CH46- Falk’s Perspective

After a couple weeks of talking to his client, having the item inspected and requests for improvements to be made, not to mention being given a variety of materials he’d deemed necessary to ensure it would succeed, Falk was finally on his way home. He left Craftsman Tower through the gate, coming out at the nearest city to Stonewall, and thought he would spend a little time shopping around before he found a cart he could take back home.

After looking at some shops he stopped in a cafe, got himself a drink and a snack, and made some small talk with the owner.

“So you heading out or coming back?” Inquired a friendly mass of limbs of a species Falk wasn’t able to place a name to.

“Coming back, I have a client I had to see, but gods am I happy to be on my way home. I’ll tell you, some people are impossible to work with, no matter how well they pay.”

“Ah, don’t I know it. We get all sorts of interesting folks coming through. So are you from the city?”

“Nah, I’m out in Stonewall, the hustle and bustle of the city ain’t really for me,” As Falk spoke a few of the shop owner’s limbs started twisting and shaking. Falk was no master of body language, especially when it came to other races, but he was fairly sure something was wrong. “Hey you okay? Don’t need me to run and find a healer, do you?” It was better to be safe and ask when you weren’t sure about these things.

“No no, I’m fine. So you only just got back today?”

“That’s right.”

“So you haven’t heard what happened then?”

He felt a lump form in the pit of his stomach. “What are you talking about?”

Seeing that Falk didn’t know anything, the owner explained what he’d heard had happened in the town about a week ago. Supposedly a tamer went insane and attacked the place, bringing dozens of monsters to destroy it in a fit of madness. They hadn’t heard anything about a number of casualties but in events like that there was an expectation that there would be some dead when he got back.

The more he heard the more he panicked. It must have been that bastard Roan, but what happened to Thera, Sonya, the boy? He couldn’t take his sweet time anymore and thanked the owner for letting him know before finding the fastest cart he could and paying a premium to get back to his home.

Usually it was a five-day trip to the town for a more reasonable fare, but after waving some money around Falk got back in three by the evening. He was let off by a gate far closer to his shop than Sonya’s home so he stopped there first, throwing open the door and calling out. It looked like Ben had grabbed some materials at some point but that could have been weeks ago, who knew where he could be now.

Damn it all! I should have at least learned his address in case anything ever came up. Alright, don’t panic. Thera or Sonya should know where he is. He tried his best to suppress the thought that that would only be if they were okay themselves.

He ran to their home and banged on the door, only waiting a few seconds for Sonya to open it.

“Falk, you’re finally back! It’s-” Before she could get the words out he had her wrapped in a powerful hug, though being mindful to not injure her with his strength.

“Sonya, I’m so glad you’re alright! Is Thera okay? Is Ben?”

“Huh, what, yes of course. They’re just in the living room,” Falk rushed past her, not noticing the tips of his old friend’s ears flushing as he did.

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He burst into the living room and felt his whole body begin to relax upon finding Thera sitting down with a book, and Ben laying face first on the ground, seemingly mumbling to himself.

“No, there’s no way to make the enchantment smaller… I already took some of the most appropriate materials in the shop…of course I tried that, who do you think I am…maybe need to wait for a level up…”

As the boy continued to mutter, Thera looked up from her book and realising her uncle had returned got up to see him. “Uncle, welcome back! Your trip was a pretty long one this time,” As she walked by Ben she gave him a small kick to try and get his attention. “Ben, stop talking to your god, your teacher’s back.”