CH417

Falk turned with the sound of the shop door opening, seeing his niece walk in with the early rays of the sun behind her.

“Thera, perfect timing. Your boyfriend is pulling some weird crap so you need to handle him.”

“Sorry uncle, but when he’s in your shop he’s your apprentice before he’s my boyfriend. Whatever this is is your problem.”

“You’re both actually going to make me cry,” Ben grumbled with the sounds of rapidly flipping pages.

He was laying on a table, taking advantage of the vantage point to look at the twenty-five books open beneath him, each page rapidly flipping under the effects of his magic as one by one they were moved away, either piled up in a corner or else floated to Falk for his teacher to look at any marked passages as more books were pulled from a crate to do the same.

The shop was looking more like a bookstore with just how many there were with boxes and boxes of books having been pulled from Ben’s church to let the two of them read throughout the night as they worked to create the singular idea that could potentially push his teacher over the edge.

It was an application of his magic and mind skills that he hadn’t considered until late into the night as they’d read, as he realized with every book that he wasn’t hitting his full reading potential. Going through one at a time was fast, but the way he could both think and see the world had grown so much that he could do so much more.

Hell, even with all of that he still wasn’t hitting the full potential of his minds, to the point that he couldn’t help but feel just a little regret with the choices he’d made with Zandale. If he’d taken clairvoyance then he could have potentially expanded his awareness even further, letting him read all of the more, maybe even hundreds of books at a time.

But no use regretting what’s already done. I didn’t even consider that I might be doing something like this so there’s no point when I hadn’t grasped my skills potential.

“Anyway, what’s up Thera?” He asked as he read. “Not going to any clinics today?”

“Maybe later. I actually was hoping to talk to you for a bit if you don’t mind. Think you can take a break from whatever this is to go out with me for a bit?”

“Sure. Falk, you mind?”

“Just bring me back something to eat when you do.”

“Will do.”

With his teacher’s agreement, the two of them left, walking down the streets in the early morning and finding a food cart not too busy, placing their orders before finding a bench to sit.

“So, what exactly were you two doing for you to not come home last night?” Thera asked, her curiosity getting to her before she hit on the topic she really wanted to, only to learn how her and Ben’s thoughts had aligned.

“Ah, okay so don’t be mad…”

“Hearing that is absolutely priming me to be mad.”

“But I decided to confront Falk about why he’s been ignoring Sonya’s feelings.”

As soon as he said it her face leaned into him, her eyes gleaming with curiosity and anticipation in the hopes that she might get some sort of answer that could help from her aunt’s perspective.

“And?”

“And, it’s because he has a goal he wants to put before romance. What you walked into was me trying to help him complete it.”

He didn’t want to go into too much detail. Falk liked his privacy, so even if it was for his teacher’s niece he wasn’t going to ignore it. Still, it seemed like enough for Thera.

“Wait, so is this something he’s wanted to do for decades then? If he hasn’t managed it yet, do you think this is something he’ll be able to pull off just because you’re helping?”

“It will be hard,” He admitted. “Maybe impossible. We’re just doing some research now and still need to work out a plan, but I don’t really know what other choice we have.”

“Mmh, well, maybe that will still be easier than on my end,” Thera told him as she deflated.

“Your end?”

“I spoke with aunty about why she hadn’t talked to him about her feelings,” She sighed. “I don’t think she feels good enough for him. We both know my uncle is… skilled, and since she hasn’t awakened anything…”

I see. I guess any feelings of inferiority could make it all the harder. So does that mean that if Falk can’t get to the third tier or Sonya doesn’t awaken a skill then neither of them will make a move? Both are hard and Falk said what he said, but if Sonya works up the courage and puts herself forward he might not turn her down. On the other hand, if he gets to the third tier and talks to her when she hasn’t managed to awaken a skill then that just might make her feelings even worse.

“Why do interpersonal relationships need to be so complicated,” He groaned. “Okay, I’m probably going to be pretty busy for the next week with Falk trying to help him as much as I can, but from there I’ll try and think about how I might be able to help Sonya with her confidence a bit.”

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

“Thanks. This is really far from anything I know how to help with so I’m glad you’re with me.”

“Of course, I love them too so I’ve gotta do what I can, no matter how hard it’s going to be in both cases.”

She smiled and leaned against his as they ate, both thinking on just what they might be able to do as they let themselves talk about other things before they needed to part.

“And did anything fun happen yesterday?” He asked, wanting to catch up since he’d kept himself so busy.

“Not sure I’d call it fun, but I worked on my new magics and had a lovely little run-in with a demon,” She told him. “A flying one so I guess it was able to get out here quicker than others. Make sure you keep an eye out when you’re out, okay? I feel like you’re the most likely to get randomly attacked from the skies.”

“Will do, absolutely don’t want to end up being carried off and eaten.”