CH158

“I’m going to kill them.”

“I’d like to suggest finding an option that doesn’t get you imprisoned or executed.”

“Thera was a mess when she got back Myriad, I’m not exactly in the mood to be polite about it when I’m already putting in so much work trying to get this village to a semi-manageable state. So what happened?”

She’d been in no mood to talk when she’d returned and Ben didn’t force the issue, instead trying to comfort her until she’d fallen asleep and then quickly passing out for the night himself.

Unfortunately Myriad didn’t have an answer for him either. “I had been focusing on other things since I thought Sachel had everything well in hand, but it looks like that was my mistake. Still, I would like to understand myself, shall I bring her here?”

“You can have multiple people in your realm at once?”

“It’s not hard, I just usually prefer to provide one on one attention.”

“In that case sure, just set something up for me first.”

As Sachel came to consciousness she found herself in a place she’d long grown used to, her god’s realm. With how the night had gone she’d expected it, though what she hadn’t been expecting was the change in setup. While normally it was a rather featureless expanse, at the moment she was at the base of a large, slanted platform, at the top of which floated her god, with Ben sitting down on a dark chair, legs crossed and staring down at her, thoroughly displeased.

Maybe it was bullying the girl, but he was in no mood to be friendly and he wanted the atmosphere to reflect that as he looked her in the eye and watched her nerves start to fray.

“So, what happened?”

“Um, how much have you heard?”

“Tell me from the beginning,” He ordered as he drummed his fingers on the chair arm, staring down without a hint of kindness in his voice or eyes.

It only made her more worried but she did as she was asked, recounting the events of the night that ultimately ended with Thera parting ways from the others and ending up alone at home.

Ben could see the panic form on her face and she wouldn’t meet his eyes, leaving him to sigh and direct a thought to Myriad.

Okay, maybe I went too far with the theatrics. Mind lowering everything and giving her a chair?

<Told you.> He said in Ben’s head as he did as he was asked, bringing Ben to her level and giving her a place to sit.

“Alright, alright, calm down I’ve had my fun. Now Sachel, I want to hear your honest opinion. What do you think about what happened, both last night as well as when Thera was dealing with Roan?”

“Um, well last night, I understand why she was so unhappy, although breaking Skoe’s knee still seemed to be a bit much.”

Oof, didn’t realize she broke it.

<What did you think happened when a metal bar meets bone?>

Oh well, she healed him up so it doesn’t matter to me.

“And about the time with Roan?”

She shifted about awkwardly, still avoiding his eye as she thought about how to answer. “I… I know we were in the wrong. Skoe never saw much of it, but Ralia and I were well aware that he was a creep. It was hard not to feel a bit bad for the guy when it became clear he was losing his mind, but we should have tried to help Thera when he was bothering her, not just leaving things to work out like they did.”

He cast a quick glance at Myriad, who gave him a nod, or at least the floating cube equivalent of one.

<She’s telling the truth, she does regret how she acted during all of it. Seems to me that Skoe made the same assumption a few of the others made and acted in dragging the rest into his opinion.>

Great, gotta love an idiot with charisma.

“Alright, so what will you do now? Unless you plan on thinking of another way to deal with the bats, you’ll need Thera to draw them in for you. I guess there’s also the option of giving up here to try and complete the quest somewhere else, though it’s up to you.”

“Do you think you could try and smooth things over with Thera for us?”

She was finally looking him in the eyes and absolutely begging for his help, but he turned her down immediately. “No. I told you when I gave you the plan, you’re in charge. If you want to make it work, you’ll need to come up with a way to get her to work with you willingly. Smoothing over problems in a team is just as much the job of a leader as planning out attacks, right?”

“Aah, okay I’ll do my best,” She didn’t seem thrilled with his answer, but could tell he didn’t plan on budging, and with that her time in the realm ended, leaving Ben alone with his god again.

With her gone, he immediately deflated into a ball of stress. “Why can’t things just be easy Myriad?”

“There there, I’m hopeful things will work out fine. Sachel was feeling discouraged over everything that happened, but also committed to making it work. We just have to wait and see.”

“Alright, the sooner this is sorted the sooner there’s someone else to fill these sorts of roles for your faith anyway, I’ll just cross my fingers and hope she actually completes the quest.”

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“I’m feeling confident, her devotion and desire are both strong, she’ll do her best. As for completing quests though, you asked about how to earn me a bit more faith, yes? I’ve got a solution for you. Wait here.”