CH381

It was a short week later that Ben and Thera were flying through the skies, one of them tensed in fear as the other only seemed tired.

“I still say this is insane,” Thera told him, how many times she’d brought her concerns up being impossible to remember. “The chances of leveling your mind skills are so far above your chances of awakening connect. I can’t understand why you’d be willing to risk that after all the pain you’ve gone through in the past few months.”

“Because the potential rewards far outweigh the risks. Besides, even if I do level the skills, my headache’s gone and my minds can’t split again if they’re stuck at the ninth level.”

“Sure, except you’ll just get it again for who knows how many months this time?”

“Er, from Helori’s guess, probably just a couple.”

It was the best estimate the goddess could make when he’d brought up the concern himself, comparing what he’d just gone through against how much his soul had changed to lower some of the burden it was under, and it was a risk he was more than willing to take for just what it could mean.

“Awakening it might mean I could make legendary items Thera, you can’t deny just how useful that would be to the world as a whole.”

“Mmh, the fact that I can’t is the only reason I’m taking you out here. Just consider yourself lucky that I’m ignoring your real reason.”

“I have no clue what you’re talking about,” He said innocently, not fooling his girlfriend in the slightest.

“Please, your eyes basically glow when you start thinking about what you could do after the skill awakens. I’m not doubting you want to make some legendary items, I’m just doubting it’s coming from a place that’s looking at the world instead of just yourself.”

He gave a small laugh as she could only shake her head. As much as she thought things would end terribly, it was unfortunately worth the risk. She just wished he could seem a little hesitant about it.

Still, it wasn’t long before they landed, arriving at the edge of town and driving through, at first receiving suspicious looks from the locals, right up until they recognized them as the mood changed to the positive, happy smiles going around as they got waves from those they passed before getting to their first destination, the house of Fontesh.

It was only the second after he got off the cart, trying to make it to the door to say hello, that something small all but flew from the side of the building, a young dryad seeming to try and tackle him to the ground in her haste, instead just wrapping her arms around him.

“Ben!” Delair yelled out, more than thrilled with the surprise visit. “You should have visited sooner!”

“Ha, sorry, you’d be shocked at how crazy things had been but it’s great to see you,” He told her happily, picking her up and sitting her on his shoulders. “It’s only been what? A couple years? How did you grow so much?”

“A lot can happen in a couple years,” Fontesh said, walking out from the same area Delair had run. “Thera, it’s nice to see you again, and Ben, welcome back from the dead. I wish you’d visited sooner, Delair was a mess when we got the news.”

“I was not!” She yelled out before taking a far glummer tone. “But you should have done more than just sending a letter you know.”

“Sorry, sorry, you’re right. But hopefully we’ll be here for a couple weeks if Hentath is feeling agreeable.”

Fontesh gave him a funny look. “What do you need her agreeing to?”

“Ahem, a fair bit honestly, might be easier if you come while we talk to her. And assuming she says yes, is there any chance we could rent a room while we’re here?”

“After all you’ve done for the village of course you can stay. Honestly, everyone was pleased to find out you lived after what Sachel told us so seeing you might just put her in a good enough mood to be agreeable.”

“So you really did live,” Hentath said as soon as she opened the door, trying to look as firm as usual but not able to completely keep the smile from touching her lips. “Should have known anyone who’s as much of a pain as you seem to want to be wouldn’t go out so easily.”

“And it’s great to see you too Hentath, Glad I’m alive to keep being a pain to everyone around me.”

“I feel like I need to point out that if you didn’t insist on being so blatantly antagonistic at times then you’d probably get in a lot less trouble,” Thera muttered.

<Have I ever mentioned how much I love the fact that your girlfriend has some proper sense, Ben? You should really listen to her when she says things.>

Ignoring both of them, Ben instead focused on the village elder, bowing his head as he did.

“So anyway, there’s something I’m hoping you’d be willing to agree to. Two somethings really, and before you say no at least hear me out.”

“Alright then.”

Hentath, Delair, and Fontesh were all admittedly curious about what brought him out there with the invasion so close on their heels. They could have imagined him wanting to hide away there since they were blissfully far from any of the invasion points, but they would have agreed to that readily and it wasn’t the impression he was giving off.

“Okay, so the first thing I was hoping for was to get more wood from you all, and the second was that I was hoping you’d let me talk to your trees.”

“Absolutely not.”

“At least let me finish!”

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