really wanting to treat someone who was causing her niece problems but excited enough at the prospect of watching him get beaten up that she did her best to make it quick before the two of them were standing before one another again.
“I’ll admit, I may have underestimated you a bit, craftsman, but your luck ends here. On my name-”
“Still don’t care. Ceselee, if you would so we can get this over with?”
“Sure, you both remember what I just said so get ready and start!”
The crowd seemed even more into it this time than last now that expectations had been raised. When many of them thought about it, it wasn’t surprising an awakened craftsman might have a powerful weapon, but now he was going to fight without one? After how things had just ended, who could resist seeing how things would turn out now?
That was the desire going around, but Ben crushed it again with ruthless efficiency. While his challenger ran forward, he dug his foot into the dirt beneath him and kicked forward, empowering what looked like a relatively childish attack with all of his mana to shoot it out with a force approaching what he’d done with his gun as it tore through flesh and shattered the ribs of the man coming at him, bringing him once more to the ground, only with even more blood leaking out than the first time.
Oh, I may have accidentally gone too far.
“Thera, Sonya, if you two wouldn’t mind coming over so I can try and not be a murderer, that would be swell,” He yelled out as he rushed over to the fallen man, ignoring the shocked reactions of the crowd around him.
There was no doubt he was in a bad state when the two healers reached his side and they rushed to close the wound while Ben provided the help he could.
“If you guys increase his digestion rate, I’ll make up for the lost materials.”
Neither was sure what he was talking about but both decided to trust him as he began the little he could. Stealing mana from Thera to help his own low reserves after that last attack, he began materializing it inside of the man’s stomach, creating the digestible bits of the minuscule seed he knew how to materialize in a massive volume, creating pounds of it to replace everything that had been lost until the man was good as new and came back to his senses.
“What- what happened?”
“You lost. Admittedly I accidentally went a bit harder on you than I meant to. Even if you’re a tool, that’s my bad.”
He didn’t want to believe it but couldn’t deny the fact that he was on the ground, with a lingering memory of intense pain haunting his thoughts. That just left one question.
“How?”
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“My magic.”
Ben wasn’t going to give him more than that. His skills were his business, even if he didn’t mind sharing them if someone asked, he wasn’t going to do so for a person who came to town specifically to beat him up.
Still, this should be enough to show him the difference between us-
“Again.”
“What?”
“I can’t accept this! Such a thing isn’t a fight between men!”
“You said a fight with my own strength. If you’re going to deny that magic counts as that then you’re going to have a lot of unhappy mages around, including the two that just saved your life.”
That seemed to trip him up. He took a quick glance at Thera who still wouldn’t bother looking at him, but he’d made up his mind.
“Pick a real weapon and fight me with it! I won’t lose in a true fight.”
Thank you peanut gallery, any comments from Nare?
Fine, However this turns out, I might as well make a bit more money.
That’s a him problem.
“You want another fight? That’s another day's pay. Sure you can afford it?”
“...Grab a weapon and let's do this.”
Your funeral.
Ben slipped his hand between his shirt and jacket, materializing his mana to create what he felt comfortable with. A hammer, big enough that the watching crowd questioned how he’d been storing it back there.
The zeroth level of hammer wielder had merged into his crafting back when it had awakened but since then he hadn’t used any of its combat potential. He knew in theory that awakening had to have raised it to some extent, but he’d only cared about how it helped his tool proficiency so there was no telling how good it could be.
Not that it matters for me.
From what little he’d already seen, he knew there was no way he was losing. The shape of his mind made it impossible. In a one-on-one fight with no outside variables, the way he could think meant that the man before him was at a disadvantage he couldn’t begin to imagine.
“Ceselee, call the match already.”
She did just as he asked, albeit giving him a complicated look when she did which he promptly ignored. Instead, he took his first steps for any of their little spars, shrinking the distance along with his target as his minds moved at a range of speeds, trying to take in everything he could for the best effect.
It was clear the man was feeling significantly more confident. He was moving faster than Ben and it looked like he was aiming for the same sort of decisive victory he’d just lost twice to as his sword came down in a heavy slash, missing Ben by millimeters as he stepped out of the way.
Let’s see, and now I guess this should be good enough, right?
Not wanting things to go quite so violently, he planned his strike and brought the hammer down, shattering the knee of his opponent before bringing the bludgeon back up to break the arm holding his blade.
Unlike the last two times, the man was still in a good enough condition to be aware of what was happening, even if he was powerless to change it. Ben had kicked the sword away and moved outside of his range of attack which was so much more limited now that he couldn’t stand, and was looking at Ceselee, waiting for her to make her call.
“Ahem. Another decisive victory for Ben.”
Man, I won three times. Shouldn’t I get a cheer or two?
Yeah, but it’s a big audience.
While Thera, Sonya, Aso, and Sachel were all showing a good level of motivation for his victories, the rest of the crowd was deadly silent. Not even Sachel’s party was joining in, instead just giving him the same uncomfortable looks as the rest of them.
None of them could help it though. Nobody had seen Ben fight before, the fact that he was ending things so decisively left more than a few shocked and uncomfortable. Never mind that so much of his success came down to being able to think faster than others. They didn’t know that and even if they had, that wouldn’t have changed their evaluation. It might have even left things worse.
“Again!”
“Oh you have to be fucking- I won three times! What the hell are you going to complain about now?”
“Men should fight with blades! Someone get him a sword so we can show our worth!”
“What, you think after you just lost so badly I wouldn’t be able to gut you? My guy, let’s make this clear. You’ve just lost to me using items I’ve made, magic, and now a pretty regular fight. I think we’ve established that if you really think Thera needs someone to protect her, you’re not the one to do it.”
“...A fist fight then! A proper contest of strength!”
“Oh for the love of… Can somebody please heal this guy so I can beat the crap out of him, guilt-free? We’ll be adding another day's pay for this so prepare to owe me four. Pretty sure you’re going to have to leave me in your will at this rate.”
What? I mean, thanks but how?
It was an answer he got soon enough when the man’s eyes stretched wide before clenching tight, holding his hands in prayer despite his still shattered bones.
“Vatu, it’s an honour! I- no, you see, I- even so, isn’t some shame worth it- Wait, please listen, you don’t understand- but it’s love-”
So you got his god. Nare, I just want you to know that you’re genuinely great.
“Wait, I just need the one more chance to show my worth!” He begged the sky. “To show my value and reclaim just a bit of honour! I-” His words stopped at whatever his god said and his eyes snapped open, locking onto Ben in horror. “How much did you say he earns in a day?”
Oh yeah, that was cathartic alright.
Faced with a debt he could never reasonably be expected to pay back, his determination finally crumbled, giving Ben the chance to finally get back to his day.