CH900

As soon as they were captured, he felt them try to contact their gods through prayer but they were all within reach of his sacrilege, effectively blocked off from the divine once they were in his grasp. It was obvious as they tried to resist his pull but none of them had the strength and any bits of magic they tried was either blocked or canceled before it could be cast by going into their heads to disrupt their thoughts while they tried to use their mana, all while he led them to the back, taking them through one of his mini-gates to the figure sitting on the other side.

Whenever he’d pass through, Ben would normally ignore the guildmaster of the adventurer’s guild within the magic towers and the man seemed all the happier to accept that but seeing a dozen people secured and led to his office went beyond his ability to mind his own business, the exact result Ben had wanted.

“Hey, so you need to come with me.”

“Um, am I going to end up in chains too?”

“No, don’t be dumb. These guys have made clear their intent to harass me so I’m looking to take them to the nearest templar hall to have them dealt with.”

“Templar hall? Is this a religious issue?”

“They’re harassing an apostle, how could it not be a religious issue? While we’re going, if you can, pull some of your adventurers along too in case they try anything.”

The guildmaster’s fear of Ben’s power and authority hadn’t diminished and he was on his feet as soon as Ben told him as much, out of his office to see what adventurers were available while Ben, Abel, and Delair followed behind, dragging the various apostles, oracles, and high priests with them as they went.

With the guild master being quick in his work. By the time they were leaving the guild, he was standing by Ben’s side, leading him through the streets while six adventurers stood guard around his captives, the entire scene drawing eyes from onlookers and only raising their interest more as Ben himself was recognized as the one in the lead, creating an image of a prisoner transport as they made their way down different roads, eventually ending up at a large building where two guards were standing outside, the groups arrival instantly drawing their attention.

While Ben’s personal interaction with templars was limited, reserved entirely to when Uliel had first attacked him in the streets before he’d awakened his crafting, he was aware enough of their role in the world to know they were who he wanted to see.

While they were a group that acted in conjunction with both police and military forces of any land they were in, their primary role was as a religious force, working in hand with the communal church to help solve issues between different faiths or else working as extensions of the gods themselves for any problems that they needed a neutral organisation to deal with and unfortunately for them, Ben had decided they were the ones he was going to force to deal with his harassers.

“Abel, you willing to back me up here?” He whispered as the two guards started making their way over, the sight of chained people being paraded through the streets enough to demand investigation, while she whispered back.

“Give me more blood later.”

“Deal.”

“Toner, what exactly is the issue here?” One of the templars asked the guild master, who in turn did his best to look self-assured.

“This apostle claims he’s been harassed by these people; he came here to get help dealing with it. I and my adventurers only came to try and make sure things stayed calm along the way.”

“And I’m going to need to talk to whoever has the highest authority here,” Ben told him. “This is going to be a bit above your paygrade.”

“Honoured apostle,” One said, trying to give the appropriate respect to the title. “We understand there’s an issue for you but for now, if you could do us the kindness of giving a bit more of an explanation, we’d be happy to find you the appropriate member of our order to help with whatever problem there is.”

“Sorry, but when I said I want the guy with the highest authority, I meant it,” Ben told them as he took out his card, hiding all information on it except his apostle title and one of his skills. “As the eldritch mind holder, I believe asking for that much falls well within my authority.”

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Neither of them had known what to expect from his card but the sight of a third-tier skill got a small reaction from what otherwise seemed like professional individuals, making them turn to one another with no need for words spoken before one quickly ran off, leaving the other to give a small bow.

“Apologies, we’ll have someone out for you as soon as we can.”

“Thank you.”

He could feel the guild master’s eyes on him, Toner left to wonder what could have been on Ben’s card beyond his apostle title to get such an instant reaction and was kept curious as an older man quickly came out, controlling his breath to avoid giving away that he’d run through the building to get there as he gave his greeting.

“My apologies for the wait. Do you prefer to be addressed as the apostle of Myriad or as the eldritch mind holder?”