CH249

Waking up far earlier than he needed to for the contest after his illuminating conversation with his god, Ben got to work preparing breakfast, an outrageously large one at that. He not only had the supplies that the embassy provided for its guests at his disposal, but all of the ingredients he’d bought at the market the previous day as well, and it was all put to use, making enough to feed dozens of people and taking hours to cook and pack up after.

It was only by the time the contest was about to open up again for the day that he knocked on the doors of both Thera and his teacher to get them to come out, with Thera making her way first, a golden blush spreading through her cheeks as she looked at him.

“Something wrong?” He asked, having his own guesses on the matter as he handed her a plate.

“I don’t think I’m cut out for girls’ nights,” She said as she looked away and started eating. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Of course, what’s up?”

“Do you…” She started before trailing off. “No, it’s nothing. Actually, Yuzu mentioned that something looks weird about how your mind skills are interacting with your soul, you should probably ask your god about that.”

“Oh cool, thanks for letting me know. Hey Myriad, did you hear that?” He called out, while also directing a silent thought to the heavens as well. And did someone out me for being interested in Thera cause she’s not looking me in the eyes at all.

For both questions though, he got nothing but silence. His god had said that Helori was going to be keeping him pretty busy for a while, but it was already feeling pretty inconvenient.

“No answer, but it’s probably fine,” He said with a shrug. “He looked at my soul before, and a different goddess did less than a week ago. I’m sure it will be okay.”

“I told you all of your mind skills would eventually give you the weirdest brain in existence,” She tried to joke while still avoiding his eyes. “Looks like it’s going to give you the weirdest soul too.”

He laughed it off as Falk finally came out of his room, eating a plate of food before the both of them were recruited to bring it all down to the contest area, handing it out to all of the invited tables as they were setting up for the day.

“So what’s this for?” A dwarf asked as she picked away at her plate, happy to eat it regardless of the reason and unable to keep herself from devouring it after the first bite.

“You all tried to help when I was attacked,” He told her happily. “Giving you all some breakfast was really the least I could do.”

“Ha, well we might not have been so quick if we understood who was attacking you,” She said as she laughed. “Don’t go making any powerful enemies during a silly contest, you hear?”

“Loud and clear,” He told her as he went to distribute the food he made to the other tables, giving them his thanks as he went and exchanging a few friendly words before he went to set up for the day himself.

He’d gotten a few sales the day prior, but even more importantly he now had a direction to go as he began to make his items. He needed something for someone that could use anything, and with that in mind he took a seat and began sketching out ideas on a piece of paper as he did, letting the time pass as Falk and Thera watched him while chatting, both worried about him after the day prior.

It was only after two hours there without a single sale to his name that he was pulled from the notes he was making, both by his teacher’s growl and the sound of tisking coming in front of him.

His first thought was that he got too absorbed in his work and had ignored a customer, but as he looked up and saw the beast of muscle before him, a creature that looked like a centaur, only instead of a horse’s body it was more akin to a rhino’s with an eagle-like head instead of something more human.

“Hey there, looking to buy something?” He asked cheerfully with his best salesman’s voice, only for Falk to answer for the man.

“He’s not,” The yeti said bluntly. “What do you want, Olop? Can’t you see my apprentice is busy?”

“Pff, you say that as if you didn’t just find him off the street,” The man said, dismissing Ben entirely. “Really, Are you so against working for me that you’d resort to this? Even the excuse that this is some sort of graduation test is ludicrous. If you were going to pull that you might as well as found an entire team like everyone else has to back him up, it would have made it at least a bit more believable. Honestly, why would you choose someone with the crafting skill of all people?”

“Finding anyone to help him would have just held him back, now off with you already. I’m not working for you, and my boy is going to blow your judges away.”

With a loud hmph, Olop stomped off, leaving an uncomfortable atmosphere as he did.

“Well, he seems… nice?” Ben said, trying to break the silence the other man had created with his presence.

