CH195

“Uhg, why is everything so terrible,” Ben whined during breakfast, face down on the table. After a full week since his first crushing defeat he’d tried again each day, working on new tools and weapons he thought might give him an edge but completely losing in the process.

Abrus seemed amused by the fact he wanted to keep trying against him at his full strength and was happy to oblige, giving commentary on the few items he’d managed to get off that continued to be all but powerless against the spirit as they were easily avoided.

The only reason it happened before breakfast on this day was due to the fact that Ben expected to be extremely busy and wouldn’t be able to make time otherwise, but had still wanted to give his attempt and manage even the smallest of things before the spirit placed a single finger against his head.

Thera, sitting beside him, gave him a reassuring pat on his back. “Come on, it will be okay. It’s not like you didn’t know you wouldn’t be winning, right?”

“I mean, yeah but I thought I’d have a little bit of progress by now to make the defeats slightly less humiliating.”

“For what it’s worth I think you’re doing well,” The great spirit told him. “Most people aren’t willing to go against the full force of my skill again and again, you’ve got good tenacity.”

“And I’m rather pleased that you’re managing to keep my husband entertained,” Pelenia added. “Since the generals ever so politely asked if our army could stop having to try fighting against him all those years ago he hasn’t gotten to have this much fun in a while, so if you’d keep it up I’d appreciate it.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on quitting,” He told them, no matter how defeats he ended with. “It is good practice to see my items in action, at least for the few I managed to activate, and I think I’ve been able to make some progress for how I build my enchantments at least.”

“Well tell you what, if you manage to land a hit before you leave I’ll give you a reward so don’t go giving up on me yet.” The spirit told him with a laugh. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Deal!” Ben quickly agreed, eyes lighting up as he did. Even if he wasn’t going to win, it was a good extra bit of motivation for him.

They continued the meal, chatting about their plans for the day and discussing how their stay had been so far. Thera seemed to be making good progress with both her earth and life magic while Ben was doing his best to deal with the advances and subtle bribes that came with each person he made a brace for when the door quietly opened and one of the queen’s aides ran in to whisper something in her ear.

Pelenia made a brief unhappy face before sending them on their way.

“Everything alright?” Thera asked her mother. In the past, if their meals were ever interrupted it tended to mean an emergency, but Pelenia waved away her daughter’s worries.

“It seems security found an elf attempting to keep our home under observation from a distance. It’s nothing major since he was caught easily enough, though a little annoying we have to depend on Alfheimr to properly inform us of just what he was doing, but diplomacy is diplomacy.”

“Wait, why are you sending him back to Alfheimr?” Ben asked. He was already aware it was the home nation of the elves as a result of reading up on the race as a whole in his attempts to try and figure out Lehie’s age, but he would have assumed he would be sent away after whatever information they’d wanted was obtained.

“Extradition treaties. Since succubi have a decent chance of finding trouble in other nations if their charm isn’t properly suppressed, we have arrangements with many others for the safe exchange of prisoners in the event of any wrongdoing, with the trust that it will be handled appropriately. It’s not satisfying but it keeps things civil and safe for our people.”

“But how can you be sure that’s his nation? He could easily be from elsewhere.”

“True, but as a rule of Alfheimr all elves automatically receive citizenship. If he originally lived elsewhere then he’ll probably be allowed to return so long as whatever reason he was observing our home wasn’t anything too distasteful.”

The politics of the whole situation seemed like a pain and he was happy it was nothing he needed to worry about as he finished up and moved on to his main task of the day, heading down to his workshop, where just outside around thirty people were waiting. It wasn’t another group there to get braces and attempt to win him over though, it was his god’s other believers.

<Please don’t be a bad influence, they’re all honest hardworking folk that are doing their best for their people and their nations.>

What sort of person do you think I am? He asked his god and getting no answer.

As he got closer, one by one each waiting believer shifted their attention towards him as he gave a friendly wave and put on his most winning smile. Myriad had told them what he looked like so he’d be easily identified and they knew who he was, there was just a single thing he found strange.

Why do they all look so worried?

<It’s probably just a result of meeting an apostle for the first time, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.>

He thought he picked up a guilty tone from the voice of his god, but as curious as it left him he pushed it aside for later. He had to focus on the task at hand, being an official apostle.

Still, a shame I couldn’t have forced this on Sachel. He gave as his final thought before speaking up to the crowd. “Hello everyone, I’m the apostle of our god Myriad, but you can just call me Ben. I’m also the creator of the resistance braces as I’m sure you all know, and seeing as how the reason all of you converted was because of that fact I’d be happy to discuss that with you, but I’ve also had a long, long week dealing with your various nations trying to ever-so-subtly convince me to move to their lands, so first I’m going to make one thing clear. If any of you do the same, you can leave immediately, understood?”

