CH1135

“Come now, Myriad, stop being so difficult,” Anailia said, wrapping the cube with her snake-like body and squeezing, while Helori maintained her spot perched atop him as if nothing were happening. “Just let me do this one little thing, and I’ll be on my way.”

“No, I’m not giving in; it’s a matter of principle!” Myriad yelled, still not strong enough to shake her off, even with all of his recently acquired faith. “Try what you want, but you can’t make me!”

It was clear that whatever was happening had been going on for a while by the time Ben had arrived to judge the scene, going completely unnoticed by the gods until he cleared his throat and brought their collective attention to himself, appraising them all in turn before giving voice to what it seemed like he’d walked in on.

“Three-way? I can come back if it’s a bad time.”

“Get your mind out of the gutter,” Helori told him, jumping away after that accusation. “They’re negotiating.”

“Do negotiations between gods normally involve loving intertwining yourselves together?"

“What part of this looks loving!” Myriad yelled at him. “I’m clearly in danger here, so be a good believer and help me!”

“Mmm, no. Sorry, but Thera loves Anailia, and she’s in my good books too. Just apologize for whatever you’ve done, and we can move on.”

“I haven’t done anything!”

“Helori?”

“He’s telling the truth,” the goddess shrugged. “They’re just at a bit of an impasse, negotiation-wise."

“Hmm, interesting. Back to an earlier point, then. If this isn’t sex, and you sitting on Myriad all of the time isn’t sexual, then how do gods go about knocking boots when they aren’t popping down to wear a mortal?”

“We don’t. It should be pretty clear that we don’t produce young.”

“Hmm, well, now we have a completely different issue, because that question was meant to tease you, but I can see in your mind you think you’re right.”

“Don’t just casually read my mind.”

“Too late, I’ve done it to all of the gods on this world, and Helori, even if they aren’t having kids, some of them are definitely doing things together that they consider sex, at least as much as the intense range of body plans among the divine will allow.”

“I’m not sure where you’re going with this bit, but I’m not following it.”

“Not a bit. Talk to any of the gods up here who are romantically involved with each other. Hell, ask Anailia when whatever this is is done, because I am not having ‘the talk’ with you, sorry.”

“Ahem, perhaps instead of poking at Helori’s innocence, you can help me instead,” Anailia said, leaving the goddess to coil far more protectively around Helori, who was left beginning to think that maybe Ben hadn’t just been messing with her. “Ben, do me a favour and help me convince your stubborn god to let me congratulate Valaria.”

“Absolutely not!” Myriad cut in. “I don’t need you swaying my high priestess’s heart right after she’s awakened. Don’t leave me looking like some jilted lover the second their old flame’s returned!”

“Even if she’s your high priestess now, that doesn’t make her or anyone else who follows other gods any less my child. How could a mother not want to congratulate their daughter on her success?”

“Even if she’s your child, you’re still her old god. I don’t need seeing you to bring up any old feelings from one of the core members of my faith! I-”

“Okay, both of you, stop,” Ben cut them off. “First off, Myriad, have you brought Valaria up here to talk with yet?”

“I haven’t had the chance, no.”

“Alright then, guys, this is simple. Anailia, I know you want to congratulate Valaria, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but you need to give Myriad the chance to do so by himself first, okay?”

“Mmh, well, so long as I get the chance,” Anailia nodded, Myriad looking like he had something to say to that before Ben stopped him.

“And Myriad, Valaria is not going to leave you, don’t be so jealous. She has absolute faith in you, and she’s been devoting herself to the church, building connections and relationships among the believers. She’s trusted and she’s loved and she’s not going to throw all of that away and spit in the face of everything you and I have done for her, so tomorrow, bring her up here and Anailia can come over and you can all have a nice, pleasant, non-threatening discussion together, okay?”

“Ugh, well, if you’re sure…”

“I’m a mind reader; I’m literally never wrong. If I was that bad a judge of character, do you really think I could have snagged you a few million new believers?”

“Alright, I suppose I can agree with that if she can,” Myriad said, turning to glance at Anailia, who seemed equally as accepting.

“If it’s just a day, then I can be patient. In that case, I’ll look forward to tomorrow and let you go. I’m a touch behind on work.”

Saying that, she left the realm, leaving Ben to turn Helori’s way. “How long were the two of them at it?”

“Basically since you helped awaken your priestess.”

“Man, you guys really do have nothing better to do up here, huh?”