“He’s a right asshole is what he is,” Falk said angrily before getting it under control. “On the plus side though, he didn’t seem to pay you any mind so you’ll blow that prick away when it comes time to judge.”

“You’re really raising the bar here Falk, I’ve seen what the other tables have to sell, it’s good.”

“Aye, but you’re no worse. More importantly, you’re working alone. That’s already enough to make you stand out at the end of this, even if you don’t place at all.”

“Well, I guess I’ll just do my best,” Ben told him confidently. “Just to be clear, he was the one to send out the invite, right?”

“Yeah but don’t pay him any mind, I doubt he’ll stop by again before it’s time to judge.”

It was another hour after that that Ben was sitting with his face down on the table, unable to keep himself positive. As other stalls were swarmed with customers, his alone hadn’t had a single sale yet that day, something pulling him into despair.

My stuff’s no worse than any of the other contestants, what the hell? Are my prices too high? But it’s comparable to what everyone else is selling at, so there shouldn’t be a problem there. Is it because I’m the only one without a team? Maybe they don’t like the fact that I’m just sitting here making notes while the others are working. Ugh this is so annoying!

It was only as a shadow fell across his eyes that he shot up, ready to greet whoever was looking at his work and convince them to empty their pockets for him, when his mood got to crash again. It was someone he’d been expecting, along with three tagalongs.

“Hey, ready for a fun day of figuring out what to make you?” He asked Amy with forced cheer as Jake, Yuzu, and Uliel stood by her side, with the archmage in particular picking up one of his knives and looking it over.

“I can spare at least a few hours anyway,” She said. “What did you have planned?”

“Hop on over to my side of the table and we’ll get started.”

“And you can leave,” Falk told Uliel with a pointed look that she dismissed.

“It’s my job to ensure the safety of these three,” She told him as she put the knife down to look at a flail instead. “They are some of the most important individuals on the world you know. Will you take responsibility if something happens?”

“Sure, if you’ll take responsibility for the fact that my apprentice hasn’t gotten a sale all day,” Falk told her in a voice filled with anger. “Words got around that he got on your bad side and now everyone’s too scared to come by.”

“Wait, that’s why I haven’t had a single sale?” He yelled, being ignored by both of them.

“I’ll admit my guilt in that, but you shouldn’t be supporting this fraud either,” She told them as she put the flail down. “The enchantments on his items are based on the principles of ritual magic. One person couldn’t make them alone, you shouldn’t be presenting them as if they’re his work.”

Okay, now she’s actually gone too far. As interested as he was that she apparently had a good enough understanding of something as uncommon as ritual magic to spot its touches in his enchantments, he wouldn’t put up with being accused of stealing credit for another’s work and spoke up to challenge her.

“So then if I prove that I made these you’ll buy all of my work?” He asked. “I made a lot for this, if I’m missing out on sales because of you then you should take responsibility.”

“Fine,” She said easily enough, doubting however he intended to argue that the items before her were made through his own efforts would prove convincing. She’d already heard from Amy and Jake earlier that he didn’t have any real magic affinities, making the enchantments on his items impossible for him to produce.

Happy to have her agreement and seeing dollar signs in his eyes when he considered just how marked up his items were compared to any that he normally sold in the shop, he picked up a smaller knife, only to stop. There was one more thing he wanted, something she was uniquely suited to help him with.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Wait, I’m going to be a little greedy and ask for one more thing if I prove myself.”

“Shameless.”

“Damn straight,” He said, giving her his cheekiest grin. “But I have a skill I want to learn some of the deeper mechanics behind and you’re uniquely suited to help me, so long as you awakened your archmagic skill from the magic skill and not by having it combine with all the attributed magics that is.”

“If that’s all then fine,” She didn’t expect to be proven wrong, but his continued confidence caught her interest. How did he intend to prove he made them? What argument would he bring? She supposed it was possible he’d gained access to the skills taker or borrower, but she was almost certain that without having the affinities needed for it, it wouldn’t show its effects for those magics or any affinitied skills anyway.