After finishing his regular work for the day, Ben was once again left wondering what he should do.
If he was being true to himself, the answer was sleep. Staying up all night to renovate the church after a full day of making weapons, only to move into an entire new day at the forge was taking its toll. He was tired, and just as importantly, still feeling in a weird mood. He wanted to rest.
The issue with that though was entirely himself. He still wanted to train his skills to keep growing, and just as importantly, he knew his work had value. Any bit of practice that could improve himself would immediately be worthwhile if he got another level in any of his core skills, letting him make better items even quicker. Taking a break then would be a waste of time, even if a not-insignificant part of him wanted it.
It was as he was struggling between those two sides that Myriad came into his thoughts and made the decision simple with only a few small words.
Ben didn’t need to ask for more context, there was only one statue that his god would describe like that and he’d been waiting for months for it to happen. The statue in front of the church of Eneth, placed there as punishment for the attempted murder that had taken place in the past.
Letting himself catch up on sleep immediately stopped being an option. Ben had plenty of ideas for how he wanted to make the new statue to replace it, ideas that were sure to make Felth’s face crumple in despair, meaning Ben couldn’t resist the call of his work to get it out there just a little sooner and immediately began.
Like the past options, Ben was going to be making it ridiculously expensive, even more so than the ones he’d already made, but he couldn’t resist the fun that would come from adding a false sense of security to it that the others hadn’t held, and to make that happen he created the first part of the structure, a mini-gate.
The idea was simple. While the outer shell would of course be made of the most expensive parts money could buy, the inner part would be mostly hollow and the mana cost to keep it in the air would be low, or at least they would think. By having a gate within the statue, Ben would be able to add some moribusial to suck away the mana being put into it if he ever wanted the statue to come down, either if Eneth specifically did something to annoy him or else if Ben just needed the pick-me-up.
It was devious, all the more so since the presence of a gate within it would make the statue a legendary item, thereby boosting the price an astronomical amount, but Ben didn’t care. All of his interactions with that god and church had been firmly in the negatives, he fully planned on getting all of the revenge he could for as long as he was alive.
And if I have the gate at the top of the statue, I could technically just keep dropping stuff through on my end if I really want to. Could definitely cause some chaos if I plan this right.
Wait, really? But that one wasn’t even made to be as destructive as the first? This is basically not my fault.
Hmm, thanks for the heads up, that sounds like it has a dangerous risk of killing some of my fun. I’ll have to plan around it.
It wasn’t like it would be hard to think of ways to slip past everyone either, all it came down to was the route he wanted to take and he had plenty of time to figure out how he wanted it to happen.
----------------------------------------
After getting home late that night and asking Thera if she’d mind helping him with transport plus making sure nobody would try to murder him the next day, Ben got his usual sleep, letting his body rest but not his mind before going back to work the next day until he and Thera were both done to fly off the newest statue, getting to the church of Eneth after a few far-too-short hours.
“Just try not to let anyone kill you,” Thera sighed, remembering how the last time had ended and fully expecting a repeat.
“Not to worry, it will be fine. Just give me a minute.”
They were both parked only a little bit away and got out to approach the church, Ben going on ahead with the statue in his arms as he surveyed the damage.
Myriad had been right about the level of destruction, half the church had collapsed with the impact, leaving the space essentially unusable, with the area being swarmed by priests, each of them ready to talk to Ben in the politest tones they had to while directing him to a place the statue could go instead of letting him put it wherever he wanted.
Many of them were even eyeing Thera, trying to tell if they were properly recognising her as his companion or if she was just another onlooker who’d come to gawk at the destruction, not one of them noticing as Ben casually walked by with statue in hand.
He wished he could have attributed it to some sudden growth to his stealth proficiency, but it was completely uninvolved. Instead, all credit went entirely to what he’d made, a mythril fabric enchanting with a combination of invisibility, light, and dark magics, all working in tandem to ensure he went unnoticed as he slipped by, searching for the perfect place to put it.
Dropping it in the same location as the last two times was no longer an option, simply because there really would have been no way for anyone to power it. The window they’d had to lean through in the past was simply gone, as was the front wall of the building as a whole.
That managed to create a far more unique of an opportunity though as Ben instead went inside the church itself and placed the statue down before taking off its covering and activating the enchantments on it, letting it rise up to a new ledge for someone to stand on, the partially collapsed second floor of the church itself.
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None there immediately noticed and Ben used the time to slip past them all again, trying to keep from whistling a cheery tune before deactivating the enchantments on his clothing to make it look like he’d just come from around the corner, with the eyes of the priests lighting up with fear as they locked on to him, a few instantly running off to go find Felth.
“Well, isn’t this a royal reception?” He laughed as he stood beside Thera, giving them all a wave. “I see some familiar faces here too. Did you miss me? Oh, who am I kidding, of course you did! There really is no bond stronger than that between the churches of Eneth and Myriad.”
“You are one hundred percent asking for one of them to try and murder you again,” Thera muttered as Ben worked the crowd, seeing both rage and defeat in equal measure amongst them all.
“I mean, that would get me a little more money when they fail.”
The church of Eneth had already sent the funds for the last statue, and from the looks of it managed to get it together by selling the rest of the church’s finery, even if Ben guessed they still needed to pull from other sources after the fact.
Be it from other churches worshiping Eneth across the lands or else from collecting funds from the worshipers themselves, Ben didn’t particularly care. All that mattered was that he was being paid.
