CH51

The next few days passed in a blur. Ben focused on figuring out what else he should test for his enchantment, as well as taking Falk’s recommendations as his teacher rushed to finish a proper cloak for Thera. Apparently he was being sent off to her homeland and since she had no real responsibilities as an adventurer she was able to pack up and leave without worry, having been asked to go with him by Falk to look after him in the foreign nation. Not that she had any problem with it, after being cooped up for so long it felt nice to be able to leave on a trip and get the chance to visit her parents.

Ben didn’t know how long he would be gone, though Falk said to expect it to take a month or two, so he left the place he was renting and asked Sonya to store his few possessions while he was away to save some money. All that was left were goodbyes before heading off.

“It’s going to be alright, sure I may be gone for a couple of months but you have nothing to worry about,” Ben spoke calmly, though he couldn’t hide the sadness in his voice.

“…”

“Hey now, I’m going to miss you too, but you know you can’t come with me. It would be too difficult. Sonya’s here for you at least. I know you two don’t really talk, but she’ll take good care of you.”

“…”

“I promise I’ll spend all sorts of time with you when I’m back so try not to be too lonely, okay buddy?”

“Ben stop talking to your plant and let’s go already,” Thera said to him as she watched his overly dramatic exchange with his houseplant Fredrick.

“I’m just trying to calm him down. He’s already feeling lonely. Has been ever since I told him I was leaving.”

Thera let out a long sigh. With Ben having lived with her for a few weeks at this point she was used to the sight of the young man talking with it to practice his connect skill, but it still didn’t paint a very emotional picture. Thankfully as he prepared for another extended goodbye with it Sonya stepped in.

“I promise I’ll take good care of Fredrick for you Ben. Now in the meantime do you have everything? One of you packed the painting right?”

“I have it,” Thera said. In the time they had waited for Falk to return, Ben lived up to his promise to paint a couple portraits of them together, and one was being sent off as a gift to her parents.

“Alright, excellent. Your mother’s going to be so jealous that your first painting was with me, I can’t imagine how many she’ll try to commission from Ben.”

Thera slipped her head into her hands. “I don’t want to think about it.”

“Both of you be good,” Falk spoke up. “Thera, send my regards to your folks, and boy don’t let her parents rope you into anything crazy. Remember what I told you.”

“How will I know if it’s crazy or not?” He wasn’t exactly super familiar with succubus customs.

His teacher gave it a moment’s thought before giving up. “Good point. Thera don’t let him be roped into anything crazy.”

“I’ll try my best.”

With their goodbyes done they headed to a wagon on its way out to Vanasil, the closest city to Stonewall with a gate.

Sonya turned to Falk as they watched the wagon go off, with her niece and Ben inside. “So he never ended up asking? Colour me shocked.”

“Ha, the boy was probably too busy to give it any thought. It’s a shame though, I can’t wait to see what his reaction will be when he comes back and asks.”

She looked down at the armband she was currently wearing with appreciation. “Still, a plain copper armband should be lower common right? Could an enchantment really bring it up to lower uncommon?”

“Absolutely for a good enough one, but that’s nothing,” Falk said while he received a questioning look. “Mythril already puts items into the lower uncommon range, so for Thera’s it would make sense if her band was there too, but spending ten straight hours making the enchantment was enough to get it squarely in the upper uncommon range.”

Falk grinned at Sonya’s visible shock. He always thought taking an apprentice would be boring, but it looked like there was a lot more excitement to it than he would have guessed.

“Wow, there’s a lot more than I expected!” Ben said when they arrived in the city. It had been a long ride, taking almost a week to get there, but it had been peaceful and now that he was inside the city he had a sudden and intense desire to explore.

“It’s a typical gate city, nothing to be too excited about,” Thera responded with mild indifference.

“Well the only places I’ve been to are a communal church and Stonewall, I would say this is pretty fantastic. It’s not like there’s a rush, let’s take a look around.”

He immediately pulled Thera along as he started to wander around. There was a much greater selection of races around than at the town he was currently calling home, which meant more varieties in architecture and more foods to try, not to mention the constant crowd that filled the streets as people went to travel to or from distant lands. He was grabbing a snack from a street vendor before he knew it and started poking his head into various shops around, especially any that catered to his interests as Thera was dragged by his whims.

“That’s the fourth smith you dragged me to. Is this really necessary?”

“I’m just curious on how Falk’s stuff stacks up. I know he’s the best in Stonewall, but I didn’t think he would still be so much better than anyone in a city like this too,” He said quietly to try and avoid offending the shopkeeper.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“I know uncle is excellent at what he does but is there really that much of a difference?” She asked curiously as she cast her eyes around the store they were currently in. It all looked the same to her.

“Absolutely. Take a careful look at some of the blades, you can make out some minor imperfections that I’ve never seen on any of his works. Honestly I always thought Falk undercharged for his stuff but I was never positive until now. God I need to get to level nine crafting so I can actually see his items’ rankings.”