CH518

With the kiss, the scene closed as Anailia removed the little window into the two’s lives she’d created, ending with Thera practically cheering over how it ended.

“Yes, go Aunty! This is so great, mom’s going to be destroyed if she ever finds out I got to see it happen and she didn’t. Which I guess she can never know because then they’d both die of embarrassment. Ben, we’re taking the fact we saw this to our graves.”

“Yeah, that’s reasonable. But excuse me, Anailia, it looks like you just cut off as things were getting exciting. I want to see Falk embarrassed more. The guy never looks like that.”

“Ha, it was the appropriate time. Sonya was just about to show that she’s my child as much as any other succubus, it’s not good to have prying eyes.”

Her child? Ah, love and seduction, right. Probably best not to watch whatever’s coming next then.

“Alright, well thanks for helping us ignore any right to privacy they might have had, this genuinely couldn’t have gone better which means this is the best bit of news I’ve had since rioting. With that done now I think we’re good to go back down.”

There were still hours left in the day that he wanted to spend now that they’d gotten the main event out of the way, letting him celebrate his teacher’s success with an even lighter heart now that he’d gotten closure on how things had worked out, so he gave his goodbyes to the gods as he and Thera both woke up, going out into town where the atmosphere was keeping up.

Even if impromptu, it was without a doubt a festival in full swing at that point, with street vendors hawking their wares and performers and musicians taking to the city, showing off their skills as crowds came and went, enjoying it all as they each celebrated Falk’s success without even knowing his name.

The two of them were just as excited as the rest, with both of them already planning on grilling the man when they got back, Thera wanting to know everything about the experience while Ben wanted to see a third-tier skill in action. As interesting as Killi, Verbum and the two soul mages he knew were, he finally had someone in his life whose awakening matched his personal interests, there was no way he wasn’t going to take him for all he was worth.

I wonder if I can force him into helping with my summoning research now and I’m going to have to make sure he learns the enchanting modifier when I get back and maybe I can even drag him into helping with making Inux a body too. I’m trying to make a robot I can shove a soul into, this should basically be Falk’s specialty at this point.

He could already envision all of his work getting easier with this new resource to take advantage of, no matter how little his teacher would like to be thought of as such, with the only thing holding him back being the work he still had to do.

There’s only a week left. I can deal with this. I’ll finish teaching these jerks, grab my free blessing, and then go back to cause enough chaos in Falk’s life that he’ll wish he was still away trying to awaken his skill. I’ll finally get all of my major projects finished and then the rest of my life will be filled with nothing but peace.

…Okay, maybe that last bit is a touch too optimistic.

His thoughts were broken as Thera tugged on his arm, pulling him along to a growing crowd.

“Looks like something fun must be going on, come on!”

“Ha, sure.”

He let himself be led along to the next sight amongst everything else they’d seen. Less grand overall but entertaining nonetheless, at least for those who didn’t know what it was, even if seeing it excited Ben to no end. Something that was so obviously a scam he couldn’t believe it was happening right there in front of him.

“Oh, no way, I’ve never seen three-card monte in real life. Or whatever it’s called when it’s using balls and cups. Still, very…”

He trailed off as his eyes locked on the scammer’s mark. Nati, sitting in front of the man swiftly moving cups around with both Zallith and Xilly to the side, cheering her on.

You’ve got to be kidding. Why would anyone willingly let themselves participate in such a well-known scam? Wait, don’t tell me…

“Thera, have you ever seen or heard of anyone doing this sort of trick before?”

“What sort of trick?”

Yeah, that answers that. Earth had both a vast information and entertainment network that I’d be shocked if a single other human on the planet couldn’t recognize it but this world doesn’t. Ugh…

“It’s a trick for separating suckers with their money,” He groaned, desperately wanting to not stick his nose into it as he heard the person running the con call out for everyone to hear.

“And it looks like luck wasn’t on your side this time either. Do you think another chance will change your fortune or do you want to let someone else in the crowd give it a go?”

“Grr, one more time,” Nati told him, not giving up as she transferred over her losses while the man before her put a white marble back under one of the three wooden cups before spinning them around at a speed that would leave the people of Earth stunned, with Nare’s granddaughter watching carefully, trying to pick out where it would be under.

“That one,” She spoke confidently, sure of her eyes until it was lifted, revealing it to be empty, with the small ball really being the one on the left.

“Poor luck, poor luck, I guess my hands were just a little too fast for you. Still, they’re starting to get tired.”

“Then let me have a shot,” Ben basically sighed as he pushed his way to the front. “I think she’s probably had enough.”

His comment got him a glare from the very victim he was trying to help, with her two companions doing the same.

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It doesn’t matter that these people suck, I can’t just let Nare’s grandkid get ripped off. Damn it Nare, now you extra owe me one.

“And always happy to have someone try their luck, but it looks like the lovely lady might not be done yet. What do you say you give her one last try?”

“…Yeah, sure, fine.”

It seemed like a good learning experience for her at least so he let it play out, Nati all the more determined to win now that he’d shown up and her eyes were glued to the cups as they were shifted, trying to not miss a single thing and picked the leftmost one in the end, being wrong again.

“Ah, fates are a fickle thing, but why don’t we all give the young lady a round of applause! What a good sport, wasn’t she folks?”

The crowd cheered, easing Nati’s disappointment about how things had turned out as she watched from the side at Xilly’s insistence, wanting to see Ben share her fate.

“So how much do you want to put down?” The conman asked. “Life’s a gamble, big risk can equal big reward.”