It was only another few seconds before he got to see Felth sprinting out, the other apostle clearly in a rush as he looked about, seeing Ben and not immediately noticing a new statue up which let him breathe just a small sigh of relief before slowing down to walk in a more respectable manner.
“Felth, buddy!” Ben yelled out, giving an over-the-top wave. “It’s been so long! Have you been well? You don’t need to answer that, I can see it in your beautiful eyes, you’re positively glowing.”
The other apostle had to wonder just what Ben was seeing in him. Any time he looked at himself in the mirror, it felt more and more like he was looking at a corpse, but he did his best to keep that to himself, instead trying to keep professional to avoid any more slip-ups.
“I’ve already got some of the priests working on bringing out the materials for you, as requested. Now if you don’t mind, why don’t you let me show you a spot for your new statue, seeing as how the current area is no longer suited for it.”
He was curious about where this new one could be too, with a small part of him hoping that this one had been made small enough that he just wasn’t seeing it over the lip of the cart, but knew something was wrong when Ben looked at him in confusion.
“You have a spot for me already? Well, this is a little awkward Felth, good buddy good pal. Since none of the priests said anything I kind of just thought I could put it anywhere. I mean, I walked right past them and everything.”
Felth felt his blood run cold hearing that as he whipped to look at the other priests, all of them looking confused and fearful. They’d only just seen him, where could he have put that new, horrendous statue, with the answer coming as the apostle cast his eyes only a little farther back behind those standing guard, with the new statue in the church itself.
He didn’t even feel himself fall to his knees, all he could sense within himself was despair. Ben intended to destroy the church. Another fall like the last one and the structure would come down entirely, bringing what little wealth they had left with it.
Ben felt all of that and more through the subtle connection he was making with the man, unable to keep the joy of it from leaking through to his face. Eneth had tried to have him tossed into hell and to steal from him while Felth had tried to have him murdered, any suffering on their part was going to be nothing but a pleasure, even if he made sure to keep framing it in the best light he could.
“Honestly, I think this works out pretty well there though, don’t you? It really helps bring the room together and now nobody is going to need to stay outside to face the elements. Of course, someone should probably get to it already, there’s only so much power in those enchantments before it’s going to run out.”
His words were met with a group of priests breaking into a sprint to get to the second floor, no matter how structurally unstable it might have been, while Felth said nothing. What was there to say? Nothing he could do would get him or his god out of that, his only option was to wait for Ben to go on.
“Oh, and before I forget, here’s the list of materials and their prices, along with the final value of the statue. Felth, my friend. Actually, would it be weird if I described us as brothers? I think we’re at a stage in our relationship where it feels right. Anyway, you have to be one of the luckiest apostles on the planet because your church is officially home to a legendary item! That’s right, for you I worked my little fingers to the bone to smash through ultra-rare! You don’t need to say a word, the look on your face is enough.”
The tears the apostle was shedding were not ones of joy. He was doing everything he could to keep from being sick then and there as he cursed the priest who accidentally let the last one fall down, swearing to himself that there’d be six people watching it at all times from then on. As long as the world didn’t end, Felth would do all he could to ensure that the new statue of Myriad stood for all eternity.
The smallest blessing of all was that they were at least almost done. As soon as he got the shattered remains of the old statue, Ben would leave them in peace for as long as they fulfilled their end of the agreement, but much like last time, someone moved to make things worse.
“Thera, he’s coming from above,” Ben said calmly, not taking his eyes off Felth and leaving the man to briefly wonder what he was talking about until he saw his son, the demigod Ather, jump from the roof, spear in hand to impale Ben, only to be stopped instantly as Thera caught him with her non-affinitied magic and brought him down, smacking him against the ground a few good times before once again encasing him in stone, leaving only his head free.
The quick, violent beating had left the demigod injured and unconscious, but this was the least of Felth’s concerns as he instead turned to the priests, screaming at all of them in a breakdown.
“WHO! WHO AMONG YOU WAS DUMB ENOUGH TO LET MY SON LEARN HE’S HERE AGAIN AFTER WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME! WHICH OF YOU IDIOTS-”
“Felth, Felth, relax friendo, I can see you have a lot of feelings, but isn’t there something else you should be worrying about first?”
Ben wiggled his card at him as he said it, the implication clear. Ather had once again tried to murder Ben, and once again he was seeking compensation.
With nothing else he could do, Felth took out his card and tapped it against the other, with Ben being left entirely unsatisfied.
“Felth, I’m not having a sale here, this is a lot less than last time.”
“That’s everything I have, there’s nothing left to my name.”
“Ah shucks buddy, I’m sorry to hear you’re having a bit of a rough time, but in moments like this it’s important to have friends you can rely on, isn’t that right everyone?”
He addressed the rest of the priests as he said it, once more waving his card for them and making what he expected obvious as one by one they came over and transferred some of their own funds, fearing just what would happen if they didn’t as many of them swore in their hearts they would find out who let news of Ben’s arrival slip and get their money back from them.
By the time the last bit of money was transferred over, a few of the priests had loaded the remains of the last statue into the cart, ready to be taken away after everything that had just gone down.
“Well, I guess that’s everything,” Ben told them, sounding almost sad. “Saying goodbye really is so hard, isn’t it? It doesn’t feel right so I think instead I’ll leave you all with a heartfelt ‘until we meet again’.”
Leaving those words like a curse, he walked over and gently patted the unconscious Ather’s cheeks before he and Thera flew off, returning home after a successful little outing.