“Excuse you!” Myriad complained. “I would have loved to have been working, rather than being smothered up here!”

“So, how did the rest of the meeting go?” Helori asked, ignoring the cube’s complaints. “As you can see, things got a little distracting up here about halfway through it.”

“Overall? Fine. We didn’t get around to discussing me much; it looks like I’m being saved for tomorrow, but discussions about Thera and Tress were both fairly productive.”

While Thera was another soul mage, there’d been discussion among them about getting her to work with Yuzu and Elvat both in the hopes that the three might be able to manage some grander spells, and given that Tress was a prophet, there was plenty of room for her to aid both Killi and Verbum in their work planning different war responses, with both having smaller ways they might be able to work with some of the other third tiers too.

When it came to Valaria, things were a bit different. None there had been prepared to discuss things with someone who’d only awakened that day, but they had all been new to their powers once too, and they were patient with her as a result, making sure to outline what they themselves knew they were capable of and invited her to reach out to any of them when she had a bit more practice with her skill if she ever thought of a way they might be able to work together herself. Admittedly, the time for that was quickly shrinking, but she had the option, and there was no reason not to hope that something might come of it.

“Suppose that makes sense,” Helori nodded. “As much of a headache as you are for all of us up here, everyone finding out your skills was going to be just as shocking down below. Really, all things considered, I’d say they seemed to have taken it quite well. You’re lucky you’ve built up a good reputation with most of them by this point.”

“Minus the part where they all watched him nearly beat a man to death,” Myriad added. “And then decided to keep him prisoner after. I suppose we’ll finally be adding false imprisonment to your list of crimes.”

“Well, one, technically I already did that once back when I dropped him in the ocean, and two, this guy has tried to murder me multiple times. Hell, he tried to kill me today. If anyone else had been willing to commit to doing some standard imprisonment on him before he became my problem, then I wouldn’t need to keep him now.”

“And now that you have him, you’re going to…?”

“Get as much use out of him as I can,” Ben shrugged. “Having those two skills on hand for enchanting is going to be useful. Plus, I’ve been taking my time on this last job since I didn’t have any other third tiers to use, but now I have Valaria and now I have him too, so try and get the next run prepared for me, please.”

“Hmm, if you’re sure. I’d personally thought you weren’t going to do anything that would benefit him. I’d told Phixth as much before, so I’m sure he’ll be pleased with this result.”

“Before, I didn’t know I could kill him if I felt like it. Having his life in my hands makes doing anything that might benefit him a lot easier to stomach. Besides, I’m going to make sure the guy is never free again, even if I don’t end up killing him. The least he can do is be useful during his imprisonment.”

Besides that, he could feel it through his links to the rest of the people in the world. The number of individuals who were taking experience from him was slowly falling as they ran out of jobs. Having two more times he could provide experience would bring the number down even further, for all of the good it would do.

Even if few, people would still be able to grow their attributes a little more thanks to it, and any new jobs would mean the acquisition of both skills and levels. Maybe one level would be the difference between life and death for someone, or maybe even just one more point in strength or mana would mean the same. Jobs meant power, and power meant survival. He could at least use Rook for all the man was worth if it meant that the rest of the planet would benefit.

Plus, it’s not like he’s going to enjoy that time, Ben told himself. He’s living ten days for every one of mine, and… Hmm, I should try to use Tress’s magic to increase that as much as I can. No reason to let him get too comfortable in there.

“I can feel you thinking something evil from here,” Myriad told him.

“All I was thinking about was how to make Rook’s imprisonment as pleasant as possible,” Ben said innocently. “And seeing as how none of the gods did anything about him ‘til now, no one else really gets a say in what I do with him. Don’t worry, though. Ideally, he’s going to live a nice, long life.”

And I can see if his skill is going to keep protecting his mind in its current condition. He seemed to be fine enough after getting out of the last prison; it would be interesting to see for sure if there’s a limit to that.

“You know what? I don’t wanna know. Is there anything else you want to stress me out about?”

“Mmh, no, I think I should be good for the night, so I’ll let you go. I had my fill of congratulating Valaria, don’t want to get in the way of yours, so make sure you tell her how proud of her you are. She worked hard.”

“Pfff, obviously. She’s my precious priestess.”

“Then make sure you tell her that,” Ben grinned before dropping back down for the night, seeing Thera fast asleep beside him and, with many hours still to go before the sun would rise, he got up and got dressed, wanting to take some time from another wandering the city’s sleeping streets.