<Was that really necessary?> His god asked as the other believers’ eyes widened and quickly nodded their heads.

I’m just setting the record straight. It’s hard to express what a pain in the ass it’s been to deal with, after this I’m not making them for anyone but Thera and I’ll just live off of the profit I’m getting from your other believers making them.

“Alright, with that out of the way let’s get to the main event. I hope you’ll all bear with me, this is my first time acting in such an official capacity as an apostle. Now, I’m sure you’ve all heard of the details of Myriad’s first church, right?”

Confused looks went around as one succubus spoke up. “We were just told the church would be coming to Anailia, I think I can speak for everyone when I say we didn’t really understand what that meant, but we’re here to give our faith.”

You didn’t explain it to them?”

<You’re the one responsible, you can explain it.>

He let out a long sigh. “Alright, in that case, you, would you mind coming up here?” He spoke to the succubus, a woman maybe a couple years older than he was, with long dark hair and a nervous expression. She did as she was asked, though looking hesitant the entire time as he took off his coat and handed it to her. “Due to some unique circumstances,” And some minor-

<Major.>

Minor sacrilege. “The church of Myriad is this very nice coat. With the defensive enchantments on it, not to mention the built-in temperature control and the fact that it will only become stronger as it receives more faith, I’d say you’d struggle to find a better coat in the world than this.”

<You’re supposed to be selling me, not the jacket.>

“Anyway, as odd as it may seem, this is our church. Myriad can gather more faith than usual if you pray to it or while wearing it, so please, go ahead. Let’s see, I’d say maybe each person should spend ten minutes in the coat while the others pray before switching out, and while that’s happening…”

The eyes he was seeing from the other believers told him they couldn’t believe what they were seeing and he gave them a small wave, telling them to get started as he pulled out the holy book he’d written for Myriad, reading some of the more interesting passages from it as they began to pray while at the same time taking out a knife to add and break enchantments on it for the job experience.

<No offense, but you’re terrible at this.>

Hey, it’s not my fault I was forced into a leadership position like this, I don’t know the first thing about faith.

<Still, couldn’t you try to be a little more, I don’t know, inspiring? This may be the dullest thing I’ve ever seen.>

Is it getting you the faith you need or not?

<It is.>

Then it’s fine.

<You aren’t going to get me any new believers like this you know.>

Let’s be real here, now that Sachel’s your oracle that is one hundred percent her job. She’s definitely got more passion for it than I can manage.

<Huu, I’ll see about sending her to some of their nations to meet with them when she’s free to give them something a bit more stimulating than this. When that time comes make sure you give her and her party some resistance amulets to keep them safe.>

Sure, that’s fair.

It took hours but finally, everyone finished praying. Ben had long since gone from sitting on the ground to just laying down as he read out from the text while all of the believers seemed to be pushed to their limits and were visibly relieved for things to be finished. No matter how much faith a person had, praying for hours on end was a bit much for all but the most devoted, the sort of people that definitely wouldn’t change their faith simply if their country asked. That wasn’t even considering the discomfort of being in the coat. Sure, physically it was fantastic, being able to warm or cool a person to perfection thanks to the contained enchantments, but having so many eyes quietly staring at you as they prayed was an experience he wasn’t looking to repeat and a big reason he decided to pass the coat around instead of wearing it himself.

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“Alright everyone, good meet up,” He told them as he took it back. “Keep up the good work believing in Myriad and see you if I ever do this again.”

He gave them a small wave and turned to go on his way when he was called out to by the same succubus as before.

“Excuse me, I know this might be impudent to ask, but I think we were all hoping we could get a bit of guidance from you?”

He turned back to see everyone looking at him expectantly, with a few giving the succubus a thankful look as well.

Is she their official spokesperson or something?

<That’s Valaria, the only believer I have beyond you to get connect to the second level, though I think Sachel is probably getting close. Since she’s proven to be the best at it my other believers in Anailia turn to her for advice, and since I have more succubi believers than any other I guess the others are happy to defer.>

You sound fond of her.

<I have half a mind to ask her to be my head priestess. I’ve already given her a quest, but she’s still struggling with having given up her previous faith so I’m waiting a bit to see how things play out.>

His god’s response made him look at her in a new light. This was no longer just another believer, but a potential future coworker he might be able to pass some of his work off onto.

“Ask away, I don’t really have anything else going on so if you all have any questions I can stay to help out.”