The three of them were trapped under a crushing force that none were used to feeling when in Nare’s presence. Any time any of them had been up there in the past, there’d always been some, it was hard to escape the strength of a powerful god, but never to such an extent before, with Nare not caring to even try and hold back as he quietly stared at them all, thinking on where to begin.

It was only a few more minutes until the feeling of divinity began to let up, though not from any improvements to the god’s mood and not one of them dared to speak up when his anger was still so clear, left to wait to see what he’d have to say.

“Zallith, you are my head priest, are you not?”

The words were cold despite his lava-like form, making Zallith shrink into himself.

“I am, my lord.”

“Then why was someone I personally invited not treated with the utmost courtesy?”

“I, I let my judgment be clouded,” The priest said in his weak defense, stumbling over his words as he went. “But the way I saw him treat Eneth-”

“Do you worship Eneth or do you worship me.”

It wasn’t a question, they both knew the answer, but it still struck Zallith like a blow.

“You! You, of course!”

“Then it couldn’t matter less how he treats other gods when he has my approval. Even though you aren’t learning from him, you will be accommodating during the rest of his time here, do I make myself clear?”

All the priest could do was nod, a deep, intense horror to have provoked this sort of reaction from the one he worshiped lodged within him that the god could sense before he addressed the next of them.

“Xilly… I’m honestly not sure where to begin with you.”

“Who dies from a leg wound?” She asked in her defense. “It was completely unbelievable.”

“There are an untold number of body structures on this world. You’re a healer as well as an enchanter, if someone says they are going to die, you’ll work to treat them, no questions asked. Even if he wasn’t going to die, that was no small injury. You should have helped him regardless.”

She fell silent at that, leaving room for another sigh to escape Nare. “Frankly, there’s a lot I want to say about how you’d been treating him while he’s been here, but unfortunately, it’s confused me as much as anything else. Even if he was a polygamist, why would that be so terrible?”

“...I believe it’s just a holdover from my homeworld.”

“And that’s what’s causing me the most issues with understanding. I see you have your thoughts on your friend's marriage, but she’s not even the only one of your kind to enter that sort of relationship. There’s at least one other who’s acting as an adventurer whose party is composed entirely of his lovers, possibly more too, but I haven’t looked deeply enough to be sure.”

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“That’s impossible!”

“I assure you it’s not. It seems some others were just more willing to make the lives they wanted rather than being tied down by the customs of their old lands.”

She fell silent at that, thinking on exactly who Nare had to be referring to and dealing with her feelings about the reveal, leaving the god to focus on the last of them.

“Nati, I honestly don’t know what to say to you right now. I couldn’t be more disappointed.”

“Grandfather, I-”

“Do you really think so little of me?” He asked her, hurt in his voice. “Do you really think I’d try to pair you off, just to see what would happen? Is that the sort of person I’ve shown you over the years?”

She wasn’t able to answer him, not knowing what to say and his focus left her, being directed to the three of them as a whole.

“I’m not sure if you all were able to notice what we’d spoken of earlier, but you can consider yourselves both lucky and unlucky that Ben has enough investment in the world’s survival to continue teaching you all for the remaining time we’d agreed upon. You will all be learning through whatever means he deems fit. Don’t be expecting a pleasant experience, but I can practically guarantee that you’ll all come away from whatever he’ll be subjecting you to having learned more in the next week than you might have in the next month otherwise. If he says to do something then you’ll do it, it’s as simple as that.”

“Nare, why do you have so much confidence in him?” Xilly managed to ask, the only one with the emotional leeway to do so. “He’s been here as long as I have, how can he possibly be as amazing as you’re making him out to be?”

Neither Nati nor Zallith could have asked, both too beaten down by Nare’s feelings to do so, but it was a question they would have been curious about as well. They wouldn’t deny that Ben knew things they didn’t, but they couldn’t see why he’d been the one put in charge of teaching instead of whoever had to have taught him, nor why Nare seemed to place so much faith in the boy.

“...Perhaps things would have gone smoother if I’d explained the boy’s history when I’d first given word that he’d be arriving, but then, why would I think I’d even need to?” He asked himself. “But fine, if this helps smooth things over then so be it. Xilly, while I don’t personally like to rank people myself, I don’t believe it’s a secret amongst the various summoned that some are considered to be more powerful than others. Obviously of the two hundred we got, five are undoubtedly at the top as third-tier skill holders, but where do you think you’d compare to the rest of them?”

“Um, somewhere in the middle I’d guess?”

“Too modest in this case. With five awakened blessed skills, all of them being a wide range of magics that could have various applications for the war, any god that was to judge you would place you near the top when you arrived. Your current teacher on the other hand came to this world dead last amongst the summoned. There’s no need to compare, it was an undeniable fact.”

“Then why-”

“The difference,” Nare said as he cut her off. “Is of a matter of skill beyond that. I will not speak of the boy’s skills, nor what he’s accomplished since coming to the world. If you want to know that then ask him yourself, though given all of your actions I feel like there’s a slim chance he’ll tell you, but I will say that through his own efforts, he’s raised himself up in a way that would change the way any god would view him when compared against the others. While I can’t speak for the rest of my ilk, I would personally place him within the top five when compared against any of the other summoned. Getting him was a blessing to the world, that is how highly I value him. Do you all understand?”

Top five. It was hard not to know what Nare meant by that given all he’d said. In the god’s own estimates, that put Ben above at least one of the holders of a tier three skill, maybe even more. It was hard to imagine what he could have possibly done to have gained that sort of evaluation, but it made one thing even more clear. The god thought highly of Ben, ridiculously so, and none of them had been reflecting that same attitude.

“There’s more I want to say, but it seems he’s waiting to begin teaching you all in earnest so we’ll end here for now. Make no mistake though, this is not the last we’ll be talking about how you all acted, punishments are simply pending till your lessons are over. Now go do your best and try not to bring more shame to my name.”

Without another word, the three were kicked from his realm, back into the world to be confronted by Ben’s smiling face.