CH985

In Stonewall’s training ground, Ben ignored the small crowd around them, watching as he and the two kids put the finishing touches on what they were building while he gave the final instructions.

“Delair, grease the pivot a bit, it doesn’t seem like it will be smooth enough. Mora, look at the counterweight and how it’s going to compare to the shot. It’s going to need to be changed just a bit, but I’ll let you be the judge of how. Once both things are done, then we can start.”

“Got it, Ben!”

“Alright!”

With both kids calling out, Ben took in the trebuchet the three of them had built based off of the children’s initial model, having spent that day putting it together in the field with Ceselee’s permission and had made the kids work on building things with an audience, leading to the coming test as both finished up.

“Alright then, what sort of target do you guys want?” Ben asked them, Mora looking unsure while Delair was practically jumping.

“Ooh, a sword! A giant sword we can hit on its edge!”

“… I’m not going to say no to that, but why?”

“I wanna watch the boulder we throw get cut in half!”

Eh, good enough reason for me.

Seeing where they’d be aiming in the distance that the boulder was expected to land, Ben materialized a giant sword to stick out from the ground, creating it so that the part hidden below would be far deeper than anyone would expect by looking at it to keep it from being knocked over before he materialized a stone ball a third of his size to sit in the siege weapon’s sling, with everything aligned and only needing to be fired still.

<Really not bothering to try and hide your power from the townsfolk by this point, huh?> Myriad commented with how freely Ben was materializing in front of everyone, getting indifference in return.

Most of them think I’m either a god or phenomenally powerful as it is by this point, a bit of materialization isn’t really going to change that.

<You don’t get to call the scale you do it at ‘a bit’. Most people go their entire lives without seeing someone materialize a single stone.>

I’ve taught far too many people to materialize for that to still be true.

<What, you think anyone you taught is out there doing it as a party trick? Ignoring the fact that the ability to materialize is in essence a guarantee against poverty, you in particular could probably turn materializing into a street performance and make what many would consider a good living from that alone.>

I mean, when you put it that way, it does sound kind of fun, but I think I’ll pass. Now, give me a minute here; we’re about to get started.

“Alright then, which of you wants to take the first shot?”

“Delair can,” Mora said. “I’ll think of what I want to hit for mine.”

“Works for me. Delair, the trebuchet is yours.”

With all the glee of a child who’d just been given complete control of a giant weapon, Delair ran over to the rope that was securing the counterweight in place and used all of her strength to pull it out, releasing it to cause the weapon’s arm and sling to both swing, shooting off the stone into the distance until it met the blade of the giant sword Ben had materialized specifically to be able to handle it and comfortably split the rock in two, the kids and the crowd behind them all giving a cheer as Ben smiled and ruffled his student’s hair.

“Excellent shot, which means it’s Mora’s turn, and then we’re packing up.”

“Already?” Delair asked, clearly disappointed in the answer. “But we just got started.”

“Yeah, but the project was building it and the day’s almost over. We’ve got to get you home, and if I leave this out for anyone to use overnight and something gets destroyed, our local guild master is going to kill me. Now, Mora, have you made your choice?”

“A house.”

“Once again, I’ve gotta ask why?”

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“I want to see what that would look like.”

“That works.”

Turning the distant sword to dust and using his magic to help him reset the trebuchet at the same time, Ben both used the dirt in the environment along with his materialization to create a two-story house in the exact position it would need to be to bring the next stone through the area where the wall would meet the roof and crash through all of the floors below, getting it perfectly set up for the boy before it was Mora’s turn to release the payload, the boy freeing the counterweight and watched with excited eyes as the stone sailed through the air before perfectly hitting its target with better results than Ben had expected, bringing the entire structure down as once more the watching crowd went wild.

Hmm, doing things to entertain the town occasionally might be a good idea. Doesn’t hurt to work on my reputation when I want to keep living here and if word ever does somehow get out about the part Mora played in destroying it, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make sure he is already well liked enough that people are going to want to be forgiving without me going into their heads.

<I shouldn’t have to say this, but going into someone’s head to try and change their personality to your desires is actually such a severe crime that I would personally turn you in for committing it.>

It would literally only be if I ever catch someone mistreating my kid.